PALIN SPEECH DRAWS MORE THAN 40 MILLION VIEWERS

More than 40 million people tuned in to the Republican convention yesterday to hear the vice presidential candidate, Governor Palin, introduce herself to voters.

That audience rivaled the one for Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Obama, last week. Nielsen Media Research estimated 37.2 million people watched Mrs. Palin on either ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, or MSNBC. PBS estimated it had 4 million viewers for the speech.

Last week Mr. Obama had 38.4 million viewers on the commercial networks, topping 40 million with PBS and C-SPAN added in.

Those are bigger audiences than the “American Idol” finale or Academy Awards.

Viewers were far more interested in Mrs. Palin than the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden. Mr. Biden’s speech to Democrats last week was seen by an estimated 24 million people.

MCCAIN: PALIN RUMOR ‘A VICIOUS LIE’

John McCain’s campaign is denying a tabloid report that the vice president candidate, Governor Palin, had an extramarital affair. “It’s a vicious lie,” a spokesman, Steve Schmidt, said.

The campaign is considering legal action, the senior adviser added.

The National Enquirer wrote in its edition dated September 15 that Mrs. Palin had an affair with a business associate of her husband, Todd Palin. He discovered the infidelity and dissolved the business, the article said. It attributed the allegation only to “an enemy” of the Alaska governor.

BIDEN VOWS TO CHALLENGE PALIN

The Democratic vice presidential nominee, Joe Biden, said yesterday that he will vigorously challenge his Republican counterpart, Governor Palin, on the issues, but will refrain from personal attacks.

Mr. Biden made the remarks Thursday in response to a question from a woman who attended his forum on national security and veterans issues in military-heavy Virginia Beach. The questioner said she realized it’s tricky for a male candidate to debate a woman but implored Mr. Biden to “please promise me you’ll go after her the same way….”

The rest of the question was downed out by applause and cheers.

“The way I was raised is: I never, ever, ever attack the other person,” Mr. Biden said, adding that probably was not what many his fellow Democrats want to hear. “I will take issue with her as strongly as I can.”

ANGRY DEMOCRATS TALK OF PAYBACK FOR LIEBERMAN

Senate Democrats hinted at payback yesterday for Senator Lieberman, who called Senator Obama an untested candidate beholden to Democratic interest groups in a prime-time Republican National Convention address.

Mr. Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent and a close friend of the Republican presidential candidate, Senator McCain, still caucuses with Democrats, which allows them to control the Senate with a 51-49 majority . A spokesman for the Majority leader, Harry Reid, a Democrat of Nevada, indicated yesterday that Mr. Lieberman may no longer be welcome.

“Lieberman went too far when he distorted Senator Obama’s record,” Mr. Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley, said. “From Reid’s perspective, [Lieberman] has every right to give a partisan speech to whomever he wants. But he doesn’t have the right to distort Senator Obama’s record like that. Senator Reid was very disappointed in Lieberman’s speech.”

Mr. Manley added: “The Democratic caucus will likely revisit Lieberman’s situation after the November elections.”

Asked if Mr. Reid was putting Mr. Lieberman on notice, Mr. Manley replied: “Without overplaying it, the answer is, yes.”

Mr. Manley refused to discuss what options Democrats might consider in dealing with Mr. Lieberman.

“There is no plan,” Mr. Manley said. “I assume this is something the Democratic caucus will discuss after the elections in November.”

There’s speculation that if Democrats bolster their Senate majority this fall, as many predict, they could seek retribution by ousting Mr. Lieberman from his Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairmanship, a coveted post.