Palin reaffirms support for Arctic drilling

Sarah Palin, in her second national interview since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee, said last night that she and running mate John McCain disagree on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but that she's "going to keep working on him."

"He is not asking me or anybody else to check our opinions at the door," the Alaska governor said on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." "He wants that healthy deliberation and debate with it.

"John McCain knows, more so than any other leader in our nation today, that for national security reasons we must be an energy-independent nation," Palin added.

In the wide-ranging interview, whose second part is scheduled to air tonight, Palin also downplayed the effectiveness of attacks on her. "You can't underestimate the wisdom of the people of America," she said. "They're seeing through the rhetoric, and they're seeing through a lot of the political cheap shots, also. And they're getting down to the facts and the voting records that are going to show that stark contrast."

FOON RHEE

The only joint appearance by Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin any time soon will apparently be by their comedic alter egos in a "Saturday Night Live" skit.

Clinton pulled out of a protest being organized by several Jewish groups outside the United Nations on Sept. 22 against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when she found out that Palin planned to attend. Clinton aides were furious at organizers, saying they first learned from reporters. "Her attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event," Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said. "Senator Clinton will therefore not be attending."

Palin's spokeswoman chided Clinton for her decision.

"Governor Palin believes that the danger of a nuclear Iran is greater than party or politics," Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for Palin, said in a statement. "She hopes that all parties can rally together in opposition to this grave threat."

A meeting would have been awkward, to say the least, bringing into the spotlight the woman who nearly won the Democratic nomination and the woman now courting Clinton's loyalists.

GLOBE STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS

What's the fascination with clocks by the national political parties' attack machines? Republicans had one for Barack Obama keeping track of how long it had been since he had set foot in Iraq - until he visited in July. The Republican National Committee quickly began one for the interval between gaffes by Joe Biden after Obama picked him as his running mate.

And yesterday the Democratic National Committee started the clock ticking for how long it has been since Republican John McCain has given a news conference with national reporters - 34 days and counting. His running mate, Sarah Palin, has not held any.

The Democratic National Committee contrasts McCain's limited access these days to his openness during the primaries and his promise to hold weekly press conferences if elected. "Since John McCain has been running an utterly indefensible campaign, it's easy to see why he doesn't want to be held accountable to the people or to his own promises," committee spokesman Damien LaVera said.

FOON RHEE

WASHINGTON - A top Hillary Clinton fund-raiser threw her support behind Republican John McCain yesterday, saying he will lead the country in a centrist fashion and accusing the Democrats of becoming too extreme.

"I believe that Barack Obama, with MoveOn.org and Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean, has taken the Democratic Party - and they will continue to - too far to the left," Lynn Forester de Rothschild said. "I'm not comfortable there."

Rothschild, a member of the Democratic National Committee's Democrats Abroad chapter who lives in London and New York, was one of Clinton's top fund-raisers, bringing in more than $100,000. She said she would be stepping down from her position on the committee's platform panel but will not switch political parties. She praised McCain for working with Democrats to pass legislation and for standing up to President Bush on the Iraq war.

"I just ask, who has Barack Obama ever stood up to? And that troubles me a lot," she said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO - The Japanese designer of the clear-rim glasses worn by Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is grateful for the attention she is drawing to his creation, yet he remains politically neutral.

"She is very good looking; she would look good in any glasses," Kazuo Kawasaki said yesterday while visiting a Tokyo store for Masunaga Optical Manufacturing Co., which makes the glasses.

The clear-rim MP-704 glasses, made of a superlight and nonallergenic metal called titanium, have become all the rage for their high-profile visibility atop the 44-year-old Alaska governor's nose. They cost about $400 in the United States.

Masunaga Optical Manufacturing, based in Fukui, usually makes 12,000 MP-704 glasses in a year and a half. Thanks to Palin, it has already received 9,000 global orders, mostly from the United States, in the last 10 days, Masunaga store chief Akira Nagayama said.

The glasses don't need screws, instead using a thin metal strip similar to a paper clip to attach the lens to the frame, offering a clearer view for the wearer, Nagayama says.

ASSOCIATED PRESS