Crowd welcomes Palin at Roanoke book-tour stop

ROANOKE -- In the brisk early-morning air, a few shouts among a crowd of more than 1,000 grew to an echoing cheer as a blue tour bus rolled into the Barnes & Noble parking lot yesterday.

Stepping off the bus with her baby on her hip and her husband by her side, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee beamed as she waved to the masses. "We love you, Sarah!" people shouted.

Spending a few seconds greeting fans outside, Sarah Palin solidified her place in the hearts of her faithful supporters during the only Virginia stop to promote her best-selling memoir, "Going Rogue."

Among those supporters were sisters Wanda Worley of Gretna and Jewel Mattox of Hurt, who had been waiting outside the bookstore since midnight -- up all night because they were "too excited to sleep," Worley said.

The Pittsylvania County sisters -- along with Mattox's grandson, Josh -- eagerly awaited the chance to meet a polarizing force in national politics.

"I just believe in everything she says," Worley said. "She's kind of like somebody you'd want to have as your next-door neighbor, your friend . . . "

"Your president," Mattox added.

Palin's book tour includes stops in areas of the country where her party's ticket generally succeeded in 2008. In Roanoke County, for example, Sen. John McCain and running mate Palin won with 60 percent of the vote. .

"Going Rogue" hit the top of the bestseller list immediately, and although it has been met with intense scrutiny -- on her Facebook page, Palin criticizes The Associated Press for assigning 11 reporters to fact-check the book -- there were no apparent dissenters at the Roanoke appearance. Many people in the crowded lines said they would support Palin if she runs for president in 2012.

Palin, meanwhile, had dinner yesterday with the Rev. Billy Graham, a day before a planned book-tour stop in eastern North Carolina.

She flew into Asheville, N.C., and then went to Graham's mountaintop home in nearby Montreat for dinner, said Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for Graham's son, Franklin.

Franklin Graham invited Palin.

"He just saw that she was going to be in the area and he said to come by," Blume told The Charlotte Observer.

The elder Graham had never met Palin, who is scheduled to stop at Fort Bragg today to promote her book.

Catherine Amos is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.