Palin's daughter is pregnant - campaign enters Twilight Zone

Earlier this morning, FOX News's Chad Pegram wrote , "It's official. This political year just crossed over into the Twilight Zone."

He didn't know the half of it. This was before what some are calling "Baby-gate."

If the rest of the election is going to be like the last couple days, it will make Cirque de Soleil look like "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."

Rumors

Internet rumors began almost immediately after John McCain named the virtually unknown Governor of Alaska to be his running mate that her five month old son, Trig, was actually her daughter's baby.

Yesterday, a post on the Daily Kos screamed, "BabyGate: Explosive new details."

Without confirmation, the post read:

The revelation that had been whispered among the Alaskan legislature was explosive. Sarah Palin is not the mother of Trig Palin. Her daughter is the mother. Scarce if any refutations to the contrary have come forward, and now damning incidents and evidence has come to light.

But it just seemed too odd, too outlandish. Similar to claims that the moon landing was a hoax.

And for the most part, the mainstream media left it alone. Meanwhile on the Internet, the story churned. Photographic "evidence" was released. That evidence? A svelte looking Palin two months before delivery.

Despite this, it appeared that the story would live out its life in "the series of tubes."

Game-changer...

Enter today -- on what was supposed to be -- the first day of the Republican National Convention.

The McCain campaign sent out a release this morning announcing that Palin's daughter is pregnant. Key word is "is." And not in the Bill Clinton "it depends on what the meaning of the words 'is' is." More as is "not was."

Make sense?

Another new baby

We'll let the Governor and her husband Todd clear this up in their joint statement:

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates."

The point is, say the Palins, Trig -- the five-month-old -- is Governor Palin's son. The future child is Bristol's.

The urban legend

As for the gossip?

A McCain aide told Reuters, "The despicable rumors that have been spread by liberal blogs, some even with Barack Obama's name in them, is a real anchor around the Democratic ticket, pulling them down in the mud in a way that certainly juxtaposes themselves against their 'campaign of change.' "

Obama's response

Barack Obama weighed-in on the issue this afternoon according to the Washington Post.

"I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits," he said.  "People's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories."

"You know, my mother had me when she was 18," he said.  "How family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics. I hope that anybody who's supported me understands that's off limits."

And so, once again the political and the personal collide in US presidential politics.