DOVER, N.H. — Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said Wednesday she feels a kinship with the moose-hunting, tax-hating voters of New Hampshire who gave John McCain his first primary victory.
At the first of three rallies, the Alaska governor said New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die," would be a good motto for her state.
"You're a lot like the people of Alaska. We all love good moose hunting, I know that. We both so enjoy our great lands, with clean water, fresh air and abundant wildlife and good fishing. We love being outdoors, and I know that is New Hampshire also," she said. "And we both take seriously your state's motto _ I think it should be ours also _ "Live Free or Die."
Alaska's state motto is "North to the Future."
The two states are the only two with neither a general income nor a general sales tax, and Palin played up that history in repeating her argument that Democratic nominee Barack Obama would raise taxes.
McCain proposes extending all of President Bush's tax cuts; Obama would raise income taxes on families making more than $250,000 and individuals making more than $200,000 and has proposed $80 billion in tax breaks mainly for poor workers and the elderly.
"Here in Dover, there's home to two kinds of people: the fine people of New Hampshire, and the fine people of Massachusetts who got sick of paying all those taxes," Palin said. "That should tell you something. The rest of the country is looking at this area and saying what is it that New Hampshire wants?"
For all her praise of New Hampshire, however, she misspoke about its location, at one point talking about Dover and "other parts of this great Northwest."
Palin was making her first trip to the state that launched McCain to the GOP presidential nomination but where he now trails Obama in polls. About 1,000 people turned out for her first rally at Dover High School.
After her Dover speech, Palin went outside to speak briefly to a crowd of people who couldn't get into to the gymnasium. Holding a microphone in one hand and her son Trig in the other, she addressed someone who appeared to be heckling her.
"Sir, I don't know what you're saying, but if you're protesting, that's cool, too," she said. "My son's over in Iraq fighting for your right to protest."
A crowd of several thousand attended Palin's outdoor nighttime rally at Salem High School, where she told the crowd: "Red Sox fans know how to turn an underdog into a victor." Last week, Palin said the exact same thing in Florida about the Tampa Bay Rays, who lead the Boston Red Sox, three games to one, in the American League championship series.
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On the Net:
McCain campaign: http://www.johnmccain.com/
Obama campaign: http://www.barackobama.com/index.php