The XX Factor: What women really think.

Where Did All the White Women Go?

Is it paranoid to look at this morning's papers and conclude that your national nightmare has come true, that the Palin magic has, in fact, bewitched the country? Let's look at the numbers. The new Washington Post/ABC poll shows McCain and Obama now in a dead heat, with most of the shift coming from white women defecting to McCain.

These are not Hillary voters. The poll finds that 78 percent of voters who wanted Clinton as president are now backing Obama. 

So who are they, and what made them changed their minds? A brief tally to see if SP gets all the credit.

1. More voters now say the McCain ticket would do more to change government, and he is almost even with Obama on that question. 

One point for SP. McCain hasn't won anything new on that front. His convention speech was standard Beltway bipartisan droning. She has the radical reform story, having taken down the Alaska establishment.

2. More people are calling themselves "very enthusiastic" about his presidency.

Again, SP. Cheerleader all the way. Go team!

3. More people now trust him on the domestic issues—the economy, social values, energy policy.

Again, I give credit to SP. Cindy McCain's personal narrative reeks of noblesse oblige—the charity work, the overseas adoption, addiction to painkillers, the $10,000 suits. These kinds of details don't resonate with the masses. Instead, it's what we (the evil media) see as SP's screw-ups that are clearly having an everywoman appeal. I, too, got accidentally pregnant, says the White Woman. My daughter is also a little sl__.

Social values? SP for sure. Even energy is the one issue on which she can claim expertise.

So, in conclusion: Sometimes it pays to be paranoid.

In the meantime, my favorite SP story of the day is the Washington Post's scooplet about her having billed the state for time spent at home. Apparently, she filed for per diem expenses, meant for travel, on days she was hanging around in Wasilla, including four days before she gave birth. This is the ultimate conflation of the personal and political and the ultimate confirmation of the Christian working mother's sense of entitlement that "mom" ranks equal as a job title.