Wayne Root says that the Republicans chose Sarah Palin for two reasons. First, the GOP was concerned that the Libertarians would take votes away from McCain and throw Alaska to Obama. (Never mind that the state has voted Republican since prehistoric times.) Second, Root says, Palin is a "female version of my image." The similarities: "Well, first of all she says she's a hockey mom; I'm the son of a butcher. We both come from very humble beginnings. We both come from far Western frontier states that believe in no taxes and lots of guns. ... We both have big families with a brand-new baby. ... And to top it off, if you could think of one attribute that describes me, I think it would be an Energizer Bunny—high-energy, exciting, passionate, gets crowds going crazy. I can get a crowd whipped into a frenzy in five minutes, whereas Sarah Palin does the same thing, she's the only one on the Republican side who does that. So I think they found a female version of me, except here's the difference: Underneath the excitement, OK, and underneath the citizen politician, I'm a policy wonk, I've studied politics my whole life. Underneath the entertainer exterior, I'm actually an intellectual who went to Columbia University and can tell you an awful lot about political history in this country. Sarah Palin is none of those things. She's from the University of Idaho, she's a ... beauty pageant participant. … [U]nderneath the exterior there's gotta be some substance, and I'm not sure they found it with Palin. But I know they found it with me."