Palin drops 'bridge' line from speech

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin apparently has dropped a reference to the controversial "Bridge to Nowhere" in her public remarks, The New York Times said Thursday.

Ever since she was picked as Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate, Palin has consistently included a line in her public remarks, telling audiences that as governor she rejected congressional earmark funding for a bridge to a sparsely populated island. However, a succession of news reports during the past week have found that Palin supported the project during her campaign for governor and opposed it only after it became controversial.

The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee ran a TV ad this week saying Palin was "for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it" -- using a phrase that dogged Democratic nominee John Kerry in 2004 after he said he had been for a troop funding bill before he was against it.

As Palin addressed a crowd in a hangar in Fairbanks Wednesday, her remarks were largely similar to the speech she has given on the campaign trail, the Times said, but did not include a reference to the bridge.

A Palin campaign aide told the newspaper the governor's decision not to mention the bridge had what the Times called no broader significance.