Republican presidential candidate John McCain today defended his choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate after she admitted that her teenage, unmarried daughter is pregnant.
Ms Palin's disclosure, in addition to the news that she has a private lawyer in an ethics investigation in Alaska, led some to raise questions about Mr McCain's judgment and how thoroughly her background was examined in selecting the relatively unknown governor last week to be his running mate.
"My vetting process was completely thorough and I'm grateful for the results," Mr McCain told reporters in Philadelphia.
Republican leaders were standing by the governor as the Republican convention in St. Paul prepared to resume some semblance of normal business after all but shutting down on Monday to avoid political activities while the country coped with Hurricane Gustav.
"Let me tell you, the base of the Republican Party could not be more excited as they are with Sarah Palin," said former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who was on Mr McCain's short list for the vice presidential spot.
"You're going to find here in the convention and in the polls that follow, that Sarah Palin is connecting with the American voters and she's making the kind of impact that we'd hope she'd make."
McCain's campaign has also responded to comments from Barack Obama, who told CNN on Monday that Ms Palin's level of experience as a former mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, did not match his own, citing the size of his campaign.
"My understanding is that Gov Palin's town, Wasilla, has I think 50 employees. We've got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year - we have a budget of about three times that just for the month," the Democratic candidate had said.
But McCain adviser Carly Fiorina said she was appalled and accused Mr Obama of sexism. "The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a mayor and governor than Barack Obama has made in his life," Ms Fiorina said.
President George W. Bush, will speak via satellite hookup to the convention tonight, the McCain campaign announced. He had been scheduled to speak on Monday but cancelled due to the hurricane.
Mr Bush's wife, Laura, told a breakfast of Michigan Republican convention delegates that she is excited about Ms Palin's candidacy. "I think it was really very brilliant of John McCain to take her, and I'm so proud that I'm going to be able to vote for a Republican woman on this ticket," she said.
The McCain campaign released a copy of Ms Palin's Republican voter registration card to rebut a report in The New York Timesthat Ms Palin had been a member of the Alaska Independence Party for two years in the 1990s.
"The allegations that Gov. Palin was a member of (the) Alaska Independence Party are false. She's never been a member of the Alaska Independence Party," said a McCain spokesman.
When Ms Palin was announced on Friday, her entry into the presidential race against Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the November 4th election was welcomed by Republicans as bringing a burst of energy to the Mr McCain campaign.
They like her anti-abortion, pro-guns stances and her history of government reform in Alaska in her two years as the state's governor.
Other key speakers set for tonight are ex-presidential candidate and former senator Fred Thompson who will talk about "the courage and service of John McCain," followed by independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said the timing of Ms Palin's speech was not yet set. He would not comment on whether she will use that speech to address any of the controversies currently surrounding her.
Reuters