McCain Picks Palin
Photo: Getty Images
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 44, is the Republican vice presidential nominee, setting up a contest in November that gives voters a chance to make history, no matter which ticket they support.
Palin becomes the second woman to be on a major party presidential ticket, joining Geraldine Ferraro who was Vice President Walter Mondale's running mate in 1984. Sitting President Reagan (with VP Bush the elder) was re-elected in a landslide. (Ironically, Ferraro's birthday was Tuesday; she was 73. McCain's birthday is today; he is 72.)
Palin, the first woman to be elected Governor of Alaska, came to office in 2006 after the Department of Justice began an investigation into kickbacks in the Alaska legislature. The Seattle Times reports that she has "a reputation as a reformer who worked with both Democrats and Republicans to overhaul the state oil-tax system and to restore confidence in state government shaken by political-corruption scandals."
She has a background steeped in one of the issues certain to be top of mind this fall: oil. Palin served as chair of of Alaska's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (2003-2004) and served on the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. In 2007, she pushed through a state windfall profits tax, over the protests of the oil industry lobby.
Aside: to see how the short-lived federal windfall profits tax from the 1980s affected US oil production, see this post by the Angry Bear (an economist):
I keep seeing at various blogs the claim that the 1980s windfall profits tax caused oil production to fall when the facts clearly show that claim is completely untrue.
Actually, since US oil output peaked in 1970s about the only time that US oil production rose was when the Windfall Profits tax was effective.
In June, Congressional Republicans successfully blocked a windfall profits tax.
Palin is not a lawyer; this is "news" as most politicians these days are lawyers. She studied journalism and political science at the University of Idaho, where she graduated in 1987. And like Joe Biden, the Democratic VP candidate, she has a son en route to Iraq. This, alone, make these two VPs unique in the field of US politicians.
Does the choice of VP matter to you? (poll)
- State Politics At A Glance: Alaska - US Politics Guide
- Profile: Sarah Palin - US Conservatives Guide
- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: The Right Partner & The Right Running-Mate - US Conservatives Guide
- Alaska Senator Ted Stevens Indicted - US Politics Guide
- Alaska Governor Fails In Renomination Attempt - US Politics Guide
- Sarah Palin and Foreign Policy - Foreign Policy Guide
- Draft Sarah Palin (June 2008) - US Conservatives Guide
- The Benefits of ANWR: The Case For Offshore Drilling In Alaska - US Conservatives Guide
- Obama Wins MS, Blogosphere Erupts Over Ferraro - US Politics Guide
- McCain's VP Pick Sarah Palin No Friend T Animals - Animal Rights Guide
- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and the Economy - US Economy Guide
- Environmentalists Blast McCain’s Choice of Palin as VP - Environment Guide
- Historic VP Selection Puts Her in the Spotlight - Womens Issues Guide
:: Posted at 12.50 am Eastern, 29 August
:: Update 1, 1.17 pm Eastern, 29 August. Added Ferraro birthday, several links
:: Update 2, 1.55 pm Eastern, 29 August. Added oil information
:: Update 3, 11.54 pm Eastern, 29 August. Added links
Comments
Does John McCain, someone I thought was a politically savvy guy, really think voters appreciate the spot he’s put them in?
The question no one wants to admit for fear of not being politically correct is this: “Do I really want to vote for a ticket that puts a 2-year governor a heartbeat away from a 72 year old candidate for the toughest job in the world?”
That is, like it or not, the question thinking people will ask . . . how will they answer?
Not much question, is there?
Hi, l.t.
I’ll tell you the same thing I said to the gentleman at the deli counter at QFC this evening when he asked *almost* the same question (he brought up politics, not I!):
She’s the vice president, not the president. Just as Joe Biden’s foreign policy credentials shouldn’t sway someone to-or-from Obama, neither should her age sway someone to-or-from McCain. Do you think people were thinking about a Southern Democrat (and failed presidential candidate) running the WH when they voted for JFK? I don’t. (But I wasn’t anywhere close to voting age, so I could very well be wrong.)
She has a track record of bipartisanship, shaking up the establishment and cleaning house: all skills needed in the White House.
I’ve said all along that I thought both candidates should pick governors. One did, and did so in a delightfully unsettling way!
And from our Geography Guide:
“[A]lthough the life expectancy from birth for all people in the United States is 77.7 years, those who live to age 65 will have an average of almost 18 additional years left to live, making their life expectancy almost 83 years.”