Amy Holmes: 10:40p ET - Palin: A+. The plus is for wildly exceeding expectations. She more than held her own. She was polished, direct, folksy, and on message. She stressed her personal experience both as a mom and as a governor, from the kitchen table to the executive branch, her record as a reformer and bipartisan deal maker. She even got Biden to agree with her. Read more…

Roland Martin: Expectations are high for Palin AND Biden. Many of you read my commentary this week on CNN.com and I haven’t changed my opinion.

I’m tired of Washington journalists continuing to say that the expectations are low, and the bar even lower, for Gov. Sarah Palin.

And the same goes for Sen. Joe Biden. Read more…

Amy Holmes: 9:40p ET - Were those Katie Couric interviews a devious head fake? I’ve heard Biden say at least twice now that he agrees with Palin. First on the issue of windfall profits, and then on the issue of gay marriage. Regarding the first, he actually said he and Obama would like to do what the Governor did in Alaska. Economic conservatives won’t like it. But for debate purposes: advantage Palin.

Candy Crowley: 9:35p ET - Palin veers off course — the question is about helping consumers with crushing debt, and she’s responding with energy policy. Politicians frequently change the subject, but this was a pretty obvious 180.

Read more

Amy Holmes | Bio
CNN Political Analyst

The current Democratic spin is that House Republicans are stalling the bailout plan. Just one problem. House rules let the majority party, and that would be the Democrats, rule the roost. If Nancy Pelosi wanted to roll over the minority’s objections and pass this bill, she could.
Me thinks Pelosi is playing this out for as long as she can.

Yesterday, Congresswoman Melissa Bean, D-Illinois and self described “Obama Mama,” told me that the bailout is deeply opposed by the folks back home. Constituents are outraged that Congress is giving away $700 billion taxpayer dollars to greedy and incompetent Wall Street fat cats (okay, she didn’t actually use the term “fat cats”.) She told me in no uncertain terms that she believes that the banking system is genuinely on the brink, and legislators have no choice but to pass the bill and face an angry public and explain their vote. And it ain’t gonna be pretty.

One can reasonably presume that Pelosi knows all of this. She wants it both ways. And for at least the next six hours, she’ll get it. Duck the blame on a massively unpopular bill by running for cover under the objections of the Republican minority. Claim frustration that her party’s noble and principled efforts to do the necessary and difficult thing are being thwarted by small-minded Republicans. Don’t let Democrats get the blame for an unpopular bill, or suffer voter backlash for irresponsible inaction. Get Republicans on the hook, one way or another, squirming right alongside Democrats..

Editor’s Note: Amy Holmes is an independent conservative who has not endorsed any candidate for president.

Amy Holmes | Bio
CNN Political Analyst

Republicans have been getting heat for knocking Obama’s community organizing. It turns out that back in the day Obama knocked it, too. In a lengthy investigative piece in the New Republic, John Judis reveals that, “[w]hen Obama came to South Chicago, he believed in community organizing; within two-and-a-half years… he was clearly growing disillusioned.”

For the whole story — what Barack Obama won’t tell you about his community organizing past and why Obama actually agrees with Republicans — click here.

Amy Holmes | Bio
CNN Political Analyst

On Friday, the Obama campaign put out the spin that they were deploying Hillary to take shots at Palin. Upon reading it, I wrote that it was rather awkward to tout the woman they passed over as the answer to the woman the other guy chose as his VP.

I also wrote that a female democratic strategist told me, “Don’t think that Hillary hasn’t noticed.”

I don’t know if that same strategist brought my blog to Hillary’s attention, or if the irony of the situation was just too glaring.

But in less than 24 hours, Hillary has made it known that she intends to go after McCain, not Palin. Check it out.

Editor’s Note: Amy Holmes is an independent conservative who has not endorsed any candidate for president.

Amy Holmes | Bio
CNN Political Analyst

McCain has a strong woman? Well, the Obama campaign wants voters to know they’ve got one, too, and they’re going to deploy her to crush the moose hunting hockey mom from Alaska. In a strange twist of logic, the Obama campaign is touting the woman they passed over as the woman they need to beat the woman the other guy picked.

The New York Times reports that “Mrs. Clinton’s campaign event in Florida, her first for Mr. Obama since the Democratic convention, will serve as a counterpoint to the searing attacks and fresh burst of energy that Ms. Palin injected into the race with her convention speech on Wednesday, Obama aides said.”

So, let’s get this straight. They didn’t choose her and her 18 million voters to put on the ticket. They gave the VP spot to Joe Biden. But now that Sarah Palin has arrived on the political scene, they’re promoting Hillary as the female answer to the Republican VP nominee. Awkward, to say the least.

And as one female democratic strategist tells me, don’t think that Hillary hasn’t noticed.

Amy Holmes | Bio
CNN Political Analyst

Much has been made of whether or not a staunch pro-life candidate can attract the pro-choice vote. And how could Joe Lieberman throw in his liberal lot with, gasp, social conservatives? Wonder no more. In 2004, Bush won 25% of voters who believe abortion should always be legal and 38% of those who believe it should mostly be legal. While Bush didn’t draw a majority of pro-choicers to the Republican ticket, he certainly earned a healthy chunk. Bush also won 23% of the gay and lesbian vote (roughly the same percentage he received in 2000.)

