From the AP:

John McCain embraces and expels Washington like an accordion player belting out a song. Squeeze in and he touts his vast knowledge of the capital city. Draw out and he casts himself a reformer bent on changing its ways.

This time around, though, McCain is projecting a dual image: the outside insider. A 25-year veteran of the House and Senate, a white man like all the rest of the country’s presidents to date, McCain is trying to fend off a 44-year-old, first-term senator angling to become the first black to reach the Oval Office.

Squeeze in, and he’s the new capital tour guide for his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. ‘I can’t wait to introduce her to Washington, D.C. I can’t wait,’ he said to cheers Monday in Jacksonville. Draw out, and he’s never set foot in the city himself. ‘The word’s going out, my friends: The old-boy network, the pork-barrelers, the earmarkers, my friends, the word is, ‘Change is coming,’ McCain said. ‘There’s two mavericks coming to Washington, and we’re going to shake it up.’

Squeeze in, and he’s got the Washington skill set needed to right the country’s Wall Street woes….Draw out, and he distances himself from the administration of the Republican president who has endorsed him.

The Associated Press says Governor Palin is effectively deferring all questions about her record as Alaska’s governor to McCain’s camp.

Palin’s government press secretary now turns away inquiries from any reporter who isn’t permanently based in Alaska.

Wire service says it’s

part of an ambitious Republican strategy to limit any embarrassing disclosures and carefully shape her image.

Also, a conservative Alaska commentator at the Alaska Daily News begs Palin to come clean.