Bitter infighting over Palin in McCain campaign: report

Bitter infighting over Palin in McCain campaign: report


Sat Oct 25, 4:51 PM


MESILLA, New Mexico (AFP) - Bitter infighting has broken out between aides to John McCain and Sarah Palin over management of the Alaska governor's role in the campaign, it was reported Saturday.


The Politico.com website cited four Republicans close to Palin as saying she had grown frustrated by advice given to her by campaign handlers, whom supporters blame for a series of public relations gaffes.


The report said Palin was now increasingly willing to disregard orders from advisors, suggesting the Republican running mate was in the initial stages of forging her own identity for a future tilt at the White House.


"She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane," said a senior Republican quoted by Politico, adding that Palin had already begun to "go rogue" in some of her public pronouncements on the campaign trail.


The Alaska Governor's supporters accused McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt and senior aide Nicole Wallace of already attempting to blame Palin for the failure of the campaign.


"These people are going to try and shred her after the campaign to divert blame from themselves," a McCain insider was quote by Politico as saying.


When asked to comment on the Politico story by AFP, Wallace said in an email: "I have no comment other than what's in the story, if people wish to throw me under the bus, my personal belief is that the graceful thing to do is to lie there."


News of tensions within the McCain camp comes after polls suggested Palin -- who electrified the party base when named as running mate in August -- is now dragging down the Republican ticket 10 days from the November 4 election.


A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released on Wednesday found that Americans are less and less convinced she is worthy to serve as the country's number-two leader.


"Her numbers have plummeted in our poll ... what's more 55 percent think she's unqualified to serve as president if the need arises, which is a troublesome number given McCain's age," said NBC political director Chuck Todd.


It confirmed the findings of an ABC/Washington Post poll released earlier this month which found that six in 10 voters saw Palin, 44, as lacking the experience to be an effective president. "A third are now less likely to vote for McCain because of her," the Post added.


After being found guilty of abusing her power as governor in the so-called "troopergate" scandal over the firing of her ex-brother-in-law, Palin now faces a second probe over whether she violated ethics rules in the affair.


Palin was also back in the headlines this week after it emerged 150,000 dollars had been spent on clothes for Palin since late August, potentially undermining her appeal as a down-to-earth working "hockey mom."