Now that we know all of the major political players in this year's presidential election, let's get down to the important stuff.

What do they drive? And, given that high gas prices are on the minds of voters, what kind of mileage are they getting?

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have promised to fix the country's energy crisis, but what they have parked in the garage may be more revealing than political rhetoric.

Ken Bensinger, over at the LATimes.com car blog Up to Speed, did some digging today and has this to report:

McCain: Cadillac CTS sedan (19 mpg). His first car was reportedly a 1958 Corvette.

Obama: Drove a Chrysler 300 with a V-8 engine (18 mpg) until last summer, when he switched to a Ford Escape hybrid (30 mpg) after getting bad press about driving a gas guzzler.

Joe Biden: He sometimes drives a 1967 Corvette (no mpg rating).

Sarah Palin: As Alaska's governor, she drives a state-owned Chevy Suburban SUV (16 mpg). In July, it sustained several thousand dollars in damage when she was involved in a multi-vehicle accident while going to work. She also has been known to drive her husband's snowmobiles.

-- Kate Linthicum

It's a long ways from the deck of one of Sen. John McCain's uncountable houses in Sedona, Ariz., to the modest city of Wasilla, Alaska, that Gov. Sarah Palin calls home with her fisherman husband Todd and their five children to the Buckeye Corner sporting goods store in West Columbus, Ohio.

And to the home pages and front pages of a nation seemingly fascinated by the sudden explosion onto the political stage of a fresh, bespectacled face among a crowd of too-familiar folks who've been yada-yada-ing about the same old stuff for nearly 20 months now.

Now, just in time for Labor Day, a new drama series to follow.

But in a matter of hours the dramatic selection of the 44-year-old reform Republican woman with the sharp elbows under the basketball hoops as McCain's running mate suddenly changed the subject away from last night's immense Democratic evangelical gathering at Denver's Invesco Field.

And it instantly energized much of the GOP's conservative base that has been yawning its way through the summer with the aging Arizona heir to its party nomination.

Charlie Black, a senior McCain advisor, told The Times' Maeve Reston that he was just in a room with 300 conservatives where James Dobson, the Focus on the Family founder who reaches millions of evangelicals daily with his radio broadcasts and was once threatening....

It didn't take Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger long to figure out why John McCain and Sarah Palin would make for a good Republican ticket. He likes the gender balance.

When asked about McCain’s vice president choice at an appearance in San Diego on Friday morning, Schwarzenegger said it would be “terrific” to have “a man and a woman running things together” for the first time in the White House.

"I’m a big believer that women can do just as great a job if not a better job than guys can do, and I’ve seen this is in my own house,” Schwarzenegger went on to say. For more of the interview, visit LA Now, our sister blog.

To learn more about what kind of woman Palin is, check out Jacket Copy, The Times' books blog, which has a post about Palin's biography. The book is called "Sarah: How a Small Town Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment on Its Ear." It was penned by Alaskan writer Kaylene Johnson, who interviewed Palin's childhood basketball coach, her aerobics instructor and her pastor, among others.

Jacket Copy's Carolyn Kellogg reports that sales of the tome have taken off since McCain announced Palin as his vice president.

The book started the day with an Amazon sales rank of about 300,000. By noon it, it had risen to No. 775. Shortly after 6 p.m., it was No. 24. Epicenter, the book's publisher, is figuring out how to fill the new demand -- Barnes & Noble alone wants 15,000 copies.

-- Kate Linthicum

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John McCain and his new running mate, Sarah Palin, are spending some quality time together today. After this morning's rally in Dayton, Ohio, they boarded McCain's bus for the six-hour ride to Pittsburgh.

That's a good thing. Because McCain and Palin are practically strangers.

At least that's what she told a reporter two weeks ago. In an interview with the Washington, D.C., newspaper Roll Call, Palin said she had met McCain only once or twice.

She said she was introduced to McCain at the 2006 Republican Governors Assn. meeting.

The pair met again this week, according to McCain campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker. In a news release, Hazelbaker said Palin arrived with an aide in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Wednesday evening to meet with McCain advisors Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter.

On Thursday morning, Palin met with Cindy McCain and John McCain at their home in Sedona, Ariz. That, according to Hazelbaker, is where McCain made his big revelation: "At approximately 11:00 a.m. Thursday August 28, 2008, John McCain formally invited Governor Sarah Palin to join the Republican ticket as the vice presidential nominee on the deck of the McCain family home."

For more Palin-related news, check out Michael Finnegan's assessment of what a McCain-Palin ticket might mean in November.

