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Palin daughter's fiance: No one forced wedding

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

October 14, 2008

WASILLA, Alaska - Levi Johnston, who's having a baby with Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, can't believe all the things he's hearing.

No, he wasn't held against his will on the campaign trail. No, he's not being forced into a shotgun wedding with 17-year-old Bristol Palin.

"None of that's true," Johnston, 18, said in a rare interview with The Associated Press. "We both love each other. We both want to marry each other. And that's what we are going to do."

Standing in the driveway of his family home in this small Alaska town, Johnston spoke about the rumors swirling around him.

The soft-spoken teenager discussed his relationship with Bristol Palin and how life has changed with fatherhood fast approaching. He agreed to talk despite the John McCain campaign's advice to avoid the media in the days following Sarah Palin's vice-presidential nomination.

"They're not telling me anything right now," Johnston said as he checked his BlackBerry. "It's pretty chill."

Not surprisingly, Johnston was a little shocked when he learned about the pregnancy, but he says he quickly embraced the prospects of fatherhood. The baby is due Dec. 18. Johnston has dropped out of high school to take a job on the North Slope oil fields as an apprentice electrician.

There's no word on how his future mother-in-law feels about Johnston's decision to drop out of high school. Last year, she made a point of trying to turn around the high dropout rate in their hometown.

"I'd remind the kids that no matter where they are in life - [maybe] in circumstances that probably aren't ideal - that there is no circumstance that they're in that is insurmountable or would necessitate them just giving up," Palin said.

Johnston hinted he's expecting a boy, but he declined to discuss baby names.