ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Most Alaskans like Sarah Palin. I know I do. Both as a politician and a person, there's a lot to like.

Despite the fact that we're from different parties, for the 20 months that we've both been in office we've been allies on oil and gas issues, and I've appreciated the way she has not knuckled under to the oil companies as governors before her have.

When I turned 60 a couple of months ago, Mrs. Palin served cupcakes at the governor's mansion. Nearly flambeed herself holding a big tray of the things so I could blow out the candles. Who wouldn't like that?

But Sarah Palin is simply not qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, especially when that heart beats in a man who would be the oldest president ever elected to a first term.

If you held Mrs. Palin's political resume up to the light, you could see right through it. Mayor of a small town, followed by less than two years as governor of a state with the third-smallest population in the country. That's a person who is qualified to take over as commander-in-chief?

I know, I know. Somewhere a thousand spin doctors are trying to inflate Mrs. Palin's accomplishments. But before they make her sound like the second coming of Otto von Bismarck, here's an assessment that's a little closer to the truth:

Mrs. Palin's time as governor has been a mixed bag. She deserves high marks for moving the possibility of a gas pipeline forward. But most of the work on oil taxes was done by the legislature. Ditto with ethics reform. And her role in killing the ballyhooed "Bridge to Nowhere"? Turns out that she was for it before she was against it, and that, well, she kept the money anyway.

Add to this a growing sense that the state government isn't running all that well: Commissioners and key staffers are jumping or being pushed. The operating budget is growing 10 percent a year. Policy problems, such as high energy costs, are being papered over with cash giveaways. The governor and her aides are being investigated by the legislature. You can see why it's not clear she's a competent governor of Alaska, let alone qualified to run the national government.

Don't get me wrong. Mrs. Palin brings some pluses to the campaign. She's a woman. She's young. She's from outside the Beltway. The Christian right likes her. Comfortable on TV, she's adept at connecting with people on a personal level. And she is very competitive. When I criticized her plan to hand out free money to Alaskans -- spin that, conservative pundits -- she lit into me like I was a pork chop and she was a starving wolf.

Unlike the pundits on cable news, I don't know if Mrs. Palin will turn out to be an asset to the McCain campaign, a liability or a nonfactor. I don't know what kind of leader she might be. But I do know that, on all these fronts, she is a big risk if her ticket wins and something bad happens to John McCain. And that risk isn't just Mr. McCain's. Or the Republican Party's. It's all of ours now.

And that tells me all I need to know about John McCain's judgment.