From a purely political point of view, McCain's choice of Palin was a masterstroke. He had slung the entire kitchen; range, sink and refrigerator at Obama and had closed the stupid daily polling figures. So what next? Pawlenti? Romney? Ridge? What does any of them do for McCain who has already used up his best stuff? Going back to the race/gender issue and using Hillary Clinton as a smoke screen to put an ideologue on the ticket to satisfy the red-meat base was brilliant.

The POW hero and the Hockey mom.

They will talk her up as a "maverick" to re-bolster McCain's BS reputation for being the independent guy he used to be... before he gave his gonads to Bush in SC eight years ago and never took 'em back. She fought against her own party... to turn down money for a superfluous pork barrel bridge that had been thoroughly scorned by the entire news media.

Ignore for the moment that in order to win, the GOP needs to have a ticket that swears it will fight its own party, the party that has been in total control of the government for most of the last eight year. Grrrr....

This maneuver, by the Karl Rove crew running this campaign, is going back to the Lee Atwater playbook, which is to divide the country in half and win 51-49 per cent by any means necessary.

For right now, and if they are very lucky, for the next week, the GOP convention will drive the news cycles. McCain's campaign has to hope this will ignite the conservative base and that base will now get behind McCain without having to hold their noses.

I think that Sarah Palin is a worthy VP choice for McCain. It has been said that both Democratic and Republican candidates have a lack of experience, but I believe there is something to be said for not having been in Washington for too long. It seems that, eventually, most politicians begin to morph together and lose sight of their original viewpoints after a while.

Palin is pro-gun, pro-life, and supports drilling in ANWR, all things I agree with. She also has gotten rid of a lot of corruption in Alaskan government and if I had the chance to vote for her in '06, I would have.

Governors have shown to be more successful presidents than senators anyway, and I think that being mayor and governor could be enough experience for someone with enough common sense and an awareness of the world around her.

As an Obama supporter, I think she was exactly the right choice. McCain will get the benefit of receiving at least 50% of the 300,000 voters in Alaska and a shot at the whopping 3 (count 'em - THREE!) electoral votes.

Not only that, she has extensive experience in government. She's the governor of Alaska (pop. 670,000). We can assume from that piece of information that she received at least 115,000 votes. WOW! There's more people than that still living in New Orleans. Not only that, but she's got extensive experience in administering a municipality. I mean, Wasila, Alaska has a population of 8,500. There's more people than that at our high school football game Friday night.

She's a member of the NRA which means she'll probably get the Bubba vote. Oh wait. McCain's already got the "Bubba" vote.

Well, she'll get big oil's vote. Oh, John's already got that too. Maybe she can get all those disaffected women who wanted Hilary to win the Democratic nomination. Those women might be pissed and may even have some grounds to be, but do you actually think those bright females are going to fall for such a cheap trick?

In short, if I wanted to pick a candidate that would ensure that I lose the election, I couldn't have done better. Looks like Karl Rowe missed this one. Guess he's getting old and a little off his game.

Go get 'em John.

I'm definitely disgusted with the Republican National Convention and it would appear, especially after Sarah Palin's acceptance speech tonight that she would fit right in with McCain. Both avoid addressing the important issues that Americans so desperately ask for clarity. The RNC, the perfect opportunity to discuss and talk about issues such as the economy, the war in Iraq, pro-life v. pro-choice, and healthcare, neither candidate has even mentioned any of these things yet has just done what Republicans always do which is resort to scare tactics in order to get the constituents on their side. One thing Republicans still have not learned, in running the same tired old campaign, is that Americans wants to know where you stand on the important issues that we have to deal with on the day to day. So in closing... is Palin a good pick for McCain, yes... if he wants to continue the same tired campaign of resorting to scare tactics and avoid the discussion of the real issues she's your VP!

Sarah Palin is a great choice for Vice President. She has stood against party politics. She has stopped "the Road to Nowhere." She has experience with the oil industry and alternative fuels. She has dealt with Alaska's security issues. She has lovingly celebrated the birth of her son with Downe's Syndrome. She is raising five children and has said she "wants to get things done" as Vice President.

Yes, yes, but excitement (sadly) seems to be an election winner! Just look at this election you have McCain an older man with virtually nothing exciting about him, and then enter Obama. A younger 'hip' African-American who has everything going for him..Obama is winning the election. Sure, it isn't all due to his charm, but I'm sure that makes up a small percentage.

If Hillary was the Democartic runner, she may have picked a black man to get the black vote.

Anyway, Palin is the right choice for McCain!

Of course it was a good decision. Allot of women who are still angry at the fact that Obama won ,plus he did'nt give her a chance as vice president. Ithink that even liberals will vote for her. As a conservative i don't like mccain , but i like Sarah . She is going to be president one day.

I think many are misreading the selection. I don't believe that anyone thinks that Hillary supporters, who are rabidly partisan and anti abortion would ever vote Republican. However Palin is a solid nod to the Republican conservative base who needed an excuse to back McCain. They truly had no choice but McCain however they wanted a sign, a token, a way to back McCain without losing face, if you will. At the same time the majority of undecided moderates in the vast center are women. These voters, unlike the Hillary army are truly up for grabs. In my opinion, this is the rationale for Palin.

That said I wish McCain had gone for a person who would have helped him from the VP office once IN the White House, not someone to help him get there. My personal choice would have been Rob Portman who is conservative enough but not a Limbaugh/Hannity disciple, someone who is pragmatic enough to realize the job starts AFTER you win and is driven to legislate, not pontificate as well as being a budget wonk of the sort needed in the coming years. But he is no thrilling speaker and would have done little to advance the campaign, merely to advance the country as VP.

Is Palin the most qualified? HECK NO

Is she the most intriguing? HECK YES

In some ways it hit McCain hard, in others it boosted his fame...

I would have preferred Huckabee!!!!!!

Rest easy. Once a white male in this country makes it to 70, on average he will live another 13.7 years so McCain should survive two terms easy.

so do you agree that women should be paid less than a man and should be only hired if a man isn't available because the woman could have a baby and quit or have a special needs baby and not be able to focus on their job? Or should a woman sign an agreement to quit if she becomes pregnant? Sarah has a husband willing to pony up to the household needs and children old enough to help and besides, soon she will have a Secret Service Agent to change diapers lol.

well I'm not the biggest fan of palin but i think it was a good move on McCain's part because he ... i would assume he increased his votes from women a dramatic amount when he made that decision.

care to support this opinion? Or should we just dismiss you out of hand with as little thought as you gave to this post?

Shaping up poorly for Republicans!?!?! Really? Dems should be off in a cakewalk this election cycle. Economy. Country against an unpopular war identified with Republicans. Rock Star Dem candidate. Repubs running a candidate reviled by its base . . . and yet they are virtually tied!? How in heck has that happened? The Repubs are driving the campaign with the Obama camp struggling to respond correctly the first time. We all heard of all the money the Obama campaign was raising yet the RNC has crushed the DNC in raising funds. Why is the biggest landslide since McGovern essentially tied up?? If this is very poorly, paint me a Democrat!

"has no foreign policy experience, very little leadership experience". The same could be said about everyone's favorite Illinois senator. As we've heard for the last 6 months, there is more to a politician than his/her foreign policy and prior leadership experience. If everyone could take a minute and use CD2008 to learn about the canditate's stances and vote based on that info, then we would all be better served.