Senator McCain Picks Governor Palin To Be His Running Mate. We're Two For Two, Hasslington Readers!

SENATORS McCAIN AND OBAMA SELECT AS THEIR RUNNING MATES THE INDIVIDUALS HASSLINGTON ENDORSED IN EARLY JULY

We did it, Hasslington readers! In my July 5 Hasslington post, I endorsed U.S. Senator Joe Biden to be Senator Obama's running mate. In my July 8 post, I endorsed Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be Senator McCain's running mate.

And I would be remiss if I did not announce that my readers also endorsed both of these running mates in this month's Hasslington Vice Presidential Running Mate Polls (which are now closed). Senator Biden won 48% of the votes in the Democratic poll, and Governor Palin won 34% of the votes in the Republican poll. We hit the nail on the head, folks.

Here are the full results of the Hasslington Republican Vice Presidential Running Mate Poll. (The full results of the Hasslington Democratic Running Mate Poll were posted a week ago.)

Hasslington Republican Vice Presidential Running Mate Poll Final Results (out of 50 total votes):

Sarah Palin received 17 votes (34% of the total)
Mitt Romney received 7 votes (14%)
Joe Lieberman received 6 votes (12%)
Tom Ridge received 3 votes (6%)

Jeb Bush, Mick Huckabee, Condoleeza Rice, and Olympia Snowe received two votes apiece. Eric Cantor, Carly Fiorina, Rudy Giuliani, Chuck Hagel, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty, John Thune, and (Someone Else) received one vote apiece.

The reasoning behind this pick is obvious. Senator McCain needs a "Wow!" element if he is to overcome the re-energized Obama wave, and he needs to siphon off some of Hillary Clinton's supporters to his cause. I am an Obama supporter, but if Sarah Palin makes a good impression from the start, this will prove to be a close election indeed. If she stumbles early, the election won't be close at all. We'll have to wait and see, but, given her speech today, she seems to be off to a solid start.