In the inevitable battle to define Sarah Palin two things stand out. And both are potentially helpful for John McCain

First, the comparison is being made between the Republican VP and the Democratic Presidential nominees. I don’t recall this ever happening. Arguably, she has more experience (as this piece explains):

She brought down Alaska’s governor, attorney general, and state Republican chairman (see my “Most Popular Governor,” July 16, 2007). She killed the “bridge to nowhere.” She used increased tax revenues from high oil prices to give Alaskans a rebate. She slashed government spending. She took on the biggest industry in Alaska, the oil companies, to work out an equitable deal on building a new gas pipeline.

And second, in a race against two first class talkers Palin is a doer. Her life story is filled with action: hunt, fish, have five kids, run for office, tackle old boys, slash the budget, and so on. She does a lot. “Sarah the Barracuda” got her nickname for aggressive play on the basketball court — and it stuck in elected office.  Contrast that to the light footprint of Barack Obama, who never seems to accomplish anything. That was even apparent at the Democratic Convention when both in the autobiographical film and Joe Biden’s speech we saw the straining to elevate and inflate the meager accomplishments of Obama’s public record. His greatest triumphs have been writing books, giving speeches, and running for office.

In this regard, I wonder if the McCain camp is baiting Obama to take on the “experience” fight with Palin. It might be a very productive one — for McCain and Palin. If voters want action not talk there’s a good argument they won’t find it with the speechifiers on the Democratic ticket. As one conservative observer put it:

McCain at least has executive experience as a squadron commander in the US Navy, but Palin has the actual executive track record that the others lack.  She has governed Alaska for 20 months, negotiated a pipeline deal with Canada (which gives her more formal diplomatic experience than either Obama or Biden), was commander-in-chief of Alaska’s National Guard, and so on.  Even her more local-level experience is more applicable than Obama’s: she served two terms as mayor, an executive position, cutting taxes and running a small city.  Obama served in the state legislature, with no executive responsibilities at all.

And if the Democrats want to fight over whether a first term Senator with no executive experience is better qualified than the Doer from Alaska, that would likely be just fine with the McCain team.