GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Sarah Palin is drawing crowds like a rock star at her first book signing.

Thousands lined up in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday morning in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a chance to shake the former vice presidential candidates hand.

That evening in Grand Rapids, Palin stepped off her bus and was greeted by a cheering crowd.

Palin told the crowd how excited she was to be back in Michigan.

And, they were apparently happy to have her.

Before stepping inside the mall to begin her first-in-the country book signing, Palin addressed the crowd.

Then she answered a question about john mccain and his reaction to her book “Going Rogue.”

“I thank you so much for showing up for the book and so that you can read my words unfiltered from the media.. Thank you.. Just know how much I appreciate all of you and I just can’t tell you how good it is to be back in Michigan so thank you and lets get to work,” said Palin.

“Going Rogue” went on sale nationwide on Tuesday.

Palin has dozens of book signing stops are scheduled across the country in the coming weeks.

The state of Alaska has a new governor.

Sarah Palin officially stepped down from the post and turned the job over to her Lt. Governor over the weekend.

After a weekend of goodbyes to Sarah Palin, came the official moment.

The swearing in of a new governor of Alaska.

The former Lt. Governor will take over the remaining year and a half of Palin’s term.

“It is an honor to speak to all Alaskans, to our Alaskan family, this one last time as your governor,” said Palin.

In Palin’s final address as governor, a tribute to her home state.

“In Alaska, it is not an easy living, but it is a good living. And, here it is impossible to lose your way,” Palin said.

The send-off started Friday in her hometown of Wasilla, where she helped serve food at one of three weekend picnics she attended across the state.

“I do want to tell you I love you and I thank you for the support of me,” said Palin.

Unknown on the national stage until John McCain picked her as his running mate, Palin burst onto the political scene.

But ethics complaints, mounting legal fees, and dwindling popularity have plagued her.

“There are more than 9 lives in American politics, and she’s only on her first,” said Wendy Schiller an associate professor of political science at Brown University.

Surrounded by family and supporters most agree Palin’s goodbye as governor looked nothing like a final political farewell.

Palin has said she plans to write a book, campaign for political candidates, and build a right-of-center coalition.

Her announcement that she would step down as governor came three and a half weeks ago.

According to the Public Policy Polling’s latest poll, President Barack Obama’s approval rating in North Carolina has crept below 50 percent for the first time.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska  – Sarah Palin says she’s not a quitter, she’s a fighter, but adds that, politically speaking, “if I die, I die. So be it.”

The Alaska governor spoke in taped interviews on ABC, NBC and CNN broadcast Tuesday morning.

She told CNN that “all options are on the table” for her future.

But told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she recognizes she might not have political staying power after her surprise resignation Friday, which came just as she had been expected to elevate her national profile ahead of a possible 2012 GOP presidential run.

“I said before … ‘You know, politically speaking, if I die, I die. So be it,”‘ she said.

Speaking in fishing waders from the town of Dillingham, Palin said her administration has been paralyzed by fending off frivolous lawsuits.

“I’m not going to take the comfortable path. I’m going to take the right path for the state,” she said of her resignation, which she characterized as a matter of progressing in an unconventional way.

“That caught people off guard. … It’s out of the box and unconventional. That’s what we are as Alaskans and certainly how I am as a public servant.”

Palin said she doesn’t think she needs a title to affect “positive change,” but added that she can’t see herself being totally out of public service.

Palin is returning to the public eye four days after her bombshell announcement, albeit in a place far removed from the glare of the national media: in a remote fishing village 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Palin was scheduled to appear in Kotzebue to sign a bill designed to bring public safety officers to small towns. Kotzebue, a town of about 3,000 people, is 550 miles northwest of Anchorage and lies on a spit of sand at the end of a peninsula.

There has been speculation that she has some legal issue that is not yet known to the public. But her lawyer told The Associated Press on Monday that she has no legal problems whatsoever, and simply is tired of the hostile political climate, legal bills and other distractions.

