Guest View: Sara from Alaska weighs in on Sarah from Alaska

Around my friends and colleagues, I'm known as the girl from Homer, Alaska.

So when John McCain announced who his running mate was, I'm sure you can imagine how many people called, e-mailed and approached me, dying to know what I thought.

"So who's this Gov. Sarah Palin? What's she about?"

"Are you going to have to vote for McCain now?"

Before I answer, I need to explain a few things about my home state.

For some reason, people think Alaska is a cultish state. After all, the Alaska Independence Party wants the state to secede from the United States and become its own country (Joe Vogler, founder of the Alaska Independence Party, said it best: "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions.").

The state populace creates this mentality with the vocabulary we use, such as referring to the Lower 48 as "outside."

For example, this is what my mother tells other Alaskans when she visits me at Tahoe: "I'm going to see my daughter outside."

But the rest of the United States promotes this attitude, too. When you see a deal for free shipping in the continental United States, the company is lying. Many times, I've argued with sales reps, demanding my free shipping, only to hear that the offer is void in Hawaii and Alaska. When I rudely ask if they know Alaska really isn't floating off in the left-hand corner of the map, they hang up.

Even in "The Simpsons Movie," Homer said Alaska isn't part of the country.

So when a governor comes from a state that doesn't receive free shipping or promotional deals, and its statehood is mocked by one of the most socially critical shows of my time, you have to wonder what type of "outside" experience she has politically.

Her resume speaks to this: Palin can list her mayoral position of Wasilla, population 5,469, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, and governor of a state that averages one person per square mile.

To her credit, she does deal with national environmental issues, such as Arctic drilling (which she supports) and other contentious debates over The Last Frontier.

And her female vigor and youth are an asset to potentially garner the former Hillary Clinton supporters - something McCain needs to have to stay competitive with Barack Obama.

Before the Palin variable was introduced, my father and I discussed the election. He still lives in Alaska with my mom. He's a card-toting Republican, and she's a schoolteacher (aka Democrat). During our discussion, he said something I agreed with, which is that the Republicans don't get to win this year because of everything that's happened in the past eight years.

I don't know if this last effort by McCain will help, but if Palin does get to Washington, she'll just be known as that girl from Alaska.

- Sara Thompson is a staff writer for the Tahoe Daily Tribune. She can be reached at (530) 542-8009 or sthompson@tahoedailytribune.com.