Row over ‘diva’ Palin in Republican camp

Waterloo (Iowa), Oct. 26: Bitter infighting between aides to John McCain and Sarah Palin erupted into public view on Saturday in a sign of tension gripping the Republican camp.

A series of recent surveys have suggested Ms Palin’s presence on the ticket is hurting Mr McCain’s chances in the November 4 election, at a time when Democratic rival Barack Obama has surged clear in most key polls.

The inquests into what has gone wrong with Mr McCain’s campaign appear to have already begun, according to reports, with Ms Palin’s camp blaming the Arizona senator’s senior advisers for mismanaging her contribution.

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

The report said Ms Palin was now increasingly willing to disregard orders from advisers, 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 Ms Palin had already begun to "go rogue" in some of her public pronouncements on the campaign trail.

The Alaska governor’s supporters accused McCain strategist Steve Schmidt and senior aide Nicolle Wallace of blaming Ms 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, Mr 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."

Later on Saturday, Politico quoted McCain advisers reacting angrily to the report, branding Ms Palin a "diva."

The McCain sources said Ms Palin had repeatedly gone "off-message" recently, suggesting she appeared to be looking out for herself.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," the McCain source said.

"She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else."

A McCain source quoted by CNN added: "She is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party."

—AFP