Sarah Palin event raised $100K for Illinois GOP

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Illinois State Rep. Jim Durkin says Sarah Palin raised about $100,000 in her one-hour appearance at Wednesday's GOP fund-raiser in Rosemont, money which will be distributed to the campaigns of statewide party candidates in November:

Durkin, who campaigned in 2008 for the former Alaskan governor and Arizona Sen. John McCain in Illinois and Pennsylvania, said Illinois candidates desperately need the funds in 2010.

"For the past eight years the Republican Party has been at a severe financial disadvantage versus the Democrats," he said. "We need to do the best we can to raise money. Gov. Palin offered the party the opportunity, the party accepted the invitation, and I'm glad it went well."

Republicans paid $500 to $25,000 to attend the state party fund-raiser, which excluded some of the party faithful.

State Sen. Kirk Dillard, who didn't attend the event because he said he still has prior campaign debts to pay off before he can contribute more to the state party, nevertheless said he admired the former Governor:

"For the Republican base, Sarah Palin is an icon, and somebody that conservative Republicans admire," he said. "She has a crossover appeal to conservative Democrats, labor unions and tea party folks as well.

State Senator Dan Cronin cited the excitement and resolve Gov. Palin generated in her speech at a second Rosemont event which followed the fund-raiser as factors which will be critical in the November midterm elections. A crowd of 4,000 paid $56 apiece to attend her speech at the event sponsored by Chicago talk station WIND:

"The message she articulated last night is one we will hear much more before the November elections -- It's time for Illinois," he said. "We saw what happened in Massachusetts."

Durkin agreed the time is right for Republican gains in Washington and Springfield.

[...]

"Illinois is going to be a tier-one targeted state for the Republican National Committee," he said. "We haven't heard that in a long time. There will be resources. Illinois is going to be a battle ground like we've not seen in a few decades in a major election cycle, and we need to be ready."

- JP

Warner Todd Huston: Sarah Palin In Chicago

-By Warner Todd Huston
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In the deep blue sea of the People's Republic of Chicagoland, Sarah Palin shined like a light of liberty among the darkness of Mayor Richard "King" Daley's perverse domain. Palin brought hope into the home of President Obama's cynical "Chicago Way" style of politics, and I was there to witness the May 12 show.

Sarah Palin was her usual effervescent self, upbeat and positive about this great country and happy to appear before us. She reveled in her "aw shucks" persona built from regular Americana, a style that has made her dear to the hearts of so many Americans from coast to coast.

The show started with a little patter between Big John Howell and Amy Jacobson, the morning radio talkers from Chicago's WIND AM. One of John Howell's musician buddies performed a few songs for us and I have to say he was pleasant to listen to. Finally, just before the Governor addressed us, the ever avuncular and impressive Guy Benson -- who has a Sunday evening show on WIND -- entertained us with some political humor.

Then, when the giant curtains parted to reveal the governor, the applause was almost deafening so the evening started with an electric jolt. She immediately asked all U.S. military veterans to stand for recognition to a huge round of applause for her recognition and for ours of our vets.

One of the early things that Governor Palin brought up was this idiotic business of Highland Park High School whose administrators suddenly canceled its girls basketball team trip to Arizona. The team had won the right to play in a tournament for the first time in 26 years. Why was it canceled? Only because the tournament is in Arizona and school administrators are mad at the state. Disgustingly, these school chiefs are using these girls to advance their own political agenda. Palin was amazed that this school was ignorant enough to say Arizona is not a worthy place for their girls to visit yet the school is still sponsoring a trip to China! "Do you know how girls are treated in China," Palin asked. Then to great applause she suggested that those girls might have to "go rogue."

Palin went on to say that someone said that her trip to Chicago would be one into "enemy territory." She told us all that she replied, "It's Chicago, not MSNBC!" Palin had many little jabs at the left like this throughout the evening.

The governor focused on the economy, the Constitution and our American exceptionalism but also mentioned the evils of ObamaCare. But Palin’s main focus was on the November elections and her main goal was to stir voters to support conservative Republicans in the upcoming elections.

