John McCain's campaign team sought yesterday to shut down persistent questions on how thoroughly the Republican presidential candidate had vetted his running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

The campaign made a bid to regain control of its message hours before Ms Palin was due to address the Republican National Convention by lambasting a flurry of reports suggesting Mr McCain had minimal knowledge of the governor before choosing her as his vice-president. The campaign said the reports were nothing but a "faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee".