From the Anchorage Daily News, April 3, 1996, the first appearance of Sarah Palin in any news account:
Sarah Palin, a commercial fisherman from Wasilla, told her husband on Tuesday she was driving to Anchorage to shop at Costco. Instead, she headed straight for Ivana.
And there, at J.C. Penney’s cosmetic department, was Ivana, the former Mrs. Donald Trump, sitting at a table next to a photograph of herself. She wore a light-colored pantsuit and pink fingernail polish. Her blonde hair was coiffed in a bouffant French twist.
“We want to see Ivana,” said Palin, who admittedly smells like salmon for a large part of the summer, “because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture.”
Ivana Trump, the former Czechoslovakian Olympic skier who found fame and wealth as the wife of the New York tycoon, came to Anchorage Tuesday to push her line of perfume.
More than 500 people waited as long as half an hour in J.C. Penney to chat with her and receive an autographed photo.
Above via Glenn Greenwald relying on Nexis.
[Note I personally think Sarah Palin is wrong on most issues and stunningly ill-prepared. That stated, I just thought the above was interesting. It isn’t intended as piling on. It’s also the 45th mention of Costco on NewMexiKen.]
For all of her drawbacks that we have seen so far, I think the most important is going to be her and her husband’s long involvement with the Alaska Independance Party.
That is a extremist, seccessionist party, whose sole goal is to separate Alaska from the United States. The founders have often written about their hatred of all things American, and their distain for its symbols such as the American flag. I can’t expect that will go over very well with patriotic, pro-military types.
She was, apparently, never a card-carrying member of the AIP, but she attended two of their conventions, and just last spring, she (as governor) sent their convention a video address welcoming them and praising their efforts.
Isn’t it odd (and improper) for a sitting elected executive to address the party convention of a rival party?
Also, her husband was an actual card-carrying member of the API until 2002, when she first ran for statewide office.
I don’t think many will agree that we should elect someone who wants to break up the United States into the Vice Presidency. It also puts into question the judgement of John McCain, that he would select such a person.