I apologize for being tardy in reporting on this article, but I have had a long week and I wanted to be able to address this development in some detail.
Last Thursday, the lead story at HumanEvents.com was entitled, "McCain Veepstakes: Possible Palin?" Written by the publication's political editor, John Gizzi, the article refers to Palin as "Possibly the most intriguing name in the 'veepstakes'" and outlines why she would make a fantastic nominee for vice president. However, Gizzi declares a McCain-Palin ticket "unlikely" and includes the following passage:
“Why can’t she just be from another state?” is a lament heard often by Republicans who feel Palin is a natural for national office, if only she weren’t from a state that is not contiguous with the continental United States and brings only three electoral votes to the electoral column.
This is the one issue where I would take issue with Mr. Gizzi. Winning VP nominees are rarely chosen simply to add their state's electoral votes. Gov. Palin would enhance McCain's reputation as an anti-pork crusader while helping him reach out to women and younger voters. Her decisive leadership in Alaska also shows that she would make a fine president should it become neccessary. Those traits will increase McCain's vote share in every state, handing him more electoral votes than any one state could deliver. Furthermore, a Vice President should be chosen primarily because he/she would make a good President, and I think that Americans could sleep soundly at night knowing that a strong, principled leader like Sarah Palin is a heartbeat away from the White House.
As for a McCain-Palin ticket being "unlikely", I cannot for the life of me see why that would be true. Gov. Palin is both a tremendous leader and, as America's most popular Governor, a potential electoral powerhouse. To quote Gizzi, Sarah Palin is "a candidate right out of central casting". Politically speaking, she's almost too good too be true. Hence, it would be downright idiotic for the McCain campaign not to have her on the shortlist. I personally believe that Senator McCain is being advised by very intelligent people, so McCain-Palin might be a more likely pairing than many are willing to admit.
2 comments:
Sarah Palin is an excellent choice, and she is from a "real family" . She is eight months pregnant right now...I am not sure that is a disqualifier.
Her husbands employment is a plus too. She is a national candidate and Mc Cain would do well to offer .
Check out her bio: http://gov.state.ak.us/bio.php
The Wall Street Journal is solliciting its readers' opinions as to who McCain should select for a running mate. Palin's name wasn't brought up at all!
I think as many people as possible should contribute to the Wall Street Journal's discussion: her name needs to be made in as many mainstream venues as possible,and it needs to be made soon!
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