“She is leaving now because I think she believes that she has become the issue, rightly or wrongly, with all these ethics complaints and with the issues involving the Legislature, the combativeness they’ve been demonstrating toward her since she returned from the campaign,” Thomas Van Flein said.

“I think she believes it’s in the best interest of the state to progress forward, for her to move on to other issues.”

Palin has become a lightning rod for partisan politics in Alaska since her return from the 2008 presidential campaign after John McCain selected her as his running mate for the GOP ticket. She has racked up an estimated $500,000 in legal bills defending the flurry of ethics complaints, including one filed Monday that alleges she is violating ethics law by taking per diem payments when she stays in her Wasilla home instead of the governor’s mansion in Juneau.

In addition, her relationship with Democrats in the state Senate – once among her staunchest allies – deteriorated in the last session.

At the state Capitol in Juneau, the “Time to Make a Difference” clock that counted the time left in Palin’s term was taken down from the wall outside her office. And people from around the country called up her office to inquire about the situation, as did a few cruise ship tourists who made the trek to the Capitol.

The young woman at the desk outside Palin’s office was busy answering phones.

“Yes, she is getting swamped with e-mails,” the woman tells one caller. “Yes, they do get forwarded to the appropriate person.”

“Unfortunately, we are having a back load of e-mails so it will take some to get a response,” she tells another.

Where is she? Why is she stepping down? When is her last day? Why so soon?

The tour guide tried to politely answer the questions for the tourists when she could, but for the most part had no answers.

Some of the visitors left Palin messages in a guest log.

“Sarah – Please Stay!” one person wrote.

Kathy Waldo-Gilbert, a registered Democrat from Iowa who was on her honeymoon in Alaska, said she was especially disappointed because she believes that Palin’s early departure from the governor’s job will make it harder for other women who want to be taken seriously in high-profile positions. Waldo-Gilbert voted Republican for the first time in last year’s presidential election.

“When things get hard, you stick around,” she said.

Erika Fagerstrom, executive residential manager at the governor’s mansion, said Palin and her family will be missed. Even though Palin lived most of the time at her home in Wasilla, she spent “quite a bit” of time at the stately columned mansion near the capitol building, she said.

“We are sad to see her go. They are a great family,” she said.

Palin will be succeeded by Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who has announced he will seek to retain the office in the 2010 election.

State Rep. John Harris, a former House speaker and Republican from Valdez, announced Monday that he’s preparing to file paperwork with state election officials in a bid for governor.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she is resigning from office.
     
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska  – Unwed mother Bristol Palin is going to take part in a national campaign to help raise awareness for teen pregnancy prevention.

The 18-year-old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been appointed as a Teen Ambassador for The Candie’s Foundation.

Bristol Palin will participate in a town hall meeting Wednesday in New York.

She said in a statement that she feels she could be a living example of the consequences of teen pregnancy. She said she would consider it an accomplishment if she can prevent even one girl from getting pregnant.

Bristol Palin gave birth Dec. 27 to a boy named Tripp. She and the boy’s father, Levi Johnston, have separated.

EVANSVILLE, Ind.  – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, speaking at anti-abortion group’s dinner, criticized President Barack Obama for supporting abortion rights and challenged the idea that unplanned pregnancies are a nuisance that can be solved by abortion.

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, spoke to an overflow crowd organizers said numbered 3,000 at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life banquet Thursday night.

Some in the crowd wore white “Palin 2012″ T-shirts. Earlier, GOP National Chairman Michael Steele described her as one of the party’s standard bearers, though he said it was too early to judge what her standing would be in three years.

Palin said the challenges she faced during her pregnancy with her son Trig, who was born with Down syndrome, gave her an opportunity to live out her anti-abortion beliefs. She said she prayed often during her pregnancy, especially after tests revealed that her son would be born with the condition.

