More On Family Voting

In the context of this discussion, Beldar's post from a few weeks ago cites Kaylene Johnson's biography on Palin. He discusses her habit of asking for unanimous family approval when making big political decisions:

Lisa Murkowski had to run for re-election to her U.S. Senate seat in her own right during the next general election. Writes Johnson (at pages 88-89; emphasis mine):

In 2004, friends and supporters urged Sarah to challenge Lisa Murkowski. [By then,] Sarah had made a name for herself as a reformer, and supporters thought she had a good chance of winning. So, Sarah approached her family to discuss the possibility. Like all of her decisions, the decision had to be unanimous.

 

"People don't believe me, but it's true. It had to be a family decision," she said. Todd was up for a move to Washington, D.C. and the girls were on board as well. But son Track, in his early teens, was becoming aware of the contentiousness of a political battle. He valued his privacy, and felt uncomfortable in the limelight. "Track did not want me to run, and he was adamant about it. He had to bless me," Sarah said. "If he had said at the time 'This is great,' I would have done it."

Beldar continues later, talking about Bristol's pregnancy:

I obviously don't know for sure what conversations Gov. Palin had with her family, and in particular with her daughter Bristol, before giving Sen. McCain her decision. But given this history from 2004 when a veto from Track stopped her from running for a U.S. Senate seat she might very well have won, in which case she would have become Barack Obama's Senate classmate I would wager a very, very large sum of money that Bristol Palin was given a veto right again. I would wager that she was warned, in detail, about the certainty that her privacy would be invaded in a sickening, vicious manner.

And I would wager that Bristol Palin must have said: "Go ahead, mom. Tell Senator McCain 'Yes.' I know what's coming, but my baby and I will be okay."