Now that the party nominations have been shook out, it is time to wax philosophical and play pundit for Vice President choices.

I am going to put forth Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska. There are several points that I feel make her a strong aide to the ticket.

1) She is female. Yes, it is a calculated move, but one of the easiest ways to lock up those disgruntled Clintonians is actually giving them a female choice on the ticket. Plus, she is a professional woman while managing to raise 5 kids. A lot of working women can identify with that aspect of life (maybe not 5 necessarily!).

2) She is young and pretty. One of McCain's weaknesses is his age. He needs a younger VP to offset that. She is a 42 year old ex-beauty queen (that also won Miss Congeniality the same time). In the video/photo heavy world we are in, she will be a good physical focal point next to McCain.

3) She's a solid government official. She has held an 80-90% approval rating - the highest ranked of any politician in the US. It means you will most likely be hard pressed to drudge up too much negativity on her executive history.

4) She values ethics and is a REAL reformer. Part of Obama's appeal is "Change we can believe in". Palin is "Change that is happening now." She has a history of outing bad politics within the Republican party itself. She has a solid track record of cleaning up government. Obama is hope for change, Palin actually IS change.

5) Socially she is Right, but not Religious Right and she seems to go with the will of the people. This will help McCain with some of the Conservatives while embracing/not alienating the socially moderates.

6) She is classically Republican in the sense of Fiscal Responsibility and limiting budgets. The GOP itself needs to have more such prominent thought if it wishes to get back on track.

7) She is a hard worker and campaigner. She would probably bring a lot of energy to the campaign.

I like the idea of Sarah Palin on the Presidential ticket. Her strengths in philosophy regarding fiscal responsibility and a no nonsense approach to ethics and reform is great. In addition the fact she has actually acted on those beliefs and not just spoken about them is very refreshing.

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I really only care about the VP picks insofar as it affects other people's voting decisions - the VP only has as much influence as the President allows him (or her) and so to me, it's really a just a side show. McCain could pick Nelson Mandela as his running mate and it wouldn't make me any more likely to vote for him, because I believe that four more years of Republican policies would be absolutely disastrous.

Yes, VP doesn't win you elections, but it can lose them for you.

I would also argue that 4 years of Pelosi/Obama policies will be disastrous as well. I have been vocal about not being happy with the far right swing of the national GOP and will be just a vocal if the nation swings far left.

A McCain Presidency with the Dems stomping the GOP in Congress will probably insure a moderate government for 4 years as opposed to any pendulum shift to either side.

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http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/pr...=palin%20palin

And I can't wait for the ads showing aerial slaughter of wolves for state bounty.

I assume you're talking mostly about spending, and liberal Democratic spending does give me me pause as well. I'd prefer a socially-liberal budget hawk. However, the last eight years of Republican "fiscal responsibility" - a tradition that McCain has pledged to continue - have drastically increased spending and decreased revenue, leading to budget deficits that challenge the imagination. If that's your concern, I'd say you should vote for Obama.

Liberal Democratic spending while creating new programs that will be hard to repeal once implemented. I don't think making it a law you need to have your kid insured (what are you going to do, put parents in jail?), nationalizing reinsurance and all this other stuff is good, which we will get with an Obama/Pelosi government.

And I agree that the National GOP has done a craptastic job on fiscal responsibility, but the blame falls on the Ds too. They stopped none of it when they took Congress: Farm Bill anyone?

So, if both sides are goign to be fiscally craptastic, I would rather having competing interests to try to stem the tied as opposed to one side being able to give away the bank and mortgage the next 10-20 years with bad social programs.

Also, with Palin, I hope her position of prominence in the Party (if elected VP) would help give strength to fiscal responsibility.

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This probably isn't the venue for a general discussion of Obama/McCain or liberal/conservative but I do think it should be required that parents secure insurance for their children; the US spends vastly more than other developed nations on healthcare with generally less impressive results. Unless botched completely, universal health care will probably lower the share of GDP spent of healthcare. Though I agree that the reinsurance market should be left alone (and that government shouldn't subsidize people moving into disaster-prone areas).

Back to topic, I don't care who McCain chooses as his VP. Obama either. It's the president who has the power.

Gov. from Alaska could work, but McCain will need fund raising and electoral votes. Someone from Michigan perhaps?

It's an industrial state which can help with other large and small industrial states.

It's Mid-West which might help with OH & IL.

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*Apathy rules

*unless apathy doesn't rule

Palin's fantastic. She took on the Murkowskis and the bridge-to-nowhere crowd. She launched an ethics charge that led eventually to the resignation of the attorney general and then she beat Lisa Murkowski in the gubernatorial election.

Her approval rating is in the 90s. Since taking office, improving government transparency has been one of her key efforts.

It would be great to have a budget hawk with the level of integrity she has shown in Juneau. No, she doesn't bring a new state to the Republicans, but she's solid with the small-government, pro-transparency voters whom the Republicans lost in 2006. That might solidify McCain's position in areas where it's softer than it ought to be.