Schmidt: Palin Would Be Catastrophe

Steve Schmidt, campaign manager for John McCain’s failed 2008 presidential bid, said on Friday that if McCain’s vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, were the GOP nominee in 2012, the Republicans could have a “catastrophic election.” When asked how he thought he would be portrayed in Palin’s upcoming memoir, Going Rogue, Schmidt said he thought he might be called the “anti-rogue.” Nonetheless, the GOP strategist admitted that it wasn’t “inconceivable that she could be the nominee for 2012,” even if he thought that she wouldn’t be “a winning candidate.” Schmidt, who was speaking at the Atlantic’s First Draft of History Conference, indicated that he believes Palin has “talent,” but hasn’t expanded “into the middle of the electorate where elections are decided.”