Kerry, the pro-choice candidate, won 22% of those who believe abortion should always be illegal and 26% of those who believe that it should be mostly illegal. (see poll)

In other words, Bush actually did better at attracting voters who do not share his views on abortion than did Kerry. It could be that Kerry simply didn’t articulate his position well. In one of the debates, he stumbled through his answer to a young woman as to how he reconciles his pro-choice position with his Catholic faith. For some inexplicable he didn’t repeat the formulation that had been so successful for Clinton: that he believed abortion should be safe, legal and rare. But that was Kerry for you.

Every four years, the media and liberal Democrats promote the misconception that choice vs. life neatly divides voters into two camps, Democrats vs. Republicans. But as Joe Lieberman told voters tonight, do not be fooled. The truth is that past election statistics say differently, because voters themselves say differently in the privacy of their polling booths.

Bristol Palin, daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, poses as a member of the Juneau-Douglas High School junior varsity basketball team in February 2007.

Amy Holmes | Bio
CNN Political Analyst

Editor’s Note: Amy Holmes is an Independent conservative who has not endorsed any candidate for president.

Here’s what we know. Bristol Palin is pregnant. And that’s all we know. We don’t know if she was unaware of how babies are made, or how to acquire contraception. As the eldest of five children, it’s hard to imagine that she was not acquainted with the basic facts of life. And none of it is our business.

If we want to turn someone’s personal life into a teachable moment, may I suggest John Edwards? “Warning: Extra-marital sex may result in messy paternity rumors and derail national political ambitions.”

Do they teach that in sex ed?

Amy Holmes
AC360° Contributor and CNN Political Analyst

As CNN viewers may know, I’m pro-choice. My former boss, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a committed pro-lifer, had no problem hiring me despite that (shocking!) news. Indeed, I became a conservative working for a women’s organization that took no position on the issue. We welcomed women from all sides. Our ethos was that women are not defined by our ovaries. We care about taxes, national security, free markets and classic notions of equal rights. Abortion should not be a gender test.

I say all of this because I have been frustrated by the insistence in the media that John McCain’s choice for vice president, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is defined by her pro-life position, as if that is the beginning and end of Governor Palin and of conservative women — and that her pro-life position is extreme. When one looks at the polling data on this issue, it’s clear that it is not.

We’ve seen a concerted effort by the media to marginalize her as a far right-winger, out of touch with moderate and pro-choice women. This is unfair to her, and to all of us who respect her admirable decision to carry to term a child diagnosed in utero with Down’s Syndrome. It’s been noted that 90% of parents who receive the news that their child will be born with this disability choose to terminate. Governor Palin put her principles into practice. And as a pro-choicer, I can say with sincerity that I admire her act of character and love.

A few summers ago I was at a friend’s beach house, and the topic of pro-choicers who work for pro-lifers came up (that’s Washington for you). I made the argument that Republican elected officials are far more tolerant of differing views on this topic than Democrats. Count the number of pro-lifers on the staffs of senators Boxer, Clinton, Schumer, Durbin or any of the Democratic leadership. I’m certain the number is negligible, if not zero. Apply the same test to Republican leadership. I guarantee you, the number is much higher, pro-life Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey included.

The media would like to label conservatives as intolerant on the abortion issue and, as a result, intolerant of women. But the truth is the conservative tent is much broader than that caricature. And it’s much broader than what the other side allows.

Amy Holmes
CNN Political Analyst

So, can we now put to rest the always false notion that Jeremiah Wright represented and embodied the African American community?

It was not true when Barack Obama declared that he could no more disown Wright than he could the black community.

It was not true when Obama supporters rushed to “contextualize” Wright’s absurd conspiracy theories and damnations of America.

It was proven not true when NBC and the Wall Street Journal asked African American poll respondents in late March their view of Wright and he received only a 15% approval rating.

And last night, Barack Obama won the African American vote with 91% in North Carolina and 90% in Indiana after denouncing Wright in a widely televised, reported, and repeated press conference. Those voters chose sides, and they chose Barack Obama.

Reverend Wright may have done many good works for his congregants and the south side of Chicago. And he may speak for and to a good number of people who agree with his political views.

But last night a far greater number cast their vote for the man who said, “Enough.”

Amy Holmes
CNN Political Analyst

Editor’s note: The following is written in response to an essay posted earlier on this blog by Lanny Davis, a Hillary Clinton supporter and fundraiser, addressing charges that the Clinton’s played “the race card” against Barack Obama. Click here to read that blog.

Lanny,

Welcome to the conservative side of the street, where the media and Democratic operatives routinely accuse Republicans and conservatives of playing the race card to demonize and discredit them.

In your own post on your party’s internecine racial warfare, you gratuitously refer to the “Republican hate machine.”  Never mind that Republicans were happily absent from the various Clinton controversies you cite.  In an effort to find an enemy to blame for the current state of racial politics in the Democratic party, instead of looking inwards and examining the roots, so to speak, of liberal racial grievance politics, you blame the media — being very careful not to blame Obama.  That would certainly be a mess.

I’ll let Democrats sort out who played the race card first: the media, the Obama campaign, or the Clintons.  But I have no doubt that if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee, all three will unite to return to politics as usual, questioning the racial bona fides of anyone who fails to support the candidacy of the first black presidential nominee.  The politics of hope go only so far.