Voter turnout was virtually the same as 2004 when looking at percentage of population. It was a decent turnout, but guess what? Republican turnout was lower than the last election, while Democrat turnout was higher.
It is my personal opinion that McCain's choice of Sarah Palin helped him to win more votes than he would have won with a less conservative choice. It is true that conservative Republicans were not happy with McCain - he's a RINO.
If a Republican candidate cannot get Republicans to the polling place, they will never win.
What was the strategy behind propelling McCain as our candidate? Did the RNC believe that a RINO would attract the center/left vote? I will admit that I thought it might work at first, but after hearing hundreds of conservatives voice their dissatisfaction with McCain I thought he was toast. Then he picked Sarah Palin as his VP. A true conservative, and an unabashed conservative, she attracted many of the voters that were feeling lackluster aboutMcCain.
It wasn't enough. The RNC, and the Republicans in Congress, need to heed the lessons that we learned in 2008. Hold fast to your conservative principles or your time in office will be short.
McCain was no gem, but he was a damn sight better than the extreme far leftist Obama.
Photo from Abe's blog.