Over 700 Fans Attend Sarah Palin’s Baton Rouge Book Signing

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Over 700 people stood in line at Governor Palin’s book signing in Baton Rouge today.  Melissa Hawkes at KATC  TV reports:

Supporter Darlene Knight said, “there are a lot of Americans interested in getting our country back where it needs to be.”

More than 700 fans showed up at Books-A-Million to meet Palin in person.

Fan Jenny Kirk said, “I’m a little nervous because I watched Dancing with the Stars and saw her daughter and caught a bit of her show. It’s just exciting that she is here in Louisiana, all the way here from Alaska.”

Pam crane added “I got here at 5:15 in the morning. They wouldn’t let us into the parking lot until 6 am., but as soon as they opened up the parking lot, I put my chair out there.”

Crane was one of the first to have her book signed. She says it’s a meeting she’ll never forget.

“I said you keep up the good work and she says well I got your back and you’ve got my back and I said, just keep up the good work, we need you.”

Supporter Rosalynn Landes came wearing her Palin pride.

She said, “I think she’s the future of our country. I think we want down-to-earth people running the country, no more elite politicians with degrees from Harvard, from Yale. She’s just one of us.”

Some people made new friends while waiting outside the store, but others decided to dive right into Palin’s book.

One fan said, “I read her book. That’s all I had to do. I mean the book is good.”

Landes said she’s clinging on tight to her copy of the book–hoping one day it’ll be the work of a president.

WBRZ TV posted this video:

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Governor Palin Leads 2012 GOP Primary Poll

By Adrienne Ross – http://www.motivationtruth.com

C4P’s Ian Lazaran reports the following poll that shows Governor Palin leading the 2012 GOP Primary:

The Daily Kos pollster finds her in the lead:

Palin 21%
Gingrich 19%
Romney 18%
Huckabee 16%
Paul 5%
Pawlenty 5%
Thune 3%
Daniels 2%

Read more good news from Ian here.

SarahPAC Raises Almost $500,000 in a Month, Over 3 Million This Year

By Adrienne Ross – http://www.motivationtruth.com

SarahPAC, Governor Palin’s political action committee, continues to raise an impressive amount of money as she does the necessary work of supporting conservatives around the nation.

After conversing with Tim Crawford, SarahPAC’s treasurer, TIME reports:

Sarah Palin raised $469,000 between Oct. 13 and Nov. 22 bringing her total for the year to over $3 million, Tim Crawford, SarahPAC’s treasurer, told TIME exclusively. Crawford attributed the surge of funds to energy surrounding the midterm elections, Palin’s endorsements and her TLC reality show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” Her second book, America By Heart, came out Nov. 23.

The PAC spent $64,000 buying advance copies of her books, “just as we did last year” with her first book, Going Rogue, Crawford said. “They’re a great fundraising tool for us.” Palin is in the midst of a two-week cross-country book tour.

Overall the PAC spent $581,000 between Oct. 13 and Nov. 22. A larger percentage than normal was spent on contributions to political candidates, $244,000, as Palin tried to help her 81-endosed candidates over the Nov. 2 finish line. Fifty-five of them won.

All of the $469,000 was raised online or through direct mail. The former Alaska governor has had only two fundraisers for her PAC this year – the last one this past summer — compared to Mitt Romney’s nine. Crawford expects to file his report to the Federal Election Commission this afternoon.

Ian Lazaren reminds us:

These numbers are in addition to the $300,000 that she raised in the first half of October. It’s great that she’s on pace to match her numbers from last quarter during a time that is typically a dead period for PAC fundraising. Her numbers are even more impressive considering that she has pretty much done no fundraising.

You can donate to her PAC here.

SarahPAC Raises Nearly $500,000 In Just Over A Month

By Gary P Jackson

Sarah Palin’s political action committee had an exceptional month leading up to the November election and beyond. Time Magazine reports:

Sarah Palin raised $469,000 between Oct. 13 and Nov. 22 bringing her total for the year to over $3 million, Tim Crawford, SarahPAC’s treasurer, told TIME exclusively. Crawford attributed the surge of funds to energy surrounding the midterm elections, Palin’s endorsements and her TLC reality show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” Her second book, America By Heart, came out Nov. 23.

The PAC spent $64,000 buying advance copies of her books, “just as we did last year” with her first book, Going Rogue, Crawford said. “They’re a great fundraising tool for us.” Palin is in the midst of a two-week cross-country book tour.

