News about Palin dominates the day

Media General News Service and Wire Reports
Published: September 2, 2008

John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin.

Delegates had scarcely settled into their seats when it was disclosed that a lawyer had been hired to represent the Alaska governor in an investigation of her firing of the state’s public-safety commissioner. Another disclosure was personal—the pregnancy of her 17-year-old unmarried daughter.

And an analysis by an independent government watchdog found that Palin, who has cast herself, like McCain, as a foe of wasteful federal spending and the process of “earmarking” legislation, employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor.

It was even disclosed yesterday that her husband, Todd, had been arrested for drunken driving two decades ago and that the governor herself once got a citation for fishing without a license.

“Life happens,“ said McCain adviser Steve Schmidt, talking about the pregnancy story.

“An American family,“ added colleague Mark Saltier.

In a brief respite from partisanship, Democratic rival Barack Obama weighed in: “I think people’s families are off limits and people’s children are especially off limits.“

McCain aides said the announcement about the pregnancy of Palin’s daughter, Bristol, was aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin’s own youngest son, born in April, was actually the daughter’s

The pregnancy statement, attributed to Sarah and Todd Palin and released by the campaign, said that Bristol Palin would keep her baby and marry the child’s father, identified only as a young man named Levi.

A Washington Post reporter knocked at the door of a Levi Johnston in Wasilla, Alaska, yesterday and was told any comment would have to come from the McCain campaign.

The baby is due in late December.

“Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents,“ Sarah and Todd Palin said in their brief statement.

Palin had told McCain’s team about the pregnancy and her husband’s old DUI during lengthy discussions about her background, aides said. At several points, McCain’s team warned Palin that the scrutiny of her private life would be intense.

Palin has said she supports teaching abstinence and opposes sex education in public schools.

Shortly after her announcement, McCain’s team dispatched a dozen operatives and lawyers to Alaska, fueling speculation that a comprehensive examination of Palin’s past was incomplete and being done only after she was placed on the ticket.

Prominent religious conservatives, many of whom have been lukewarm toward McCain’s candidacy, predicted that the pregnancy announcement would not diminish conservative Christian enthusiasm for the vice presidential hopeful, a staunch abortion opponent. In fact, there was talk that it might help.

“Being a Christian does not mean you’re perfect,“ said Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. “Nor does it mean your children are perfect. But it does mean there is forgiveness and restoration when we confess our imperfections to the Lord.“

“It’s a private family matter,“ adviser Schmidt said. “If people try to politicize this, the American people will be appalled by it. The fact is that the American people, who are decent people, don’t appreciate intrusions into the private space of good families.“

But some Republicans remained nervous about the party’s ticket, worrying about the potential for more surprises in the days ahead.

“Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy is probably much ado about nothing—I think,“ one GOP strategist said. “If there’s more, it will raise questions about the whole vetting process because she’s such an unknown.“

As for the Alaska probe, a Republican-dominated legislative committee is investigating whether Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monger after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin’s sister.

The state’s attorney general, Tails Clobber, hired Thomas V. Van Feline more than two weeks ago to represent Palin and members of her staff, according to Van Feline. He has represented the Palin family in the past as a private attorney, according to a McCain aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

“The governor of every state gets legal counsel, and this attorney is part of a weeks-old effort to provide this governor defense in a series of outlandish, politically motivated charges,“ said senior McCain adviser Tucker Eschew. “It is a matter of her job and is not recent, and it is not related to her selection on the McCain-Palin ticket.“

Sarah Palin’s fifth child, a son named Trig, was born in April with Down syndrome. Internet bloomers have been suggesting that the child was actually born to Bristol Palin but that her mother, the 44-year-old Alaska governor, claimed to be the mother.