Alaska

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Palin's Record Shows Flexibility
 Palin's Record Shows Flexibility 
ANALYSIS

Palin's Record Shows Flexibility

Candidate has moderated ideology to achieve goals

(Newser) - Sarah Palin has quickly become known as hard-nosed conservative since being chosen the GOP’s VP candidate, but her political record shows that she has at times bent her ideology to achieve goals, the Wall Street Journal reports. Though staunchly pro-life, as governor she infuriated pro-lifers when she refused to...

Why Alaska Isn't Like Any Other State
Why Alaska
Isn't Like Any Other State
ANALYSIS

Why Alaska Isn't Like Any Other State

'Frontier mentality' leaves openings for politicians like Palin

(Newser) - Alaska, with its short history as a state and its independent spirit, continues to earn its nickname as America’s “last frontier.” But it’s the state’s oil revenues, corruption, and very local politics that enabled Sarah Palin to thrive, the New York Times reports. And as...

Palin Emails Complain In-Law Wasn't Canned

Governor lambasted 'joke' investigation into trooper's behavior

(Newser) - Sarah Palin railed against the "joke" investigation of her former brother-in-law, a state trooper embroiled in a nasty custody battle with her sister, in emails sent to the ex-public safety commissioner she fired in July. “This trooper is still out on the street, in fact he's been promoted,...

'Vicious' Speech Bodes Well
 'Vicious' Speech Bodes Well 
OPINION roundup

'Vicious' Speech Bodes Well

Commentators weigh in on how Sarah Palin did

(Newser) - How’d Sarah Palin do in her convention debut? Commentators agree that she showed impressive speaking skills, but part ways on whether she was convincing as a potential VP.
  • The speech was “great” but “vicious,” Dahlia Lithwick writes at Slate. Palin, uses what Lithwick calls a risky
...

Palin Might Also Have Pastor Problems

Wasilla church leader Kalnins says Bush critics will go to hell

(Newser) - It turns out Sarah Palin has a controversial preacher of her own: Ed Kalnins, senior pastor at the Wasilla Assembly of God, which the Alaska governor has attended much of her adult life. Radar compiles some of his greatest hits:
  • On the Bush Administration and Katrina: "I hate criticisms
...

Palin Used Wedge Issues to Win Mayor's Race

Abortion, guns, religion became small-town issues

(Newser) - Running for mayor in Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin brought ideological politics to a small-town race that had been focused on roads and sewers, the New York Times reports. The 32-year-old candidate defeated a three-term incumbent by highlighting her anti-abortion stance, her NRA membership, and her religious work —while the...

'First Dude' or Shadow Governor?
'First Dude'
or Shadow Governor? 

'First Dude' or Shadow Governor?

Todd Palin's role is scrutinized as he's thrust into spotlight

(Newser) - Todd Palin likes the title "first dude," but some Alaskan critics of his wife have dubbed the apparently unassuming husband the state's "shadow governor," the Wall Street Journal reports. The oilfield worker and champion snowmobiler is copied on some official correspondence and is accused of playing...

Palin Projects Hit Mac's Pork List

Requests from Sarah Palin made it onto McCain's 'pork list' 3 times

(Newser) - Requests from Sarah Palin made it onto John McCain's "pork list" of objectionable spending three times while Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the Los Angeles Times reports. McCain's lists came as part of his long campaign against the earmarking system in which members of Congress can chuck cash at...

Mayor Palin Sped Town's Turn From Frontier to Suburb

(Newser) - Sarah Palin’s image as an intrepid frontierswoman comes largely from her 10 years as city councilwoman and then mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, home of the Iditarod dog-sled race. But the Iditarod’s start had to be moved north because of Wasilla’s numerous new driveways, the Wall Street Journal...

Hotshot Lawyer to Rep Palin in Ethics Tussle

Ex-official says guv fired him for refusing to fire her rogue in-law

(Newser) - A private-sector lawyer is making the unusual move of defending Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her office in a state investigation into the firing of her public safety commissioner, the Anchorage Daily News reports. But the lawyer's request for witness statements and other materials was immediately shot down —"...

