Tens of thousands

Politico:

Sarah Palin tonight attracted the largest crowd yet to any Republican campaign event this cycle, drawing tens of thousands of Floridians out in a conservative-leaning retirement community north of Orlando for a solo rally.

[...] Mike Tucker, a local fire marshal, estimated 60,000. But reporters on the ground, including AP's Brendan Farrington and my colleague Ken Vogel, would only say "tens of thousands," suggesting the marshal's estimate was on the high side. The St. Pete Times's Adam Smith had another fire official in the crowd say it was about 25,000.

And why not? She's a spectacle. So is Obama...the difference being, he earned it. He outsmarted and out-campaigned the Clintons, who were supposed to have this thing locked up. What has Palin done?

McCain would never have chosen a man with her level of experience & understanding. Face it: he choose her because she's a woman. Who knew the Republican Party was such a fan of affirmative action?

Answer: Nobody, because it's not. But it is the party of cynicism, the party that will happily use the spectacle of an unknown woman's nomination to give themselves a shot at the presidency, and -- even if this fails at the national level -- help them in close downticket races where Dems stood a chance to make further inroads, were it not for Palimania's rousing of the evangelical Christianist base.

The interesting news is that her favorability has eroded drastically as people actually get to know her. Look at these numbers from Kos' Research 2000:

      Approve Disapprove No Opinion 

9/11:    52       35        13     +17
9/12:    51       37        12     +14
9/13:    49       40        11     +9
9/14:    47       42        11     +5
9/15:    47       43        10     +4
9/16:    45       44        11     +1
9/17:    44       45        11     -1
9/18:    42       46        12     -4
9/19:    41       46        13     -5
9/20:    40       47        13     -7
UPDATES:
9/21:    41       48        11     -7
9/22:    42       47        11     -5
9/23:    43       47        11     -4
9/24:    44       45        11     -1
9/25:    43       46        11     -3
9/26:    41       47        12     -6

A 24 point drop in 10 days, that's amazing. She may well end up being a net liability for McCain in battleground states (but not a liability for those downticket races the Dems were looking to make inroads in, because she's fired up the base in redder areas).

The lesson here is that over time being a spectacle is not such a good thing when you've done nothing to earn it. Many people are showing up at her rallies, and she's certainly attracting more enthusiastic crowds than McCain alone. I'd go see Palin myself if she came nearby. But that doesn't mean I'd be foolish enough to vote for her ticket unless she and McCain have something good to offer compared to their opponents. So far, I see precious little.`