ELECTION 2008:

Palin connects in Northern Nevada

Carson City crowd immediately feels it’s on first-name basis with Alaska governor

Kevin Clifford / SPECIAL TO THE SUN

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin yells with the enthusiastic crowd of about 5,000 during a campaign rally Saturday in Carson City.

By David McGrath Schwartz (contact)

Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Kevin Clifford / SPECIAL TO THE SUN

Pam Sorenson of Minden waits to get inside the Pony Express Pavilion Saturday to listen to Sarah Palin speak in Carson City.

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The crowd greeted her with chants of “Sarah, Sarah, Sarah.”

People said they had come to see “Sarah.”

“Sarah spoke to my heart,” said Patty Tietz of Carson City. “She’s not scripted. It sounds like she’s speaking, herself.”

At the Pony Express Pavilion in Carson City Saturday, voters said they connected with Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in a way that was hard to explain, but that left them comfortable enough to refer to her simply as Sarah.

The speech Palin gave was essentially the stump speech she has given since she accepted the nomination two weeks ago. The crowd of 5,000 — with signs saying “Go Sarah Go” and “Read my lipstick McCain/Palin” buttons — reacted enthusiastically, nonetheless.

Some supporters of Sen. Barack Obama are on a first-name basis with their candidate. (That rarely happens with Sen. John McCain or Sen. Joe Biden.) Yet Democrats have been frustrated, maybe even flummoxed, by the way Palin appears to have changed the race for the White House.

She erased any bump in the polls that Obama got from the Democratic convention. And, as evidenced on Saturday, the Republican base is fired up. This is with a group that had given her running mate, McCain, a third-place finish in the January caucus, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Inquiries from Nevadans looking to volunteer for the McCain campaign went from a few hundred a week to 1,500 to 2,000 a week since Palin joined the ticket, according to the campaign.

Many voters here and across the country, particularly conservative women, have felt a personal connection with Palin — one that often goes beyond issues to the personal story of a mother from a small town who goes to church and feels comfortable handling a gun.

When pressed on issues, many of her supporters say she is a reformer who could change things in Washington. They like her anti-abortion stance, for sure, but more than that, they like the fact she gave birth to a baby with Down syndrome.

“She’s the most refreshing thing I’ve seen in politics in 25 years,” said Lorna Hoff, 60, of Reno. Hoff said she wouldn’t have come out to see McCain speak, though she would’ve “begrudgingly voted for him.” (“McCain has an awful lot of liberal tendencies. He’s a RINO,” she said, referring to the conservative slur Republican In Name Only.)

But Palin, she said, “is pro-life, pro-family, pro-working people. She’s one of us.”

Rep. Dean Heller, the Republican who grew up in Carson City, said the energy Palin has brought to Republicans in Nevada is unmistakable.

“She’s one of us,” he said. “The reason all these people are here, she’s one of us.”

A few months ago, it was a favorite pastime of Republicans and Hillary Clinton supporters to ask Obama backers to name one of the Illinois senator’s accomplishments. They complained that Obama was a celebrity, and his support wasn’t about a resume or policy, but about charisma and oratorical skills.

Now, frustrated Democrats say the race should focus on issues. A small protest organized by the Obama campaign was held before Palin’s appearance.

“Republicans called Obama a celebrity,” said Joyce Peirce of Carson City. “That’s all she is — McCain’s puppy dog.”

Inside the pavilion, the crowd cheered when Palin said she fought against pork, including the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” though in February she requested $198 million in federal earmarks and a number of independent groups have pointed out she opposed the bridge only after it became politically unpopular and Congress essentially killed it.

Palin said she fought to lower property taxes as mayor, though she neglected to say she also raised the sales tax to finance a hockey rink.

She said she fought the oil industry lobby and her own party, and said when the state had a surplus, she rebated the money to Alaska citizens. She did not say that the state’s $5 billion budget surplus (not counting the $750 million rebate) came from a large tax increase on oil royalties.

Of course, both sides are trying to make Palin into a caricature. For the left, it is to cast her as a frightening religious zealot. However, as governor she vetoed a bill that would have prevented same-sex couples from getting public employee benefits; she also drew flak from pro-life groups because she declined to take up two abortion-related measures during special sessions aimed at getting a natural gas pipeline agreement passed, saying the abortion-related proposals would be a distraction.

