Mr Obama, in Joe Biden, has opted for a safe candidate, one that will bridge the hole that many political commentators across the pond have remarked in Mr Obama’s campaign, and that is his relative weakness in the field of Foreign Affairs.
Although he voted to approve the Iraq war, he started warning of the costs of a long occupation of Iraq long before it began, and just like Sarah Palin, the Republican prospective VP, he has a personal attachment to the conflict. His son, Beau Biden, is a captain in the Army National Guard, and his unit is set to be deployed to Iraq shortly. Mr Biden apparently told US media sources recently that "He'll go… I don't want him going".
Mr Biden is also no stranger to presidential races, and all that they entail as he ran against Mr Obama for the 2008 nomination but dropped out in January. He also ran for presidency in 1988 but was forced to withdraw after it emerged that he had plagiarised a speech by the then leader of the British Labour Party, Neil Kinnock.
He also apparently has a reputation as a forceful speaker and can be prone to the occasional gaffe – BoJo anyone? In 2007, he described Mr Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy". Barack will be hoping he’ll be able to control his mouth, after all they are on the same side now…
Mrs Palin, on the other hand is a surprise selection. Following all the media hype that Mr Obama’s announcement generated I had expected John McCain, now 72, to select a surprise candidate.
Of course, we all knew it was going to have to be someone younger than him as age is currently one of main areas the Democratic camp are exploiting in their attack. I had a small inkling Mr McCain might opt for a female candidate to try to draw in the female vote that Hillary Clinton proved was so strong across the country. But realistically, I had never expected Sarah Palin to be the one chosen.
In truth, I like many I suppose, had never heard of her. A “devoted wife and mother-of-five”, at 44 she was the youngest to be elected to her post as Governor of Alaska, a role she has held since 2006. She has been credited with managing to bring about reforms in her first years in office but the point that stands out the most is that Mrs Palin is the first woman Republican to be put forward as a vice-presidential candidate.
In addition, she also has all the essential extras to appeal to the mass public. The governor, a former local beauty queen in her small town of Wasilla, near Anchorage, is keen on hunting and fishing and reportedly enjoys eating moose hamburgers. She has been married for 20 years, has five children, one of which has Downs Syndrome. Predictably perhaps, her oldest son joined the US Army on 11 September last year and is set to be deployed to Iraq next month.
Reacting to the selection, the Obama camp was predictably speculative. Mr Obama told reporters that Mrs Palin had a "terrific" personal story and would help make a case for the Republicans, but added: "Unfortunately, the case is more of the same."
However, could Mr McCain have inadvertently shot himself in the foot by choosing his prospective VP who herself only has two years experience in office when that was such a critical spear of McCain’s attack on Mr Obama?
The BBC’s North American correspondent, Justin Webb, believes so and added that: “The choice seems an audacious, perhaps slightly desperate, effort to bring youth and vigour to the Republican ticket.”
The two selections have battled for media publicity and each candidate has battled to make his stand out more. In rather an unprecedented act, Mr McCain issued a TV commercial message praising Mr Obama's achievement in becoming the first African American selected by a major party as presidential nominee (watch below).
Was this a genuine congratulatory message, or simply one to steal the spotlight? Only time will tell.
Overall when comparing the two candidates, you see that while Mr Obama has played safe, Mr McCain has been braver. He has shown how he can change and be bold, while Mr Obama will hope that Biden will fill the hole of his relative inexperience. The appointment of Mrs Palin will have accumulated the most newspaper column inches, but will she be enough to pull Mr McCain over the finish line into the White House.
Don’t expect a clean fight over the remaining 60 days or so, but also don’t expect a knock-out.
This will surely go to a point decision but at the moment I would put it at ‘advantage Republican’…
