full of hope. and i remember thinking, if it had been that john mccain who had run this election campaign in 2008, maybe we would be looking at a different scenario. >> yeah, i think one of the things we -- one of the things that goes along with being a maverick is being something of a gambler. sarah palin was a huge gamble. >> indeed. >> at the time all the enthusiasm, all the excitement was with barack obama. mccain saying, we're going to roll the dice. we're going to try something new. we're going to shake things up. the thing we forget today is initially it appeared to be working. he had spent years attacking the republican party. he was not beloved by the base of the republican party and sarah palin was a shot of pure adrenaline to republican voters. we walked out of the convention in st. paul already worried about some of the questions the media were investigating, but also excited and enthusiastic about -- >> she was a rock star when she was at that convention. >> it was a real -- it was a m gamble, it was a choice, it was a mistake.