Palin's future son-in-law speaks out to clear record

Levi Johnston and his girlfriend, Bristol Palin, sat at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last month. (Paul Sancya/ Associated Press/File)

WASILLA, Alaska - Levi Johnston, who's having a baby with Governor Sarah Palin's daughter, can't believe all the things he's hearing.

No, he wasn't held against his will on the campaign trail. No, he's not being forced into a shotgun wedding with 17-year-old Bristol Palin.

"None of that's true," Johnston, 18, said in an interview with the Associated Press. "We both love each other. We both want to marry each other. And that's what we are going to do."

Johnston said he has dated Bristol Palin since his freshman year in high school, and their wedding is set for next summer. Their baby is due Dec. 18, and Johnston hinted he's expecting a boy, though he declined to discuss baby names.

"I'm looking forward to having him," he said. "I'm going to take him hunting and fishing. He'll be everywhere with me."

Johnston has dropped out of high school to take a job on the North Slope oil fields as an apprentice electrician.

There's no word on how his future mother-in-law feels about Johnston's decision to drop out of high school. Last year, she made a point of trying to turn around the high dropout rate in their hometown. "I'd remind the kids that no matter where they are in life - [maybe] in circumstances that probably aren't ideal - that there is no circumstance that they're in that is insurmountable or would necessitate them just giving up," Palin said.

Johnston, a Wasilla heartthrob, said he wanted to set the record straight.

For starters, he said his MySpace page was a joke - the one on which he allegedly said: "I'm a . . . redneck," and "I don't want kids." Johnston said his friends created the page a few years ago and he had nothing to do with it.

What about Johnston's politics? The young man said he wasn't an expert on politics by any stretch. Asked about Barack Obama, he replied: "I don't know anything about him. He seems like a good guy. I like him."

Johnston didn't register in time to vote, according to the Mat-Su Division of Elections Office in Wasilla. But he's rooting for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

"I just hope she wins," he said. "She's my future mother-in-law. She better win."