Opinion: An inside look at Sarah Palin’s debate prep

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Maybe Sedona does have mystically restorative powers.

After a difficult couple of weeks, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin looked relaxed and comfortable this morning when she left Sedona and flew with her family and advisors to St. Louis for her hotly anticipated debate tonight with Sen. Joe Biden.

Palin, along with her husband, Todd, daughters Willow and Piper and baby son Trig, had spent 2 1/2 days at the peaceful Sedona compound of John McCain and Cindy McCain, set in the scrubby hills and red rocks of Arizona’s famously spiritual destination.

During that time, Palin kept a low profile.

She gave a confidence-boosting interview to talk show host Hugh Hewitt, whose sympathetic queries may have helped her gain equilibrium after damaging interviews with network anchors Charles Gibson and Katie Couric. (How could she have gone wrong with Hewitt, who lobbed softballs such as “Do you think the mainstream media and the left understands your religious faith, Governor Palin?”)

She spent much of her time in Sedona rehearsing for tonight’s big moment onstage. Her sparring partner was McCain senior foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann. The campaign released a photograph that showed Scheunemann and Palin, in a baseball cap, behind wooden lecterns, set up on what appeared to be the banks of a stream on the property under some leafy trees.

On Wednesday, reported a campaign spokeswoman, Palin began her debate prep in the morning, and at 7:30 p.m. took a break for a family barbecue featuring grilled steaks and twice-baked potatoes. She resumed work after dinner.

Part of the mission, as McCain campaign advisors have described it this week, was to put her in an environment with her family and few distractions to help her reclaim the straight-talking hockey mom persona that Republicans fell in love with at their nominating convention in St. Paul last month. That Sarah Palin seemed to get lost down some sort of verbal rabbit hole when she sat down with network anchors Gibson and Couric. Polls have shown support for her, particularly among women, beginning to wane.

Excerpts of the interview with Couric, which CBS played Monday and Tuesday, were particularly damaging. They showed a flustered and inarticulate Palin trying to respond to questions about how Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience, what Supreme Court decisions she has disagreed with and even what newspapers and magazines she reads. (“Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years,” she replied.)

Tracey Schmitt, her spokeswoman, said that Palin was excited and looking forward to tonight’s debate. ‘She is eager to lay out the contrast of her record of executive leadership and Joe Biden’s 35 years in the halls of Congress,” said Schmitt.

During the 2 1/2-hour flight to St. Louis, Willow and Piper Palin visited the press area of the plane. Piper, 7, handed out black licorice sticks to reporters and Secret Service agents, while her big sister, who is in eighth grade, handed out round stickers that said ‘Vote for Piper’s Mom!’ The girls were sweet but shy and seemed to be having a good time.

After landing, there was a small glitch with the main door of Palin’s plane. The flight attendant kept trying to open the door and it seemed to be bumping up against the mobile staircase. The problem was resolved a few minutes later, and Piper Palin was first off the plane, followed by Todd, Willow and Sarah (who carried Trig).

When the governor stopped to shake hands with a quartet of greeters at the base of the staircase, she handed the baby to Piper, who seemed to have a slightly tenuous hold on him. Then Willow took Trig and bystanders breathed sighs of relief.

Palin’s motorcade made the short trip to Washington University’s Field House, for her pre-debate walk-through. So many satellite trucks crowded the field in front of the site it was clear that St. Louis is not just another Midwestern American city with a nice riverfront and famous landmark. It’s clearly the center of the political universe, at least for tonight.

To paraphrase another young woman who regained her confidence after a trying week: Sarah, I have a feeling we’re not in Sedona anymore.

-- Robin Abcarian

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