In 1988, There Was Another Surprise No. 2 Pick

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 3 Before Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin electrified the Republican National Convention Wednesday night with her acceptance speech, one man sitting with the California delegation thought he had been there before.

Ken Khachigian, a veteran Republican speechwriter and campaign consultant, looked out at John McCain's surprise choice for the vice presidency and had a flashback to another unlikely running mate: Dan Quayle.

Twenty years ago in New Orleans, when Quayle -- then a young and largely unknown senator from Indiana -- was catapulted into the convention spotlight, Khachigian was one of the "handlers" dispatched by George H.W. Bush to get him through his debut.

As Khachigian recalled Wednesday, almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Bush phoned Quayle to inform him that he had been selected just hours before the presidential candidate arrived by boat in New Orleans. Quayle was told to get down to the dock for his introduction.

He had to force his way through the crowd and, in his first moments of national prominence, exuberantly pounded Bush on the biceps, shouting, "Let's go get 'em."

Three years younger than the 44-year-old Palin, the boyish-looking Quayle was instantly tagged with an image he could never really escape. In a comment typical of the equivocation he drew from colleagues, McCain said of his fellow Armed Services Committee member, "He's youthful; he's very exuberant."

A press corps "as closed-minded as today's, if not as large," as Khachigian put it, instantly began deconstructing Quayle's reputation. Within hours, reporters had resurrected an allegation about Quayle's part in a congressional junket with a female lobbyist and uncovered the outlines of his family-assisted entry into the Vietnam-era Indiana National Guard.

Sent off to explain himself to a procession of network anchors, Quayle exhibited the "deer in the headlights" look that added to his problems.

"He really struggled" at the outset, Khachigian recalled Wednesday. "It took about 10 days for things to settle down to the point that Dan could do his job."

Palin's entry has been almost easy by comparison. McCain introduced her at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, far from the frenzy of the convention, and it was there that she delivered her first, scripted speech to a friendly audience.

She was quickly enveloped in a protective cone, first traveling with McCain and then arriving here, where she was sequestered in a hotel suite with her speechwriters and McCain aides, who helped her rehearse for Wednesday night's performance. No interviews, or even impromptu questions, were allowed.

"They've been much more disciplined than we were," Khachigian said. "But they're not out of the woods yet."