Sarah Palin is a wonderful person. Don't let the press fool u, shes a great gal.
But, she did cost McCain dearly. Lieberman was not the right running mate for him, but someone like Romney, Voinovich, or Pawlenty were good choices. With one of them, McCain could have held Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Virgina, Indiana, and Ohio. That way, New Hampshire could have flipped the election to him. Then, he could have carried Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, and maybe Nevada. That would be a great victory. However, Palin turned off a lot of swing voters and independent voters that were key to McCain doing the scenario above.
Romney, Voinovich, and Pawlenty were all solid running mates who would have helped McCain a ton. I think that McCain would have been surprised.
And with Clinton as the nominee...Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Maine...these all become battleground states. Just changing the running mate would have done wonders for McCain.
You really think those states would be tossups with Clinton in 2008 of all years? LOL The biggest economic meltdown since the Great Depression? She would have trounced McCain by as much as (or more) then Obama did. She would have made a better president in my opinion. As for Palin she cost McCain critical support from centrist and independent voters. He also did not win many of the "Clinton Democrats" which was part of her purpose on the ticket. She alienates as many or more people then she unites. McCain ran a worse campaign then Dole 96 and thats saying something!