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Steps on the story of Obama's speech (and convention), and possibly the bounce coming from them, and wipes them off the news cycle. The Sunday news shows will be all-Palin, all of the time.
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Sends Republicans into their convention on a huge head of steam.
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Wipes out the image of McCain as the crotchety elder and brings back that of the fly-boy and gambler, which is much more appealing, and the genuine person.
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Revs up the base AND excites independents, which no one else in the party, or perhaps in the world, could have accomplished.
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Puts youth, change, and history on both of the tickets.
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May detach some young people, especially women.
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May attach some women pissed off about Hillary.
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As a pro-life super-achiever, puts feminists in a tizzy.
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Revives some of the double-edged nature of the Democratic primary, which featured a black vs. a female trail-blazer, and put both sides on notice on sensitivity issues. Democrats used to raising charges of racism against Obama's critics may face charges of sexism and/or condescension if they try to diss her.
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Steps on Obama's claims to have been a reformer, as he reformed nothing (much less the corrupt mare's nest of Chicago arrangements), while she was a dragon-slayer up in Alaska.
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As a mother of five, one a Down Syndrome baby, helps her side take on the Democrats on abortion extremism and the Born Alive bill.
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Reignites the deep and unhealed stresses inside the Democrats, some of whom will now wonder more loudly than ever why they didn 't pick Hillary.
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Counters Michelle in a way Cindy couldn't.
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Counter-intuitively, makes the issue of Obama's light resume more potent than ever. Her lack of experience is no more than his is. And he's--to use a term from Alaska, and the Iditarod--their lead dog.
Noemie Emery is a contributing editor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.