The Most Popular (Increasingly So – Why?) Palin Article: “How Palin Could Win Electoral College”(With Map)

The article reposted below: “Census Bureau Electoral College 2012 Map Shows Palin’s Eleven Vote Win” has proven to be the most popular ever posted on the M.Joseph Sheppard’s “A Point Of View” site. It was reposted at “The Sarah Palin Information Blog” site also in December 2010.

Surprisingly, pleasantly, and somewhat mystifyingly, it is growing substantially in page views even though Palin is not running.

The article was written at a time when it was considered  that Palin might make a run for the GOP’s nomination in 2012, and of course, for the presidency should she have been successful at gaining the nomination.

Given the voting history of the states assigned to Palin in the Electoral College map, it was entirely feasible that she could have won the required number of EC votes to have reached the 270 needed to be elected (irrespective of the popular vote). 

The article garnered a bit of interest at both sites, and readership declined precipitously (and of course understandably so), after Palin declared she would not be a candidate in October 2011. But, astonishingly and interestingly, the readership of the post has since increased strikingly! Commencing with an uptick in May of this year, and accelerating to over 4000 page views for August and September to date, as per the analysis below from the SPIB site..

Months and Years

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2010												95	95
2011	71	78	71	80	34	48	99	26	67	22	44	37	677
2012	118	199	117	109	367	365	363	1,393	2,619				5,650

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The article has not been front page on either site since it was first posted so for thousands of page views to have happened recently, (a total of over 9000 between the two sites since published), means that people are searching for the article. Perhaps and possibly more likely, they search for an Electoral College map pertaining to the current Obama vs Romney campaign, and upon seeing the link to the post, are clicking on it.
This raises the question as to why that is happening. Does it mean that people are interested in “what might have been” and, given the election is soon upon, want a comparison to the current Electoral College maps which are showing President Obama with a substantial lead? Are Republicans looking towards 2016 should Romney lose and judging whether Palin would be better placed to win under those circumstances?

The fact that there is such interest in the possibility of a Palin campaign -when she is not running now – shows, indisputably,  that there is huge interest in the possibility of a future run to the degree that people wish to see exactly how a Palin run could bring victory. The map, in my opinion, shows a more than viable path to an election win for Palin.

Here is the original post from December 2010

The final 2012 Census Bureau Electoral College adjustments are now in and we can take a preview snapshot of what the most likely result will be for Sarah Palin. 

With the population shifts and a net Republican states gain of 6 electoral votes over the 2008 allocation Palin would assume the presidency with an eleven electoral vote margin.

There is room therefore to lose Colorado or Iowa and still win comfortably.

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