The Iowa Republican Party freely admitted that this year's Reagan Day Dinner would not have been quite the same without Sarah Palin. “We anticipate that it will be the largest and best attended Reagan Dinner that the party has had in recent years,” state Republican chairman Matt Strawn said in an interview. As it was, 50 news organizations and some 1,000 dinner guests came to the auditorium in downtown Des Moines to hear from the woman who is more than the belle of the Republican ball these days. “She is a formidable force and may be the most formidable force in the Republican Party,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on Friday. Of course, the Democrats may have a vested interest in promoting the former Alaska governor whose poll numbers have been declining this summer and whose electability, at this point, is an open question. Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe scoffed the other day that Palin is the best organizer and fundraiser the Democrats in Iowa could have. But Democrats have belittled opponents in the past who turned their grins into frowns on election day. Ronald Reagan comes quickly to mind as an “un-electable” former actor who nonetheless ousted a sitting president in the first of two landslide elections. Palin was greeted warmly by the Republicans here. And she said what they wanted to hear. “We don't need to fundamentally transform America,” said said. “We need to restore America.” added by: TimALoftis
