where did sarah palin watch last night's debate?
Debate Watching with Gov. Palin
Updated 12:10 a.m.
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Aboard her campaign plane, after taking questions for the first time from the reporters who follow her every move, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the assembled press and two senior aides standing near her that she didn't want to watch the presidential debate "in my hotel room with just campaign staffers."
The campaign hadn't scheduled a debating watching party for her, but that plan quickly changed. After Palin spoke at a rally here, her campaign entourage of aides and reporters drove to a local pizzeria called Boli's on the Boulevard. Palin went casual, appearing in blue jeans and a purple windbreaker she had been given after her speech at the East Carolina University a few minutes earlier.
As she greeted the surprised crowd of more than 50 at the small pizza place, she posed for several cell phone pictures. When Dana Corey, who was about to start eating, realized Palin was there, he was on the phone with wife. He asked if Palin would say hello and the governor did, joking, "Libby, why is your husband here drinking beer without you?"
The Corey family lives in Wilmington, N.C., and Mrs. Corey explained to the governor that her husband was there because he was working on a construction project in Greenville.
As the debate started, the governor sat with Charlotte mayor Patrick McCrory, and the state's Republican senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, along with Burr's wife, as several televisions in the bar showed the Fox News telecast of the debate.
At the onset of the debate, Palin took out a pen and some paper. And for the next hour and half, along with chatting with the politicians, she often took notes of what the two candidates were saying. Interviewed after the debate, Dole said Palin was writing down many of their exchanges on energy, while Burr noted that Palin was "focused on what Barack was saying."
Perhaps like anyone else watching the town hall, the governor looked away at times and spent some time texting on her phone.
Corey came over to Palin's table, this time with his daughter, a college senior, on the phone. Palin greeted her too. Dana Corey said Allie enjoyed talking to Palin but was still deciding between Obama and McCain even after the Alaska governor pushed her man on the phone.
The dozen reporters with Palin were seated in a different section of Boli's from Palin, although we could see her throughout. She smiled at some of McCain's remarks about energy independence and took notes quietly when Obama spoke. At the end of the debate, her aides brought reporters over to Palin's table.
Asked how the debate went, she was enthusiastic as usual.
"Great. Great. It was a great night for America. He's proposing real plans that will work for economic recovery and energy independence," she said of her running mate.
"I think Barack was even less candid than usual," she added, not explaining exactly what that meant. "But McCain has fought on and sounded very energized and it was a good night for him.... It's gonna be a great 28 days to go. Taking this message of reform on the road and just having it resonate more and more every day is what I believe's happening. And it's good. It's very good. I look forward to the 28 days."
But Palin is aware of her ticket's political situation. Asked on the plane about her reflections from her first month on the campaign trail, she used a word she would repeat at the rally here: "underdog." That analysis may have been unavoidable, given that she was about to touch down in North Carolina, a state Republicans have won for decades but where polls show Obama effectively tied.
"I've been an underdog quite often in my life -- and so has John McCain. And we both have come out victorious," she said. "I anticipate that's what going to what we see at the end of the day on Nov. 4."
source
and a fun photo:
i do wonder if she played the maverick drinking game. or (in the case of last night's debate, the "my friends" drinking game.
Updated 12:10 a.m.
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Aboard her campaign plane, after taking questions for the first time from the reporters who follow her every move, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the assembled press and two senior aides standing near her that she didn't want to watch the presidential debate "in my hotel room with just campaign staffers."
The campaign hadn't scheduled a debating watching party for her, but that plan quickly changed. After Palin spoke at a rally here, her campaign entourage of aides and reporters drove to a local pizzeria called Boli's on the Boulevard. Palin went casual, appearing in blue jeans and a purple windbreaker she had been given after her speech at the East Carolina University a few minutes earlier.
As she greeted the surprised crowd of more than 50 at the small pizza place, she posed for several cell phone pictures. When Dana Corey, who was about to start eating, realized Palin was there, he was on the phone with wife. He asked if Palin would say hello and the governor did, joking, "Libby, why is your husband here drinking beer without you?"
The Corey family lives in Wilmington, N.C., and Mrs. Corey explained to the governor that her husband was there because he was working on a construction project in Greenville.
As the debate started, the governor sat with Charlotte mayor Patrick McCrory, and the state's Republican senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, along with Burr's wife, as several televisions in the bar showed the Fox News telecast of the debate.
At the onset of the debate, Palin took out a pen and some paper. And for the next hour and half, along with chatting with the politicians, she often took notes of what the two candidates were saying. Interviewed after the debate, Dole said Palin was writing down many of their exchanges on energy, while Burr noted that Palin was "focused on what Barack was saying."
Perhaps like anyone else watching the town hall, the governor looked away at times and spent some time texting on her phone.
Corey came over to Palin's table, this time with his daughter, a college senior, on the phone. Palin greeted her too. Dana Corey said Allie enjoyed talking to Palin but was still deciding between Obama and McCain even after the Alaska governor pushed her man on the phone.
The dozen reporters with Palin were seated in a different section of Boli's from Palin, although we could see her throughout. She smiled at some of McCain's remarks about energy independence and took notes quietly when Obama spoke. At the end of the debate, her aides brought reporters over to Palin's table.
Asked how the debate went, she was enthusiastic as usual.
"Great. Great. It was a great night for America. He's proposing real plans that will work for economic recovery and energy independence," she said of her running mate.
"I think Barack was even less candid than usual," she added, not explaining exactly what that meant. "But McCain has fought on and sounded very energized and it was a good night for him.... It's gonna be a great 28 days to go. Taking this message of reform on the road and just having it resonate more and more every day is what I believe's happening. And it's good. It's very good. I look forward to the 28 days."
But Palin is aware of her ticket's political situation. Asked on the plane about her reflections from her first month on the campaign trail, she used a word she would repeat at the rally here: "underdog." That analysis may have been unavoidable, given that she was about to touch down in North Carolina, a state Republicans have won for decades but where polls show Obama effectively tied.
"I've been an underdog quite often in my life -- and so has John McCain. And we both have come out victorious," she said. "I anticipate that's what going to what we see at the end of the day on Nov. 4."
source
and a fun photo:
i do wonder if she played the maverick drinking game. or (in the case of last night's debate, the "my friends" drinking game.