[counterpunch]

Conventional wisdom says that the top of the ticket is what decides the winner, not the running mate.

Yes, that is conventional wisdom, but it was not a conventional ticket or a conventional campaign.
Sarah Palin was elevated to a higher visibility than any other VP candidate in modern times.
Her visibility exceeded that of John McCain's.
All fall, the talk was how it had become a race between 0bama and Palin. Both McCain and Biden were sidelined.

And regardless, Palin vs. 0bama would be viewed by all as a rematch. Dewey vs. Truman was a rematch, too, even though Truman had been the VP candidate. Reagan vs. Mondale was also similar.
You can't expect people to pretend like they didn't already run against each other.
People aren't that stupid.
And you also can't say that Palin was the one everyone was voting for on the ticket, and then turn around and say the fact that no one voted for them says nothing about her ability to attract votes.
If we want to actually defeat 0bama in 30 years, we're going to have to get a bit more serious.
 

[2ndDivisionVet]

You still didn’t tell us which horse you’re backing in 2012.

[chiller]

Americans have purged their white guilt. Obama won’t run again. Even dems will desert him after ‘10 losses for fear of their jobs because we’ll be in one hell of a mess by then on ALL fronts.

We’ll be begging for common sense and Sarah’s got it. There may be others like Sanf.....uh..Jindahl, Perry, etc. Sarah will have more seasoning, more maturity to her policies but she’s got common sense, integrity and the ability to light up the room (and conservatives) like I’ve never seen. Palin also has been innoculated from state run media and now has the courage to tell ‘em to buzz off. She could add glamour to Reaganism. She will talk right past the media like RR did, but with even more sizzle.

Beat that all you America hating Dems.