Sunday, October 19, 2008

Time to rally, Palin tells Lancaster crowd

By CHRIS A. COUROGEN

With presidential candidate Sen. John McCain trailing in the polls, his running mate used an appearance at a ballpark to urge the Republican faithful to help the party's ticket stage a late-game rally.

"Phillies fans, you know all about turning an underdog into a victor. Please help us do that on Election Day," said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, speaking Saturday morning from an infield stage at Lancaster's Clipper Magazine Stadium.

Palin might have made an analogy to the wrong Phillies team. After going from a statistical dead heat in Pennsylvania to a double- digit deficit in three weeks, the McCain campaign is looking more like the 1964 Fadin' Phillies than the "Fightins" set to open World Series play this week.

Many of Saturday's talking points were familiar to those who have heard Palin's stump speeches since she was selected in August as McCain's running mate. She charged that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama would raise taxes as she framed the election as a "choice between a politician who puts his faith in government and a leader who puts his faith in you."

Palin repeated her mantra -- maverick and reformer -- and made her usual reminder that McCain is "the only man in the race who has ever really fought" for the country.

But there was one significant change from last week's lineup. Gone was any mention of Obama palling around with terrorists. Former radical William Ayers' name was not mentioned.

Ayers helped found the Weather Underground, a Vietnam War protest group that bombed government buildings 40 years ago. Obama has pointed out that he was a child at the time and met Ayers and his wife, ex-radical Bernadine Dohrn, a quarter-century later.

Instead, Palin took Obama to task over the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a community activist group under attack for allegations of voter registration fraud. Palin told the crowd the choice in this election is between a politician who won't disavow a group "committing voter registration fraud" and "a leader who will not tolerate it."

ACORN has not been charged with any illegal activity and denies any wrongdoing. The organization, which says it has registered more than 140,000 new voters in Pennsylvania during the last 18 months, has said it screens registration cards it receives and flags those that are of questionable validity, but by law is required to submit all registration forms.

Analysts said it was not surprising that Ayers lost his spot in Palin's batting order: He hadn't been producing any runs.

"Since they brought out Ayers, they're seeing no bump in the polls. In fact, they've gone the other way," said Chris Borick, head of Muhlenberg College's Institute of Public Opinion. "At this stage of the game, when your campaign appears to be slumping a little bit, you change tactics."

The problem for Team McCain, in baseball terms, is the economy, which has been tossing shutout innings at the Republican ticket. Polls show it is the biggest thing on the voters' minds, and Obama has been connecting on that issue.

"Over 50 percent of the voters are telling us they think Obama is better equipped to handle the economy," said Franklin & Marshall pollster G. Terry Madonna. "I doubt [ACORN] would have come up if McCain had an eight-point lead in the polls. ... McCain needs a long ball. Their backs are against the wall."

Talking about ACORN is "an effort to distract the voters because they are losing," Obama campaign spokeswoman Andrea Mead said. "We are not going to pay any attention to baseless attacks on Barack Obama. The American people want to talk about the economic crisis. That is what Obama is going to continue to talk about."

Palin's husband, Todd, spent part of Saturday tailgating with Penn State's College Republicans group.

CHRIS A. COUROGEN: 255-8112 or ccourogen@patriot-news.com

RELATED LINK: Palin attacks ACORN in Lancaster speech (Blog post)