1. Sarah Palin. More than anything else with McCain, Palin was the reason I had firmly decided not to go for McCain.
2. Preaching to the Choir. In all of the attack ads and speeches made by both McCain and Palin, not once did they say anything that would reach out across the aisle, so to speak, that would appeal to other voters who were not already part of their base. Many times, I felt as though I was just watching them go by the old Republican playbook, which is to say that all Democrats are Godless Socialists who want to tax and spend and love big governments. Oh, and also: 9/11 and act on all of your fears. Oh, and the terrorists hate us for our freedom. Don'cha know?
3. I never felt like McCain's campaign had any clear strategy for winning. It seemed as though they changed course on a daily basis, and tried everything they could. The only problem is there was no consistency with their message, other than "Maverick."
4. Speaking of Reagan does little to get our pulses going. McCain often referred to the 80s, when many of us were either kids, or we don't have such great political memories of those times. It doesn't take much to remember all of the crap that happened back then.
5. Hate and fear. I REALLY disliked Sarah Palin's attacks of "liberals." I know McCain almost switched parties in 2001, but Palin did just about everything she could to make herself and her party look like a bunch of white, narrow-minded bigots. Even though I know that's not true, I believe she did a lot of damage to her party, and to McCain.
6. McCain's campaign was not on the ground early enough. Because of the contentious battle fir the Democratic ticket, Obama had his people in VA back in January, if not earlier. McCain finally set up camp here in July. 7 months is an eternity in campaign life. I believe he was way too late.
7. In 2004 Kerry started running out of money, so he pulled his campaign offices out in VA and one other state. I wanted to volunteer for him, only to find that the offices were being closed down! So when I saw McCain doing the same thing, I knew he was in trouble. If anything, he should have targeted the blue states as well, and tried his hardest to get his voice out. Obama was here many times in the past few weeks. It turned out that my state was pretty important in this election.
So, that's what I think went wrong. I don't dislike McCain. I just intensely dislike Palin. Plus, it feels pretty cool to be a part of history.
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