Yes. When Obama was a community organizer Palin was a college student and a TV sports intern.

On September 1, 2008 while asserting that Palin's experience has prepared her to be Commander In Chief, McCain said on 'Fox News Sunday' that Palin was in government when Obama was a community organizer:

     "And of course, as governor she has had
     enormous responsibilities, none of which
     Senator Obama had. He - when she was in
     government, he was a community organizer."
     [1]

Palin was not in government when Obama was a community organizer. In 1985 to 1988, when Obama was a community organizer, Palin was a college student and then a TV sports intern.

Details:

In 1983 at age 21, Obama graduated from Columbia University with a degree in political science with a specialization in international relations. Obama then worked as a financial consultant in New York City before being drawn to public service. In 1985 Obama, then 23, moved to Chicago to work for $10,000 a year for a branch of the Calumet Community Religious Conference, soon to be spun off as the Developing Communities Project, working as an organizer for a dozen churches in the city's impoverished South Side. Obama worked as a community organizer for three years, until he left in 1988 to attend Harvard Law School. [2-4]

Obama, describing his three years as a community organizer:

"I moved to Chicago and worked with churches, who were dealing with steel plants that had closed in their neighborhoods, to set up job training programs for the unemployed and after-school programs for youth, and to try to deal with asbestos in homes with poor people -- community service work -- which John McCain has been talking about putting country first and extolling the virtues of national service, I would think that’s what we want all our young people to do. I would think that that's an area where Democrats and Republicans would agree." [5]

In those same years, 1985-1988, Palin was attended in multiple colleges and after graduation worked briefly as a sportscasting intern. In 1983 at age 19, Palin was enrolled at North Idaho College, after having attended Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu in the fall of 1982. In the spring of 1984 Palin transferred to the University of Idaho, where she majored in journalism with an emphasis in broadcast news. In the fall of 1985 Palin returned to Alaska to attend Matanuska-Susitna College. She then returned to Idaho, where she graduated with a degree in journalism in the spring of 1987. Palin then worked briefly sports intern at KTUU-TV in Anchorage, from March through May of 1988. [6,7]

Palin was first "in government" as an elected official in 1992, as a member of the Wasilla City Council. [8] By 1992 Obama had graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was elected to serve as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama then returned to Chicago, where in 1992 he began teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. [9]

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Does Obama have more elective office experience than Lincoln when he ran for president?

Would Obama be the youngest president to take office, if elected?

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Did McCain say he put ambition first, before country?

Would McCain be the oldest president to take office, if elected?

Did McCain imply Palin's experience isn't enough to be president?

Get the Facts at McCain Fact Check.

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[1] Transcript. John McCain on 'FOX News Sunday'. Fox News. September 1, 2008

[2] Walsh, Kenneth. On the Streets of Chicago, a Candidate Comes of Age. U.S. News & World Report. August 26, 2007

[3] Kovaleski, Serge. Obama’s Organizing Years, Guiding Others and Finding Himself. New York Times. July 7, 2008

[4] Chambers, Joshua. Obama's alma mater wants a visit. Columbia Daily Spectator. January 30, 2008

[5] Political Radar. Obama to Stephanopoulos: Puzzled by Community Organizer Attacs. ABC News. September 7, 2008

[6] Geranios, Nicholas. Palin education took her to five colleges. Associated Press. September 4, 2008

[7] Eggerton, John. Palin Was Sports Intern At KTUU-TV. Broadcasting & Cable. August 29, 2008

[8] Yardley W, Becker J, et al. John. Sarah Heath Palin, an Outsider Who Charms. New York Times. August 29, 2008

[9] Levenson M. & Saltzman J. At Harvard Law, a unifying voice. Boston Globe. January 28, 2007