Mary Dejevsky: The dilemma for those of us who supported Hillary

John McCain's nomination of Sarah Palin as his running mate has re-started the clock on this US election and transformed its dynamic. Everything that has gone before is as though it has never been – except for one thing: the defeat of Hillary Clinton at the hands of a less experienced, more inspirational and eye-catching man. (And what, you might ask, is new there?)

As a Hillary voter by proxy – that is, I would have voted for her, if I had been living in the US and had a vote – her defeat left me and, more to the point, an unknown number of her 18 million primary voters, with a dilemma.

The loyal Democratic choice would be Obama, who had sagely tempered his flashy superficiality with the policy substance of Senator Joe Biden.

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But McCain stood seductively in the wings: outspoken; more secular than he could afford to let on to his constituency; a "character" with honorary rebel status, such as we of the Hillary persuasion fancy ourselves to be. A man, moreover, who had been tricked out of the nomination in 2000 by the money and ruthless sense of entitlement of George Bush. What more would it take for McCain to conquer us? His running mate was bound to feature in the equation.

The exhilarating, even reckless, nomination of the first-term Governor of Alaska, only sharpens the dilemma further. For while the choice of a woman was all too clearly calculated to appeal to the Hillary crowd – a generation of working women who pinned their hopes on her as a fellow striver – its primary purpose was designed even more clearly to secure conservative Republicans who might be scared by the apparent non-conformism of McCain. And this is quite a different, almost opposite, group.

Palin's natural constituency, as her rapturous reception at this week's convention showed, consists of grass-roots Republican activists. More broadly, she will draw the god-fearing, patriotic, family-values voters of the small towns, the suburbs and the south. For them, her gender is secondary to her espousal of their priorities.

For the female half of that electorate, she personifies the attractive, efficient, articulate wife and mother they aspire to be. For the men, perhaps McCain included, she is like a successful daughter or sister. As we also know, she opposes abortion, not just in theory, but in practice. What a gift for Republican strategists!

That in so much she represents the very opposite philosophical tendency to the one that drives Hillary Clinton, however, does not mean that her appeal will not cross party lines. What we know about Sarah Palin (after an acquaintance of barely a week) suggests much that Hillary voters can admire.

No Stepford wife, she exhibits willpower, strength of character, and a determination to get things done. In her home state, she took on the very male Republican establishment, and won. As Governor, she has a mandate for the top executive job, which she juggles – it seems, capably – with five children. An Alaskan, she is the ultimate out-of-Washington candidate.

Alright, we might have misgivings: her tolerance of Creationism on the school curriculum, for instance; her opposition to abortion. But is not faith a private matter? So long as she does not try to foist her morality on the rest of us, should the Hillary voters be troubled? At least her piety is not hypocritical: she kept her Downs syndrome baby. And while her daughter's addition to the "teen pregnancy" statistics might suggest blemishes on the family front, her masterly public response – unwelcome news, but we will give the young couple every support – could enhance her appeal to ordinary, imperfect, families.

Depending on what might still be revealed about Mrs Palin, her appeal to the Republican base seems secure. As for the Hillary voters, the rivals for their favours now look remarkably equal, albeit in an unconventional way. A strong-willed woman, whose experience, as she tells it, entailed more "actual responsibilities" than Obama's, could yet win some disappointed women Democrats for McCain.

For me, the touchstone issues are abortion and the real possibility, given McCain's age and health, that someone so untested might suddenly find herself President. Others will argue that a good person, such as they already believe Palin to be, will do the right thing, as a mother or a President of the United States. In the end, how worried voters are about electing a self-styled hockey mom to be "a heartbeat away" from that office could well determine McCain's electability. But they may not be as worried as we in this more timid continent might think.

m.dejevsky@independent.co.uk

For rolling comment on the US election visit: independent.co.uk/campaign08

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