By SCOTT SHEPARD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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FAIRFAX, Va. -- The record-setting book tour of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) lost no steam Wednesday night even in this Republican enclave in northern Virginia.
More than 1,000 people lined up at the local Wal-Mart to get the former first lady's signature on a copy of her best-selling memoir, "Living History." It was her second major promotional appearance since the book went on sale this week.
A dozen protesters with anti-Clinton signs showed up, but Clinton entered the store from the rear and did not see the demonstrators in the parking lot.
At one point, hundreds of book purchasers who spilled out into the lot began chanting "Go home!" at the protesters, drowning out their shouts labeling the senator a "hypocrite" and "liar."
"You just can't believe anything she says," said Jeff Becker, an organizer of the protest. Becker is with the conservative Internet site FreeRepublic.com, which has spent much of this week urging people to protest Clinton's "fictitious" autobiography.
Among the signs the protesters carried was one that said "I Believe Juanita" -- a reference to Juanita Broaddrick, who accused former President Bill Clinton of raping her when he lived in Arkansas. That allegation is not addressed in the memoir.
But the overwhelming sentiment on display in the Wal-Mart parking lot Wednesday night favored Clinton, many of the book buyers having spent the entire day waiting for her evening arrival.
"I think this is wonderful, especially in an area this conservative," said Libby Scott, a middle-aged retail worker from nearby Vienna. "And I think she's wonderful, dignified and strong -- you'd have to be strong to be married to a man like that." Scott, recently divorced, boasted that her 19-year-old daughter, Maggie, was 10th in line for the senator's autograph.
Stephen Ciccarelli, a federal employee from nearby Annandale, said he was amazed at the size of the crowd. "I don't think [Democratic presidential nominee] Al Gore drew this big a crowd anytime during the 2000 campaign," Ciccarelli said. "She's become a political phenomenon in just a couple of days."
Inside the store, the line of book buyers and autograph seekers snaked along two walls. Clinton sat at a table, signing books and speaking briefly to some, spending the most time with the children. The area was roped off under tight security.
Shoppers not in line climbed up on product displays to get a better view of Clinton -- or to snap photographs with disposable cameras purchased at the nearby photo department.
Although Clinton has emphasized in television interviews all week that she has no intention of running for president, many on hand here Wednesday night said she should run now instead of waiting until 2008, as many professional political analysts expect her to do.
"I'm not old enough yet to vote for her for president," said 17-year-old Marijke Armstrong, a senior at a local high school. "But I will be voting for her for president someday."
Clinton's memoirs set a Barnes & Noble sales record for nonfiction on their first day on the shelf. The company said her account of her White House years sold over 40,000 copies in the first 24 hours it was available, instantly making it an in-house best seller.
Nationwide sales figures were not available.