Rumors

[ksmith]

That Palin will step aside, or that McCain will dump her.

Thing is, he could then pick someone like Romney or Ridge or Lieberman. He's already seen that shoring up the base alone likely won't get him where he needs to be. So why not throw another Hail Mary and trade Palin for someone who would appeal to the moderates, indies, some conservative Dems, and the portion of the base that would rather be found dead in a ditch than vote Dem and that don't want to sit out the election.

He would lose the hardcore values conservatives for whom choice is a make or break issue. But they wouldn't vote for Obama either. Would Barr then be their man, and could he take enough votes away from McCain to assure an Obama victory?

I have no flippin' clue.

Comments

[mithriltabby]

I’d be surprised if he dumped Palin; she’s been very good at getting the social-conservative wing of the party stoked up, and it might go very poorly for McCain if he were seen to smack them. One theory I’ve seen is that there’s no expectation that McCain can win the election, but if McCain delivers the moderate Republicans to the polling booth while Palin delivers the extreme ones, they’ll be able to help the Republicans on other issues (Congressional seats, ballot measures).

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I don't know if McCain is capable of that brand of long-range planning. Would he really go through the motions, knowing he has no shot? He'll turn into a rage machine.

[mithriltabby]

I’m sure all the people surrounding McCain are telling him he has a shot, if he can only just do this one thing, and that one thing, and another thing, and another...