newsminer.com

Gov. Sarah Palin's name just seems to cling to the national news recently.

In recent months, the first-term governor has persistently been mentioned as a possible running mate for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

Today her name came up very early in an interview on National Public Radio's show Fresh Air. The two guests were Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, the co-authors of the book "Grand New Party," and host Terry Gross called them "rising stars" of young intellectual slice of the Republican Party. Within a matter of minutes, Gross asked the two writers to comment on McCain's efforts to paint himself as a somewhat-savvy Internet user.

One of the writers — Gross failed to distinguish between the two guests' voices at the start of the interview — called McCain "charming" but said the presumptive party nominee does not represent the future of a party that lost control of Congress two years ago.

"When you look at that demographic composition of the Republican Party and where that party needs to go in order to to build a majority I think it really needs to look to figures like Sarah Palin, who is a mother of five yet someone who (was) also the mayor of a fast growing suburban town ... now the governor of Alaska," he said. "I think it's figures like that who don't come from that tight, narrow demographic box of aging cranky white men that has been a rich source of Republican politicians for, you know, a really long time now, so I think that is really not entirely encouraging."