I'm back at Casa de Jubal from the Sarah Palin rally in Carson. 

Gov. Palin is, without a doubt, one of the best natural campaigners I have ever seen. She has an uncanny ability to connect with the audience -- not just with what she says, but with who she is. The enthusiasm for her lacks the cult-of-personality undertones of Obama worship. You don't see creepy videos of uniformly dressed school children singing how Sarah is gonna bring us democracy.

I think it's because she actually is a working, middle-class person -- not a politician who pretends to understand working Americans as he glides above mere mortals at 30,000 feet, promising them goodies.

In any case, the crowd of 15,000 loved her. Even the anit-war lunatics who exploded into shrieks like little time bombs every ten minutes or so couldn't interrupt the electricity and excitement of the event.

During one signal moment, when the first protester began yelling, Gov. Palin turned toward that section of the arena and said, "My son is fighting in Iraq to protect her freedom to speak her mind!" The crowd roared its approval.

I'll have video up later.

Palin wrapped up her speech a few minutes before it started drizzling, but she stayed by nearly half-and-hour working the crowd and signing autographs.

Outside the Home Depot Center, people waited in a long line to get McCain-Palin yard signs. They limited us to three or four each to make sure everyone who wanted them could get them.

Whether McCain wins or loses in November, Gov. Palin has a huge future in the Republican Party.

UPDATE (10/5/08): Stephanie Richer posted her take on the rally on her Digital Hairshirt blog, along with some great pictures.

Steve Greenhut pans Palin as a Veep selection in his column today. Gee, what a shock. Then again, Steve previously recommended an ill-informed, black-helicopter post on Palin from LewRockwell.com as an "excellent column." Steve also calls Sarah Palin's family "dysfunctional." What a lousy, cheap shot that ought to be below Steve, but apparently isn't.