Book Tour Shows Palin Hitting a Nerve

'Going Rogue' phenomenon may foreshadow something bigger
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2009 2:46 PM CST
Book Tour Shows Palin Hitting a Nerve
Sarah Palin talks to a young fan while at a book tour stop in Roanoke, Va., Sunday, Oct. 22, 2009.   (AP Photo/Don Petersen)

Just 5 days into her book tour, first-time author Sarah Palin is attracting crowds so huge and adoring that they're feeding speculation about her political future. The philosophy that moved one fan to call her "the female Ronald Reagan" is nothing new, experts tell Erika Bolstad of the Anchorage Daily News, "but Palin seems to have seized on something timely by putting her brand on common-sense conservatism."

"I'm there for her," said a fan at a signing who had to be reminded that Palin isn't actually running for office at the moment. "She can see where this country needs to go." Distrust of big government and liberal elites are notes that resonate in the carefully selected communities where Palin is flogging Going Rogue, Bolstad notes. "That populism that she's tapped into, it's partly a politics of resentment," says a professor of politics. "She's very much somebody who bristles with all sorts of resentments."
(More Sarah Palin stories.)

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