Posts Tagged ‘Alaska Governor’

When Govenor Sarah Palin came swooping down from her northern nest in the wee hours of an early Friday morning, bursting over a groggy electorate like a bright morning sun, I immediately went to school on her like she was a competitive new product designed to steal market share; a killer app that must be respected.

It soon became clear to this marketing strategist that her mission, her raison d’etre for running mate, was to solidify the base by attracting three key market segments seeminglyunenthusiastic to Senator John McCain: socially conservative mothers, religious fundamentalists and Reagan democrats.

(Not mutually exclusive groups, to say the least.)

A lackluster McCain campaign looking dull in light of the sparks squeezing out of the telegenic Senator from Illinois, now had an overnight sensation: a magnet drawing the media, news junkies and rabid rally rah rahs. Based on the latest polls this strategy gets a resounding “so far so good” as the campaign now appears to be in a dead heat. 

Right now she is the product phenom, literally. HeroBuilders.com, a maker of satiric action figures, has just released a Sarah Connor, I mean Sarah Palin; a Barbie like doll with no less than three outfits? (You can’t make this stuff up folks.)

Is she stealing the show and possibly market share from Senator Barack Obama? At the very least she may have frozen some purchase decisions. Can he regain his super star status from today’s “It Girl”?

The next phase has started as the happy Republican “Odd Couple” from the West must go off to work separately; like a Blue Monday after a great weekend of parties where they were the center of attention, inseparable in their collective charm, calm and confidence. Fearless!

The starting gun has gone off on the race up to the first debates, another key test where this new political hydra must stand alone.

Will McCain pale without Palin around? Can Cindy pick up the slack? (You remember Ms. McCain, John’s attractive wife and previous standard bearer for the long time pol from Arizona.) Will he stay cool as things heat up? Or will there be no heat at all without the firebrand from Alaska at his side?

And what of Governor Sarah Palin going solo when she begins her first rounds of interviews? And how will the basketball barracuda fare in the glare of playing one-on-one with the “The Smile” Senator Joe Biden?

Will the perception of new product perfection lose out to the bright lights of marketing reality as the imperfections of her Americana record start unfolding?

Will a cynical electorate care about questionable per diem expenses for a stay at home hockey Governor, “Trooper Gate” and “The Bridge To Flip Flop”?

Does this action figure wear Kevlar and Reagan Teflon too? Is Sister Sarah too good to be true? And, as if all of this was not enough, we are now consumed with a sideshow on the use of the expression, “lipstick on a pig” juxtaposed with the solemn anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our country.

Don’t touch that dial, this reality show, a new version of “Northern Exposure”, has less than two months to go.