LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Journalists and others began Friday rifling through thousands of emails by or to Sarah Palin, published in response to a freedom of information request into her correspondence as Alaska governor.
The northwestern US state released the mails in print form to a number of media outlets, keen to find nuggets as speculation grows that the Tea Party favorite and former Alaskan governor will run for the White House next year.
More than 24,000 pages of emails were published, although 2,415 pages the state deems privileged, personal or otherwise exempt will remain under wraps.
The media are not the only ones seeking nuggets in the Palin emails: the New York Times has asked its readers to help it sift through the huge mass of mostly banal material.
For anyone who wants to help in the hunt search engines were set up, including at http://palinemail.msnbc.msn.com/palin2011/allList.html.
News outlets including CNN and the Anchorage Daily News asked for Palin's emails to be released in 2008, after Palin became the surprise running-mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
At the time officials said they could not be released because of the antiquated electronic databases they were stored on, complicated by the fact that Palin commonly used a Yahoo account to conduct state business.
The release comes as speculation mounts over whether Palin will run for the Republican nomination in next year's election against Democratic President Barack Obama.
Palin has kept the media guessing, including during a "One Nation" bus tour when journalists had to scramble to follow her, with no details given in advance about her travel plans.
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