Sarah Palin as Vice President?

At first glance Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, would be the perfect running mate for John McCain. She is down the line conservative, with no opinions that would alarm the conservative base, is a reformer, is young, attractive, and a female.

Governor Sarah Palin is also a leader in an issue with which Republicans have garnered some traction, which is energy and oil drilling. Sarah Palin is somewhat to the right of John McCain because she favors drilling in ANWR. Nevertheless she is in the position to hammer the Democrats hard for their opposition to oil drilling. Governor Sarah Palin maintains an approval rating in Alaska in the eighties.

Being female, Governor Sarah Palin might make the Republican ticket attractive to disaffected Hillary Clinton voters. Many Hillary Clinton supporters are still nursing an intense disappointment that their gal did not get the Democratic nomination, thus possibly becoming the first female President. Sarah Palin as the first female Vice President, who would certainly be young enough to run for President in her own right in 2012 or 2016, would seem to be a pretty good consolation prize.

A fly in the ointment that might derail a possible Sarah Palin candidacy is a potential personnel scandal. In July 2008 Governor Sarah Palin fired the Alaska Commissioner for Public Safety Walt Monegan, according to the Associated Press. Monegan is maintaining that Sarah Palin fired him for refusing to fire Palin's ex brother-in-law from the Alaska State Troopers. The State Trooper ex brother-in-law was involved in a divorce and child custody fight with Sarah Palin's sister, Molly McCann. Palin maintains that she fired Monegan because she wanted to take the department in a new direction.

An investigation into the matter is ongoing. With an atmosphere in Alaska which includes felony charges against the state's senior US Senator, the mere fact of an investigation may make the McCain campaign reluctant to name Sarah Palin as the Vice Presidential Running mate. The potential scandal could tarnish Palin's reputation as a reformer, willing to take on corruption even in her own party.