Yes, there are a lot of positive things to say about the prospect that Alaska Governor Sarah Plain may become John McCain’s running mate later today, but there are also negatives that bring risks for the McCain campaign.
For one thing, she’s a relative unknown who has only held the office of Governor of two years. Before that, she was Mayor of the town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2006 after having served on the City Council there for four years. Wasilla, in case you’ve never heard of it, is a town of less than 6,000 people.
That’s not saying that she’s not qualified, but it is saying that she is an unknown with a relative lack of political experience — both compared to the GOP Nominee for President and the Democratic nominee for Vice-President. The last person that fit that bill was a guy named Dan Quayle.
But Dan Quayle isn’t the only past candidate for Vice-Preisdent that Palin may eventually be compared to. Like the 1984 Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee, there may be a potential ethics problem:
Lawmakers will hire someone within a week to investigate whether Governor Sarah Palin abused her power in firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The legislative council approved 100,000 dollars for the investigation that will find out whether Palin was angry at Monegan for not firing an Alaska State Trooper who went through a messy divorce with Palin’s sister.
On Monday afternoon, the Joint Legislative Council, filled with Republicans and Democrats, voted 12 to 0 to formally call for an investigation against Governor Palin in a manner—that they are stressing—will be unbiased and done in a timely fashion.
Legislators approved hiring a special investigator to look into the controversial firing of former Public
Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan was fired two weeks ago without explanation and has said he was pressured by the governor and her staff to fire a trooper who was once married to Palin’s sister.
Accusations have risen that Monegan was fired for his refusal to fire trooper Michael Wooten. The council’s intent is to investigate the circumstances and events surrounding the termination of Monegan and potential abuses of power and improper action by the Governor and her administration.
Now, there may be nothing to this story, but you can’t bet that it will come out over the next day or two if Palin is, in fact, the nominee and there may not be enough time between now and Election Day to set the record straight.
So, for all the good things you can say about picking Sarah Palin too, it’s fairly clear that McCain is taking a risk if she is in fact his nominee.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:28 am
[...] reaction ? Smart, very smart perhaps, definitely suprising, but also very, very risky. This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, McCain, [...]
August 29th, 2008 at 10:31 am
[...] reaction ? Smart, very smart perhaps, definitely suprising, but also very, very risky. Related PostsIt’s Not [...]
August 30th, 2008 at 7:35 am
[...] noted yesterday, here and here, the clear and apparent risks that the McCain campaign has taken in picking an unknown, [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
[...] might be the case. Almost as soon as John McCain introduced Sarah Palin in Dayton, Ohio on Friday, the questions began to be raised about her experience and fitness to assume the office of the [...]