The woman painting her name onto the bottom of the ticket is Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, who it seems will be John McCain's running mate in November. I don't know anything more about her than anyone else outside Alaska - she seems to be a social conservative on issues like abortion, I'm sorry to say, to have independent views on energy and a reputation for integrity; and this recent poll suggests she certainly has serious political ability. As running-mates go, she could be quite an effective one.
There's something quite obvious about Palin, though, which is the real key to this appointment. As I said before, Barack Obama's boring selection of Joe Biden left the door widen open for McCain to pick a woman. It's got three aims, this. One, to surprise people by bringing on board someone new and interesting, and disturbing the image of McCain as a dull old man. Second, to close the "progress gap": while electing Obama would be a massive step forwards for America in terms of racial equality, electing the McCain/Palin ticket would also be pretty historic; so McCain has made this less of a choice between progress and statis than it was before. Third, this is specifically aimed at those women who supported Hillary Clinton as much because she was female as because of any policy commitments. If any of them are sceptical about Obama and up for grabs in November - and I and I guess John McCain reckon there are quite a few - then this gives them a reason for voting Republican.
Obama should have picked a woman himself, and given McCain the choice between apparently tokenistic tit-for-tat and grey-suited male nostalgia. The danger for Obama is not that he will scare the horses; it's that Obamamania will run out of steam or for some reason fail to fly in November in the way it did in February. The big stage in Denver last night may make it look a great week for him - but actually I think he's going through a dodgy patch.
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