When Sarah Palin spoke in April in Evansville, Ind., at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life banquet, it wasn't supposed to be a political event.

Yet Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, was besieged by chants of those assembled urging her to run for president in 2012, as soon as she entered the banquet hall, accompanied by local law enforcement officers.

The Evansville Courier & Press reported it took Palin 20 minutes to journey through the surging crowds in the arena to the head table, as she was mobbed by people seeking autographs and pictures.

"Some people would shout it out, and you'd see others just asking her (if she was going to run)," the newspaper quoted Sgt. Robert Goedde, a sheriff's officer who was at Palin's side, as saying. "I heard it two or three times a minute, the entire time. She'd just smile and wave. She was very gracious."

There's just something about Sarah. It's a passion that prompted a writer for Vanity Fair to dub her "the sexiest and the riskiest brand in the Republican Party."

Her appeal to the party's conservatives, who share her convictions, is intense. But just as intense are the critics who gape as she seems scornful of intellectual elites and their approach to the issues, while she boasts of handling complicated matters with "common sense" -- however that's defined.

Attractive, charismatic

"Part of it is that she's an attractive, charismatic person. People like her, they imagine she's someone to sit down and have a good laugh with, or share a meal with," said Kris Kobach, Kansas Republican Party chairman.

"Some politicians want to impress you with how smart they are," he said. "In many ways, she's the anti-Obama. Her approach and style is the opposite of his. In a certain funny way ... it keeps the focus upon her and keeps folks interested in her."

Since the announcement that Palin would be speaking at the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner Feb. 5, chamber board chairman Daran Neuschafer said he's been getting an earful.

"It's been everything from 'I can't believe the chamber would stoop to this level and embarrass the city and the business community' to people who can't run, e-mail or call to get there fast enough to get tickets bought," he said.

The speaker committee thought Palin would be a popular choice. They were right. The demand for tickets to hear her speak is more than double the previous record for tickets, which was 1,500; so great the chamber had to suspend ticket sales Thursday to catch up with the orders.

But to see the demand for tickets soar past that of past speakers such as former president George H.W. Bush, his wife, Barbara, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former British Prime Minister John Major, and hall of fame athletes and coaches, was surprising, Neuschafer said.

"I've talked to many people, including my wife, who probably disagrees with Gov. Palin on some of her political stances and views, but is still drawn to her," he said. "She seems like one of us -- hard working, down-to-earth, a hometown type person."

But is homespun talk and a voiced disdain for policy details what Americans want negotiating nuclear policy with Iran, for instance?

"She has to do more to be taken seriously," said Tyler Longpine, Kansas Democratic Party communications director. "There's a growing sentiment in the (Republican) party that she's cashing in on her persona. That's not what public service is."

A knockout in Evansville

Her persona, however, was exactly what wowed the crowd that mobbed her at her appearance in Evansville. Palin spoke for about 50 minutes and "gave a rousing pro-life speech," said Mary Ellen VanDyke, executive director of Vandeburgh County Right to Life, the event sponsor.

She spoke before nearly 2,200 people in the banquet hall and another 800 people watched from an adjacent auditorium on a live video telecast.

VanDyke said Palin brought along an assistant but did not have bodyguards of her own. She said Palin, in her speech, touched upon being proud of daughter Bristol choosing life for her grandchild.

"And she told us all about Alaska, what a beautiful state it is, and she encouraged us all to visit," VanDyke said.

"The entire audience was electrified once she walked into the venue," VanDyke said. "It was outstanding, all the way around."

She said Palin stayed in the city overnight and the next morning met privately with some families whose children were born with Down syndrome. Palin's toddler son, Trig, has Down syndrome.

A milder Dick Cheney

Palin's effect right now is to pull the party to the right on the ideological spectrum, said Joe Aistrup, associate professor of political science at Kansas State University in Manhattan.

"She is basically a tame Dick Cheney," Aistrup said. "They have many of the same predispositions in the past."

