Two weeks after John McCain named Sarah Palin as his running mate, she is finally going solo with the media. She’ll spend the better part of today and Friday with ABC News anchor Charles Gibson.

Until now, Palin has not participated in news shows, press conferences or interviews. A team of media handlers has been preparing her for the Gibson interview.

Ducking questions does a disservice to voters. The public needs to hear from the rookie Alaska governor who, in a few months, could be a heartbeat away from a presidency held by a man in his 70s.

Here are 10 questions we’d like to see Gibson pose to Palin.

1. Why do you and McCain insist that you told Congress “no thanks” on the Bridge to Nowhere?

You’re on record supporting the project until it became an object of national derision.

Follow-up: If you really want credit for nixing the bridge, shouldn’t you return the $398 million the federal government gave your state to finance it?

2. Can you and McCain credibly denounce federal earmarks when you asked for $27 million worth as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and when your $750 million wish list as governor was by far the largest per-capita earmark request in the nation?

Follow up: Eliminating all earmarks would reduce next year’s projected deficit by only 4 percent. So what are your ideas for managing the costs of health care, retirement benefits and defense spending?

3. Are you fully cooperating with the Alaska Legislature’s attempt to learn whether you or someone in your family or staff improperly pressured the state’s former public safety commissioner to fire your former brother-in-law from his trooper job?

Follow up: What’s your explanation for the commissioner’s departure?

4. What are your reasons for questioning the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is caused by human activity?

Follow up: What evidence would cause you to change your mind?

5. How does allowing drilling in environmentally sensitive areas square with your claim of standing up to the oil companies?

Follow-up: Would you support overturning the Bush administration’s decision making polar bears an endangered species?

6. In your convention speech, you ridiculed Barack Obama’s views on terrorists, saying “he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.” Do you disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court that suspects should be able to challenge their confinement before a judge?

Follow up: Are you concerned that some people rounded up in the war on terrorism might not be legitimate suspects?

7. What was the Bush administration’s biggest mistake in its handling of the Iraq war?

Follow up: What exit strategy do you support?

8. You are on record as opposing all abortions except to save the life of the mother. As vice president, would you take an active role in the movement to outlaw abortion?

Follow up: What is your strategy for reducing unwanted pregnancies?

9. How independent are you from the Bush team when many of your advisers came from that camp?

Follow up: As vice president, who would you tap for advice?

10. If you make motherhood a centerpiece of your public biography, should you realistically expect your family to be off-limits to media coverage?

Follow up: Did you consider turning down McCain’s offer to protect the privacy of your family?