Palin book goes after McCain camp but not Levi

NEW YORK - Sarah Palin's new memoir provides heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter's pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page tome doesn't contain a single reference to the father of her granddaughter, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.

In "Going Rogue," which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford - preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla.

The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that "will hurt her."

While the book - which contains 68 color photos but no index - stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen. John McCain's campaign.

Confirming that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain's, Palin bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she'd been kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.

The book, which has a first printing of 1.5 million copies, has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other best-seller lists for weeks, ever since publisher HarperCollins announced it had been completed ahead of schedule and moved its release date up from next spring. The Associated Press was able to purchase a copy Thursday.

While the book follows her life from birth in Sandpoint, Idaho, to wondering about the next stop in her future, Palin, who received an advance of at least $1.25 million, saves her strongest words for run-ins with McCain staffers and her widely panned interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.

She describes Couric as condescending, biased and "badgering." She contends the anchor chose "gotcha" moments while leaving the candidate's more substantive remarks on the cutting room floor.

The closest Palin comes to naming names occurs in the passages about chief McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt.

Written with Lynn Vincent, "Going Rogue" is folksy in tone and homespun. For example, Palin says her efforts to award a license for a massive natural gas transmission line was turning a pipe dream into a pipeline. She writes in awe about how the McCain campaign had hired a New York stylist who also had worked with Couric.