Palin came to the nation's attention as Senator [[John McCain]]'s vice presidential running mate in the [[2008 Presidential Election]].<ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/palins_vp_selection_speech.html Acceptance Speech by Palin] realclearpolitics.com, August 29, 2008</ref> She is the first woman to appear on a Republican presidential ticket. In an appearance on August 30, 2008 in Washington, Pennsylvania, she was greeted by a surprisingly large crowd as she promoted the new McCain-Palin ticket. She brought a [[populism|populist]] image and a record of cutting wasteful spending and reforming government to McCain's ticket. In the summer of 2007, she was the most popular governor in America, having cut 13% of [[Alaska]]'s budget.<ref>[http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/851orcjq.asp The Most Popular Governor] Barnes, Fred, Jul 16, 2007, weeklystandard.com</ref>
Palin is an advocate for the socially conservative base of the [[Republican Party]], and an effective critic of [[RINO]] [[Karl Rove]] as well as [[liberal]] [[Barack Obama]]. In her speech to [[CPAC]] in 2013, Palin mocked Obama:<ref>http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/03/sarah-palin-caustic-toward-karl-rove-and-barack-obama.html/</ref>{{cquote|More background checks? Dandy idea, Mr. President — should have started with yours.}} She is strongly [[pro-life]], and a prominent spokesperson for [[special needs]] children. She favors more competition in health care, and pushed for abolishing the [[certificate of need]] regulations that interfere with opening new medical clinics.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090403253.html?referrer=emailarticle Palin's Efforts to Reform Health Care Are Complicated] Mosk, Matthew, September 5, 2008, washingtonpost.com</ref>
Her memoir ''[[Going Rogue]]'' was published in November 2009, with Palin drawing large crowds to book signings around the country. She comments regularly on public affairs via her [[Facebook]] page, having criticized the "death panels" of the health care reform program, and praised President Obama's pro-war speech upon his receiving the [[Nobel]] Peace prize in December 2009. She appears regularly on [[Fox News Channel]].<ref>[http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/sarah-palin-to-contribute-to-fox-news/?scp=2&sq=Palin&st=cse Sarah Palin to contribute to Fox News] Rutenberg, Jim, January 11, 2011, Media Decoder blog, nytimes.com</ref>
Palin's speech before the Republican convention on Wednesday, September 3rd was watched by over 40 million people. As many people watched her as watched Obama's acceptance speech on the final day of the Democratic convention.
Palin was an effective critic of [[RINO]] [[Karl Rove]] as well as [[liberal]] [[Barack Obama]]. In her speech to [[CPAC]] in 2013, Palin mocked Obama:<ref>http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/03/sarah-palin-caustic-toward-karl-rove-and-barack-obama.html/</ref>
{{cquote|More background checks? Dandy idea, Mr. President — should have started with yours.}}
===Democrat Responses===
In a possible problem for the Democratic ticket, a majority of people believed that the press was trying to hurt Palin<ref>http://news.yahoo.com/story/rasmussen/20080904/pl_rasmussen/palinmedia20080904;_ylt=AqErk__wZIKdoVvqUXdr44Nh24cA</ref> and that type of unwarranted attack could have backfired into more support for the McCain/Palin ticket especially with unaffiliated voters believing the press is purposely attacking Palin by a 49% to 32% margin.