A correspondent wanted to know if I had information on how John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin plays with women. Saying anything about Palin’s positives/negatives is difficult during the bounce. For now, a far larger divide than gender is marital status – marrieds prefer McCain, unmarrieds prefer Obama. That’s a bigger story than the absence of a large gender divide – though you wouldn’t know it from press coverage.

Also, we are still learning new information about Sarah Palin. For instance, while mayor of Wasilla she made rape victims pay for their own forensic tests. This was reported in 2000 by the local newspaper there, the Frontiersman. This is a particularly interesting story because she also drove the town $22 million into debt to buy things like a sports complex. This could affect opinion.