The "Palin Hurts the Ticket" Meme

Today I've seen numerous postings at mainstream media sites with the same storyline: Sarah Palin is hurting McCain. Really? With who, people who wouldn't have voted for McCain anyway and now really won't vote for him? With Colin Powell?

If Palin is hurting McCain, it's hard to explain these numbers provided by Campaign Spot:

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin brings Saturday Night Live its best ratings in 14 years.

She drew 10,000 to an airplane hangar in Roswell, New Mexico. (Insert alien-babe joke here.)

She drew 24,000 to Noblesville, Indiana, and 6,500 to an airplane hangar in Bangor, Maine.

She drew 10,000 to Salem, New Hampshire, the same day that Obama was in the same state in Londonderry and drew a little over 4,000.

No offense to any of the other running mate possibilities, but do you think any other pick by McCain would have drawn 60,000 to The Villages in Florida?

You think it's strictly coincidence that almost 70 million people watched the vice-presidential debate? You think Joe Biden is the reason it outdrew all of the Obama-McCain debates? You think the audiences were just watching to see if she was going to implode?

The other meme is that Joe the Plumber and the emphasis on William Ayers are also hurting McCain. Why then is Obama's lead in the polls shrinking? McCain could use more "hurting" if that's the result.

UPDATE from this morning:

Palin's crowd in Colorado Springs this morning? About 11,000, according to the Denver Post.