When Tina Fey wannabe Sarah Palin flew overnight to Ohio without telling her closest aides, the AP and others new the jig was up...
Palin has been in trouble in Alaska in recent weeks for the usual Republican cronyism: firing the guy who refused to fire Palin's sister's ex-husband from a state job. Besides that, there are several factors about this choice that must be taken into account:
1) Palin is three years younger than Obama, which makes McCain look foolish for ever saying anything about Obama's inexperience.
2) Palin has only been Governor of Alaska for two years and has zero foreign policy or any other real experience. See above.
3) This is an obvious slap at Obama's choice of Joe Biden, since Hillary supporters are already moving toward McCain in absurd numbers.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Sunday shows 27 percent of Clinton supporters backing McCain. With 18 million voters having turned out in the primaries for Clinton, McCain could pick up as many as 5 million additional votes, enough to potentially swing a few crucial states.
Ultimately, especially since Biden's selection did nothing for Obama's numbers (early polls indicate he lost national support between the announcement of Biden as the VP and the start of the convention) and was a very telling mistake on multiple levels, the selection of Palin makes this McCain's race to lose and re-positions Obama as a major underdog.
We'll have more as the story is confirmed and Palin is announced at a press conference at noon...
UPDATE: Almost every media outlet is confirming the story and saying that they are 100% sure it will be Palin. Also, for more on Palin, check out this hilarious piece in the Huffington Post from back in May about the possibility of Palin as the next Dick Cheney...
UPDATE: Check out this in-depth analysis of the Palin pick. The writer is against the choice but is balanced about his political views. Also, here's more on the Palin ethics scandal, if you don't believe us. Could it become a liability for McCain? Highly unlikely, at least until after November.