In a move conservative commentator Pat Buchanan of MSNBC called "the biggest political gamble" in American political history, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain announced Friday that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 44, would be his running mate.
As the two took the stage for a campaign rally Friday in Dayton, Ohio, some election followers were taken by surprise. At Duke, the nomination has been met with both excitement and confusion.
Student-run political groups have debated issues ranging from Palin's experience in politics to her image as a "maverick" reformer.
"I was really surprised about the pick but happy that he picked a female candidate with executive experience," said junior Natalie Figuereo, Duke College Republicans' junior class representative.
But Democratic leadership on campus expressed a different view about Palin's experience.
"I was surprised, but not so surprised knowing John McCain," said Duke Democrats President Ben Bergmann, a sophomore. "It was not a decision about picking someone qualified to be vice president. John McCain picked someone who he thought would win him more votes."
As both a female and a conservative, Palin's nomination has the potential to influence two distinct voting blocs: former supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton and the more conservative wing of the Republican party. Palin will be the second female vice presidential candidate representing a major party, after Democrat Geraldine Ferraro was selected by Walter Mondale in 1984.
"Maybe he is trying to sway the women that were supporting Hillary," said junior Alex Rappaport, founder and director of Duke Students for Obama. "At the same time, I don't think there are really that many women that are out there that are going to go for a conservative woman just because she is a woman."
Palin's socially conservative views on a number of domestic issues are at odds with Clinton's. She opposes abortions even in the cases of rape and incest, and has supported teaching the theory of creationism in public schools.
Yet Chair of Duke College Republicans Vikram Srinivasan, a junior, said the pick is not "simply a matter of pandering to women voters." Although he noted that there were other female candidates on the Republican "shortlist" for vice president-including Carly Fiorina and Kay Bailey Hutchinson-he said Palin had the best credentials for the position.
"Republican enthusiasm is really through the roof for Palin," Srinivasan said. On the day of the announcement, the McCain campaign received $6.8 million in campaign contributions, a single-day record for the Republican nominee.
McCain's success at wooing Clinton voters with Palin by his side may be a deciding factor come November, especially in a battleground state like North Carolina-where 42 percent of Democratic voters supported Clinton in the primary. With the election less than three months away, McCain's pick may have some important implications for North Carolina, where some polls have Obama as close as four points behind McCain.
As a first-term governor, Palin has not spent much time in national politics. In her 14 years in public office, she made her way from the city council of Wasilla, Alaska to become the first female governor of the state.
Palin, however, is the only candidate on a major party ticket with executive experience, a potential asset that Republican campus leaders are quick to point out.
"She has more executive experience than the Democratic ticket combined," Srinivasan said. "It is an irresponsible argument for the Democrats to be talking about experience when their No. 1 has very little experience to speak of."
But some liberals on campus have criticized Palin's relative lack of exposure to important issues.
"I was shocked that we would gamble with America like that," Bergmann said. "She will be a heartbeat away from the presidency if McCain wins, and she has zero foreign policy experience and very little domestic experience."
Student Democrats also asserted that in choosing such a running mate, the McCain camp can no longer attack Obama's short time in national politics-a point the McCain campaign has spent the past months attempting to relay to the American public.
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