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Did Independents Hate Palin's Speech?

We won't know until the polls start trickling out—and maybe not even then—but check out the Detroit Free Press' focus group of voters who watched Sarah Palin's speech last night. Republicans swooned, Democrats grudgingly applauded, but independents and older voters all thought the speech was a dud. They still wanted to know why Palin was even on the ticket, and her sarcastic attacks on Obama, while good for press coverage, didn't reassure anyone. (Though some of the older voters seemed to verge on sexism at times—dismissing her as "snide," a "high-school cheerleader," etc.)

--Bradford Plumer