Flip Flop Flip:

Gov. Sarah Palin today said indicted U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens "has dedicated his life to the betterment of the state" and said she couldn't say yet whether he should resign.

Speaking to reporters in her Capitol office at 12:30 p.m., Palin said the federal indictment "rocks the foundation of our state."

Asked whether Stevens should quit the Senate, Palin said she hadn't had a chance to fully read the 28-page indictment and said it "would be premature at this point" to call for Stevens to resign, as she did in the case of state Sen. John Cowdery, R-Anchorage, after he was recently indicted on federal charges including bribery.

Wasting no time in separating their campaign from the "corruption and insider dealing that has become so pervasive in our nation's capital," Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, called today on their fellow Republican, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, to step down from the Senate.

Palin, in a cable-news interview and in a written statement issued later in the day, called on Stevens to step down even if he's re-elected next Tuesday, when he faces Democratic Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

"After being found guilty on seven felony counts, I had hoped Senator Stevens would take the opportunity to do the statesman-like thing and erase the cloud that is covering his Senate seat," Palin said in a statement. "He has not done so. Alaskans are grateful for his decades of public service, but the time has come for him to step aside. Even if elected on Tuesday, Senator Stevens should step aside to allow a special election to give Alaskans a real choice of who will serve them in Congress."

After charges were dropped: "What a horrible thing he has endured. The blatant attempts by adversaries to destroy one's reputation, career and finances are an abuse of our well-guarded process and violate our God-given rights afforded in the Constitution."