Poll Finds Palin Popularity Growing
December 25, 2009 by Personal Liberty News Desk
According to a recent survey, Sarah Palin has managed to reverse the decline in popularity that followed her resignation last summer as Alaska’s governor.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, which was release on Monday, revealed that 46 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of her and the same percentage say they have an unfavorable opinion about the former vice-presidnetial candidate. After she resigned in July, her popularity dipped to 39 percent, according to CNN.
However, the poll also revealed a significant partisan and gender divide, finding that some 80 percent of Republicans hold a favorable view of Palin, while 70 percent of Democrats disapprove of her. Moreover, the mother of five has consistently polled higher with men than with women, even if the female respondents identify themselves as Republicans.
Part of Palin’s surge in the polls may be attributed to her the high-profile media tour she launched in the last few weeks for her new memoir Going Rogue: An American Life, with appearances including an interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
However, she has remained coy about her plans to run for the White House in 2012, preferring to neither confirm nor deny such rumors.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
CANADA: Backlash boots Palin from hospital fundraising
News World
Backlash boots Palin from hospital fundraising
By QMI Agency
Last Updated: 18th December 2009, 3:40pm
HAMILTON, Ont. - Sarah Palin has been given the boot as a celebrity fundraiser for hospitals in Hamilton, Ont., but she will come to town raise money for a local children’s charity instead.
Palin has brought the American health care debate to Canada and it is causing a storm of controversy as concerned hospital supporters have protested her appearance to raise money for two local institutions in April.
The former vice-presidential candidate was supposed to speak at a fund-raising event for the Juravinski Cancer Centre and St. Peter’s Hospital in Hamilton. But a backlash of negative publicity cancelled those plans.
The Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation received about 60 angry calls and e-mails from residents since the event was announced last week. About 10 people said they would not be donating to any event in which Palin has a role.
Palin is an out-spoken conservative critic of new public health care plans in the U.S. and is scornful of Canada’s universal health care system.
“It was a bit of mixed match with the politics of Sarah Palin matched with the needs of hospitals in Canada to raise money as publically funded institutions,” said Jeff Valletine, vice-president of communications for Hamilton Health Sciences.
“Individually I’m a bit surprised by the magnitude of the reaction but I’m not too surprised. Sarah Palin is a strong personality who brings out lots of opinions from lots of folks, so that’s to be expected,” he said.
Fortunately for children’s’ groups in Hamilton, local business leaders were able to re-direct the Palin appearance so that the Charity of Hope group would be the beneficiary of the event, said Sam Mercanti, chairman of the charity and CEO of Automotive Canada.
“It’s official - she’s going to come here and the monies raised will go towards the Charity of Hope,” Mercanti said.
The Charity of Hope raises funds for local kids on behalf of school boards, YMCAs, youth groups and other institutions that benefit children.
“My opinion is if she’s going to come to Hamilton and speak here, why not have her? You have to park the politics when it comes to helping people,” Mercanti said.
As recently as November, Palin was ambushed on her U.S. book tour by Canadian comedian Mary Walsh (disguised a conservative reporter Marg Delahunty ) who asked her about Canadian health care.
“Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit,” the former Alaskan governor told Wash and her crew
Backlash boots Palin from hospital fundraising
By QMI Agency
Last Updated: 18th December 2009, 3:40pm
HAMILTON, Ont. - Sarah Palin has been given the boot as a celebrity fundraiser for hospitals in Hamilton, Ont., but she will come to town raise money for a local children’s charity instead.
Palin has brought the American health care debate to Canada and it is causing a storm of controversy as concerned hospital supporters have protested her appearance to raise money for two local institutions in April.
The former vice-presidential candidate was supposed to speak at a fund-raising event for the Juravinski Cancer Centre and St. Peter’s Hospital in Hamilton. But a backlash of negative publicity cancelled those plans.
The Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation received about 60 angry calls and e-mails from residents since the event was announced last week. About 10 people said they would not be donating to any event in which Palin has a role.
Palin is an out-spoken conservative critic of new public health care plans in the U.S. and is scornful of Canada’s universal health care system.
“It was a bit of mixed match with the politics of Sarah Palin matched with the needs of hospitals in Canada to raise money as publically funded institutions,” said Jeff Valletine, vice-president of communications for Hamilton Health Sciences.
“Individually I’m a bit surprised by the magnitude of the reaction but I’m not too surprised. Sarah Palin is a strong personality who brings out lots of opinions from lots of folks, so that’s to be expected,” he said.
