Daily Herald - McCain picks Alaska gov. as running mate

Republican Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks as Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., introduces her as his Vice Presidential running mate Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 at the Ervin J. Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Friday, 29 August 2008

McCain picks Alaska gov. as running mate

Liz Sidoti - The Associated Press

DENVER — John McCain tapped Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a conservative who shares his maverick streak, to be the Republican vice presidential running mate on Friday in a startling selection on the eve of the Republican National Convention.

In an announcement, McCain’s campaign said that Palin, who has been governor less than two years, “has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of.

“Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today,” the announcement said.

McCain and Palin were appearing together in swing-state Ohio later in the day.

Palin has a strong anti-abortion record, and her selection was praised warmly by social conservatives whose support Mccain needs to prevail in the campaign for the White House.

“It’s an absolutely brilliant choice,” said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University school of Law. “This will absolutely energize Mccain’s campaign and energize conservatives,” he predicted.

With his pick, McCain passed over more prominent contenders like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, as well as others such for former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, whose support for abortion rights might have sparked unrest at the convention that opens Monday in St. Paul, Minn.

The timing of McCain’s selection appeared designed to limit any political gain Obama derives from his own convention, which ended Thursday night with his nominating acceptance speech before an estimated 84,000 in Invesco Field in Colorado.

Public opinion polls show a close race between Obama and McCain, and with scarcely two months remaining until the election, neither contender can allow the other to jump out to a big post-convention lead.

At 44, Palin is a generation younger than two of McCain’s seven children. She also is considerably younger than 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.

In its formal announcement, the campaign pointed to her powers as head of the Alaska National Guard and the mother of a soldier herself as evidence that she “understands what it takes to lead our nation...”

McCain has had months to consider his choice, and has made it clear to reporters that one of his overriding goals was to avoid a situation like 1988, when then-Sen. Dan Quayle was thrown into a national campaign with little preparation.

A self-styled hockey mom and political reformer, Pallin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 6,500, until she became governor.

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.

Palin has a long history of run-ins with the Alaska GOP hierarchy, giving her genuine maverick status and reformer credentials that could complement McCain’s image.

Two years ago, she ousted the state’s Republican incumbent governor, Frank Murkowski in the primary, despite having little money and little establishment backing.

She has also distanced herself from two senior Republican office-holders, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don young. Both men are under federal corruption investigations.

She had earned stripes — and enmity — after Murkowski made her head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. From that post, she exposed ethical violations by the state GOP chairman, also a fellow commissioner.

Her husband, Todd Palin, is part Yup’ik Eskimo, and is a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who competes in the Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race. The couple lives in Wasilla. They have five children, the youngest of whom was born in April with Down syndrome.

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Discuss (168 posts)

utocoman

Sep 02 2008 01:40:28

truthhurts wrote:
JLD wrote:
Whether or not you believe me is your prerogative. Can you show me where I've said anything negative about Michelle or the Obama family or home life - with the exception of pointing out that there are socialist leanings in his history?
Very well. How about the total mis-characterization of his speech just a few days ago wherein you said he said things he did not?

JLD wrote:
Some of the best quotes: 10 years and we won't be dependent on foreign oil, you can't look to your government for all the answers (but you can certainly blame them for all your problems), I'll bring auto manufacturers back (and then chase them away again with taxation) and make cars more affordable, I will lower health premiums, give you more leave at work, stop health insurance providers from discriminating on procedures, or making sure everyone's wages (regardless of your job) makes you rich, and make the government financially responsible by reworking the federal budget (which I thought Congress controlled..
JLD Post

I called you on that, if you remember, and asked for you to point out specifically where in his speech he had said those things.

Truthhurts wrote:
Amazing how some two people can hear the same words and arrive at different interpretations. Some hear what was actually said, some hear what they wish was said, colored by their prejudice.

For example, please be so kind, in your next post, to post, verbatim, where he said "making sure everyone's wages (regardless of your job) makes you rich", or that "if you don't accept him there is something wrong with you" as you said he said.

In your next post, please.
Then you came back and said:

JLD wrote:
Sorry, I'm not going to cut and paste the original speech but you probably have it memorized anyway. I posted what I heard - not what was said, but what I was hearing.
Which means your supposed "quotes" were not quotes after all, and you did not ever read them in the speech (and I'd bet you still have not read it), you heard someone else, then regurgitated it as supposed fact. In fact, they were not the least bit truthful.

You are an interesting sort, JLD. You feign impartiality and inquisitiveness, but you have an agenda wide enough to drive a Mack truck through. That agenda is to discredit Obama. Period. Instead of coming out and attacking Obama, however, you just take snips and swipes (with no worry about the truthfulness of it) as you have done above, then say "Who, me"?

JLD/ThomasK hmmmmmmmmmm????

#391129

James

Sep 02 2008 21:27:34

cowboyup wrote:
I think I will vote for Obama!cowboyup, A smart and wise decision.

#391302

utocoman

Sep 02 2008 21:55:17

Prediction Market Starts Betting On Chance That Palin Will Withdraw From Ticket

As of 5:29pm Tuesday, traders on the Intrade prediction market are selling the chance that Palin will drop off John McCain's ticket at 11.6. Check here for more updates as the market moves.

***UPDATE***
As of 1:45pm Tuesday, traders on the Intrade prediction market are selling the chance that Palin will drop off John McCain's ticket at 13.9. Check here for more updates as the market moves.

---
The Intrade prediction market has opened trading on whether "Sarah Palin [is] to be withdrawn as Republican VP nominee before 2008 presidential election." At 8:55 am, Tuesday morning, the market is selling the prediction at 18 a share and rising. That means 18 percent of traders think there is a chance that Palin will be removed from the ticket.

Intrade predicted Joe Biden would be Barack Obama's running mate in August and its traders were also correct about every Senate race in 2006

#391306

utocoman

Sep 02 2008 21:58:52

In a Washington Post interview, Karl Rove admits that the Sarah Palin pick was "not a governing decision but a campaign decision."

Yeah, One that McSame made because he was pissed that those making the real decisions would not let him have Lieberman. Some tactical decision maker...and he wanted to become president?

#391307

JLD

Sep 02 2008 22:44:42

utocoman wrote:
Prediction Market Starts Betting On Chance That Palin Will Withdraw From Ticket

As of 5:29pm Tuesday, traders on the Intrade prediction market are selling the chance that Palin will drop off John McCain's ticket at 11.6. Check here for more updates as the market moves.

***UPDATE***
As of 1:45pm Tuesday, traders on the Intrade prediction market are selling the chance that Palin will drop off John McCain's ticket at 13.9. Check here for more updates as the market moves.

---
The Intrade prediction market has opened trading on whether "Sarah Palin [is] to be withdrawn as Republican VP nominee before 2008 presidential election." At 8:55 am, Tuesday morning, the market is selling the prediction at 18 a share and rising. That means 18 percent of traders think there is a chance that Palin will be removed from the ticket.

Intrade predicted Joe Biden would be Barack Obama's running mate in August and its traders were also correct about every Senate race in 2006

Am I reading your post correctly - the percentage that believe she will withdraw is declining?

8:55am Tues: 18%
1:45pm Tues: 13.9%
5:29pm Tues: 11.65%

That is a loss of 6.5 percent in less than one day. How long does it run? 6.5 isn't major, but it shows that it isn't stable either. But if it has only been tracked for a day maybe that is why.

#391312

There are too many comments to list them all here. See the forum for the full discussion.

Discuss this article on the forums. (168 posts)