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ANCHORAGE - The head of the Alaska Democratic Party charged Gov. Palin on Monday with spending too much time on the road engaged in partisan politics and not enough time taking care of business at home.

A Palin spokesman said state business has not been affected by her absences.

Palin stumped Monday in Georgia for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who faces a tough runoff election to retain his seat against Democrat Jim Martin.

Alaska Democratic Party chairwoman Patti Higgins said Palin, absent from Alaska for most of September and October while running as the GOP vice presidential nominee, should be home addressing the $100 drop in per barrel crude oil prices, the budget for next year and longer-term Alaska social problems such as the low high school graduation rates and the continued difficulty for senior citizens on Medicare finding doctors to treat them.

"It's one thing to run the state from a Blackberry when you're just troubleshooting and helping solve some problems, but where is she sitting down with her staff, being proactive, and trying to solve some problems that are on the horizon?" Higgins asked at a press conference. "I don't see that."

Gasoline prices for Alaskans are nearly $1 more than the national average, she said. Rural Alaskans are leaving villages to move to urban areas.

"Is her mind around the problems facing Alaska?" Higgins asked. "Does she even know that we're having this huge in-migration of people in from the villages? What is she doing about it? Anchorage has 500 more kids in the school system that they expected to have. What is this doing to the places they left out in the rural areas?"

The value of the Alaska Permanent Fund has dropped by $8 billion, Higgins said.

"Is the governor going to qualify for the permanent fund dividend? I think she's been gone that long," Higgins said.

Palin spokesman Bill McAllister called a press conference in response to Higgins. Twenty-seven days have passed since the national election, he said, and Palin has been in Alaska for all but five.

The governor this week will unveil a health care plan and award a state license to TransCanada Inc. for a natural gas pipeline. Later this month, he said, Palin will announce a proposed budget and a long-range energy plan.

"These are all things that have been worked on through the fall and more intensely here in the last two, three weeks, with the governor driving the process, literally at the head of the table," he said.

The flow of work matches the schedule of previous governors, he said.

"It sounds like the Democrats are seizing on what is a normal lull in external activity in administration to make it seem as though the governor is not working, knowing full well that this is the period when all those decisions are being made and they are unveiled in December," he said.

Asked if state business was affected by Palin's absence in September and October, McAllister said no.

"If you can tell me one thing that didn't get done that was supposed to get done, yes, state business was not affected," he said.

How about an education plan to address Alaska's high dropout rate?

"(An) education plan would be contained within the budget, which we'll be releasing on Dec. 15th," he said.