Careful planning goes into choosing a mate to produce the best possible racer.

BBC: Caring for Dubai's race camels

And this leads to the second false premise of Internet dating: that choosing a mate should be a rational choice, in which people carefully comparison-shop for partners.

WSJ: Jonah Lehrer on Eharmony.com, Chemistry.com and Other Dating Services | Head Case

The buzz you're hearing is the mainstream media and political establishment reacting in anger that McCain's gone outside the circle in choosing a running mate.

CNN: Commentary: Palin is a VP for the rest of us

Once again, he has certainly made mistakes, not least in choosing a lame running mate and engaging in a futile debate about the debates.

ECONOMIST: LEXINGTON

Indeed, one of the issues that haunts women in divorce is the sense that they had made a mistake in choosing their mate: left unaddressed it can lead to a loss of confidence in their ability to make future choices.

FORBES: Expert Advice For Divorcing Women: Coping Emotionally, While You're Thinking Financially

He may also have softened the feminist vote by choosing as a running-mate Florida's secretary of state, Sandra Mortham, who favours choice on abortion.

ECONOMIST: Florida politics

He compounded matters by choosing as his running-mate Paul Ryan, a congressman known for his determination to curb the unsustainable expansion in the cost of Medicare, before promptly declaring that he would rescind the cuts to Medicare that Mr Ryan had envisaged.

ECONOMIST: Overview

By choosing Sarah Palin as his running-mate he made a cynical tryst with a party base that he has never much liked and that has never much liked him.

ECONOMIST: The presidential election