Gov.Palin's daughter is 17 and 5 months preggo!

T. PAUL -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced moments ago that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant and is planning to keep the baby and marry the father.

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," said Sarah and Todd Palin in a statement. "Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support."

The news comes just 72 hours after Palin was introduced by John McCain as his vice presidential nominee. In the time between the pick and Palin's statement today, rumors had grown louder and louder that Palin's youngest son, Trig, was actually her grandson and that it was Bristol who had given birth to the young boy.

According to Reuters, McCain campaign officials knew about Bristol's pregnancy during the vetting process and that the rumors surrounding baby Trig's birth made an announcement necessary.

Reuters' Steve Holland writes: "McCain officials said the news of the daughter's pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called 'mud-slinging and lies' circulating on liberal blog sites."

The impact of such a bombshell announcement is hard to gauge so soon after it has been made public. Assessing the way it could influence the race is also complicated by the ongoing wall-to-wall coverage of Hurricane Gustav -- the cable networks have stuck with the coverage of the natural disaster so far, just adding a line in the news crawl about the Palin revelation.

Conservative blogs appear to be rallying to Palin's side in the matter. Townhall.com, a prominent conservative website, has already expressed support for the Palins in a blog post.

Writes Carol Platt Liebau:

"I admire all the Palins' willingness to be forthright about the pregnancy, their pro-life convictions even when they entail personal pain or embarrassment, and their understanding that babies need and deserve to have a father and a mother who are committed to each other in marriage."

That quick support will be key to shaping how the issue is treated since, for social conservatives, a teenage pregnancy is something of a jump ball.

On the one hand, premarital sex is frowned upon. On the other, the Palins' commitment to keep the baby and Bristol Palin's pledge to marry the father of the child gives social conservatives something to latch on to if they are looking for positives out of this situation.

A few other factors to remember when trying to figure out how this will play out.

* Palin has a VERY strong following among social conservatives who are nearly certain to give her the benefit of the doubt in this situation. She is a known commodity in social conservative circles and is regarded as "one of them" -- a fact that should lessen any criticism from the right.

* Democrats must be VERY careful not to take a false step here. Some Republicans have already insisted that the Obama campaign is behind the rumor-mongering about Sarah, Bristol and Trig -- although in our experience the campaign has not pushed the story AT ALL, in fact they have been encouraging reporters to focus on the issues of difference between the two candidates rather than personal stories. Any sense that Democrats are pushing this idea will almost certainly turn both Sarah and Bristol Palin into sympathetic figures -- and that spells trouble for her detractors.