As was demonstrated in Richard White's seminal book, "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own" , (University if Oklahoma Press, 1991) the reason behind voting rights for women was the fear that the votes of the Chinese laborers; who had been imported to work in the mines, and on railway construction, might undermine the controlling interests of the landholding, white men. Their clever solution was to allow their wives and daughters to vote, thus maintaining their control.

The suggestion that a candidate who is anti-choice, anti-gay rights, anti-racial equality could possibly deserve anything except derision from feminists is bizarre.

I love your writing.

I am conservative. I am not a huge fan of McCain. Ironically most of us don't like McCain all that much because he doesn't seem all that conservative. That is one of the reasons I can't stomach Obama -- much as I admire his audacity and intelligence. The basic premises of his campaign are not true to me. McCain in no way would be Bush III. And, when you look at how Obama got his mentor thrown off the ticket in Chicago, wasted $100 million dollars "reforming" schools as part of CAC (with no improvement), and really is the far left of his party, I also don't believe he will change anything...unless that change is to go even further left than we have ever been.

I think he will embolden our enemies and will inadvertently lead us furhter into bondage. I also think he is still the "spy" he claimed to be in his memoirs...acting calm and not angry...and getting behind enemy lines. If his words and associations werent so radical, I'd think I was a right wing wacko for being so worried.

But to my point. Another thing that doesnt ring true to me is that Palin is stupid or unqualified. The debate showed what a farce much of our media has become. CNN told me immiediately that Biden won because he had so much substance -- that Sarah Palin was too populist and too simplistic. I felt she was more real and I trust that she actually do good for America, but CNN told me otherwise with a whole roomful of smart folks.

Later, the Wall Street Journal revealed, and has been since repeated by a lot of conservatives, the Joe Biden lied about much, was wrong about much of his "substance," and made the kind of factual historic errors (not just slips...invented events!) that Palin would have been crucified for....and the media that had told me he won is silent. I want to take Joe for a cup of joe at the restaurant he mentioned that closed 20 years ago.

Turns out Palin "won" both on style and "substance."

You have the nerve to point this out. You can say you like Obama better and believe in him, without ignoring the fact that Palin is indeed not stupid, evil or deceitful (at least any more than public life might somehow make us all to a degree).

Your honestly, to those of us who DONT want to have to read only conservative stuff all the time, is refreshing. My honest assessment is that Obama doesn't love America enough to be president. To him it is a broken country to be fixed by government. To me, America is just fine, it is the government that must be fixed. But he is in no way stupid and is certainly appealing.

Keep up the GREAT WRITING. Thanks for being fair, talented and insightful.

The Left Wing is scared to death of Sarah Palin. If McCain wins, she could dominate the American political scene for 16 years. No Hillary, no Barack, 16 years of her charming people and changing votes and advancing her conservative views. CAN'T HAVE THAT!

As usual, Camille hits the politically incorrect bullseye. I'm a Florida Democrat who voted for Hillary, who is still FURIOUS about being ignored by the Democrats. However, I will probably hold my nose and vote for Obama. But I am not voting Democrat BECAUSE of Obama, but rather DESPITE Obama.

After listening to Palin for 5 seconds I could see that she was clearly extraordinary. She is a force.

She is also my new archetypical Aquarius. She has an extraordinary horoscope in that Sun, Moon and rising sign, and Mercury are all in Aquarius. Aquarius is a very intelligent, independent-minded and non-conformist sign.

I'm almost 100% certain that she will be the Republican candidate in 2012, whether or not McCain wins. And if Obama does not perform miracles in his administration, my bet would be with Sarah Palin to WIN in 2012. She'll eat Obama for breakfast.

The nice thing about Palin is that she will not allow herself to be thrown under the bus the way Hillary did. I am still FURIOUS that Hillary just rolled over and played dead rather than taking the fight to the convention floor. She still had about a 20% chance of beating Obama. Why did she capitulate to the ObaMoron SCUM and quit?

I have PROFOUND concerns about the kind of SCUM that Obama has among his followers. And I am not dismissing the idea that Obama's followers bear some resemblance to the Nazi Party. That becomes particularly germane given the start of Great Depression II.

But I do like Sarah Palin the BEST as a person out of all 3 of the candidates.

My dad was an S&L guy before there were computers. Every quarter he'd bring home the books and my mom would sit at the dining room table at night with the ledger books, a manual adding machine, a Coke and a cigarette and figure out each depositors' quarterly interest (it was a small Savings & Loan). Then she'd give the books to my brother and me to check her work. Nothing got fudged; if it didn't balance, you did it again. And that's how my mom and dad handled our home's finances, too. I can't see Senators McCain, Obama or Biden ever sitting late at night over the checkbooks and savings accounts and deciding how much money was left over and where it would best be used. But I can see Governor Palin doing that. If all politics is local, then all economies are households, and I want to know that the person managing the U.S. economy first knows how to manage their own home's economy.