More Palin

I've come to know about a half-dozen Alaskans while living here in DC -- which I believe works out to about 2% of the state's population -- one of whom works here as a representative of the governor's office and during his time in the position had almost daily contact with Gov. Palin. I asked him his take on her and he said that she is sharp, incredibly so, with an ability to immediately grasp an issue. Noting that many politicians rely on their staff to brief them and keep them up to date he noted that she did a lot of her own research and always seemed up to speed on matters. He went so far as to declare that he expects her to wipe the floor with Biden in the VP debate, adding that her performance tends to rise the more pressure that is placed on her.

On the spending issue he noted that part of his job entailed dealing with federal earmark requests and he said that since she took office that these requests have declined from about $500+ million under Gov. Murkowski to about $300 million under Palin. Furthermore he said that a lot of the current requests were to fulfill projects that were already in the pipeline when Palin took office.

That parsimony extends to the way she conducts business. Beyond getting rid of the personal chef and the state jet, he said that her chief of security resigned because she said that the whole entourage that accompanied her to keep her safe was unnecessary. Now all she has is a state trooper. This seems to be a woman that walks the walk.

Oh, and he also added that she is even more attractive in person.