Fortunately for children’s’ groups in Hamilton, local business leaders were able to re-direct the Palin appearance so that the Charity of Hope group would be the beneficiary of the event, said Sam Mercanti, chairman of the charity and CEO of Automotive Canada.
“It’s official - she’s going to come here and the monies raised will go towards the Charity of Hope,” Mercanti said.
The Charity of Hope raises funds for local kids on behalf of school boards, YMCAs, youth groups and other institutions that benefit children.
“My opinion is if she’s going to come to Hamilton and speak here, why not have her? You have to park the politics when it comes to helping people,” Mercanti said.
As recently as November, Palin was ambushed on her U.S. book tour by Canadian comedian Mary Walsh (disguised a conservative reporter Marg Delahunty ) who asked her about Canadian health care.
“Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit,” the former Alaskan governor told Wash and her crew
Palin, Schwarzenegger Global Warming Debate Heats Up
SACRAMENTO, CA -- Sarah Palin added fuel to the firery debate between her and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over climate change.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Copenhagen Tuesday night for the International Climate Change Summit and responded to Palin's calls for President Barack Obama to boycott the climate talks.
In a recent opinion-editorial in The Washington Post, Palin asked President Barack Obama to boycott the summit.
Palin wrote, "This is a political move. The last thing America needs is misguided legislation that will raise taxes and cost jobs - particularly when the push for such legislation rests on agenda-driven science. Without trustworthy science and with so much at stake, Americans should be wary about what comes out of this politicized conference. The president should boycott Copenhagen."
Schwarzenegger responded to Palin's demands. In an interview with The Financial Times he said, "You have to ask: What was she trying to accomplish? Is she really interested in this subject or is she interested in her career and in winning the Republican presidential nomination? You have to take all these things with a grain of salt."
Later Tuesday night Palin posted the following response on her facebook page:
"Greener Than Thou?
Why is Governor Schwarzenegger pushing for the same sorts of policies in Copenhagen that have helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment? Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation's only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change. While I and all Alaskans witness the impacts of changes in weather patterns firsthand, I have repeatedly said that we can't primarily blame man's activities for those changes. And while I did look for practical responses to those changes, what I didn't do was hamstring Alaska's job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act "greener than thou" when talking to reporters.
- Sarah Palin"
The former Republican vice presidential nominee and governor of Alaska has questioned climate change and whether human activity is to blame. Palin has blasted Schwarzenegger's Cap and Trade policy, a plan used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing emissions of pollutants.
News10/KXTV
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Copenhagen Tuesday night for the International Climate Change Summit and responded to Palin's calls for President Barack Obama to boycott the climate talks.
In a recent opinion-editorial in The Washington Post, Palin asked President Barack Obama to boycott the summit.
Palin wrote, "This is a political move. The last thing America needs is misguided legislation that will raise taxes and cost jobs - particularly when the push for such legislation rests on agenda-driven science. Without trustworthy science and with so much at stake, Americans should be wary about what comes out of this politicized conference. The president should boycott Copenhagen."
Schwarzenegger responded to Palin's demands. In an interview with The Financial Times he said, "You have to ask: What was she trying to accomplish? Is she really interested in this subject or is she interested in her career and in winning the Republican presidential nomination? You have to take all these things with a grain of salt."
Later Tuesday night Palin posted the following response on her facebook page:
"Greener Than Thou?
Why is Governor Schwarzenegger pushing for the same sorts of policies in Copenhagen that have helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment? Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation's only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change. While I and all Alaskans witness the impacts of changes in weather patterns firsthand, I have repeatedly said that we can't primarily blame man's activities for those changes. And while I did look for practical responses to those changes, what I didn't do was hamstring Alaska's job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act "greener than thou" when talking to reporters.
- Sarah Palin"
The former Republican vice presidential nominee and governor of Alaska has questioned climate change and whether human activity is to blame. Palin has blasted Schwarzenegger's Cap and Trade policy, a plan used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing emissions of pollutants.
News10/KXTV
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sarah Palin oozed charm during visit to local [Plano, Texas] bookstore
12:00 AM CST on Sunday, December 13, 2009
Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is a woman who knows her way around a book signing. Facing a line of 1,000 ticketed patrons and hundreds more hoping for a glimpse of her and her family, she greeted all with a cheery, "Hi! What's your name? Good to meet you!" extending her left hand to clasp theirs while signing with her right, all in a matter of seconds.
Her husband, Todd, and their toddler, Trig, charmed the crowd as she signed.
