What the e-mails will disclose is a mystery, but the Alaska journalists who sought them want to know if they reveal any insight into the allegations against Palin. If they do, the e-mails could begin to bring more Americans' views of Palin in line with those of residents in her home state.
"Just my guess is it probably won’t help,” says Dave Dittman, a Republican-leaning pollster in Anchorage, Alaska. “There will be more in there that will hurt her than help her.”
'Not the same person'
The current view of Palin among Alaskans has been shaped by many things, from her decision to leave her post as governor two years early to complaints that her persona completely changed after she was tapped by 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain as his running mate.
At one point early in her term, Palin had an approval rating in Alaska of nearly 90 percent and was hailed as being "a breath of fresh air" in a scandal-plagued state. The seeming transformation that occurred in 2008, when she morphed from a pragmatic moderate into a conservative attack dog, was shocking to Alaskans.
“People down south don’t see that she’s not the same person,” says Ivan Moore, a Democratic-leaning pollster in Anchorage. “Either she was faking us then or she’s being dishonest now.”
A series of scandals and ethics investigations that continued after Palin left office have also shaped Alaskans' view of her. None has resulted in any smoking guns, but cumulatively, the persistence of multiple minor allegations has sullied her legacy here.
