Less than a week has gone by since John McCain announced Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his choice for a running mate. Since then, well, since then bloggers, reporters, citizens of Alaska and Palin's hometown have filled in the details that McCain's vetters appeared to have overlooked. Short list: possible fake pregnancy, definite pregnant teen daughter, alleged abuse of power scandal, library book bannings, earmarks out the nose, bridges to nowhere once having been somewhere, a years-long flirtation with an Alaskan secessionist party, her first passport ever issued in 2007 ... the lists go on.
Oh, and her mother-in-law kind of wants to vote for Barack Obama.
Before we get Sarah fatigued (what? Too late?), let's take a look at her husband, the so-called "first dude" of Alaska, who also isn't without controversy (DUI 22 years ago, for example.)
The NY Times has a little profile of him, sketching him as a strong, quiet, outdoorsy type. He's into sports and fishing and especially racing in snow mobiles (know in the northern vernacular as "snow machines.") He's a four-time winner of the Iron Dog competition, a 2,000-mile race that
is Alaska’s equivalent of the Daytona 500. He drove the last 400 miles
of this year’s race with a broken arm after he was thrown 70 feet from
his machine in a crash.
Also, since his wife was elected governor less than two years ago, he has been the primary caregiver for their four -- now five -- kids. Instead of moving the family to the state capital Juneau (some 800 miles away from their hometown of Wasilla), the couple opted to go the long-distance route.
He still finds time to train for the races between picking up kids and dropping them off and coaching various sports.
No word on whether his teen daughter's little indiscretion is the direct result of his over-involvement in snow machines and coaching.
Alaska First Couple
Todd Palin winning Iron Dog race
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