Palin had served as mayor and governor, so she had more executive experience in office than Obama. After Obama defeated Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, some female voters feared they might not see a woman on the national ticket (Palin checked that box). What's more, in Alaska, Palin took on the Republican establishment, allowing McCain to double down on his maverick reputation.

That choice didn’t go well for McCain in the end, but his pick made more political sense at the time than US Senator Ted Cruz’s Wednesday announcement that Carly Fiorina would be his No. 2.

In 2008, when it came time for John McCain to choose a Republican running mate, he assessed the political environment and decided to go with a bold, high-risk, high-reward pick. He was trailing then-US Senator Barack Obama, and he needed to change the game. He plucked Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, out of obscurity and onto the national ticket.

Like McCain, Cruz is seeking a game change moment. After Donald Trump’s dominant wins in five states on Tuesday, it’s mathematically impossible for Cruz to become the Republican presidential nominee on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention. And if Cruz did nothing on Wednesday, Trump would dominate the news with his newly plausible path to the nomination, followed by the businessman’s foreign policy address.


Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich have one goal for the next few months: Stop Trump from getting enough delegates to win the nomination before the Republican National Convention. Indiana’s primary is next on the calendar, and polls show Cruz trailing Trump by about 6 percent.

In order to close that gap, the Cruz campaign has been throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if something would stick. On Sunday night, for example, Cruz’s team accepted a long-standing offer from the Kasich campaign to coordinate efforts to stop Trump in the upcoming primary states.


But just hours after their alliance was announced, it appeared that not everyone was on the same page. The next morning Kasich told reporters that his Indiana supporters could still vote for him instead of Cruz. That sentiment was backed up by Kasich’s campaign workers in Indiana. After that, Cruz called for Kasich to drop out of the race.

Of course, there are many differences between the Palin and Fiorina picks — most notably that Cruz announced Fiorina would be his running mate before it was clear he would even become the GOP nominee.

It has been four decades since anyone pulled such a move. Heading into the contested 1976 Republican convention, Ronald Reaganannounced his running mate would be a US Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania. Reagan’s early pick backfired, but it had logic.

But with the Fiorina pick, it’s unclear what is Cruz’s logic besides a day’s worth of news coverage.

Yes, Fiorina is a woman, and Trump is lagging with female voters. Yes, she has been an attack dog against Trump, but that hasn’t stopped him. In historical terms she is the first vice presidential pick who has never held elected office since US Ambassador Sargent Shriver was picked by Democratic nominee George McGovern in 1972. The last successful vice presidential pick without prior elected office experience was lawyer Charles Dawes, who served under President Calvin Coolidge.

When she ran for president, Fiorina won a single delegate in Iowa. She has no connection whatsoever with Indiana to help him win there next week. It is also hard to see how she could have a dramatic role during the high stakes California primary in June. Fiorina ran for office there six years ago, and she lost badly. She moved to Virginia.


When McCain picked Palin it did bring energy to his campaign and an infusion of energy and campaign donations. In this respect, Palin did help McCain, if only for a few weeks.

But if the point right now is to deny Trump votes in the next 10 contests, Cruz’s pick of Fiorina doesn’t change the game at all.

James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell or subscribe to his daily e-mail update on the 2016 campaign at www.bostonglobe.com/groundgame