John McCain has made a surprising pick for VP:

Sen. John McCain has picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a senior McCain campaign official told CNN on Friday.

Palin, 44, who’s in her first term as governor, is a pioneering figure in Alaska, the first woman and the youngest person to hold the state’s top political job.

She catapulted to the post with a strong reputation as a political outsider, forged during her stint in local politics. She was mayor and a council member of the small town of Wasila and was chairman of the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates Alaska’s oil and gas resources, in 2003 and 2004.

Most of those “in the know” were predicting either Romney or Pawlenty, which just goes to show that they often don’t know any more than the rest of us.

Bobby Jindal would have been my first choice, but Palin was a close second. An staunch conservative, she should help soothe some conservative concerns with John McCain. She will also present a fresh face for the GOP and counter the perception that it’s a party for old, white men. She is a little green (meaning inexperienced), but that should be countered by McCain’s resume.

In conclusion, McCain could do far worse than Palin (and I, for one, feared he would).

UPDATE: A number of people are arguing that Palin will ultimately bomb due to her inexperience. Well, it could happen. However, I think it may turn out to be a risk worth taking. Yes, Palin is young–younger than Obama, even. But this is what the GOP needs right now. McCain could have picked Romney or Pawlenty. What if he had? It would have been a “safe” pick, but what advantage would it have given him? Perhaps they could have swung a few states, but I doubt it. These picks would have been boring and simply played into the “more of the same” meme being circulated by Democrats.

If McCain is to win, he needs to be gutsy, and this is a gutsy move that might just pay off. Of course, we might be getting ahead of ourselves in the Veepstakes anyway. After all, it’s well known that VP picks rarely have much influence in elections.