John McCain met running mate Sarah Palin just once

Sarah Baxter in Washington (Sunday Times of London)

The Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, was facing a backlash from his party last night over the appointment of Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, as his running mate after it emerged that he had met her only once before offering her the job.

His choice of Palin, a 44-year-old, gun-toting, moose-burger-eating mother-of-five, confirmed his maverick reputation but also caused some leading Republicans to question his judgment.

Shannen Coffin, a former White House counsel to Dick Cheney, the vice-president, said choosing Palin seemed “desperate” and that it would be difficult to attack Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, on the grounds of inexperience. “It is hard to imagine Palin playing the same sort of role that modern vice-presidents like Gore, Bush, Cheney or Mondale played,” he said.

Antiabortion conservative Republicans applauded the choice as daring and modern, but others criticised her lack of foreign policy expertise and inexperience in a national election.

David Frum, President George W Bush’s former speech-writer, warned: “The McCain campaign’s slogan is ‘country first’. If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat from the presidency?”


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4641397.ece

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/29/1307122.aspx
The McCain camp has just released a tick-tock of how the Palin pick came to be. And according to it, McCain had met her just one time prior to yesterday.

The tick-tock from McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker:
"John McCain first met Governor Sarah Palin at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington in February of 2008 and came away extraordinarily impressed. John McCain followed her career and admired her tenacity and her many accomplishments. She was scheduled for a high profile speaking role at our convention and included in the VP selection process because of his admiration for her strong reform credentials. Last Sunday, Governor Palin and John McCain had a conversation over the phone. Governor Palin was at the Alaska State Fair, and John McCain was at his home at Phoenix. Previously, Rick Davis, John McCain’s campaign manager, had also been in regular contact with the Governor as part of the on-going selection process. This past week, Governor Palin arrived with Kris Perry in Flagstaff, Arizona, on Wednesday evening. Upon arrival, Governor Palin and her longtime aide Kris Perry met with Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter of the McCain campaign at Mr. Bob Delgado’s home in Flagstaff. Mr. Delgado is the CEO of the Hensley corporation, which is Mrs. Cindy McCain’s family business. On Thursday morning, Governor Palin and staff were joined by Mrs. Cindy McCain and later joined by John McCain at the McCain family home in Sedona, Arizona. At approximately 11:00 a.m. Thursday August 28, 2008, John McCain formally invited Governor Sarah Palin to join the Republican ticket as the vice presidential nominee on the deck of the McCain family home."

"Later that morning, John McCain departed for Phoenix and Governor Palin departed with staff to Flagstaff, Arizona. Governor Palin, Kris Perry, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter proceeded to the Manchester Inn and Conference Center in Middleton, Ohio. They were checked into the hotel as the Upton Family. While there, Governor Palin’s children, who had been told they were going to Ohio to celebrate their parents’ wedding anniversary, were told for the first time that their mother would be a nominee for Vice President of the United States of America."

is making the decisions from the back room again