Sarah Palin Goes 'Birther'

Obama Birth Certificate, Obama Citizenship, Sarah Palin declared on Thursday that the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate is "rightfully" an issue with the American public, and that it is "fair game" for politicians to question Obama's citizenship.

The comments came during an interview with conservative radio host Rusty Humphries, who asked Palin whether she planned to "make the birth certificate an issue" if she runs for president in 2012.

"I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue," Palin said. "I don't have a problem with that. I don't know if I would have to bother to make it an issue, because I think that members of the electorate still want answers."

Humphries -- who began the interview with a rendition of the song "Sarah, Queen Of The Wild Frontier" -- followed up: "Do you think it's a fair question to be looking at?"

"I think it's a fair question just like I think past associations and past voting records. All of that is fair game," Palin responded, adding that "the McCain-Palin campaign didn't do a good enough job in that area. We didn't call out Obama and some of his associates on their records and what their beliefs were, and perhaps what their future plans were, and I don't think that was fair to voters to not have done our job as candidates and a campaign to bring to light a lot of things that now we're seeing manifest in the administration."

Palin later referenced "that weird conspiracy theory freaky thing that people talk about that Trig isn't my real son, and a lot of people that went 'Well, you need to produce his birth certificate, you need to prove that he's your kid,' which we have done, but yeah, so maybe we can reverse that, and use the same [inaudible] thinking on the other one."

Sarah Palin Goes 'Birther'

ISSUES:Scores die in El Salvador floods

At least 91 people have been killed in El Salvador by flooding following days of heavy rain, the government says.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency in five regions, Interior Minister Humberto Centeno said.

Mr Centeno said the capital San Salvador and central San Vicente province were the hardest-hit regions.

Journalist Juan Carlos Barahona told the BBC that San Vicente had almost been completely cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges.

Mr Barahona, of the El Salvador daily La Prensa Grafica, told the BBC that the other worst affected areas were La Libertad, La Paz and Cuscatlan.

Mr Centeno said 60 people were still missing, and about 7,000 more were in shelters.

"We have, unfortunately, 91 fatalities," he said, raising the death toll from 50 earlier in the day.

Hurricane Ida

In the town of San Vicente rescue workers pulled bodies from the wreckage of houses.

"We rescued a man this morning who had fractures, and a little girl," resident Cristian Aguilar told Reuters news agency.

"My son and I crossed through the floodwater and brought them here, and now she is with her parents."

News of the deaths came as Hurricane Ida, which has now strengthened to a category two storm, was poised to enter the Gulf of Mexico.

However, Ida, which passed to the east of El Salvador three days ago, is not thought to have caused the severe rains.

The BBC's weather centre said El Salvador's rains were caused by a separate, low pressure system.

Meanwhile, a hurricane watch has been issued for coastal Louisiana and Mississippi by US forecasters.

It is estimated that Ida could reach the United State's northern Gulf Coast by Tuesday, but forecasters have not included New Orleans in the watch.

In forecasting terms, a watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours. A hurricane warning remains in force for parts of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Ida was declared a hurricane on Thursday while it was off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, before it weakened.

ISSUES:Scores die in El Salvador floods