'Hockey mom' becomes surprise GOP VP pick

With John McCain’s announcement of Sarah Palin as his running mate, the public vetting of this newly-minted and largely unknown vice presidential candidate begins.

Questions and revelations come fast and furious, as bloggers, tabloids and mainstream media go poking around Alaska.

NICOLE WALLACE, McCain Senior Adviser: Your colleagues who have descended on Alaska and are investigating the private lives not just of Governor Palin but of her children,

The McCain campaign has acted, shocked that anyone would have questions about this women who is virtually unknown to 100 million Americans who plan to vote in this election.

Rumors abound. One is that her 17 year-old daughter Bristol is really the mother of Palin’s infant son Trig.

The rumor is false. But the truth is still a bombshell: Bristol is about five months pregnant and planning to marry the baby’s 18 year-old father.

The Obama campaign keeps its hands off this potential hot button issue.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I have said before and I will repeat it again, I think people’s families are off limits. And people’s children are especially off limits. 

But others aren’t so quick to deny its relevance.

MOORE: If you’re running for office and you’re taking a position of been on record in the past as saying that sex education is not something you support. And that you’re an abstinence-only person. Then if your 17 year-old ends up getting pregnant, that’s an issue.

As the public and the media struggle to keep up with the Sarah Palin whirlwind, she gets her chance to win over millions of Americans with her story in prime time and to throw a few elbows.

PALIN:  Here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country.

When the convention ends, Sarah Palin has gone from a virtual unknown to the brightest star in the republican party even outshining John McCain.

Now that she’s a national candidate, Palin’s decidedly conservative views against abortion and stem cell research, and favoring creationism are subject to closer scrutiny. Her deep religious beliefs could influence her policy. A speech from June 2008 is posted on her childhood church’s Web site.

PALIN:  Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also for this country. That our leaders - our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for—that there is a plan and that plan is God’s plan. 

Palin is not without her political contradictions. She campaigns as a tax-cutting conservative but as mayor and governor she has raised them. She crusades for government ethics but has come under fire for taking thousands of dollars in travel expenses and per diems.

FRENCH:  The governor has made ethics one of her one of her signature issues.  And if she’s vulnerable on this then I think that hurts her a little bit more.

Her claims to have opposed federal funds for the Bridge to Nowhere, Alaska’s notorious earmark, are not entirely accurate.

PALIN: I told the Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks” for that Bridge to Nowhere.

But she initially supported it.

PALIN: I support these infrastructure projects that will build Alaska, its cheaper to do it today than it is tomorrow...

The bridge is never built, but she accepted some of its federal money and spent it on other projects.

MOORE:  There’s a bunch of things there which I think will come out because of scrutiny of the national campaign and because of the scrutiny of the presidential campaign. That will perhaps contradict and weaken this wholesome image that she’s managed to cultivate. 

The ultimate question for Republicans and Democrats alike, is she ready to lead?

In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson, Palin is asked about foreign policy.

GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?

PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?

GIBSON: The Bush, well, what do you, what do you interpret it to be?

PALIN: His world view.

GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war.

PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. 

If elected, Sarah Palin will be a heart beat away from the presidency its not unfair for voters to ask, what kind of a leader would she be. Is she ready to be commander in chief?

Through it all John McCain is keeping Sarah Palin by his side. Does she hold the key to a McCain victory and to America’s future?

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