http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/republican_3805.mp3
The cold weather didn’t stop thousands of Ozarks residents Friday morning from catching a glimpse of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in Springfield. City officials estimate at least 10,000 people were at the rally. KSMU’s Kristian Kriner reports.
A wave of red, white and blue pom-poms along with country music star Naomi Judd greeted candidate Sarah Palin this morning as she stepped onto the podium at the Bass Pro Shops parking lot.
Thousands of adoring supporters went wild when she took the stage.
Palin commented on how appropriate it was for her to be speaking at Bass Pro Shops.
She jumped the gun and began discussing some of the main issues she and John McCain are pushing.
The vice presidential nominee said if elected, she would help families with special-needs children.
“Under reforms that I’ll lead as vice president the children who have special needs and their parents - all involved here, with either physical or mental disabilities- they’ll be able to send that girl or boy to the school of their choice, public or private,” Palin said.
Palin spoke about how she would help students pay for college and protect the future leaders of America.
She said she would cut business taxes and give people like “Joe the Plumber,” a way to keep their businesses running.
“We’re going to bring tax relief to every American and every business. And speaking of businesses, I know that here in Missouri small business owners and the employees there are the backbone of this community and of this state,” Palin said.
Palin ended her rally by shouting ‘Drill, baby, drill!’ as well as addressing energy issues.
She said America needs to get away from foreign oil and drill in this country.
“We will develop clean coal technology and we will safely drill for the billions of barrels of oil we have under ground including oil off shore. We will drill here and drill now,” Palin said.
Palin left the stage and went down to shake the hands of those she called, ‘Cindy the Citizen and Joe the Pilot.’
For KSMU News, I’m Kristian Kriner.