Palin--a Dark Horse

I think I've come to the conclusion that the biggest thing this choice brings to the campaign is that people are now talking about his side of it.
She's new, she's fresh, she's highly inexperienced and has made some iffy calls in the past that I still need to research more, but she's a hardliner who has built a budding career on ethics and reform.

I do worry about her seven years of experience, as it is counter to everything the McCain campaign has been trying to build this summer. However, the choice of Biden as Obama's VP lessens the impact of the inexperience card.
Biden is also sort of a blah choice, it's safe, it's old--it'll calm a lot of people on the dem side (i've already seen this first hand).

It remains to be seen if the choice of Palin will be a net gain or loss for McCain.
One thing is for sure, the historic implications of this election will not go unnoted. At the very least we have the most diverse line up of candidates that we've ever had from demographics to policies.

This started as an election that Republicans couldn't win. Their only hope was McCain.
In an election that the democrats couldn't lose, they fought over Clinton or Obama--embittering many of their core supporters while doing so.
Between the two of them--it's even ground.
Their VP's could very well tip that balance. More to the point--McCain's VP could tip it.

So what makes him feel so secure as to be able to pick a dark horse?