The daily downpour of Sarah Palin-related coverage brought several notable stories over the weekend. If Talking Points Memo is playing point on critical coverage of Palin, Salon is stepping up its game as well.

Links and excerpts are below the jump.

The NYT assays the cronyism and vindictiveness in Palin’s Alaska record:

“[A]n examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents ‘haters’— contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

“Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials….

“Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.”

David Talbot talks to Rev. Howard Bess, an evangelical minister whose book, Pastor, I Am Gay, was among those Palin reportedly wanted out of the Wasilla library:

“A retired American Baptist minister who pastors a small congregation in nearby Palmer, Wasilla’s twin town in Alaska’s Matanuska Valley, Bess has been tangling with Palin and her fellow evangelical activists ever since she was a Wasilla City Council member in the 1990s. Recently, Bess again found himself in the spotlight with Palin, when it was reported that his 1995 book, Pastor, I Am Gay, was among those Palin tried to have removed from the Wasilla Public Library when she was mayor.

“‘She scares me,’ said Bess. ‘She’s Jerry Falwell with a pretty face. At this point, people in this country don’t grasp what this person is all about. The key to understanding Sarah Palin is understanding her radical theology.’”

Katharine Mieszkowski attended Palin’s first solo campaign rally, in Nevada:

“Some Palin rally-goers started lining up at 8 a.m. in the 90-plus degree heat to get into the 5 p.m. speech, which took place in a facility that hosts pickup roller hockey games, inspiring Palin to give a shout-out to her sister “hockey moms” in the crowd. In this capital city of 50,000, where even the local Safeway has slot machines, the pavilion stands just down the block from the El Mundo Latino Western Wear store. The overwhelmingly white crowd that gathered to see Palin speak included Boy Scouts, single moms, high school cheerleaders, retired oldsters and multigenerational families with infants and grandmothers in tow…

“‘She represents me. She’s real. She represents real people,’ said flight attendant Charlene Bybee, 54, of Sparks, Nev., who wore a black T-shirt with the slogans ‘I am Sarah Palin’ and ‘Real Women for McCain.’ Bybee is a self-described ’security mom’ who has two sons, ages 20 and 24, and was once the runner-up Miss Nevada. She said she identifies with Palin as a former PTA mom and one-time beauty queen. Bybee, who has been an active Republican volunteer in the past was tepid about McCain’s candidacy. But she’s so energized by Palin that she’s now volunteering for the campaign. ‘You shouldn’t have to be from a major American city to represent most Americans,’ she said.”

Frank Rich: “The Palin-Whatshisname Ticket:”

“The cunning of the Palin choice as a political strategy is that a candidate who embodies fear of change can be sold as a ‘maverick’ simply because she looks the part. Her marketers have a lot to work with. Palin is not only the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket, but she is young, vibrant and a Washington outsider with no explicit connection to Bush or the war in Iraq. That package looks like change even if what’s inside is anything but….

“But Obama’s most important tactic is still the one he has the most trouble executing. He must convey a roll-up-your-sleeves Bobby Kennedy passion for the economic crises that are at the heart of the fears that Palin is trying to exploit. The Republican ticket offers no answers to those anxieties. Drilling isn’t going to lower gas prices or speed energy independence. An increase in corporate tax breaks isn’t going to end income inequality, provide health care or save American jobs in a Palin presidency any more than they did in a Bush presidency.”