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Under a deal brokered by the House, the standoff was resolved just hours short of the opening gavel falling, prompting some to question whether it was an ominous sign for the upcoming session.

"I hope not," said House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, who had just finished touting goals of unity and bipartisanship during a House Majority press conference.

Harris chalked up the snafu to miscommunication, helped along in part by his office.

"There was some legitimate confusion over the time," Harris said.

Palin sent Harris a letter nearly a month ago asking to change the traditional day and time of the speech, from 7 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the session to 6 p.m. on opening day.

The House schedules the joint sessions. Harris said his office didn't give the letter a lot of thought and never responded to it.

Meanwhile, the governor's office thought it was a done deal. And Palin arranged to fly out of Juneau following the speech to attend her son Track's Thursday graduation from boot camp in Fort Benning, Ga.

Then last week, following legislative protocol, the speaker's office sent its customary invitation to the Senate president, Lyda Green, R-Wasilla, inviting the Senate to a joint session at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

But when Palin made it known she expected to give the speech at the earlier hour, Green put her foot down.

The two lawmakers are often on opposing sides of issues.

The speech couldn't be held at 6 p.m. because the Senate had scheduled its floor session at that time, Senate Majority Spokesman Jeff Turner told reporters.

Furthermore, Turner said, it couldn't be held earlier because lawmakers were still trickling in after major storms over the weekend had backed up many fights into Juneau.

Palin held firm saying she would give her speech just to members of the House, if they were the only lawmakers who showed up.

Tuesday morning, as Palin practiced her speech in the Capitol's bomb shelter where the governor's media center is located, she received word that Green and Harris had decided on 4 p.m.

"Whatever it takes to be able to speak to Alaskans is what we are going to do," she said.

Asked what was behind the kerfuffle, she shrugged. "It's nonsensical and the bottom line it's not the best use of our time or the state's resources," she said.