Palin and The Median Voter Theory

While many are blasting McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice President (visit today's huffingtonpost for a sample), I believe the choice was actually a smart strategic move. Both McCain and Obama are fighting for the votes of independents and undecideds. By selecting a female vice presidential candidate, McCain moves himself closer to Obama's "change" platform, and also creates a historical ticket of his own. Now, any voters who felt compelled to vote for Obama because of the groundbreaking nature of his candidacy may be tempted to do likewise for the McCain ticket. McCain's choice seems influenced by the median voter theory, which holds that in a two candidate race, the candidates should position themselves as closely as possible to each other on as many issues and factors as possible. This allows the race to be decided on "intangibles" such as "is he one of us" feelings.