Like most conservative speakers, she invoked Ronald Reagan a lot, which is to be expected. On bipartisanship, for instance, Palin asked about politicians that were "all about bipartisanship" and she wondered "where's the backbone" of those that run claiming they want bipartisanship. "Reagan didn't govern with the singular goal of being bipartisan,” she told us. “He fought for common conservative principles and then he invited the other side to join him!" But while on the subject of principles, Palin also warned against too much inter-party attacks on RINOs and the like.

Recently Palin has been beaten up by her own side over her choice of Carly Fiorina for California's Senate seat instead of the tea party supported and long-time California conservative Chuck DeVore.

Palin began to address this RINO hunt situation by saying that "There's been a lot of talk about who's the RINO and who isn't… some of it isn't always fair" to which someone in the audience yelled "Mark Kirk" to the applause of many hundreds in the audience. Palin didn't address Kirk, but went on to address her own tete a tete with conservatives over her Fiorina endorsement.

I've been getting a lot of flak lately for endorsing a pro-life, NRA member, pro traditional marriage, pro business, anti-big government, anti tax and spend, anti cap and tax conservative who running in California -- yes there is one in California… in California I think if you're willing to call yourself unabashedly conservative in a deep blue state like California then how are you not the real deal when you are all these things that we just listed, it would be traditionally "yes," a conservative, a Republican would stand for. I don't want to see this candidate discredited just because some are more supportive of another in the candidate race. We want to elect principled candidates and principled conservatives, but the keyword is elect and in November, folks, that is what it's all about. It's about taking the gavel away from Harry and Nancy!

This is a perfect echo of the old William F. Buckley principle that, in Palin's words, "the conservative with the best shot of winning" will get her support. Buckely is famous for having supported the most conservative candidate that had a chance of winning election as opposed to simply the most conservative candidate. Apparently, Palin is taking this page from Buckley's playbook.

It was also refreshing to see such a high profile person in the political world be so un-embarrassed by her belief in God. These days so many pols either sound cynical when they discuss their Christian beliefs or they refuse even to bring it up. But Palin seemed quite sincere in her beliefs and reveled in them.

After Palin's address, Howell and Jacobson came out and joined Palin for a few questions. Only one intrigued me, though. Howell affirmed that Palin had charisma to spare and he wondered that if she could imbue another Republican candidate with some of her charisma who would it be? Palin began by saying that she wouldn't be politically correct and not answer the question, but after stumbling around for a few minutes she wisely reversed herself on that claim. "I guess I will be politically correct," she laughed as she begged off the question intelligently not wanting to say that any particular other Republican was a dud in the personality department!

In any case, Sarah Palin was fun to listen to. I can't say that Palin is a powerful speaker in the traditional oratorical way, but she is quite effective in her own way, a way that appeals to so many people. I was happy to have been there to see the Palin juggernaut rolling across the country. I mean, let's put it this way, can you name any other politician that people would pay $55 or more to see talk for an hour or so?

Several local personages that I saw were Dan Proft, Cook County Board of Review Candidate Dan Patlak, and I even hear tell that independent Gubernatorial candidate Scott Lee Cohen was also in attendance and Rosanna Pulido was also in attendance.

Some of the other bloggers in attendance was Ed Morrissey of Hot Air, Jonathan Garthwaite of Townhall.com, Tom Mannis of Chicago News Bench, along with myself (I didn't see him but I think Alex Keown was also going to attend).

Finally, I'll mention the very, very few protestors that came out to whine about the illegal immigrant issue. There was about 7 or 8 of them all holding their little signs. Naturally, many folks passing by scoffed at them and yelled to them, "what part of ILLEGAL don’t you understand?" These lawbreaker supporters quietly stood with their signs, though, so kudos to them for not being disruptive, La Raza-type creeps.

I have to say that I am surprised there weren't more protestors out there. The police were not in any way stopping anyone from protesting as far as I could tell, so it wasn't because of the man being oppressive! It's just that no others showed up. I guess they were too busy?

