‘First Dude’ Todd Palin goes for the burn

Thursday, February 12. Alaskan everyman Todd Palin – the husband of Sarah Palin – is currently holding fifth position in the 'Iron Dog' snow machine race across Alaska. He has quietly won the event on four occasions but unfortunately for him and his wife (pictured at the start of the event), this year the efforts of Alaska's 'First Dude' during the almost 2,000-mile long race have attracted the wrong sort of attention.

Writing on the Huffington Post, Chris Kelly is hugely unimpressed. "This week…Todd Palin will release as many cancer-causing and smog-forming pollutants as a Chevy Malibu driven around the Earth at its equator 28 times," he writes. "Seems like a lot of work, just to get away from Sarah Palin."

It also doesn't escape Kelly's notice that the race is sponsored by a host of companies who do business with the governor's office – clearly a coup for their 2009 marketing strategies.

Meanwhile, the governor herself may be considering a fresh job proposal. Bill Ayers – the "domestic terrorist" Palin famously accused Barack Obama of "pallin' around with" during the 2008 presidential election campaign – has suggested she could co-host a television show with him.

In the forthcoming issue of the New York Times magazine, Ayers reveals that he sent Palin a note after the November election. "I suggested that we have a talk show together called Pallin' Around With Sarah and Bill. I haven't heard back."

FIRST POSTED FEBRUARY 12, 2009