First Dude of the Wild Frontier

At the Mocha Moose cafe on the frontier in Wasilla, the word on Todd Palin, Alaska's 'First Dude', is that he is... Well, that he is "not real outgoing".

It is probably a good idea to give the man some space, should you come across him supping his cup of Joe after he has run the kids to school and is bleary-eyed from being up all night tinkering with the racing snowmobile, and running practice dashes through the moonlit tundra.

There is no doubting that he is the strong, silent type, the John Wayne kind of American, the sort you can still find in Alaska even if they are disappearing from the touchy-feely new world of Hollywood cowboy movies.

"Todd's not real outgoing, and he's not very flamboyant,"