Emails Reveal Todd Palin's Power

Partner's Injury, brutal conditions force out former 'First Dude'

(NEWSER) - Todd Palin won't be picking up his fifth Iron Dog victory in this year's 2,000-mile snowmobile race: Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's husband has dropped out of the competition because of an injury to his partner. A crash broke the handlebars and springs on Scott Davis's snowmobile and exacerbated a back problem. Conditions on the route from Big Lake to Nome and Fairbanks were brutal, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The weather has been unseasonably warm, resulting in deep ruts and killer bumps, reports the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman . More»

(NEWSER) - Levi Johnston continues his gripping expose of the Palin family in an interview with Vanity Fair. Some choice revelations from Bristol's ex, who lived with the family for two months following the election:

• "There wasn't much parenting in that house": The Palin parents were too busy to care for their children, so "the kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry," Johnston says. He chipped in, too: "I’d barbecue chicken or steak on the grill."

Affairs, work stress caused marriage to deteriorate

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin denied a report today that she and former “First Dude” Todd Palin are getting a divorce: "Yet again, some so-called journalists have decided to make up a story," Palin's spokeswoman writes on Facebook. "There is no truth to the recent 'story' ... that the Palins are divorcing." But AlaskaReport cites “multiple sources” in Wasilla and Anchorage that the pair are splitting up. More»

(NEWSER) - As the spotlight follows Sarah Palin out of the Alaska governor's mansion today, a less dazzling, more conventional light shines on new governor Sean Parnell, notes an Anchorage Daily News editorial. "Expect a Parnell administration to be less People magazine, more Governing magazine. Letterman won't be interested. Ditto Politico," the paper declares More»

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin plans to unburden herself on Twitter more freely after she leaves office next week, the AP reports. “Elected is replaceable; Ak WILL progress! + side benefits10 dys til less politically correct twitters fly frm my fingertps outside State site,” she Tweeted today. And, she promises, “I’ll stay in touch w/whomever wants via personal twtr site,” to launch July 26—the day she vacates Alaska’s governorship. More»