Overall the PAC spent $581,000 between Oct. 13 and Nov. 22. A larger percentage than normal was spent on contributions to political candidates, $244,000, as Palin tried to help her 81-endosed candidates over the Nov. 2 finish line. Fifty-five of them won.

All of the $469,000 was raised online or through direct mail. The former Alaska governor has had only two fundraisers for her PAC this year – the last one this past summer — compared to Mitt Romney’s nine. Crawford expects to file his report to the Federal Election Commission this afternoon.

This is a strong showing, and yet another sign that Sarah Palin is a political powerhouse. Time gets the endorsement/win ratio wrong though, as she endorsed ninety-four candidates in local, state, and national races. Sixty-three won.

It’s quite remarkable that Sarah only had the need for two fund raising events vs Romney’s nine.

Though we’ll have to wait for the reports, it’s known Romney is raising most of his money from big donors, corporate and special interests, while Sarah’s money, for the most part, comes in small amounts of $200 or less. Her new book, America by Heart, was used as a premium to generate funds as well, with donors who sent in $100 getting a signed copy. She did this last year with Going Rogue.

This effort tells us that Sarah is poised to make a strong effort should she run for President. It will take an incredible amount of money to compete against Barack Obama. Only two seem capable of this, Sarah and Mitt Romney. Over at HuckPAC, Mike Huckabee’s effort seems to have imploded, and others like Newt Gingrich simply aren’t raising any dollars.

This may set us up for the inevitable Palin vs Romney showdown in the primaries, and with all of Romney’s baggage he’s not going to be competitive against Sarah’s record of successful leadership.

We expect Sarah to announce her intentions early in 2011.

Sarah Palin Adds Personal Touch to Metairie Book Tour

Hundreds showed up for Governor Palin’s book signing in Metairie, Louisiana.  Many of them were encouraging her to run for President in 2012.

Mary Sparacello at The Times-Picayune gave this detailed account (see photogallery here):

Nancy Adams and her daughter Jolie Taubin of Covington had waited all day Monday to be one of the first people to meet Sarah Palin and shake her hand at a book signing in Metairie. They said the wait was worth it.

View full sizeBrett Duke, The Times-PicayuneFormer governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin chats with Katelynn Decker, 9, of LaPlace on Monday as Palin signs books at Barnes & Noble in Metairie.

“It was an experience you won’t forget,” Adams told her 9-year-old daughter after they met Palin.

Adams and Taubin were two of hundreds of people who waited hours to meet Palin on Monday night at a book-signing at Barnes & Noble on Veterans Memorial Boulevard.

Palin signed copies of “America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag.” The book hit bookshelves Nov. 23, and Metairie was an early stop on the national tour. Palin will be in Baton Rouge at a Books-a-Million on Tuesday morning.

When Palin stepped behind the book-signing table, the excited crowd cheered and broke out in scattered chants of “Run, Sarah, run,” encouraging Palin to run for president in 2012.

About 300 people were waiting in line Monday morning for the bookstore’s doors to open so they could buy the book and get a wristband for the signing, said Jennifer Simon, community relations manager for the Metairie store. Bookstore employees wouldn’t release a final count of wristbands given out.

Palin smiled widely, shook hands and spoke with everyone as she autographed books.

“Six children,” the mother of five and former vice presidential candidate exclaimed to one woman. “You have me beat.” 

Former Governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin signs her new book “America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag,” Monday, November 29, 2010 at the Barnes & Noble in Metairie. Palin was at the bookstore promoting her new book.

// <![CDATA[
/* Attendees said they were surprised at how friendly Palin was. “She’s very personable, very charming,” said Gwen Mitchell of Destrehan.   

“I didn’t expect the personal touch,” said Carole Fernandez of Westwego, who was at the signing with her sister Brenda Fernandez and two of her sister’s grandsons.

Palin asked both boys, Austen and Ashten Taylor, for their names, ages and where they go to school. The boys, 12 and 9, respectively, are home-schooled, their grandmother told Palin.

“You may have shaken hands with the future president,” Brenda Fernandez told the boys after they stepped from the table. “This is something they’ll never forget.”

Brenda Fernandez told Palin that she voted for her daughter, Bristol, 10 times during the younger Palin’s recent stint on “Dancing With the Stars.”

“Thank you for keeping her in there,” a smiling Palin told Fernandez. “She had a blast.”

Some of the people at the book signing used their short time in front of Palin to try and persuade her to run for president in 2012.

