Can He Stop 'Troopergate'?

A McCain lawyer scrambles to block a Palin ethics inquiry.

Michael Isikoff
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 16, 2008 | Updated: 7:15 p.m. ET Sep 16, 2008

A former top Justice Department prosecutor now working for John McCain's presidential campaign has been helping to direct an aggressive legal strategy aimed at shutting down a pre-election ethics investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The growing role of Edward O'Callaghan, who until six weeks ago served as co-chief of the terrorism and national security unit of the U.S. attorney's office in New York, illustrates just how seriously the McCain campaign is taking the so-called "troopergate" inquiry into Palin's firing last summer of Walt Monegan, Alaska's Public Safety Commissioner.