Palin focuses on special needs kids

Sarah Palin today picked an issue close to her heart for her first major policy speech -- special needs children.

Palin, whose 6-month-old son Trig has Down syndrome, told a crowd in Pittsburgh that the federal government should do more to help those children and their families, and give parents more choices.

"The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are most vulnerable," said Palin, who has said that, if elected, she would me an emissary for those families in the White House.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Fox News Channel Thursday night, she defended her new wardrobe, bought with $150,000 from Republican National Committee donors after she became the vice presidential nominee.

"Those clothes are not my property. We had three days of using clothes that the RNC purchased," she said. "....They are either returned or they're going to charity. It's not my property."

" If people knew how Todd and I and our kids shop so frugally. My favorite shop is a consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska, called Out of the Closet. And my shoe store is called Shoe Fly in Juneau, Alaska. It's not -- you know, it's not Fifth Avenue type of shopping.

Palin also said she's "anxious" with the election only 11 days away now. "I think it's extremely close and I think it's gonna come right down to the wire on election day...I don't know what to make of the polls that are showing the double-digit lead for our opponent. You know, I don't know what to attribute that to, but no, I have that sense out there that it is very close and the choice, though, is getting clearer and clearer. I think that message is getting out there in that regard, so it's going to come down to the wire."