According to a recent Zogby poll, there’s lots of bad news for Senator Obama right now.  For example, Zogby’s data shows that “Republican John McCain’s surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate - some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama’s historic speech accepting his party’s presidential nomination -  has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump.”

Certainly the McCain decision owned the news cycle yesterday.  That trend is likely to last through this long holiday weekend.  But there’s more.  Zogby also noted that his “interactive survey shows that 22% of those voters who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in their primary elections or caucus earlier this year are now supporting John McCain.”

In addition, Zogby’s poll found that “among those who said they shop regularly at Wal-Mart, Obama is getting walloped by McCain. Winning 62% support from weekly Wal-Mart shoppers, McCain wins these voters at a rate similar to what President Bush won in 2004. Obama wins 24% support from these voters.”

Zogby does state his belief that the race overall is likely to remain tight until probably the final week of the election, where he feels that the race will then likely break decisively for one candidate or another.  What noone can predict, however, is what other factors might come into play to swing voter opinions one way or another.

In regards to Governor Palin, there is this issue, now being hotly debated by bloggers, of undue pressure being placed on a former state employee to fire a state trooper.  The complication is that the state trooper was Palin’s former brother-in-law.  However, I’ve also heard reports that the trooper was fired before Palin became Governor, and the complaint was a trumped up one from a disgruntled former employee.  There has been an investigation from what I understand and nothing has come of this accusation.

It is fair to say that a reformist governor like Sarah Palin is sure to have many enemies, even among her own party.  After all, she ran against an incumbent Republican Governor, wiped him out in the primaries, then went on to narrowly defeat her popular Democratic rival.

You can see why Governor Palin’s nickname in High School was “Sarah Barracuda.” Palin earned the nickname while playing point guard for her state championship basketball team.  She was known for her aggressive play and determination.  She played the entire game during the championship, despite being injured.

For Obama, there remains many questions relating to his association with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, whose only complaint has been that he didn’t do enough bombing of government sites back in the 1960’s. Obama has been claiming that they merely know each other from their neighborhood, but recently uncovered documents by National Review journalist Stanley Kurtz shows a much closer relationship.

In addition, Obama has yet to fully explain his relationship with former campaign fundraiser Tony Rezko, who helped Obama to purchase his $1.5 million home at $300,000 below the market value.  In addition, Rezko’s wife, who has no financial assets of her own, purchased and then sold an additional half-acre lot to the Obama’s  to increase their total lot size.  Of course, Rezko was recently convicted of 16 counts of fraud.

So, in examining who has more issues to deal with over the next 66 days, it’s likely that Obama has many more deficits than Palin.  And Palin is tougher to boot.

Earlier in the day, I saw an interview with famous lefty wackjob Michael Moore, who was thrilled at the prospect of a hurricane interfering with the upcoming GOP convention:

“I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven,” Moore said, laughing. “To have it planned at the same time – that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for day one of the Republican Convention, up in the Twin Cities – at the top of the Mississippi River.”

So, is Moore thrilled at the thought of billions more in damage, more lives lost, people’s lives torn apart yet again?  Who knows; but this is Michael Moore, a lefty lune, noone else could be happy about an approaching disaster.  Or could they?

Powerline Blog posted this YouTube video, with  Don Fowler, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Democratic Congressman Don Spratt, who were caught on tape laughing at the thought of a hurricane hitting New Orleans, disrupting the GOP convention, and, they sincerely hope, making Republicans look bad again.  Here is the YouTube video with the loathsome response on the part of these so-called DNC leaders:

Is this not disgusting? Will the mainstream press hold these people accountable for their gleeful contemplation of disaster for all those innocent people in LA? I’m willing to bet that many liberals in the media are just as thrilled, hoping to find disaster and mayhem to report.This is foul stuff.

*******UPDATE*******

I just learned via the Drudge Report that the video was captured by  someone from Redstate.com.  I want to make sure I properly cite my sources for this one.

The question still remains, even with this now on Drudge (thank God for Matt Drudge), will the mainstream press hold these losers accountable for their outrageous statements?  There’s no doubt in my mind had a GOP senator and/or a party official been recorded having such a conversation, it would be all over the world in about 30 minutes.

It’s a sad and frustrating double-standard on the part of much of the media.  Let’s hope, however, that in this case, these men will be held accountable for their ignorance.

Days before being announced as the Republican party’s first female candidate for Vice President, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was asked by Maria Bartiromo if she was on John McCain’s short list. She also spends several minutes talking about the massive natural resources which are, in a sense, “warehoused” in the state of Alaska.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs could be created by tapping those resources and delivering them to US markets. And Governor Palin discusses the need to rely on these resources to strengthen our economy while newer sources of energy are developed and made economically viable.

It’s a good interview, one where you can see Governor Palin’s expertise in action. She makes a great case for drilling in ANWR and other areas of Alaska and outlines ways that state government protects natural habitats. Governor Palin points out in the interview that we fly government officials to Saudi Arabia to beg them to ramp up production, yet we do nothing in Alaska and other areas where we can control our own resources.

In the past, when Senator McCain was accused of being ‘Senator McNasty’ for his hard-nosed style of negotiation in Washington, he has said, “I’m not running for Miss Congeniality here.”  Ironically, Governor Sarah Palin did once run for, and won the Miss Congeniality title in 1984.  You can see her picture here from that time period.

That said, if Obama and Biden are hoping that Governor Palin is again running for the title of Miss Congeniality, they are sadly mistaken.  Biden will find that out when he takes her on in the debates.  My money is on Governor Palin and I think this quote from the WSJ spells out exactly why she’s going to surprise him, and everyone else:

For starters, we’d say Governor Palin’s credentials as an agent of reform exceed Barack Obama’s. Mr. Obama rose through the Chicago Democratic machine without a peep of push-back. Alaska’s politics are deeply inbred and backed by energy-industry money. Mr. Obama slid past the kind of forces that Mrs. Palin took head on. This is one reason her selection — despite its campaign risks — seems to have been so well received by Republicans yesterday. They are looking for a new generation of leaders.

Finally, let me make one more point for those who are already insulting all women by trying to paint Governor Palin as a “token” candidate.  If McCain wanted a “token” candidate, he could have gone for another woman with a much higher profile, like Secretary of State Condi Rice, whom I had once hoped would be McCain’s nominee.  He could also have chosen the well-respected and known Kay Bailey Hutchinson or Libby Dole, both admired by conservatives like myself.

Instead, McCain went for an outsider, someone who, while Obama supporters claim she has “zero” experience, has two more years of executive experience than McCain, Biden, and Obama combined.   She’s a “hockey mom” with a husband who is a union worker, has pushed back on oil interests in her state, making them pay for improvements to the gas and oil infrastructure, and whom enjoys popularity ratings of over 80% with her constituents.

She’s not a token, she’s a leader!  You can see why the Obama camp is looking nervous, even fearful, over such an innovative pick for Vice President. I would say that picking such a great candidate underscores the fact that McCain is committed to change in Washington.  Obama’s choice of Biden for a running mate underscores his commitment to the old-boy network in Washington.

The Obama Campaign should be afraid… Very afraid!