Fairer To Sarah

This is from Commentary's "The Meaning Of Sarah Palin":

In the end, Palin had a modest impact on the race. About 60 percent of those interviewed in the exit polls said McCain’s choice of Palin had been a factor in their vote. Of these, 56 percent voted for McCain while only 43 percent voted for Obama. In other words, she appears to have helped McCain more than she hurt him, but not by much, which is as it should be; we were voting for a President, after all. In the face of unprecedented attack, Palin succeeded where almost no vice-presidential candidate ever has before in winning sustained support for the ticket.

I don't think this will do. I'd agree chances are she had a modest impact on the race since people vote for the top of the ticket. But she did get a lot more attention than any other running mate I can think of (absurdly so, really), and so the two questions should be did she have more impact than other Veeps, and was it positive.

I don't know the answer to these questions, but mosty because there's not enough information available. Running mates are like doctors--first, do no harm. And unless we have numbers from previous elections, which the article doesn't provide, it's impossible to interpret the stats above.