Sarah Palin for VP? McCain pulls a mighty head-fake?

UPDATED at 10:21 AM

Rumors are swirling in media land about McCain's forthcoming VP pick.  The same old names are out there:

Pawlenty, Romney, Lieberman, Ridge and Palin.

Palin?

Our friend Andrew Malcolm over at the LA Times brings up a longshot as a possibility this morning.

Another rumor has a chartered plane from Alaska landing a while ago near Dayton, Ohio. If true, that could mean McCain's selection could be an outside-the-box game-changer: picking Alaska's first female governor, Sarah Palin, a 44-year-old mother of five and political maverick in her own right, who went against her state's GOP establishment in recent years to drive a series of reforms through.

Not so fast 

ABC News is knocking this rumor down however stating that Palin will watch the "fireworks" (referring to the vice presidential speculation) from Alaska.

"...one person who will not be there: Palin.  The Governor's spokesperson, Sharon Leighow, tells ABC News she's going to the State Fair in Anchorage, Alaska.

A spokesperson would always tell the truth, right?

Land of the tubes

It is still fascinating to watch the conversation in the now-very-pertinent-way of describing the Internet  -- "a series of tubes" -- borrowing from Alaska's senior Senator Ted Stevens's definition.

Hold everything...

The Associated Press is saying there is a plane from Alaska heading to Ohio right now.  They even know something about the people on board:

A Gulfstream IV from Anchorage, Alaska, flew into Middletown Regional Airport in Butler County near Cincinnati about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, said Rich Bevis, airport manager. He said several people came off the plane, including a woman and two teens, but there was no confirmation of who was aboard.

"They were pretty much hustled off. They came right down the ramp, jumped in some vans here and off they went," Bevis said. "It was all hush, hush."

The insider info

The Chicago Tribune says it's Palin:

A Republican source confirms that John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Campaign officials, however, remain mum this morning.

McCain is expected to announce his choice at a rally in Dayton later.

Hmmmmm.....