Is Palin a Good Choice?

Yes: Governor is Young and Real

Let's face it. John McCain needs Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin, who will connect with voters as an American folk hero. First, as a governor she passes the competence test. American voters have shown again and again they will vote governors into the White House.
But more important, she's the governor of the state that captures the imagination and embodies the authentic American folk narrative. Alaska is our last frontier.

Palin is as continental west as west can be; Alaska is a nice contrast to Obama's Hawaiian roots. Even better, Palin carries a gun! She hunts! I'll bet she can skin and process a deer in under 10 minutes. Take that, Al Qaeda! She might be able to hunt down Osama bin Laden.

There's the obvious fact that she's a woman. If McCain was going to pull from the Democratic, middle-age female base that fueled Hillary Clinton's candidacy, he needed to look beyond the white male.

Think of all the voters who supported Clinton because they thought she could crack the highest glass ceiling. Palin will attract these disaffected voters who are looking for someone to vote for other than Obama. And then Palin has five kids. Five. Including one who has Down syndrome. That shows voters that she's for real and can relate to the lives of real voters.

It was important for McCain to pick a running mate who makes people feel better. Palin is as compelling, youthful and charismatic as McCain is not.

No: She has Very Little Experience

For months, the Republican Party and its presidential nominee, John McCain, have been absolutely hammering Democratic nominee Barack Obama as inexperienced and unready to be president.

The theme at their counter-convention tent in Denver last week was “A Mile High, an Inch Deep,” a clever but nasty allusion to Obama's scant government experience.

But not comes Sarah Palin.

For 20 months, she has been governor of a state with a population less than the city of Detroit's. Prior to that, she was may of Wasilla, Alaska, a town whose population is about 8,500 – about two-thirds the size of Berkley, Mich. Before that, she was on the Wasilla City Council for four years.

That's it.

On what planet is that pick not an example of a stunning – and galling – hypocrisy? By McCain's own terms, Palin is an indefensible choice.

And this is the problem with modern politics. Politicians say what they think they need to say to win votes, exploiting any advantage they can in the polls, and then they turn around and do exactly the thing they've criticized others for doing if it works, again, to their political advantage.

The most disappointing aspect of this is that it comes from McCain, whose reputation in Washington has been that of a straight shooter, someone who says what he means and does what he says.

Perhaps his judgment suffers when confronted with political opportunity.

By: Nanette Everson
Detroit Free Press; August 30, 2008

Michigan Connection: Hockey Brought Palin's Son To State for a Stay

Sarah Palin made an impression on Michiganders while her son played midget major hockey in Kalamazoo.

Her oldest son, Track, lived in Portage, where he spent about six months of his senior year at Central High School in 2006 and 2007 while he played in a hockey development program.

"I can't say enough about Sarah Palin and the family," S2 Hockey coach Steve Lowe told the Free Press shortly after the announcement Friday that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had selected her as his running mate.

While the Alaska governor never visited the Kalamazoo area, Lowe said she attended tournaments elsewhere to watch her son.

"She loves her hockey. She loves to watch Track play," Lowe said.

"She was extremely intelligent," he recalled. "We never talked about economics or balance sheets or anything. We talked about her son Track and the family business. ... They're very much a hard-working, middle-class family."

Track Palin's playing ended soon after he injured his shoulder, and he returned to Alaska for surgery, the coach said.

Palin now is in the Army and headed for Iraq in September.

During an interview at the National Governors Association conference in 2007, Sarah Palin told a Free Press reporter that she didn't know much about Michigan until the weekend she spent at the conference last summer, but was impressed with the Traverse City area.

"What a stinker," she said of her son. "He never told me how wonderful it is."

By: Tim Higgins & Chris Christoff
Detroit Free Press; August 30, 2008

Sarah Palin's Life: History Maker is Also Hunter, Hockey Mom

Anyone who thinks Sarah Palin is just a pretty face never looked at her resume. Or run against her - or gone hunting with her.

