McCain chooses Alaska governor as running mate

Palin is first woman ever picked for GOP VP

The Associated Press

Gov. Sarah Palin speaks to reporters in her Capitol office in Juneau, Alaska, in this July 2008 file photo. Associated Press

John McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a conservative who shares his maverick streak, as his vice presidential running mate on Friday.

At a rally in the swing state of Ohio, McCain said he made his pick after looking for a political partner ”who can best help me shake up Washington and make it start working again for the people who are counting on us.”

McCain said that Palin was “exactly who I need. She’s exactly who this country needs to help us fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second.”

Palin, whose name wasn’t on the short list of prospects so heavily discussed publicly in recent weeks, thus became the first woman named to a spot on a Republican ticket. “I am honored,” she said as she stood by a beaming McCain in her first few seconds in the national spotlight.

In a fast-developing presidential campaign, McCain made his selection six days after his Democratic rival Barack Obama, named Sen. Joseph Biden of delaware, as his running mate.

The contrast between the two announcements was remarkable — Obama picked an older running mate, and a man whom he said at the outset was qualified to be president.

McCain chose Palin, a generation younger than he is, and a governor less than two years, and made no such claim about her readiness to sit in the Oval Office.

Unlike Biden, who attacked McCain sharply in his debut last week, Palin was indirect in her initial attemps to elevate McCain over Obama.

”There is only one candidate who has truly fought for America and that man is John McCain,” she said.

Palin made an immediate play for support from Democratic women, mentioning that she followed in the footsteps of Geraldine Ferraro, who was the Democratic vice presidential running mate in 1984.

She also referred favorably to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who drew 18 million votes in her unsuccessful run against Obama for the Democratic nomination.

Palin’s selection surprised numerous Republican officials.

In making his pick, McCain passed over several more prominent prospects who had figured in speculation for months — Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge among them.

Palin is three years Obama’s junior — and McCain has made much in recent weeks of Obama’s relative lack of experience in foreign policy and defense matters.

Sarah Palin
AP

She is a former mayor of Wasilla who became governor of her state in December, 2006 after ousting a governor of her own party in a primary and then dispatching a former governor in the general election.

More recently, she has come under the scrutiny of an investigation by the Republican-controlled legislature into the possibility that she ordered the dismissal of Alaska’s public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.

The Arizona senator decided on his choice for vice president early Thursday, but the campaign has given no hint on the selection that will be announced on his 72nd birthday. The speculation sent a buzz throughout Denver, where Obama accepted his party’s nomination and put Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware on his ticket.

Republicans kick off their national nominating convention next week in St. Paul, Minn., and McCain’s campaign hopes the announcement of his running mate will stunt any momentum Obama might get from the just-concluded Democratic National Convention.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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Information for this article was contributed by Bloomberg News.