The Palin Dudes

The NY Times notes that Palin rallies tend to be heavily male:

The testosterone flows at many of her events. Head-banging guitar chords greet her: she entered a fund-raiser in North Carolina on Thursday to the decidedly un-dainty chords of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” “That was kinda cool,” she marveled from the stage. Everyone laughed. The event raised $800,000.

While there are plenty of women, including wives and daughters of male fans, at Ms. Palin’s appearances, they acknowledge they are outnumbered. “This is not a ladies campaign,” declared Linda Teegan at a rally in Weirs Beach, N.H., on Wednesday. She was taking a crowd snapshot. “There seem to be lots and lots of guys here,” she said. “I’d guess 70-30, maybe 65-35, men to women. It’s quite noticeable to me.”

Dan Savage:

A lot of the guys turning up at Palin rallies are there to cheer on a powerful woman who wants to use her power to make sure that their woman don’t get too powerful—who wants to make sure that their woman don’t get, say, equal pay for equal work, or get to make their reproductive choices, etc. That’s change—as in “changin’ back”—that “Palin Dudes” can believe in. Not a ladies campaign, indeed.