"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah"

The night before John McCain was to announce his running mate, speculation was running rampant. Journalists were fighting tooth and nail in an attempt to get any shred of information regarding the "top-secret" pick. For me personally, the "night before" speculation has become a "where were you the night before the world was introduced to Sarah Palin?" Just as I am able to recall where I was when OJ Simpson, in his White Ford Bronco, was being chased down the highway by police, I am able to recall where I was on, what would become, the eve Republican Party history would be made. I was watching Hannity and Colmes with my mom, listening to the guys’ debate on who they felt would be picked. Names such as Romney, Pawlenty, Huckabee, Jindal and even Lieberman were thrown around like a football. As a young conservative woman, I have tremendous respect for all of the men above, but I did not have the enthusiasm I would soon have when I turned the news on the next morning. Sarah Palin IS the reason why I have centered this blog on strong, conservative female candidates. It was Sarah Palin who re-energized a party that was split. Before Sarah Palin, John McCain was struggling to stay afloat, struggling to keep up with the glitzy, charismatic candidate that was Barack Obama. Sarah Palin was his "hole in one." I remember saying to my mom, "Why doesn't the Republican Party have any strong, conservative female candidates?" Well, I didn't have to wait that long for my answer because it came the next morning in the form of AK Governor Sarah Palin. I will never forget hugging my mom, tears in my eyes saying that I finally had an American political role model. Here she was, a self-described hockey mom who had a loving husband and five adorable children. What was not to love about her? Like many, I have so much in common with her; she is an every woman of sorts. An individual who started out just like many Americans, who learned to work hard and in the end achieve great things. A woman who mothers can cite as an example to their young daughters that they too can have a family and be whatever they want to be. Of all the decisions John McCain made during the campaign, his choice of running mate was the best by far.

On a final note, I have to admit that it was fun to watch the MSM trip over themselves throughout the day of the announcement as they scrambled to uncover any little tidbit they could about the Alaskan governor: "She hunts, she fishes, she's the hottest governor in the coldest state, she was a beauty pageant contestant..." The MSM could not get enough of Sarah. Although the stories about her soon turned into negative tabloid journalism, it was memorable to see that for once, Barack Obama had been overshadowed. It is as if Sarah Palin and Barack Obama were characters straight from the "Brady Bunch," with Barack crying out "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah."