Trivial Pantsuits

Today brings lots of new, potentially damaging info about Palin - a clothing budget almost as big as Joe The Plumber's income, AK-paid travel for her kids and still more Troopergate questions. And, yet, given the McCain camp's bigger struggles - on both the issues front and the electoral map - Palin controversies seem trivial.

-- In the newest NBC/WSJ poll, 55% don't think she's qualified to be president - and her disapproval ratings have now overtaken her approval ratings. But the more criticism she endures - in the MSM and on SNL - may actually help her achieve the one thing McCain had hoped she would bring - enthusiasm from the base.

-- The latest Diageo/Hotline poll shows that 54% of McCain voters are enthusiastically supporting him, up from 45% one week ago. The NBC/WSJ poll showed McCain w/a huge lead among evangelicals (76 to 20 percent) and small town/rural voters (53 to 40). This would be good news for McCain, if he were also doing better w/indies and women voters.

-- Meanwhile, cong GOPers are finding out just how dangerous incorporating Palin's "real America" talking points (for which she recently apologized) into their campaign rhetoric can be. Not only has it been a boon for Dem fundraising (just ask the once cash-strapped Tinklenberg running against Rep. Bachmann in MN). But in a year where voters say they want an end to politics as usual, this strategy looks like a sure loser.