Couple of tid bits

My initial reaction to the Palin pick was: "This, my friends, is a gift." I got pretty freaked out for a while there when it looked like I might have been wrong, but the events have proved my initial analysis spot on. (With one exception: I said she was smarter than Quayle.) Some recent numbers from the a sprinkling of polls out today (Pew, NBC, WaPo):

• Palin's unfavorables: 49-44 against (down from 34-52 for in Sept)
• 55% think she is not capable of serving as president
• 52% say McCain's pick of Palin has made them less confident in the decisions he'd make as president
• Palin's qualifications to be president rank as voters' top concern about McCain's candidacy - ahead of continuing President Bush's policies, enacting economic policies that only benefit the rich and keeping too high of a troop presence in Iraq

I also note that the Palin pick has featured prominently in the rationales of conservatives who are opposing McCain.

Speaking of which: Colin Powell.

A question of protocol. I note he was almost invariably referenced in the news the last few days as "General Powell." But he was Secretary of State. A cabinet position outranks CJCS, and the highest title you have had is supposed to be the one that sticks with you, innit? What gives?

This is how McCain thinks he can win. (via Crazy Andy)Supposedly he's quietly pulling money from CO, NM, IA, and WI and plans to make a kamikaze run at PA. It seems crazy, especially since he's trailing by 10+ in PA but only 5-ish in CO. But he's running out of other viable electoral maps that can add up to 270. The electoral math is very much against McCain right now. If Obama keeps the Kerry states plus IA and NM, both of which he leads by a healthy margin, then McCain must run the table and successfully defend all of these states: VA, CO, FL, OH, MO, NC, NV, and IN. If Obama can pick up even one of these states, he wins -- and he's leading or tied in all of them right now. So he's got to pick up a Kerry state to offset the expected loss of one or two of the swing states, and PA is the only reasonable shot. A tall order.

One other media myth dies, unnoticed. The Hillary voters have come home. Or, at least the Obamacons are more than offsetting them. Obama has higher support within the Democratic party than McCain does within the GOP, and the numbers are pretty consistent with 2004 levels. Oh, and hispanics are voting for Obama in huge masses also. So much for those primary canards.