Election Countdown: 5 Days to Election

Repbulican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and his running mate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and their spouses Todd Palin and Cindy McCain hold a campaing rally at the Giant Center October 28, 2008 in Hershey, PA. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America)

If John McCain loses the election Tuesday, what will Sarah Palin do?

With five days left until this whole crazy thing comes crashing to a racuous anticlimax, that's the question I've been pondering. And it seems I'm not alone. Bloggers, television commentators and columnists are all getting in on the speculation.

Even Sarah Palin can't keep from projecting past Tuesday... much to the chagrin of John McCain's people.

In a Wednesday interview with ABC's Elizabeth Vargas, Palin hinted at some of her post-election aspirations:
VARGAS: But the point being that you haven't been so bruised by some of the double standard, the sexism on the campaign trail, to say, "I've had it. I'm going back to Alaska."

PALIN: Absolutely not. I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that ... that would ... bring this whole ... I'm not doin' this for naught. For their part, many writers seem to think Palin is a natural fit for television. Marketwatch writer Jon Friedman wrote a column running down the odds of Sarah Palin being signed to everything from FOX News (7-5) to MSNBC (50,000-1). Friedman continues:
Palin would be a natural as an anchor or commentator, and I write that respectfully.

Of course, I'm projecting that Palin will weigh options other than what appears to be her obvious game plan: remain as governor of Alaska and serve out the remainder of her term. Then, in two years, she can mount a run of her own for the White House in 2012. (But it's fun to consider her as a TV star!)

As they say in sports, she has all the tools. On the stump she has proven to be vivacious, lively and charismatic and, with a large group of Americans, wildly popular. Plus, she'll need a friendly outlet to plug her inevitable campaign memoir.
Of course, that's not all that was going on Wednesday. In the presidential campaign, many pollsters are now assigning Barack Obama what would be a winning share of the electoral votes if things go as predicted Tuesday. (Full story here.) The prediction comes as some polls are showing the race actually tightening with John McCain making some progress.

Maybe the pollsters were influenced by those pictures of Barack Obama looking all badass while giving a stump speech in the rain on Tuesday. It's like "Lethal Weapon" except he's not getting the crap beat out of him by Gary Busey.

In other news, the Feds got involved in an investigation of the effigy hanging from a West Hollywood residence Wednesday. I reported on this incident recently, and even though the Feds have rightly decided the two guys who put up the noosed effigy were not a threat, I still say they're assholes who make West Coast liberals look bad. (Full Story: Feds on Palin Effigy: 'We're Not Treating it as a Threat')

More News from the campaign trail

• Obama calls McCain "Robin" to Bush's "Batman"
• A former Obama speechwriter has endorsed John McCain
• The disgraced ACORN agency is fighting voter suppression

Gallup Daily Tracking
From Gallup.com
Obama: 51% (+1%)
McCain: 42% (-1%)


The Day in Pictures
McCain Campaigns On Final Week Before Presidential Election

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"Last Chance For Change" Concert For Obama With Jay-Z And LeBron James

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Obama Campaign Buys 30-Minute TV Commercial Before World Series Game

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Obama Campaigns Across The U.S. In Final Week Before Election

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Joe Biden Campaigns In Florida Less Than Week Away From Election Day

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Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop at Roger Dean Stadium October 29, 2008 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Getty Images North America)