Senator John McCain (R-AZ), presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, announced today that he has selected Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) as his Vice Presidential running mate.

This selection lays the groundwork for an historic election. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), the Democratic Presidential nominee who is mixed African- and European-American, would be the first non-white President. Governor Palin would be the first female Vice president and is only the second female VP nominee by a major party (following Representative Geraldine Ferraro [D-NY 9th] in 1984) .

Palin, a gun-owning, ‘hockey-mom’ mother of five (including one newborn with Down syndrome and an oldest son being deployed to Iraq in the United States Army), is known as a reformer who rose to the office of Governor in Alaska following a series of political scandals in that state. She quickly ‘cleaned house’ and initiated a series of major political and ethical reforms. Palin has maintained consistently high approval ratings in Alaska, and is considered a social conservative (more in-line with the Republican base than McCain, who is considered a moderate).

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has been formally nominated by the Democratic Party as their Presidential candidate to stand in the November general election against presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Obama has been the presumptive Democratic nominee since securing a majority of party delegates on June 3, but Democratic National Convention delegates have now made his nomination official.

Senator Obama is joined on the Democratic ticket by Vice Presidential nominee Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), who Obama announced as his VP pick on Saturday.

Obama, who is mixed African- and European-American, is the first biracial major-party Presidential nominee. If-elected, Senator Obama would be the first non-white President.

Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (IL) has selected Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) as his Vice Presidential pick. Obama, a first-term Senator who has been criticized for his relative lack of national political experience, has stayed true to political tradition in selecting Biden—a six-term Senator who is the fourth longest serving Democrat in the Senate. Vice Presidential picks are often selected in an effort to counteract the stongest opposition criticisms of the Presidential nominee.

Biden is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is generally regarded as one of the Democratic Party’s preeminent foreign policy experts and a ‘moderate liberal’ with regard to his general voting record. In 2002, Biden voted in favor of the ‘Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq’ bill, which passed with a wide bipartisan majority and granted President George W. Bush (R) legal authority to invade Iraq. Biden has since been critical of the administration’s prosecution of the war, and has opposed both continuation of the present approach and immediate withdrawal.

Joining with President Emeritus Leslie Gelb of the Council on Foreign Relations, Biden has issued a ‘five point plan’ for Iraq that would reorganize the Iraqi government into a decentralized Federalist system of semi-autonomous regions, encourage increased investment from neighboring countries, and create a plan for withdrawal contingent on increasing political stability. It is unclear at this time if Senator Obama will endorse the Biden-Gelb plan for Iraq.