Earlier this fall, Joe McGinniss published The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin. McGinniss, the author of 11 other nonfiction books and novels, relied heavily on anonymous sources in The Rogue to help tell the story of the vice presidential candidate who captured America’s imagination, if not its endorsement. In order of appearance, here they are.
• A friend of the Palins
• An old friend
• Another childhood friend
• A longtime Wasilla acquaintance
• A friend of Todd’s
• A friend
• A former city official
• Another longtime resident
• A friend of Sarah’s who had voted for her but who worried that her lack of knowledge—especially in the field of economics—might pose a problem
• A former city employee
• Someone who left her city job and moved out of Wasilla
• A team parent
• An old family friend
• A parent of one of Track’s classmates
• A friend of his
• The state trooper who drove Sarah and Track to the enlistment office in Anchorage
• An attractive white woman who lived in Dillingham in the mid-1990s
• Someone who knew her well at the time
• Another frequent visitor
• A Palin family friend and occasional houseguest
• A longtime friend
• One former houseguest
• A friend of his from Dillingham
• A former Dillingham resident
• A longtime acquaintance
• This friend of hers, who at first tells me I can use her name, then changes her mind
• One aide
• One friend
• A friend [who] saw Sarah briefly the night before she gave her speech in Dallas
• A longtime Alaskan friend of hers
• A sturdy, white-haired woman dressed in red, white, and blue
This article appears in the November 2011 issue of The Washingtonian.
