Is Palin of Alaska McCain's Surprise Pick?

Michael Cooper of The New York Times just posted this blog pointing to Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as the most likely choice by John McCain as his running mate. If true, it would be a surprise to just about everyone:

Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota said in a radio interview on Friday morning that he planned to be at the Minnesota state fair on Friday, not here in Dayton with Senator John McCain, who has an event planned for noon, Eastern.

When he was asked if that means he would not be Mr. McCain’s running mate, Mr. Pawlenty told WCCO radio that “I think that’s a fair assumption.’’

Also this morning, The Times’s Michael Luo reports that Mitt Romney, who had long been perceived as one of the final candidates for the slot, has been ruled out. A source close to Mr. Romney said he is not going to be in Dayton today.

So who does that leave? The Times’s Elisabeth Bumiller sends the following:

Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska? As reports circulated on television and cable networks on Friday morning that Senator John McCain might have selected Ms. Palin as his running mate, McCain advisers expressed bewilderment. One adviser said that while Mr. McCain thinks highly of Ms. Palin, who is opposed to abortion rights and would be welcomed by Christian conservatives, her less than two years in office would undercut one of the McCain campaign’s central criticisms of Senator Barack Obama — that he is too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.

“While it’s a dramatic and interesting choice, it would make the argument he’s making difficult to make,” said one McCain adviser.