TENSIONS BETWEEN Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain and his vice-presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, have increased significantly, as their campaign continues to trail in the polls.
The Alaskan governor, who is privately said to accept that the Republicans now cannot win on November 4th against Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden, is now bent on staking out her claim to be the Republican candidate for the White House in 2012.
In the last week or so, according a succession of sources, she has taken to ignoring guidance from McCain advisers accompanying her on the campaign trail and has given interviews to local press without first clearing them.
Last night, CNN quoted an unnamed McCain adviser as saying that she was "going rogue. She is a diva, she takes no advice from anyone. She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.
"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party."
Appearing to concede that the Republican ticket will not win next week, Ed Rollins, a former Republican strategist for Ronald Reagan, said Ms Palin "definitely is going to be the most popular Republican in this country when this thing is over".
He added: "She's got to gain a lot of substance before she's a viable candidate for president. I don't doubt that she has that ability."
Ms Palin was chosen by Mr McCain to be his running mate in a bid to shore up support among conservative Republicans, who have consistently been suspicious of Mr McCain for failing to be conservative enough.
Throughout the campaign she has drawn bigger crowds in most places than her senior partner and has attracted louder applause when the two have appeared alongside each other, as they did yesterday in Pennsylvania.
Tempers have flared over who is to blame for the controversy caused by the decision to buy $150,000 worth of clothes for Ms Palin for the campaign, which is said to have damaged her appeal among some women voters. Earlier this month, Ms Palin openly disagreed with Mr McCain's decision to pull television advertising in Michigan in the face of polling figures which strongly forecast that the state was lost to Mr Obama.
Meanwhile, the Alaskan governor is to release her medical records this week, which she has been repeatedly asked to divulge by media organisations in line with a tradition of almost 30 years.
"If that will allow some curiosity seekers, perhaps, to have one more thing that they can either check the box off that they can find something to criticise, perhaps, or find something to rest them assured over.
"Fine. I'm healthy, I'm happy, had five kids. That is going to be in the medical records. Never been seriously ill or hurt. You will see that . . . if they're released," she said.