In a New Yorker interview, conducted before she was named McCain’s running mate, she said this: “I guess if you take the individual issues, two that I believe would be benchmarks showing whether you’re a hard-core Republican conservative or not, would be: I’m a lifetime member of the NRA — but this is Alaska, who isn’t? — and I am pro-life, absolutely.”

But she said she recognized that “the Democrats also preach individual freedoms and individual rights, capitalism, free market, let-it-do-its-thing-best, let people keep as much of their money that they earn as possible. And when it comes to, like, the Party machine, no one will accuse me of being partisan.”

As Steve Haycox, a professor of history at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, said of Palin, “she’s a pragmatist.”

For her new devotees on the right who turned out in Carson City on Saturday, and her fierce critics on the left, none of that may matter. It’s now something personal.

Discussion: 22 comments so far…

By Sunlizard

9/15/08 at 8:28 a.m.

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named her youngest kid after the band Van Halen. Even trailer trash can make it to the White House...
By Kaz

9/15/08 at 9:30 a.m.

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I am hoping that women who were Hillary supporters and are now going to McCain/Palen keep in mind that McCain will most likely have an opportunity, were he to win the election, to appoint more than one Supreme Court justice. If he appoints a strong conservative there is a reasonable chance that the Roe v Wade decision will be overruled and women will loose their right to choose. If they were for Hillary for Hillary’s principles they should now be for Obama. The last thing Hillary wants is for women to loose their right to choose. Don’t let her down.
By Kaz

9/15/08 at 10:18 a.m.

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HOW MUCH WILL YOUR INCOME TAX GO DOWN?

Here is a link to a calculator you can use to see how much of a tax break you will get with Obama's plan. (I haven't been able to find one yet for the McCain plan – Why?.)
http://alchemytoday.com/obamataxcut/

Here is a link to a very clear tax cut comparison chart. This chart is referenced in many newspapers and magazine articles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Here is the link to get the full 56-page comparison of the two tax plans published by the independent Tax Policy Center.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publicati...
By jfnance32

9/15/08 at 10:28 a.m.

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Obama is going to raise taxes on capital job creation investments. That is going to hurt Las Vegas.

Obama has discuss raise taxes on utility energy which would each into that $1.95 a day more in tax cuts over McCain plan that he is promising.
By thebs

9/15/08 at 10:57 a.m.

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"Obama is going to raise taxes on capital job creation investments. That is going to hurt Las Vegas."

Obama proposes raising the capital gains tax to the same level it was at under Clinton, when we had an awesome economy and had phenominal job growth.

Nance continues to choke on this point. We've had lower capital gains taxes since 2003. IT HASN'T HELPED. Further, McCain isn't proposing cutting the capital gains futher than it's current rate. Nance fails this point HARD!

"Obama has discuss raise taxes on utility energy which would each into that $1.95 a day more in tax cuts over McCain plan that he is promising."

McCain's energy proposal includes a cap and trade system, which economists say will increase the cost of energy. In addition, he promises less in tax cuts to the middle class than Obama.

McCain pushes cap and trade:
http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/...

Effects of cap and trade:
http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/...
"Worried about gas prices hitting $4 a gallon and beyond? Imagine if they were $6, $7 or even $8 a gallon. Those levels are a certain possibility should Congress pass cap-and-trade legislation, which could face a vote in early June."

“The studies show it would be directly affected, would be a $1.50 a gallon, in addition to what it is today,” Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said to (BMI)."

Middle class gets less under McCain:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/eco...

So not only is McCain's cap and trade environment program going to increase the cost of energy and gas, but he's promising LESS in tax cuts to us?

Voting for McCain is voting against your own economic interests... especially for freelancing computer programmers.
By jfnance32

9/15/08 at 11:12 a.m.

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Obama disagrees with you.

He is considering to change his tax plan...again!

He is worrying that is tax increases on capital job creation investments will hurt the economy.

Duh!
By 2zero

9/15/08 at 11:27 a.m.

