mccain did a lot of ball dropping during his campaign. don't forget he was a complete rino, bitch slapping his own party on numerous occasions; discouraging his base, the far right, and the centerists who could see little between him and your average democrat. the media painted palin to be an idiot, something far from the truth (look at her record and approval ratings) and tried to make Alaska just a third rate state that's out of touch with "american ideals". hell, they were so good at it some people mistook tina fey and her parody skits to be real (palin NEVER said she can see russia from her house, yet I hear people quote it all the time as fact). most republicans voted for palin, not him, some joking that maybe he'll die in office so we get palin as president. obama became a celebrity of the (unwise and often ignorant) myspace generation, mccain became your grandfather who still uses pliers to change channels.