Bringing GOP back to life

Kirsten Powers:

IF they hadn't finally started giving male names to hurricanes, the only thing anyone would be talking about here at the GOP convention would be women. Gustav is shaking up the Republicans' schedule, but Sarah Palin has brought the party back to life.

In picking the Alaska governor as his running mate, John McCain made a high-risk, high-reward move.

She might fall on her face in the glare of the national media - in which case, McCain is toast. But if she doesn't, she'll be a huge plus for the ticket.

The national media glare can overwhelm candidates who haven't been exposed to it before. In 2000, Gen. Wesley Clark stepped in it on the second day of his presidential campaign when he told The New York Times that he would've supported the congressional resolution that authorized the Iraq war, even though he had fashioned himself as a major war critic. It was just the first of many misstatements. He went from riding the top of the polls to flaming out.

Palin's challenge is to avoid any major gaffes that give the media the excuse to expand on its narrative-in-the-making that she's a ditzy beauty queen from Nowheresville who was only chosen because of her ovaries.

Yes, being a woman was a factor in the choice - but fully in keeping with the way smart veep picks are always made: She energizes the ticket with the whiff of change and could attract disgruntled Hillary voters. And now the Democratic ticket isn't the only one that can lay claim to making hsitory.

But she also goes a long way to reconciling the party's base to McCain, while also restoring his standing as a maverick and a reformer - an image critical to attracting independent voters.

Palin is a true-blue conservative, but also has a record of taking on her own party. And she's a religious conservative - with a beautiful Down's syndrome baby (in a country where 90 percent of such babies are aborted).

The rest of her personal story is just as compelling: a working mother with five kids (one on the way to Iraq) and a husband in the Steelworkers Union. She's gorgeous and feminine but she hunts and fishes. She's charismatic and a good speaker. She's the kind of woman you'd like to have a beer with.

She has energized a gloomy Republican Party in a way that none of the other picks - Tom Ridge, Joe Lieberman, Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney - would have. The McCain ticket desperately needed energy. The excitement for Palin is palpable.

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Dems have been comparing Palin to Joe Biden and laughing derisively at the contrast. But for some reason, the comparison between Obama and McCain - who are light years apart in terms of experience - doesn't incite the same level of concern or condescension.

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I still like the selection. I like Palin and I like her family. She knows more than either Democrat on the energy issue where they have both been wrong for a long time.

She was supportive of the surge showing much better judgment on Iraq than either Democrat. Being commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard is not the laughable position that some Democrats have claimed. The Alaska Guard is a key component in the missile defense system responsible for stopping attacks on the rest of the country. They are at the tip of the spear on that front. The Alaska National Guard has done several tours in Iraq already too.

So far she has handled herself well on the campaign trail giving a great speech when she was introduced. I think she will do the same at the convention this week. She has Joe Biden already tongue tied over her good looks.