Wasilla!
Sarah Palin became Governor of Alaska after serving two terms (totaling four years) on the “city” council of Wasilla Alaska. And then she became mayor of the same “city.” For residents of Pennsylvania, Wasilla would roughly translate to “borough.” Wasilla’s population is equivalent to sleepy little Hummelstown or Swarthmore, PA; the population is quite a bit smaller than almost all of the Townships in Delaware County, which manage to operate quite well despite the fact that they usually do not even have mayors.
Palin has only completed two years of her first term managing the government of her tiny state. Alaska has a population of roughly half the size of Dallas, TX. It’s legislature is constitutionally required to be in session for no more than 90 days per year.
I would get her selection as a perverse choice for Secretary of the Interior, but there is really only one requirement for a veep selection. A good veep candidate doesn’t necessarily have to be from an important swing state; or pass particular political litmus tests; or even be sympatico with the President. S/he must be obviously qualified to be President if required to do so.
McCain is too clever for his own good, and too desperate to prove he’s still a maverick.
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And, though I hope you’re right, I’m a bit concerned that he’ll win over a fair number of voters who find the “woman-as-vice-president” part of the story to be the most compelling piece.
I don’t think the former Hillary supporters will fall for this. My Mother is still planning to write in HC (against my pleas to just vote for Obama) even after the Palin announcement. She sees right through McCain and I think most others will be smart enough to do the same.
In the counter-factual space, what would your response be had he picked Lieberman? I would have to say Lieberman would have been much preferred among democrats, but then again, we aren’t picking the Republican’s VP and probably aren’t voting for their presidential candidate in either case…
Lieberman? I despise him, but I’d dare say he’s qualified. He already passed that political test in 2000 when he was on a ticket. I’d still oppose the ticket on the merits, but I wouldn’t feel as though a wild-card President had recklessly placed our nation in danger.
(Oh, and check out this post I wrote on August 7th, <b>2007</b>.)