[alexamenos]

yeah....the Palin pick was about the only thing that generated any excitement about his candidacy, so it is really uncertain whether he would have had the lead in the first place.

and I don't know how Romney changes things, unless he might have persuaded McCain to stay the heck away from the banker's boondoggle....and I think it's much more likely that Romney would have been on board with the boondoggle anyway. I don't see that Palin was such a drag on him as McCain was a drag on McCain at that point.