If John McCain’s decision to pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate works out, it’s likely to be seen as a political masterstroke. Here’s a young, attractive, successful Governor, definitely an outsider, and someone who can definitely help bring along those parts of the Republican base that continue to have second thoughts about [...]

My gut reaction to John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate?
I love it.
Oh, I have no idea if I’ll like Palin as a candidate. I know she is socially conservative, which isn’t my thing. And I know she’s a reformer, which is very much my thing. So I’ll give her [...]

He’s set to talk around 12.

The first female GOP VP pick.
Will she help transform the party or will she be a Ferraro?
A wild ride begins…

Both CNN and ABC News are confirming that Alaska Govenor Sarah Palin will be John McCain’s running mate:
John McCain has made his vice presidential pick: the Republican contender will tap first-term Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.
The 44-year-old Palin brings working class roots and appeal to female voters, becoming only the second female vice presidential candidate [...]

With leaners
McCain - 49%
Obama - 45%
Without leaners
Obama - 46%
McCain - 43%
More evidence of a convention bump for Obama today, but will McCain’s supposedly unconventional Veep pick capture the imagination of swing voters and former, disgruntled Hillary voters?
And concerning Sarah Palin…Rasmussen reveals that nearly 7 in 10 voters don’t even really know her…
In the days Obama [...]

The Chicago Tribune’s Swamp blog is reporting that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is John McCain’s choice for his Vice-Presidential running mate:
A Republican source confirms that John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Campaign officials, however, remain mum this morning.
McCain is expected to announce his choice at a rally in [...]

If true, this potential to be a game changer given the unique and contentious nature of the Hillary/Obama primary contest.
CNBC reports
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a self-styled “hockey mom” who has only been governor for a little over a year, is GOP Presidential candidate John McCain’s choice for Vice President, CNBC has learned.
According to a Republican [...]

In addition to Tim Pawlenty essentially taking his own name off the list this morning, Fox News is reporting that Mitt Romney, who may or may not be in Dayton today, is not John McCain’s choice for a running mate:
Sources told FOX News that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will not be McCain’s choice, even [...]

This comes via Marc Ambinder, and it seems to confirm that Tim Pawlenty will not be the Republican nominee for Vice-President:
Just now, he spoke to CBS affiliate WCCO in Minneapolis and said that he would be picking up his regular schedule today and that it would be safe to assume he wasn’t the pick…..
That would [...]

When you mix that Secret Service story with this latest news, a clearer picture begins to emerge.
Still no word on where Pawlenty will be tomorrow. Sources say he’s in Minnesota currently with no currently plans to go anywhere this weekend.
However, as Ambinder points out…
It would be weird, wouldn’t it, to force the losers in [...]

This is just plain weak…
“Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama. When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise [...]

He thought it showed a toughness we haven’t seen yet from the candidate.

Of note, I’ve always thought that Todd is one of the savvier, intellectually honest pundits out there. Perhaps even more so than the late Tim Russert. So something tells me that his will be the consensus opinion come tomorrow.
We shall see…

The Secret Service put Biden under their protection right before the news broke he was Obama’s veep, but this appears to be a different situation…
If security sweeps are the giveaway, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may be on the brink of being selected as Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) vice presidential running mate.
According to sources with [...]

At least that’s the guess that Erick Erickson offers, and offers this as backup…
A source close to the campaign now confirms for me that it “more likely than not” is Pawlenty. He does, however, caution me that the campaign does not actually want to leak tonight lest the Obama camp get too much of a [...]

Red State’s Erick Erickson claims to have inside knowledge on McCain’s Veep pick:
I’m confident enough to put this up now, but willing to be wrong.
Right now though, every sign, signal, and background chatter indicates John McCain will pick Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota’s governor, as his running mate.
UPDATE: A source close to the campaign now confirms for [...]

From Politico:
In a strong sign that John McCain has not selected Joe Lieberman to be his running mate, Republican members of Congress were told today by McCain’s campaign that the Arizona senator would tap a traditional number two, according to a GOP source. [...]
McCain has been mulling the prospect of tapping Lieberman, and the Democrat-turned-independent [...]

The following report from Politico runs counter to what I just posted about him appearing on Meet The Press…
Tim Pawlenty, who had been in Denver on behalf of the McCain campaign and GOP, has stopped doing media interviews and cleared his schedule. [...]
An RNC aide said they were instructed to suspend Pawlenty’s counter-programming activities. The [...]

Halperin shares the lineup for this Sunday’s political roundtables, and it obviously begs the question…is NBC making an educated guess about the possible Veep nominee?
Meet the Press: Pawlenty
Face the Nation: Giuliani, Lieberman, Jindal, Fiorina
Again, it’s intriguing that Lieberman will by on with 3 other people who were mentioned as Veeps, but never seriously considered, while [...]

Obama scores a 5 point bump from yesterday to regain a sizable lead and hit the 48% mark for the first time since his overseas trip.

And, as Gallup notes, these numbers don’t take into account Clinton and Biden’s speeches…
The latest three-day Gallup Poll Daily tracking average (Aug. 25-27) is directly coincident with the first [...]

Well, the Republican Veepstakes just took another interesting turn, as whispers that not only has Rove asked Lieberman not to run, but he has also been asked to provide more information to the McCain camp.
From Politico:
AP’s Liz Sidoti reported: “Inside GOP circles Thursday, speculation swirled around Lieberman. It was fueled by reports that McCain’s advisers [...]