Last week, when I noted that the "Palin and McCain" campaign was considering keeping the Palin and her sidekick together on the campaign trail, I noted that they were probably making the choice out of necessity.
Though, really, it’s not so much "chemistry" or "magic." It’s necessity. You can’t promise concert-goers Carrie Underwood and then deliver Lawrence Welk–which is what the McCain campaign will be doing until they get their hot celebrity back on the trail.
If there was any doubt that Carrie Underwood Palin was the draw on this ticket, the people leaving the rally in OH…
McCain was almost upstaged at the rally here by Palin, who drew rapturous applause from the crowd with her bubbly declaration– twice — that she and McCain were "going to Washington, D.C., to shake things up!”
McCain recited a speech he had given earlier in the day about the need to reform Wall Street. A slow but steady trickle of supporters began to file out after Palin’s speech introducing McCain.
Followed by the people leaving the rally in IA…
"We want Sarah," the crowd began chanting as Palin said, "Thank you,"to begin the rally.
[snip]
McCain starts speaking 18 minutes into the rally.
[snip]
I look up, about five minutes into McCain’s address and see a steady stream of people walking out of the rally. They just came to see Palin apparently.
Ought to disabuse you of any doubts.
So the inevitable has happened–the McPalin campaign appears to have decided to commit to their "one third the campaign rallies" strategy. That’s my best guess, anyway, as to why Palin just canceled next week’s events in California (which wasn’t going to be competitive anyway) and Washington (which, with Palin on the ticket, might be).
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has canceled her planned trip to Seattle.
A spokesman for Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Palin encountered a "scheduling conflict" and would instead be elsewhere, probably in Michigan.
Palin, the Alaska governor picked by McCain as his running mate, had planned to travel to Seattle Sept. 24 for a fundraiser. [my emphasis]
I’d be really happy about this "one third the campaign rallies" thing, if only it didn’t mean that I was going to have to see McCain and Palin traipse through my state every week for the next seven weeks. I hope they’re spending heavily.
Update: Apparently they’ve rescheduled for the first week in October.