McCain's VP pick

John McCain will announce his vice presidential running mate in just over an hour just up I-75 at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The latest on Drudge has speculation centering on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Nothing is for sure yet since yesterday I went to sleep thinking it would be Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Here are a few rambling thoughts on the selection.

* Romney was out of the running as soon as the McCain campaign ran the ads showing Sen. Biden questioning Sen. Obama's qualifications. Those ads basically knocked every one of McCain's GOP primary opponents out of the running.

* Palin brings a lot to the table to help shore up areas of concern regarding McCain. She is strongly pro-life. She is a life time member of the NRA. She has pushed for government reform to clean up Alaska. She does have an area of disagreement with McCain - She is an advocate of drilling for oil in ANWR. The best thing McCain could do is to explain that during the interview process she showed him how little of the 19 million acres of ANWR would be used for drilling and her grasp of energy policy and environmental issues not only convinced him to change his position on drilling in ANWR but also convinced him she would be a great running mate who would not just be a "yes man" but a teammate capable of challenging his positions. . . . .

* My understanding is that Mitt Romney and others who ran against McCain will be there in Dayton when the announcement is made. That is a great show of unity. It is also a shrewd move by Romney. He needs to be perceived as a team player to have a future. If he campaigns aggressively for a losing McCain effort he would quickly be the frontrunner in 2012. There is also talk that his recent move to California is a first step towards running for California governor in 2010. Would he be just the second person to serve as governor of two different states (Sam Houston Tennessee and Texas).

* Democrats will certainly jump on Palin's limited experience. However, they should tread lightly since she has more executive experience than their ticket. She also is not on the top of the ticket. President may not be on the job training, but the vice president is essentially always in training for an unexpected promotion.

* Gov. Palin has five kids and has given all of them odd (at least to me) names.

A good, solid, bold pick. Personally, I'm more please with the bottom of the ticket than the top.