Inside the surprising McCain-Palin friendship

Sources with knowledge of their relationship do describe the duo as friends and that they go in spurts where they speak frequently and then less so. A close friend and advisor to McCain would not describe their relationship since the campaign as still that of mentor and apprentice, although it may have started that way in August 2008. It may appear humbling for McCain, who has been Arizona’s senator since 1986, to have to call in his younger, much less experienced former running mate to stump for him, but the advisor is adamant that “he likes her, he defends her, he was happy to invite her, and happy that she can do it. It’s not humbling” and that it “would not even occur to him to feel any other way.” The senator is not afraid of Palin upstaging him because this same advisor stresses that “you can’t steal the spotlight, if you are offered the spotlight.”

A source familiar with the relationship who has worked for both McCain and Palin say that their catch-up conversations are not just about politics, but that they also chat about commonalities, like both having children serving in the military. He said she and Todd are “looking forward to getting together with a friend and somebody she believes in.” When asked if Palin holds any old grudges from the campaign infighting the staffer said, “just because you don’t like somebody’s staff doesn’t mean you don’t like them.”