Sarah Palin to visit Noblesville today

Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be in Noblesville today promoting her new book “Going Rogue.”

Following the Tuesday release of the book, Noblesville is Palin’s third stop on her national tour.

After a brief media session, Palin will be signing copies of her book starting at 6 p.m. at Borders Bookstore at 13145 Levinson Lane.

Store General Manager Marty Beck said the store was contacted about a month ago for the event.

Palin had previously visited Noblesville during a campaign stop at the Verizon Wireless Music Center that drew a crowd of more than 24,000 people.

“That went pretty well,” Beck said. “She liked dealing with the local people.”

Beck said the store has been coordinating with local law enforcement and hiring extra staff and security for the event.

“We’re expecting quite the crowd,” he said.

One thousand wristbands will be available starting at 9 a.m. In order to receive a wristband, people must buy a copy of the book from any Borders location. A wristband allows a person to have two books signed. Once wristbands run out, the store will hand out 1,000 bookplates – already signed stickers for the inside of the book.

Though Beck doesn’t know what size crowd to expect, he said there were about 3,000 to 4,000 people Wednesday at Grand Rapids, the first stop on her book tour.

In a note on her Facebook page, Palin said she is looking forward to the tour, which started Wednesday.

“I’m most looking forward to meeting many of you, shaking your hands, and telling you, ‘Thanks for loving America,’” Palin wrote in the note.

IU College Republicans Chairman and Noblesville native Justin Kingsolver said he has friends at home who are planning on attending the signing.

“I support the fact that she’s writing a book,” he said. “A lot of people have ridiculed the fact that she’s writing a book so early in her political career, which I think is unfair.”

Despite criticism against the book, Kingsolver noted how the book is already on the New York Times bestseller list.

“It’ll definitely be a very popular book for more reasons than she’s a famous person,” he said.

Former IU College Republicans Chairman Justin Hill is interested in buying the book to learn more about the 2008 campaign.

“I know she makes a couple remarks about the campaign manager and the allegations made about her after the election by Steve Schmidt,” he said.

Hill said it is significant that Palin’s tour focuses on smaller cities across the nation instead of the major cities such as Chicago and New York.

“I think really this book, if she is interested in running for president in 2012, this is her primary right here,” he said. “If she can sell herself, sell her policies, talk more about policy than family drama, then she has a good shot in 2012.”