“It’s a Hail Mary for McCain. She’s young, attractive, and a sitting governor with some executive experience,” said Norm Gorsuch, a former Alaska attorney general. “She’ll appear to those Hillary voters who were disappointed that Clinton wasn’t at least chosen as Obama’s vice president. She comes across as a soccer mom, and very warm on television.”

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had words of praise for McCain’s choice.

“John McCain has taken a bold step today in choosing Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate,” she said. “Gov. Palin has risen to every challenge she’s faced, and her choice is historic for Alaska and for the women of America.

Palin has emerged as a leader on a crucial issue facing the nation: energy. Her candidacy likely will highlight Alaska's role as a state that can help meet the nation's energy needs through domestic oil and gas exploration and development.

Gorsuch, who is a Democrat, said Palin is a quick study on issues and has experience with energy.

“She’ll be able to hold her own in debates on offshore drilling, foreign oil dependence and natural gas,” he said. “An interesting question will be drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She is for it, and McCain is against it.”

Dan Seamount, a commissioner on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a state agency that regulates the petroleum industry, worked with Palin when she was a member of the AOGCC three years ago.

“She has a high degree of integrity and always did what she thought was right. She was always upbeat and optimistic, and as an administrator, she was a very caring when it came to personnel issues,” Seamount said.

The selection poses interesting questions in Alaska on issues like the natural gas pipeline. One of Palin’s big accomplishments as governor was to institute a process to select independent gas pipeline company TransCanada Corp. to receive state incentives for a $30 billion-plus North Slope pipeline.

Two North Slope producers are working on their own plan for a pipeline, but the state is backing TransCanada.

Although the state has selected TransCanada, there are still issues to be dealt with, such as state appropriations for matching funds to TransCanada.

If Palin is elected, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell would step in as governor. Parnell has supported many of Palin’s pipeline initiatives, but he may take a less combative stance when it comes to dealing with North Slope producers. Parnell worked briefly as a lobbyist for ConocoPhillips.

Parnell, however, is currently locked in a neck-to-neck race for congress against Alaska’s lone representative, Don Young. Young is currently leading with an edge of about 150 votes, but the race won’t be decided until absentee ballots are counted and recounts are done, possibly in two weeks.

If Parnell beats Young and prevails against Democratic challenger Ethan Berkowitz in November, and Palin and McCain win in November, state law provides that Attorney General Talus Colberg would step in as governor until a special election is held.