What'd I miss?

So my Vegas trip was a success so long as you ignore how much I lost at the poker table. But clearly I missed out on the ruckus behind the Palin selection.

First things first, I'm STILL thrilled with the pick and can't wait to see the speech Gov. Palin plans to give tomorrow night. It's going to be a doozy.

Since by now you're all aware of what has been transpiring there is no need to go over the laundry list of attacks or rebut them. People with more time on their hands than me are doing their best to refute the ridiculous charges at every turn.

What I wanted to discuss was the aspect of the story that I feel is causing the most damage to the McCain/Palin ticket right now, and that is the 'vetting' story. Multiple media outlets are, according to them, investigating just what went wrong with the vetting of Sarah Palin. This single story is hurting the McCain campaign in three ways: 1) Its very existence implies there is a problem with her selection and ability to serve as Vice President; 2) it infers disorganization and mismanagement at the highest levels of the McCain campaign and calls into question McCain's judgement; and 3) it is distracting from the ultimate goal...the campaign staying on message.

Unfortunately, the campaign is forced to play catchup to stop this story from growing any larger legs than it already has. McCain's staff is now doing a good job of providing the press with a full understanding of their vetting process and doing their best to use the opportunity to draw comparisons to Obama's experience.

But what is going to help stop this story more than anything else is the Governor's speech tomorrow night. She will need to take this opportunity in the spotlight to showcase her ability, her judgement, her strength, her integrity and most importantly, her ability to weather the storm. Nothing defines a leader better than how they weather a crisis and Wednesday night will provide Sarah Palin that opportunity.

And she's gonna kick ass.