Levi Johnston, the boyfriend of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old pregnant daughter Bristol, is going to join the family of the Republican vice presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., his mother told reporters, according to The Associated Press.

Sherry Johnston explained that her 18-year-old son left Alaska on Tuesday morning in order to accompany the Palin family at the convention where Sen. John McCain will be officially named Republican presidential nominee.

When asked whether the young couple had been pressured to marry, the boy’s mother said the two teenagers had not been forced to take any decision and that they had intended to tie the knot even before finding out that Bristol was pregnant.

“This is just a bonus,” Sherry Johnston said.

Levi Johnston’s attendance at the convention might generate a lot of media buzz around him and his girlfriend, as camera operators and photographers go all-out to snap pictures of the two teens.

On Monday, Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced that their daughter Bristol was carrying a child and that she planned on marrying a young man identified only as Levi. In addition to this, the family asked the media to respect the couple’s privacy.

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is due to deliver a speech on Wednesday night and, by tradition, the members of her family would join her at the conclusion of her lecture.

Nevertheless, Sherry Johnston expressed her concern in what regards her son’s lingering in the public eye. She explained that beside the fact that teenagers have a hard time in coping with any pregnancy, having everybody watch their problems worsened the situation.

Levi Johnston, a high school hockey player for Wasilla High School, does not have his name listed on the team roster for 2008-2009 and, what’s more, his mother refused to disclose any information regarding his educational status. Sherry Johnston only said that her son was no longer a student and that more details would have to be divulged by him.

The news on the subject of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy lured reporters into the suburban community approximately 40 miles north of Anchorage, in front of the Johnston residence.

“This is out of my league,” Sherry Johnston said, according to The Associated Press. “I’m just a country gal and I want to keep it that way.”

She offered all the information on Tuesday while standing in the driveway leading to her home.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama explained that Sarah Palin’s family issues were not relevant to her possible position of vice president. “I think people’s families are off limits,” Barack Obama said. “And people’s children are especially off limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics.”

Although Sarah Palin has been chosen to be John McCain’s running mate for just a few days now, she has nonetheless been in the spotlight ever since. Besides Bristol’s controversial pregnancy, it was revealed that a private legal representative has been retained for Sarah Palin in a legislative ethics inquiry for her dismissal of Alaska’s public safety commissioner. Furthermore, it was also made public that her husband had been taken into custody on a drunken-driving charge about 20 years ago.