McCain has chosen Alaska’s brand new governor, Sarah Palin, as his V.P. pick. It’s an interesting choice, most likely seeking to poach disgruntled Clinton supporters from Obama. But, other than the fact that both Clinton and Palin have two X chromosomes, the similarities are few.

Clinton has been doing politics on the national level for quite some time. Palin has been governor of Alaska (population 683,000) for less than two years. Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (population 2,000). She is currently embroiled in a scandal in Alaska related to questions over whether she exerted undue influence to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper and then fired the Department of Public Safety Commissioner for questioning her use of influence.

Aside from gender, this seems a little like nominating Greg Ballard, mayor of Indianapolis (population 795,000) as a Vice-Presidential running mate. It’s probably a little rude to point out, but Gov. Palin probably has a higher-than-average chance of ascending from the Vice-Presidency to the Presidency due to McCain’s actuarial higher chances of not being able to serve out his term. So, while a Vice-Presidential pick is not generally an earth-shaking part of a Presidential campaign (despite the quadrennial obsession of the news media), it’s probably a little more important than usual in this case.

In any case, the McCain campaign has just blunted the “experience” arrow in its quiver in favor of trying to attract women who will vote solely on the issue of gender despite Palin’s staunch opposition to reproductive rights. We’ll see if the gamble works.