mrneoluddite/palin

Go figure, more bushies involved


With Sarah Palin facing unrelenting press scrutiny and enjoying off-the-charts excitement from voters, John McCain's campaign is quickly moving to augment her staff and put in place an infrastructure that can address the unexpected wave of interest.

This team of aides and advisers is tasked with preparing Palin for media appearances, including her first on ABC later this week, her debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden early next month, pushing back against near-daily accusations from liberal activists as well as inquiries from mainstream journalists. They are also offering the sort of support provided to any vice presidential pick.

Since McCain made his pick in the final days before announcing it to the public -- and since many aides were not told until the night before or morning of the rollout -- the campaign has been forced to hire and hastily put in place a cadre of staff to deal with the unprecedented onslaught of questions from reporters, requests from Republicans and viral Internet attacks from the left. And McCain's campaign is not done hiring staffers to respond to the Palin deluge. Even more will be brought on in the days ahead, say aides, to respond to the flood.

This new team of aides and advisers brings years of experience in Republican politics, and includes many who worked for President Bush in the White House and on his two campaigns. They will bring a similarly aggressive mindset as campaign chief Steve Schmidt, also a veteran of the disciplined Bush-Cheney effort. In this, they'll move to get off defense, a position Palin has been in since her unexpected announcement, and try to keep her on the offensive, using her to launch ever-more sharp attacks against Barack Obama and Biden--attacks that will present the challenge of responding without being labeled sexist."