McCain chooses Palin as his running mate

John McCain made a surprise choice in choosing Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, for his running mate. While this is a risky choice, it definitely balances the ticket.

Below is a snippet of the story at the Wall Street Journal. This will be an interesting election.

Sen. John McCain picked first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, adding a little-known but reform-minded woman to his ticket. At a rally in Dayton, Ohio, he said she has “strong principles, a fighting spirit and deep compassion,” and praised her record of fighting corruption.

“She’s exactly what this country needs to help me fight …the same old Washington politics of me first and country second,” he told the raucus crowd.

Gov. Palin thus became the first woman named to a spot on a Republican ticket. “I am honored,” she said as she stood by a beaming Gov. McCain in her first few seconds in the national spotlight.

The move is the most dramatic in a series of efforts to appeal to Hillary Clinton supporters still disappointed that she didn’t capture the Democratic nomination. Gov. Palin also reinforces Sen. McCain’s reformer image. She took on her state’s political establishment that had been rocked by an FBI corruption investigation.

It’s an untraditional pick, given that reliably Republican Alaska has never been a battleground state in the past, though Barack Obama has tried to put it into play. She’s much less well known that other candidates who were believed to be on Sen. McCain’s short list.

“She’s not from these parts and she’s not from Washington but when you get to know her you’re going to be as impressed as I am,” he said.

The pick was not problem free, though. Democrats immediately pounced on her thin resume, which runs the risk of undercutting a central attack by Sen. McCain against Sen. Obama: That he isn’t ready to serve as president. The ability of Sen. McCain’s vice president to step into the top job is seen as particularly important given his age: He turns 72 today and would be the oldest person ever to enter the White House.

Sources
Sarah Palin, Wikipedia
McCain Taps Gov. Sarah Palin As Presidential Running Mate, WSJ