A senior McCain aide defends their vetting of Palin in today's Washington Post, telling Michael Shear and Karl Vick there have been 'no surprises' thus far:

The aide said all facts about Palin's record and background that have caused controversy as they were revealed in the past few days -- including the ongoing "troopergate" investigation and the fact that Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant -- were known to the McCain campaign. Washington lawyer Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. led the search team.

"Nothing that has come out did not come out in the vet. She was fully vetted," the senior aide said.

The process, according to the aide, included a standard FBI background check, a 3 hour interview and a 70-question form that included "intrusive personal questions."

Another report this morning by McClatchy Newspapers finds "little evidence of a thorough vetting process." Sean Cockerham writes:

While it's possible that some people in Alaska were called during the process, there was no sign of it. The former U.S. attorney for Alaska, Wev Shea, who enthusiastically recommended Palin back in March, said he was never contacted with any follow-up questions.

Chris Coleman, one of Palin's next-door neighbors, said that no one representing McCain spoke to him about Palin. Another neighbor also was never contacted, he said Monday.

Republican Gail Phillips, a former speaker of the Alaska House, said that she was shocked by McCain's selection of Palin and told her husband, Walt, "This can't be happening because his advance team didn't come to Alaska to check her out." She said she would've heard had someone been poking around.

"We're not a very big state," Phillips said. "People I talk to would've heard something."

The truth is probably somewhere in between. I'd be hard pressed to believe that McCain didn't know about Bristol's pregancy or that his staff wasn't fully aware of the situation with trooper gate. On the other hand, it does seem that McCain may not have vetted Palin as fully as one might have expected, given how new she is on the national political scene. Whether this was out of recklessness, as some have suggested, or whether a curtailed vetting process was a calculated risk taken as part of the campaign's strategy to keep the pick a secret - thus ensuring the maximum political impact - is anyone's guess.

Either way, we continue to learn more about Sarah Palin by the minute. All of this information is being digested by the public and is helping to form public attitudes about her. But nothing will have a bigger impact on the public's view of Palin than her speech here in St. Paul. She can go a long way toward easing concerns about her experience and reinforcing her credentials as a reformer with a powerful performance tomorrow night.

UPDATE: McCain spokesman Nicole Wallace said on the Today show, "A process that is secret, should not be confused with a process that is hasty."

UPDATE II: More from AP's Liz Sidoti:

Culvahouse said Palin's review, like others, began with a team of two dozen people culling information from public sources. The team reviewed speeches, financial records, tax information, litigation, investigations, ethical charges, marriages and divorces, for a number of potential running mates.

For Palin specifically, the team studied online archives of the state's largest newspapers, including the Anchorage Daily News, but didn't request paper archives for Palin's hometown newspaper for fear the secret review would become public.