Dem Leader: Palin's Only Qualification Is That She Hasn't Had an Abortion

Sen. Barack Obama has said he wants to debate issues, not personal attacks. But his surrogates have not received the memo yet. The Democrats seem to be in a serious meltdown, as most party faithful are now starting to voice concerns that the campaign is slipping away.

Jonathan Martin of Politico writes in his blog tonight:

South Carolina Democratic chairwoman Carol Fowler sharply attacked Sarah Palin today, saying John McCain had chosen a running mate "whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion.”

Palin is an opponent of abortion rights and gave birth to her fifth child, Trig, earlier this year after finding out during her pregnancy that the baby had Down syndrome.

Fowler told my colleague Alex Burns in an interview that the selection of an opponent of abortion rights would not boost McCain among many women.

“Among Democratic women and even among independent women, I don’t think it helped him,” she said.

Told of McCain's boost in the new ABC/Washington Post among white women following the Palin pick, Fowler said: "Just anecdotally, I believe that those white women are Republican women anyway."