For one night, you might refer to Sarah Palin as the GOP’s St. Paul-i Girl.

All eyes will be on the governor of Alaska as she strides to the podium in St. Paul, Minn., to accept the nomination of the Republican Party to join the ticket headed by Arizona Sen. John McCain.

To say that it’s been quite a ride since McCain introduced Palin as his choice on Friday is kind of like saying Gustav was a rain storm.

Gustav wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, and thousands of miles away, causing the GOP to revamp its convention schedule.

But Gustav is now in the rear-view mirror, the GOP is back on message, and Palin is in the spotlight.

McCain sent shock waves through the political world on Friday when he unveiled the largely unknown neophyte governor and former small town mayor as his choice. In the process he shunted aside seemingly much more likely candidates, such as former presidential rival Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and former Pennsylvania governor and Homeland Security boss Tom Ridge.

Instead, the maverick McCain proved true to his reputation. He picked Palin, who spouts a hard line on family values, opposition to abortion and is an ardent NRA backer. In her limited time as governor, she tangled with big oil and proved herself to be a reformer, able to ferret out corruption.

She has executive experience, which Obama does not. But she also seemed to give away the Republican trump card in attacking Obama, a perceived lack of experience that was only galvanized by his selection of longtime Washington presence Del. Sen. Joe Biden to be his VP.

So much for that argument.

Tongues were still wagging about the pick when a few more items became known about Palin.

Apparently concerned by wild Internet rumors, the campaign issued a statement Sunday confirming that Palin’s 17-year-old unmarried daughter Bristol is pregnant. She will have the baby and hopes to marry the father.

There is also the matter of her hiring an attorney in an investigation of her firing of the Alaska security chief in a flap involving her sister and her husband, a state trooper.

Palin has been for the most part out of sight since Sunday. That will change tonight.

She will assume the national stage, with the nation tuning in to see her tell Republicans why she is the right choice for vice president, and the rest of the nation why she’s qualified to be at the side of a man who, at 72, could be the oldest person ever elected to the highest office in the land.

Palin has learned that everything is fair game, regardless of whether it is actually fair or not.

Perhaps most important is not what all this tells us about Palin, but rather what it tells us about McCain.

He has a reputation as an outsider, someone who goes against the grain. No less a figure than President George W. Bush reminded Republicans of just that last night.

McCain yesterday insisted that Palin was full vetted after being carefully considered among a short list of candidates.

In selecting her, McCain rolled the dice. It’s a place he’s gotten used to in Republican politics, out on a limb.

Tonight Palin will join him on that branch. We’ll see if it holds up.