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Media on standby for handover of tens of thousands of emails sent when Sarah Palin was governor of Alaska Sarah Palin is braced for the release of tens of thousands of emails sent when she was governor of Alaska and which opponents say could damage a potential run for the White House. The emails, copies of which will be obtained by the Guardian, date from her inauguration as governor in 2006 through to being propelled to fame as the Republican vice-presidential candidate in 2008. The controversial time saw her initial sky-high approval ratings plummet and ended up in a series of rows, including an ethics investigation and a falling-out with her running-mate, John McCain. Palin’s critics say she and her allies had stalled a Freedom of Information request for the emails made in September 2008. But Linda Perez, administrative director to the present Alaska governor Sean Parnell, a Palin ally, denied there had been any obstruction. “It was the sheer volume,” she said. “Nothing else.” Her office is due on Friday to hand over six boxes containing 24,199 pages of printed emails to the Guardian and other media organisations that had applied for copies. Our reporters will immediately begin sifting the documents for stories but the Guardian plans to publish thousands of the raw mails as quickly as possible to allow readers to scan them for interesting material. We’ll be asking users to help us by tagging unread mails according to the subjects they cover and how interesting they are, and alert our editors to those which warrant further investigation. The release comes the week after Palin’s highly publicised bus tour of the east coast in which she said she is still considering whether to seek the Republican nomination for the 2012 White House race. Palin, in an interview last week with Fox, said she was relaxed about the emails because every rock that could be kicked over had been. But a note of caution crept in when she added that “a lot of those emails obviously weren’t meant for public consumption”. She has a semi-authorised version of her time as governor due to be released next month as a documentary. Earlier email releases highlighted the big role that Palin’s husband, Todd, played behind-the-scenes in her administration. But these releases are dwarfed by today’s volume. Such is the level of interest in Palin that 15 US media organisations, including CNN, Fox, the New York Times and the Washington Post, are expected to crowd into the court building in the state capital to take possession of their copies. A media race will then begin to find any stories in the thousands of pages of printed mails. The main value of the emails will be in offering insights into her character. Her critics portray her as vindictive, small-minded and paranoid, more focused on celebrity than policy. Her supporters, including members of the Tea Party movement, blame such negative appraisals on a liberal media out to get her, citing bias in their failure to request the emails of Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats. Andree McLeod, a long-time Palin critic who lives in Anchorage and who is among the private citizens who made the original Freedom of Information request, said: “The emails will demonstrate Sarah’s fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants administration … the loose, rogue kind of government she ran.” McLeod is sceptical about how much damaging information will come out given the length of time Palin and her lawyers have had to go through them. About 2,275 emails have been withheld and some of the 24,199 have been redacted. Perez said that, with the release on Friday, staff will begin working on Freedom of Information requests dealing with Palin’s remaining time in office, up to her resignation in July 2009. The Guardian has t his week been the target of rightwing ire for reporting that Sarah Palin would be denied a meeting with one of her political idols, Lady Thatcher, on the grounds that it would be “belittling” for the former prime minister. The conservative radio host Rush Lindbaugh denounced the report , ahead of Palin’s brief visit to London next month, as “preposterous”. A Thatcher ally had told the Guardian that aides of the former Iron Lady, who is in poor health, would ensure she had an “off day” if necessary during Palin’s visit. Sarah Palin US politics Alaska Republicans Tea Party movement United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk