Thanks to Palin, McCain can now pay for expensive attacks on Obama, giving him the same kind of clout Bush had in battleground states.http://www.alternet.org/story/101175/the_palin_payoff%3A_how_sarah_brings_in_the_christian_cash/?page=entireUntil John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, Obama attack ops -- whether political action committees or their 501(c)4 partners -- were struggling mightily to raise the kind of cash that fueled the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smear machine in 2004. More than $45 million poured into that effort to sink John Kerry's campaign, mainly from the pockets of wealthy Bush backers. A review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign donations back in June of this year showed that the big Swift Boat donors -- such as Ohio investor Carl H. Lindner and family, Dallas pharmacy magnate Harold C. Simmons, Texas homebuilder Bob Perry and oilman T. Boone Pickens -- were putting their money elsewhere, either pouring it directly into the McCain campaign or sending it off to Republican Congressional races, the Republican Governors Association or Newt Gingrich's PAC, American Solutions. But all that changed when the evangelical pro-life Alaska governor stepped up to the podium in Minneapolis to accept the Republican nomination for vice-president. Overnight the culture warriors, who'd been grumbling about McCain from the sidelines, were back in play. The Council for National Policy, one of the Christian right's most secretive strategy bodies, immediately endorsed the "values"-enhanced McCain ticket, triggering a $10 million infusion of campaign donations from evangelicals and their associates on the hard right. In this volatile race for the White House, they may yet make the difference. Call it the Palin Payoff.
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In the Age of Palin, the traditional Christian right political powerhouses -- Focus on the Family and its affiliated Family Research Council Action -- are back in the game as well. As recently as February, Focus on the Family's James Dobson was threatening to sit out the November elections if McCain became the candidate, issuing a statement that said, "I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative and, in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are. He has at times sounded more like a member of the other party." But then along came Sarah, and in the first two weeks of September Dobson's political action arm -- Focus on the Family Action -- dumped $104,000 on radio spots and mailings taking on Obama and endorsing McCain. The political action arm of the Family Research Council also held off until Palin entered the picture, registering with the FEC in support of McCain just a week after the Republican convention.
And if any questions remain about how galvanized the Christian right GOP base is these days, that pit bull of culture warriors, Pat Buchanan, put paid to that the day after Palin's performance in Minneapolis. "The American Right has just died and gone to heaven," Buchanan crowed in the lede of his September 5 column, following up on a Palin rhapsody from two days before in which he wrote, "should this ticket win, Palin will eclipse every other Republican as heir apparent to the presidency and will have her own power base among Lifers, Evangelicals, gun folks and conservatives -- wholly independent of President McCain ... Palin has become, overnight, the most priceless political asset the movement has."
Well, given the millions flowing into the religious right machine in the days since her arrival on the scene, not exactly priceless. The Swift Boaters and the Christian right knew Palin's price tag was high -- and they're proving themselves ready to pay up.[/div[
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