SARAH Palin voluntarily told John McCain's campaign team about her pregnant teenage daughter – and her husband's arrest two decades ago for drink-driving – during questioning as part of the Republican candidate's search for a running mate.
The Alaska governor also detailed the dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner, an issue that has touched off a legislative investigation, Arthur Culvahouse, the lawyer in charge of the vetting process, revealed yesterday.
Mrs Palin un
derwent a "full and complete" background examination before Mr McCain chose her as vice-presidential candidate, Mr Culvahouse said.
Mr McCain's aides have been trying to dampen questions about whether the Arizona senator adequately researched his surprise selection.
Since Mr McCain announced his choice of running mate on Friday, the notion of a shoddy, rushed review has been repeatedly promoted.
First, a timeline issued by the campaign said Mr McCain initially met Mrs Palin in February, then held one phone conversation with her last week before inviting her to Arizona, where he met her a second time and offered her the job on Thursday.
Then came the disclosure that Mrs Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant. The father is a high school ice hockey player, Levi Johnston, according to newspaper reports.
The campaign also disclosed that Mrs Palin's husband, Todd, then aged 22, was arrested in 1986 in Alaska for driving under the influence of alcohol.
It also emerged that for two years in the 1990s, Mrs Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede from the United States.
Shortly after Mrs Palin was selected, Mr McCain's campaign dispatched a dozen communications experts and lawyers to Alaska. That fuelled speculation a comprehensive examination of Mrs Palin's record and past was incomplete and being initiated only after she was placed on the ticket.
