breaking news
McCain Picks Westerner, Woman for Vice President
Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, is a reformer, a maverick and a member of the NRA -- a three-fer for the West?
Sen. John McCain announced today—to much surpise—that he has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.
The 44-year-old first-time governor and University of Idaho grad reinforces two of McCain’s most touted characterizations: She’s a reformer and a maverick. Oh, and also a member of the National Rifle Association—essentially, she’s a 3-in-one for going after Westerner voters.
But her lack of experience - and the fact that she was so obviously chosen not for her overall merits but for her appeal to women and social conservatives - make her a risky choice for McCain.
Palin hasn’t been on McCain’s short list for long, just recently her name has been thrown around as a possible pick. From the Anchorage Daily News:
[more]Palin’s selection shocked numerous Republican officials and her own staff. [Spokesman Bill] McAllister said Kris Perry, a longtime friend of Palin’s and head of the governor’s office in Anchorage, may have been the only person who knew this was in the works. He’s not sure if others knew, but “not many.” The news comes as a surprise to nearly everyone in the governor’s office, he said.
convention Coverage: Reporter's Notebook
Obama’s Acceptance Speech - Catharsis for Desperate Dems
By now, billions of words have been written about Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance of his party’s presidential nomination at Invesco Field in Denver, and TV news people will pick apart the performance and call it show business and Republicans will express their disdain.
Of course it was show business. The Republican convention will be, too. For the past twenty years both parties have held essentially pro forma conventions designed simply to bolster the faithful and hype their candidates. They are what they are.
Whichever convention comes first gets the brunt of the criticism, but it generally dies after the second convention.
But no matter how it looked on television tonight, I am here to tell you that being here on the floor of this huge stadium to feel the wildly inspired throng of 70,000 fired-up Democrats stomp and stamp and whistle and cheer and clap themselves into a near frenzy of hope and shared inspiration was profoundly sincere.
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