Sarah Palin’s future was the subject of intense speculation yesterday after damaging revelations emerged from the Republican camp and as the party was braced for a potentially catastrophic result in Alaska, her home state.

Three days after the US elections the result of Alaska’s Senate race has yet to be declared — and the outcome may well determine the political future of Mrs Palin, one of the Republican party’s few young stars.

The contest that many Republicans hope their candidate will lose is between Ted Stevens, 84, the veteran incumbent convicted on seven corruption charges late last month, and the Democrat Mark Begich, Mayor of Anchorage.

Despite failing to report $250,000 (£160,000) worth of gifts, Mr Stevens looks likely to become the first convicted felon to win election to the Senate — largely because he has diverted billions of dollars in federal largesse to his state during his 40 years in Washington. With most precincts counted but many postal ballots outstanding, he leads by about 3,500 votes.

If Mr Stevens does win, the Senate will probably give him time to appeal. If his appeal fails, however, he will either resign or be expelled by his colleagues — opening up the possibility that Mrs Palin, Alaska’s Governor, would seek to return to the national arena by standing for his seat. An election would be held within 60 to 90 days of the Republican stepping down.

Since John McCain’s defeat in the presidential election, his aides have leaked stories about how Mrs Palin became an electoral liability. They accuse her of failing to prepare before her disastrous interview with Katie Couric of CBS News, naively accepting a prank call from a Canadian comedian pretending to be President Sarkozy of France, and incurring ridicule with her $150,000 shopping spree at expensive department stores.

Reports yesterday said that the McCain campaign authorised her to buy just six suits for the convention and campaign, but instead she spent a fortune on clothes, luggage, jewellery and other accessories for herself, her husband and her family, and had junior staffers pay some of the bills with their credit cards.

One angry McCain aide told Newsweek magazine that it was “Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast”. The New York Times said that there was a “civil war” between Mr McCain’s campaign and hers, and that he seldom spoke to her. Fox News reported that Mrs Palin did not understand that Africa was a continent, not a country, and did not know which countries were in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Moderate Republicans fear that if Mrs Palin emerged as a national leader of their party, she would take it in the wrong direction. “If the Republican Party is a right-wing party, it cannot win,” says Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist.

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