Palin's Alaskan Secessionist Sympathies Come to Light

Governor recorded video message for separatists this year

(Newser) - The latest surprise from Sarah Palin's past is her membership in the fringe Alaskan Independence Party, ABC News reports. A party leader says the governor and her husband were members in the 1990s. Though not strictly secessionist, the AIP is a "states' right party" that wants a vote on...

Palin's Town Scored $27M in Pork

McCain has praised her opposition to 'wasting taxpayers' money'

(Newser) - As mayor, Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm that secured some $27 million in earmarked federal funds for her town of 6,700, a watchdog group has discovered. The money went toward railways, sewers, a transportation hub, and a youth shelter, reports the Washington Post. Fighting federal earmarks, which are...

McCain, Palin Both Oppose Teen Pregnancy Programs

Both support abstinence-only sex ed

(Newser) - Pregnancies in 17-year-olds like Bristol Palin are something John McCain and his running mate, her mother, agree on: neither believes the government should support sex education and pregnancy-prevention programs, other than encouraging abstinence, in schools. "The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," Sarah Palin wrote in...

Sarah Bio an Instant Bestseller
 Sarah Bio an Instant Bestseller

Sarah Bio an Instant Bestseller

Obscure book by Fairbanks journalist leaps into Amazon Top 20

(Newser) - An obscure biography of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin by a Fairbanks author has rocketed to the bestseller list. Now the media is scrambling for interviews with Alaska author and journalist Kaylene Johnson, reports the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. "It's been a wild ride," said Johnson, who met with...

Palin Campaign Starts With Undecided Mom-in-Law

'We don't agree on everything,' she says

(Newser) - It's great that Sarah Palin landed the No. 2 slot and all, but her own mother-in-law likes that Barack Obama and hasn't quite made up her mind which ticket to vote for in November, she tells the New York Daily News. “We don’t agree on everything,” Faye...

Alaska's Joan of Arc Won Hearts in Ethics Battles

Hockey mom has seen her opponents crumble during short career

(Newser) - Republican whistleblower Sarah Palin surged into politics as Alaska's Joan of Arc, daring to battle corporate interests over oil taxes and a natural gas pipeline. She won both fights and made powerful enemies—but the ethics at the heart of her straight-talking politics sparked a blaze of admiration among voters,...

To Palin: No Love From Alaska
 To Palin: No Love From Alaska 

To Palin: No Love From Alaska

Home state's media, politicians question McCain's pick

(Newser) - We’ve heard much talk about Sarah Palin from pundits who barely know who she is. But what do her home state papers think of her? Not much, according to Greg Mitchell of the Huffington Post. The two top papers in the state both questioned the pick —and the...

Palin All for Drilling—and Has Been Tough on Big Oil

Positions put McCain's running mate in good stead with more than just conservatives

(Newser) - Gov. Sarah Palin wants the US to drill for oil, offshore or in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in her home state. Not only does recent drilling convert John McCain get backup, Andrew Leonard writes in Salon, but Dems will have a hard time branding Palin a pawn of Big...

Palin Facing Alaska Ethics Investigation

State probes claim that Mac pick had former in-law canned from job

(Newser) - John McCain’s running mate comes to the national campaign embroiled in a scandal back home, Talking Points Memo reports. Alaska’s legislative council has appointed a special commission to investigate Gov. Sarah Palin, who’s accused of pressuring the state’s department of public safety to fire her former...

Indictments Be Damned, Stevens Wins Alaska Primary

Republican wins primary easily, despite federal charges against him

(Newser) - Alaska’s Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, may be facing federal charges, but he’ll also be running for re-election after drawing 63% of the vote in his primary race yesterday, reports the AP. And, says Stevens, 84, his upcoming fight with popular Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich...

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