Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has defended her record as governor of Alaska in the face of fierce Democratic attacks, while a state ethics panel subpoenaed her husband.
In the last installment of an exclusive interview with ABC News, Palin rejected her critics' insistence that she had initially been in favour of building an Alaska bridge project held up as a symbol of wasteful government spending.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has denounced Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere" as a place where government fat needed to be cut. The $398 million bridge would have been built to a small island with only about 50 residents, and has since been shut down.
Palin insists she helped kill the project but Democrats emphasize that she was in favour of the bridge when she was a candidate for governor. It is an assault on her attempts to present herself as a reformer.
Palin, who was mayor of tiny Wasilla before becoming governor less than two years ago, told ABC News she did seek money for infrastructure in the state," saying it was "not inappropriate for a mayor or a governor" to seek such funding.
But ultimately, she said, "I said, 'Thanks, but no thanks. We're not going to spend it on the bridge.'"
She also defended, as Wasilla's mayor, seeking and obtaining $27 million in federal funding in the form of individual spending items that U.S. lawmakers called "earmarks." McCain has made cutting "earmark" projects a pillar of his campaign.
"We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office," she said.
Palin, 44, has emerged as a surprise star in the Republican Party two weeks after McCain plucked her out of relative obscurity to be his running mate.
Her impact on the race to the Nov. 4 election has helped McCain take a slight lead in public opinion polls over Democrat Barack Obama, and Democrats are raising questions about her record to try to damage her credibility with voters.
ETHICS PROBE
Palin's decision to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan has led to an investigation by the Alaska state Legislature to determine if she abused her power.
Critics charge she fired Monegan because he would not fire state trooper Mike Wooten, who was involved in a bitter divorce from Palin's sister.
The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 on Friday to subpoena 13 people in the case, including Palin's husband, Todd Palin.
The McCain camp accused Democrats of pushing the probe. It issued a statement from Alaska's lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, charging there had been a "complete hijacking of what should be a fair and objective process."
"It is troubling to see partisan Democrats and Obama supporters abuse their power, the legal system and trust of Alaskans to smear Gov. Palin to score political points," the statement said.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that the three lawmakers who voted in favor of the subpoenas included a Republican and two Democrats, with two Republicans opposed.
Palin told ABC News her husband "never pressured" Monegan to fire Wooten. Palin said she fired Monegan because he lacked the vision and energy she wanted in the job.
"I didn't tell the guy to hire or fire anybody," she said, while insisting the state trooper "threatened to kill my dad and bring down me," a charge the trooper has denied.
Advocates of the probe want the results known by Oct. 10 and accuse the McCain campaign of seeking to delay the outcome until after the election.
Palin, who looked a bit nervous in her first sit-down interview with ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson on Thursday, told him on Friday she believed Obama regretted not picking Hillary Clinton, his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, as his No. 2.
"I think he's regretting not picking her now, I do. What, what determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way -- she handled those well," she said.