McCain wants to exploit the "division" in the democratic party between Hillary and Obama. Nominating a woman is going to keep that idea going and when you hear people outside MSNBC say they are voting McCain because of the caucus system, you know there are still some out there that are bitter as hell. A woman like her is a pretty big deal and will draw votes.

As far as conservative credentials, she's perfect. She has everything you could ever imagine as a good republican and her limited experience is exactly what McCain supports.

She's an excellent pick and I'm surprised the media hasn't talked about her more.

And, CNN has just confirmed it. We should have saw this coming, it's not a plus for Obama.

Stop tearing her down and dismissing her as nothing, she's a good pick and will change the race. If you don't believe this, you should re-evaluate what's going on here more objectively.

Try to get a handle on how to respond to this pick in a way that will help Obama, not push people back in the corner and support McCain with no hope of gaining them back.

This is 2008, lets not repeat 2000 and 2004.

Good to see someone here gets it.

After hearing her speak, boy I think it might not be *as* bad as I thought.

Obama hasn't run anything? How about one of the greatest campaigns in history? Lets see, he beat the Clinton machine - the best name in the democratic party, he raised an average of 50million a month, and he has created a grassroots campaign that rivals anyone in history.

So what exactly doesn't he know how to do?

I agree completely.

She's more like them than Obama. Votes are based largely on perception, not fact. Why does no one on the internet and cable media acknowledge this?

A soccer (hockey) mom with 5 kids that goes hunting, fishing, rides a snowmobile, member of the PTA, and a high school sports coach married to a man who was a fisherman and now is an oil worker?

Who do you know like that? 90% of the population in the rural town I grew up in Michigan fits that description.

Remember how Bush was more like them than Kerry? How you deal with international politics and trade means little. They are like me and they aren't from Washington DC so simple answers are what makes sense and what they vote on. How do we deal with terrorists? Our strong military. How do we fix the economy? Cut taxes. and so on and so on.

This seems really obvious to me. People on the internet blogs and message boards need to get out of their bubbles and realize that this is a pretty big deal.

You need something big to take her down. The ethics thing or the bridge to nowhere flip-flop might be enough.

All I'm saying is that the republicans will spin this perfectly because that's what they'll do. Then voters who rely on friends at church or watch a few shows on TV and get their information from 30 second ad's, will go for her.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong and that voters are smarter than that but we don't have a good track record so far.

I think those of us more involved in politics, like here at salon, shouldn't discount this pick. We need to do some work and find a consistent message of how to show she's not what the country needs right now. Quick replies of how she's not experienced (I don't think she is by any stretch, in fact I think she's way out of her league on this) or was in a beauty pageant isn't going to work. We need solid responses that work well with independents and low information voters.

Does she only care that a woman (her) is in the white house or does she actually care about the issues?

That's what it really comes down to. She'll fight for Obama if she cares about issues like she says she does. If not, she's looking for her own political future. I think everyone knew that when she lost the primary she lost her main opportunity for the presidency. Her only other opportunity is that she has a 2012 chance if Obama loses.

Also, what is important to people? Having a woman in the White House or the security and prosperity of the country? I'm not supporting Obama because he's black and I want to see a black man as president. I thought he was the most qualified out of all the candidates. While Hillary is qualified, I DO NOT want someone like Palin in the White House. She is completely unqualified and her views are more extreme than Bush when it comes to social issues. I'm not so sure why gender and race have so much to do with this pick, it should never be that simple. I wish the media would quit making it seem that way.

Republican's are the biggest GD hypocrites around. They can't stand this idea behind their fake smiles they are pissed. If this was Obama's kid, oh lordy would we hear about how they don't have "family values" and can't teach their children not to have sex.

I don't care that a teen got pregnant. I care that someone like Palin and so many others (Dobson for one) preach abstinence constantly but yet when it comes to their family, it's a "personal matter" and they are "blessed" and all this bullshit.

Some days I really don't know how these people sleep at night. They can't accept reality so they just put a fake smile on and tell everyone how *they* should live their lives but not using theirs as an example.