Palin Choice A Blow To The Romney Wing

(9/1/08) John McCain’s surprise choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate still is sinking in, and many still are trying to get a handle on exactly how it may change the presidential dynamics.

Analyst Matt Towery says one thing is for sure: “This is a blow to the Republican longtime establishment. No matter how happy they say they are, the Romney wing of the party, which was sort of the inheritor of the Bush wing, is not happy.”

That group has no ties to Palin and no ties to McCain, he said.

Towery said it was a courageous decision in the sense that McCain likely wrote-off millions of dollars in contributions, unless the race is very close as the end-game nears. At that point, he said, the money will come back because the Romney folks “don’t want to get left out here.”

More on this on InsiderTV.

Eric Tanenblatt, who was co-chair of the Romney campaign in Georgia, told the AJC over the weekend that the selection of Palin generated an unexpected level of “buzz and excitement going into the convention.”

“Now we can really draw the contrast that voters will have between Senator Obama and Senator McCain,” he said.

A lot of the initial comment from public officials was based on talking points. Gov. Sonny Perdue apparently read them, too, but added some personal thoughts in his conversation with reporters on Friday:

“I think its brilliant,” he said of the decision, calling Palin “the real deal – a great mom, a wonderful wife, unafraid to take on the Republican establishment in Alaska, which has some issues … She is articulate and she is polished, but she does not have a slickness some politicians get … She is absolutely authentic. What you see is what you get. These expectations regarding her and Biden in the debate – my money’s on Sarah. She’s already balanced two budgets. How many budgets has Joe Biden balanced?”