PUMA for McCain-Palin!

Several news sources are confirming that John McCain has picked maverick Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his VP!

Stay tuned for updates…

UPDATE 1 from CNBC:

Palin is a first-term governor credited with reforms of her out-of-the-way state.

Newly minted Democratic nominee Barack Obama is making an aggressive play for the traditional GOP stronghold and its three electoral votes, and polls show the race close.

At 44, Palin is younger than Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a maverick.

A Gulfstream IV from Anchorage, Alaska, flew into Middletown Regional Airport in Butler County near Cincinnati about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, said Rich Bevis, airport manager.

A female maverick, and the only Governor on either ticket.

Brilliant!

UPDATE 2: And how can Obama question Palin’s experience?  He’s done nothing in the US Senate.  At least Palin has already accomplished a lot in her 2 years as Governor:

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Highlights of Governor Palin’s tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark spending.^[13][17] “Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on ‘federal dollars,’ as the state does today.”^[6]

She has challenged the state’s Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young^[18] and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.^[13] Palin supports holding occasional legislative sessions outside the state capital, and municipal revenue sharing to help local governments.^{[citation needed]}

Energy policies

Palin’s tenure is noted for her independence from big oil companies, while still promoting resource development.^[6][13] Palin has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisors, to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska. ^[19]

Shortly after taking office, Palin rescinded an appointment by Murkowski of his former chief of staff Jim Clark to the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, one of thirty-five appointments made by Murkowski in the last hour of his administration that she reversed. ^[20][21] Clark later pled guilty to conspiring with a defunct oil-field-services company to channel money into Frank Murkowski’s re-election campaign. ^[22]

In March 2007, Palin presented the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) as the new legal vehicle for building a natural gas pipeline from the state’s North Slope.^[23] Only one legislator, Representative Ralph Samuels, voted against the measure,^[24] and in June Palin signed it into law.^[25][26] On January 5, 2008, Palin announced that a Canadian company, Transcanada, was the sole AGIA-compliant applicant.^[27][28]

In response to high oil and gas prices, and in response to the resulting state government budget surplus, Palin proposed giving Alaskans $100-a-month energy debit cards. She also proposed providing grants to electrical utilities so that they would reduce customers’ rates.^[29] She subsequently dropped the debit card proposal, and in its place she proposed to send Alaskans $1,200 directly and eliminate the gas tax…

And while she is predictably anti-choice, she is sympathetic to gay rights:

Palin’s first veto was used to block legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to gay state employees and their partners. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples. The veto occurred after Palin consulted with Alaska’s attorney general on the constitutionality of the legislation.

Speaking as a lifelong Democrat who has marched FOR a woman’s right to choose:

Palin’s stance on abortion will NOT keep me from supporting a McCain-Palin ticket.

I will take my chances on the abortion issue because I believe Barack Obama presents much greater dangers to the country.

PUMA for McCain-Palin!