Palin foreign experience limited to Canada

By MARTHA MENDOZA
The Associated Press

(10/01/08 12:12:49)
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who touts her state's proximity to Russia as part of her foreign policy experience, has not met with Russian leaders or delegations, negotiated any Russian issues or visited the country, according to an Associated Press review of records from the governor's office.

The review showed that the Republican vice presidential candidate has negotiated with only one country, Canada, and until last week had met with the leader of only one other, tiny Iceland. Her portfolio expanded last week when she went to New York and met seven foreign leaders attending the U.N. General Assembly.

Governors who run for national office often are criticized for lacking the international experience that, for example, someone from Congress or the president's Cabinet might have. But Palin's foreign policy adviser Steve Biegun, on leave as vice president of international governmental affairs for Ford Motor Co., said that's not a handicap.

"And what Governor Palin has is a full breadth of international experience that any governor would have who is engaged with the world on trade, on infrastructure issues," he said. "Governors don't have the same opportunities or the same responsibilities that senators have. They're different, but they're not inferior."

Palin herself has said repeatedly that her job is inherently international because of Alaska's location, across the Bering Strait from Russia.

(Continued here.)