But they did not speak again until Sunday last week when Senator McCain called her to discuss the job. A private jet carrying Governor Palin landed in the desert town of Flagstaff on Wednesday night while speculation mounted that Senator McCain was on the verge of choosing a more prominent name. Later that night, she held talks with top McCain aides Steve Schmidt andMark Salter in a ‘‘safe house’’ – the home of a friend of the Republican candidate.

The next morning, Governor Palin was driven to the McCain ranch in nearby Sedona. There she first met CindyMcCain before her husband formally offered her the vice-presidential slot as they chatted on the deck. It was just their second meeting in person. Governor Palin and an aide flew later on Thursday with the two McCain lieutenants to Ohio, where they checked in to a hotel as the ‘‘Upton family’’, while Senator McCain made his way publicly to the key battleground state. She was quietly joined by her husband Todd, a part-Eskimo oil worker, commercial fisherman and champion snowmobile racer and four of their five children – her three daughters and baby son. The girls were told that they were travelling to Ohio to celebrate their parents’ 20th anniversary.

Just an hour before the rally on Friday, she texted her eldest son Track, who enrolled in the US Army on last year’s sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and told him to switch on the TV. Even her parents were in the dark. Mr Palin, who is currently a stay-at-home father known in Alaska as the First Dude, called his in-laws as they set off for a weekend caribou hunt and suggested they watch the news instead.

Governor Palin’s selection and speech went down a storm with the 10,000 McCain supporters gathered in an arena inDayton for their first joint appearance. The newdouble act is also campaigning in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Missouri before heading to Minneapolis for the likely start of the Republican convention tomorrow. Democratic strategists believe that Senator McCain has chosen a ‘‘Dan Quayle’’ – a reference to the inexperienced and gaffe-prone number two selected by the first president Bush in an effort to enliven his own reputation.

Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, will ask his former rival Hillary Clinton to step up her campaign appearances to shore up his support among women in blue-collar rural areas, where Senator McCain hopes to gain thanks to his pick of a selfdescribed anti-abortion feminist. Governor Palin, 44, certainly has a compelling life story. A former high school basketball star and beauty queen, she broke into public life on the Parent Teachers Association in the small town of Wasilla and subsequently became a local councillor and thenmayor.

She unseated the Republican incumbent to become governor less than two years ago. And if the Republicans win the general election in November, she will be just the proverbial heartbeat away from replacing Senator McCain, a 72-year-old cancer survivor. She is a lifetimemember of the National Rifle Association who was first taken moose hunting as a girl. She also supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in schools. Both Republican and Democratic Party officials believe that the next few days will be crucial in determining whether Senator McCain’s pick will be seen as a masterstroke that transformed his prospects or a dangerous gamble that backfired.

Senator Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, said that SenatorMcCain had made a cynical tactical selection rather than choosing someone whose credentials he knew first hand. He confirmed that the campaign is in talks with Senator Clinton about the frequency of her campaign events. ‘‘We want her to do asmuch as she is willing to do. She’s a great spokesperson for us and for change.’’

Paul Begala, the architect of Bill Clinton’s victory in 1992, said Senator McCain ‘‘is not thinking outside the box, as some have said, more like out of his mind.’’ He added: ‘‘It is irresponsible. He is 72 years old and he has had cancer four times and he wants to put a woman he met once a heartbeat away from the presidency. Eight of our 43 presidents have died in office.’’ But Democrats have to walk a fine line or risk being accused of sexism, a charge that cost them against Senator Clinton. Senator Obama moved quickly last Friday and issued a joint statement with his running mate Joe Biden, congratulating Governor Palin, calling her ‘‘a compelling person with a terrific personal story’’.

Some Democrats were immediately unnerved by Senator McCain’s boldness. Although Governor Palin’s evangelical beliefs are unlikely to appeal to Senator Clinton’s liberal urban feminist base, they could go down well with working-class rural voterswho overwhelmingly backed the former First Lady in the primaries. Former Republican White House aide Jim Nuzzo said: ‘‘She answers the concern the Republican base had with McCain. She’s going after blue-collar workers and Hillary supporters. They’re the two groups that will decide this election.’’

The Sunday Telegraph