Feelin' the Palin Enthusiasm

Out in the Bootheel of Missouri along the Mississippi, Rush Limbaugh's hometown of Cape Girardeau in particular, the WSJ's Kimberley Strassel caught up with Gov. Sarah Palin on Thursday:

Ask Sarah Palin what she has found most surprising about her campaign experience and she replies, with more than a touch of humility, "the enthusiasm." She's got a point.

Wending my way through the traffic and crowds around the Palin event in this small river city on Thursday morning, I began to wonder if the whole state hadn't shown up. Walking the cold half-hour from the nearest parking space, I passed mobs of disappointed voters who had already been turned away for lack of space. Inside the city's Show Me Center, thousands of roaring, stomping, sign-waving Palin fans were practically hanging from the rafters. It felt like, well . . . an Obama rally.

Gov. Palin's in Florida today, talking the economy and tax cuts, and pledging the McCain-Palin ticket will keep America safe.

UPDATE: Kathryn Jean Lopez, NRO on the inside the beltway Palin blame game--blame her at your own risk:

She’s clearly not a creature of Washington; she’s a citizen-legislator. She’s an ambitious, honest woman who tries to make it all work without playing victim or sacrificing her family.

And I say thank God for Sarah! I would add her political instincts are awesome--who can top "Uncle Barney Frank"?!

P.S. Hillbuzz Halloween report:

Last night here in Chicago’s Boystown, we counted 22 separate Sarah Palin/John McCain costumes out - always generating strong crowd interest, cheering, and applause. One of the costume sets was a guy dressed as Alaska (outline of state) matched up with another guy dressed as a house (I can see Alaska from my house). There was one group of people who dressed as Palin and her secret service entourage. Another of Palin with her husband Todd, and plenty of Palin’s by themselves in bright red suits. The best of the night was a man dressed as McCain and another as Palin, complete with a Cindy and Todd and a Bullwinkle moose.

Not a single person dressed as Obama and Biden.