UPDATE - I wrote this without being able to watch the live press conference, but I still should have been clearer. Ignore the words coming out of her mouth. The McCain campaign is working off of subtext in their adds, and I guess I'm writing about the subtext. She can't come out and say "Hey boys, vote for me." It is far more subtle than that as they roll out the biography.
I say the Palin pick is clearly aimed at the blue collar men who voted for Hillary but aren't ready for Obama, while clearly signaling to the Bush core that McCain is serious about them.
The men who went for Hillary over Obama because she was familiar are the target of the Sarah Palin VP selection. They can still feel like they are part of something new, and get to be "feminists". They can't be the misogynists people sometimes accuse them of while voting for a woman. But they still are voting for a ticket that reinforces the stereotype of the older, successful, white man with the attractive, female, executive assistant who follows him around all day and validates his worldview/existance, etc.
Plus she's a devoted mother of five (just like Mom check one box), sending a son to Iraq in September (check awesome photo op), and has a husband with no college degree who works a blue collar job (yet another check) and is a 4 time snowmobile racing champion (awesome). Plus she's attractive (we men are shallow), loves guns (lifelong NRA check) and hunting and fishing, etc. Seriously, which voters do you think this is aimed at? Not the women.
Team McRove isn't going for the Hillary women with this one, they want to get 25% to 50% of the men who voted for her while turning out the core of Bush's coalition. She's very pro-babies (carried a downs-syndrome child to term - check), pro-death to criminals (check), creationist (check), and anti-gay marriage while "compassionate" about discrimination (check). Replace she with he and doesn't that sound like #43?
Thanks for your time. Please vote in the poll and tell me if I'm on to something or barking up the wrong tree.