“The moment he was born, I knew that moment my prayers had been answered,” Palin said. “Trig is a miracle. He is the best thing that ever happened to me and I want other women to have that opportunity.”

She challenged the notion that children must be born perfect and that unplanned pregnancies are inconvenient and can be ended by abortion. “I know for sure my son is perfect just as he is, made in the image of God,” she said.

She asked the crowd to keep working for the “culture of life” in America.

“Life is ordained, life is precious,” she said. Palin said women who can’t give birth should have the opportunity to adopt children who might otherwise be aborted. She mentioned that her own daughter Bristol became pregnant as an unmarried teen and has since given birth to a son.

Palin also took Obama to task for his support of abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research. She said deciding when babies get human rights isn’t above her pay grade – a reference to Obama’s response to a question from the Rev. Rick Warren last year. The Democrat said such questions were above his pay grade.

Palin received at least two standing ovations. After the speech, she addressed an overflow crowd in another room and thanked them for their support.

During a news conference earlier, Steele said Palin is among a crowd of GOP standard bearers that includes fellow governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Mark Sanford of South Carolina.

He also cited other prominent party figures, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and two congressmen, Eric Cantor and Mike Pence.

“We have a significant number of men and women in our party who are in a very good position right now to carry forward the standard of the GOP,” Steele said.

Pence represents Indiana and Cantor is from Virginia. Many Republicans also look to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal as a presidential favorite in 2012.

Palin hasn’t ruled out a White House bid. Steele said it was too early to gauge what her standing would be in 2012.

Palin was cheered wildly as she entered the banquet hall with her husband, Todd. She stopped to sign autographs before taking her seat.

Palin, her husband and Trig also had been expected to attend a breakfast Friday morning with S.M.I.L.E., a nonprofit support organization for people with family members who have Down syndrome. Trig turns 1 on Saturday. But Palin said Trig, who had the sniffles, stayed home with his grandmother.

Some Alaska lawmakers criticized Palin’s decision to make the trip as the state Legislature approaches its Sunday deadline.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says her future son-in-law is not a high school dropout as the press is reporting.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate told The Associated Press on Wednesday that 18-year-old Levi Johnston is enrolled in high school through a correspondence program.

Palin said some media outlets also are erroneously reporting that her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is a high school dropout.

The governor said her daughter is enrolled in regular high school and also has taken correspondence courses.

Bristol Palin and Johnston are the parents of Sarah Palin’s first grandchild, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, who was born Saturday.

Johnston has said he and Bristol plan to marry.

WASHINGTON  – In the first week of 2008, Barack Obama rocked the political world with a win in the Iowa caucuses. But the question remained: Could this black man with a rich personal history and sparse elective resume make it all the way to the presidency?

Yes, he could.

Obama took us along on a wild ride, smashing political and racial barriers as he was elected the nation’s 44th president in an electoral landslide. His message of hope and change – and the viral YouTube mantra of “Yes, we can” – resonated with millions of voters after eight years of George W. Bush.

All election years are for the history books, but this one seemed especially historic: The racial angle. The high stakes. The fascinating personalities. The huge amount of money raised. The intense, sometimes over-the-top interest in this campaign.
 
“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America,” Obama told his supporters gathered in Chicago’s Grant Park on election night, and multitudes more in a restive nation.

It was quite a year.
      —
 
Iowa is 95 percent white and 2.5 percent black, hardly hospitable numbers for a black candidate.

Yet, on Jan. 3, Obama glided to a win in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, a victory that signaled the strength of his campaign organization and the candidate’s appeal beyond racial lines. It was Obama’s oratory – delivered by memory – at the state’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner months earlier that got Democrats thinking about the Illinois senator as their nominee.

“I never expected to be here. I always knew this journey was improbable. I’ve never been on a journey that wasn’t,” Obama told the Iowa audience.
 
Less than four years before, Obama – then a little-known state lawmaker from Illinois – captured the nation’s attention with a stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention. He talked about worshipping “an awesome God in blue states” and having gay friends in red states.

