Friday - August 29, 2008

McCain Picks Palin for VP

Republican White House hopeful John McCain on Friday named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, U.S. media reported.  Fox and CNN said that campaign sources confirmed the surprise choice of Palin, 44, just minutes away from the start of a rally here where the Republican will make the official announcement.  The choice of Palin was seen as a bold effort by McCain to attract disgruntled Democratic and independent supporters of Senator Hillary Clinton, who was defeated by Barack Obama in the race to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.

Palin, a telegenic conservative, has led the oil-producing northwestern US state since December 2006 and was the first woman and youngest person to hold that state’s top job.  Known as an anticorruption crusader, Palin studied journalism and is on the conservative wing of her party. A married mother of five, she is an opponent of abortion rights, a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), and supporter of a pipeline to move natural gas across her sprawling state.

Palin is also an avid hunter, angler and reportedly enjoys tucking into a moose-burger.

If McCain were elected in the November 4 presidential election, the choice of Palin as a running mate would make her the first woman vice president in the United States.

Palin, 44, who’s in her first term as governor, is a pioneering figure in Alaska, the first woman and the youngest person to hold the state’s top political job.

She catapulted to the post with a strong reputation as a political outsider, forged during her stint in local politics. She was mayor and a council member of the small town of Wasilla and was chairman of the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates Alaska’s oil and gas resources, in 2003 and 2004.

Palin made her name in part by backing tough ethical standards for politicians. During the first legislative session after her election, her administration passed a state ethics law overhaul.

Palin has focused on energy and natural resources policy during her short stint in office, and she is known for her support of drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, a position opposed by McCain but supported by many grass-roots Republicans.

Palin started Alaska’s Petroleum Systems Integrity Office, an oversight and maintenance agency for the state’s oil and gas equipment, facilities and infrastructure. She created the Climate Change Subcabinet that would forge a climate change strategy, according to the biography.

Palin chairs the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a multistate panel “that promotes the conservation and efficient recovery of domestic oil and natural gas resources while protecting health, safety and the environment,” the biography says.

The governor’s biography says Palin’s other priorities have been ”education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development.”

The biography touts her other achievements as governor as the investment of $5 billion in state savings, overhaul of educational funding and implementation of a program to help low-income elderly Alaskans. Born in Idaho, she is a longtime Alaskan and a Protestant.

Her husband is Todd Palin, an oil production operator on Alaska’s North Slope. They have five children, including a son who enlisted in the Army last year.

Congressional Quarterly notes Sarah Palin’s other past occupations, including commercial fishing company owner, outdoor recreational equipment company owner and sports reporter.

John McCain will introduce Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate at an event here at noon Friday.  Palin is considered a rising star in the Republican Party. She is the state’s first female governor, the mother of five — and at 44 is its youngest chief executive.

She grew up in Wasilla, just outside of Anchorage, and played on the Wasilla state championship girls’ basketball team. She was crowned Miss Wasilla in 1984 and was a runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant.

Palin studied journalism and political science at the University of Idaho and graduated in 1987. She eloped with her high school boyfriend, Todd Palin, in 1988 to save money on an expensive wedding. She helped out in her husband’s family commercial fishing business and appeared occasionally as a television sportscaster.

Palin won a seat on the Wasilla City Council in 1992 as a new face and a new voice, and by opposing tax increases. Four years later she was elected mayor at 32 by knocking off a three-term incumbent. At the end of her second term, party leaders encouraged her to enter the 2002 race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Against veteran legislators with far more experience, Palin finished second by fewer than 2,000 votes, making a name for herself in statewide politics. She was elected Alaska’s youngest and first woman governor in 2006.

Sarah and Todd Palin have five children: boys Track, 19, and Trig, 4 months, and daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. Track Palin joined the Army last September and will deploy to Iraq on Sept. 11. Palin had kept her pregnancy with Trig a secret as she worked in the governor’s mansion, confirming only weeks before the birth that she was going to have a son who she knew would have Down syndrome. She returned to work in April three days after giving birth.

So she’s an intelligent, photogenic go-getter, pro-2A, anti-abortion, in favor of lower taxes, who successfully made ethical reforms for government while being in favor of energy independence achieved with green means. Not part of the entrenched Old Boys Network, plus has a son in the military. Actually makes an effort to improve things for the poor and elderly. Supports businesses large and small, and actually has experience doing hard physical work. Doesn’t sound like she’s an elitist at all. Plus she’s married to a somewhat hunky he-man oil worker and has a nice looking family. Looks to me like she pushes a whole lot of the right buttons on both sides of the aisle. Almost sounds like the GOP ticket is on backwards, doesn’t it?

Oh, and Rush made the call ... way back in February.

UPDATE: Here’s a list of links of the things Sarah Palin stands for and has accomplished. Response time is rather slow ... I think the Alaska Governor’s Office server is a bit overwhelmed right now.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/29/2008 at 10:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Politics • Republicans •  
• Comments (30) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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