Tonight will be the woman behind the man up at the podium, Sarah Palin, i cant wait. Both Senitors last night spoke from the heart and i admire that.
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- First-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, catapulted onto the national political stage last week when Republican John McCain chose her as his running mate, makes her prime-time debut tonight when she addresses the Republican National Convention.
In advance of the speech, McCain's campaign fired back today at media questions about the vetting process that led to her selection, calling press inquiries a "faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee" for vice president.
"The McCain campaign will have no further comment about our long and thorough process," said campaign strategist Steve Schmidt, lashing out at "the old boys' network" that he says runs media organizations. "This nonsense is over."
New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who speaks to the delegates before Palin, defended her against charges of inexperience. "Barack Obama has never governed a city, never governed a state, never governed an agency, never run a military unit, never run anything," he said on CBS. "Sarah Palin has been a mayor. She's been a governor. She has a record of reform. She has a record of leadership. She's run a budget. So, why are all these questions for her? Has anybody ever asked Barack Obama, 'Can you bring up your two kids and be president of the United States?' They are asking, 'Can she be vice president and be a mother?' Come on."
The McCain campaign plans to echo that message in an ad to be aired today arguing that Palin's executive experience over the last 21 months overseeing thousands of state employees, 14 agencies and Alaska's $10-billion budget have better prepared her for the vice presidential role than Democrat Barack Obama's tenure as a junior senator.
The Obama campaign dismissed the McCain camp's efforts to make executive experience the template.
"Look, if executive experience is truly important on the Republican side maybe she should run for president and John McCain should be her vice president," said communications director Robert Gibbs, dismissing the case as "borderline ridiculous."
With the conservative base already rallying to her candidacy, Palin is expected to talk about her role as a reformer in Alaska, where she defeated an entrenched member of the Republican establishment and eventually opposed earmark spending (though she initially supported it) for that infamous "bridge to nowhere" that linked Ketchikan to an island with an airport and 50 residents.
In addition to Palin, delegates tonight will hear from several Republicans whose task it is to make the case for a Republican ticket on economic issues at a time when many voters are struggling with rising gas, tuition and food costs.
Former EBay chief executive Meg Whitman will talk about energy and the economy, while former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina will describe what a first-term McCain presidency would look like, said the campaign. Two former rivals -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- will also seek to draw "a sharper contrast" between Obama and McCain on the economy. Asked why two former rivals had been given slots at the podium, campaign manager Rick Davis said the two have "comported themselves very well in the primary" and had become friends.
In reference to his speaking role tonight, Giuliani told Fox News that he liked the intimacy of the Xcel Center in St. Paul. "I spoke at Madison Square Garden four years ago," he said, calling that hall "much more vast" and this one, which is "nice and close."
Palin toured the stage this morning to get accustomed to her surroundings in advance of her speech. Democrats signaled their interest in what she says and how it plays.
Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, who in 1984 became the first female vice presidential candidate in American history, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that some die-hard supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton "will be watching very carefully" to make sure that the media treat Palin equally. "Go to her qualifications, go to her experience, go to whatever you want to," said Ferraro, "but make sure it's done on a basis where she's treated like a guy by the media; no sexism, because we'll be looking."
Bill Burton, Obama's press secretary, conceded that Palin was chosen "in part because she has a compelling personal story and can deliver an outstanding and moving speech, and there is no doubt that she will do that tonight."
But he added that she needs to explain the inconsistencies between her rhetoric as a reformer and her record as governor, on issues like the "bridge to nowhere." And, he said, she needs to explain why voters should entrust the U.S. economy to another team of Republicans.
"What the American people will be looking for is whether she can explain how the economic agenda offered by her and John McCain won't just be more of the same Bush policies that have left millions of families struggling to fill up their gas tanks, pay their medical bills, or make their mortgage payments," he said.