Palin prepares to introduce herself to the nation

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-03 23:52

ST. PAUL - Buffeted by revelations both political and personal, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin prepared Wednesday to speak to GOP delegates and other Americans wanting to know more about the person John McCain picked for his running mate.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (C) waves in front of her daughter Bristol (2nd R) and son Trig (R) after being introduced as the Republican vice-presidential running mate as US Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ) looks on at a campaign event in Dayton, Ohio in this August 29, 2008 file photo. [Agencies]

Palin's experience - she has been mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, and has served as the state's governor for less than two years - and her commitment to resisting politics-as-usual government have been questioned since McCain chose her last week. The process that led to her selection has been criticized as hasty because McCain had met her just once before he offered her the job.

Palin also is the subject of an ethics investigation involving the firing of the state's public safety commissioner after he wouldn't dismiss her former brother-in-law, a state trooper. Her efforts as mayor to gain millions of dollars in federal funding through the so-called "earmark" process appeared to be at odds with the McCain message of fiscal reform.

Her personal life became a topic of discussion after Palin revealed that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant. Yet her candidacy has excited Republicans at the convention and across the country, in part because she has earned a reputation for taking on entrenched interests in Alaska and is staunchly pro-gun and anti-abortion.

"Give her a chance to make her first speech, give her a chance to do her first interview," said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the convention's keynote speaker.

"Of course it's going to be high stakes," Giuliani said in an interview Wednesday with "Good Morning America" on ABC. "The media is ready to pounce on any mistake. ... She looks to me like she's got tremendous confidence, got tremendous ability as a speaker."

Palin walked onto the spare stage at the Xcel Center about 7:20 a.m. EDT for a run-through and spent about 10 minutes looking onto the nearly empty arena and discussing where she would stand at the lectern and where she would look during her prime-time speech. Joining Palin were McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and senior adviser Nicolle Wallace.

The disclosure Monday that Palin's daughter Bristol is five months pregnant - and a continuing drip of potentially embarrassing details - knocked the convention off message before a rousing program Tuesday night.

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