Guy W. Farmer: Palin has gotten the attention of this undecided voter

Republican presidential candidate John McCain launched the political equivalent of a "Hail Mary" pass when he selected little known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. The Republican "base" reacted enthusiastically to the Arizona senator's surprise choice while left-wing bloggers unleashed an electronic blizzard of scurrilous personal attacks against Gov. Palin and her all-American family.

I say "all-American" because it appears to me that the Palins are real people as opposed to the cardboard cutouts that are all too often trotted out during political campaigns. Like most of us, these Alaskans have had had their fair share of trials and tribulations " a pregnant 17-year-old daughter, for example " but they seem to handle those kinds of family challenges pretty well. To his credit, McCain's opponent, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said the candidates' families should be off-limits. Good for him!

Based on her rousing speech at the GOP Convention on Wednesday evening, I'd say that the athletic governor " a long-distance runner and former high school basketball star " caught McCain's "Hail Mary" pass and scored a touchdown. "The first-term Alaska governor rocked the convention with a star-turning performance," the Associated Press reported. And I agree with Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter, who called Palin "a clear and present danger to the American left."

While many Democratic strategists and Eastern elite media mavens look down their collective noses at the bright young governor of a small Western state, I think they do so at their peril. That's because Gov. Palin, who has more administrative and executive experience than Sen. Obama, is a proven reformer who successfully challenged her state's GOP establishment and who will attract some of those disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters. Therefore, she should be taken seriously even though she's a hockey mom who hunts and fishes and eats mooseburgers. That isn't how they live inside the Washington Beltway, but many working Americans can relate to the Palin family's outdoorsy lifestyle, especially out here in the West.

We'll be presented with clear contrasts in both the presidential and vice presidential debates. In the two McCain-Obama debates, a 72-year-old war hero will confront a brilliant young (47) politician who reminds some of us old-timers of another charismatic first-term senator, John F. Kennedy. And when Gov. Palin goes up against Obama's running mate, veteran Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, it will be a matchup between a popular 44-year-old governor and an entrenched Washington insider who's been in the Senate for 36 years. Biden and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson were my favorite Democrats during the early primaries because of their experience on foreign policy and national defense issues.

I think all of these factors will create some fascinating and unforgettable political theater between now and Nov. 4. I still don't know who I'll be voting for so I look forward to the next 60 days.

The Republican Convention

The GOP Convention got underway last Tuesday in St. Paul, Minn., a day late because national media attention was focused on the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Gustav came ashore near New Orleans on Monday. But the Republicans quickly gained momentum as failed presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani took to the podium to blast Obama and the Democrats. The feisty Giuliani drew cheers when he referred to Obama's "historic" candidacy " historic because, according to Giuliani, the Illinois senator is the least experienced presidential candidate in more than 100 years.

Gov. Palin wowed convention delegates and a huge national TV audience on Wednesday and Sen. McCain kept the momentum going on Thursday with an impassioned "stand up and fight for America" acceptance speech. "I don't work for a party," the GOP standard-bearer declared. "I don't work for a special interest. I don't work for myself. I work for you." So far so good.

But even as McCain and Palin railed against "special interests," corporate fat cats watched the proceedings from expensive sky boxes high above the convention floor, just as they did a week earlier at the Democratic Convention in Denver. I'm sorry to be so cynical about politicians' promises to clean up the mess in Washington, but we should face the facts about how things really work in our nation's capital, where money is the mother's milk of American politics. In fact, most of our elected representatives spend at least one-third of their time raising money for their reelection campaigns. Just ask them next time they're in town and see if you get a straight answer.

Although I'm cynical about the way things work in Washington, this is an important presidential election and I urge my readers to participate in the electoral process. Both major parties are promising "change," but what does that word really mean? Let's ask the candidates. Stay tuned.

Guy W. Farmer, of Carson City, is a semi-retired journalist and former U.S. diplomat who has been following national politics for nearly 50 years.