As the GOP prepares to head to St. Paul, Minn., next week for its national convention, John McCain unveiled Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate at a campaign stop in Ohio today.

Iowa Republicans praised the move as they prepare to head across the border.

Republican Party of Iowa chairman Stewart Iverson called it a "fantastic choice."

"Governor Palin is a tough executive who has proven that she is ready to lead," he said in a prepared statement. "As governor of Alaska, she has affected real change by reducing state spending and championing Congressional earmark reform. She is a fresh face for the Republican Party and very literally couldn't be farther from the Washington, D.C. bubble. Governor Palin has truly been an asset to her home state and I couldn't be more excited that John McCain has chosen her to now be an asset for America."

Meanwhile state Rep. Sandy Greiner of Keota was already in Minnesota preparing for next week's convention.

"Women who have been in politics a lot longer than I were fixed to televisions and moved to tears upon seeing that Governor Palin had been chosen to be our vice presidential nominee," Greiner said in a statement released by RPI. "The excitement here is incredible and it is because her selection signifies real change for the Republican Party and for the United States."

Democratic Gov. Chet Culver said "Palin's 18 months in office pale in comparison to Sen. [Joe] Biden's years of service to our country" and went on to say Biden has Palin outclassed in world affairs, energy policy and abortion rights.

In the Iowa blogosphere, conservatives were generally pleased with the pick while liberal bloggers were less impressed.

Liberal blogger John Deeth says the pick "hurts the experience argument in a big big way: it's hard to argue Obama's not ready when your running mate was mayor of a small suburb two years ago."

Tara van Brederode, a Democratic activist who shares a blog with Republican state Sen. Jeff Angelo, said she doubted Palin would appeal to Clinton voters.

"I think McCain and many Republicans are overestimating the crossover appeal for former Hillary supporters, as they are undoubtedly the types of feminists who will also be concerned about Palin's anti-choice stance," she wrote. "All women are not interchangeable. Expecting women to follow like lemmings, just because Sarah Palin shares their gender, is naive (and a bit offensive to me, honestly--in much the same way that I was irked by people suggesting that I had to support Hillary over Obama because I am a woman)."

Nathan Greene of the blog Battleground Iowa called the pick a "brilliant move" to pick up disaffected supporters of Hillary Clinton.

"Now, not only can these women cast a vote against the guy who knocked out their hero, Hillary, but they can actually cast a vote to put a woman in a place a woman has never been," he wrote. "This takes away some of the novelty of the Obama ticket, because, now, either way, you are voting for a historic first."

See more blog reaction to the Palin pick

Labels: RNC2008