Dems, don't take the bait

Sarah Palin is an electoral rabbit. If Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats and various liberal interest groups are smart, they won't give chase.

Tonight, the Alaska governor will ascend the stage at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul to deliver her acceptance speech. Mrs. Palin is smart, attractive and a good speaker. Her personal story is compelling, if a bit unusual.

She is the wife of a union member and the mother of five. Her children include a son, her youngest, with Down syndrome and an unwed 17-year-old daughter whom we recently learned is five months pregnant. (The Palin family announced that Bristol, the daughter, will have the baby and plans to marry the father; Mr. Obama has made clear that his campaign will not make an issue of the pregnancy, declaring, "Families are off limits. People's children are especially off limits.")

Though Governor Palin's story is atypical - in case you hadn't heard, among other biographical tidbits, Mrs. Palin is a former runner-up for Miss Alaska who used to go moose hunting with her father and remains an advocate for the legalized shooting of wolves from helicopters - Mr. Obama and his team would be wise to ignore her and let the national conversation about Mrs. Palin go in whatever direction the media take it.

Why? Because in picking her, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain sent both a clear message and a thinly veiled dare.

The clear message is that Mr. McCain is more worried about losing this November than leaving the country in untested hands, were he to win the election and at some point either die or resign. As The New York Times reported this week, Mr. McCain wanted to pick either former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge or Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, both of whom he knows well. But both are pro-choice men, so Mr. McCain opted, in a rush, for Mrs. Palin.

Religious conservatives may think the Alaska governor is qualified. But as Mr. McCain might put it: My friends, the truth is that the underlying motive for his selection of Mrs. Palin was not "Country First" but "Votes First."

Because the economy, the war and his proximity to President Bush are all electoral liabilities, the Arizona senator is hoping to score sympathy points by baiting Democrats into attacking Mrs. Palin. What Mr. McCain seeks is an opportunity to express outrage, a chance to get his dander up and look tough and chivalrous by defending his gal.