I have to head out in just a few minutes. But I thought I'd post some initial thoughts. Palin's name had floated around occasionally, but it was not one of the names brought up time after time as the most likely choices. I honestly don't know all that much about her other than the summary points. Like everyone else, I'll be learning a lot more about her over the next week, and my opinions may change as that happens.
In the mean time though, my initial thought is that this is a gutsy move by McCain. It might even be a brilliant choice. Or it could backfire completely.
Pro: By picking a young woman, McCain breaks the mold... this isn't a stodgy old white man. This does push back on the "historic" bits of Obama's candidacy.
Con: It makes it much harder to make the experience argument against Obama.
Pro: This will make the conservative base very happy, from initial reports, she is very conservative.
Con: This may make moderates who liked McCain because he was moderate think twice.
Pro: This may push some Hillary dead enders over the line to McCain.
Dunno. We'll she how this plays out.
But I think it does make this a very different game than if McCain had picked one of the "safe" choices.
The next two months should be quite fun.