If Sarah Palin is the 2012 presidential nominee, the Republican Party "would have a catastrophic election result,” the top strategist for the McCain campaign said today. Steve Schmidt foresees the 2012 election being won by the party that can sway the independents who backed Barack Obama in 2008. In the past year, Palin “has done nothing to expand her appeal beyond the base,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt, who has long been a Palin detractor, told the Atlantic. “I think that she has talents, but my honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate."
(More Steve Schmidt stories.)