Palin daughter interrupts McCain script

Palin had once supported the candidate who ran against her own stepmother-in-law for mayor of her town, Wasilla. She was being investigated over claims that she had put pressure on an underling to fire her sister8217;s former husband from his job as a state trooper. And she had waited until she was seven months pregnant to make public news that she was expecting a fifth child this year, a pregnancy that was complicated by Down syndrome.

If anything, the still-unfolding story of Palin, 44, and her family eclipsed whatever other message anyone may have hoped to send from the Republican National Convention here on Monday. It was a narrative worthy of a Lifetime television drama which, perhaps fittingly, is sponsoring a string of events aimed at women here this week.

Like so many here, Ted Boyatt, 20, a delegate from Maryville, Tenn., seemed stunned by Palin8217;s announcement and its awkward timing.

8220;It seems like the whole script has just been knocked out of balance,8221; Boyatt said. 8220;We had it on paper,8221; he said of the convention agenda, 8220;and in the blink of an eye it all went out the window.8221;

The images of Palin8217;s smiling family 8212; her 4-month-old son, Trig, in Bristol8217;s arms 8212; had captivated many who watched McCain introducing Palin as his running mate on Friday, and who said they saw the tableau as a potential counterpoint to the young families of the Democratic ticket.

On Monday, Palin8217;s announcement of her daughter8217;s pregnancy was much of what people were murmuring about inside the halls here, at the cocktail hours, even along a route meant for protesters.

8220;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,8221; read a statement issued on Monday by Palin and her husband, Todd. 8220;We8217;re proud of Bristol8217;s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.8221;

The Palins said that Bristol, who was named for Bristol Bay, the salmon fishery, would marry a man they identified only as Levi, later confirmed to be Levi Johnston, a Wasilla resident. 8220;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,8221; the statement said.

The Palins8217; statement arrived after a flurry of rumours had made their way through the Internet over the weekend, growing and blooming, it seemed, by the minute.

Some claimed that Palin had not actually given birth to Trig, but that Bristol had, and that the family had covered it up. Various Web sites posted photographs of Palin in the months leading up to his birth this year, and debated whether her physique might have been too trim for her stage of pregnancy. The McCain campaign said Palin announced Bristol8217;s pregnancy to stop the swirl of rumours.

Palin8217;s own pregnancy took Alaska by surprise this year. Even those who worked for her in the governor8217;s office said they were surprised. Her announcement, in March, was reported in The Anchorage Daily News, which noted at the time that Palin 8220;simply doesn8217;t look pregnant.8221;

Friends said that Palin, a conservative Protestant and a member since 2006 of Feminists for Life, an anti-abortion group, knew when she was pregnant with Trig said to be a Norse name for strength that he had Down syndrome 8212; a fact that has, in some ways, sealed Palin8217;s support among anti-abortion advocates and others.

In 2002, when Palin was completing her second and final term as mayor, her husband8217;s stepmother, Faye Palin, began campaigning to succeed her. Faye Palin, though, favored abortion rights, people who recalled the race said, and Palin sided instead with Dianne M. Keller, a City Council member who won the race and remains mayor there today.

Another chapter of the Palins8217; personal life turned public this year when the State Legislature called for an investigation into whether Palin had forced a former state public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, into resigning. Monegan has said he felt pressure from Palin8217;s administration and her husband to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper who was going through an acrimonious custody battle with Palin8217;s sister, Molly McCann.

And on Monday, more details seemed to be spilling out. McCain campaign officials first confirmed to the Christian Broadcasting Network on Monday that Todd Palin had pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in 1986; he had been pulled over, they said, in Dillingham, Alaska, while driving a pickup truck with friends. Palin has several other minor traffic violations, records show. He pleaded no contest to illegally operating an off-road vehicle in a game refuge in 2002, and that year was charged with failing to stop for a red light.

The Palins eloped on August 29, 1988, and their first son, Track, was born eight months later, a fact that Maria Comella of the McCain campaign, declined to elaborate on. 8220;They were high school sweethearts who got married and ended up having five beautiful children together,8221; Comella said.