Mike Allen has the goods on the McCain campaign's plan for Charlie Gibson's "interview" with Sarah Palin:
The [McCain campaign] official said Gibson will have the chance to "speak to her on 9/11 about her ideas for keeping America safe in the future; to speak to her as she goes back to Wasilla, where she grew up, about her life and her views and her vision for the country."
In other words, this is going to be a total puff piece. More details:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will speak at her son's Army deployment ceremony on 9/11 and spend two days with ABC News crews later this week as part of a McCain campaign plan to increase Americans' comfort with her as a leader.
Campaign and network officials had said on Sunday that her first television interview would be a sit-down with Charles Gibson of ABC's "World News."
But it turns out that she is spending much of Thursday and Friday with Gibson -- at the ceremony in Fairbanks, Alaska, and at her home in Wasilla, Alaska.
And:
Two interviews with Gibson are planned for Thursday, including a conversation about her support for a natural-gas pipeline - a key applause line in her convention speech. Then on Friday, Palin will spend "as much time as both parties need" in Wasilla and Anchorage, the official said. She will fly into Anchorage and then drive to Wasilla.
FOX News itself couldn't have designed a friendlier format.
© Jed Lewison