So, that is my experience at "A Night With Sarah Palin" at the Rosemont Theater in the Chicagoland area. I am glad I went and I have to thank WIND AM 560 for the tickets as they made it possible for me to attend the Palin event.

-WTH

Warner Todd Huston is editor of Publius' Forum and a contributor to Texas for Sarah Palin and other websites, including Big Government, Right Wing News and Red County.

Ed Morrissey on Principled Palin Pragmatism

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Hot Air's Ed Morrissey was at the Rosemont Theater last night for Gov. Palin's speech and posted about it this morning. Here are some excerpts which we think are significant, in light of the dust up over Gov. Palin's most recent endorsement:

Palin addressed the issue of her endorsement of Carly Fiorina during her speech. Without mentioning Fiorina by name, Palin defended the California Senate candidate as “pro-life, pro-business,” and underscored Fiorina’s conservative credentials. Activists need to back the “best conservatives we can elect,” Palin said, and said that activists have to have some pragmatism about electability. Palin took a more veiled shot at Tom Campbell by noting that Fiorina was a better conservative choice than some of the alternatives.

She also challenged the notion of RINOs in her speech, which may also have surprised some in the audience. While the name “Mark Kirk!” got yelled repeatedly, Palin warned about purity purges in the Republican Party, especially in this midterm cycle. Palin admitted that RINOs exist but argued that they’re more rare than people think — and to remember that the goal is to produce conservative leadership in Congress and eventually in the White House. That won’t happen, Palin reminded people more than once, while Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi control the agenda.

The crowd was highly receptive to the entire speech, although one could hear a little grumbling about RINOs during Palin’s argument. It was an effective rally speech, but also a practical defense of her efforts and endorsements in this campaign season.

Read the full Morrissey post here.

- JP

Video: Sarah Palin's WIND/Rosemont Speech

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h/t: CStevenTucker and Palin TV.

- JP

Sun-Times: Sarah Palin impresses top Republicans at Illinois fundraiser

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Chicago Sun-Times political reporter Abdon Pallash covered Sarah Palin's appearance at a state GOP fundraiser in Romemont today. Pallash reports that Gov. Palin impressed Illinois’ leading Republicans, a number of whom paid from $500 to $25,000 to schmooze with the first woman in history to be the party's vice presidential candidate:

“We talked about the situation in Illinois — the deficit, the high taxes, job creation,” said the party’s nominee for governor, State Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington. “I told her, ‘Your being here is helping rally the troops and get the message out.’”

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“She came in and was gracious enough to help us raise money,” said state Sen. Jim Durkin. “It was very low-key, no speeches. She just met with people and talked with them. She said we have the chance to win many seats. People were very eager to take out their check books.”

Durkin brought a picture he took with Palin, himself and Mike Ditka at a Latrobe, Pa., rally a week before the 2008 election, which Palin signed for him.

“She said this could be a good year for Republicans,” State GOP Chairman Patrick Brady said.

“It was a moving experience,” said former GOP candidate for governor Adam Andrzejewski. “She was very personable. She was encouraging us to keep up the fight for reform in Illinois.”

Tonight at a separate event, “An Evening with Sarah Palin, ” Governor Palin spoke to a crowd of 4,000 at the Rosemont Theater. Sponsored by Chicago news-talk radio station WIND, the evening event offered much more affordable ticket prices of $56.

- JP

Sarah Palin is in Chicagoland for two Rosemont appearances

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Sarah Palin is in Chicagoland today, and she will appear at two separate events in Rosemont:

The former Alaska governor will appear at a fund-raiser for the Illinois Republican Party at the Rosemont Westin hotel for which a few hundred people have paid $500 to $25,000 apiece to spend time with her.

State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), the conservative Republican nominee for governor, will attend the fund-raiser.

[...]

After the fund-raiser, Palin has a public appearance planned — at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, where fans have paid $56 or more a ticket to attend what’s billed as “An Evening with Sarah Palin.”

The Sun -Times says that tickets are still available for the evening event in the 18,500 seat venue. That seating capacity does not include the 48 skyboxes...

- JP