Palin Power

ST. PAUL -- One week ago few outside of Alaska knew who Sarah Palin was.

Wednesday night, the Republican nominee for Vice President proved herself to be a smiling, likable hockey mom turned attack dog that will be a force to reckon with over the next 60 days.

Palin's speech wowed the crowd, and rallied a convention hall that needed a pep talk. Rudy Giuliani might have given the best purely political speech of the night, but Palin won the hearts and minds of the party. As we look towards Thursday evening's speech by John McCain, the question is whether he can match that level of enthusiasm.

Still, the journalist in me still says to withhold overall judgment on the Palin pick, until more thorough reporting is done, until we see her sit down for major one-on-one interviews and until we see how she reacts to unpredictable events on the stump.
You can follow my thoughts from Wednesday night on TWITTER.