CITIZEN MOM: So, you know how I hate to be a contrarian, but it’s worth disagreeing with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who last week told City Paper’s Tom Namako that the upcoming election is “not about Sarah Palin.” I know what Dean meant, of course — that Democrats have to focus on running against John McCain, not the Moose Shootin’ Mama. Except it looks like the Republicans never got that memo, because their campaign is still very much about Palin, and females thought to be like her — the broads who can bring home the bacon, or at least serve it up in your local diner, and look cute doing it: the Wal-Mart Women. The Wal-Mart Woman is the soccer mom of this election cycle, but aside from gender the two figures have little in common. Soccer moms were a solidly middle-class kind of suburban wife (now leaning toward Obama), while a GOP pollster coined the term “Wal-Mart Women” during the primaries to describe the cohort Hillary Clinton was doing so well with. These are women who tend to be less educated and more likely to work hourly wage jobs than those elitist, now-liberal Soccer Moms, who presumably shop at Target. According to one survey, 41 percent of frequent Wal-Mart shoppers said they made below $35,000 a year, and 39 percent have a high school diploma or less. In reality, Palin, being college-educated and flush with enough cash to buy her kid a (pre-owned) tanning bed, doesn’t quite fit into the demographic. For political purposes, though, her conservative persona is supposed to fit Wal-Mart Women like a 100 percent polyester acrylic, made-in-Vietnam, plucked-off-a-clearance-table glove. MORE
LIVE FROM THE WASILLA WITCH TRIALS: On the first night of services, Muthee implored his audience to wage “spiritual warfare” against “the enemy.” As I filmed, a nervous church staffer approached from behind and 
told me to put my camera away. I acceded to his demand, but as Muthee urged the church to crush “the python spirit” of the unbeliever enemies by stomping on their necks, I pulled out a smaller camera and filmed from a more discreet position. Now, church members were in deep prayer, speaking in tongues and raising their hands. Muthee exclaimed, “We come against the spirit of witchcraft! We come against the python spirits!” Then, a local pastor took the mic from Muthee and added, “We stomp on the heads of the enemy!” Behind the Christian right’s enthusiasm for Palin’s conservative credentials is a visceral sense that that she has come from them, not to them. Some right-wing evangelicals even believe she has messianic potential. As former Christian Broadcasting Network vice president Jim Bramlett wrote, “Sarah is that standard God has raised up to stop the flood. She has the anointing.” MORE