Secret Service blames Sarah Palin's speeches for increased death threats toward Barack Obama.

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

The revelations, contained in a Newsweek history of the campaign, are likely to further damage Mrs Palin's credentials as a future presidential candidate. She is already a frontrunner, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to take on Mr Obama in four years time.

Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."

Irate John McCain aides, who blame Mrs Palin for losing the election, claim Mrs Palin took it upon herself to question Mr Obama's patriotism, before the line of attack had been cleared by Mr McCain.

You want to hear something funny?

I had half convinced myself that I would stop posting about Sarah Palin and just let her self destruct on her own.

But with these new revelations that simply will not be good enough for me.

Sarah Palin has proven to be a catastrophic embarrassment to Alaskans.

Because of her the whole country thinks we are uneducated, that we are religious fanatics, and that we are racists. And that is just not true. Not even a little bit.

Because of that misrepresentation she is much too dangerous to be allowed to remain in charge of my state. The longer she stays in the public eye as the face of Alaska the more damage she does to the place of my birth.

So as distasteful as it is, I will continue to post about Sarah Palin in the hopes that an informed populace will keep her from attempting to further her political career, either in Alaska or on the national stage. It is my duty as a REAL Alaskan.