Palin says daughter, 17, pregnant

The 17-year-old unmarried daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin saidtoday in an announcement intended to knock down rumours by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," the Palins' statement said.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support," the Palins said.

The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple's privacy.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates," the statement concluded.

MCCAIN KNEW

Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.

McCain officials said the news of the daughter's pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called "mud-slinging and lies" that have circulated on liberal blog sites.

According to these rumours, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in April to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. The rumour was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin's child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

A senior McCain campaign official said the McCain camp was appalled that these rumours had not only been spread around the blogs, but also were the subject of heightened interest from mainstream news media.

"The despicable rumours that have been spread by liberal blogs, some even with Barack Obama's name in them, is a real anchor around the Democratic ticket, pulling them down in the mud in a way that certainly juxtaposes themselves against their 'campaign of change,'" a senior aide said.

Speaking to reporters in Monroe, Michigan, Obama reacted strongly, saying he was offended by the McCain's aide's statement and that he considered people's families off-limits.

"We don't go after people's families. We don't get them involved in the politics. It's not appropriate and it's not relevant. Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be. And if I ever thought there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they'd be fired," Obama said.

Obama also said: "This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories."

"You know, my mother had me when she was 18. And how families deal with issues and teenage children -- that shouldn't be the topic of our politics," Obama said.

CONVENTION

The news broke as Republicans were gathered in St. Paul for their convention to formally nominate McCain and Palin as the party's candidates. Palin is only the second woman picked as a U.S. vice presidential nominee.

In the short period since she was announced last Friday, Palin has helped to energize the Republican Party's conservative base, giving McCain fresh energy going into the campaign for the Nov. 4 election against Democrat Barack Obama and his No. 2 Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

Palin is known for strong anti-abortion views and is pro-gun rights.

James Dobson, an influential Christian evangelical conservative, said his Focus on the Family group has always counseled young mothers to see their pregnancies through, "even though there will be of course challenges along the way."

"That is what the Palins are doing, and they should be commended once again for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances," he said in a statement.

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group with strong evangelical ties, said: "Unfortunately, teenage pregnancy has become all too common in today's society regardless of a family's economic or social status. It is a problem that we remain committed to reducing through encouraging young people to practice abstinence."