In Newsweek’s seven-part series chronicling the juicy, behind-the-scenes moments of the presidential campaign, there was aninteresting nuggetabout Gov. Sarah Palin’s husband, Todd Palin: “„McCain’s advisers… were furious when they heard rumors that Todd Palin was calling around to Alaska bigwigs telling them to hold their powder until 2012.
Todd Palin took personal time off from his job as a producer on Alaska’s North Slope where he works the oil field for BP to join his wife on the campaign trail. So why would he be so intimately involved in his wife’s political future?
According to one of Palin’s top gubernatorial campaign advisers, who spoke to me off the record in Alaska, Sarah Palin has only two true political advisers:“Sarah and Todd Palin.” Supporters and critics agree that the Palins are a team when it comes to Palin’s politics. The most prominent example being Todd Palin’s role in the Troopergate scandal, where he pressured his wife’s top safety official to fire their ex-brother-in-law over a family feud.
In Palin’s administration, Todd was also copied on emails about state business, like a contentious debate over the police union contract and a bill on parental consent for teenage abortions.
Just last week Sarah Palin smiled at her husband during an interview with Fox’s Greta Van Susteren when she said she was looking forward toworking together in the White House The Todd Palin-Sarah Palin dynamic is well-known in Alaska. It’s reasonable that Sen. John McCain was angry about Todd Palin’s involvement — but McCain shouldn’t have been surprised.