McCAIN trying to steal some thunder???

It's smart to make the announcement the day AFTER Obama's speech. McCain's camp knows that Obama is a good orator and so the only way to take the punch out of (or try to) his speech is to announce the first woman on the GOP ticket. (She is not the first woman to be nominated as a V.P., Geraldine Ferraro was nominated to the Democratic Party by Walter Mondale in 1984. They loss that year to Ronald Regan and George H.W. Bush.)

Biography

Full Name: Sarah Heath Palin
Party: Republican
Political Office: Governor of Alaska, elected 2006; mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, 1996-2002; Wasilla City Council, 1992-1996
Business/Professional Experience: Television sports reporter, 1987-1989; Co-owner of a commercial fishing operation, 1988-2007; owner, sport vehicle rental business, 1994-1997; chairwoman, Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, 2003-2004
Date of Birth: February 11, 1964
Place of Birth: Sandpoint, Idaho
Education: B.S., University of Idaho, 1987
Spouse: married Todd Palin, 1988
Children: Sons Track, born 1989, and Trig Paxson Van, born 2008; daughters Piper, born 1990; Bristol, born 1994 and Willow, born 2001
Religion: Protestant (nondenominational)
Home: Juneau, Alaska

In a state dominated by the same party – and in many cases the same people – virtually since its inception, Sarah Palin is at the vanguard of a new generation of Alaska Republicans with a reformist bent. The self-described "hockey mom" ousted the incumbent governor in the 2006 primary, and she is both the youngest person and the first woman to serve in the post in Alaska. Senator John McCain, the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party, drafted her as his running mate on Aug. 29, 2008.