McCain's Choice of Running Mate: Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate (Vice President) choice, is Alaska's first woman governor and the youngest person to hold that office. The mother of five children, Sarah Palin is a self-described hockey mom (the Alaskan equivalent of a soccer mom) and a stanch conservative.

Her first political office was on the Wasilla City Council which she served on for two terms (1992-1996) before being elected Mayor of Wasilla.

After an unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, she was appointed to serve as the Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission in 2003. She resigned in 2004, and revealed the "lack of ethics" of several other Republicans despite attempts to ignore her whistle-blowing; this resulted in the resignations of both Alaska's Republican Party Chairman, Randy Ruedrich, and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes.

Sarah Palin ran for the post of Governor of Alaska in 2006, promising to clean up the state's government, and improve education, public safety and transportation. Palin beat her opponent, former Governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 7.4 percent. She was only 42.

Palin has successfully pushed for an ethics bill, made cuts in spending on earmark and pork barrel projects, and has promoted oil development in Alaska while serving as its governor. She has received high approval ratings throughout her time as governor.

Compared to Barack Obama, she too could be considered too inexperienced and unready to step into the Presidency; she has much less experience than Joe Biden, Obama's choice for Vice President. But Republicans will be quick to point out that she, if elected, is only going to occupy the second highest office in the land. Yet if truth be told, one must consider that even if John McCain was younger (he is 72), she would still be just a missed heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Given the McCain's campaign emphasis on Barack Obama being too inexperienced to be President, why did John McCain choose her? He claims that it is because she shares the same values and principles that he does.

Sarah Palin is pro-gun (a member of the National Rifle Association), pro-life, and pro-death penalty. She also opposes gay marriage. One of her sons is serving in the military; her other son has Down Syndrome.

Palin opposes Barack Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies, saying that "Windfall profits taxes alone prevent additional investment in domestic production. Without new supplies from American reserves, our dependency and addition to foreign sources will continue."

Yet despite Palin's agreement with a lot of the ideas and policies of John McCain, her real purpose on the ticket is to attract the votes of those frustrated with the politics as they are currently practiced in Washington (her fight for ethic standards in Alaska has made her a political outsider), and those women voters who identify themselves more as women voters and less as Democratic voters, who feel cheated by the Democratic Party.

With Sarah Palin by his side, John McCain can claim that the Republican Party is also breaking new historic ground, just like the Democratic Party is claiming. It levels the playing field, and leaves only the question of whether or not you are a conservative (Republican) or a liberal/secular progressive (Democrat). The election has ceased to be about historical progress and all about one's deeply held core beliefs and principles.