McCain goes for a game-changer

So the old rascal still had a trick or two up his sleeve - and his campaign has learned how to keep a secret. The choice of first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the GOP vice presidential candidate is not without its potential downside, but it was a bold choice that could be a game-changer for John McCain who, despite recent polls showing him virtually tied with Barack Obama, had to be viewed as the underdog in this race.

Palin, 44, seems to be both an economic and a social conservative who can appeal to whatever remains of the libertarian wing of the GOP. The former mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla, a suburb of Anchorage, ran for governor as a reformer in 2006, beating incumbent Republican Frank Murkowski in the primary, then beating former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles in the general. She has been a Republican insurgent, challenging the corrupt (or at least aggressively log-rolling) Republican establishment headed by long-serving Sen. Ted Stevens (under indictment for allegedly undeclared gifts from an oil services company) and Rep. Don Young (under investigation for alleged ties to convicted former lobbyist Jack Abramoff).

Palin is likely to shore up McCain's credibility with the conservative base as a lifetime National Rifle Association member, an opponent of abortion whose fifth child is a Down syndrome baby she decided to carry to term, and as an advocate of small government conservatism. She made her reputation as a reformer by pursuing ethics violation charges against Alaska's Republican Party chairman, Rudy Ruedrich, when they both sat on the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

She opposes gay marriage but is open to the kinds of rights civil unions would confer. She killed the infamous "bridge to nowhere" project Stevens promoted. Her son joined the Army last year and is about to be deployed to Iraq. As for bringing a "breath of fresh air" to Washington, it's hard to imagine a more outside-the-Beltway character than someone from Alaska.

And did you notice that she's a woman? McCain's obviously going for disappointed Hillary Clinton supporters who might consider gender a more important factor than abortion. We'll see how many there are.

There are potential downsides. She has no experience - zero - in foreign policy and little experience with domestic issues outside Alaska. Her presence on the GOP ticket will make it more difficult for Republicans to exploit Barack Obama's inexperience. She will have to debate Democratic VP nominee Sen. Joe Biden, who knows as much as anybody in Congress about foreign policy. She could easily slip on one of many banana peels that will be thrown in front of her during the campaign. (That her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant should have no relevance in the election.) She and John McCain don't seem to know one another that well so it's unknown how well they would work together.

Suddenly, this race became more interesting.