Colorado Dems: Palin will attract GOP base but repel moderates

COLORADO SPRINGS-Following a Saturday rally with the Republican presidential ticket, state Democratic officials said GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin would help turn out the Republican base in Colorado but turn off moderates wary of her conservative views on abortion and other issues.

McCain and Palin held a rally near the Colorado Springs Airport on Saturday before about 10,000 enthusiastic supporters.

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak said it was "obvious" that McCain and Palin would make Colorado Springs one of their first stops after the Republican National Convention, which concluded last Thursday.

"This is, of course, one of the strongest areas of the most extreme Republicans in the state," Waak said at a coffee shop in Colorado Springs following the rally. "So to come in, especially where (McCain) had some lukewarm acceptance and bring in Governor Palin, who is very right-wing herself -- it was a way to sort of rally people in this area."

Waak said the addition of Palin to the GOP ticket would help Republicans in Colorado to motivate a voter base that had been ambivalent about McCain to turn out on Election Day.

But that base is "shrinking" in Colorado, she said, and said that Palin "does not help (McCain) with unaffiliateds and Democrats" who disagree with the Alaska governor on issues like abortion, health care, and the economy.

El Paso County Democratic Chair John Morris said that Palin's selection follows what he said was a Republican tradition to try to win elections by what he called "form things" - such as naming a female vice-presidential candidate to try to win female voters.

But promoting substance over style could backfire, he said, if the Republicans hold the White House in November.

"It's really hard to imagine this woman, two years removed from the mayor of a town the size of Fountain, becoming a president of the United States - which, quite honestly, given John McCain's age, is a very real possibility," Morris said. "We're looking at somebody who very likely - statistically, I suppose - who would become president of the United States. And is she ready for that? And I personally think obviously not.

"There might have been a number of other women - Republican women - who would be very competent to do so," Morris continued. "So they weren't thinking about who can be a good president - they were thinking of who could appeal to certain demographics in the election. So winning the election is important, not providing a quality vice-presidential candidate who could replace the incumbent."