[humor] "Hicks: Let Palin and Obama play hoops for the big prize"

This presidential race is sure becoming exciting.

We have the first African-American candidate to garner his party's nomination, and the first woman on the GOP ticket, not to mention the first woman from Alaska on her ticket, not to mention the first woman on the ticket with a husband who's part Eskimo, not to mention the first woman on a ticket whose constituents drive around with bumper stickers saying "Coldest state, hottest governor."

Seriously, they do that. I've been there.

Alaska's a lot of fun. They let moose roam around like squirrels up there, though it's a bit strange to see a moose climb a tree and scamper across power lines.

But this suddenly shaping up to be some kind of election. In this corner is Democratic nominee Barack Obama, who's 47, has lived all over the world, and has a "funny name" according to his wife. He chose Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, 65, who has amazingly white teeth, and can't stop talking to save his life, to be his running mate.

In the other corner is Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, who's a 72-year-old former POW who doesn't know how many homes he owns. He picked as his running mate the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. She's 44, just appeared in Vogue, and has a husband named Todd, who's a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who competes in the Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race. He's also part Yup'ik Eskimo. Palin was also the runner-up in the 1984 Miss Alaska competition (Sarah, not Todd) and a television sports reporter in Anchorage and played point guard on her high school basketball team, where they won the state title with her playing with a stress fracture in her ankle.

Maybe she and Obama should just play one-on-one for the big enchilada....

The potential entertainment value of this campaign over the next couple months is almost limitless. Each ticket has a young, inspirational, energetic, attractive person — and an unpredictable old guy who might say just about anything, anytime. Kind of like your cranky old uncle Ted when he gets his snoot into the egg nog at Christmas. There'll be sass, million-dollar smiles, maybe even some sex and violence to balance out the early bedtimes and soft food....

Buckle up for this one. Whatever the outcome, history's about to be made. Either that or things are about to get seriously weird.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10335911