Palin continues to question McCain's pull out of Michigan Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has questioned for a second straight day the McCain campaign's decision to abandon its Michigan campaign. CBS News reported on its Website on Saturday that Palin told a reporter during a visit to a Colorado diner that she still wants to compete in Michigan. John McCain's campaign said on Thursday it would withdraw from what had been a battleground state, pulling down advertising and moving staffers to states aides believe are more winnable.
"Well as I said the other day, I would sure love to get to run to Michigan and make sure that Michigan knows that we haven't given up there," Palin told a pool reporter accompanying her on the stop, CBS reported. "We care much about Michigan and every other state."
It's fairly unusual to see the No. 2 on a presidential ticket publicly and repeatedly question the campaign's tactical decisions. Palin said in a Fox News Channel interview on Friday that she still wanted to try to win Michigan, where the McCain campaign has spent millions of dollars and precious candidate time in an effort to win the state for Republicans for the first time since 1988.
Palin's comments Saturday are only like to stoke fears among Michigan Democrats that McCain's announcement this week is a fake designed to entice the campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to let up in Michigan. And it will likely feed concern and some anger among Republicans disappointed in the McCain campaign's decision, which could hurt the chances of other Republicans in competitive Michigan races.