Sarah Palin might still be unknown south of Ketchican if John McCain had listened to his daughter. In her new book, "Dirty Sexy Politics," Meghan McCain says she felt "shaken and troubled" after meeting Palin, her father's pick for vice president, reviewer Steven Livingston says in the Washington Post. Her preference: Joe Lieberman, "a brilliant politician . . . one of the kindest, friendliest, and funniest people I have ever met."

The tug-of-war between Connecticut and New York over hedge-fund firms is hardly the only interstate tax battle, Amity Shlaes says at Bloomberg. Tax competition between states is getting fiercer, in part because of the recession and in part because of anticipated tax increases at the federal level.

The future leadership of the state could be influenced by a pair of thirty-somethings running the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial campaigns. Hearst's Ken Dixon does a quick "tale-of-the-tape" on Justin Clark, 35, Tom Foley's campaign manager, and Dan Kelly, 31, Dan Malloy's manager.