Anchorage Daily News

Today's Newsreader links to observations about the Palin veep campaign (how important to McCain was "the babe factor" and lingering murmurs over a ticket flip), further discussion over her actions around disability issues, her family's tax situation and her transparency in government behavior.

Next, it's another quick visit to the Ted Stevens trial, where the judge got upset over possible signaling to Allen on the witness stand from attorney Bob Bundy seated in the gallery. Ben Stevens' name is uttered unflatteringly in court documents filed Sunday and reported today.

Among our Alaska-only stories, meet a Barrow polar bear hunter on video, check in on the Begich campaign and a local Alaska blogger Mudflats' take on subpoenas and Troopergate. We're off.

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Palin's looks get more attention than her conservative views. Reuters wades into the quicksand of appearance, reminding readers that attractive politicians have historically had an edge (John Kennedy on one hand, gangly Lyndon Johnson on the other.)

A San Francisco columnist asks whether McCain brought her onto his ticket "because she is good-looking and has sex appeal and this is something his campaign lacked."

"Since women started running in large numbers statewide or for the Senate, which was in 1992, studies show that all print media spent much more time talking about what a woman looked like and what she wore than they did about their male counterparts," said professor Karen O'Connor, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University in Washington. O'Connor and some other commentators believe Palin is acutely aware of her attractiveness and plays up to it.

"There is the 'babe factor.' It's almost as if she is cultivating that," O'Connor said.

One fact Reuters included: 700,000 clicks on Palin's 1984 Miss Alaska swimsuit walk on YouTube.

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If youth is what's needed, why not flip the ticket. Frank Rich's weekend column in The New York Times is resonating with some, including Firstpost.co.uk, "brought to you by The Week."

Palin has outdone McCain with her self-confidence and "hyper ambition", claimed Rich. Palin admitted she hadn't "even blinked" when asked if she wanted to be McCain's running mate, and she was oddly "flip and chipper" when Gwen Ifill, the moderator in the vice presidential TV debate, asked how she would govern should McCain die in office. Palin, Rich concludes, "wants to be president, she thinks she can be president, she thinks she will be president." And since the VP debate, it had become clear to Republicans that "it's Palin, not McCain, who is their last hope for victory."

The commentary cites politicalbetting.com, where one pundit is betting Palin will become the next president.

He argues that Palin has form: "At every stage in her political career the male politicians who have helped her to progress have later found themselves being knifed. Her latest public criticism of McCain for getting out of Michigan seems remarkable and suggests she is trying to distance herself from her running mate."

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Further discussion on "taking the gloves off." Not all British commentators are as sanguine about a Palin victory. Martin Samuel at The Times Online asks why Palin didn't take the gloves off during her debate with Sen. Joe Biden.

There is a time when it is necessary to take the gloves off and that time is right now, said Sarah Palin in Colorado. Interesting that she did not want the gloves off before her vice presidential debate with Joe Biden. Oh, gloves on then. Headgear, too. Maybe some of those big shoulder pads that quarterbacks wear, and throw cushions for a softer landing. In fact, Palin and her minders could not have demanded a safer arena for debate when the opposition was within striking distance. Biden appeared with his hands tied, his intellect muted, his manner subdued lest he should seem smarter, better informed or more competent than his opponent, a move which was inexplicably deemed undesirable. This shows how far we have come. Intelligence is now viewed as a threat. Isn't that how Pol Pot operated?

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank traveled with Palin and writes about her incitement of crowds.

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, Fla., arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African-American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

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Palin's record on sunshine laws, Darfur divestment and disability issues reviewed. A series of stories out this morning attempt to flesh out the vice presidential candidate's position on several issues.

> Palin's pledges of Alaska sunshine marred by secrets (Associated Press)

Alaska's attorney general in August decided that personal communications on state-reimbursed cell phones and BlackBerrys may remain secret under the Public Records Act. Getting at records still available can be tricky, and the story provides examples from Gregg Erickson of the Alaska Budget Report and professor Rick Steiner.

For citizens or journalists seeking public records in Alaska, the government generally must provide copies of records upon request within 10 days. The Associated Press has received some documents it sought in as little as one day.

But when the AP asked for documents about nursing homes last June, state officials demanded $5,000 in fees and never responded to the news agency's request to waive the fees and produce the records for the public's benefit. Alaska now charges $960 per e-mail account for searches, plus additional fees for copying.

