DENVER - John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate on Friday in a startling selection on the eve of the Republican National Convention.
Palin is a self-styled hockey mom and political reformer who has been governor of her state less than two years.
Palin's selection shocked numerous Republican officials.
In making his pick, Mccain passed over several more prominent prospects who had figured in speculation for months — Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge among them.
At 44, Palin is a generation younger that Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, who is Barack Obama's running mate on the Democratic ticket.
She is three years Obama's junior, as well — and McCain has made much in recent weeks of Obama's relative lack of experience in foreign policy and defense matters.
Palin flew overnight to an airport in Ohio near Dayton, and even as she awaited her formal introduction, some aides said they had believed she was at home in Alaska.
She is a former mayor of Wasilla who became governor of her state in December, 2006 after ousting a governor of her own party in a primary and then dispatching a former governor in the general election.
More recently, she has come under the scrutiny of an investigation by the Republican-controlled legislature into the possibility that she ordered the dismissal of Alaska's public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.
3 comments:
In case you forgot..
1. She brings governing experience into the election, which has been lacking this year.
2. She has the highest approval rating of any governor in the United States.
3. She would definetely get a huge amount of support from the female voters, including many of the former Hillary supporters that aren't very excited about switching over to Obama.
4. Part of the reason that many people want to vote democrat is because they want to see history made (first black president). But if Palin is elected VP then history will be made on the republican ticket (first female VP). So that would cancel out some of the excitement that the democrats have about being the party that is going to make history in this election.
5. She is very young and attractive, and is a former Miss Alaska contestant. That might get alot of the male voters excited about politics again. It would also take some of the youth vote away from Obama.
6. She is much younger then McCain, which will help to balance out the ticket.
7. She is also more conservative than McCain, which will help to balance out the ticket.
8. Presidential candidates often like to pick running mates from different parts of the country. McCain is from the south and Palin is from the far north.
9. There are no problems with her religious affiliations or background.
10. Many people think McCain needs somebody that is an "A-list" candidate that everybody is familiar with. If Palin is chosen as the republican party's first female running mate then I gaurantee that she will become a household name within about 10 minutes.
11. She cooks a good Halibut
12. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR) in Alaska is said to hold the largest undiscovered oil reserve in North America, and maybe even the world. We have known about the oil in ANWAR for a long time, but thanks to campaigning from environmentalists, the land has been untouched. It is estimated that the potential for recoverable oil in ANWAR would range in the multiple billions of barrels, along with trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, according to Forbes.
The political battle over oil in ANWAR has been fought for many years, but the closest to drilling we have gotten was back in 1995 when only a President Clinton veto stopped a bill from Congress that would have opened up ANWAR. Now with Sarah Palin, she will resurrect the idea of drilling for oil in ANWAR.
overall palin seems to be a good pick strategically.. but can she hold up under pressure- can she go toe to toe with biden-
unfortunately i don§t know a thing about palin. what i do know is that a fraturnity brother of mine is her cheif of staff. his career should blow up after this.
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