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Palin 2012 'Catastrophic' for GOP: McCain Insider

Ex-gov has no centrist appeal: strategist

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 2, 2009 4:43 PM CDT

(Newser) – If Sarah Palin is the 2012 presidential nominee, the Republican Party "would have a catastrophic election result,” the top strategist for the McCain campaign said today. Steve Schmidt foresees the 2012 election being won by the party that can sway the independents who backed Barack Obama in 2008. In the past year, Palin “has done nothing to expand her appeal beyond the base,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt, who has long been a Palin detractor, told the Atlantic. “I think that she has talents, but my honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate."

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announces that she is stepping down from her position as Governor in Wasilla, Alaska on Friday July 3, 2009.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announces that she is stepping down from her position as Governor in Wasilla, Alaska on Friday July 3, 2009.   (AP Photo/The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Robert DeBerry)
John McCain's former senior campaign advisers Mark Salter, right, and Steve Schmidt, walk across the tarmac to McCain's campaign plane in Vienna, Ohio, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008.
John McCain's former senior campaign advisers Mark Salter, right, and Steve Schmidt, walk across the tarmac to McCain's campaign plane in Vienna, Ohio, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
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I think that she has talents, but my honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate for the Republican candidate in 2012, and in fact, were she to be the nominee, we would have a catastrophic election result.
- Steve Schmidt

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 47 comments
Spudsy
Oct 4, 2009 5:03 AM CDT
You are so right SPH. And the media generally doesn't call them on it. Only John Stewart has had the balls to call GOP candidates on the carpet for their standard speech at Bob Jones University, which Reagan invented as a way to say"I am with you" to bigots and racists without saying a word about it.
luluzz
Oct 4, 2009 4:13 AM CDT
"dontlikeyou" knows how to get all of you on this site fired up. All anyone has to do is say they like sara palin or glenn beck and the nastiness flies. Personally I like them both, but don't want palin running for president. I think the only ones talking about her running in 2012 are radical liberals.
LionKing
Oct 4, 2009 1:09 AM CDT
But your momma sucks better than his...lol

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