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Joe Biden, Senior Senator from Delaware (Senator Barack Obama’s vice presidential pick on the Democratic ticket).  First of all, I’m not a big fan of this guy, because I don’t trust him for some reason.  I don’t like the off-the-cuff comments he makes, as I’m interpreting this as an uncensored look into his character.  I hate to judge people on some of the verbal vomit and faux pas and gaffes they may make, but when you are an elected official (like it or not), I do believe you should have a sense of decorum and decency.  That’s just my opinion.  There are some things he began, however, that I deeply, deeply admire including his activism in combating domestic violence among other things.  Overall, I feel he was a safe, “middle-of-the-road” choice for Senator Obama.  Keep in mind that the people that are shown supporting Senator Obama may seem like most of the country; however, he still is pretty much running neck and neck with Senator McCain.  Sen. Obama needed a choice that would court “conservative, middle America” where he seems a bit out of touch; and I believe he made the right and sensible choice.  On the negative side (besides my own distrust of Senator Biden), what kind of “new” change will Senator Biden bring to the table?  He seems to be status quo politics to me.  Additionally, I don’t think Senator Obama’s lack of experience necessitates choosing a running mate who espouses the status quo.  I, for one, believe in “new blood” and a “new perspective;” but I see what Senator Obama is doing, and I respect him and his choice on that matter. 

However, I do believe with the choice of Senator Biden, he has (Sen. Obama) possibly alienated some of Senator Clinton’s rabid supporters.  We’ll see.

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska (Senator John McCain’s vice presidential pick on the Republican ticket).  I must admit that this choice came out of left field for me.  You cannot deny the gusto with which Governor Palin has done her job.  Especially admirable is the fact that she publicly outed members of her own party for violations of ethics.  She has a couple of firsts going on here with regard to this year’s presidential election.  First, she is the first female Vice Presidential candidate on the Republican party ticket.  Second, she is the first politician from Alaska to run on a national ticket.  On first hearing her background, I thought to myself…”she sounds like so many of the people I know and am friends with here in Minnesota”--an honest, educated, and working class lifestyle, married her high-school sweetheart, believes in children (well, who doesn’t).  I also was impressed at her idea of her state being self-sufficient and not relying so heavily on federal dollars.  Without going into a diatribe, I wholly support self-sufficiency and not reliance on government to take care of EVERYTHING.  I thought…wow!  Stellar choice! 

But, a few things have troubled me…first of all, she is strongly opposed to abortion (matter of course, Governor Palin just gave birth in April to her own son who does have Down’s syndrome).  Okay, I’m not going to dwell on this issue yet.  She opposes same-sex marriage but gives the usual “but some of my best friends are gay” spiel.  She does flip-flop on this issue, although she did veto blocked legislation that would have barred Alaska from granting benefits to partners of gay state employees as well granting Alaska benefits to same-sex couples.  I think she should just go forth and stand up for what she really believes in.  I really do.  I (and maybe it’s just me) have a tiny problem with flip-flopping…but oh well. 

Then again, I’m flip-flopping here myself with regard to my opinion of this relatively unknown political contender at the moment.  She sounds so much like the people I work with, am neighbors with, am friends with here in Minnesota.  Her son joined the Army when he was 18 and will be shipping off to Iraq in a few weeks.  She returned to her duties as governor three days after birth (I worked with an administrator in my department who was on the phone with some of her supervisors, myself included, just one day after giving birth).  She decided to have her baby “Trig” despite prenatal testing revealing the baby had Down’s syndrome.  She hunts (oh my goodness, November in Minnesota for two weeks prior to Thanksgiving is a literal ghost town with practically everyone out huntin’).  She ice fishes (so does my dad).  She rides snowmobile.  It’s a weekend pastime here in the winter.  I can’t count the number of snowmobile jackets I see hanging in the coat room at work on two hands.  I think most everyone I work with (except a few) has a snowmobile jacket, and they actually do ride snowmobile.  I think some of them ride their snowmobiles to work even if there’s a huge snowstorm.(http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=864bb9006da3f010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD)