Palin Says She Could Beat Obama in Race

It's official, the 2012 presidential contest between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama has begun. Well, the sports-metaphor portion of the race has, anyway. In an interview with Runner's World magazine, the Alaska governor and presumptive GOP front-runner has laid down the gauntlet, challenging the commander-in-chief to a long-distance race:

What about a race? Could you beat the president?
I betcha I'd have more endurance. My one claim to fame in my own little internal running circle is a sub-four [hour] marathon. It wasn't necessarily a good running time, but it proves I have the endurance within me to at least gut it out, and that is something, if you ever talk to my old coaches they'd tell you, too. What I lacked in physical strength or skill I made up for in determination and endurance. So if [it] were a long race that required a lot of endurance, I'd win.

Presidential campaigns, as everyone knows, are marathons, not sprints. So maybe that bodes well for Palin's chances in 2012, and explains why her fans are already releasing head-to-head campaign ads against Obama, even though the new president's administration is just six months old.

Like Obama, Palin is also a fan of basketball, earning the nickname "the barracuda" from her high school days as a tenacious guard. But after the two finish their hypothetical marathon, don't count on them taking to the White House court for a game of one-on-one.

... people have asked if I'd ever challenge him to a one-on-one because we both love basketball. But look, he towers over me and I wouldn't be complaining about an unfair advantage there, but maybe I'd do better playing H-O-R-S-E with him than one-on-one.

Perhaps we should dispense with debates and policy positions, the endless barrage of negative ads and the repetitive stump speeches, and simply hold a presidential decathalon to decide the next election. To hear Palin tell it, John McCain might even suggest we add his own favorite sport as part of the competition:

I used to joke around with John McCain during the campaign about coming jogging with me. And once I asked him what his favorite exercise was, and he said, "I go wading." Wading. He lives on a creek in Arizona, so he goes wading. That cracked me up.

Running, wading, endurance, determination, marathons -- Will the sports metaphors ever cease? On a side note, the governor detailed the music she likes to listen to while running.

I crank up old Van Halen and AC/DC, then I get into my country music, then I always wrap it up with a couple of mellow Amy Grant songs.

Hard to imagine her striding along to David Lee Roth belting out "Running With the Devil" (let alone to AC/DC's "Highway to Hell") but the governor did name her son Trig Paxson Van Palin, so I guess anything is possible.


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