Palin says she'll prod McCain on drilling in Alaska wilderness

WASHINGTON -- Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said she would lobby John McCain to support oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness — an issue on which the running mates disagree.

"I'm going to keep working on that one with him," Palin told ABC News during her first broadcast interview taped on Thursday. Some of the interview, which focused on national security issues and her readiness to lead, was repeated Friday on the network's Good Morning America program.

McCain has made more oil and gas drilling off the U.S. coasts a major part of his presidential campaign, but he is opposed to development in the massive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR.

Palin told ABC News that ANWR can "help lead us to that path of energy independence."

The Alaska governor also appeared to shift her position on global warming. "I believe that man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change."

In an interview last year with the conservative Newsmax.com, Palin said she was "not one, though, who would attribute it (global warming) to be man made."

ABC News anchor Charles Gibson will conduct another interview with Palin later Friday on domestic policy issues, her record since becoming governor in December 2006 and her tenure as mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska (population: 9,780). The interview will be broadcast Friday on ABC's World News and its 20/20 program.

The ABC session with Palin is the highlight of a string of TV appearances by both presidential candidates. McCain will appear later Friday on talk shows The View, with his wife, Cindy, and on The Rachael Ray Show. Democrat Barack Obama is set to appear on the season premiere of NBC's Saturday Night Live.

Palin, however, was the featured attraction in the TV blitz. The Alaska governor has not taken part in a sit-down interview since a brief chat Aug. 29 with People magazine, on the day that McCain unveiled her as his running mate.

In Thursday's taping, Palin declared herself ready to be president, if necessary, and said she "didn't blink" when McCain asked her to join the GOP ticket. Palin's readiness has been an issue in the campaign because of McCain's age, 72. The governor is 44.