He said it's hard to know whether Palin's star power in the party will continue to shine for the next three years, in time to mount a 2012 run for the presidency.

"I do think that she does strike fear into the hearts of many liberals," Aistrup said. "She has the advantage of being a female politician, and we're a country seeking firsts. She might benefit from those who want to elect the very first woman president. If you're a liberal, that's what comes with the luster of a national nomination -- fear that people might vote for her just because of gender. And it strikes fear that someone that conservative might be in that position."

Comparable to Obama

As governor, Palin racked up a slew of ethics complaints, and she was criticized for hiring old high school, hometown or political friends with minimal qualifications for state jobs. There was also troopergate -- where Palin ordered the firing of a trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a messy divorce from Palin's sister, Molly.

Still, as governor, she was able to achieve successes that included raising taxes on oil companies to aid the state budget, and she won the legislative framework for a natural gas pipeline to pump gas from Alaska's north slope to the lower 48 states, through Canada.

Kobach said criticism that Palin lacks a record of political achievement, or that she lacks political experience -- another reason critics dislike her -- isn't fair.

"She's been a governor and a mayor and there are not many people living in America who can claim those two on a resume," he said.

He said Palin has a "pretty equivalent level of experience" to President Obama's experiences as a community organizer, a state senator and a U.S. senator.

If President Obama were visiting Salina to speak, "I honestly don't know that he would have gotten this much appeal," said Neuschafer. "It's been amazing."

Kobach agreed.

"In the speeches she's given and the audiences she draws -- there's no question she's the number one draw as far as people wanting to see her and hear her in person. If she's not the top, she's in the top three."

No Drill Baby Drill

Kansas is a Red State -- heavily Republican -- and Palin stands for the convictions held by the conservative wing of the party. Thus she's popular here because of the state's cultural and regional history, said Wes Jackson, co-founder and president of the Land Institute, 2440 E. Water Well. He said she also entertains crowds well.

"We're living in a time when you've got that kind of a culture -- entertainment associated with politics. It keeps their minds off the messy details," he said.

Palin hammered home her stance on drilling for oil in protected areas of Alaska's wilderness with the slogan, "Drill Baby Drill." But Jackson doesn't see the country staking its future on extracting more oil.

"I don't think we need to be promoting the extractive economy any more," he said. "We need to start thinking about how to make this country resilient and how are we going to live within our means. We cannot drill our way out of our problems."

Will her popularity last?

Why Palin remains popular with a percentage of female voters is curious to Democrats such as Shirley Jacques , chairwoman of the Saline County Democratic Party.

"I don't think they've examined her stands on women's issues," Jacques said. "She's not been favorable to measures concerning a woman's right choose (an abortion), or equal pay for equal work, she's wanting to drill (in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge). She has an amazing number of positions that seem counter to the best interests of a lot of people."

Jacques said she doesn't plan to attend the chamber banquet to hear Palin speak.

"I would think her (popularity) would wear out after a while. Even with the (conservatives)," Jacques said. "You have to have something more to you than what I think Sarah Palin has."

n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at dclouston@salina.com.

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Net Reader says....
So the president of the Land Institute believes "we're living in a time when you've got that kind of culture - entertainment associated with politics. It keeps their minds off the messy details". Perhaps the intent is to keep the citzens' minds off the TRUTH, doncha' know? No one can do that much better than Sarah Palin. She can begin a sentence and then lose herself in her own corn maze trying to find the point she intended to make. Her appearance in Salina should be entertaining for those who are like her - gifted with more money than sense.
11/9/2009

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Katie says....
Well, Ms Jacques, no one would expect "The Chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Saline County" to appreciate Sarah Palin. You might appear to be a judas should you attend and listen to her speech. However you might learn something.
11/8/2009

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says....
Just shoot me now, Before she ruins everything.
11/8/2009

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says....
Shirley has never met a conservative republican that she liked so it dont surprise me of her dislike maybe hatred of Sarah Palin and I am glad she is not going.
11/8/2009

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