The announcement comes a day after Barack Obama accepted the nomination to be the Democratic presidential candidate, and a week after the Illinois senator appointed Joe Biden to be his running mate. Governor Palin was considered an outside choice for the job and has been chosen ahead of favourites Mitt Romney and Joe Lieberman. She is the second woman to run for vice-president, after Geraldine Anne Ferraro who ran with Democratic candidate Walter Mondale in 1984. NYT: McCain Chooses Palin as Running Mate. PalinInvestigated: Palin circles the wagons: Transparency a casualty.