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While in Carson Palin meet the LUV Gov in a remote parking lot and is now the double secret Chairwomen of the Gibbons MILF club!
By thebs

9/15/08 at 11:36 a.m.

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Nance, care to cite three articles claiming Obama is reconsidering his stance on the capital gains tax?

Just three.

And I see you didn't bother arguing that McCain's cap and trade environmental program will increase the price of energy. You're stuck on that one, too!

And still no response as to how an increase in the capital gains tax would hurt job creation when it did quite the opposite in the '90's?

Just more flailing?

John McCain is wrong on the economy, and you know it.
By Sunlizard

9/15/08 at 12:35 p.m.

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McCain's economy will tax us and pump as much money as the Bush-tards did into the war. McCain will try to secure that oil as much as Bush did. Americans will end up paying for the McCain/Barbie-doll war and the miltary complex will eat up the economy of the US. His propaganda slant will always be the POW diversion tactic. He will hide behind that BS until he dies and than the Barbie Doll will have the Bush style stupidity hurdle to clear.
By jfnance32

9/15/08 at 3:19 p.m.

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McCain has said: " “We need a successor to Kyoto, a cap-and-trade system that delivers the necessary environmental impact in an economically responsible manner.”

I guess you did not read the...."economically responsible manner" part.

Obama could care less about "economically responsible manner" in dealing with caps.

Obama says that he wants 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 which most economist say will destory the Amercian economy.
By thebs

9/15/08 at 4 p.m.

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A cap and trade system will increase the price of energy.

McCain's cap and trade system will increase the price of energy.

LOL, McCain wants greenhouse gases reduced by 60 Percent Below 1990 Levels (66 Percent Below 2005 Levels) by 2050.

THUS, MCCAIN COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE "ECONOMICALLY RESPONSIBLE MANNER."

In effect, the cost increase will be about the same.

You're arguing against McCain's plan!

So, to summarize, you still have no sources to support your capital gains tax talking point, you want to elect someone who will increase the price of energy AND give 1/3 of the tax cut that Obama is promising to the middle class?

Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Sounds like the McCain economic plan.
By thebs

9/15/08 at 4:05 p.m.

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More factual proof McCain's cap and trade program will raise the cost of energy:

"Under a cap-and-trade program, firms would not ultimately bear most of the costs of the allowances but instead would pass them along to their customers in the form of higher prices. Such price increases would stem from the restriction on emissions and would occur regardless of whether the government sold emission allowances or gave them away. Indeed, the price increases would be essential to the success of a cap-and-trade program because they would be the most important mechanism through which businesses and households would be encouraged to make investments and behavioral changes that reduced CO2 emissions."

"The higher prices that would result from a cap on CO2 emissions would reduce demand for energy and energy-intensive goods and services and thus create losses for some current investors and workers in the sectors of the economy that supply such products. Investors might see the value of their stock decline, and workers could face the risk of unemployment as jobs in those sectors were cut. Stock losses would tend to be widely dispersed among investors, because shareholders typically diversify their portfolios. In contrast, the costs borne by would probably be concentrated among relatively few households and, by extension, their communities."

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/91xx/doc9134/...

"A study by Charles River Associates puts the cost (in terms of reduced household spending per year) of S. 2191 at $800 to $1,300 per household by 2015, rising to $1,500 to $2,500 by 2050. Electricity prices could jump by 36 to 65 percent by 2015 and 80 to 125 percent by 2050. No analysis has been done on the impact of S. 2191 on gasoline prices, but an Environmental Protection Agency study of a less stringent cap and trade bill estimates impacts of 26 cents per gallon by 2030 and 68 cents by 2050."

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Economy...
By jfnance32

9/15/08 at 4:47 p.m.

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Thinks for the good info, theBS.

Obama is shooting for a hurtful 80% reduction by 2050.

McCain is shooting for a reasonable 60% reduction by 2050.
By thebs

9/15/08 at 5:57 p.m.

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Ah, I see, a 60% reduction is "reasonable" but an 80% is "hurtful?" Why don't you pony up some statistics on that, bucko? $20 says you won't.

The FACTS are that McCain would increase the price of energy will giving LESS to the middle class to PAY for that energy, thereby digging the middle class into a DEEPER hole. That's the McCain Economic Plan.