Former Plano first lady Betty Muns and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Plano benefactor Sue de Mille Minyard arrived just as the Palin entourage entered Teri Tanner's Legacy Books earlier this month and got a little face time with Palin at the elevator.
"Plano has really turned out for you," said Muns, engendering a reply of, "They sure have!" and that famous Palin grin.
Eyeing the enormous police presence and security precautions, Minyard noted,
"It's harder to get in to see Sarah Palin than into the White House."
The neighboring shop owners didn't seem to mind being practically shut down for the event. Alexis Naccarato of Mia Fiori left a message on her phone and her door that she was across the street at the Palin book signing and would give a discount for the rest of the day when she reopened.
Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is a woman who knows her way around a book signing. Facing a line of 1,000 ticketed patrons and hundreds more hoping for a glimpse of her and her family, she greeted all with a cheery, "Hi! What's your name? Good to meet you!" extending her left hand to clasp theirs while signing with her right, all in a matter of seconds.
Her husband, Todd, and their toddler, Trig, charmed the crowd as she signed.
Former Plano first lady Betty Muns and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Plano benefactor Sue de Mille Minyard arrived just as the Palin entourage entered Teri Tanner's Legacy Books earlier this month and got a little face time with Palin at the elevator.
"Plano has really turned out for you," said Muns, engendering a reply of, "They sure have!" and that famous Palin grin.
Eyeing the enormous police presence and security precautions, Minyard noted,
"It's harder to get in to see Sarah Palin than into the White House."
The neighboring shop owners didn't seem to mind being practically shut down for the event. Alexis Naccarato of Mia Fiori left a message on her phone and her door that she was across the street at the Palin book signing and would give a discount for the rest of the day when she reopened.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Palin book signing brings crowds, exposure to Sandpoint
POSTED: 17:46 MST Friday, December 11, 2009
by Zach Hagadone
It was a small book sellers dream come true: The most talked-about author in the country would be swooping in for an exclusive singing.
It turned out Sarah Palin – a Sandpoint native whose family moved to Alaska shortly after her birth in 1964 – would be making a last-minute stop in her old hometown as part of her tour promoting “Going Rogue: An American Life.”
As Sandpoint’s largest seller of new books, Vanderford’s Books & Office Products had exclusive rights to sell the only tomes that the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate would sign at her event, scheduled for Dec. 10.
“We didn’t know about the event until a week ago, on Tuesday,” said Tom Vanderford, who owns the store with his wife, Marcia. “We had initially brought in about 200 books of Palin’s just because we had felt we’d sell that many. Of course, as soon as we heard about the event here we ordered 2,000 from HarperCollins.”
But the short timeframe meant things moved fast and furious. For one thing, the store on Cedar Street would be far too small to accommodate the crowds, so Sandpoint Business & Events Center owners Lynda and Brad Scott, who had worked with Palin’s parents to bring her to town, offered their venue for free.
That left Vanderford’s fielding phone calls and organizing down to the level of providing portable toilets for the hundreds who eventually showed up. To make matters even tenser, the books didn’t arrive until the day before the event.
“Today my stress level is very low, but up until last night I was afraid I’d have a stroke,” Vanderford said on Dec. 11. “But in the end it came off real well.”
With the temperature hovering near 12 degrees, as many as 750 people came from all over the region to the events center – a stately three-story brick landmark that served as Sandpoint High School for the better part of a century.
According to Kathy Adruzak, events manager at the center, traffic was steady for about three hours.
“It was one constant stream,” she said. “Everybody was so excited to just be here. This was where she was born. Her father [Chuck Heath] graduated from Sandpoint High School and taught in this building. To come back to your birthplace, that’s pretty significant.”
Vanderford said the signing was a “complete success.” The book store sold 1,050 of the 2,000 copies it ordered, “and that’s about as many as you can sell in about two days.”
“December’s always a very good time of year for us – it’s a time when we can hopefully make enough money to pay our bills through the spring,” he said. “It definitely gave us an economic boost, but probably not as much as people would think, given the costs of putting on the event.”
Vanderford said those costs are being added up now, and will include freight charges for returning unsold books. Another, less quantifiable cost came from the publisher’s rules dictating that Palin would only sign copies purchased at Vanderford’s.
“We had people coming in saying they’d never buy from us again, basically ‘I hate your guts.’ But everybody at the event thanked us, everybody was in a happy mood,” he said. “It made up for it, for sure.”
Andruzak said because the events center was offered free of charge, the biggest economic benefit was exposure.
“It definitely was a boost for the bookstore – for them to sell over 1,000 books, especially in this trying time,” she said. “As far as any other money coming into town, I don’t know if we gained anything from that.”