Now, after Iowa, he was suddenly the frontrunner. But the race was far from done.

Tears in snowy New Hampshire had proven to be the undoing of one Democrat – Edmund Muskie in 1972 – but it worked for Obama’s chief Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The flash of emotion from the former first lady helped lift her to a win in the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8.

The two battled for six more months, through every state and territory. Obama survived despite the incendiary comments of his former preacher, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose angry words filled an endless loop for television. Clinton won over white, blue-collar voters from the hardscrabble corners of the country, and survived despite an unpredictable husband, former President Bill Clinton, who was frustrated with the political outlook for his spouse.

While New Hampshire prolonged the Democratic race, it largely settled the Republican one.

John McCain, a favorite of the state’s large bloc of independent voters, won the state where he had focused much of his retooled campaign. Nearly broke and with staff gone, McCain scrapped his tour bus and relied on supporters to drive him to events, even when the drive from a Rotary meeting was in a vehicle with a flat rear tire.

“In the words of Chairman Mao, it’s always darkest before it’s totally black,” McCain liked to joke.

Wins in South Carolina and Florida followed, and McCain’s rivals stepped aside – Mitt Romney, who spent $40 million; television star Fred Thompson, Baptist minister Mike Huckabee and former New York
Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose strategy was to wait until the end of January for a win in Florida that never came.

McCain locked up the nomination on March 4, and the faces behind him on the stage were notable – mostly white males, some around the same age as McCain, a few a decade or two younger.

Five months later as he sought a running mate, McCain was in need of something to shake up the race and eager to rally his conservative base. This 72-year-old man’s man – son and grandson of admirals, former POW who still bore the scars of the Vietnam War – looked to Alaska and to the former beauty pageant contestant who is that state’s first-term governor.

America, he said, I give you Sarah Palin.
      —

When things were especially bleak – when the experts said he should abandon his campaign for the GOP nomination – McCain refused to quit.
 
“I can out-campaign anyone,” he famously said.

He did in that crowded Republican field. He couldn’t against Obama, not as the Republican carried the albatross of the Bush presidency. Not even with the endorsement of “Joe the Plumber.”

In part, numbers proved to be McCain’s undoing.

Obama raised a record-shattering $745 million to swamp McCain in advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts in crucial swing states, including a strong push to win over early voters. McCain, who had fought for campaign finance reform, collected $358 million, including an $84 million check in public funds that Obama once indicated he would take too.

In October, McCain’s response to the financial crisis, a plummeting Dow Jones average and the government’s $700 billion bailout proved unnerving to voters looking for sure and steady. He temporarily suspended his campaign to return to Washington to deal with the crisis, signaled he would skip the first presidential debate and then debated anyway as Congress struggled with a monetary solution.
 
Obama consistently attracted tens of thousands of people at his speeches and rallies – 75,000 in Oregon, 100,000 in Missouri. The best buzz McCain could generate was some 20,000 at a northern Virginia event – a crowd size largely attributed to Palin’s presence.
 
Plucked from political obscurity, the 44-year-old Palin thrilled conservatives with her just-your-average-hockey-mom image and pitbull characteristics. Need a running mate to criticize the Democratic nominee on taxes, war and “palling around with terrorists”? Palin was it.

But the governor’s stumbles in prime-time interviews – fodder for comedy shows – and her high-priced designer clothes undermined her candidacy with the general electorate.

And when all was done, she wasn’t enough.

The final tally: 365 electoral votes for Obama, 173 for McCain.

Not that that was the end. Many of the major characters have moved on: Obama has chosen three of his former rivals for top spots – Joe Biden as his vice president, Bill Richardson as his commerce secretary and, most astonishingly, Clinton has his secretary of state. McCain has indicated he intends to stay in the Senate, and seek a fifth term in 2010.

And Palin? She’s signaled she just might challenge Obama in 2012.