From a bear skin to a banana skin?

MANY men in politics have risked all for a beautiful woman. John McCain is the first to do it for a moose-hunter.

In choosing Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate, he’s bet it all on a former Miss Alaska finalist he’s met just once.

If it pays off, America may fall in love with her and elect him. If she’s flaky, then Barack Obama will cruise to victory.

If you’ve never heard of Palin don’t worry. Until Friday morning, no one in America had either.

Obama had woken up to newspapers gushing about his spectacular speech on Thursday in a packed stadium. But by 9am, no one was speaking about Obama any more. All talk was on the national nobody whom McCain picked.

Sarah Palin sounds made-up. A flute-playing former beauty queen who became Governor of Alaska just 21 months ago

Aged 44, she combines sexy- librarian looks with tax-cutting record and the highest popularity of any state governor.

You can see why McCain, 72, fell for her. But what no one knows is if she’ll pass muster in the brutal scrutiny to come.

Anyone who stands for president or vice president needs to be tested to ensure they’re nuclear-proof. McCain didn’t have time. He wanted to poach Hillary Clinton’s hardcore supporters, still in mourning.

Pretty soon, the scandal dogs will come a-sniffing around every igloo in Alaska. And the hardball interviews will start. As vice-president she is a heartbeat (or a heart seizure) away from being commander-in-chief. Is she ready?

Where is Baluchistan? Can she distinguish the Strait of Hormuz from the horns of a moose? If she gaffes, and is seen as unfit for office, McCain will be finished. He is praying and gambling that she’ll survive.

Why has he taken such a risk? Because he sees in her what sees in himself: a maverick pledging reform.

In Alaska she defeated what she calls the “good ol’ boys” – the establishment in her own Republican party. This is McCain’s enemy too. The establishment that crushed him when he ran for president eight years ago.

“I'm just like Luke Skywalker trying to get out of the Death Star,” he said back then. “They’re all shooting at me.”

They got him. George W Bush’s team downed him with brutal personal attacks that he never forgave.

But McCain feels he’s found his Princess Leia in this establishment- busting, gun-toting Alaskan mom.

And Obama has to rethink everything. He called off his attack dogs yesterday, knowing it’s dangerous to be seen to savage – or patronise - a woman. Also, McCain won’t be able to taunt Obama for youth or lack of experience.

With McCain in his Jedi Knight mode, perhaps the best thing for Obama is wait for a gaffe. It may not be long. She must impress at a speech in the Republican convention this week.

McCain has dumped a novice in the most brutal political battlefield in the world. It is either a stroke of genius or an act of lunacy.

And no one, not even McCain or even Mrs Palin, knows which.

FRASER NELSON is also political editor of The Spectator.