She hunts! She fishes! She eats moose burgers! She can gut a salmon as well as dispatch an incumbent governor! She’s a rural mother of five who clings to guns and religion -– exuberantly!

In choosing as his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, two years removed from her only other significant political job, as a small-town mayor, John McCain has certainly offered up a giant-killer -– “Sarah Barracuda,” as she’s known in the Last Frontier State.

Palin, who has more than a passing resemblance to Tina Fey, took on the kleptocracy of Alaska’s Republican politics and won.

First, she ousted the hated incumbent, Frank Murkowski, in a primary two years ago, and then promptly cleaned up his mess in Juneau, even selling his private jet on eBay. Second, she rejected the “bridge to nowhere,” the famous earmark for a span from Ketchikan to an island of 50 people -– further angering the politicians-for-life who have run Alaska for half as long as it’s been in the union.

But she has her own ethics concern, an investigation of whether the governor’s office was involved in firing a state trooper who was in the midst of a nasty divorce from Palin’s sister — Troopergate with a bit of Alaska Gothic thrown in. And McCain’s selection -– a woman who looks young enough to be his college-age daughter -– makes it hard for Republicans to criticize Barack Obama for his inexperience. Palin is an inoculation for what may be the biggest rap against Obama. That’s a huge risk.

Could Palin take on Putin?

Slaying Frank Murkowski and dueling with Don Young, the pork-loving congressman behind the bridge, is one thing. Both men are old-style hacks, to be kind. But Palin has zero experience on the world stage -– a crucial factor for McCain, who made the announcement on his 72nd birthday. And, just recently, she seemed to have no idea what the job of vice president entails.

“What is it exactly that the vice president does every day?” she asked in an interview on CNBC. A fair question, but one that also reinforces her inexperience.

Her bio is classic Alaska, a state where everyone has a past but it’s so far, far away – “Outside,” as Alaskans call the mainland United States. If Hawaii is “foreign and exotic” to some geographically challenged pundits, what will they think of Alaska, which has its own time zone?

Palin eloped with her husband, Todd, a commercial fisherman, who later won the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snow machine (as snowmobiles are called in Alaska) race. She gave each of her five children names that sound like her state -– Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig. She’s a self-described “hockey mom,” which means something in Minnesota and Colorado, two battleground states.

As a University of Idaho graduate, a television sports reporter, a beauty queen who was Miss Wasilla and competed for Miss Alaska, Palin brings a bit of the “Legally Blonde” aspect to the race -– you underestimate her at your peril, as opponents found in Alaska, and in the movie.

Militantly anti-choice and evangelical, the 44-year-old gave birth to her last child five months ago. (There were complications — the child has Down Syndrome — a point that she brings up in explaining her convictions.) Does she woo women, the disgruntled ex-Hillary supporters? That may be a tougher sell, given that she’s bound to back the kind of Supreme Court justices who will remove abortion protections.

And on energy, she could have a debate with her ticket-mate, for Palin favors drilling for oil in the Alaska wildlife refuge, while McCain opposes it -– for now.

Oil has made her state rich, so much so that Palin has asked the legislature this year to give every Alaskan $1,200 as one-time energy relief. But it’s also made it ripe for corruption.

Tough, independent, a feisty feminist — that’s one image of the Republican pick. But there’s also the echo of Dan Quayle.

In Alaska, big dreams come to life quickly. They just as swiftly crash.