Video: Michael Barone's analysis of Palin speech

Michael Barone agreed to speak with me about the impact of Sarah Palin on the race and the results of her first speech, after a fortuitous meeting in a hallway.  Barone believes that Palin could generate a GOTV effort that may wind up rivaling that of Barack Obama, and that the McCain campaign could generate a juggernaut from Palin.  He doesn’t think much of Team Obama’s first attempts to push back against Palin’s attacks, either:

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Barone’s analysis at US News — a star is born:

Sarah Palin’s speech to the Republican National Convention last night was a home run. A star was born. While the Obama campaign has attempted to disparage it by saying that it was written by a former George W. Bush speechwriter, Matthew Scully—and thus link it to the McCain=Bush meme that was one of the chief ideas thrust forward in their convention in Denver last week—it cannot be dismissed as such. Scully reportedly had written a generic draft that could have been used by whichever vice presidential candidate McCain had chosen. But once Palin was the choice, she and Scully reportedly worked together and produced a draft that was brilliantly designed to promote the McCain-Palin ticket, and not to look backwards and justify the Bush administration. This will surprise no one who knows the independent-minded Scully (who left the Bush team to write a book on the responsibility human beings have to animals) and a woman who was described, by Fred Thompson on Tuesday night, as the only major-party nominee, with the possible exception of Theodore Roosevelt, who knew how to field-dress a moose. According to accounts I heard, they worked together quite satisfactorily and produced a text that reflected the VP nominee’s convictions and the ticket’s political imperatives.

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Be sure to read all of Barone’s analysis, and keep an eye on Fox News for his excellent reports.

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