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Postcard From St. Paul

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By MARSHA MERCER Media General News Services

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2008

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Among Republicans here for their national convention, the initial surprise - if not shock - of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate quickly morphed into near elation.

Many of the delegates are social conservatives who had worried that McCain might pick a supporter of abortion rights or gun control or other moderate positions.

At a welcome party for delegates Sunday night, Theresa Padgett of Brandenburg, Ky., told me about riding a campaign bus to Dayton, Ohio, Friday to be in the crowd when McCain unveiled his choice.

"On the way, I was kind of nervous. I didn't know who he was going to pick," she said. "And then he introduced a lady I'd never even heard of."

But as Palin, the governor of Alaska, spoke, Padgett was so happy she cried.

"She stood for everything I do!" said Padgett, whose family owns apartments and car washes in Brandenburg.

"From being a lifetime member of the NRA to being pro-life to hunting and fishing to being a hockey mom and playing basketball herself, to her and her husband having five children, the baby with Down syndrome....

"I don't think he could have picked a better one. If I could have written down everything I wanted (in a vice presidential candidate), she has it all," Padgett said, tears again welling in her eyes.

Palin also faces a situation common to many families in both parties. She announced Monday that her unmarried, 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is about five months pregnant and plans to marry the baby's father. McCain's aides said he knew about the pregnancy when he chose her.

When a presidential candidate chooses a running mate, he can go with a campaign choice, someone he thinks will help him win the election, or he can go with a governing choice, someone to help fill out his knowledge gaps after the election, or he can try to find a combination of the two.

Palin, 44, governor of Alaska for less than two years, is a risky bet in the first category. She's long on spunky personality, Western sensibilities and hobbies and conservative values - but short on governing.

Republicans here are energized and excited. They love that Palin is a reformer who has stood up to Big Oil and the "Bridge to Nowhere." They're untroubled that she lacks foreign policy experience, saying McCain will find people who can bring Palin up to speed.

Problem is, McCain is 72, and Palin would be a heartbeat away from the presidency on Jan. 20.

Republicans counter that McCain's mom is in her 90s and going strong. They say Palin's meager experience - she was mayor of Wasilla, a town of under 10,000 - is actually greater than Barack Obama's. But he was a community organizer, then a state senator in the Illinois legislature for seven years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

McCain, with 30 years in the nation's capital, has spent months reassuring voters that he has the judgment and experience a president needs. In his first big decision, though, he undercut his own argument.

It's good for McCain that the party faithful are delighted with his choice. But Republicans send a confusing message when they assert that Washington experience is irrelevant for the presidency.

What do you think? E-mail mmercer@mediageneral.com or comment at www.mgwashington.com.

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