News-Record.com

Thanks goodness the conventions are over and we can focus our attention on ...

... hurricanes.

It was exactly 12 years ago today, by the way, that Hurricane Fran slammed our coast, killing 24 people in North Carolina. Fortunately, Hanna isn't expected to match that.

I did not stay up to hear John McCain's speech last night, which I gather was not a hurricane-strength oration. I'm pleased he pledged to reach across partisan divisions -- which were widened by earlier speakers during the Republican convention. He'll have no choice if he's elected, though, because the Democrats will maintain solid control of Congress. But he'll have to sacrifice the support of his Republican base if he goes too far to accommodate Democrats.

Barack Obama also promises to unite Americans, but he's very unlikely to fulfill that pledge if he's president. His programs will appeal to Democrats, not Republicans. Why would Republicans, and the nearly 50 percent of Americans likely to vote Republican in the presidential race, want to unite behind an agenda they oppose? And, with the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to back his programs, why would Obama modify his agenda for the sake of bringing political opponents on board? It won't happen.

More thoughts about Sarah Palin and the idea that she can't possibly attract any Hillary Clinton supporters to the GOP ticket. Scoffers note that Palin and Clinton take opposite positions on the abortion issue and add it's insulting to suggest women voters will support Palin just because of gender.

The first concern assumes that all Hillary supporters were pro-choice, which I would doubt. Why couldn't some pro-life voters back Hillary for other reasons? There are plenty of pro-life Democrats, but because all the Dem presidential candidates were pro-choice, those voters would have to disregard the abortion issue altogether during the primary campaign. Why couldn't they switch to the Republican ticket for the general election, as many Democrats do in every presidential election?

Secondly, the idea that women voters wouldn't be drawn to Palin on account of gender assumes that women didn't favor Clinton because of gender. There was a significant gender gap between Obama and Clinton in the Dem primaries. That at least suggests that gender was a factor when some women chose their candidate. Let's not say it's impossible for gender to be a factor in November.

Speaking of gender gaps, aren't you glad that hurricanes can be given male names now?

Still, if we wanted to pick names from the four folks on the major party tickets, I'd say Hurricane Sarah sounds most fitting.