“Who better to take care of the soldiers than the mother of a soldier?” asked John B. Wells of Slidell, retired from the Navy after 22 years. Wells had gotten in line early Monday to get a wristband and decided to camp out at the store all day to get an early audience with Palin.

He said he told Palin that if she is elected president to take care of the military and the veterans. He said she told him, “‘Definitely. That’s my first priority.'”

Metairie resident Betty Purcell also had been waiting all day to meet Palin, who she praised for being a Christian and a leader. “It’s really neat to be able to touch someone who’s doing what she’s doing,” Purcell said.

ABC26 TV has videos of fans waiting in line for the book signing here and  here and video footage of the book signing here.  The tone of the broadcasters is a little snide, but the fan comments and the video footage of Governor Palin are worth the listen.  Here are two of the videos:

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Here is their writeup by Darian Trotter:

It was a chance to see the former Alaska governor up close and personal.

“Hopefully we’ll get to shake her hand and see her in person, finally after seeing her on television all the time,” said Barry Burns.

Palin’s stop at Barnes and Noble in Metairie is part of a national tour to promote her new book “America by Heart,” which focuses on Palin’s beliefs and ideals.

“It’s really good, really really really good reading,” said Rachel Hurd.

Supporters showed up from all over. Their admiration for Palin was obvious.

“I love Sarah Palin. I’m so excited about what she’s doing in our country,” said Betty Purcell.

“We think she’s going to be the next president of the United States,” said Daniel Hurd.

The line was long. Their wait was too.

“We both got here yesterday evening,” said Daniel Hurd.

 Daniel and Rachel Hurd were first in line.

“We didn’t want to get here and have the line wrapped around the building three times,” said Rachel Hurd.

Once inside, the line moved like clock work.

Each person got a firm hand shake, a smile, and a brief conversation.

Lisa Cacioppo says it was well worth the wait. 

“Just amazing,” said Cacioppo. “Held onto your hand the whole time she was talking to you, addressed you by your name just so personable this is why people love her she’s down to earth, she’s like every woman. She’s like my group of friends I hang out with every month. She can go to lunch with me and fit right in.”

Open Letter To Mike Huckabee;For Faith,Flag And Family Please Endorse Palin

Dear Governor Huckabee,

I am sure your public persona as a sincere, affable and considerate person is genuine and reflects the core person beneath the image. Certainly your 2008 run for the presidency was accomplished with dignity. The result you achieved, both electoral and from creating a body of supporters, surprised many and reinforced the respect you are held in.

Given the nature of the political cycle, and the vast amounts of money and structures required for a presidential campaign, commencing with the primary run, the 2012 candidates will be forced to announce their intentions shortly-possibly as early as February.

You have not given a definitive answer as to whether or not you will run. I understand you have a degree of structure in place and of course you have a loyal following. On the other hand, you advised, when asked about your intentions that you “had a good gig at Fox”, which, being popular and lucrative, might well beat standing outside factories at 6 a.m. in the Winter-not that you wouldn’t hesitate to do that if required.

Before you do decide one way or the other, can I put it to you there are, I believe, three vital factors, apart from the Fox career path, which might weigh heavily on your thinking as you contemplate whether to run or not;

1.Faith

You are a deeply committed and sincere Christian. As part of your faith, which is so deep it led you into the Ministry, you are strongly pro-life. Your Christianity holds and finds you promoting, at the very least and by you example of a lived Christian life, these values in legislation and in moral persuasion.

2.Flag

Your conservative principles are central to a strong economy. A low tax environment as the best mechanism to foster growth, a strong armed forces, and the upholding of America’s leading role in the world as an honest broker, friend it those who support us, and a strong supporter of Israel.

3.Family

You are clearly a loving husband and father and dedicated family man. Certainly you, like all such honorable men treasure your family as the core of your heart and strength. And would promote these family values by example and where possible by legislation.

With these three essential considerations relating to a possible candidacy one overarching question arises. “If I run and split the the vote between Sarah Palin and myself, who share many if not all of these values so neither of us wins what might be the end result? To answer that question in part here are some recent polls whose results reflect Republican voters preferences in various States.

