Sarah Palin

Miss Wassilia 1984

So, McCain has apparently made his call for Vice President - and it's a genuine surprise. Whereas the name of Joe Biden gradually surfaced as the front-runner (and was eventually leaked, forcing the Obama campaign to send that text message at 3am) the choice of Sarah Palin has pretty much blind-sided the punditocracy who were expecting Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty - both of whom could be considered safe choices.

Choosing a young and fairly inexperienced woman (gasp!) is a risk. She'll be up against Biden in the debates, who was a US senator when Palin was 9 years old, and her general political inexperience is worse than Obama's - she was elected Governor of Alaska in 2006. However, it's going to be very hard for Obama's campaign credibly to push the experience point and at least Palin has executive experience - the only one of the four to do so. She's going to go down pretty well with the heartlands too, being pro-life and as that infallible guide, Wikipedia, has it

she hunts, eats moose hamburger, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane. Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.

Bit of a fox too, which never hurts...