Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- It could have been a match.com ad: Presidential candidate, in need of running mate acceptable to the clan gathering over Labor Day, seeks MWF. Must like fossil fuels, guns, mooseburgers, children, sunsets; dislike polar bears, evolution and the color blue. Short courtship preferred. Must love travel, be willing to relocate almost immediately.

Meet Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, proof that if you can't be with the one you love you can love the one you're with.

McCain was in a bind. Democrats were about to pound the opening gavel at last week's convention in Denver when he finally accepted the warning that half the delegates at this week's Republican nominating convention would walk out if he chose his close friend, independent Senator Joseph Lieberman.

His dance card was blank. Rookie Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was more a vanity vet than a serious possibility, and less so now that Senator Joe Biden was on Barack Obama's ticket. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was a revenge vet, on the short list so McCain could have the pleasure of dissing him.

With no one left, McCain defaulted to being himself -- daring, bold and impulsive. He remembered Palin from a February governors' gathering in Washington -- a spunky insurgent, attractive, young, with an unusual background -- and a woman.

Sure, she had once suggested Hillary Clinton was a whiner, and shares none of her views. Still, some among Hillary's 18 million voters might find Palin an outlet for their disappointment. Then there's the excitement a right-wing Republican would engender among the base none too thrilled by McCain himself.

Meet the Family

McCain invited Palin to Arizona Aug. 27 to meet the family. He sat down with her the next morning for their first one-on-one session. Most people spend more time interviewing a summer intern, but hours later he decided she was the one.

The sound heard round the country was hands slapping heads in astonishment and fingers typing ``Palin'' into Google trying to find out who she was. The rushed choice had an ``I'll show them'' element and a hint of recklessness, because there was no time to vet Palin.

When you turn a blind date into a marriage in a matter of hours, there may be surprises during the honeymoon. And there were -- including the shocker that Palin's unmarried teenage daughter is five months pregnant. McCain adviser Fred Malek says everyone who needed to know knew before the announcement. Other advisers were as stunned by the news as by the original selection.

All Forgiven

Still, like so much else about Palin, including any experience, domestic or foreign, other than governing a state with a population smaller than Brooklyn for two years, loyal Republicans insist it doesn't matter. Unwed mothers are now another example of Republicans' superior family values. Forced motherhood isn't the issue. All is forgiven if you have the baby.

This does seem off-message for a person chosen on her personal story. Palin is a cross between two archetypes, frontierwoman Annie Oakley and muckraker Erin Brockovich. A reformer in a state of cunning politicians, she made her name quitting the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission in outrage over backroom deals and parlayed that into running against a hugely unpopular governor, Frank Murkowski.

She's a ``hockey Mom'' with five kids who ran the PTA and rose to be mayor of her hometown, Wasilla. She hunts and ice fishes. Rush Limbaugh refers to her as a ``babe'' (she was runner up for Miss Alaska) who eloped with her high school sweetheart, Todd, who calls himself ``First Dude.'' He works in a blue-collar job at an oil company, fishes commercially and is a champion snowmobiler. He's also Mr. Mom, doing the lion's share of child care.

Drilling, Creationism

She loves drilling, is skeptical that global warming exists, is unmoved by the specter of polar bears disappearing, and has a 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association. She wants creationism taught at school and proved her pro-life position by delivering a Down syndrome baby. Her daughter's pregnancy is wrapped into the same narrative.

The only chink in Palin's popularity is an investigation into the firing of the public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan. He refused to fire Palin's brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, a state trooper involved in a bitter custody dispute with Palin's sister. Palin denies personal involvement; Monegan claims both Palin and her husband pressured him.

Two-Dozen Inquiries

As the investigation progressed, Palin admitted her staff made two-dozen inquiries about Wooten to the public safety department. In an audiotape, a top aide questions a police lieutenant. ``Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads,'' the aide says. ``Why is this guy still representing the department?''

While Palin makes for a good story, the story her selection tells about McCain isn't so pretty. Palin doesn't have a whit of foreign policy experience. The best McCain could come up with was ``she has been commander-in-chief of the Alaska Guard'' and ``has got a son who is getting ready to go to Iraq.''

Every governor is honorary head of their state's National Guard. Supporters point out how close Alaska is to Russia -- as if Palin, like President George W. Bush, has a sense of Russian leader Vladimir Putin's soul. A lot of good that did.

The vice presidential choice is the only truly presidential decision a candidate makes. For someone who talks about himself as a man of honor, above politics, who believes that his No. 2 must be ready to be commander-in-chief on Day 2, this is an impetuous, superficial, reactive move designed to excite the fringe of his party and attract disenchanted women from the other.

This would be cynical for someone for whom age isn't an issue. For someone 72 with four bouts of cancer, it's a violation of his duty to do the country no harm. That's true no matter how much you love the Sarah Palin made-for-TV movie.

(Margaret Carlson, author of ``Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House'' and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 2, 2008 00:01 EDT