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The demographics are frankly killing us. Kerry won the latino vote 53%-44% four years ago. Obama won the latino vote 67%-31%. Obama won the latino vote in Florida for the first time ever. Obama vastly increased his share of the latino vote in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. If McCain wasn't on the ticket, Arizona would have been very competitive as well. And we probably got another decade before Texas becomes a purple state unless we reverse the trends here. Bush won Texas by 23% with Kerry getting 50% of the latino vote. McCain won it by 11% with Obama...

Assuming Stevens wins his senate seat and then Reid expels him, there will be a special election within 90 days according to Alaska law. For politicians with presidential ambitions, it's usually best to stay as Governor as history has shown rarely do senators get elected President. But Palin's situation is unique, she already has plenty of executive experience as mayor and governor. Her big problem seems to be the remoteness of Alaska keeps her out of the public eye and her lack of experience with national issues. Let's face it. Most people think of Alaska as "Northern Exposure" and not...

I talked to Steve Biegun, the former Bush NSC aid who briefed Sarah Palin on foreign policy, and he considers the leaks against her on the international stuff "absurd." He says there's no way she didn't know Africa was a continent, and whoever is saying she didn't must be distorting "a fumble of words." He talked to her about all manner of issues relating to Africa, from failed states to the Sudan. She was aware from the beginning of the conflict in Darfur, which is followed closely in evangelical churches, and was aware of Clinton's AIDS initiative. That basically makes...

“It’s depressing,” said Steve Biegun, a veteran foreign policy hand who tutored and staffed Palin and travelled with her through the fall. “We worked our asses off. It was a tough campaign. Then we have this?” Biegun emphatically made the case for his much-maligned former boss. “I think she was fantastic. She just brought a special energy to our ticket. Look, I was there at those rallies.” Adds another former campaign aide: “You know what she did for us. She certainly solidified a hell of a lot of [previously unenthused Republicans].” “I’m appalled by it because Sarah Palin was one...

FOXNEWS Greta Van Susteren obtains first post election interview with Gov. Palin... Van Susteren traveling to Alaska for extensive sit-down interview with Palin to air Monday night exclusively... Developing...

Stapleton said some campaign staff members controlled Palin too tightly, keeping her from the press and admonishing her when she made calls to radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and others. "Instead of just letting her be who she wanted to be they still felt this need to control. ...There were a few times where she actually did sneak in phone calls and was reprimanded for picking up the phone and placing a few calls on her own," Stapleton said. "She felt that she really did want to go out and speak and get out there more. One of them...

Regarding another stinging criticism, Stapleton claims that the Fox News report Thursday -- that quoted unnamed sources inside the now defunct McCain campaign, saying Palin didn't know Africa is a continent -- was taken out of context. Stapleton says that during a briefing session, someone asked Palin to explain the McCain-Palin stance on an issue, and as she was responding, "in the middle, she said, ‘country of Africa’ and somebody instantly wrote it down, and said, 'Oh, my God, she thinks it's a country.'" But Stapleton insists, "She knows it's a continent. It was just a human mistake, just like...

Let's add some context to the Carl Cameron and Newsweek airing of rumors from anonymous McCain/Palin staffers. The most controversial claims, all of which come without names attached because the purveyors are apparently determined to stick around to undermine future campaigns and candidates, are that Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent as opposed to a country, and that she didn't know who the members of NAFTA were. Let's start with NAFTA. If folks want to believe Gov. Sarah Palin did not know even the most basic facts about NAFTA, they have to believe a couple other improbable things....

“If they’re an unnamed source, then that says it all. I won’t comment on anybody’s gossip, or allegations that are based on anonymous sources. That’s kind of a small, evidently bitter type of person who would anonymously charge something foolish like that, that I perhaps didn’t know an answer to a question. “So until I know who was talking about it, I won’t have a comment on false allegations.”

The finger pointing started even before the GOP ticket abandoned their White House hopes last night between McCain and Palin staffers–some who blame John McCain’s loss on his running mate. But, Palin said she won’t get involved in the “pettiness” or the “negativity” and instead blamed it on “the nature of the beast” referring to politics. “I don’t know what they’re saying or who they are but certainly if anything is based on any kind of anonymous source, I certainly won’t even comment on it.” Palin said, “But I have absolutely no intention of engaging in any of the negativity...

