How many votes did Palin cost McCain?

[HAnnA MArin County]

I don't think Caribou Barbie really lost Indiana for McCain, which is a pretty socially conservative state from what I gather from reading posts about the state on this site. I just think the Obama campaign targeted Indiana more than McCain who pretty much wrote the state off and just assumed that it would go red as it had for the past 40 years. The drawn-out Democratic primary probably helped Obama as well in terms of registering new and more voters (thanks Hillary ).

She may have cost McCain North Carolina after she made those stupid comments down there about being in the "pro-American" parts of the country. Reminds me of that bimbo Nancy Pfotenauer who went on MSNBC and claimed that Northern Virginia wasn't the "real" Virginia because it wasn't "Southern in nature" i.e. full of racist rednecks and Bible-thumping hillbillies. Divisive comments like this usually doesn't play well with Independents.

I think the snow princess cost him Pennsylvania, if any of the "battleground" states. If you look at the counties around Pittsburgh/Allegheny County, they swung more Republican but the Philadelphia suburbs swung much more Democratic. From what I read on here, Southeast Pennsylvania is trending Democratic and I don't think the voters there really vote with their Bibles so Palin's good ole downhome folksy hockey mom appeal probably didn't do anything here but turn off independent voters who don't care about abortion or "the gays." If McCain had selected someone more socially moderate like the pro-choice Tom Ridge (obviously), he may have carried Pennsylvania, but I doubt it, but a Ridge selection would have possibly reduced the margin by which Obama carried the Keystone State (but of course, we all know that a pro-choice Republican stands about a snowball's chance in hell at being on a presidential ticket let alone in the party itself today it seems).

[HAnnA MArin County]

Palin was essentially a "Hail Mary" VP pick, which was what McCain needed at the time. He needed to attract the most amount of media attention possible, appease the conservative base, and to an extent it worked.

The problem is, Palin herself was poor on the stump and acted "on her own" at times, contradicting the top of her ticket. Palin energized conservatives, but cost McCain "experience" voters, and probably other independents.

Now, the question is, who would have been a good VP pick for McCain?

I think Kay Bailey Hutchison would have been a great vice presidential selection, but she is somewhat pro-choice so that automatically eliminates her. If he wanted a female, he could have selected Elizabeth Dole, but she was struggling to hold her own Senate seat, so I'm not sure. Trying to think of some other prominent GOP females - the Sisters of Maine would have been good choices but they're in the same bag as Hutchison, pro-choice and pro-gay so no chance in hell the Republicans would support them. As for House members, I don't know many too prominent GOP women aside from Palin's lunatic twin sister Michele Bachmann, the only person I know of who makes Sarah Palin look like she has a double-digit IQ.