-- Kate Linthicum

Photo: Meagan McCain is a regular fixture on her father's tour bus. Soon Sarah Palin will be too. Credit: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press

The electoral college is now the closest it’s been since June 10, with McCain picking up 27 electoral votes since last week by moving Florida into his column. Obama still leads McCain with 260 electoral votes to McCain’s 221 votes, with 57 as a tossup. Obama’s lead also has slipped to just 4 points in several key battleground states, including Michigan (17 EV), New Mexico (5 EV), and Pennsylvania (21 EV), putting them on the cusp of becoming tossups.

For a chart showing the weekly movements since March and an explanation of the research's methodology, click on the Read more line below ...

Sarah Palin, John McCain's freshly anointed running mate, scoffed at the idea of running for vice president in three interviews earlier this year.

Of course, etiquette does call for politicians to be coy about these kinds of things. And in an interview with Vogue in February, the Alaska governor sidestepped the issue this way:

"Right now, I'm just so grateful to be serving out this term. Beyond that? Dang, that's a long time away."

But in other interviews, Palin didn't say that she just wouldn't take the job -- she also admitted that that she didn't know "what exactly that the VP does every day."

That was what she revealed in an appearance with Larry Kudlow of CNBC’s “Kudlow & Co," when she was asked about her possible interest in the No. 2 job:

Palin: “As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.”

Palin also said she would not accept the VP role (or, go "to that den of vipers in Washington," as the interviewer put it) in an appearance in June with CNN's Glenn Beck. Here's the transcript of that portion of the interview which comes in right before the 4-minute mark on video above:

BECK: Have you -- have you considered or have you been talked to or anybody said anything about you running with John McCain?

PALIN: There's a lot of rumor and speculation about -- not just me, though, a lot of governors who may be tapped, at least for consideration. There are rumors out there.

BECK: Well, would you -- would you go to -- I hate to ask you this -- would you go to that den of vipers in Washington if you were asked?

PALIN: You know, if I had to make such a decision today, it would be, no, there are a lot that Alaska could be, should be doing to contribute more to the U.S. and I think that I can help do that as governor of the state staying here.

-- Kate Linthicum

John McCain made strides in overcoming the reluctant attitude many social conservatives long have held toward him with his strong performance at the Saddleback Church forum earlier this month. Now, with his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, he may have fully brought them aboard the "Straight Talk Express."

Typical of the effusive response to the Palin pick was a statement from Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition:

At a time when Americans want change in Washington, Sara [sic] Palin is a fresh and energetic voice joining the debate. I am thrilled with Senator McCain’s choice and I look forward to having this strong and independent woman who brings a lot of substance to the campaign.

It is interesting to hear all of these liberals whine about foreign policy experience.  Where were they when the Democrats were nominating Bill Clinton, a Governor of Arkansas to be President?  How about Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer from rural Georgia?

The audacity of their hypocrisy is galling.

This was a very wise move by Sen. McCain. He has done what Sen. [Barack] Obama refused to do -– pick a qualified woman to be his running mate. Instead, Obama picked a Washington insider who has been part of the old guard of radical liberals who are still trying to raise taxes, protect the abortion industry and pack our federal courts with activist judges.

This move – the day after Obama’s Greek Temple speech – has sucked the air out of Obama’s 15-minutes of fame. I predict that Obama will end up back in the Senate humiliated by a devastating defeat.

The coalition promises further comment on Palin during the Republican National Convention next week in St. Paul, Minn.; presumably, the group will correctly spell her first name.

-- Don Frederick

Republican Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, right, speaks as Republican Presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., listens Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 at Ervin J. Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. McCain announced Palin as his running mate at the event. AP photo by Kiichiro Sato

As an unswerving member of the left wing of the Democratic Party, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California wasn't going to be much impressed with whomever John McCain selected as a running mate.

Still, her reaction to the pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is noteworthy for its sharpness, especially given Boxer's commitment to feminist causes. Here's Boxer statement:

The vice president is a heartbeat away from becoming president, so to choose someone with not one hour’s worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice.

If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken.

The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women.  On the issues, they could not be further apart.

Sen. McCain had so many other options if he wanted to put a woman on his ticket, such as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe -– they would have been an appropriate choice compared to this dangerous choice.

In addition, Sarah Palin is under investigation by the Alaska state legislature, which makes this more incomprehensible.

Snowe, considered by many in the GOP a RINO -- Republican in Name Only -- never was a vice presidential prospect. Hutchison's name surfaced over the last few days as a strong possibility, but her stance in favor of abortion rights likely made her a non-starter for the McCain camp.

