Washington, Oct 2: Sarah Palin has struggled after her successful entry onto the national stage. Though she continues to attract large crowds on the campaign trail and delight social conservatives, her performance in the past few weeks has raised questions, even among conservatives, about whether McCain made a wise choice.

Washington - Lowering expectations before a political debate is an old trick to make the outcome seem more positive.

Ahead of Thursday's debate between the vice-presidential candidates, expectations are indeed very low.

Following the initial enthusiasm after they were picked a month back, Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin have seemed to compete for who can commit the worst mistakes - Palin for her poor oratory or Biden for his excessive oratory.

Washington - Barely a month after her spectacular entrance into national politics as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin has gone from shaking up the campaign to being the preferred object of mockery of critics around the United States.

"Pathetic," one commentator called her on CNN.

"Governor, bow out," wrote another in Newsweek.

The histrionic TV satire Saturday Night Live is enjoying a second youth based on imitating the Alaska governor.

Washington, Oct 1: Governor Sarah Palin maintained a private e-mail account that she used to communicate with a small circle of staff members outside the state government’s secure official e-mail system, according to the Wasilla company that established the site.

The account was separate from the Yahoo e-mail address that was abruptly abandoned by the McCain campaign on September 17, the day hackers penetrated the account and posted pages from it on the Internet. Palin had routinely used her Yahoo address for state business, the Washington Post reported.

London, Oct 1: To back efforts to stop polar bears being protected as an endangered species, Governor Sarah Palin and her officials in the Alaskan state government drew on the work of at least six scientists known to be sceptical about the dangers and causes of global warming.

The Guardian reported that some of the scientists were funded by the oil industry.

New York, Oct 1: A review of a handful of Sarah Palin’s debate performances in the race for Alaska Governor in 2006 shows a somewhat different persona from the one that has emerged since John McCain named her as the vice-presidential nominee a month ago.

Palin, a former mayor who had become a whistle-blower about ethical misconduct in state government, held her own in those debates, but often spoke in generalities and showed scant aptitude for developing arguments beyond a talking point or two.