During a quiet moment
between stump speeches, Couric asked Sarah Palin how she was coping with her new-found fame.

"You know, Katie," said Palin, "when I was brought on board to save John McCain's campaign I didn't
blink for a second. You have to have that confidence in yourself even when you don't understand the issues. You have to believe you are the right person to lead the nation, even if you're the wrong person."

"Does it worry you that you don't know too much about foreign affairs?" asked Couric. "You haven't traveled much and you haven't met any foreign leaders."

Palin brushed the criticism aside: "Katie, I was not chosen by John McCain because I know a lot about foreign affairs. In fact I know next to
nothing. Ask me to name the capital of Moldova and I'm stumped. That's not my role, Katie. I can Google that stuff. I'm a figurehead and a spearhead. I speak the same language as small town moms and dads all across this nation.
I don't pretend to know the answers. I think of it this way: I might not be able to connect the dots, but I can connect
with people." 

Sarah Palin toenail art. A touch of trailer trash perhaps? Or is it a feisty new image for the Washington elite?

Palin answered
candidly: "The liberal media, and that includes you
Katie, acts like it's a big secret that I don't know foreign
affairs. That's so stupid. I'm open about not knowing this stuff. That's why I need John McCain's help. He supplies me
with index cards on all the major issues."

Palin handed
Couric a couple of index cards. One of them was headed "Iran". Underneath was written "1) Bad guys; 2) Building nukes 3) Invade if necessary".

Sarah Palin's in her beloved black pumps

Jeff, a retired steel worker, said: "She doesn't appeal to me at all. I think she's kinda creepy, but, y'know, up close she's not so bad."

Rosie, who was
waving a big homemade Palin banner, told Couric: "I just love the way Sarah doesn't pretend to know what's she
talking about, she's so open about it. I like that. It's a
breath of fresh air."

Sarah Palin lured into a false sense of security by a chatty Katie Couric. The Couric-Palin interviews changed the course of the 2008 presidential election.

Back on the
campaign bus, Couric touched on the thorny issue of faith,
whether iti s a big factor in the campaign. She asked: "Do you think Senator McCain wants you to stop saying
things like 'The war in Iraq is God's will?'"

  The Washington press corps called Palin the Paris Hilton of presidential politics

Above, Edward Witten, Princeton, one of the biggest names within string theory and a brilliant mathematician

Lisa Randall, Harvard physics professor on the Colbert Report. Follow this link for more alluring brainy women here