US:AN INVESTIGATOR looking into whether Sarah Palin abused her power as Alaska governor to try to get her brother-in-law sacked from the state police has asked state legislators to subpoena Ms Palin's husband Todd.
Retired prosecutor Stephen Branchflower asked members of the Alaska legislature's judiciary committee to subpoena 13 witnesses in connection with the inquiry, which has taken on national significance since Ms Palin became the Republican vice-presidential nominee.
Mr Branchflower said he would like to question Ms Palin herself but he did not ask that she should be subpoenaed.
The move came as Ms Palin insisted that she is ready to become president, despite her lack of foreign policy experience, telling ABC News interviewer Charlie Gibson that she did not hesitate when John McCain asked her to be his running mate.
"I answered him 'yes' because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink. So I didn't blink then, even when asked to run as his running mate," she said.
In her first major interview since joining the Republican ticket, Ms Palin appeared nervous at times, sticking closely to campaign talking points, especially on foreign policy. She acknowledged that she had never left North America before becoming Alaska's governor two years ago and that she has not met any world leaders.
Ms Palin appeared confused when Mr Gibson asked her if she supported the "Bush doctrine", the current president's view that the US has the right to attack another country pre-emptively before being attacked itself. She recovered quickly, expressing broad support for Mr Bush's policies but acknowledging that "there have been mistakes made".
Asked if Ukraine and Georgia should be admitted to Nato, Ms Palin said yes, even if that meant having to defend both countries against Russia, but she added that other measures could also be effective against Moscow.
"It doesn't have to lead to war and it doesn't have to lead, as I said, to a cold war, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries," she said.
Mr McCain yesterday defended his choice of Ms Palin as his running mate, although he acknowledged that they disagreed on some issues. "She's ignited a spark in America," he said.
Barack Obama acknowledged yesterday that his supporters were "starting to get nervous" as polls show Mr McCain in the lead, but he promised to hit back hard against Republican attacks he characterised as lies.
"We have been hitting hard. But we are hitting back on the issues that matter to families. I am not going to start making up lies about John McCain. There is an old saying that Abraham Lincoln had about one of his opponents. He said, if you don't stop lying about me, I'm going to have to start telling the truth about you," he told supporters in New Hampshire.
"If they lie about us, then we will correct the record. We're not just going to sit back and watch."