How Sarah Palin was picked

The Selection Process

Excerpt:

• McCain started looking for a Vice President shortly after securing the nomination in February with a list of 40 names.
  
• By early Spring, he had cut that list down to 20. That list of 20 had 5 women on it: Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Condi Rice, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and Sarah Palin.
  
• A few weeks ago, McCain cut the list again, this time from 20 down to 5: Pawlenty, Romney, Palin, Ridge, and Lieberman. Those five were all equally vetted.
  
• McCain and his staff had come to the conclusion as he winnowed down the list further that his “experience versus change” argument had “run its course” and McCain told his staff he “hated running as the wizened old hand of experience.” This led McCain away from Pawlenty and Romney as choices, and led his advisers to begin telling news outlets that McCain’s VP pick would be “transformative” as the list narrowed to Lieberman, Ridge, and Palin.
  
• Lindsey Graham pushed incredibly hard for McCain to choose Lieberman - so hard that he “vexed” some of McCain’s other advisers. In fact, Graham called prominent social conservatives such as Huckabee, Blackwell, Huntsman, and Bauer to try and win their support for a McCain-Lieberman ticket. Giuliani also pressed hard for McCain to take Joe.
  
• In the end, McCain’s advisers told him the “base would revolt” if he chose Lieberman, and to a lesser extent, Ridge. He then chose Palin because she reinforced his persona of being a reform-minded, anti-establishment maverick, because she was “transformative” and an “attention getting” pick, and also because he was highly impressed with her “directness and knowledge” when he met her at an RGA meeting in February. All while being someone conservatives would be satisfied with.
  
• McCain called Palin on Sunday and got her on her cell while she was at the Alaska State Fair. He invited her to Arizona for a “job interview” and reportedly said his mind was made up in a matter of minutes and that he viewed Palin as a “kindred spirit” in politics.
  

Comment: In my view she is a better pick than Lieberman!