WASHINGTON — Remember back to September, when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was a newly minted vice-presidential candidate and she was asked by ABC's Charlie Gibson about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and her split with her running mate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.?
At the time, she told Gibson: "We'll agree to disagree, but I'm gonna keep pushing that, and I think, eventually, we're all gonna come together on that one."
Apparently Palin wasn't persuasive enough. Tuesday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee shot down Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's effort to open up ANWR to directional drilling. The sole Republican to vote against the proposal? McCain.
The amendment, which came up during work on an energy bill, failed 10-13. Murkowski, the top Republican on the energy committee, has argued that directional drilling could be done from outside the refuge to tap reserves with its boundaries.