ABC News? Jacqueline Klingebiel and Lindsey Ellerson report: Levi Johnston discloses exclusive details about life behind the scenes at the Palin household in an upcoming October issue of Vanity Fair, whichis set to hitstands today.

In the exclusive interview, Johnston, who fathered Bristol Palin?s baby, revealed that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin asked the young parents to keep their pregnancy a secret during her unsuccessful bid for the 2008 vice presidency.

?She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn?t have to worry about anything,? Johnston wrote. ?Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging?she wouldn?t give up. ?

Johnston goes into great lengths describing the Palins' parenting style, sayingthey didn?t cook or clean and often household chores were left up to the children.

?The kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry, and get ready for school. Most of the time Bristol would help her youngest sister with her homework, and I?d barbecue chicken or steak on the grill,? said Johnston. ?Even before the campaign, Bristol was already the mom in the house, and she got tired of having to take care of her siblings.?

In a throw to the controversial exchange during the campaign betweenCBS?s Katie Couric and Palin about what publications the then-governor read habitually, Johnston also remarked that Palin only reads ?once in a blue moon.?

[I] ?actually never saw Sarah reading much at all?once in a blue moon, I?d see her reading a book, and I?ve never even seen her read a newspaper in my life. The Frontiersman and the Anchorage Daily News were always there in the morning, but the only one who looked through them was Todd.?

During the campaign and shortly after, Johnston told Vanity Fair that there was a lot of tension in the Palin?s relationship, often fighting and sleeping in separate rooms. Johnston disclosed there was also talk of divorce.

?They?re good on television, but once the cameras would leave they didn?t talk to each other,? Johnston said.

But it was after the elections that Johnston characterized life in the Palin household as rather dismal, saying the then-governor would walk ?around the house pouting.? When the McCain camp began accusing her of being the reason the Arizona senator lost the election, Palin would defensively remark, ?I brought everything to the table? and ?the majority of people were out there voting because of me!?

The aftermath of the election hit Palin hard, said Johnston, and ?she definitely thought she was running for president.?

Shortly after, Palin decided to step down from her role as governor of Alaska.Johnston told Vanity Fair Palin would blatantly say, ?I want to just take this money and quit being governor.?

Dean Pushing Big Apple ‘Baby College’

ABC News’ Teddy Davis reports:

 

Fmr. Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) was bypassed on Monday for secretary of Health and Human Services. He stepped down as chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Jan. 21, 2009.
Ferdous Al-Faruque/ ABC News 

Howard Dean’s hopes of joining the Cabinet were dashed for a second time on Monday but the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has not been deterred from pushing early childhood intervention, an issue he was hoping to champion as secretary of Health and Human Services.

“If I had been in Obama’s Cabinet, I would have been delighted to work on this,” Dean told ABC News. “Since I didn’t get in HHS, which would have had a lot to do with this, I’m going to just do it.”

Dean’s Monday interview with ABC News was conducted by phone while Obama was formally announcing that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) was his choice to lead HHS after Obama’s original pick, former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., bowed out over unpaid taxes.

Now that his tenure has ended at the DNC, Dean is working to launch a school readiness program in New York City. The integrated services are expected to include home-nurse visits, parenting workshops, day care, early childhood education, and after-school programs.

“We found a school, there are some wonderful people associated with it, it has especially strong leadership, there are social services in the district,” he said. “So, all the ingredients are there. And now the question is: can we coordinate it and can I come up with some money so that nobody gets left behind?”

To learn how to get this project off the ground, Dean has consulted Geoffrey Canada, the president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), a multi-faceted anti-poverty program which includes something called “Baby College,” a place where pregnant women and their significant others receive counseling on how to care for newborns.

Dean, who grew up in New York on Park Avenue, is not the only one who has looked to the HCZ program as a model.

While campaigning for president, Obama proposed replicating the Harlem program in 20 cities across the country. He said the federal government would provide half of the funding with the rest of the money coming from philanthropies and businesses.

The budget blueprint which Obama unveiled last week follows up on his campaign promise: it includes money to support the creation of “Promise Neighborhoods” in which schools and community organizations would collaborate to provide broad support to families and children in high-poverty areas.

While Dean would have enjoyed working on Obama’s “Promise Neighborhood” program, the former Vermont governor is hoping that the project he is spearheading in New York can become a useful model.

“This doesn’t get you to the 20 cities,” said Dean. “But what you need is a very successful demonstration project.”

“I’ve already spoken with (Education Secretary) Arne Duncan,” said Dean. “He thinks this is all a great idea.”

Dean first became interested in early childhood intervention while trying to get a handle on prison costs as governor. Under his Success by Six program, every child in Vermont, whose parents ask for it, gets a visit within two weeks of their birth from a social worker or school nurse.

The purpose of the visits is to help parents cope with the birth of a new child.

“It’s emotional deficits, its teenagers having kids, its low educational aspirations, its the disorganization that comes from intense poverty,” said Dean.

He likens the initiative to Head Start, which offers services to children between the ages of 3 and 5, but says there is an advantage to working with even younger children and their parents.

“Most kids are hard-wired by the time they are three,” said Dean.

In addition to promoting early childhood education, Dean’s post-DNC plans include joining the government affairs practice at McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP. He also plans to promote health-care reform through Democracy for America and democratic institutions worldwide through the National Democratic Institute.

ABC News’ Ferdous Al-Faruque contributed to this report.