What does Sarah Palin need to do tonight?

One by-product of the Sarah Palin affair is that her speech tonight is vastly more eagerly anticipated than the address John McCain will give on Thursday night. As any Broadway producer can tell you, it’s quite something when the understudy takes top billing from the headline star. That’s not always a good thing. Then again, she’s the new kid on the block, whereas McCain’s been around for decades. No-one in their right mind queued up to see John Edwards in 2004 or Lieberman and Cheney in 2000 did they? Sarah Palin is already ahead of them, then…

Most popular

James Delingpole

The day I was heckled for speaking about the rape gangs

So what does she need to do tonight? For what little it’s worth:

1. The Three Cs: Confident, Comfortable and in Control.  If she can seem at home at the podium and is neither over-awed by the rapturous reception she receives, nor overwhelmed by the occasion and sudden responsiblity she bears, then she’ll go a long way towards reassuring at least some voters.