In 2006 while she was running for Governor, Palin was asked: Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?

She said, Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now--while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.

This blogger says: So she was very much for the bridge and insisted that Alaska had to act quickly—the party of Ted Stevens and Don Young might soon lose its majority, after all.

The blogger explains: By that point, the project was endangered for reasons that had nothing to do with Palin—the bridge had become a national laughingstock, Congress had stripped away the offending earmark, shifting the money back to the state's general fund, and future federal support seemed unlikely.

The blogger continues: True, after Palin was sworn into office that fall, her first budget didn't allocate any money for the bridge. But when the Daily News asked on December 16, 2006, if she now opposed the project, Palin demurred and said she was just trying to figure out where the bridge fit on the state's list of transportation priorities, given the lack of support from Congress."

"Finally, (the blogger says), on September 19, 2007, she decided to redirect funds away from the project altogether with this sorry-sounding statement:

"Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer," said Governor Palin. "Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it's clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island," Governor Palin added. "Much of the public's attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here. But we need to focus on what we can do, rather than fight over what has happened."

I can't believe that I'm here defending Governor Palin; I don't even like the woman. But I like even less piling on with little information; it seems to me that Palin's approach to the matter was sequential and logical in its progression.

Regarding the 'bridge to nowhere', I have previously said that it was an unfortunate misnomer, totally misunderstood by the press and therefore by the citizens.

Ketchikan, a town of about 13,000, is on the Alaskan mainland. Its airport was built on an island a couple of stone throws away. In addition to the airport about 50 families live on the island. (I say 50 families rather than "population" because when I worked at the Alaska Division of Elections I believe that Gravina Island had 67 voters).

To get back and forth from the airport one takes a ferry. The last I knew it wss $12.00 one way for a walk-on; $25.00 one way for a vehicle.

A good case could be made for a bridge. The problem was that the projected bridge would have had to be very tall to allow ships to pass beneath and would therefore have been very expensive.

Ketchikan itself voted against it. However, the governor at the time, Frank Murkowski, was pushing it; Murkowski hailed from there.