So, to summarize, you still have no sources to support your capital gains tax talking point, you want to elect someone who will increase the price of energy AND give 1/3 of the tax cut that Obama is promising to the middle class?

Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Sounds like the McCain economic plan.
By Ann

9/15/08 at 6:14 p.m.

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Barack and Joe Biden will give a "$25 billion State Growth Fund to prevent state and local cuts in health, education, housing, and heating assistance or counterproductive increases in property taxes, tolls or fees," according to their website. They are smart, they have a plan. I like them and have confidence in them.

I don't have any confidence left in the republicans. They keep messing up. Also, I would rather not vote for a bunch of liars who deceived folks in 2004, in 2000, and many times in between 2000 and now. Got people to chant, "flip flop, flip flop," and look around you, everybody in their party is flip flopping.

Then they got everybody chanting, "WMD, WMD" and it turns out there weren't any. People get deployed and killed for a pack of lies. McCain just today saying the ecomony is great. Pretty in touch he is, yes? Ehr, the answer is no. And so he flip flopped and put out another ad out today saying, "No, I mean the economy is lousy." Flip, flop.

Just look around you. Sure, Sarah Palin is presentable, but she is just another marketing ploy. We can look at what is really going on.

Nevada is not an island. The economy impacts everyone. Employment is lowest in 6 years, the big bull Merrill Lynch failing, Fannie and Freddie failing, Lehman Brothers failing, jobs going overseas. Nevada is not an island. Tossed the dice and lost out. What, am I goint to give them another chance? They played me like a violin enough times. I'm not going to place any more bets on the Republicans.
By CarsonHick

9/15/08 at 8:37 p.m.

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The believers feel they have to believe in a dream but the republicans have convincingly destroyed this economy; jobs; growth, financial retirement stability from Abramhoff lobbying to MMS energy companies inside politics. Bush and McCain say one thing to me a fellow republican and then are willing to let me loose my home and income because they only care for their own. Blue and white collar workers must make a choice - live with the same 8 yrs or provide a change with new integrity. Deal with it - the GOP double cross us.
By jfnance32

9/15/08 at 9:49 p.m.

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Wow...you do not see a significant numerical difference between 80% and 60%.

I guess that is Obamanomics at work again.

Obama is going to middle class workers that actual pay income taxes around $1.95 a day more in tax cuts than McCain......wooooooweeeeeeee I am ready to buy my cheesburger each day.

Obama is also going to raise taxes on capital job creation investments....no wait a minute...he is rethinking that...because he is agreeing that raising taxes, even on the rich, might hurt the economy.
By HonorTruth

9/15/08 at 10:41 p.m.

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There is no McSame economic plan. There is a Bush economic plan. And how is that working for you? It's working well for Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, homebuyers suckered into crappy mortgages that should have never been written, and anyone trying to pay for grocercies and gas.

Oh, wait, this just in, there is a difference with Mr Bush. Senator McSame is going to tax you on the value of your health insurance benefits. For a family of four, that's about $12,000 that will be considered taxable income, but Senator McSame will give you a $5000 credit, so you will be only taxed on an additional $7000. See, not so bad. The money for the Big Oil tax BREAKS has to come from somewhere!
By starrynite7

9/16/08 at 5:49 a.m.

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Palin is homophobic and will make women keep babies they don't want. What if a woman gets raped and then becomes pregnant, will she make that woman live through two nightmares? What is the woman is an incest survivor? How will a young girl deal with a pregnancy after something like that happens to her? What if your wife or daughter were raped while walking home and then became pregnant? Would you really want them to endure nine months of hell and then deliver a baby? Palin is a hater..pure and simple. A religious fanatic that will take women back to the dark ages of back street abortions with coat hangers.
By balarat

9/16/08 at 1:17 p.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By R_Linn

9/16/08 at 4:42 p.m.

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Sarah Palin rocks!!!
By johnevegas

9/17/08 at 12:32 p.m.

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Palin is not only homophobic, she's also unqualified to run for any national office, an outright liar, and against everything most women support. She is, in fact, George Bush with Lipstick on.

If you like what's happening now, by all means, vote for McSame and his unqualified running mate.

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