Well, I got to see Sarah Palin at the Toyota Arena on Friday.
Personally, my favorite part of the whole event was the musical nods to Halloween. When she entered the arena, the sound system played the opening to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." And then as people filed out when she was done, it played "The Monster Mash."
It was a nice break from the "Rocky" theme type of stuff you normally hear at rallies like that.
Regarding the speech itself -- frankly, I was surprised at how subdued Palin was. I was expecting jokes and folksy anecdotes. Instead, she gave a pretty straightforward delineation of policy differences between her campaign and Obama/Biden's.
Maybe the campaign consultants told her to tone down the folksy rhetoric a little. Or maybe, as I suspect, she wanted to get down to brass tacks in light of the fact that the election was mere days away.
There was really nothing new in the speech if you've been following the campaign. What I found interesting, if not unexpected, were the enthusiastic crowd reactions.
When John McCain first chose Palin as his running mate, I spoke to local Democrats and Republicans. They were equally elated.
The Democrats were pleased because they considered her to be an easily defeatable lightweight. And the Republicans were pleased because they really, genuinely like her. I'll admit, I was baffled by her selection at first. But if Republicans nationwide are reacting the way they are in York County, I could see where her selection would make sense from a strategic standpoint.
An election campaign has two major components: Winning converts and shoring up the base. You can't win if you don't get draw a good number of crossover voters from the other party. But that won't do you any good if you don't get members of your own party turning out in sufficient numbers.
The whole reason that McCain ended up the Republican nominee is because of his appeal to crossover voters in states where they have open primaries. And that certainly works in his favor.
Still, many Republicans to whom I've spoken were lukewarm in their support, because they don't consider him conservative enough. I saw that when I covered his appearance at the Toyota Arena in August.
The people there were receptive, but not enthusiastic. For many, there seemed to be something obligatory about their presence there. McCain was like one of those diet foods that people eat not because they relish it, but because they know they should. "I Can't Believe He's Not a Democrat!"
But Palin really appeals to the conservative base. The whole mood in the arena on Friday was very different from the McCain appearance. The crowd was truly excited to be in her presence.
So I guess on Tuesday we'll find out whether the Democrats or Republicans were right in their assessment of her viability as a candidate.
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