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Palin powers up debate rally

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: October 2, 2008 - She came among them as they held their "Palin's Hot/Biden's Not" signs and as they chanted "USA!" Whether in the eyes of the nation she was the winner or not didn't matter to those gathered at Chaifetz Arena to see Gov. Sarah Palin less than an hour after her one and only debate of this year's presidential campaign.

The crowd screamed and the applause was deafening as Palin's tour bus, the "Straight Talk Express," pulled into the arena in a cloud of smoke.

"This makes that whole debate worth it!" Palin proclaimed.

Palin stood onstage with her husband, Todd, and other members of her family, a wide smile on her face.

"I feel like I was speaking for you, St. Louis," Palin said of the night's debate. Although she tried to compliment her opponent on his debate skills, the crowd drowned her out, chanting, "You rule, Sarah!"

"St. Louis, it's time we took some of that Reaganesque pragmatism and put this country first," Palin said. "You can count on John McCain, you can count on me, we won't let you down, America!"

As the night wound down, the cheers grew louder.

"We're going to bring some of that change to Washington, D.C.," Palin shouted. The crowd at Chaifetz answered with roars, cheers, whistles and applause. The message scrolling above the arena read, "Palin Power!!!"

As Palin left the stage, meeting supporters and signing autographs, Dolly Parton's voice rang over the sound systems, extolling "Straight Talk." Supporters swarmed the governor, cell phones held high, hoping for a picture of the next vice president of the United States.

Palin had just faced off against Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware Thursday in the only vice presidential debate of this year's campaign. The Republican governor and the Democratic senator met at Washington University a couple miles away from the  rally held by Republicans at the Chaifetz Arena on St. Louis University's campus, the rally where Palin appeared after the debate.

To those gathered in the arena, there was no question of who won.

"She whupped him!" the event's "tour guide," John Hancock, proclaimed. "She whupped him!"

Those gathered at the arena cheered, roaring in approval as they stood at the end of the often contentious exchanges between the candidates. Supporters held up signs bearing a green, open-mouthed barracuda and one saying "Love Your Lipstick."

"Sarah Rocks," scrolled around the arena on rink-wide display screens. Audience members were on their feet, singing along to "I am Woman," bouncing and clapping, for "I Feel Like a Woman."

Supporters were clear in their reasons. As they waited to be admitted, Dot Lavitte and Dot Wright sported Palin buttons and were eager to express their support for Palin.

"I think Sarah Palin is very honest, down to earth, she doesn't put on airs," Lavitte, 63, said. "I think she's a family person and she understands us."

Lavitte now lives in Perryville, Mo. She spent most of her life living in Glen Carbon, Ill. and worked in St. Louis. Although Barack Obama represents Illinois in the Senate, he does not appeal to Lavitte.

"I lived in Illinois all my life and I never heard the word 'Obama' until all this." She and Wright said they were not impressed with Obama's views and they could not connect with him personally.

"He just seems very sleazy," Wright, 69, said. Both women said they thought Obama was a product of the "Chicago political machine," while Palin, governor of Alaska for 20 months and mother of five, was wholesome and experienced. They cited Palin's credentials as mother, mayor of the town of Wasilla, Alaska, governor and beauty contestant as evidence of her capabilities.

"We just like everything about her," Lavitte said. "And it's not just because she's a woman. And I still think he [Obama] is a Muslim," she continued, though he is not. "We already got rid of one Hussein. We don't want to have to get rid of another."

Wright nodded.

For students Erica Grove and Brad Merrin, Palin's performance was electrifying. "She did an amazing job," Grove, 19, said.

The Raymond, Ill., native pointed to the way she answered questions put to her by both moderator Gwen Ifill and her opponent, Biden. "When she shot back with her answers, they were the right answers," said Grove.

Fellow student, Merrin, agreed. He felt Palin's answers underscored her experience and qualifications. "Republicans really know how to fire up the heat," Merrin added about the festivities.

Merrin was also excited by the number of young faces he saw in the crowd. "That Obama is appealing to the young people is a myth," Merrin said.

Amelia Flood is a freelance journalist.