Anchorage Daily News

NEW YORK -- Sarah Palin's new memoir describes heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter's pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page tome doesn't contain a single reference to the father of her grandson, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.

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Palin's 413-page book was released Nov. 17, 2009.

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In "Going Rogue," which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford -- preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla.

The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that "will hurt her."

While the book -- which contains 68 color photos but no index -- stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen. John McCain's campaign.

She confirms that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain's. She bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she'd been kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.

The book, which has a first printing of 1.5 million copies, has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other best-seller lists for weeks, ever since publisher HarperCollins announced it had been completed ahead of schedule and moved its release date up from next spring. The Associated Press was able to purchase a copy Thursday.

"As you probably have heard, the AP snagged a copy of my memoir, Going Rogue, before its Tuesday release," Palin said in a Friday post on her Facebook site. "And as is expected, the AP and a number of subsequent media outlets are erroneously reporting the contents of the book. Keep your powder dry, read the book, and enjoy it! Lots of great stories about my family, Alaska, and the incredible honor it was to run alongside Senator John McCain."

AP, however, stands by its story. "We've read the book; we've read it carefully -- and we stand by our reporting," Paul Colford, AP director of media relations, said Friday.

Interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters will be televised next week to coincide with the book's release. Palin said on her Facebook site that she's hoping to schedule interviews with others, including Rush Limbaugh and four Fox News Channel personalities: Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Greta Van Susteren. All but Van Susteren have their own radio programs.

In limited excerpts of the prerecorded Winfrey interview, Palin says Johnston is still part of the family. Johnston was quoted as saying that any attempts at reconciliation are fake.

The tour, which will skip major cities in favor of smaller localities, starts Wednesday at a Barnes & Noble in Grand Rapids, Mich., where Palin and McCain made a campaign appearance last fall. Other parts of the tour will mirror the 2008 race. On Dec. 7, Palin is booked for the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., not far from last year's Republican National Convention, where Palin's speech -- in which she likened herself to a pit bull -- made her a national sensation.

The tour will last about three weeks, with a break for Thanksgiving, and will end around Dec. 10, according to HarperCollins. Palin will travel by bus for much of the time, likely accompanied by family and by aide Meg Stapleton.

While the book follows Palin's life from her birth in Sandpoint, Idaho, to wondering about the next stop in her future, Palin, who received an advance of at least $1.25 million, saves her strongest words for run-ins with McCain staffers and her widely panned interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.

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