By Jim Moore, KOIN political analyst, Pacific University professor

The apparent pick of Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be the Republican vice presidential nominee is a bit of a surprise.

Palin was not among the short list candidates. Last night we went to be certain that Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty was the pick—and he was on the short list.

Palin, as an unknown on the national scene, will change the dynamics of the McCain campaign. She counters McCain’s age with her relative youth (she’s 44), she brings executive experience to the ticket (two years as Alaska’s governor), and her gender breaks barriers.

But beyond those obvious attributes, we will have to wait to see if she helps or hinders McCain’s presidential bid. Will she energize voters or mystify them? Will she be seen as a gimmick or as a potential president? We’ll know the answers in  a few weeks.

The last time the vice presidential choice was this obscure was in 1988 when George H.W. Bush selected Dan Quayle. Quayle took a lot of heat, (he was “no John Kennedy,” according to Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic veep nominee), but Dan Quayle also became the vice president of the United States.