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Palin fires up Tea Partiers to launch bus tour
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) appeared before a rally of Tea Party activists in Nevada on Monday, urging them to show up at the polls and vote out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his fellow Democrats.
Palin appeared in Reno, Nev., on the first leg of a 15-day bus tour organized by the Tea Party Express. The 2008 GOP vice-presidential nominee fired up the crowd with a speech full of red meat for conservative activists, but reminded them that the election is not over yet despite the momentum on the GOP side.
But she told activists "We can't party like it's 1773 just yet," saying that Republicans will need a big turnout from Tea Party voters on Nov. 2 to make large inroads on the Democratic majorities in Congress.
Palin is an extremely popular figure among Tea Party activists nationwide and has worked on behalf of many GOP candidates across the country, but has made Nevada one of her top priorities. She appeared at a Tea Party rally in March held in Reid's hometown on Searchlight in an effort to target the majority leader.
"We don't work for you anymore, Mr. Reid, enjoy your retirement. We don't work for you, Nancy Pelosi, you're fired," she said. "President Obama, look out, because now we can see 2012 from our house. You are winning, Joe Sixpack, but we can't declare victory just yet."
The bus tour, intended to keep up enthusiasm among Tea Party activists, will visit 19 states after beginning with a two-day stop in Nevada. It is scheduled to conclude Nov. 1 in Concord, N.H.
On Monday she spoke highly of Nevada GOP Senate nominee Sharron Angle, who surprisingly defeated establishment candidate former state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden in the primary. Angle is locked in a tight race with Reid, who entered the cycle as an endangered incumbent despite being the top-ranking Senate Democrat.
The potential 2012 presidential candidate said that the "lamestream media" and the left "tried to clobber" Angle but "she's still standing." Angle could not appear with Palin because Tea Party Express has spent money on her behalf and federal laws ban coordination between campaigns and independent groups.
Palin also rattled off the names of other GOP candidates around the country. Included on her list was California GOP Senate nominee Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who is challenging Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), even though she declined to appear at a rally with Palin last week.
Palin also name-checked Florida Senate nominee Marco Rubio (R), who is scheduled to appear with her and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele next weekend.
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