Laura McGann, my counterpart at sister site the Washington Independent, flew to Alaska Sunday to gather information about Sen. John McCain’s soon-to-be-official vice presidential nominee, Gov. Sarah Palin.  Though the McCain campaign says they thoroughly vetted their candidate before selecting her, McGann reports that the city clerk in Wasilla, Alaska, the town of roughly 9,000 where Palin was mayor until two years ago, says she had not been asked for information related to Palin until McGann called:

I told her I appreciated her help, since I’m sure she’s been bombarded with requests these last few weeks. The clerk’s office keeps all City Council meeting agendas, minutes, legislation, ordinances, etc. She chuckled. Then she told me that I’m the first person who has asked her office for anything.

Meanwhile, it appears Palin’s record on earmarks is less cut-and-dried than it once appeared.

If you’d like to follow McGann’s great Alaskan adventure, click here for her Twitter feed.  There you’ll learn fun facts like this:

Palin beat her opponent in the 1996 mayor’s race 616-413.

and

Walmart employs 4 times as many people here as the city of Wasilla.