Alexander Garber's Profile

Palin's undoubted pizazz will get some middle-ground voters. But her total opposition to abortion, and her support of creationism, are contrary to the beliefs of the majority of Americans, whose consistent support for a liberal social order is usually drowned out by the vocal evangelical minority, who forced her on McCain. Believing otherwise is a measure of the self-defeating cynicism of the right that has so effectively boxed them into a corner here and in the US.

And three weeks before the election, the commission inquiring into "Alaska troopergate" will deliver its findings. Palin was an audacious choice. She may yet prove to be a disastrous one.

But there's no doubt that the election itself has been sent spinning.