This one has moxie

The beauty of Sarah Palin's candidacy: it is unreadable, unprecedented and unpredictable.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain has pulled one interesting rabbit of his hat. She shoots. Forget purse-sized girly guns. She uses big boy guns that nuzzle her shoulder. She fishes (of course). She runs long distances and rides snow mobiles. She has five children, the eldest deploying to Iraq next week. She’s pro-contraception – and pro-life, refusing to abort the youngest child, now aged four months after learning from a scan that he suffers from Downs Syndrome. She’s in favour of oil drilling in the Artic. She is a fiscal conservative. She’s been an anti-corruption whistleblower. And a runner up in the Miss Alaska pageant. It’s only a slight literary stretch to say she’s from a place as far from Washington as you can get without falling into the Pacific. She married her high school sweetheart. Known in high school as “Sarah Barracuda” for her aggressive basketball play, she is now governor of Alaska. “This one has moxy!” was the crisp conclusion of one scribe. “Holy cow!” said a friend who writes for one America’s leading newspapers.

McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin, the first female Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, has turned one of the most scintillating US presidential elections into an even more dazzling campaign. Just as the Obamadrama was closing to fever pitch levels in Denver at the Democrat National Convention, McCain managed to turn the media spotlight to a largely unknown 44-year-old woman who describes herself as a hockey mom. The world is about learn a whole lot more about Palin.

But the real question is who will she woo to the Republican ticket? Conservatives Christians suspicious of the moderate social views of McCain will surely adore this young conservative woman. The perfect poster-girl, Palin will spruce up the often unfairly dowdy image of Christians. She might also excite a whole new hockey-mum demographic of young mums, encouraging them to vote in November. And blue collar, working class men will probably be even more likely to side with the Republican McCain with Palin as his running mate.

And then there is the delectable chance to pick up what Andrew Sullivan calls a certain class of middle class/educated/post-college/pre-adult white males who currently favour Obama. “Basically the gamers/Gen-Xers/Seth Rogen/Will Farrell crowd,” said Sullivan. “The GOP has already rolled out video of Palin in snugly tailored fatigues, combat boots and tight t-shirt brandishing a weapon at a meet-n-greet with the Alaska National Guard in Kuwait. I’m sure they’re scrambling to find more. ‘Sarah Palin as Lara Croft’ will leave these guys drooling like zombies. And if God really is Republican, then she’s been photographed straddling the barrel of a tank cannon at least once in her life.”

Being female may have its advantages in what should have been the Year of Hillary. But Republicans who imagine she will attract Hillary Clinton supporters may be destined for disappointment. I’m guessing she won’t have much chance of pulling in Hillary’s neatly named “menopause caucus” who grouch about not voting for Barack Obama. Of course they will. For them, it will come down to anyone but a Republican.

There are other downsides too for Palin. Sure, she is a rookie only a heartbeat away from the presidency. But, the other rookie, Obama, is aiming straight for the presidency. She may be flayed in the VP debate by her experienced Democrat opponent Joe Biden. Alternatively, if she is allowed to be herself, she may impress voters by delivering straight-shooting, pithy answers that show up Biden as a long-winded, air bag. Remember, she has moxy. As a one-time columnist she wrote about relishing the competition that infuses sports and politics. “Competition defines and refines a person,” she wrote. “It really is nothing to be afraid of.” And this. “It’s said the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick,” wrote Palin in 2004. “So with lipstick on,” she added, “the gloves come off.” As others have already noted, if the role of the Veep is political attack dog, Palin is perfect.

This may turn out to be a Republican masterstroke. Or not. But, at least from the vantage point of Australia, it makes our election last November – between John Howard and his Howard-lite opponent, Kevin Rudd, look very dreary indeed.

Over to you...