As an illustration of how shallow the media analysis is of the so-called “Palin Effect.” a picture is indeed worth a thousand words:

Here are 68 words from the Washington Post:

Republican presidential nominee John McCain held his first rally without running mate Sarah Palin today, and let’s just say there were seats available.

The McCain “Road to Victory” rally was originally scheduled to be a pancake breakfast, but the campaign said there was such an outpouring of enthusiasm the event was shifted to the 15,000-seat Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.

That might not have been the best idea.

Obviously the “outpouring of enthusiasm” didn’t pour out as advertised. We’ll see how many appearances McCain makes without his lucky charm from here on out.