JOHNSTOWN -- Gov. Sarah Palin defended her role in the Alaska "Troopergate" scandal and went after Sen. Barack Obama on the issue of abortion during campaign stops today in Western Pennsylvania. She also spoke for the first time of being "very scared" when she learned her youngest son had Down Syndrome.

The Republican vice presidential nominee told reporters in Altoona that she disagreed with the findings of a state investigation that found she abused the power of the governor's office in firing her former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

At a large rally of the GOP faithful in Johnstown, Ms. Palin took on Sen. Barack Obama on the issue of abortion. "Mr. Obama is a politician who has long since left the middle ground on the issue of life," she said, criticizing the Democratic presidential nominee -- who supports abortion rights -- for his opposition to a bill in the Illinois legislature that would have prohibited partial birth abortions.

"He said a woman shouldn't have to be 'punished with a baby,'" she added. "He said that right here in Johnstown. It's about time we called him on it."

"A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for activist courts that will continue to smother debates on this issue of life," she said.

In fact, Mr. Obama made the comments during a discussion at a town hall meeting in Johnstown in March in response to a question about sex education, not abortion, noting that he had two daughters "and I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby." Later, the Obama campaign sought to clarify their candidate's remarks. Spokesman Tommy Vietor noted that Mr. Obama believes "children are miracles, but we have a problem when so many children are having children." He added that Mr. Obama strongly supports taking steps to reduce the number of teen pregnancies and abortions in this country.

In comments to reporters in Pittsburgh this morning and, later, ouside a Sheetz gas station in Altoona, Ms. Palin denied that she had abused the power of the governor's office by trying to fire her former brother-in-law, although a state investigation released yesterday said she had done just that.

While Ms. Palin had the authority, as governor, to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, his refusal to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten was "likely a contributing factor" to Mr. Monegan's dismissal. And in pressuring Mr. Monegan and others to fire Mr. Wooten, she violated state ethics law, the report said.

Ms. Palin insisted, however, that the report found she had done nothing unlawful or unethical.

She called the report "A partisan kind of process that had been undertaken by some of the legislators who haven't been real happy with anything that I've done along the way as governor."

At the Johnstown rally Ms. Palin also spoke at some length of her own initial reaction when she and her husband, Todd Palin, learned that their youngest son Trig had Down Syndrome.

"When I learned that my son Trig would have special needs, I had to pray that my heart was ready for the challenges to come," she told a crowd of about 5,000 supporters who packed the Cambria County War Memorial Arena, after praising the late Gov. Bob Casey for his support for children of special needs. "At first I was very scared. Todd and I had to ask for that strength and understanding."

Now, she added, while her daughter Willow sat on the stage nearby holding the boy, "as for our baby boy he is only more precious because he is more vulnerable. We stand to learn more from him that he does from us. When we hold Trig or care for him we don't feel scared anymore."

She spoke to an exuberant crowd that had started lining up outside the venue at dawn. Across the street about 100 protesters, many of them part of a Veterans for Obama group, chanted and waved signs. Ms. Palin's half-hour speech here kicked off a campaign swing across Pennsylvania that will include Altoona and end tonight in Philadelphia, where she will drop a ceremonial puck at the home opener of the Philadelphia Flyers game against the New York Rangers.

Noting that she was standing in a boarded-over ice hockey arena where the movie "Slap Shot" was filmed, the self-proclaimed hockey mom asked for "a strong showing of hockey moms for McCain!" But cheers turned to good-natured boos when she noted, somewhat sheepishly, that she would be attending the Flyers game that night.

The Alaska governor, and the speakers at the rally before her, sought to remind the crowd of Mr. Obama's comments last spring that small town Americans are "bitter" and cling to guns and religion.

"We still don't know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on people when they're listening and then says they cling to religion when they're not. Don't talk about us one way in Johnstown and another way in San Francisco," she said, to raucous applause.

Her remarks about abortion were no doubt aimed at voters outside the hall in Cambria County, with its large population of blue collar, socially conservative Democrats and which -- despite an overwhelming Democratic voter registration edge -- went for President George Bush in 2004. And while the crisis on Wall Street and the nation's dismal economic statistics top voters' concerns, Republicans have said they hope to attract "Reagan Democrats" on social issues like abortion.

"I'm glad she talked about abortion. We're killing babies and it's something that needs to be discussed," said James Nance, 36, who drove from Hagerstown, Md. to see Ms. Palin.

"I thought she was very real about it," he added in reference to her discussion of her son. "If I was in that position I would have been praying to God too. I've got kids of my own and thank God they're all healthy. Raising children is stressful enough, and I can't imagine what I would be doing if I were in her position."

Ms. Palin criticized Mr. Obama for downplaying his support of late-term abortions and his comment to evangelical pastor Rick Warren that a discussion of when life begins "is above my pay grade."

"The more I hear from Senator Obama, the more I understand why he's so vague, and please, it's not negative or mean spirited to talk about his record," she said, in an apparent response to criticism about this presidential contest's increasing negativity from both sides.