SURPRISE: McCain picks Palin!

*UPDATE* 8/29/08 10:55 AM EST

Sometimes I’m OK with being wrong!  It appears McCain is set to now pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his VP choice. This is a wonderful surprise, and one that should make the conservative base very very happy!

Tim Pawlenty would’ve been a solid conservative choice, but Sarah Palin is a great choice!

I think the big concern all along has been that McCain would pick a Lieberman, Ridge, or Crist. Thankfully that appears not to be the case.

“…and there was much rejoicing!”

I just got off the phone with Alex Carey, Tim Pawlenty’s Press Secretary…

I talked with Alex quite a bit when I was hosting a talk show in St. Cloud and scheduling interviews with Governor Pawlenty. While Carey could not give me any official word, he had some excitement in his voice, and did confirm that Governor Pawlenty has cleared his entire media schedule.

Also, I talked with a former Romney campaign member who told me that they had inside knowledge from a Romney family member that Mitt Romney had not heard anything from McCain as of this 5:15 p.m. eastern.

Based on this information, I’m ready to say with some confidence that John McCain will pick Tim Pawlenty as his VP.

UPDATE: 5:45 PM CST - My former Romney campaign source has notified me that as of 6:20 pm eastern time Mitt Romney had still heard nothing.
UPDATE: 6:30 PM CST - A source within the RNC and a McCain communications staff member have verified that there is a 95% chance that McCain’s choice is Tim Pawlenty. Add this to the other information already gathered and I firmly believe that Tim Pawlenty will be John McCain’s VP selection.