Still, she added, “I would welcome any event like that. I think it’s great for our community, it’s great for the economy, plus the visibility of our building.”
Vanderford said he too would welcome another high-profile signing, though perhaps with some additional lead time.
“I don’t expect these to come along very often – maybe once in a decade. So yeah, I’d do it again, but next time with a little more warning,” he said.
As for advice to other booksellers crossing their fingers that a big name author will just drop in: “Be careful what you wish for."
by Zach Hagadone
It was a small book sellers dream come true: The most talked-about author in the country would be swooping in for an exclusive singing.
It turned out Sarah Palin – a Sandpoint native whose family moved to Alaska shortly after her birth in 1964 – would be making a last-minute stop in her old hometown as part of her tour promoting “Going Rogue: An American Life.”
As Sandpoint’s largest seller of new books, Vanderford’s Books & Office Products had exclusive rights to sell the only tomes that the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate would sign at her event, scheduled for Dec. 10.
“We didn’t know about the event until a week ago, on Tuesday,” said Tom Vanderford, who owns the store with his wife, Marcia. “We had initially brought in about 200 books of Palin’s just because we had felt we’d sell that many. Of course, as soon as we heard about the event here we ordered 2,000 from HarperCollins.”
But the short timeframe meant things moved fast and furious. For one thing, the store on Cedar Street would be far too small to accommodate the crowds, so Sandpoint Business & Events Center owners Lynda and Brad Scott, who had worked with Palin’s parents to bring her to town, offered their venue for free.
That left Vanderford’s fielding phone calls and organizing down to the level of providing portable toilets for the hundreds who eventually showed up. To make matters even tenser, the books didn’t arrive until the day before the event.
“Today my stress level is very low, but up until last night I was afraid I’d have a stroke,” Vanderford said on Dec. 11. “But in the end it came off real well.”
With the temperature hovering near 12 degrees, as many as 750 people came from all over the region to the events center – a stately three-story brick landmark that served as Sandpoint High School for the better part of a century.
According to Kathy Adruzak, events manager at the center, traffic was steady for about three hours.
“It was one constant stream,” she said. “Everybody was so excited to just be here. This was where she was born. Her father [Chuck Heath] graduated from Sandpoint High School and taught in this building. To come back to your birthplace, that’s pretty significant.”
Vanderford said the signing was a “complete success.” The book store sold 1,050 of the 2,000 copies it ordered, “and that’s about as many as you can sell in about two days.”
“December’s always a very good time of year for us – it’s a time when we can hopefully make enough money to pay our bills through the spring,” he said. “It definitely gave us an economic boost, but probably not as much as people would think, given the costs of putting on the event.”
Vanderford said those costs are being added up now, and will include freight charges for returning unsold books. Another, less quantifiable cost came from the publisher’s rules dictating that Palin would only sign copies purchased at Vanderford’s.
“We had people coming in saying they’d never buy from us again, basically ‘I hate your guts.’ But everybody at the event thanked us, everybody was in a happy mood,” he said. “It made up for it, for sure.”
Andruzak said because the events center was offered free of charge, the biggest economic benefit was exposure.
“It definitely was a boost for the bookstore – for them to sell over 1,000 books, especially in this trying time,” she said. “As far as any other money coming into town, I don’t know if we gained anything from that.”
Still, she added, “I would welcome any event like that. I think it’s great for our community, it’s great for the economy, plus the visibility of our building.”
Vanderford said he too would welcome another high-profile signing, though perhaps with some additional lead time.
“I don’t expect these to come along very often – maybe once in a decade. So yeah, I’d do it again, but next time with a little more warning,” he said.
As for advice to other booksellers crossing their fingers that a big name author will just drop in: “Be careful what you wish for."
Palin's final book tour stops are at Alaska Air Force bases
By Sean Cockerham
The Anchorage Daily News
The final stops on former Gov. Sarah Palin's nationwide book tour will be Sunday at Air Force bases in Alaska, at a pair of events that will be closed to the general public. They are Palin's first and only scheduled book signings in her home state.
Palin will sign "Going Rogue" at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage from noon to 3 p.m. at the base exchange. She'll then go to Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks and sign books at the shopping center there from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
"This book tour has been an amazing and inspirational experience for me and my family as we crisscrossed the country and met so many wonderful Americans," Palin wrote on her Facebook page Thursday. "At nearly every stop we met someone with a connection to Alaska -- usually through the military from being stationed at one of Alaska's bases. With that in mind, we've decided to hold the final book signings at Alaska's Elmendorf and Eielson AFBs. Hope to see you there!"