One thing is obvious, the combined Palin/Huckabee vote is substantially ahead of any other single candidate (and many combinations) and would carry vital states
(e.g. California;Romney 25%/Palin 18%/Huckabee 15%). If things stay as they are, i.e. with the vote split between you both, there is a possibility the candidate who does not share the faith and flag values you and Sarah do-as clearly recognized by a majority of voters-might win. The figures are striking; Romney 19.5%/Palin 17.9%Huckabee 17.1%

The question then arises, would you be content to see a candidate lead the GOP in 2012 whom the base of the Party clearly do not see as reflecting your values? If you hold to these values, as you clearly do, and believe they are best for America would it not hurt the country you love to have as president someone who might enact policies inimical to your core values?

The question further arises-you hold, I believe, shared values with Sarah, why then should it not be you who is the standard bearer and her that should endorse you?   With that key question we come to examining the third factor, family, as it relates on a personal level. Because you were not the nominee in 2008 you, and your family, were not subjected to the minute, examination that Sarah was. We saw an endless campaign of sleaze, lies, scurrilous rumors, false stories of affairs, of divorce, her children attacked-even an helpless Downs Syndrome child mercilessly ridiculed.

Every aspect of Sarah’s life, her clothes, her accent, her family-everything was grist to the radical lefts mill. Nothing so vile, so untrue, was off limits in the media’s attempt to ensure their chosen candidates election. There is absolutely no reason not to think they will be at it again in 2012.

I am sure that you, like Sarah, are made of stern stuff and are able to stand up to such buffeting. But, could your wife and children? It is a deeply personal thing to ask I know, and if it gives offence I apologize, but, frankly, it is no less true for all that. I would not believe for a moment that this would not happen.This attack from the vile Blog “Wonkette” ridiculing you and your family is only the smallest foretaste of what would be to come I am sure.

Would not the same apply to Sarah? Frankly so much dirt has been shovelled at her that there is very little, if any, left in the vile hell hole the left has been digging from. If there was anything truly detrimental to her it would have come out well before now. Also, in her case the public is so sick of the media’s attempts to destroy her, the radical left has to tread with caution in case they are seen to engender sympathy for her because of their remorseless attacks.

With respect, not only would you and your family be open to personal attack because of your values, but all aspects of your records with be examined with a fine tooth comb. For example the events surrounding the subsequent actions of some of the people whom you pardoned when Governor would be endlessly raised like “Willy Horton” was.

Governor Huckabee, I believe that all you hold to be true and dear-faith ,flag and family, can be honored in the forthcoming campaign and, as president, by Sarah Palin. By supporting her you would also have the freedom to express your views to a nationwide audience on Fox and would not have to undergo the long absences from family a long, two year campaign would engender, whilst they would be kept out of the spotlight. I would hope and trust that a most senior role would be available to you in the forthcoming Palin administration, if you so choose to serve, which your talents so richly deserve.

I well believe that the future of America may well be in your hands. I believe that this future is best directed (with your assistance) by Sarah Palin, who has superior qualities to the field, and you can make this future, which incorporates your best hopes, possible by your support of her at this crucial time in our history.

Sarah Palin: “America By Heart” Book Tour and Reviews

Governor Palin’s Facebook Note:

“America By Heart” Book Tour and Reviews

by Sarah Palin on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 3:24am

The “America By Heart” book tour continues today in Baton Rouge, LA and Little Rock, AR. Click here for details.  

I got a chance to speak with Jedediah Bila from Human Events last week. You can check out her great column about it here. 

Last May I had the honor of meeting radio show host Hugh Hewitt at an event we both spoke at in Denver. He’s a great patriot, and I’m humbled by his kind words about “America By Heart.” You can read his review here. 

I mention in “America By Heart” that National Review is one of my favorite magazines, and I used excerpts of articles by a number of NR writers. Among them is Kathryn Jean Lopez, who always has such wonderful insight into cultural issues, particularly in regard to building a culture of life. I’m honored by her thoughtful review of “America By Heart” and especially by her including it in the same review with Pope Benedict’s new book. You can read her article here. 

Fox & Friends interviewed Luigi Zingales, the University of Chicago economist whose work I mentioned in “America By Heart.” You can see the interview here. 

I look forward to seeing you in Baton Rouge and Little Rock today and signing your books! 

– Sarah Palin

John McCain Discusses Sarah Palin: “A guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed as divisive too.”

By Gary P Jackson

John McCain, appearing on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning was quizzed by the host, Candy Crowley, about all of the recent efforts by Sarah Palin and the media attention she gets.

When Crowley asked McCain if he felt Sarah might be divisive, he responded: “A guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed as divisive too.”

