You probably never heard of her before, but after this past week it’s going to be hard to forget Sarah Palin’s name and face. The highly unknown governor dropped jaws when she stood beside John McCain at the Republican National Convention merely days ago, and in one lightning flash went from “who’s that?” to “potential Vice President.” Ah, politics.

Palin has created a brand-new buzz for the GOP that has suddenly thrust the Republican national ticket into the limelight - and into the realm of real possibility - once more. Maybe you can’t trust the media hype or the sudden sensation she’s created, but you can trust the ratings.

On its second night of coverage, the Republican National Convention drew in a staggering 21.5 million viewers. The numbers are huge, sure, but still not as big as the 26 million the Democratic Convention drew just the week before. And now, both conventions are over….and which one is everyone talking about?

As reported by AdWeek, both Presidential candidates (Barack Obama and John McCain) have spent around the same amount in Olympics TV ads - a cool $5 or $6 million, USD. According to a recent Nielsen survey, people who viewed the ads responded more to McCain’s message, with 52% easily remembering his ads. Only 40% really recalled Obama’s two spots. This computes, roughly, to a 10% voter boost for John McCain, with Obama receiving only a 7% boost.

And this week, none of it even matters. John McCain wasted no time showing off his trump card - a female Vice President. It’s something the Republicans have never tried before, though the Democratic party has (1984, Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro - they lost).

The pundits are suddenly excited about the election again, the newspapers are alive with coverage, and Palin’s promise of controversy has set the blogs abuzz. She is, in her way, the best thing to happen to the GOP ticket since this whole race to the White House started. Why show pictures of an aging war hero when you can get good glossies of a younger, attractive woman who’s mastered the corporate look? Suddenly, the Republican party is a buzzword, and it’s just what McCain needed to make a strong push toward his Presidential goal.

But Palin’s presence doesn’t mean anything about the party has changed, despite appearances. The conservative McCain remains strong in his stances…and in his mistakes. During the coverage of the Republican National Convention, Palin appeared on stage as the rollicking tune “Barracuda” played in the background. The Heart song is sure to get the toes tapping, but the GOP had another reason for picking the tune - apparently, Barracuda was Palin’s High School nickname. (There’s a story there, somewhere).

Yet again, McCain’s campaign failed to obtain permission to use the song…so that again, they’ve been asked to stop using it by the artists who actually recorded the tune in the first place. “We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music,” Heart released the words in a statement. “We hope our wishes will be honored.” Heart further stated that, if they had been asked for their permission to use the music, they would have said no. “I think it’s completely unfair to be so misrepresented,” Nancy Wilson said on the subject. “I feel completely [expletive deleted] over.”

“Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women,” the singing duo wrote in an email to the media. “We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used.” The email ends with saying the song was written “as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women,” and that “there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”

Listen, ladies, if you’ve got a gripe with the Republicans, you’re going to have to stand in line. The McCain campaign has previously been called on the carpet for using tunes from John Mellencamp, Boston and Jackson Browne without permission. In each case, they were asked to please no longer use the songs.

And apparently, they did…they’ve just moved on to different recording artists.

I don’t think I need to remind everyone, again, that these are the same people who want to run the entire country. If copyright violations, a flagrant disregard for the law and improper use of intellectual property are what we can expect from the campaign, I’m absolutely dying to find out what we can expect from the upcoming debates.