The Alaska events were last-minute additions to Palin's published tour schedule. Asked why no signings open to the general public were scheduled in Alaska, Palin publicist Tina Andreadis of HarperCollins Publishers responded by e-mail that "The Governor is humbled by this opportunity to honor the nation's military stationed in AK, especially during the Holidays."
Anyone with access to Elmendorf or Fort Richardson can attend the Anchorage event. A military ID is needed for the Eielson signing, which will be held at the Army and Air Forces Exchange Service (AAFES) shopping center.
"The tour in no way reflects the Air Force's or AAFES' support commercially or politically for Gov. Palin. The event provides an opportunity for Gov. Palin to connect with fans, military members and their families," Eielson said in materials distributed to the news media.
To read the complete article, visit www.adn.com.
The Anchorage Daily News
The final stops on former Gov. Sarah Palin's nationwide book tour will be Sunday at Air Force bases in Alaska, at a pair of events that will be closed to the general public. They are Palin's first and only scheduled book signings in her home state.
Palin will sign "Going Rogue" at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage from noon to 3 p.m. at the base exchange. She'll then go to Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks and sign books at the shopping center there from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
"This book tour has been an amazing and inspirational experience for me and my family as we crisscrossed the country and met so many wonderful Americans," Palin wrote on her Facebook page Thursday. "At nearly every stop we met someone with a connection to Alaska -- usually through the military from being stationed at one of Alaska's bases. With that in mind, we've decided to hold the final book signings at Alaska's Elmendorf and Eielson AFBs. Hope to see you there!"
The Alaska events were last-minute additions to Palin's published tour schedule. Asked why no signings open to the general public were scheduled in Alaska, Palin publicist Tina Andreadis of HarperCollins Publishers responded by e-mail that "The Governor is humbled by this opportunity to honor the nation's military stationed in AK, especially during the Holidays."
Anyone with access to Elmendorf or Fort Richardson can attend the Anchorage event. A military ID is needed for the Eielson signing, which will be held at the Army and Air Forces Exchange Service (AAFES) shopping center.
"The tour in no way reflects the Air Force's or AAFES' support commercially or politically for Gov. Palin. The event provides an opportunity for Gov. Palin to connect with fans, military members and their families," Eielson said in materials distributed to the news media.
To read the complete article, visit www.adn.com.
Sarah Palin plans to be key player in 2010
Sarah Palin plans to be key player in 2010
Updated
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
Everyone should be unsuccessful so successfully: From a losing vice presidential candidacy, Sarah Palin has bounced back as a best-selling author with plans to be a major player in next year's elections.
"It has been spectacular," Palin told USA TODAY in a telephone interview Thursday as she wrapped up a three-week book tour that has made her memoirs, Going Rogue, one of the top-selling non-fiction debuts ever.
Palin heads home this weekend for Christmas in Alaska, but she won't be there long.
COMMON GROUND: Palin's tale of two worlds
MAP: Sarah Palin's book tour stops
POLL: Most Iowa Republicans like Palin for 2012
WHISTLE-STOP: Palin's book tour through battleground states
"I'll be doing some speeches across the country in these coming months," Palin said. "I'll be taking people up on their offers to assist them in campaigns."
But even as her book sales soar, Palin remains a divisive figure in American politics. In an October Gallup Poll, 50% of those surveyed viewed the conservative Republican unfavorably, compared to 40% who had a favorable view.
In the interview, Palin praised President Obama for the speech he gave Thursday to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. She said the president's defense of war to combat evil could have been taken from the pages of her memoirs.
"Wow, that really sounded familiar," said Palin, a frequent Obama critic. "I talked, too, in my book about the fallen nature of man and why war is necessary at times."
She did criticize the president for his efforts to make a deal on climate change at the global summit now underway in Copenhagen. Though she has seen "glaciers receding" and other "impacts of climate change" in the nation's only Arctic state, the former Alaska governor said "that doesn't mean that it's man's activities — that it's drilling for oil or driving an SUV — that has caused these cyclical weather pattern changes that for eons the Earth has witnessed."
Does she plan to take on Obama in 2012?
"My thinking is still 2010 and helping candidates get elected there," Palin said.
"That's what I'm concentrating on."
If she isn't quite ready to run for the presidency, Palin also is doing nothing to discourage the idea. Her book tour has been a "confirming and affirming" experience, she said, adding that she's tapped the same vein of discontent in the country's body politic as the conservative "Tea Party" movement, which she called "beautiful."
