WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin returned to where her political career began to cast her vote in the snow-dusted, two-story city hall where she once presided as a small-town mayor.
Palin, accompanied by her husband Todd, voted just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, pushing aside a red, white and blue curtain on a voting booth and handing her white paper ballot to a clerk.
Wearing a brown-hooded jacket emblazoned with the seal of the state of Alaska, the governor hugged and shook hands with poll workers and voters before meeting with reporters outside, where dozens of supporters chanted, “Sarah, Sarah” in the pre-dawn darkness.
An “I voted” sticker was pasted to her jacket.
“Tomorrow, I hope, I pray, I believe that I’ll be able to wake up as vice president-elect and be able to get to work,” she said. “I’m so anxious to get to work for the American people.”
In remarks at turns emotional and reflective, John McCain’s running mate said she recognized the historic significance of a campaign that will end with the election of the first woman vice president, or the first black president, Barack Obama.
“It bodes so well for the progress our great country is making,” she said. “This is the land of possibilities and opportunities.”
She wouldn’t discuss for whom she voted, citing her right to privacy.
Palin said the campaign “had strengthened my belief in the American people … and strengthened the resolve in me to do all that I can to help American families meet the challenges that they are facing. Todd and I, we face those same challenges.”
In the end, she said, “I’m going to be Sarah from Alaska.”
Palin’s stop in her frigid home state was brief — about 4½ hours. After a blur of last-minute campaigning across the country Monday, she found time to stop at her lakeside home, her favorite coffee shop in Wasilla, the Mocha Moose, and make a detour to a gas station owned by her sister and brother-in-law, who were not there.
At the coffee shop, she held up a newspaper that showed a headline reading, “Board exonerates Palin,” which heralded the news that a state board had found no ethical violations by Palin in what has been known as the “Troopergate” scandal. Holding the newspaper for TV cameras, she remarked, “Nice headline.”
Although the state personnel board — its members are appointed by the governor — found that Palin had violated no ethics laws, a separate investigation by the state Legislature found that she had abused her office. She dismissed the critical report as the product of partisans.
The state’s public safety commissioner alleged that he felt pressure from Palin, her husband and her staff to fire a state trooper who had gone through a contentious divorce from Palin’s sister. Palin denied the claim and said she fired Commissioner Walt Monegan in July because she wanted the department to head in a new direction.
The investigation by the Legislative Council concluded last month that Palin abused her office by allowing her husband and staffers to pressure Monegan to fire the trooper, Mike Wooten. However, it upheld the firing because Monegan was an at-will employee.
Asked whether the race had left her with any regrets, Palin at first said, “I wish there were more hours in the day.” She went on to express disappointment with some of the media coverage and material displayed across the blogosphere. “Too much is reported based on gossip and innuendo, and things taken out of context.”
Palin, a former TV broadcaster, said some reporting “skewed my record” and was never corrected.
Shortly after 9 a.m., Palin and her husband boarded the campaign’s plane, and left for Arizona, where they will spend election night with McCain.
——Contact The Daily Reveille news staff at [email protected]