McCain: Palin more qualified than Obama  —  Mounting a ferocious defense of his embattled running mate, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he is buying a TV ad arguing that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has more experience than the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms  —  ST. PAUL — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee who revealed Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, earlier this year used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.

Palin's Start in Alaska: Not Politics as Usual  —  WASILLA, Alaska — The world arrived here more than a century ago with the gold rush and later the railroad.  Yet one aspect of American life did not come to town until 1996, the year Sarah Palin ran for mayor and Wasilla got its first local lesson in wedge politics.

The Media Descend to a New Low  —  The smearing of Sarah Palin gets uglier.  —  Time's Mark Halperin has posted an advance copy of the cover of US Weekly magazine, the tabloid published by Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner.  That cover shows a smiling Sarah Palin, holding her youngest son Trig.

The View on Palin from an Alaskan Anti-Real ID Activist and Democrat  —  I ran into anti-Real ID activist Bill Scannell, “the man who helped kill CAPPS II,” and asked him what intelligence he can give us about Sarah Palin, governor of the state he's lived in for the past several years.

The “Eagleton Scenario”  —  Barring a dramatic reversal, Sarah Palin will formally become the Republican vice presidential nominee Wednesday night.  Since Friday, when the pick was announced, news surrounding Palin has been almost uniformly negative: the initial focus on her lack …

Bristol Palin's boyfriend heads to convention  —  WASILLA - The boyfriend of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's unwed, pregnant daughter will join the family of the Republican vice presidential candidate at the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn.  —  Levi Johnston's mother said her 18-year-old son left Alaska …

McCain's McGovern Moment  —  ONE of the most bizarre political events I ever attended was the second Democratic nominating convention of 1972.  It was held in August at a Washington hotel ballroom, not in a big arena like the Miami Beach Convention Center, where the party had nominated George McGovern for president four weeks earlier.

Before Speech, Running Mate Gets Some Coaching  —  Since Sunday night, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been holed up in her suite in the Hilton Minneapolis while a parade of Sen. John McCain's top advisers have briefed her on the nuances of his policy positions, national politics and, above all …

How Palin is Playing in the Supermarket Aisles  —  Rick Klein, from ABC's The Note, reports: Let's say you don't read The New York Times or The Washington Post (or The Note, for that matter).  Let's say you don't follow the big political blogs and you're not obsessed with every turn of the screw of this fascinating presidential race.

The Beltway Boys  —  Even as the Obama camp ponders how best to handle John McCain's veep pick of Sarah Palin, the high priests and priestesses of the media have marked her as an apostate.  The Beltway class is in full-throated rebellion against a nondomesticated conservative who might pose …