Anchorage Daily News

SECOND-GUESSING McCAIN’S CHOICE: Among pundits who are writing the McCain campaign's obituary, if prematurely, the No. 1 question is whether his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate was his biggest mistake, according to The New York Times. Other politicians might have delivered McCain a big-electoral-vote state like Pennsylvania, they say, and her negative poll numbers can't be ignored as a drag on McCain.

In choosing Palin, McCain and his advisers set aside the traditional criteria for picking a running-mate — such as choosing someone who could deliver a battleground state — in favor of selecting someone who could upend the story line of the campaign. The idea was that McCain could benefit on several fronts:

--Palin’s reformer credentials would buttress his own, and strengthen his ability to run against Washington, which potentially would appeal to moderate and independent voters.

--Her views on social issues would help mend McCain’s strained relations with conservatives.

--And as a woman, she would give McCain a chance to compete for women voters who had supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and were upset at how she was treated by Senator Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.

Now, a week before the election, it seems that only one of those predictions has come true, that Palin would help McCain with conservatives.

THE LOOK THAT KILLED? Right-leaning columnist Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post Writers Group speculates that John McCain cast aside good judgment in choosing a running mate when he was confronted with Palin’s physical appeal.

There can be no denying that McCain's selection of (Palin) over others far more qualified — and his mind-boggling lack of attention to details that matter — suggests other factors at work. His judgment may have been clouded by ... what?

Science provides clues. A study in Canada, published in New Scientist in 2003, found that pretty women foil men's ability to assess the future. ‘Discounting the future,’ as the condition is called, means preferring immediate, lesser rewards to greater rewards in the future. …

That men are at a disadvantage when attractive women are present is a fact upon which women have banked for centuries. Ignoring it now profits only fools. ...

Also: No ordinary woman (N.Y. Times)

PALIN PUTS ON JEANS, BLASTS ‘THE WHOLE CLOTHES THING’: Gov. Sarah Palin, campaigning in Florida on Sunday, told a Tampa crowd she has gone back to wearing clothing from home and said stories about the Republican National Committee spending $150,000 on family fashions were “ridiculous.” The McCain camp apparently didn't want her to bring up the clothing in her speeches, but talk show host Elisabeth Hasselbeck did just that in introducing Palin in Tampa. Later Sunday, Palin showed up in blue jeans for a North Carolina campaign event.

Presidential candidate John McCain, her running mate, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that the campaign returned a third of the clothes immediately after the Republican convention because they weren’t needed and that the rest will go to charity after the campaign.

Here are links to a few angles on Palin’s weekend:

Emphasizing frugal tastes, Palin addresses clothing issue (N.Y. Times)

Palin and Hasselbeck blast 'ridiculous' wardrobe story (CNN Political Ticker blog)

Elisabeth Hasselbeck gets ‘sassy’ for Palin (L.A. Times Dish Rag blog)

Palin responds to $150,000 spent on wardrobe (Fox News)

Palin's off-script comments irk McCain aides (CNN)

THE WORD FROM THE CLOSET: Palin repeated Sunday that the downtown Anchorage consignment store Out of the Closet is her favorite place to shop. Owner Ellen Arvold told CBS News today that Palin’s style hasn’t changed much since she started shopping there three years ago while she was running for governor. Arvold wouldn’t discuss how much Palin spends, but she put the price for a stylish fitted jacket in her store in the $40-to-$100 range.

PALIN MISHANDLED BY CAMPAIGN, STRATEGIST SAYS: Republican strategist and CNN regular Ed Rollins says that even though the McCain campaign has subjected Palin to ridicule, she has a bright future on the national scene.

She definitely is going to be the most popular Republican in this country when this thing is over. She'll basically spend the next three of four years, running around doing Lincoln Day dinners and raising money for people. She's got to gain a lot of substance before she's a viable candidate for president.

UNRELENTING EXCESS: New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd says Palin should have been dressing for a bailout, not a ball.

Palin should have been savvy enough to tell those doing her makeover that she was a Wal-Mart mom. The sartorial upgrade was bound to turn into a strategy downgrade, as Palin pressed her case as a homespun gal who was ever so much more American than the elite, foreignish Obama, while she was gussied up in Italian couture.

STARVED FOR ATTENTION? Where does Alaska stand on “The Electoral Map”? You’ll get a laugh from this cartoon published in The New York Times.

NOT AFRAID OF A FIGHT: Not confrontational as a child, Sarah Palin's confidence grew step by step until her run for mayor of Wasilla, The New York Times reports in an election profile. Now, she seems at home on the political battlefield.

“She is most comfortable when she has a target,” said Larry Persily, a former Anchorage journalist who worked until June in Palin’s office in Washington, D.C. “And once she has it, she is really good at homing in on that target.”

MORE MAKEOVERS: Gov. Palin has spent $51,000 in state money on remodeling projects at her Anchorage and Juneau offices and the governor’s mansion in Juneau, reports the Boston Herald. Most of the money went for construction of three offices in her Atwood Building suite. Senate President Lyda Green told the Herald the expenditures were “extravagant.” The McCain-Palin campaign says they were “routine,” and an Alaska Voters Organization spokesman agreed.

TRIMMING YOUR ‘RUNNING’ TIME: The long-running local public TV series “Running,” which gives local, state and national election candidates equal air time, is online as well this year. Instead of sitting in front of the tube waiting for your district’s candidates to go on the air, you can go to the KAKM Web site and watch only the segments you’re interested in.

JUNEAU AIRPORT TO GET GEOTHERMAL HEAT: The new system will pump 40-degree water out of the ground, reports the Juneau Empire. An electric assist will get it to room temperature. If heating oil prices stay above $3 a gallon, the system will pay for itself in savings. The 40-degree water is hot enough, however, to melt ice and snow, so it will be pumped under new sidewalks so they won’t have to be shoveled.

Also:

Southeast's geothermal potential is little studied but promising (Juneau Empire)

ADVERTISEMENT

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@