
	Chris Mulick has worked for the Herald since 1998 and has served as the statehouse correspondent covering state government and politics since 2000. He works year-round out of the Herald's Olympia bureau on the state Capitol campus. Have a question? Send Chris an e-mail and he'll answer the best questions regularly.

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Friday, Aug. 29, 2008

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Republicans cheer Palin here, jeer her there

As one might expect, anyone and everyone with an “R” by their name is praising John McCain’s choice for a running mate today. Almost.

The Anchorage Daily News has reaction from Gov. Sarah Palin’s home state and, as a testament to how much she’s battled with her own party, the reaction from the Grand Old Party isn’t uniformly grand.

For instance, state party Chairman Randy Ruedrich apparently isn’t giving interviews today.

And the paper quotes Lyda Green, the Republican president of the state Senate from Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, saying she’s not ready.

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?” said Green. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

Green mentioned a tax increase Palin supported on big oil. That may or may not play well in Alaska, where the industry tours over the state’s economy. But might play pretty well just about everywhere else.

In Washington, Republicans are far more uniformly supportive.

U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, a Pasco Republican whose district Palin has strong family roots in, said “It's a bold choice, a smart choice and one that the Republican Party can proudly and enthusiastically support.”

“Taking as his running mate the governor from our great northern neighbor was an excellent decision by Sen. McCain,” said Luke Esser, chairman of the Washington state Republican Party.

Republican state Attorney General Rob McKenna also was impressed.

“I think Senator McCain made a brilliant choice," he said in a written statement. "This is going to excite a lot of people and bring new interest to his campaign from independent voters at the same time that it fires up his base."

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