Marketing Sarah Palin

The choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate appears to create some advantages among female independents for the Republican ticket. The current marketing strategy goal is to create the perception that she will attract centrist female voters simply because of her gender. Governor Palin is being portrayed as an average blue collar working mom with an unspoken inference that her ideology is mainstream.

The fundamental flaw in the Palin marketing plan is that it's not grounded in reality. Governor Palin holds extreme right wing views on social issues and her foreign policy, though yet still a mystery, is likely to the right of mainstream America . At some point soon she will be forced to expose her ideological views and lay waste to the centrist marketing plan while it is still in its infancy. Her belief that abortion should be banned even in cases of rape and incest and her Bush-like views connecting religion to foreign policy will eventually push the majority of centrist independents into the Obama camp. It will then be clear that choosing her as his running mate has done little more than anchor Senator McCain to the far right wing conservatives.