Gov. Mom

And, in fact, after Trig's birth, she was at her desk within a few days, baby in tow and crib in her office.

Johnson said the governor waited to reveal her pregnancy to avoid exactly what is going on now -- judgments from strangers saying, "How can you bring a baby into the world knowing how much energy it takes and still think you can run a state?"

"She's heard that her whole life -- the challenges of being a female and mother in the workforce," Palin's husband, Todd, said in the same interview with People a few days ago. "I remember the first time she ran for mayor one of her fellow council members told her you can't run because you've got three negatives: Track, Bristol and Willow. Those are the three kids we had at the time. So when you tell her that kind of stuff, she just gets fired up."

Although a clear majority of mothers today are in the workforce, studies show that the pendulum has swung back, and most are skeptical about mothers working full time; they see part-time jobs as the ideal. A recent survey by Pew Research reported that only 11 percent of working mothers believe it's good for children when the mother works full time.

Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for the conservative Campaign for Family Values, dismissed as "stupid" any suggestions that Palin's family choices or her daughter's pregnancy would make her unsuitable to conservative voters. "This is an American family out there living out their values and doing the best job they can. Values voters understand that women who are mothers make family a priority but that many of us need to work and want to work," she said.

Trig Paxton Van Palin could end up being the best-traveled infant in America. Campaign sources said that the baby would be with his mother a good part of the time, and that arrangements are being made to have a babysitter travel with them. Confirms grandmother Sally Heath, "I can't imagine she would leave him behind."