"The great thing about what's going on right now across the country is there isn't the apathy that perhaps we had seen even a year ago," Palin said. "All these people who are getting riled up. It's a healthy riled up, too. This is good for democracy. It's people getting sick and tired of feeling disenfranchised and disenchanted with their government, and they want their voice heard."
The political action committee Palin formed this year, SarahPAC, won't file its next public accounting until January. Palin aide Jason Recher reports "a significant uptick" in fundraising since the book tour began Nov. 18.
In next year's congressional and gubernatorial races, Palin said she'll be helping to fund candidates who share her "economically conservative principles" and "commitment to win the war against terrorists." Ideology, she said, is more important than party labels.
Earlier this year, Palin made a much-publicized intervention in a New York congressional race, backing a Conservative Party candidate over the GOP nominee. A Democrat ended up winning the seat that had been held for more than a century by Republicans.
Things haven't been smooth for Palin in Alaska, either. Fellow Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, the state's senior senator, blasted Palin last summer when Palin abruptly resigned her position as Alaska's first female governor with 18 months left in her four-year term. Murkowski expressed disappointment that Palin "decided to abandon the state and her constituents."
Palin has no regrets. "God has blessed the decision I made," she said.
'Playing to one side'
Whether Palin can translate her book's success into votes is an open question.
"She's playing to one side of the stadium," Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez, whose new book You've Come A Long Way Maybe discusses the role of female political groundbreakers.
While Palin is "incredibly popular among conservatives, especially conservative women, the biggest challenge she faces is that she's been identified as someone who did not have the intellectual heft to be commander in chief," Sanchez said.
"I don't know that she's addressed that yet."
The book tour underscored that Palin is as polarizing as she is popular. One sure sign: The tour is making money for her critics as well. Going Rouge: An American Nightmare, one of several spoof volumes rushed into print to compete with Palin's book, ranks No. 12 on Amazon's list of biography best sellers.
Even so, those who disagree with Palin see her as a force to be reckoned with. An op-ed piece Palin wrote this week for The Washington Post about climate change drew fire from former vice president Al Gore. He accused Palin of being one of the "deniers … persisting in an era of unreality."
Those who admire Palin do so intensely. Since hitting the stands Nov. 17, Going Rogue has spent three weeks at No. 1 on USA TODAY's best-seller list,, matching the record for political memoirs, set by retired general Colin Powell in 1995. Publisher HarperCollins says it has gone back to the presses 13 times to keep up with demand and now has 2.8 million copies of Palin's book in print. Thousands of fans have camped out overnight, sometimes in bitter cold temperatures, for a chance to shake her hand.
At a time when the financial squeeze in the publishing industry has made book tours a relative rarity, HarperCollins pulled out all the stops for Palin.
By this weekend, when she officially wraps up her tour with two stops in Alaska, the politician-turned author will have visited 33 cities in 25 states — mostly in areas where her presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., did well last year, or where she drew big crowds at campaign rallies.
"We knew that Gov. Palin has an incredible fan base," said HarperCollins publicist Tina Andreadis. "By orchestrating a big tour," she said, "we were confident we could gain major sales and publicity at every event — which we did."
Palin was a political pragmatist when it came to promoting her book. She gave her first interview to daytime talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, a supporter of Obama's presidential campaign. And Palin hired lawyer Robert Barnett, whose author-clients include such big-name Democrats as Obama, former president Bill Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Palin gave no interviews to local newspapers or television stations along the way, but it didn't seem to matter. At a Hastings bookstore in Richland, Wash., where manager Justin Cardenas has just 72 hours to prepare for a book-signing that Palin decided to do while spending Thanksgiving weekend with family members nearby, all it took was putting a notice on the store marquee.
"Within an hour, I was getting calls," Cardenas said. People began to line up at 10 a.m. Saturday for a book signing that began at noon the next day.
"It was a very cold weekend," the store manager said. "Some even had space heaters that ran on propane."
A 'contemporary phenomena'
The book tour is "a very interesting contemporary phenomena" and one that's especially suited to appeal to some of Palin's most loyal fans, said literary critic Elaine Showalter, author of Jury of Her Peers, an anthology of American women
writers.
"Women are the majority of book buyers. They're very comfortable in bookstores," Showalter said. "They're cozy. They're usually in malls. They have plenty of restrooms."
Palin said she noticed the disproportionate number of women at her signings.
"I loved it," she said, recounting her relish as meeting "so many women who are in or who have been in my shoes." She said many were mothers or grandmothers of special-needs children, such as Palin's youngest son, Trig, born with Down syndrome. "We connect," Palin said. "We understand each other."
