Is Sarah Palin Qualified to Be President?

For about the last month, the great "gotcha" question from the press has been to ask people if they think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president. It created quite a controversy for Joe Miller in his senate race, and was also recently asked of Bob McDonnell. Dick Cranwell, the chair of the DPVA, even sent out an e-mail proving McDonnell was radical because he thought Palin was qualified to be president.

The question of whether Palin is qualified to be president is meaningless. The qualifications for president are simple. You have to be a U.S. resident, and at least 35. Has Palin met these? Unquestionably. Beyond that she has served as governor of the largest state in America, and the VP candidate for a major political party. To quote Rudy Giuliani, "The reality is she's got a hell of a lot more qualifications than Barack Obama had when he ran for president."

Is Sarah Palin the person we want as president, and as our party's nominee? That is another debate, and one that will be had through the primary season if she chooses to run. Let's stop discrediting her, and marginalizing her as someone not even qualified to run for president.

Anyone who meets the Article II Section 1 requirements in the U.S. Constitution is qualified to run. Anyone who has accomplished as much as she has, deserves to be taken seriously. Whether she wins depends on the case she can make to the American people, and whether that message resonates with them.

Joe Murray Almost Wins Inside the Beltway and Huck PAC Announces it's VA Endorsements

Last night in Virginia's special election to replace retiring Delegate Brian Moran in the 46th district Republican Joe Murray only lost by 16 votes.  He ran a smart and competitive campaign inside the beltway and almost won.  People are already analyzing the impacts of the Democrats almost losing a seat in Northern Virginia that Obama carried with 75% of the vote in November.  At the very least the Democrats will have to think twice when they think about picking up and holding seats in NOVA this year.  Also Delegate Moran, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Governor, will have to work extra hard to convince Democrats that he can win in NOVA since he hardly held onto his own seat.

One thing I noticed while following the race for Brian Moran's seat was that the Democrats seemed to be taking the race for granted.  The Democratic Party of Virginia's website spent all its time celebrating its 2008 victories and never prominently mentioned any of the past three special elections on its website.  On the other hand, the RPV was promoting the race on its homepage as well as on its networking site.  The next time the state Democratic Party ignores a race in NOVA the consequences may be even more severe.   

Huck PAC just recently made its first endorsements for the 2009 election cycle.  It endorsed Bob McDonnell for Governor, and Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General.  With its new National Volunteer Team it will be interesting to see how much of an impact these endorsements have on the race.  If nothing else these endorsements should help activate the Virginia grassroots supporters who campaigned for Mike Huckabee, and get them campaigning for Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli.  With the recent endorsements from Bobby Jondal and Rudy Giuliani for Bob McDonnell it is also great to see national Republican figures rallying around Bob McDonnell.