Palin re-energizes moribund GOP

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By Joseph Curl

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. | How excited are Republicans and conservatives for Gov. Sarah Palin?

In this Detroit suburb over the weekend, thousands joined in on an impromptu chant: "Palin! Next president! Palin! Next president!" One woman even held aloft a sign that read "Palin 2012" — apparently unaware that her running mate, Senator what's-his-name, might just want to seek re-election if he wins the presidency in November.

In just over a week, Mrs. Palin has eclipsed Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee. One woman at a Midwest rally said after her fiery speech, "Boy, I wish she were on the top of the ticket."

The pro-life mother of five has fired up the conservative base, which was, by nearly all accounts — even from insider Republicans — less than fully enthused about the nomination of a party-bucking maverick who had spent weeks bashing the Republican Party. She has single-handedly swayed fence-sitters into the ticket's camp, drawing women, abortion-rights opponents, gun enthusiasts and moderate independents who find Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, too liberal.

"We're here because we are really excited after the appointment of Sarah Palin," said Angie Scheu of Clarkston, Mich., holding the hand of her small daughter outside an amphitheater packed with 10,000 screaming supporters. "… [I]f he [Mr. McCain] had picked a centrist, liberal-leaning VP, then the base would not have been as excited to come out and vote, and I wouldn't have been, either."

That sentiment was heard again and again at campaign stops in Michigan, Wisconsin and Colorado, all battleground states. Women hoisted their young daughters on their shoulders to catch a glimpse of the Republican vice-presidential nominee. McCain supporters already are on a first-name basis with the self-described "hockey mom" — the chant "Sarah! Sarah!" rang out in a main street square in Cedarburg, Wis., in the Michigan amphitheater, and at an airport rally in Colorado Springs.

The conventional wisdom is that the darling of conservatives will not draw the liberal women who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: Mrs. Palin is, after all, a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, a budget hawk and a staunch opponent of abortion.

But she has done something in the heartland that has not yet been measured by pollsters and pundits — pushed off the fence Republicans wavering over the moderate Mr. McCain.

"I was probably going to vote for McCain, but I wasn't overly thrilled," said Kim Haege, a hockey mom from Denver who wore her son's Colorado Thunderbirds hockey jersey to a massive rally in Colorado Springs. "When he picked Sarah, I realized he was really going to shake things up."

Her friend, Jenny McGurk, decked out in her son's Regis Raiders hockey jersey, also crossed over.