Palin and the invigoration of young conservatives

The most recent Gallup tracking poll grants Obama a 55-38 advantage with voters in the 18-29 bracket, but that numerical disparity ignores the cultural, cultish following and outpouring of enthusiasm -- we all know Obama has triggered something in this younger generation, particularly for far left liberals. Palin might change the statistics, she might not -- but what she's already done is fired young conservatives the hell up about this election. Here's a sample of Facebook today:

That's majorly different than usual. Two liberal friends this afternoon volunteered that they would probably be giving McCain another look for this choice. Over at Right-Wing Vitriol, we've been proponents of Palin since March, but we were all legitimately excited about this pick. Only Bobby Jindal or Sarah Palin could have created a swelling of young support like this, and only McCain would ever pull the trigger on this one.

Not just the youth either. This afternoon, my grandmother, an avid NPR listener who remains a registered Democrat in Florida (because in the early 1950s in still Old South Florida, nobody was a Republican) wrote a check for the max to the McCain campaign. Per descriptions by my mother, grandpa, and herself, she has never been this excited about politics. Her younger sister, a Bush Pioneer in 2004, had reneged on her vow not to bundle this election cycle. McCain raised $3 million today. This is what can happen.

This can't be only framed as a play for independent voters -- it's a call to the faithful to energize and turn out.

Katherine Miller blogs daily at Right-Wing Vitriol.