-- Don Frederick

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., makes a point during her address at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008. AP photo by Ron Edmonds

Take a look at what was said during the Democratic National Convention in Denver -- a real close look. Drag the slider below to see the most common words used in key speeches.

What is this?

It's called a tag cloud, and its purpose is to show the most commonly used words in speeches delivered at the Democratic National Convention.

Scroll through tag clouds of the convention's key speeches using the slider tool. The relative sizes of the words correspond to the frequency with which they appear in each speech. Some commonly used words like "the," "our" and "from" have been omitted.

Reflecting the experienced politician she is, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas displayed no trace of disappointment or chagrin in a phone interview with CNN in reacting to John McCain's choice for a running mate -- the position for which her name had been floated.

Rare for a politician, however, she was unusually candid in commenting on the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"I don't know too much about her, but perhaps that's the good news," Hutchison said.

Elaborating on that latter point, she termed Palin "a surprise" pick, "but a pleasant one." She predicted she would introduce "a breath of fresh air" to the presidential campaign.

-- Don Frederick

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, comments to the media, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 at her home in Dallas on John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Hutchison said McCain's choice is a "bold and exciting opportunity." She said that by choosing a woman, McCain has an opportunity to capture voters who are eager for a change. AP Photo/ Donna McWilliam

The Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, has pulled a fast one on his Democratic opponents, who spent much of the last 19 months arguing over whether they'd be the party to have a female on their 2008 presidential ticket.

The rumor is true. As The Ticket reported just before dawn this morning, minutes ago, McCain confirmed that his vice presidential running mate is Sarah Palin, the first female governor of Alaska and the first woman on a national GOP ticket.

And hear this: The 44-year-old Palin, a former city councilwoman, Alaskan mayor, star high school basketball player and beauty queen, is a Republican political maverick (does this sound familiar on a McCain ticket?).

She overthrew her own state party's corrupt establishment in 2005-06 to run without its support and win on a reform ticket against a Democratic former governor, Tony Knowles. See video below.

She's been enjoying statewide popularity ratings of 70% to 80%, not least for her down-to-earth touches, like selling the previous governor's jet plane to fly commercially and driving herself to work in the family Jetta. She's worked against government pork barrel projects; again, a familiar phrase.

Palin, the first Alaskan governor born after statehood, was actually born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho. She is the mother of five (see family photo below) and is married to a native Alaskan, Todd Palin, who is a seasonal fisherman and an oil field worker offseason. He races snowmobiles on vacation.

The governor is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., an ardent hunter and outdoorswoman (her family has its own float plane) and is a sure bet to please the antiabortion wing of the Republican Party.

When prenatal genetic testing of their fifth child showed he had Down syndrome last spring, the couple went ahead with the birth in May and now talk of him as the joy of their life. (See photo below.) One of ...

Lots of rumors flying around early this morning on the identity of Sen. John McCain's pick for his vice presidential running mate. Focusing especially on Alaska's fresh Gov. Sarah Palin.

One has former Massachusetts Mitt Romney enroute to Dayton, Ohio, where McCain plans a noon Eastern time rally to announce his selection. No guarantee if that invitation is true, that Romney is the pick, despite his tireless campaigning and fundraising for the Arizona senator for months now.

It would seem a little odd though to have onstage one of the "losing" candidates for VP if you're announcing someone else.

The Associated Press has published a report about Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the subject of much recent speculation after he canceled his appointments for the next couple of days, saying he will not be in Ohio today.

Most Americans won't be in Ohio today, but that would rule Pawlenty out.

Another rumor has a chartered plane from Alaska landing a while ago near Dayton, Ohio. If true, that could mean McCain's selection could be an outside-the-box game-changer: picking Alaska's first female governor, Sarah Palin, a 44-year-old mother of five and political maverick in her own right, who went against her state's GOP establishment in recent years to drive a series of reforms through.

What a surprise that would be if after watching the Democrats debate for nearly two years having a female in the person of Sen. Hillary Clinton at the top or No. 2 spot on their ticket, it was actually the Republicans with a candidate who turns 72 today picking a pro-life woman three years younger than Obama, who's been a city councilwoman, a tax-cutting mayor and an anti-pork barrel state chief executive.

A former high school athlete (basketball) and beauty queen, she could become the first female vice president and be in position to become the nation's first female president, as she was her state's first female governor and the first governor there born since statehood.

But remember last week when Barack Obama was about to announce his pick and we had reports of Obama-Bayh signs being printed in Kansas. It didn't quite turn out that way.

Stay tuned. We'll have the announcement right here on The Ticket asap.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: Associated Press

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