If the McCain campaign had let Sarah Palin be the same persona that earned her the vote of being the most popular governor in the 50 United States, not to mention the 80% approval rating in her state, then this would probably be closer (I think Obama would still have won).
They couldn't do that. That very persona represented Washington politics at it's worst, all the very things they claimed to be against... secrecy, abuse of power, windfall gas profits tax, powerful lobbyists, earmarks and pork.
I think it's a very sad sentiment if people based their whole judgment on the very few interviews that Sarah Palin was allowed to partake in. That's really sad.
As someone so new to the national stage, other than Troopergate, her wanting to ban books, her positions on sex education, her hypocrisy, and her general vapidity, and fancy pageant walking, ...that's pretty much ALL they had to go on.