In a monochrome World, a politician with colour is a fine thing to behold. So it's hard not to be bowled over by Governor Palin. A woman of principle who fights corruption, has passionate beliefs, is admired by those she serves and a political lioness to boot. It's not hard to see why the Republican base is completely besotted by her and why so many have an unshakable belief in what she could achieve.
So what about the home team? We have more female Parliamentary candidates in winnable seats than ever before. What will their impact be? Having met many, I am convinced it will be more dramatic than anyone currently appreciates. These are not Blair babes, nor can they be described as the embittered hags of yesteryear whose company it is hard to tolerate for more than 30 minutes.
My experience is that these are people with serious ideas who already make serious contributions and have a passion to change the country. And they are thought leaders in diverse fields that include social justice, financial services, European matters, education, regeneration, healthcare as well as family policy and social rejuvenation. I expect a number will turn out to be lionesses with an energy equal to Palin. The difference is that there are quite a lot of them and I wonder if their collective impact on our national life could come as something of a shock.
For this reason, I was uncomfortable about many of the comments on Torydiary the other day. It seemed at times to lean to the more basic and old fashioned concepts of what women have to offer - and to my mind missed the point of their true "Palin potential". So, get ready, the Tory class of 2010 could be very interesting indeed...