I honestly think a lot of political "experts" have looked at the running mates in the same way analysts look at videogame consoles, and I think their response to this could be as wrong as most videogame analysts predictions ... There are quite a few motivating factors that pushes people to vote, and most of these factors can be classified as either an emotional or an intellectual response. My non exhaustive list of these is as follows:
Emotional
- Party Loyalty
- Historical Importance
- Values and Beliefs
- Appearance
- Charisma
Intellectual
- Policies
- Experience
- Issues of the day
So far in the campaign Obama has been dominating the emotional side of things because he is a more attractive candidate, who will make history when elected, he is very charismatic, and the Republican base was not exactly thrilled with McCain. At the same time McCain has been able to hold his own because he is far more experienced than Obama, and his policies and approach to many of the issues of the day generally match up with conventional wisdom on how to handle the country.
Now, Palin is a very attractive woman who seems (at this point in time) to be very charismatic, she seems to practice and preach a lot of values and beliefs which are of key importance to the conservative base as well as most moderate Americans, and because she is a female Vice Presidential nominee she would make history if McCain is elected.
On the intellectual side of things, while Obama talks about transcending parties and brining change whith little to back it up while McCain and Palin both have demonstrated experience working outside of party lines in order to bring about change.
