TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Florida Fans Break Sweat At Palin Rally

The Associated Press

Supporters for Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov., Sarah Palin, hold up signs during a Sunday rally in The Villages.

ADVERTISEMENT

By WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 22, 2008

THE VILLAGES - Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin repeated the McCain campaign's recent themes - mainly bashing Barack Obama on taxes and vowing more domestic oil drilling - in a speech Sunday to a huge crowd that sweltered in an outdoor square at this huge retirement complex.

"The most appropriate sign there - 'Sweatin' for Sarah,'" she said, opening her speech to a crowd security officials at the scene estimated at 25,000 or more.

It may have been the largest crowd ever for a presidential campaign event in Florida.

George W. Bush was reported to have drawn about 20,000 in 2004 at The Villages, a complex with about 80,000 residents; Obama drew more than 15,000 in Tampa in May, the largest crowd for a campaign event in the city.

At The Villages, scores needed first aid or to be evacuated after fainting in the heat, which exceeded 90 degrees in the mostly unshaded square.

Many waited for up to three hours prior to the 4 p.m. speech, after working their way through an immense traffic jam outside the central square of the retirement complex, and in some cases walking a mile or more from parking areas.

Palin, though, played it safe in her first campaign visit to Florida since being picked by John McCain as his running mate.

She appeared in a strongly Republican area and delivered a speech that only sounded the campaign's general themes, avoiding details or any mention of foreign policy other than the Iraq war.

Among her most popular applause lines was a proposal for more oil drilling.

"We are going to drill now to make this nation energy independent," Palin said.

She said that as vice president, her work would focus on government reform, energy independence, and help for families with developmentally disabled children.

Palin also sounded the populist theme McCain began in a speech in Tampa after the financial meltdown last week.

"People in Florida are and should be outraged," she said. "Huge financial institutions going under because of their own bad practices and now asking the public to bail them out. ... reckless CEOs walking off with multimillion-dollar golden parachutes."

After last week's financial meltdown, she said, "John McCain took a clear stand and he offered his own recovery plan. Our opponent refused to even take a stand on the position."

McCain has proposed creating a new federal agency that would deal with bailouts of troubled financial institutions, though he has provided few details of how it would work.

Obama, meanwhile, has given general support to the government's proposed rescue plan, and proposed providing aid to help people keep their homes. But he has said he wanted to hold off proposing a detailed new regulatory plan while administration officials and Congress worked on the current crisis.

Palin also repeated McCain's long-standing charges that Obama plans to raise taxes, at least some of which have been widely reported to be at odds with the facts of what Obama has proposed.

McCain campaign officials claimed an even larger crowd than security officials - about 60,000 based on what they said was an estimate from The Villages Fire Chief Mike Tucker. He could not be reached for confirmation of that.

The crowd was made up mostly of committed fans of McCain and Palin, but many said what Republicans nationwide have said: Palin brought excitement to a ticket that sorely needed it.

"I just hope she gets to be president - I mean, he gets to be president," said Roger Hall of The Villages. He laughed at his own slip of the tongue, and then added, "She brought the party to life."

Sharon Buzzell, who came with a group of five girlfriends from nearby Oxford, said they were all committed to voting Republican before Palin was chosen, but that she galvanized them: "She's exciting, fresh, not the typical Washington insider."

"Palin in '12," said Buzzell's friend Bobbie Nelson, referring to the 2012 presidential election.

Barry Bowman of Floral City said he was undecided before McCain chose Palin, but no longer: "I've finally seen somebody who can relate to the average American," he said.

Some in the crowd, though, were there largely out of curiosity to see the woman who has drawn so much attention.

"The only reason I'm here is to see the turnout, see what the event's like," said John Masurkiewicz of Leesburg. "I won't vote for them."

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT