By Chen Wen

An Alaska governor and political unknown has emerged from obscurity to run for the second highest office in the United States.

When Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on August 29, she made history as the Republican Party's first female vice presidential candidate. McCain surprised political analysts, reporters and the general public by choosing Palin, 44, over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, who were widely considered the most likely choices.

Although Palin's addition to the Republican ticket gave the McCain campaign a desperately needed shot in the arm, Democratic opponents have called it a pander and a political stunt. The 72-year-old senator with 26 years of service in the US Congress picked a running mate who has been governor of Alaska for less than two years. Her political resume before that included two terms each as city councilor and mayor in a town with less than 10,000 people. She has no military or foreign policy experience. McCain met her only six months ago and spoke to her about the position just once over the phone before offering it to her in person.

McCain has made a historic choice, but he is also taking a big gamble. According to Bruce Buchanan, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Austin, McCain made the somewhat risky decision because he understood that he was at an electoral disadvantage. "In that weak position, he must do dramatic things, unusual things to have the chance to win," Buchanan said.

Immediate reactions to the pick were mixed, according to media reports. While some women cheered, many doubted Palin’s qualification for the position.

Nevertheless, the announcement of McCain's vice presidential nominee helped divert attention from Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as the Democratic National Convention concluded.

Nielsen Media Research reported that over 37 million people watched Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention on September 3, almost as many as those who watched Obama's acceptance speech the previous week.

Referring to herself as "just your average hockey mom", Palin introduced her family, criticized Obama on foreign policy and national security and fought back against her critics in the media. Her performance electrified the convention.

"Governor Palin gave a speech that appealed greatly to the delegates at the convention," said Ruth B. Mandel, Director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. "They liked her sense of humor, her personal presentation and her daring and witty attacks on Senator Obama and the Democrats."

She said that Palin was a 'political choice" for McCain in an effort to attract religious conservatives in the Republican Party and win over women voters. "The announcement created excitement, anticipation and a sense that something new was happening," she said.

From the time Palin was named as McCain's running mate, "the Republican Convention came to life," she added.

The four-day Republican National Convention, which was curtailed in response to Hurricane Gustav, gave the McCain-Palin ticket a substantial boost in the polls, even bigger than the one Democrats received after their convention last month.

Based on interviews held September 6-8, Gallup Poll Daily tracking figures showed McCain leading Obama 49 percent to 44 percent among registered voters nationwide.

The selection of Palin and her speech at the convention "certainly could be hypothesized to have added a little extra energy to standard convention bounce," said the US opinion polling organization.

Now the question is not whether Palin is a good choice but how far the McCain-Palin team can go.

Reformist mantle

Palin brings considerable strengths to the Republican ticket. As the youngest person and first woman to be elected governor of Alaska, Palin was dubbed by media a "conservative maverick". She strongly opposes wasteful government spending and tax increases. She is pro-life and pro-gun and determined to fight corruption even within her own party.

Casting herself as a Washington outsider, Palin also reinforces the "reform" message in McCain's campaign. But McCain needs to explain to voters how he intends to transform politics-as-usual without losing party support.

McCain has been tied to the Bush administration's policies on the two issues of greatest importance to voters in this election: the economy and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. "McCain is going to have a hard time ignoring or having a real chance to win without addressing or perhaps changing those policies," Buchanan said.