Jonathan Martin on Sarah Palin:
[T]he response I've gotten from Republican activists
coast-to-coast has been one of almost joy. My e-mail in-box is
bursting with enthusiasm from loyal GOPers who've been either glum,
skeptical or downright unhappy for the past two years. This
zeal is emphatically not matched by some Republican elites,
who are casting a more pragmatic eye on the potential pitfalls of
McCain tapping a running mate that neither he nor many other
political types know. (Emphasis added.)
The negativity coming from inside the GOP -- remember
the "veteran communications operative" who said, "We're doomed"? --
has been one of the major obstacles for Team Maverick. It's not
merely their disdain for John McCain that causes this reaction from
Republicans inside the Beltway, it's also (a) the dim prospects for
congressional Republicans, and (b) extreme Bush fatigue.
Martin says he's " never seen a crowd with the energy that I
witnessed yesterday at the Erwin Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio."
What he may not know -- I haven't seen it reported anywhere -- is
that some people were turned away from Friday's event. My Ohio
in-laws had tickets but were told that the crowd was big enough to
cause a fire-code violation.
UPDATE: Peter Baker in the
New York Times:
One former Bush aide who spends his days publicly
bashing Barack Obama sat down for lunch with me recently and before
the appetizers even arrived lamented that the Democrat will
probably crush McCain.
With friends like that, etc.
(Cross-posted at The Other
McCain.)
topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Law, Energy
