Beyond the Dome

You remember Colorado, right? It’s that big battleground state where the Democrats had their convention last week, thinking Barack Obama could steal it away from the Republicans. And if the Republican convention delegates are getting nervous about Sarah Palin, you might expect to see it among the delegation from this crucial swing state.

But you would be wrong. At least, I didn’t see it in talking to Colorado delegates this morning in Minneapolis after a breakfast where Karl Rove, the strategist behind Bush’s 2004 re-election and so many other things, made a pitch on Palin’s behalf.

These delegates acknowledged that they weren’t sure about McCain at first. Most Colorado Republicans weren’t either, which is why Mitt Romney won the February caucus with 59 percent of the vote. But now they say they’re totally on board, partly because of Palin’s socially conservative views and partly because they think it was a good strategic move for McCain to pick a woman.

“I think when he picked her, he pulled the rug out from Obama and strengthened his own chances” in Colorado, said Denver delegate Jean Arkin. She said she feels that way even after all of the negative coverage of Palin over the last few days: “He knew exactly what he was getting. McCain isn’t going to put himself on the line if he doesn’t think she’s the right choice.”

Cynthia Hamlyn, also of Denver, noted that “initially I wasn’t for McCain.” But she says Palin helps because of her pro-gun views and her opposition to abortion, especially with Colorado’s “Human Life Amendment” on the ballot this year — a constitutional amendment that declares that life begins at conception.

Rove’s presentation may have helped as well. According to Ryan Call, the Colorado Republican Party’s political director and legal counsel, Rove countered the criticisms of Palin’s experience by arguing that local politics, where most of Palin’s political career has been based, is where the true battles take place because everyone knows each other and the politics can get personal.

And during Palin’s term as governor, Rove argued that “she’s had to veto more spending than he [Obama] is spending on his own campaign,” Call said.

There also seems to be a backlash against all of the Palin coverage. “It exposes the hypocrisy of our friends on the left for criticizing her for being a working mother,” said Call. “That’s what every working mother in America does. They juggle work and the responsibilities of raising a family.”

That’s not the only reason Palin has been criticized, of course. But you can see that the rebuttals are already being formed as the convention goes on. With all of the excitement Palin has generated among social conservatives — and all of the committed partisans who tend to become delegates at these conventions — it appears that it would take a lot more than this to change their minds.