when the polar ice caps melt? When thegreat "Ice Roads" are underwater?

with a population roughly equal to that of Greater Albuquerque.

The biggest state but with less than people than the borough of the Bronx in NYC.

Delaware has more people than Alaska and was the first state in the Union in 1787 when Alaska was still Russian.

How many companies have their HQs in Delaware? How many in Alaska? How much money does Alaska take in from the Federal Teat? How much does Delaware?

How hard do you really think it is to be governor of a state which has - well, had, before the Gov and the legislature went to work on it - budget surplus of about a hundred percent?

All Palin needed to do - and she did it - was pretend to attack big oil, give away the North Slope natural gas to some Canadian consortium (along with five hundred million dollars of OUR money to sweeten the deal - the Canucks don't have to build the line, of course) and give every resident of more than a year $1200 as a "fuel subsidy."

I'm not kidding - $1200 more dollars just for living here. And we all know (at least Republicans all know) how giving money to people has all the wrong effects. For once I agree with them. It's going to be hard NOT to give another "fuel subsidy" so long as oil prices stay up and the state has the money.

Why hasn't anybody asked Ms P about this latest form of welfare for the rich?

... as a lifelong Rhode Islander. And Rhode Island has 30% more people than Alaska.

Canada is so remarkably difficult to govern that our prime minister looks likely to flout a law fixing election dates that his own government passed!

While I appreciate the point of that throwaway line, I find myself resenting it: Canada is in some ways a picture of complexity, partly because of its large size, disparate and dispersed population, provinces that argue with one another and the federal government... And in other ways, we're lucky because despite our prime minister's best efforts, we're not polarized between two parties to the same extent as most of the governments in the United States.

More than 80% of Alaska is government-owned land. Actually, Alaska, the state-controlled part, is a fairly small state. So, Sarah Palin is no big deal in any regard.

huh

Not only does it have a kick ass social services system, but also has to deal with that whole pesky democracy thing.

The US, has democracy but very little social saftey net to administer any more.

China has a very vast central burracracy, but has no freedoms to speak of.

Russia of course has neither democracy nor social services, so it probably a fairly easy place to rule.

Likewise if you need to get state of the art medical care up to the Yukon territory that's going to take some coordination.

So, I'd give the geographic argument to Palin...if she actually provided any sevices to her people.

We'll get to compare Canada vs USA. We (Canucks) are about to start running an election, but will finish before you guys. The guy wanting to be re-elected is competent, but a power-mad liar. Kinda like yours, except our guy knows his stuff.

Canada's problems aren't size related (except for some cost items. Mail service, railroads, airlines have to cover the distance). Most of our problems in governance relate to regional problems, especially making the second-language guys feel equally served by government. You guys are headed that way but aren't there yet. All official speeches are in a weird bilingual dialect that flips between the two languages sometimes in mid-sentence.

I get your point about Alaska's size to population ratio. And I'd be the last person to defend McSame or the Pale 'un. But you may be surprised to learn that Canada has quite a lot of foreign and domestic issues and a healthy political scene. Stick to picking on Minnesota! (Ha).

Having said that, right on Alex K. I agree entirely with your points about Palin's media is bad meme.

Alaska has a bit over 600,000 residents and Chicago(the city) only has aboout 2 million plus. So there really isn't much of a comparison. But to leave a small town in Alaska with a 20 million dollar debt doesn't seem to me to be the sign of a conservative.

Greenland isn't more important than Germany, the UK and France combined. But by GOP logic it makes Denmark more formidable than those places.

I recall in 1992, the then republican Governor of Michigan comment that we had places like Arkansas in Michigan, we just called them Counties (this referncing the fact that Wayne County Michigan had approximatly the same population as Arkansas).

Such comparissons highlight the foolishness of the "executive experience" argument, since running even something significant is small in comparison to running the nation.

What matters is a persons record in their executive position. Did they leave their charge in debt or surplus, did education get better or worse in their tenure.

If we are wise one shouldn't comment on the insignificance of the places Ms. Palin has lead, but the insignificance of her service to those places.

I long for the V.P. debate when George Stephanopolis or whomever looks at Ms. Palin and asks, when you took over Wasalla, the budget was balanced, but when you left that town of 6,000 people they were 27 million dollars in debt, this after requesting and receiving tens of millions of dollars in ear marks for your town from the Federal Government.

The sputtering that will no doubt ensue will be truly priceless.

Palin's foreign policy experience amounts to the same thing: Alaska is close to eastern Russia and borders Canada, therefore Palin is a foreign policy expert. Her speech sounded like a middle-school student oral report fleshed out with the necessary amount of "facts" taken from an online encyclopedia.

The issue,though, is not just experience but the quality of mind or intellectual rigor. Barack Obama may be less "experienced" than McCain, but he is superior in intellectual honesty and capacity, in part because of his knowledge of the law and experience as a constitutional law professor at one of the top schools in the country. Therefore I would trust his judgment and ability to reason.