Was Sarah Palin added to John McCain's 'short list' for gender balance?

Washington, Mar 13 (ANI): A campaign manager of John McCain has revealed that Sarah Palin was added to the US Senator's 'short list' of possible running mates for gender balance.

Rick Davis said that McCain wanted at least one woman to be included on the list, reports the Politico.

The Senator entered the vice presidential selection process with a list of five possibilities - Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Michael Bloomberg, Charlie Crist, and Joe Lieberman, according to the latest edition of Washingtonian (which is not available online) of Washington lawyer A.B. Culvahouse, who led the search.

"As the clock was running out, [campaign manager Rick] Davis say McCain asked to have at least one woman on the short list. His advisers went back to the long list and plucked out Palin's name," the magazine reported.

The questions of how thoroughly Palin was vetted, and why she was chosen, have been sore spots that helped divide McCain's campaign in its aftermath between its leadership, who saw her as an out-of-control, destructive force, and another group of staffers who saw her as a more promising figure than McCain himself. (ANI)