Gaddie: Palin A Plus In Oklahoma

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is a solid plus for John McCain in Oklahoma in the opinion of pollster, pundit, author and political science professor Keith Gaddie (pictured).

Asked if Palin helps or hurts McCain here, Gaddie replied, "No way Palin hurts in Oklahoma. She's tailor-made for the base, even with the family issues. She's handling problems that everyday Oklahomans handle every day, and in a fashion they approve."

Polls have shown McCain far ahead of Barack Obama in Oklahoma, and there's speculation in Republican circles that Palin's selection, and the subsequent piling-on of the liberal national media, may increase McCain's margin over Obama here.

"The more they (national media) pile on, the stronger Governor Palin's support among conservatives will be," former GOP consultant and broadcaster Mike McCarville told a national satellite radio audience Monday night. "The politics of personal destruction by liberal Democrats, the intrusion into family life by the national news media...by the time they leave Minnesota, she'll be a national hero to the conservative base, and McCain needed that."

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