George Maidrand

Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election less than two weeks hence, one likelihood seems to stand out on the political landscape, Sarah Palin may be the leader of the Republican pack in 2012. The Alaska governor has emerged as more than the second banana supporting Sen. John McCain on the underdog GOP ticket. She has taken the country by storm as a natural campaigner who has either wowed or angered the electorate depending on political persuasions.
One gets the feeling Palin is an emerging force who may play well with the electorate for years to come. Hence the ferver with which those on the political left have savaged her at every opportunity. She has been ridiculed by late night comics and attacked by a free press which has abandoned any attempt to project an image of fair coverage.
A confident and comfortable Palin is a dangerous opponent of liberalism, and she has been sliced and diced to an extent which would have destroyed a lesser luminary. The angst she engenders among political opposites is almost palpable. Yet she cheerfully campaigns on with a smiling aplomb which only feeds the bitterness of her foes.
Middle America has taken to the governor from the frozen north like a kitten to milk. Heartland women and men alike feel she is one of them. She talks to them with a winning combination of feisty warmth. Her friendliness is every bit as natural as Sen. Barack Obama's renowned oratorical demeanor. The Democratic standard bearer may consign Palin to the loser's bracket this time around, but it is the vision of a future rebound by a tested Palin that so worries his supporters.
The extent of the frenzied efforts of the press to discredit Palin should not be minimized. Her opposite on the Democratic ticket, Sen. Joe Biden, has a habit of embarrassing political mispeak. When he spoke of a testing our nation's enemies would pose for a newly elected President Obama, the main stream press chose to ignore the faux pas. The tactic was so offensive even a liberal newscaster like Dan Rather noted the comment would have been front page news had it been uttered by Palin.
Women on the left despise her decision to carry a Downs Syndrome baby to term. But many women not among that vocal lobbyist minority applaud her stance in favor of life. And she remains a strong example of a self-made woman making her way in a male dominated world of political rough and tumble with a she-can-take-it ease.