Posted on 09/09/2010 12:56:37 PM PDT by Red Steel
DOVER, Del. — To insurgent Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, sometimes a tweet is just a tweet. Even when Sarah Palin is doing the typing.
Speaking to reporters after an evening rally on the lawn of the state Capitol Wednesday, O'Donnell said while she still hoped to earn an endorsement from the former Alaska governor-turned-conservative-superstar, Palin's retweet of support from another backer doesn't meet the threshold.
On late Tuesday, Palin passed along a message written by a conservative radio host that said [O'Donnell's] “election must be a major focus for us all."
But O'Donnell said that she doesn’t consider the online missive a formal blessing of her candidacy, "No, that's a retweet. That's a ‘You go, girl."
The three-time Senate candidate and former television commentator, who has picked up the backing of the Tea Party Express, appeared to downplay the significance Palin could have on Tuesday's GOP primary, where she's attempting to dislodge the heavily favored nine-term Rep. Mike Castle.
"I'd like to stand on my own merits. I think that I have my own positions, my own platforms and I don't want to be categorized. I want people to look at me and what I represent and support me based on that," O'Donnell said.
"Regardless of whether or not Palin comes in, these are the people that I'm counting on to win this for me, and they have the strength and the momentum to do that, so at this point, anyone who wants to jump in, great. But I think we're heading on the right track," she said, surrounded by supporters sporting baby blue O'Donnell campaign shirts.
About 150 people gathered on the statehouse lawn for a Tea Party Express-sponsored rally on behalf of O'Donnell on Wednesday night. Attendees donned American flag shirts, carried "Don't Tread on Me" flags and sung songs lamenting Democratic policies like health care reform and cap-and-trade.
"We'll no longer be the United States, we'll be the U.S.S. of A," someone sang from the stage. At one point, during a stirring rendition of a song titled "Freedom's Not Free," O'Donnell wiped tears from her eyes.
When she finally took the stage to speak an hour and a half after the rally started, O'Donnell noted the growing notoriety her campaign has gained over the week from the national media — a sign she said showed her campaign was peaking at the right time.
"We dominated the airwaves. It wasn't just Rush [Limbaugh]; it wasn't just [Sean] Hannity. Even Rachel Maddow was talking about us. It's pretty exciting," she said to cheers.
She trumpeted a Tea Party Express survey that showed she's within just 2 percentage points of Castle, but told her supporters that she wasn't in the race to come close.
"These last five and a half days, we have got to sprint. We need you to spread the word," she said.
"You don't need to be part of the establishment. You don't need to be an anointed one. You just need to be passionate. You need to be able to sacrifice for a cause and have principles that you are willing to defend."
Castle doesn't have any campaign events scheduled for Thursday, but he is expected to greet veterans at an American Legion Post in Millsboro.
O'Donnell's schedule remains "fluid" Thursday, according to a campaign aide, but the Tea Party Express will take over the airwaves of WDEL radio for a two-hour radiothon in support of her candidacy.
O’Donnell received Palin’s endorsement on the Hannity radio show.
Holy Cow! I just heard it on Hannity.
And it’s posted here already! Within minutes!!
FreeRepublic is the fastest, most accurate and up-to-date source of news, period.
I know where about a dozen of her votes are coming from.
Glad when I heard it.
I was wondering why she was sitting it out.
Hopefully it will be that extra boost at just the right time that O’Donnell needs to clinch it.
This is not the season to be timid.
We need to take big risks if we want a chance at rolling back 0bama’sdestructive agenda.
We’re bot going to get there with a senate full of RINOs
Come on people! Let's do it - one last push before Tuesday's election! We are so close to getting a real conservative in Biden's seat. Lets get her enough air time to sink Castle.
Glad when I heard it.
I was wondering why she was sitting it out.
Hopefully it will be that extra boost at just the right time that O’Donnell needs to clinch it.
This is not the season to be timid.
We need to take big risks if we want a chance at rolling back 0bama’s destructive agenda.
We’re not going to get there with a senate full of RINOs
“Palin tweet not support”
???
did Sarah tweet that she does not support O’Donnell? I don’t get it.
Ya gotta believe Rush’s comments about O’Donnell in recent days are having an impact...
ohhhh...
Apparently Palin had tweeted support in the past? And the article asserts that said tweet was not actually sufficient to indicate support?
But now Sarah has voiced support ???
And one hell of a bargain!
Your statement should be a banner during our next quarterly!
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