Palin, who will have made stops at five military facilities by the time her tour ends in Alaska this weekend, announced Thursday that she's donating the red jacket she wore on the book cover for conservative talk-show host Laura Ingraham to auction for a wounded warriors benefit.
Asked the size of the jacket, the diminutive Palin was coy. "It's small but it's roomy," she laughed. "A guy would look great in it, too."
Her fans are "hard-working, unpretentious, patriotic," said Palin, who sought them out by taking her tour bus to places book tours don't often venture — a Costco in Reno and a Sam's Club in Washington, Pa. As a result, Palin's books are hitting big sales numbers in places where political memoirs are not generally hot numbers.
For now, Palin plans to cook up a traditional Christmas dinner for family and friends. "Oh, you know, we always do the moose chili," she said.
Palin said she wants to help her husband, Todd, a four-time Iron Dog snowmobile race champion, prepare for the 1,900-mile competition in February.
And Palin, who talked in the book about insisting on time for a daily run during last year's campaign, said she's got an athletic quest of her own in mind. She said she "can't wait to get more miles under my belt, 'cause I do want to run another marathon."
Her supporters hope she does, too — one that ends in 2012.
Updated
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
Everyone should be unsuccessful so successfully: From a losing vice presidential candidacy, Sarah Palin has bounced back as a best-selling author with plans to be a major player in next year's elections.
"It has been spectacular," Palin told USA TODAY in a telephone interview Thursday as she wrapped up a three-week book tour that has made her memoirs, Going Rogue, one of the top-selling non-fiction debuts ever.
Palin heads home this weekend for Christmas in Alaska, but she won't be there long.
COMMON GROUND: Palin's tale of two worlds
MAP: Sarah Palin's book tour stops
POLL: Most Iowa Republicans like Palin for 2012
WHISTLE-STOP: Palin's book tour through battleground states
"I'll be doing some speeches across the country in these coming months," Palin said. "I'll be taking people up on their offers to assist them in campaigns."
But even as her book sales soar, Palin remains a divisive figure in American politics. In an October Gallup Poll, 50% of those surveyed viewed the conservative Republican unfavorably, compared to 40% who had a favorable view.
In the interview, Palin praised President Obama for the speech he gave Thursday to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. She said the president's defense of war to combat evil could have been taken from the pages of her memoirs.
"Wow, that really sounded familiar," said Palin, a frequent Obama critic. "I talked, too, in my book about the fallen nature of man and why war is necessary at times."
She did criticize the president for his efforts to make a deal on climate change at the global summit now underway in Copenhagen. Though she has seen "glaciers receding" and other "impacts of climate change" in the nation's only Arctic state, the former Alaska governor said "that doesn't mean that it's man's activities — that it's drilling for oil or driving an SUV — that has caused these cyclical weather pattern changes that for eons the Earth has witnessed."
Does she plan to take on Obama in 2012?
"My thinking is still 2010 and helping candidates get elected there," Palin said.
"That's what I'm concentrating on."
If she isn't quite ready to run for the presidency, Palin also is doing nothing to discourage the idea. Her book tour has been a "confirming and affirming" experience, she said, adding that she's tapped the same vein of discontent in the country's body politic as the conservative "Tea Party" movement, which she called "beautiful."
"The great thing about what's going on right now across the country is there isn't the apathy that perhaps we had seen even a year ago," Palin said. "All these people who are getting riled up. It's a healthy riled up, too. This is good for democracy. It's people getting sick and tired of feeling disenfranchised and disenchanted with their government, and they want their voice heard."
The political action committee Palin formed this year, SarahPAC, won't file its next public accounting until January. Palin aide Jason Recher reports "a significant uptick" in fundraising since the book tour began Nov. 18.
In next year's congressional and gubernatorial races, Palin said she'll be helping to fund candidates who share her "economically conservative principles" and "commitment to win the war against terrorists." Ideology, she said, is more important than party labels.
Earlier this year, Palin made a much-publicized intervention in a New York congressional race, backing a Conservative Party candidate over the GOP nominee. A Democrat ended up winning the seat that had been held for more than a century by Republicans.
Things haven't been smooth for Palin in Alaska, either. Fellow Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, the state's senior senator, blasted Palin last summer when Palin abruptly resigned her position as Alaska's first female governor with 18 months left in her four-year term. Murkowski expressed disappointment that Palin "decided to abandon the state and her constituents."
Palin has no regrets. "God has blessed the decision I made," she said.