The former beauty pageant contestant and first-term Alaska governor has a reputation for knocking heads in the state Legislature while pushing through political reforms.

As she has worked her way up from the Wasilla City Council to the governor's mansion in Juneau, she has challenged heavy spending and fought to reduce taxes.

At 44, she is the youngest and first female governor of Alaska and now the first woman on a GOP presidential ticket.

"She knows where she comes from, and she knows who she works for," John McCain said in introducing her Friday at an Ohio rally. "She stands up for what's right, and she doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down."

Said Palin: "I didn't get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built."

Before she got into politics, Palin described herself as "just your average hockey mom in Alaska."

She and her husband, Todd Palin, have five children, ranging from a 19-year-old son, Track, who is to deploy to Iraq with the Army in September, to a baby son, Trig, born in April with Down syndrome. They have three daughters in between.

From Juneau to Vogue

Palin lives in Wasilla, a town of 8,500 about 30 miles north of Anchorage, with her husband, a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who won the 2007 Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race. He is part Yup'ik Eskimo. The two have spent summers fishing commercially for salmon, an enterprise that once left her with broken fingers aboard their boat.

Palin typically walks the state Capitol halls in black or red power suits while reading text messages on a BlackBerry screen in each hand. She made a recent appearance in fashion magazine Vogue.

"At first they had me in a bunch of furs," she said of the December photo shoot. "Yeah, I have furs on my wall, but I don't wear furs. I had to show them my bunny boots and North Face clothing."

Palin, who led the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at her high school, could help McCain's standing with social conservatives who have been skeptical of him.

After serving on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996, she defeated the town's incumbent mayor by campaigning against wasteful spending and high taxes.

She won the governorship in 2006 by beating incumbent Frank Murkowski, a former senator, in the Republican primary, then toppling a former two-term Democratic governor in the general election.

For fun, Palin hunts, ice-fishes and rides snowmobiles.

Palin was born Feb. 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho. Her father, Chuck Heath, taught elementary school science and coached track; her mother, Sally, worked as a school secretary. They're retired now. When she was 3 months old, the family moved to Alaska, where moose hunting and distance running filled her weekends.

(On Friday, Chuck Heath said he would have missed the news about his daughter except that flooding kept him and his wife from getting to the remote camp they use to hunt caribou.)

At Wasilla High School, Sarah Palin was captain of the basketball team in 1982 when it won the state small-school championship. Her tough play - once on a stress-fractured ankle - earned her the nickname Sarah Barracuda.

In 1984, she was first runner-up in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant.

"She's obviously an attractive lady," said Jed Babbin, editor of Human Events, a conservative newspaper and Web site. "But she's tough and smart. She could be a real game changer for McCain."

Palin opposes abortion and is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.

She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. She did a brief stint as a TV sports reporter and currently enjoys Sandpoint vacation rentals in her birthplace, Sandpoint, Idaho.

She eloped with her husband in 1988 to save on an expensive wedding.

***
Quick Facts:

NAME: Sarah Heath Palin

AGE: 44; born Feb. 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in journalism, University of Idaho.

EXPERIENCE:

*Government: Alaska governor since December 2006; chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, 2003-2004; served two terms as Wasilla mayor and two terms on City Council.

*Business: Worked as sports reporter for two Anchorage TV stations; owned with her husband a snowmobile, watercraft and ATV business in 1994-97.

FAMILY: Husband, Todd, an oil field worker; five children, sons Track, 19, and Trig, 4 months; daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 14, and Piper, 7.

PERSONAL:

*Nicknamed Sarah Barracuda in high school.

*Runner-up in Miss Alaska contest.

*She and Todd eloped in 1988.

Ticket credentials

*She's an independent figure similar to John McCain.

*Favors offshore oil drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but has taken on Alaska's oil industry.

*She's three years younger than Barack Obama, 47, and a generation younger than McCain, 72.

*A Washington outsider.

*Brings a strong anti-abortion stance to the ticket.


By: Dawson Bell & Kathleen Gray
Detroit Free Press; August 30, 2008