ST. PAUL, Minn. - John McCain's surprising, and risky, decision to run with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin signals his intention to make reform a central theme of his campaign, analysts and Republican politicians said yesterday.
The little-known Palin, who will be the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket, is being presented as a younger, female version of McCain: an outsider who's been unafraid of challenging the Republican establishment in her state.
Analysts called McCain's move, which remained secret until yesterday morning, a bold one that could enhance his appeal to women voters. But they warned that picking an inexperienced vice presidential candidate could also prove very costly.
Palin's slender resume threatens to undermine one of McCain's leading advantages against Barack Obama in the presidential contest: his reputation for expertise in military and security matters.
Polls show that voters, by a wide margin, regard McCain as better qualified to serve as commander in chief. Indeed, Obama's vulnerability on that score was widely thought to be a main reason he turned to Delaware's Joe Biden, a foreign policy veteran, as his running mate.
In Palin's national debut at a midday rally in Ohio, the 44-year-old governor was self-assured as she thanked McCain for choosing her. She gave a nod to Geraldine Ferraro, the first and only woman on a national ticket until now, and praised Hillary Clinton for her "determination and grace."
Palin borrowed Clinton's words in noting that "Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America." Then she appealed to women voters to "shatter that glass ceiling once and for all" by supporting a McCain-Palin ticket.
The Republican presidential candidate has been targeting disaffected Clinton supporters, and Palin could appeal to cultural conservatives in that group. However, her anti-abortion record may make it harder to attract hard-core Clintonites for whom abortion rights is an important issue.
McCain called the Alaska governor "exactly who I need ... to fight the same old Washington politics of 'me first and country second.' "
Democrats questioned McCain's judgment, and reports that he barely knew Palin before choosing her could reinforce what some say is a reputation for impulsiveness.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking woman in the government, said that picking a vice presidential candidate "is one of the most significant and telling decisions a presidential candidate can make. ... Why, when the country is fighting two wars, facing an uncertain economy and an energy crisis, did Senator McCain make the choice that he did?"
President Bush called it an "exciting" pick and described Palin as a "proven reformer."
A ticket composed of an Arizona senator and an Alaska governor who was born in Idaho would be the most western-leaning in the nation's history. That could help the Republicans in western battlegrounds such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, party strategists said.
Palin, a mother of five, is in her second year as governor of one of the nation's least populous states. With no record of involvement with national security or foreign policy issues, she steps into the harsh glare of a presidential campaign where her words will be scrutinized in merciless detail.
"It makes the experience issue more difficult" for McCain, said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster.
Some Republican politicians called that an understatement.
"The two words being heard the most around here this morning are Dan Quayle," said one of the early arrivals for next week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, who asked to speak anonymously. The reference was to the Republican vice presidential nominee in 1988, who had been a senator and congressman for almost 12 years at the time.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain's closest friends, described Palin as "tough. She's very tough."
But in a TV interview he was at a loss for words when asked whether she had traveled overseas or ever met with world leaders. "I don't know where she's traveled to," he said on CNN.
Vice presidential candidates seldom determine the outcome of the election. A widespread perception that Quayle was unprepared for the job did not keep President George H.W. Bush from winning.
However, the peculiar circumstances of this year's contest could make McCain's choice unusually important. Polls show that a significant number of voters have questions about the Arizona senator's age, and the Palin pick only highlights that issue.
Yesterday was McCain's 72nd birthday. He has been treated for melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, and would be the oldest person to become president if he wins in November.
Palin is 2 1/2 years younger than Obama and will be one of the youngest candidates ever on a major party ticket.
McCain announced his running mate little more than 12 hours after Obama's acceptance speech. The timing was deliberately designed to shift national attention away from the Democrats and build enthusiasm for the Republican convention scheduled to open Monday.
A new Gallup tracking poll showed that Obama has opened an eight-point national lead over McCain, thanks to a positive voter response to his party's convention. However, convention bounces typically fade quickly.
The Obama campaign lost little time in going after Palin's thin resume. Bill Burton, an Obama spokesman, said in a written statement that McCain had chosen to put someone "with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency," and noted that two years ago she was the mayor of a town with fewer than 10,000 residents.
But later, in a shift of tone that seemed to reflect the tricky dynamics of attacking a female candidate, Obama issued a statement, in his own name and Biden's, calling Palin an "admirable person" and describing her selection as "another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics." He later phoned Palin to congratulate her.
Palin will be the second woman on a national ticket. In 1984, former Vice President Walter Mondale chose New York Congresswoman Ferraro to run with him against President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush.
The choice was seen at the time, by some, as a desperation move, and the Democrats went on to lose in a landslide. Ferraro won praise for her campaign efforts, though her husband's business dealings became a major distraction for the Democrats.
G. Terry Madonna, an independent pollster in Pennsylvania, said the stage is now set for one of the most unusual presidential elections of all time.
"We now have age, race and gender in this crazy contest," said Madonna, who directs the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
He noted that Palin's main qualification is as first-term governor of a state with only 0.22 percent of the nation's population.
"Alaska doesn't make a good Baltimore suburb," said Madonna, alluding to the fact that the state has considerably fewer people than Baltimore County.
