Tensions between McCain, Palin camps starting to show: report

Last Updated: Monday, October 27, 2008 | 12:56 PM ET

CBC News

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and running mate Gov. Sarah Palin at a recent campaign stop in Ohio. (AP Photo/Phil Masturzo)

With eight days to go until the U.S. election, there are reports of infighting between aides to Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin.

CNN reported that McCain advisers are becoming frustrated with the vice-presidential nominee "going rogue" and have said she has gone off-message and ignored advice.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," one McCain adviser told CNN. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else."

Palin has been critical of McCain's strategy to not attack Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for his relationship with controversial pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. She was against the campaign's decision to pull resources out of Michigan and, despite the campaign's use of recorded messages to attack Obama, has criticized their use.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party," the McCain adviser told CNN. "Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

The political website Politico.com also reported that four Republicans close to Palin said she is also disregarding the advice of former aides to President George W. Bush.

But Palin associates counter that Palin believes she's been mishandled by the McCain camp in that they initially tried to limit her exposure to the press. Palin allies blame the McCain camp for arranging high-profile interviews with ABC's Charlie Gibson and CBS's Katie Couric. Many observers severely criticized Palin's performance in both those interviews.

"She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane," a senior Republican, referring to Palin's campaign jet, told Politico.com.

"Her strategy was to be trustworthy and a team player during the convention and thereafter, but she felt completely mismanaged and mishandled and ill advised," the person said. "Recently, she's gone from relying on McCain advisers who were assigned to her to relying on her own instincts."

The reported infighting comes as polls continue to show Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama maintaining a solid lead over McCain, including in the so-called battleground states.

Palin has also come under criticism recently for her $150,000 wardrobe and accessories purchased by the Republican Party.

Meanwhile, the Anchorage Daily News, her home state's largest newspaper, endorsed Obama on Sunday, adding that Palin is "too risky" to be one step away from the Oval Office.

"Like picking McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time," the Daily News said.