Mooselini Mangled
This just in: Sarah Palin lost her race for the only Congressional seat in Alaska, to a Democrat! This is the first time in half a century that a Democrat will hold that position.
I've run this rather unflattering picture of what Palin looks like today deliberately, to ask a question: Do you think she just lost a lot of her young, working class oil workers who thought a few years ago that it was funny to vote for a babe, or do you think this might be a sign of something bigger- when Republicans can't hold a seat they had for fifty years, even with a celebrity candidate, could it be a sign of a real change in the willingness of the electorate to be done with Republican crap?
I'll never believe we have turned things around until we do well in November, but it's something to think about.
Comments
As to your question, I believe it's both. First, there's growing evidence that the wave of insane anti-abortion laws coming into effect after the fall of Roe really has changed the political landscape. Since 1973, two generations have come of age considering the right to abortion as basically a given, something that couldn't be taken away, so it was OK to ignore that issue when voting. Now they've suddenly been awakened.
And second, for some reason, right-wing voters do seem to attack a lot of importance to appearances, at least in female candidates. I don't get it -- a politician is asking for power, not a date. But it's pretty clear that if Palin had weighed 300 pounds but otherwise been exactly the same, she would never have become a celebrity.