By Holly Bailey
Running Mate: Palin
DAYTON, Ohio--If there’s one thing you can say about John McCain’s campaign today, the senator and his aides certainly know how to keep a secret. With just a few hours to go before McCain hits the stage with his vice presidential running mate, reporters on the ground here in Dayton are still unsure of who the potential veep might be. There’s much buzz about a private flight that landed near here last night. CNN is reporting that a man, woman and two teenagers got off the plane and boarded vans late last night. With Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty not anywhere near Ohio this morning, the buzz suggests McCain may have picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his ticket. MSNBC reports that information is solid, although campaign aides still aren’t confirming anything officially.
No question, Palin would be a surprise pick. Though she was reportedly one of the first people interviewed by official McCain vetter Arthur Culvahouse last May, Palin has been off largely off the veep radar of late. Many Republicans ruled her out because, at 44, she’s younger than Obama and has only been governor for two years. (Before that, she was a city council member for four years.) Some insiders believed Palin, a relative newcomer, might undermine McCain’s lack of experience argument against Obama. Then there have been personal issues. Palin recently became a mother again. In April, she gave birth to her fifth child, a son diagnosed with Down syndrome. More recently, she has been caught up in a controversy over whether she or her staff tried to get her ex-brother in law fired as an Alaska state trooper. She has denied any wrongdoing, yet it was widely assumed the probe, which is still on-going, may have harmed her chances of being named to the GOP ticket. We’ll know for sure in a few hours.
Yet Palin, in hindsight, looks like an obvious pick for McCain. Not only is she one of the most popular public figures in the country—her approval rating, according to the Anchorage Daily News, tops 80 percent—Palin came to office running a clean government campaign and has fought for ethics reform. Among other things, she supports drilling in Alaska, with limits, she's pro-life and she's a fiscal conservative. And she’s a lady—something that, if she’s the pick, surely figured into the McCain strategy of hoping to woo upset Hillary Clinton supporters. Plus, Palin's an interesting character: a former beauty queen, she was a star high school basketball player (she was known as “Sarah Barracuda” for her intense play). Palin married her childhood sweetheart, a blue collar oil field worker (who is on leave, so as not to create a conflict of interest). She hunts, she fishes, and earlier this year, she posed for Vogue. Could Palin be the one? We’ll know soon enough.
UPDATE 10:35 a.m. ET: A campaign aide says it's Palin. More to come.
