(CNN) — Sen. John McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket for the White House in November, a senior McCain campaign official has told CNN.

Palin, 44, is a first-term governor who unseated incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2006 and went on to defeat former Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, in the general election.

An advocate of drilling for oil in her state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, she is little known outside of Alaska.

CNN

Great choice...for the Democrats. I see she features on the Alaska Reports Corrupt B*stards Club as a uhm...Hero. Maybe that's why he selected her

I think he selected her because she is a woman. In an election where the Dems have a historic candidate, he needs to make a splash as well.

Yeah it would make history with her being the first female VP. On the plus side for her, she is reportedly strongly anti-corruption.

She also hunts moose and drives snowmobiles, which is common enough in the north. She also decided to keep her diagnosed Down's syndrome baby so that should help with the far right. However, a child like that takes a lot of care so I guess she'll have some inhouse care for that. Also, she is literally one heartbeat away from being president and only being a couple of years in politics. Besides that, she's just a token woman AFAIC. Can't help McCain in any area like economics.

I think this choice is game over.

McCain has consistently gone after Obama for his youth and inexperience.

So McCain, who would be the oldest non-Incumbent President ever, has picked someone YOUNGER than Obama who's a first term Governor from Alaska with absolutely NO experience.

Plus, like Jim said, this is a clear "hey, if you're a woman, now you have a woman to vote for." Um, she ain't no Hillary. She's pro life for starters and she's nothing like Ms. Clinton.

I have to admit this was an absolute stunner. I honestly thought it was either Pawlenty or Romney, so this was like a bomb in the water. I suspect that's the affect it's going to have on McCain's war ship.

Obama gives what is arguably one of the best speeches of our time. McCain definitely has tried to steal the show, but this decision... hrm. Interesting, I'll say that. Her Debate with a very experienced Biden should be a hoot.

kanaloa wrote:

I think this choice is game over. McCain has consistently gone after Obama for his youth and inexperience. So McCain, who would be the oldest non-Incumbent President ever, has picked someone YOUNGER than Obama who's a first term Governor from Alaska with absolutely NO experience. Plus, like Jim said, this is a clear "hey, if you're a woman, now you have a woman to vote for." Um, she ain't no Hillary. She's pro life for starters and she's nothing like Ms. Clinton. I have to admit this was an absolute stunner. I honestly thought it was either Pawlenty or Romney, so this was like a bomb in the water. I suspect that's the affect it's going to have on McCain's war ship. Obama gives what is arguably one of the best speeches of our time. McCain definitely has tried to steal the show, but this decision... hrm. Interesting, I'll say that. Her Debate with a very experienced Biden should be a hoot.

What he said.

Xstream wrote:

I think he selected her because she is a woman.

I thought so too at first but after more consideration, I think she has more to offer the McCain campaign. She can be a strong and persuasive advocate for him; a sort of female Bill Clinton.

kanaloa wrote:

So McCain, who would be the oldest non-Incumbent President ever, has picked someone YOUNGER than Obama who's a first term Governor from Alaska with absolutely NO experience.

So age and experience are only issues when your candidate is the one that is young and/or inexperienced. My God, McCain is 73; he needs somebody young and vibrant on the ticket.

kanaloa wrote:

She's pro life for starters and she's nothing like Ms. Clinton.

You're right. Sarah Palin is much more genuine than Hillary Clinton. And frankly what does it matter if she's pro-life or pro-choice? Abortion is a tired issue that I wish would just go away. I'm sick of both parties going on about it. I would have been fine if McCain had chosen a pro-choice VP.

kanaloa wrote:

Obama gives what is arguably one of the best speeches of our time. McCain definitely has tried to steal the show, but this decision... hrm. Interesting, I'll say that. Her Debate with a very experienced Biden should be a hoot.

Obama's speech was little more than fatiguing Democratic rhetoric. His 2004 Democratic convention speech was much better.

Biden, having spent more than half his life in the Senate, is a "Washington-insder", the kind Obama claims to dislike. Palin on the other hand literally couldn't be farther from Washington Also given that Biden has a tendency to shoot of his mouth and say ill-advisable things, it really will be a "hoot".

Grav!ty wrote:

Great choice...for the Democrats. I see she features on the Alaska Reports Corrupt B*stards Club as a uhm...Hero. Maybe that's why he selected her

Grav!ty wrote:

On the plus side for her, she is reportedly strongly anti-corruption.

Here is the question you have to ask yourself, especially considering McCain's age and prior health concerns. Could you see Palin being a president? People complain about Obama being inexperienced, but he was at least in politics for a while now, though is just getting onto the national scene. The current president was less experienced with national politics when he took office. Now you have McCain, who could easily have a serious health concern within his presidency and he picks someone with even less experience to be his VP. It could very easily occur that she would have to take over and now your talking about someone who has barely done anything at the state level going to the top national level in a matter of a few years. I'm pretty sure that people are going to be turned off from McCain for his choice. She has no experience really and it's a blatant pick trying to appeal to Hillary supporters, which likely have nothing in common with McCain or Palin other than they want to see a woman in the White House.