“She’s doing a great job. I think she’s motivated our base,” McCain added. “She had a positive impact on the last election, and I’m proud of her.”

You can view the video, courtesy of Mediaite, by clicking here

Stunning The Halibut … And The Democrats

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

By Gary P Jackson

So I’m catching up on my reading and find this piece by Steve Tuttle in the far left Newsweek magazine, of all places. For the first half of the article Tuttle tells the tale of a democrat party in shambles, and how they ain’t seen nothing yet. The gist of the story starts on page two, wherein Tuttle uses a recent episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska where Sarah and her daughter Bristol go commercial fishing for halibut as a metaphor for the “bonking” she is going to give the democrats in 2012:

‘Stunning the Halibut’

If the Democrats think things are bad now, wait until Sarah Palin grabs them by their bleeding hearts.

This week I stumbled upon Sarah Palin’s Alaska by looking it up in the TV directory and sitting down on the couch at the time it started so I could view it. I watched Palin take a club to a huge halibut that was flopping around on the deck of a boat, knocking it out cold so it could be thrown into the hold of a professional fishing vessel. She said in her singsong voice, which seems sometimes oddly Germanic, that she was “stunning the halibut.” Not only was I entranced by her awesomeness, but I now have a new favorite catchphrase.

As the fish story unfolded, Palin said, “I wasn’t goin’ to hesitate either, especially when the fish were pilin’ up and they’re slappin’ around. They could do some damage here. We need to calm these boys down real quick.” As the huge halibut flopped about, she cried out, “Sheesh! That hurts like crap!” She explained to the camera that she got slapped across the thigh by one of them: “I realized—yeah, they could hurtcha!” Later, she and her dancing daughter, Bristol, took the halibut’s still-beating hearts and held them in their hands. The harder the Palin gals squeezed, the faster the little panicked hearts pumped. The Democrats need look no further for symbolic harbingers of what could happen in 2012.

You can read the entire article here.

I haven’t written for a few days, instead spending a little time doing some research as well as taking the pulse of the Ruling Class.

Something funny has started to happen. It seems the left wing media has found a whole new respect for Sarah Palin, at least among many. They have obviously realized the past two years worth of vicious 24/7 attacks on the woman and her family have been a bust. Instead of bringing Sarah down, they have destroyed their own credibility and in the process made her stronger.

The left wing sees the writing on the wall.

Obama and his radical Congress overreached like no other in history. They attempted to take America all of the way to the left in one sitting. The American people are not happy, and on November 2 told Obama and Congress not no, but HELL NO, to this insanity.

The American people are fired up, and in it’s present form, the democrat party is finished.

What we are seeing is the progression on the left from ridicule, to fighting, to acceptance of the inevitable, that Sarah Palin will likely be our next President. What these writers hope to do is scare Obama and crew back to reality with the knowledge Sarah is coming for them, and will win.

What’s just as interesting to me though, is the reaction from the Republican elites in the past few weeks. Showing how out of touch they are, as well as slow to react, they are still at the ridicule stage, and moving towards all out war against Sarah.

We’ve had all of the blue bloods in the party come out and talk trash. They saw the same election results the left did, and saw the largest shift in Congress and the state houses in over 100 years. They saw a huge wave of Common Sense Conservatism sweep the land, led by Sarah Palin. This is wave has the potential to be much larger, and more durable than the Reagan Revolution. [and we all know how the blue bloods hated Reagan]

Of course, since the base of the Republican party has never liked or trusted the establishment, this isn’t exactly earning them, or whatever back bencher candidate they trot out in 2012, any friends.

The Ruling Class [in both parties] have a lot to lose when Sarah Palin becomes President. Their power will be gone, hopefully forever, and be given back to it’s rightful owners, the American people.

It’s interesting to note the GOP elites actually fear this [and Sarah] as much …. or more …. than the lefties do!

What’s next for Bristol?

After 10 weeks on Dancing with the Stars and gaining over 30,000 Facebook fans in 61 days, the sky is the limit for one Bristol Palin! She may no longer be on America’s TV sets every Monday and Tuesday night, but Bristol showed that she could capture people’s hearts no matter their political persuasion. I believe that Bristol showed us once again that the underdog with spirit is truly the one who wins in the end. To me, Bristol stands for: B = beautiful, R = resilient, I = inspiration, S = spiritual; T = tenacious, O = outstanding, L = loving… When criticized, always remember to DANCE! Thank you for reminding us all of that Bristol! Can’t wait to see what the world holds for you.