Sarah Rocks Des Moines Iowa, Part I

Sarah Palin came to Des Moines, and Tamara and I attended. I'll have video later, but a couple of points:

• The biggest applause line was about Joe the Plumber. People are deeply fired up about Joe, and conversely worried about what an Obama presidency would mean to jobs and businesses.
• I went around recording people about why they're supporting John McCain. Of the answers I got, two were simply this: I'm not. I'm supporting Sarah Palin. Anyone who tries to say that McCain's choice of Sarah Palin hurt the ticket is blind to the facts that she has strong support and brought a bunch of people to McCain (count me among them).
• Senator Brownback reminded us before Sarah spoke that Zogby polls in 2004 showed Bush down five points to John Kerry, and Bush carried the state. This ain't over, which is why McCain / Palin are here in Iowa now. In fact, over the socialism issue, I bet that the right is far more pumped about McCain now than Obama's supporters are pumped about Obama. I saw fierce determination today in the eyes of a lot of people. And fear... Obama is now in people's wallets and purses, and that thief can take a walk.
• Sarah made mention of the ACORN scandals, but not of the security loopholes in Obama's campaign web site. I don't think it's on their radar yet. How do we get it there?
• Finally, there were over 8,000 people there. I know friends and family of mine who would have attended, but couldn't. 8,000 is a strong number, but support is much bigger than that number.

Tags: politics
by Brett Rogers, 10/25/2008 6:10:56 PM
Permalink

I would have loved to attend. Thanks for the reporting. :)

Bush won Iowa due in part to a larger than expected turnout of elderly voters in the western part of the state. If that happens again, combined with a lower than expected turnout of young voters stated wide, McCain could still win. I believe the young voters are pumped, though. I'd be shocked if it happened.

I think it's interesting how much the polls differ. I've seen polls from the last couple days that have Obama ahead 14% while others are within the margin of error. The next week and a half will be interesting.

As for my vote for McCain/Palin, I tend to fall into the "my vote is really for Palin" camp. I have no problem with McCain as a human being. Politically, he's simply the lesser of two evils. He does get my vote on his better understanding and support of the military.

Still on for dinner tomorrow night, Brett?

Posted by Kelly, 10/25/2008 6:33:21 PM

You called it: the youth vote is the wild card. And almost all of the polls show a big imbalance in poll participants, heavily favoring Dems. In part, this is due to ACORN's bogus registration drives. There's a pattern here...

Yessir... dinner is on :)

Posted by Brett Rogers (http://www.beatcanvas.com), 10/25/2008 7:34:13 PM