Posted on 12/08/2009 7:30:40 PM PST by Reagan Man
The crowd packed more than 700 deep at the Chapel Hills Mall as locals packing a copy of the $30 book penned by former vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin waited for a brush with fame.
People who waited all day for their moment with Palin at a Borders book-signing said the mix of celebrity looks and hardline GOP politics makes the former Alaska governor worth it.
“We love her, and she’s one of us,” said Fela Hopkinson of Colorado Springs whose quest for Palin’s signature started before dawn.
Palin was popular in the Republican stronghold of Colorado Springs during the 2008 campaign. The Republican ticket of Arizona Sen. John McCain and Palin drew 160,000 votes in El Paso County, easily topping the 109,000 for Obama.
Many in the throng spent the day in lines talking conservative politics, praising Palin and lamenting the fact that President Barack Obama won the White House.
“It’s fun visiting with like-minded people,” said Kent Pound, of Colorado Springs.
Mall cops worked overtime to control the crowd, ordering them into the store by color-coded groups. An enterprising vendor circulated selling refreshments.
Palin was tucked away upstairs at the store with her husband, Todd, and several relatives. Photographers were allowed to document her visit, but reporters were kept a floor away, eliminating even shouted questions.
In deference to the frigid weather and the large crowd, Palin started inking her name on books before 6 p.m., more than an hour earlier than planned.
Palin has taken her book tour nationwide, and the publicity has brought strong sales. A spokeswoman for publisher Harper Collins in New York said a million copies were snapped up within two weeks of the autobiographical tome’s release.
Fort Carson Spc. Ryan McLaughlin said he became intrigued by Palin while he was serving in Iraq during the 2008 campaign.
“She seems different from most politicians,” he said. “Kind of like hometown, folksy. You can relate to her.” After they got their books signed, veterans of meeting Palin seemed in Awe.
“She’s so sweet,” said Jane Sheehan, of Colorado Springs.
“She thanked me for being a veteran,” said John Davis, who was sporting a hat attesting to service in Vietnam. Davis also was given a “vets for Palin” button, a sign that her political ambitions likely haven’t faded. The veteran wants to see her on the 2012 presidential ballot.
“Last time, I voted for her and not McCain,” Davis said.
Robert Delany, of Denver, who left home at 5 a.m. to line up for a chance to get his book signed by Palin, said he won’t even read it.
“I got the audio book,” he said. “I’m not a reader
“hundreds”? Did the media misreport this number?
Last time hundreds meant 4,000-LOL
Highly doubtful. They handed out 1,000 wristbands for the book signing. Weather has been bad for the last few days with snow and sub zero temps. They started it early and the 700 who turned out is close to what they anticipated.
There's a liberal paper in colorado springs as well; the CS Independent. I wonder what they will write.
Some time ago one of the writers for the indy was Congresswoman DeGette's sister. They are liberal to the core.
““We love her”
Yes, we do love her.
I heard that the book is one of the fastest selling non-fiction books in history.
People are going nuts for Sarah. Maybe she can pull it off?
“There’s a liberal paper in colorado springs as well; the CS Independent. I wonder what they will write.”
This should answer your question:
http://www.csindy.com/IndyBlog/archives/2009/12/08/consider-yourself-warned
Typical lib jackasses...
- JP
My wife works in that mall. She stopped by the book store and was told the store only had 700 wristbands, but because they were already handed out earlier, to come by anyway and get in line behind all those with bands.
I don’t know how many were there but maybe the newspaper was too lazy to count and took the 700 number from the number of bands available.
BTW, it was zero degrees and blizzard winds this morning and got up to a “high” of 2 degrees today; winds averaged 12 mph with gusts averging 24 mph all day long. I’m sure that, plus snow and icy road conditions played a part on the size of the crowd.
Definiately not a typical Colorado Springs late fall day!
The Independent is free, it makes for cheap toilet paper.
Danke! The number of folks who turn out to see Palin get reported over wide ranges at times. Good to get a close-to-verified number.
Just posted via Twitter
SarahPalinUSA Thrilled 2 meet Michelle Malkin& her beautiful family in Colorado Springs,along w/a couple thousand more fine locals;thank you CO!On 2 Nevada
The last few days weather hasn't been typical, but its not unusual either. I live in the Springs and after 33 years here I've learned to expect anything from Colorado weather. Right now its -4.4 degrees on the westside near Manitou Springs. Warmup tomorrow.
Also, its not the job of a beat reporter to count how many people are in line for a book signing. Suffice it to say, they came close to the total of 1,000 wristbands handed out.
Now THAT’S a picture!
Thanks for the link....I think.
I love arguing with ultra liberals; one may turn violent some day because I give them no breathing room.
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