'Playing to one side'
Whether Palin can translate her book's success into votes is an open question.
"She's playing to one side of the stadium," Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez, whose new book You've Come A Long Way Maybe discusses the role of female political groundbreakers.
While Palin is "incredibly popular among conservatives, especially conservative women, the biggest challenge she faces is that she's been identified as someone who did not have the intellectual heft to be commander in chief," Sanchez said.
"I don't know that she's addressed that yet."
The book tour underscored that Palin is as polarizing as she is popular. One sure sign: The tour is making money for her critics as well. Going Rouge: An American Nightmare, one of several spoof volumes rushed into print to compete with Palin's book, ranks No. 12 on Amazon's list of biography best sellers.
Even so, those who disagree with Palin see her as a force to be reckoned with. An op-ed piece Palin wrote this week for The Washington Post about climate change drew fire from former vice president Al Gore. He accused Palin of being one of the "deniers … persisting in an era of unreality."
Those who admire Palin do so intensely. Since hitting the stands Nov. 17, Going Rogue has spent three weeks at No. 1 on USA TODAY's best-seller list,, matching the record for political memoirs, set by retired general Colin Powell in 1995. Publisher HarperCollins says it has gone back to the presses 13 times to keep up with demand and now has 2.8 million copies of Palin's book in print. Thousands of fans have camped out overnight, sometimes in bitter cold temperatures, for a chance to shake her hand.
At a time when the financial squeeze in the publishing industry has made book tours a relative rarity, HarperCollins pulled out all the stops for Palin.
By this weekend, when she officially wraps up her tour with two stops in Alaska, the politician-turned author will have visited 33 cities in 25 states — mostly in areas where her presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., did well last year, or where she drew big crowds at campaign rallies.
"We knew that Gov. Palin has an incredible fan base," said HarperCollins publicist Tina Andreadis. "By orchestrating a big tour," she said, "we were confident we could gain major sales and publicity at every event — which we did."
Palin was a political pragmatist when it came to promoting her book. She gave her first interview to daytime talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, a supporter of Obama's presidential campaign. And Palin hired lawyer Robert Barnett, whose author-clients include such big-name Democrats as Obama, former president Bill Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Palin gave no interviews to local newspapers or television stations along the way, but it didn't seem to matter. At a Hastings bookstore in Richland, Wash., where manager Justin Cardenas has just 72 hours to prepare for a book-signing that Palin decided to do while spending Thanksgiving weekend with family members nearby, all it took was putting a notice on the store marquee.
"Within an hour, I was getting calls," Cardenas said. People began to line up at 10 a.m. Saturday for a book signing that began at noon the next day.
"It was a very cold weekend," the store manager said. "Some even had space heaters that ran on propane."
A 'contemporary phenomena'
The book tour is "a very interesting contemporary phenomena" and one that's especially suited to appeal to some of Palin's most loyal fans, said literary critic Elaine Showalter, author of Jury of Her Peers, an anthology of American women
writers.
"Women are the majority of book buyers. They're very comfortable in bookstores," Showalter said. "They're cozy. They're usually in malls. They have plenty of restrooms."
Palin said she noticed the disproportionate number of women at her signings.
"I loved it," she said, recounting her relish as meeting "so many women who are in or who have been in my shoes." She said many were mothers or grandmothers of special-needs children, such as Palin's youngest son, Trig, born with Down syndrome. "We connect," Palin said. "We understand each other."
Palin, who will have made stops at five military facilities by the time her tour ends in Alaska this weekend, announced Thursday that she's donating the red jacket she wore on the book cover for conservative talk-show host Laura Ingraham to auction for a wounded warriors benefit.
Asked the size of the jacket, the diminutive Palin was coy. "It's small but it's roomy," she laughed. "A guy would look great in it, too."
Her fans are "hard-working, unpretentious, patriotic," said Palin, who sought them out by taking her tour bus to places book tours don't often venture — a Costco in Reno and a Sam's Club in Washington, Pa. As a result, Palin's books are hitting big sales numbers in places where political memoirs are not generally hot numbers.
For now, Palin plans to cook up a traditional Christmas dinner for family and friends. "Oh, you know, we always do the moose chili," she said.
Palin said she wants to help her husband, Todd, a four-time Iron Dog snowmobile race champion, prepare for the 1,900-mile competition in February.
And Palin, who talked in the book about insisting on time for a daily run during last year's campaign, said she's got an athletic quest of her own in mind. She said she "can't wait to get more miles under my belt, 'cause I do want to run another marathon."
Her supporters hope she does, too — one that ends in 2012.
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