Sarah Palin, pro's and cons

Like I did last week when Romney was the presumptive presumptive vice-presidential nominee, and Biden too, when he was chosen. Here's a rundown of Gov. Palin's pros and cons.

Pro's

-- Fires up conservative base, even Rush Limbaugh sings her praises.

-- On her own, she offers a good visual for Republicans. Bright, young and energetic, just what the Republican party needs right now.

-- Good background, modest means, has young children, can connect with blue collar Republicans that were waiting for one of their own to join the ticket.

-- Lack of national spotlight and brief but impressive record as governor reinforces the "true reformer" message McCain will be drumming out next week at the convention.

-- Maybe, just MAYBE she'll be able to bring over some embittered Hillary supporters that weren't convinced by the Democratic Convention's gushing displays of unity and are now impressed that it was McCain, not Obama, who put a woman on his ticket.

Con's

-- McCain can throw the experience argument right out the window for the rest of the campaign.

-- The visuals of the two together is incredibly awkward, when they embraced today it looked like McCain was hugging his daughter.

-- Who?

-- She will be under immense pressure to answer hard hitting foreign policy questions without sounding scripted and show experience and judgment in matters that she is likely to not be very knowledgable on.

-- The Alaskan Republican machine is notoriously corrupt, (See: Stevens, Ted) and she needs to prove she is untarnished by it's workings. (Much like Obama has had to do with Chicago)

-- Obama has had 19 months to introduce himself to America, answer to tough scrutiny, and present his agenda as a largely unkown political figure. Sarah Palin will have just shy of 67 days to accomplish all of the above.