McCain's pick of Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin (noted earlier by Louise) will dominate the news cycle in America.
The Republican base will warm to her immediately: She's evangelical, pro-life, mother of four five. (Her youngest child is a four month old with Down's Syndrome). She is a national security hawk. She has been tough on corruption in Alaska and has brought spending under control. Some even compare her to Margaret Thatcher.
She also wins new voters: She is one of the GOP's leaders on the environment although supports drilling. McCain has decided that he needs to go after all the supporters of Hillary Clinton. The Republican ticket also looks more like a change ticket now.
The downside is identified by Andrew Sullivan: "If McCain's entire argument so far has been that Obama is too untested to be president, then how can he pick a 44-year-old first-term governor of a state with 600,000 people with no foreign policy experience whatsoever?"
PS Hat-tip to Peter Franklin. Many months ago he proposed Governor Palin's name to me before I'd even heard of her.
