Republican VP Nominee Sarah Palin’s power revival after debate

Sarah Palin’s power revival after debate

DALLAS (Reuters) - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's confident debate performance, following a series of widely ridiculed television interviews, is stoking Republican hopes that "Palin Power" is back.

But it's unclear whether Palin's gaffe-free debate performance will silence questions over whether she is ready for the White House, end unflattering comedy sketches or reverse a surge by Democratic rival Barack Obama in polls.

Backers of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain are hoping her image of homespun authenticity will spark a revival in the Alaska governor's populist appeal -- a phenomenon known by her supporters as "Palin Power."

She will speak more frequently to the media, her advisers say, marking a strategic shift following criticism that she has been over-handled and too scripted since her extraordinary entry into the race nearly five weeks ago.

She will "be available to the press and she'll talk to every American voter. She'll be out 24/7," said McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt.

McCain's campaign are also dispatching Palin to critical regions, beginning with Florida and North Carolina next week -- two states carried by Republicans in 2004 where Obama has recently moved narrowly ahead in opinion polls.

"I think things went very well last night. It was energizing and I was happy to have had the opportunity," she told reporters in St. Louis. "I was glad it was over when it ended and I could take a deep breath," she said later at a fund-raising event in San Antonio, Texas.

BUSY WEEKEND
Palin's fund-raising role is expanding with events planned in Colorado and California during the weekend after two on Friday in Texas, where she also met with oil investor T. Boone Pickens, a lifelong Republican who funded the "Swift Boat" attacks on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004.

Pickens has endorsed neither McCain nor Obama in the Nov. 4 election and wants to make energy a top campaign issue. The two discussed his plan to cut U.S. oil use by converting cars to run on natural gas, a Palin advisor said.

"She hit her stride," Sen. Lindsay Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said of Palin's Thursday evening debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden. Despite her performance, the Delaware senator emerged the winner in two post-debate snap polls of voters.

"One of the biggest mistakes we have made is not to showcase her to the people," Graham said.

But many were unimpressed. A New York Times editorial said she never moved beyond her talking points while the Chicago Tribune said she "dithered and dodged" in discussing global warming. The Los Angeles Times said Palin "did nothing to arrest her slide from phenomenon to embarrassment."

Her troubles have been compounded by embarrassing performances in the few TV interviews she did conduct that raised questions over whether she has the stature to be president. Widely parodied as rambling and ignorant of key policy issues, Palin suffered a sharp slide in opinion polls.

Half of all voters in a Washington Post poll on Thursday said they were uncomfortable with McCain taking office at age 72 and 85 percent of them said Palin did not have the right experience for the job.