Well, we now know both the VP candidates- or do we? While Obama's running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, is relatively well known, McCain's candidate for the first in line to the Presidency, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is fairly unknown. But here's a little bit on each of them, as well as some of my thoughts on them.
Tom Selleck for President!
Current Office: U.S. Senate
Current District: Senior Seat
First Elected: 11/07/1972
Last Elected: 11/05/2002
Wife: Jill
Birth Date: 11/20/1942
Birthplace: Scranton, PA
Home City: Wilmington, DE
Education: JD, Syracuse University College of Law, 1968
BA, History/Political Science, University of Delaware, 1965.
Most Important Position in the Senate: Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee
Sen. Biden is quite the heavyweight in the category that Obama needed the most help in: Foreign Affairs. Biden is the top-ranked Senator in that category, meaning that he plays a role in many of the decisions that come through Congress. As chair, he controls what legislation actually gets to committee, a very powerful role. He is a Washington establishment in and of himself, which many consider a bad thing for the Obama campaign; however, Biden has a history of being an independent voice and has been known to
speak his mind. He is a very cunning debater and is known as a good mix of "a steel worker and a statesman". Strategically speaking, he fills a large role for Obama that he was missing--those concerned about foreign policy and traditional Democratic voters who are white.
I thought, as did many
professional pundits, he was the nearly obvious pick. More than anything, Obama needed someone with some foreign policy credentials, and so he picked the highest ranking Democrat in that field. Biden was someone that I supported for a long time during the primary season, and I was sad to see him go. Although he originally said he would not serve as anyone's Secretary of State, this Delaware man is known around the globe for his gravitas in this area, and I had always hoped that he would have eventually said yes if asked. I was fairly positive that Biden would be the pick around 2 weeks before it was announced, and for many commentators, this was a fairly obvious pick. Obama and Biden have a real relationship, and they seem to have great onstage presence together, a big plus when compared to their opponents.
He doesn't come without baggage. He has a longer record to criticize, he's got a sharp tongue that has gotten him in trouble, and Republicans don't like him. He will have to be on his game every single day from here till November 4th or else the media would love to expose a chink in the Obama armor.
Governor Sarah Palin (AK)
Current Office: Governor
First Elected: 11/07/2006
Husband, Todd
Birth Date: 02/11/1964
Birthplace: Sandpoint, ID
Home City: Wasilla, AK
Education: BA, Communications/Journalism, University of Idaho, 1987.
Best known for: Ethics reform.
Known outside the state of Alaska by politics-obsessed people previously by her strong record of ethics reform, Governor Palin is now the talk of the town. An avid outdoorswoman, Palin represents a lot of the issues that McCain hasn't sewn up in his own party. A very-well known pro-Lifer, Palin helps McCain with the social conservatives that he's been on shaky terms with. However, one thing to note is that she is a bit of a different social conservative. For instance, even though she is opposed to state recognition of gay marriage, she understands that there is discrimination against homosexuals and has said that she believes in the government's responsibility to fight that discrimination. She is also a strong fiscal conservative, generating tax breaks and oil revenue checks for Alaskans and breaking up nonsense federally funded projects like the infamous "
Bridge to Nowhere" fiasco. But as was stated before, she is very well known in the political world for being an upright and honest opponent of corruption, even rooting out members of her own party and resigning from a job to accuse the corrupt. One uneasy situation is that involving a possible wrongful termination suit involving her former brother-in-law, a state Trooper. (Here's the full scoop on "
Troopergate")
I had heard of Palin originally with her opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere, but I hadn't heard other things about her until her VP buzz started just a little bit ago. She has been in office less than two years, but she already has built a reputation, quite a feat. She is for drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a federally-owned parcel of land on the North Slope of Alaska, something that Sen. McCain has recently opposed. However, she has been no friend to Big Oil, even though her husband is a major player in the oil business. She is definitely, in my opinion, a different kind of politician. She isn't drawn in by party allegiances, calling for the investigation into bribery charges against Republican Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens, a Washington D.C. fixture since the late 60's. But McCain and Palin met only once before he picked her for VP. Where's the chemistry?
Yikes. That could be a big problem. All in all, McCain's reasoning for picking her leads me to believe that his campaign may be a lot weaker than I would have guessed.
While I certainly believe that Gov. Palin is a woman of great integrity, strength, and wit, I don't see her doing what McCain will hope she will do--draw in Hillary Clinton supporters, mainly Democratic women, to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. But Palin is a conservative, more conservative than McCain, and she opposes the underlying belief of the VAST majority of Clinton supporters: pro-choice on abortion. This classic wedge issue is very obvious, but the McCain campaign may be hoping for undecided (and uninformed) voters to see a woman's name on the ballot and get them to check the box. If he really wanted to get women's votes, from an established woman, he should have gone with
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, who has much more experience in national issues than does Palin.
Gov. Palin becomes the youngest member of the major tickets, at just 44, 3 years younger than Sen. Obama. But the McCain campaign would have to be insane to believe that picking a 44 year-old unknown from a place that is, frankly, as "unsexy" as Alaska, would unseat the Obama behemoth in any noticeable way. If McCain has wanted young, why not take the 37 year-old rising star
Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who is a darling of social conservatives and has received nationwide recognition for his efforts in a ravaged place like his homestate?
In addition, Alaska, with its 3 electoral votes, is not really strategically the best selection. Sure, Alaska is, according to the
latest polling, in play, it isn't much of a win. Someone like
Rob Portman, a former Congressman and well-known free trade advocate, from a big-time state like Ohio would have been a much more strategically effective.
So I have to ask: Why did McCain pick Palin? She certainly has a big future, and she may not be done at the national level, especially since Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska looks to be either in trouble or on his way out, but is McCain throwing in the towel and thinking of the future? That's too uncharacteristic of him to be really possible (though many things he's done recently are atypical for him).
My guess: because picking another 'old (or middle-aged) white guy' (former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, etc.) would have been seen as 'more of the same' by the Obama campaign. It would have been seen as 'same old, same old' or media-labeled as 'just another old boys club'. I'm not saying this labeling is right, I in fact think that McCain should have gone with another moderate to prove that he's making a ticket for all Americans. But what I am saying is that McCain is back on defense. And going into your own convention on defense is BAD news.
This isn't to say that McCain is out or that Palin is a BAD choice. But the odds are stacked against the Republicans this year. (Besides, putting Gov. Palin, no matter how smart she is--and she is quite smart, against Sen. Biden, a fantastic debater, in a debate on any national issue is almost scary to think about).
We'll have to see. I'll be doing a convention overview after the conclusion of the Republican convention next week, so be on the look out for that!
(Check out these and more candidates at
Project Vote Smart)
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