Check out this video of Carl Cameron on the O'Reilly Show spreading the most vicious lies on Sarah Palin from the romneybots like he was a giddy school girl. I'm simply stunned FOX would all this garbage on the air.

Advisers in the McCain campaign, in suggesting that Palin advisers had been leaking damaging information about the McCain campaign to the news media, said they were particularly suspicious of Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s top foreign policy aide who had a central role in preparing Ms. Palin for the vice-presidential debate. As a result, two senior members of the McCain campaign said on Wednesday that Mr. Scheunemann had been fired from the campaign in its final days. But Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, and Mr. Salter, one of Mr. McCain’s closest advisers, said Wednesday that Mr. Scheunemann had in fact...

She says in the video she can't imagine running for national office in 2012. She wants to go back to Alaska and work on the front lines of making the U.S. energy independent.

People here are saying here she's too right wing to ever win an election and doesn't have any credentials with independents? Yeah, maybe after the MSM character assassination she went under but people have the memories of gnats and expectations for her will be non-existent if she runs for President. She's a quick study and will surprise a lot of people. But do any of you know about her record in Alaska? She challenged a corrupt incumbent republican governor in the primary with no institutional support and very little money and won. The Alaskan Republican Party hates her guts and...

Obama's $200 million in unchecked contributions from god knows where is why McCain lost. He was outspent 4:1 in Florida. Obama spent $35 million to McCain's $8 million and this was repeated in state after state after state. And yet look at the results. Up until the end, McCain had a fighting chance. Obama won Florida by 2%, Ohio by 4%, Virginia by 4%, Indiana by 1%, Missouri is tied and headed to a recount, NC is tied and headed to a recount. We got killed in Colorado and Nevada because of lack of money. Obama bought this election, lock,...

And the nightmare scenario for Democrats... What if those who refuse to take pollsters' calls -- remember, response rates for polls are usually less than 50% -- vote disproportionately for McCain? This concern is far from trivial, as even the most rigorous national surveys struggle to achieve response rates over 30 percent. And it is hard to know much for certain about those who do not respond because, obviously, we cannot interview them. One way that pollsters can study the potential impact of non-response is to look at the most difficult-to-interview respondents. In 1997, the Pew Research Center conducted an...

(CLEVELAND) - Sarah Palin campaigns in six cities in five states on Monday, and that’s not even the most grueling part of her final push before Election Day. After her last campaign rally in Elko, Nev., concludes at about 11:15pm local time, Palin will fly overnight to Anchorage, so that she can vote at around 7am Alaska time in Wasilla. She’ll then fly straight to Phoenix to be in place for the Republicans’ Election Night party and isn’t expected to land there until about 7:30pm ET. Aides to Palin said there was never any serious discussion about the possibility of...

The popular vote is irrelevent. It's unlikely McCain will win the popular vote. Obama will likely win California and New York by 25 or 30 points or more. And black turnout in the South will reduce McCain's margins to single digits. But who cares? Whether you win a state by 1% or 20%, a win is a win is a win in the electoral college. All McCain has to do is hold the Bush states and steal Pennsylvania. I believe whoever wins PA will win the election. The west is hard because of the growth in the hispanic population and...

The National Republican Trust PAC, the late entrant to the universe of independent GOP groups, appears to have emerged as the best-funded. The group, which is airing an ad attacking Obama with Jeremiah Wright's sermons nationally, has reported spending $6,368,574.65, according to an FEC filing, which doesn't detail the expenditures. The number includes television advertising and calls to voters, a consultant to the committee said; it's also spent some money fundraising. The group can raise only hard money, in relatively small chunks, and its success reflects the eagerness of a segment of the Republican base harder than McCain has apparently...

The final round of Mason-Dixon polls has Obama enjoying small leads in the red states that would deliver him the presidency, but he's below 50% in each and there are enough white undecided voters to leave some too close to call. Colorado: Obama 49, McCain 44, Undecided 4 Florida: Obama 47, McCain 45, Undecided 7 Nevada: Obama 47, McCain 43, Undecided 8 Pennsylvania: 47, McCain 43, Undecided 9 Virginia: Obama 47, McCain 44, Undecided 9 Ohio: McCain 47, Obama 45, Undecided 6 Missouri: McCain 47, Obama 46, Undecided 5 North Carolina: McCain 49, Obama 46, Undecided 5 As Brad Coker,...