> What disability agenda? (Guardian.co.uk)

During last week's debate with Joe Biden, when asked what areas she would focus on as vice president, she again raised the issue of children with disabilities. "John McCain and I have had good conversations about where I would lead with his agenda," Palin said. "That is energy independence in America and reform of government over all, and then working with families of children with special needs. That's near and dear to my heart also."

But what does that really mean? Advocates for people with disabilities can point to plenty of areas where they see a need for greater government support: health care, special education, protection from discrimination in the workplace. But Palin has neither championed these issues in the past nor made specific pledges to address them now.

> The matter of Darfur and when the governor supported divestment. (Juneau Empire, KTUU)

In last Thursday's debate, Palin said:

"When I and others in the Legislature found out we had some millions of dollars in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars to make sure we weren't doing anything that would be seen as condoning the activities there in Darfur."

Rep. Les Gara said Palin's support for the bill came late in this year's session, a year and a half after it was brought to her attention and after her administration testified against it at a hearing.

And when the bill came up in the Legislature, officials with the Permanent Fund also testified against it because they did not want to engage in social investing.

"It's good that she came around, I really appreciate that," Gara said. "But I'm not going to let anybody sort of stand up and say they did something they didn't ... her statement that she was there from the get-go, it's just not true.

> Palin's financial disclosures get more attention, with experts suggesting she still owes taxes. The lingering question is whether Palin should pay taxes on her husband and children's travel and her per diems, an amount totaling around $43,000. Most major media are covering the same issues, and you can read the Wall Street Journal, Slate and The New York Times. Many sources are citing an analysis by Bryan Camp, a tax lawyer from the Texas Tech School of Law.

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On to the Ted Stevens trial. Two new developments this morning (which you can follow as they are updated on the Anchorage Daily News home page, are:

> The judge accusing attorney Bob Bundy of signaling to Bill Allen on the witness stand from the courtroom gallery. Besides McClatchy reporters writing from the courtroom, other versions are at Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.

> Ben Stevens' name surfacing in corruption investigation court documents. Coverage is by Associated Press and KTUU.

"Pete Leathard and Roger Chan do not like Ben Stevens," the documents say. "There was concern in Veco that Ben Stevens was not doing any work and he was billing Veco monthly for work. Both Roger Chan and Jack Miller have stated the Veco is going to get in trouble if they do not have Ben Stevens doing something."

Stevens, a former Alaska Senate president, collected more than $300,000 during a seven-year period working for the now-defunct oil field services company, according to state disclosure forms.

The story says Bill Allen attempted to stop a final payment.

Yesterday's coverage, including the airing of three taped phone conversations between Stevens and Allen, can be found at CNN.com, NPR, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

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On to other Alaska stories:

On the ground in Barrow, looking for bears. The BBC drove along the beach on the Alaska coast as Inupiat Eskimo Sam Leavitt searched for bears; watch the video. The purpose of the story is to take a closer look at the polar bear, at the heart of the global warming debate. Reporter Stephen Chittenden also visits the Anchorage office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, an agency supporting Gov. Sarah Palin's lawsuit against classifying the bears as endangered.

"I guess it's our feeling that the ESA has strict legal standards as to whether a species should be listed as either threatened or as endangered.

"We do not feel, based on looking at the best available science, that those thresholds have been reached in the case of polar bears," department endangered species coordinator Doug Vincent-Lang said.

His department believes in developing other conservation stategies, including additional research and monitoring, to ensure polar bears remain viable, he said.

> Alaska Air sees third quarter loss on bad hedges. (Reuters)

In a regulatory filing, the parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air said it sees a $220 million mark-to-market loss on the value of its fuel hedge portfolio because of a rapid decline in fuel prices since the second quarter when many of the hedges were purchased.

The company said it expects capacity to be down between 7 percent and 8 percent in the fourth quarter and down between 10 percent and 12 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

> Local blogger counts down to the release of the legislative investigation in Troopergate (Mudflats and Gryphen)

Catch the Top 10 reasons the Branchflower reports should go public. A sample:

10: Maybe once the report comes out, people will stop naming their pit bulls "Sarah" and making them wear lipstick. Because that is just all kinds of wrong.

Tomorrow picks up with No. 3.

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