Minneapolis — This afternoon, a packed ballroom at a Twin Cities Hilton got a glimpse of the answer to the question everyone’s been asking. What is Todd Palin — the First Dude of Alaska — really like? The husband of Alaska governor and now Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was introduced as “the future first Second Man” by View host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and he was continually surrounded by the women who make up the majority of the attendees at this GOP fundraiser. Palin’s remarks were brief but enthusiastically received. He started making the best of a tumultuous week: “Is it just me or do things move quick around here?” he observed, to empathetic laughs. “It feels like just a few days ago I was working at the North Slope on the night shift.” “The Palin family has had quite a week,” Palin announced, in a gentle but masculine voice. “You just never know what the future has before you,” he said. He joked that had he known where his wife’s civic involvement would lead, “I would have had a few more questions when Sarah decided to join the PTA.” And as if to issue a warning to Joe Biden, the proud husband and father said: “When my wife starts talking about reform and corruption. It’s best to get out of the way.” Appealing to the snowmobile champion’s competitive spirit, Hasselbeck had announced Palin with praise of his wife: “She knocked the cover off the ball last night. She knocked the wind out of the liberal smear machine,” she said. “America fell in love with your wife last night.” If my e-mails last night from NRO readers about Piper are any indication, they may have room in their hearts for Todd and all the rest of the Palins, too. – Kathryn Jean Lopez is the editor of National Review Online.