re: #560 Charles

In my opinion, it had absolutely nothing to do with what you call “trying to gain the favor of the left.” The most important factor was simply that John McCain was an utterly rotten campaigner. He was an old guy, who looked and sounded frail, up against a charismatic young man with a totally positive message. The Washington good old boy against the

When the economy went into a tailspin, these factors were multiplied.

And it’s also my opinion that his last ditch attempt to get the religious far right on board by bringing in Sarah Palin backfired, big time.

The only argument I’ve got with that analysis is the last point. Without Palin, I think it would have been 60-40 Obama, instead of 52-48. Palin was the reason the religious far-right didn’t stay home.
I did not support Palin on a religious-far-right basis — it was for other equally stupid reasons. I do have, though, several (meaning tens and tens) of in-laws that are, in fact, religious far-right. I base my observations on that small sampling.