Just a heartbeat away

Sarah Palin is going to take some heat as the election season wears on. The Los Angeles Times has a column on her background:

Plucked from near-political obscurity to become Senator John McCain's running mate, Palin either has pitch-perfect political instincts or has benefited from a spectacular run of luck that has landed her in the ultimate right place at the right time.
It is easy to see why McCain was drawn to her; their political resumes have much in common. The 44-year-old Republican has sold herself as a political maverick willing to buck her party over principle, an ethics reformer who quit a lucrative job rather than play ball with the old boys' network and a pragmatist who will reach across the aisle to get her agenda enacted. Like McCain, she has at times been a black sheep in her own party. Also like McCain, she has been accused of overstepping ethical bounds on occasion.
"The landscape up here is littered with people who have underestimated her," said Eric Croft, a Democratic former state representative who enlisted her help when he investigated a Republican oil commissioner for ethical breaches. "Maybe she is not ready for prime time, or maybe she is going to litter the national landscape with people who have underestimated her."
"She was the right voice at the right time," said rental car executive Andrew Halcro, who ran as an independent against Palin and Democratic former Governor Tony Knowles. "The previous governor had, like, a 20% approval rating. They were tired of this relentless, brute, ignoring-the-public mentality. Then the FBI raids. All she had to do was show up... and she got elected."
"There's a real question whether she's a Republican or a Democrat," said GOP state Representative Mike Hawker. It is doubtful that Democrats would try to claim Palin; she is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest, sued the federal government to take polar bears off the endangered species list, has said creationism should be taught in schools and advocated a constitutional ban on providing healthcare benefits to same-sex partners.
Palin has a "sort of Reaganesque, kind of Teflon quality," due to her charm and "force of personality."
The Anchorage Daily News was enthusiastic: "You go, girl!" its editorial said. It credited her with bucking the GOP establishment and exhibiting a personal toughness that will be an asset to the GOP ticket. But then it fretted: "She's a total beginner on national and international issues. Governor Palin will have to spend the next two months convincing Americans that she's ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency."