Palin draws crowd in Richmond

Mon, October 13, 2008 - 2:49 PM

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was at Richmond International Raceway today to campaign at a rally of what campaign aides say was at least 20,000.

Full coverage of the event can be found on our sister site for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

But we’ll give you a few tidbits here too.

First, Hank Williams Jr. appeared with Palin to sing the national anthem and his country hit “Family Tradition” but with a twist. This one was called “McCain-Palin Tradition.” And if you’ve heard the original, don’t worry. This one was substantially rewritten. No mentions of substance abuse.

Palin stuck largely to her stump speech and largely steered clear of the attacks that have characterized the McCain campaign over the last week.

The Alaska governor focused on the change she said a McCain-Palin ticket would bring to Washington. Americans, she said, are angry about the economy and the direction of the country.

“John McCain will turn that anger into action,” she said.

Palin also focused heavily on energy independence, particularly clean coal. And she spoke of her infant son, Trig, born with Down’s Syndrome. Palin said families and disabled children would be a priority of a McCain-Palin administration.

A funny moment occurred when the overflow crowd in the back started shouting, “Louder!” Palin mistook them for protestors, stopped her speech and told them they should be glad they have the right to protest in this country.

-- Amy Dominello