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Aug 30, 2008 10:29 am US/Eastern

McCain Makes The Surprise Choice Of Sarah Palin

Gov. Palin is the first woman on a Republican ticket

MIAMI (CBS4) ― Never let it be said that politics deals no surprises. After weeks of speculation about his choice for vice-president on the Republican ticket, John McCain bypassed the names most often mentioned and on Friday chose a little-known candidate, Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska for less than two years.

It's an unexpected choice that has people talking, and perhaps that's part of the campaign strategy: get eyes on McCain and even promote a new view. On the street, the selection of Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin, won everything from praise to questions of who is she.

"Finally, somebody has the guts to put a women in the White House," one man told CBS4 Chief Investigative Reporter Michele Gillen. 

"I disagree. I think Romney would have been a better choice," said a Coral Gables firefighter.

Hillary may be out, but the women card is now in play. Selected on Senator McCain's 73rd birthday, the 44-year-old mother of five whose son is about to deploy to Iraq portrayed herself as the girl next door.

"I was just you average 'hockey mom' in Alaska," Palin told McCain supporters at Friday's announcement in Dayton, Ohio.

"You're convinced this choice is qualified to be one heart beat away from the presidency?" Gillen asked Republican Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. "More qualified than Barack Obama, that's for sure," he responded.

"I thought 'wow, what a great ticket'. I think it was needed for our Republican Party to reach out to women, to those independent voters and I think the governor of Alaska is an independent thinker just like John McCain has been," added Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Palin invoked Hillary Clinton's name and her near-shattering of the ultimate glass ceiling.

"It turns out the women of America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all," announced Palin.

"Well, I thought this was a very desperate attempt by a campaign that isn't doing so well. Here's a woman with a very thin resume who would really turn back the clock on women's rights," said Commissioner Katy Sorenson, a Democratic delegate just back from the Democratic National Convention in Denver. 

"How many men have gone to public office, when they had no qualification? How many qualifications did George Bush have? He made it to the top because he was male," said South Florida women's rights pioneer Roxcy Bolton. 

Bolton says she's for Obama, but she won't diss or discount Palin. 

"So do you think this pick might actually pull over some women?" Gillen asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure. Let's see how it plays out in the next few weeks," replied Bolton.

Palin built a reputation for taking on the state's big oil interests with their links to the Republican Party. However, Ms Palin has become embroiled in a minor scandal in which the Alaska Legislature voted last month to investigate allegations that Palin dismissed the state's public safety commissioner after the official resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a contentious divorce from Palin's sister.

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