CNN: McCain picks Palin

[Eleanor Martins]

man, every time I see that red shock of hair I think of Geena Davis.

Ken Salazar looks so ridiculous as a surrogate here - let me run the pros and cons down:

Pros:
1. Makes four more years of Bush policies seem slightly ridiculous, neutering the main Democratic talking point.
2. Family/conservative creds
3. Not Romney or Pawlenty
4. Pretty face, would conceivably play well with independents, better than the terrible two, at any rate

Cons:
1. Nobody knows anything about her.
2. Alaska's so far removed from any patterns of life you might see in the lower 48.
3. Doesn't enhance any of McCain's current campaign themes, makes his invocation of his POW experience seem pointless.
4. Has even less experience than Obama, which seems scarcely possible.
5. Can anyone see her being a president?

In sum, this is easily McCain's riskiest choice, but I'd venture that this is one that he had to make, because either of Romney or Pawlenty would have ensured a narrow, but comfortable loss in November. That said, the next few days are absolutely critical - my initial impressions are that she has absolutely no credibility in terms of stepping in should disaster intervene in a McCain term, but the way they roll her out heading into the RNC will be of the utmost importance.

If an image of her as unsubstantive takes root they're toast and I actually, truly cannot see McCain winning it and he'll stutter to a 10 point whitewash, but if she actually becomes the new face of the GOP - conservative yet attractive then they might come away with this. This might be an unmitigated disaster or a stroke of genius, I'll reserve my judgment till past Sunday.