Palin Visits Sacramento, Says Elections About 'The Little Guy'
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Looking ahead to next month's midterm elections, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday that the country needs to elect business-minded candidates who will not sell out their principles for the sake of bipartisanship.
Palin spoke to a crowd of about 2,000 people at a forum hosted by the Sacramento Metro Chamber. The appearance was part of a three-day promotional and political swing through California that will culminate in a Republican National Committee rally in Orange County on Saturday.
"This election is about the little guy, the common man, independence, and the middle class—those forgotten and ignored for far too long, and now they're fighting back," Palin said. "They—we—are saying enough is enough."
The former vice presidential candidate predicted a wave of change at the state and federal levels after Nov. 2. But she warned that newly elected Republicans should avoid bipartisan unity if it serves to perpetuate the status quo.
"We want those business-oriented folks in Washington not to be there singing 'Kumbaya' with the people who caused the problems in the first place," she said.
Palin's fellow speaker at the event, former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, called this election one of the most uncivil he has seen in his lifetime, particularly the campaign ads coming from both parties.
"If you look at the ads, the average ad is about 20 percent fact and 80 percent fiction. They are outrageous," he said.
His comments came a week after he railed against Palin in an e-mail on behalf of his political action committee, describing the Republican candidates she has endorsed as extreme. He singled out GOP Senate challengers Christine O'Donnell in Delaware and Joe Miller in Palin's home state, both of whom have received strong support from tea party activists.
On Friday, Dean said O'Donnell, Miller and other "outliers" within the conservative movement had distorted its message.
"I've spoken to the tea party, and they say they don't want big government, but they also don't want to give up their Medicare, their Social Security," he said. "Their view of government is different than the view that is articulated by their leadership on television."
Palin offered a different assessment, praising the tea party for "forcing both sides of the aisle to rethink the way they're doing business."
Palin was met with a warm reception Friday by what appeared to be a largely conservative, pro-business audience.
But in California as a whole, the reviews are decidedly mixed.
A Field Poll released last week found that 58 percent of the state's registered voters hold a negative view of Palin, although she remains quite popular among Republicans. In addition, two-thirds of independent voters would be less inclined to support a candidate endorsed by her.
That could help explain why California's two most prominent Republican candidates this year—gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman and Senate candidate Carly Fiorina—will be absent from Saturday's RNC rally in Anaheim.
Both have cited scheduling conflicts that will prevent them from attending, although Whitman acknowledged Tuesday that she has supported GOP presidential nominees in the past.
The rally also will feature RNC Chairman Michael Steele, along with several members of Congress as well as state lawmakers and local elected officials from the area.
Organizers say this is the first election in a long time where Republicans have a chance to make real inroads in California, at every level of government. In a posting on her Facebook page last week, Palin agreed, declaring, "This is still Reagan Country!"
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