Both parties ready to go

The grandest lady of the Grand Old Party had an unfortunate slip of the tongue Tuesday night.

Standing at the podium before thousands in the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., Jo Ann Davidson confused the governors of Alaska and Minnesota, merging the former's first name with the latter's last name.

Davidson hailed the GOP's first female running mate, "Sarah Pawlenty, our next vice president."

Ironically, it was Davidson, chairwoman of the crucial committee on arrangements, who made one of few mistakes in a Republican National Convention whose success was due to her as much as anyone.

Davidson, the selfless former speaker of the Ohio House from Reynoldsburg, made sure the convention was the vehicle needed to launch John McCain and Sarah Palin toward Nov. 4 with a full head of steam.

So now the presidential race is fully engaged. The Republican Party is united; McCain brought home the conservatives by selecting Palin and, by dint of his vaunted independent streak, gave himself a shot with the nonpartisans who will decide the outcome.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden also got the united party they needed from the Democratic convention in Denver. Most of Hillary Clinton's supporters who were slow to embrace the ticket soon will when they determine that McCain and Palin are too conservative for their tastes.

The next eight weeks promise dramatic political theater because the actors are unlike any we've ever seen. The usual male gray beard s are only half of the cast, the other half comprised by possibly the first black president or first female vice president.

When voters examine their souls, they might feel the same about Obama and Palin. Fresh, young, intelligent and exciting, they represent a new generation of leaders who hold the promise of finding better ways for America than we boomers. They are not of the Washington that seems incapable of solving problems.

But both are so raw and untested; both are a roll of the dice.

Meanwhile, there is a sameness to McCain and Biden. The feisty old war horses who, despite trying to recast themselves as reformers, have spent decades as members of a bitterly partisan and paralyzed Congress. Yet, both have reassuring experience in foreign affairs and in navigating the lobbyist-infested corridors of the Capitol.

It seems natural to feel uneasy about Obama and comfortable with Biden - and comfortable with McCain and uneasy about Palin. If something would happen to Obama, you know Biden could handle the presidency. If something would happen to McCain, you're not sure about Palin.

After a two-year campaign, we have gotten used to Obama, and his newness has worn off. His improbable defeat of the once-inevitable Hillary is legend - and yesterday's news. Still, Obama inspires every time he stands at a microphone.

Palin represents a unique and unscripted moment in American politics. Five days after McCain introduced her in Dayton, she became the Republican vice presidential nominee in St. Paul. Her personal story is alluring: "hockey mom" of five children who shoots and field dresses moose and tilts against political windmills.

The little-known Alaska governor's acceptance speech was the most-anticipated since 1988, when another obscure GOP running mate, Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana, flunked the test in New Orleans.

"Palin clearly passed her first major test with room to spare," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

But, he said, she has two more to go: the televised debate with Biden and, at some point, a no-holds-barred press conference or appearance on one of the Sunday morning news talk shows.

"She's going to have to campaign mistake-free and hold her own against Biden in the debate," Brown said. "If she does, she offers the Republicans an opportunity to pick up swing voters who were initially undecided or for Obama. Not only will she energize the Christian right, but families throughout Ohio could well see her as their next-door neighbor."

Fasten your seat belts. The next eight weeks will be a wild ride.

Joe Hallett is senior editor at The Columbus Dispatch. E-mail him at jhallett@dispatch.com.