An e-mail, representative of sentiments I’ve been hearing all weekend:

Chuck Todd may be correct about the Obama campaign being completely flatfooted in trying to deal with Governor Palin. However, Governor Palin’s appeal may not be Obama’s biggest problem. We political groupies may tend to forget how little politics is followed by lots of folks (certainly the 5% of likely voters that could produce a 10% swing in the polls) who think they have better things to do. It seems very possible that before Senator McCain’s acceptance speech, many Americans did not even know Senator McCain was once a prisoner of war. That story was told effectively at the convention. If I’m correct, Obama may be in worse trouble than it looks. Governor Palin’s glamour and star power will likely fade (at least some), but not Senator McCain’s biography. Hopefully, the policy differences are a big factor also, but I’m not holding my breath.