Governor of Alaska selected as vice-presidential candidate for the Republican Party

Alaska Governor Palin Picked as McCain Running Mate (Update1)
By Ken Fireman and Lorraine Woellert

Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Republican John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, tapping a 44-year-old with an outsider persona in an effort to appeal to female voters and balance concerns about McCain's age.

Palin will appear with McCain, 72, the presumptive Republican nominee, today at an event in Dayton, Ohio.

``Governor Palin has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of,'' the McCain campaign said in a statement announcing the choice. ``Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today.''

Palin is less than halfway through her first term as governor of Alaska, a post she won in 2006 by challenging the state's Republican leadership and vowing to clean up a government mired in a corruption scandal.

In a sign of the secrecy in which the selection was wrapped, Palin's office last night announced that she would be spending today at the Alaska State Fair to introduce the new state quarter into circulation.

Palin is the second woman to be chosen as a major-party nominee for vice president. The first, then-Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, was nominated by the Democrats in 1984.

Although Alaska has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964, Democratic nominee Barack Obama has vowed to contest it this year. His campaign has already opened four offices around the state.

`Genuine Reformer'

The Club for Growth, which advocates lower taxes and government spending, praised Palin as a ``genuine reformer'' who has cut wasteful spending in her state. ``At a time when many Republicans are still clinging to pork-barrel politics, Governor Palin has quickly become a leader on this issue,'' the group's president, Pat Toomey, said in a statement.

The choice of Palin will also likely appeal to Republicans most concerned about social issues because of her anti-abortion views.

``Conservatives who have been lukewarm thus far in their support for the McCain candidacy will work their hearts out between now and November for the McCain-Palin ticket,'' David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, said in a statement.

Palin, a former beauty queen, high school basketball star and television sportscaster, began her political career in the 1990s as a city councilwoman and then mayor in her home town of Wasilla. The town's estimated population in 2007 was 9,780, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Energy Commission

Considered a rising political star by state Republican leaders, she was appointed in 2003 to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a significant body in the energy-rich state.

While on the commission, Palin led an ethics investigation of another member, state Republican Chairman Randy Ruedrich, who was accused of conflicts of interest involving oil companies.

In 2006, Palin challenged Governor Frank Murkowski, who faced criticism that a deal he had negotiated with energy companies to build a natural-gas pipeline was too favorable to the companies.

Palin's anti-corruption persona appealed to voters in a state where federal prosecutors were conducting a high-profile investigation of alleged political corruption. She defeated Murkowski in the Republican primary and won election in November.

Oil Companies

Earlier this year, Palin threatened to evict Exxon Mobil Corp. and its partners BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips from a state-owned gas field, winning a promise from them to boost Alaska's natural-gas output by 17 percent.

Since taking office, Palin herself has become the subject of a legislative probe involving a personnel case. The investigation centers on her dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan.

Palin fired Monegan on July 11, saying she wanted to take the department in a new direction. Monegan then alleged that he had been pressured to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, who was married to Palin's sister and was involved in a contentious divorce, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Palin has denied any wrongdoing. The state Legislature voted on July 28 to hire an independent investigator to probe whether Palin, her family or members of her administration had pressured Monegan to fire Wooten, according to the Daily News.

Palin hasn't been implicated in the four-year-old federal corruption investigation, which has resulted in convictions of or guilty pleas from three state legislators, Murkowski's former chief of staff and two executives of an oil-services company, as well as the indictment of Senator Ted Stevens.

To contact the reporters this story: Ken Fireman in Washington at kfireman1@bloomberg.net; Lorraine Woellert in Denver at lwoellert@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 29, 2008 11:43 EDT