The Wall Street Journal has good coverage of how McCain came to maske such a brilliant choice for his running mate.
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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. Introducing her today, he said she has "strong principles, a fighting spirit and deep compassion," and praised her record of fighting corruption.
Reuters
John McCain appears onstage to introduce his vice presidential running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
"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 raucous crowd at a rally in Dayton, Ohio.
Gov. Palin, 44 years old, thus became the first woman named to a spot on a Republican ticket, and only the second woman to run on a major party ticket. "I am honored," she said as she stood by a beaming Sen. McCain in her first few seconds in the national spotlight. (See an in-depth profile of Palin.)
She called herself an "average hockey mom," and introduced her husband, Todd, and spoke of her five children. That includes her oldest son, Track, who is about to deploy to Iraq. "Todd and I are so proud of him and all the fine men and women serving this country in uniform," she said. The crowd replied with chants of, "USA! USA!"
She also noted her efforts to fight corruption and highlighted her opposition to a much-derided congressional earmark for her state that Sen. McCain loves to hate as well. "I told Congress 'thanks but no thanks' on that bridge to nowhere," she said. Gov. Palin also took on her state's political establishment that had been rocked by an FBI corruption investigation.
