NBC reporter Matthew Berger, part of the national press corps traveling with Sarah Palin, had this report from Jacksonville:

Palin's Straight Talk Air II yesterday was a study of contrasts.

Twice in one day, Gov. Charlie Crist came back behind the gray curtains to say hello to the press. We actually think the first time he was just stopping by en route to the lavatory at the back of the plane. But he stopped and said hello, perused the selection of jelly beans we had sitting on one seat, and even gave his business card to one reporter, after she said she was a Floridian and her parents were his constituents.

No tough questions asked. Just a brief friendly chat.

What made the casual stroll to the back of the plane so striking was Crist has now done it more in one day than Palin has in the five weeks she has been traveling as a vice presidential candidate.

On her first solo flight, Palin and her husband, Todd, came back to say
hello, but even the visit itself was deemed, "Off the record."
Reporters were essentially sworn to secrecy -- until it was leaked out.

We haven't seen her on the plane since.

Speaking to NBC's Tampa affiliate Monday, Palin though said she wasn't scared of the media. "The hits that I take from the media, if I can't handle that now, you know I shouldn't be seeking office," she told WFLA.

But at rallies, she often gets some of her biggest applause when she
bashes the "mainstream media," and suggests they aren't asking tough
questions on Obama's tax and spending plans.

And she laughs off criticism of her performance in interviews with CBS
News by saying she was frustrated with the questions Katie Couric was
asking.

Palin is choosing a strategy with the media that has become familiar,
especially on Republican campaigns. But Crist's presence Monday showed
the reporters on Palin's plane that there are other options.

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