In the past few weeks Sarah Palin has made remarks departing from the official position of the McCain campaign. Not only did she speak out recently about her support for a marriage amendment and her belief that North Korea should be taken off the list of terrorist countries, she has also openly disagreed with certain campaign strategies such as McCain’s hesitance to talk about Jeremiah Wright and the choice to withdraw campaign funding from Michigan. Several McCain aides have commented that Sarah Palin leaves something to be desired as a team player for the McCain campaign. One particularly vehement aide told CNN that “she takes no advice from anyone” and that “she is playing for her own future.” If this is true, and Palin does have ambitions for the 2012 or 2016 elections, her “maverick” strategy has the potential to backfire horribly.

In election years, both the Republicans and the Democrats tend to seek out reliable team players who the entire party can rally around. Palin on the other hand, has had the freedom to disagree because McCain’s opinions are relatively moderate and his campaign needs to draw in the conservative votes. If he wins the election on Tuesday, she will automatically be considered the presumptive GOP candidate in either the 2012 or the 2016 election.

However, if Obama continues to dominate, many will attribute a Republican loss to her aggressive and divisive campaigning. Although she whipped up a large following with her “real talk” and her concern for conservative agendas, even more conservative sources are reporting that Palin’s approval ratings have dropped recently as the election nears and panic sets in for the GOP. Critics are pointing to her lack of experience and knowledge and her partisan attacks of Obama and his campaign as major contributors to the decrease in McCain’s popularity. If McCain loses, Palin might have trouble getting support in the future from a party dissatisfied and disillusioned with such forceful campaigning techniques.