BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Former congressional candidate Kevin Mannix said Wednesday that the media’s coverage of vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter was out of line.

“They are a bunch of left-wing sexist pigs,” Mannix said. “It it hypocrisy with a capital H. If it was a male Democratic governor with five kids and with everything else the same, what would be going on? This is rank hypocrisy.”

Mannix himself brought up his male opponent's sexual history in the 5th Congressional District's Republican primary. Days before the May primary, Mannix's campaign released a statement from a woman accusing Mike Erickson (R-Lake Oswego) of impregnating her and then paying for an abortion. Erickson went on to win the primary, but the allegations have dogged his campaign since.

Mannix, a Republican delegate to the convention, also said that the attention devoted to Palin’s daughter was distracting people away from focusing on what a good candidate Palin is.

“I want to focus on her successes, her career as governor, but how dare she be a smart, personable, career oriented woman, and good looking?” he said. “I think it’s an abomination. I think we should be celebrating the power of women here.”

As to what Palin should be doing to counter the attacks, Mannix said she should be doing what she is doing.

“I think she’s spending her time focusing on a dynamic speech tonight,” Mannix said. “Because we have two Teddy Roosevelts running in this race. Sarah Palin is a female Teddy Roosevelt.”