I have a story up on the first day of the new GOP ticket:
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich.—John McCain may have swapped one enthusiasm gap for another.
As he touched down in suburbs outside of Milwaukee and Detroit, the just crowned Republican nominee found himself first on the newly-fashioned signs proclaiming the unlikely GOP ticket but seemingly second in the hearts of the thousands who thronged rallies to catch their first glimpse in person of Sarah Palin.
McCain drew loud applause, first at a morning appearance in the downtown of a quaint, Republican-leaning Wisconsin village and then at a more-boisterous amphitheater rally here in Michigan’s working-class Macomb County.
Yet it was Palin who many, especially women, in both crowds were thrilled to see up close just days after she exploded onto the national political scene.
Clutching signs with messages such as “Girl Power” and “Sarah Is My American Idol,” moms and their daughters lined the barricades just outside The Chocolate Shop in Cedarburg, Wisconsin that served as the backdrop for the rally.
The women said they had come to see both members of the new Republican ticket, but couldn’t fake it when asked who they were more excited to lay eyes on.
Sarah!” a small group of them yelled.
Meghan Groppe, 12, of Cedarburg explained the enthusiasm.
“Because if they get voted in she’ll be the first lady vice-president,” Groppe said, flashing a smile missing a few teeth.
| 
| 169 : vote(s) so far
| Cast your vote: