Roundup: Palin begins opening up to media, public
— -- Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, continuing his swing through the West, is doing double duty Thursday in New Mexico with a rally and a fundraiser. He picked the picturesque town of Espanola, north of Santa Fe for a campaign stop where he will be joined by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
The Illinois senator, who chose not to take federal campaign funds, will follow the rally with a fundraiser in Albuquerque.
The Republican ticket is also on the move, targeting the Midwest battleground.
Sen. John McCain teams up for the second straight day with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for a rally at an airport hangar five miles outside Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They will then head for a second campaign stop in Green Bay, Wis.
Palin's reappearance alongside McCain comes as the vice presidential nominee begins fielding more questions, from the public and the media.
She was interviewed by Fox News host Sean Hannity Wednesday, in her second TV interview since her nomination.
But she also has stepped up during a town hall rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., where she interrupted the top of the ticket as he was discussing the war in Iraq.
"John, John, can I add something?" she said as McCain answered a question from the audience.
McCain, smiling, replied, "Always."
Palin argued that McCain's support for sending thousands more U.S. troops to Iraq put the country on the cusp of victory and was freeing it to focus elsewhere in its battle against terrorists.
"We must win there so that we can win in Afghanistan also," Palin said. "He knows how to win a war."
Palin also rebuffed criticism that she doesn't have enough foreign policy experience to assume the presidency, if necessary.
"If you want specifics and specific policy or countries, go ahead, you can ask me. You can even play stump-the-candidate if you want," Palin challenged her questioner.
Meanwhile, Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel contends in an interview published Thursday that Palin, lacks foreign policy experience and calls it a "stretch" to say she's qualified to be president.
