What's this? Another Palin-inspired political storm brewing?
After Sarah Palin's spirited attacks on elitist media during her acceptance speech at the Republican convention last week (a tactic, surely, to prevent such a trend continuing), there was a school of thought that she had made herself fairly immune to further criticism - for a while at least.
But the American press is getting on with things, and the Washington Post has obtained a log of Palin's expenses and carried out an analysis of what it reveals.
According to the paper's research, the Alaskan governor billed taxpayers for 312 nights she spent in her own home during her first 19 months of office. And, the Post claims, Palin - who earns $125,000 a year - charged the state for travel to take her children on official out of town missions and her husband billed for expenses and daily allowances. All in all, she claimed $16,951 as her allowance.
In her defence, officials say this was permitted because Palin's "duty station" is in the capital, Juneau, 600 miles from the family home in Wasilla. They have pointed out that the expenses are not unusual and, under state policy, her family is allowed to claim per diem expenses for each child taken on official business.
The Washington Post presents an interesting charge sheet because, among other issues she tackled during her widely applauded acceptance speech, Palin painted herself as the kind of politician who did without the frills and bows.
With reference to her use of a state-owned plane, she said: "While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for." There was also a point made about how her family didn't need a chef and she would rather cook for them.
It all makes you think: has it really only been ten days since the governor of Alaska burst on to the world's radar as John McCain's running mate?
With the dust settling after the Republican convention, national polls show McCain is leading or level with Obama, despite what was viewed as a fairly lacklustre speech on his part. A USA Today/Gallup poll over the weekend found McCain leading Obama by 50% to 46% among registered voters.
And then, of course, there's the cash: of the $47m McCain raised in August, the Republicans say $10m came in the three days after he announced Palin as his running mate.
