McCain advisers said they had gathered extensive information about Palin before that meeting, including details of an ongoing investigation in Alaska involving her firing of the state’s public safety commissioner. Details of her life and her record as governor that have since emerged in media accounts were discovered during that process, they said… McCain officials said that questionnaire and the personal interview revealed three new facts previously unknown to the team: Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy, the arrest of her husband two decades ago for driving while intoxicated, and a fine Palin paid for fishing without proper identification.

“We made a political determination that the American people would not object to a female candidate with a 17-year-old daughter who was pregnant,” Schmidt said Tuesday. “We believed that parents all over America would understand that life happens. The team made a recommendation to the senator that these issues were not disqualifying.”… “We spent a lot of time on the Monegan thing,” said one McCain official. “So that was one that was absolutely no surprise.”