Hot Off the Trail of McCain's Veep Choice

Long shot doesn't begin to describe her status. MSNBC's Chris Matthews said late last month that McCain has "more or less decided it's got to be Romney." Palin did not cause a stir last month when CNBC's Larry Kudlow asked about her availability and she responded: "What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" She was so far off the radar screen that when Time's Jay Newton-Small interviewed her on Aug. 17, the magazine's Web site didn't bother to publish a story.

An extraordinary guessing game played out on television Friday morning as reporters gradually confirmed that Romney, Pawlenty and other contenders would not be joining McCain in Ohio for the vice presidential announcement. Palin's staff, meanwhile, was putting out false information. ABC's Web site quoted Palin's spokeswoman as saying she would not be with McCain in Ohio but planned to attend the state fair in Alaska.

Politically, Palin seemed a far-fetched choice for a presidential candidate making an issue of his challenger's limited experience. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough dismissed the idea at 8:35 a.m., saying, "Nobody knows her."

Less than an hour later, CNBC's John Harwood broke the news that Palin was indeed the veepstakes winner.

Palin is the most obscure running mate chosen since 1988, when Dan Quayle, then a senator from Indiana, was savaged by the media after being picked by George H.W. Bush. "The first impression he made was so ghastly that he probably never recovered," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. "It was an incomplete and maybe unfair portrait of him."

Since the 44-year-old Palin has a nonexistent national profile, the media's vetting process could go in numerous directions. There could be a heavy focus on an ongoing special prosecutor's probe of allegations that Palin dismissed a state commissioner because he refused to fire a state trooper who was involved in a divorce and custody battle with Palin's sister and had Tasered his 11-year-old stepson.

Palin could be portrayed as a reform-minded governor or one with virtually no experience in foreign affairs. She could be depicted as a onetime runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant or a trailblazer who will be the second woman to join a major-party ticket, and the first Republican. She can also be cast as a "hockey mom" who eats mooseburgers and is raising five children, ranging in age from an 18-year-old who is being dispatched to Iraq to a 4-month-old son with Down syndrome.

One thing is clear: Less than 12 hours after most journalists were praising Obama's speech at the Democratic convention, the McCain campaign hijacked the media spotlight.

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program, Reliable Sources.