Report: Palin got VP nod on abortion issue

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Likely Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate partly because of pressure from social conservatives, sources say.

With time running out to make a decision, McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, yielded to pressure to scrap his first choice for the vice president spot on his ticket , abortion rights supporter Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent. Instead, he went with Palin, the anti-abortion Alaska governor, at the urging of Christian conservatives, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

McCain also found "a kindred spirit" in the first-term governor, sources said, noting she beat out not only Lieberman but also Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and one-time GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the ex-governor of Massachusetts.

Besides her appeal to social conservatives, the reasons for tapping Palin reportedly included the opportunity to counter the historic nature of Democratic opponent U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign as a black man with a woman candidate.

Another unnamed McCain staffer told the Times McCain was never comfortable being cast as the aged wise man in contrast to the youthful Illinois Democrat's rock star popularity, and so he went with Palin to shake up that perception.