VP Nominee = Hatchetman? Not Palin

The delegation welcome party at the Minneapolis Convention Center last night was unreal. As an Alaskan wandering through the campaign merchandise store and seeing the words "McCain-Palin" on t-shirts, hats, buttons, and other collateral was surreal. It hadn't sunk in with me until many women from other states, some who were interns right out of college and some who were attending their fifth or sixth convention, came up to me and other members of our delegation saying that they were crying when the announcement was made last Friday.

Embeds from ABC News and the New York Times were on our bus trying to get a feel of what our experiences with Sarah Palin were. I got back to my room at midnight and watched McCain and Palin on C-SPAN from their appearance in O'Fallon, Missouri, where over 20,000 people attended. It was the same speech from Friday afternoon and Saturday in Washington, Pennsylvania. But I noticed something very interesting for the first time.

Notice that Palin never mentions Obama or Biden in her speech at all. Contrast that with Biden's introduction in Springfield, Illinois where he took the opportunity to attack John McCain from all fronts. There are three important points to take from this.

• Sarah Palin represents a real "change" from the status quo and politics as usual that the other side only promises. It's long been tradition that the VP nominee is the hired hatchetman for the Presidential nominee. Not the Governor from Alaska! Rather than tearing down her opponents, Palin has decided to reinforce the message and agenda of reform from John McCain.
• This is further proof that John McCain picked Sarah Palin from a position of strength and Obama picked Biden from a position of weakness. After going through a well-publicized internal struggle over picking somebody like himself versus picking somebody that fills in his weaknesses, Obama went for the latter and decided that he needed a hatchetman more than anything else. McCain decided to pick a validator, someone who can challenge the "3rd term of Bush" attack head on.
• I hope the Democrats continue to attack Palin. I hope they continue to underestimate her, because she has been underestimated her whole political career. When she ran against an incumbent mayor, they told her she couldn't win, but she did. When she ran for Lt. Governor, they said she couldn't do well without heavy fundraising, but got second place (and only lost by 2 percentage points) despite getting heavily outspent. Both her Republican primary and Democrat general opponents two years ago attacked her for her inexperience, and Palin won in landslides and has brought a landslide of reform to the State of Alaska.

Bill Kristol in an op-ed in today's NYT says it best:

"Voters are unlikely to learn much that is new or surprising about Obama, McCain or Joe Biden over the next two months. Palin’s performance as the vice-presidential nominee, on the other hand, is the open and unresolved question of this campaign. She is, in a way, now the central figure in this fall’s electoral drama."

Watching Sarah Palin over the past few years, two things stick out: she's motivated and she's willing to learn, and that in itself is comforting. The Democrats have decided to nominate two lawyers, yet Republicans have decided to nominate two leaders who have significant decision-making experience.