Whoops

Republicans meeting in St. Paul have not strayed from the party line that Sarah Palin is the perfect vice presidential pick for Sen. John McCain. But every now and again, a slip of the tongue cracks the veneer.

It was all going well tonight for Ohio State Rep. Jo-Ann Davidson, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, as she was paying tribute to Republican women, with a nod to the last time the Republicans met in St. Paul.

“Ever since that convention, women have been an integral part of the party. And today, 116 years later, we are holding a convention that will nominate a Republican woman governor, Sarah Pawlenty our next vice president.”

Whoops. There was no indication from Davidson that she realized the gaffe she had just made.

But it might be understandable. Davidson was on the team that scoped out Minneapolis-St. Paul for the convention. She’s made dozens of trips to the Twin Cities in advance of the convention and worked closely with Pawlenty, who many Republicans had hoped McCain would tap as his running mate, and who remains a hot ticket at the convention.