VP candidate Palin introduces 'Ed the Dairyman'

[October 20, 2008]  ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) -- Joe the Plumber, meet Ed the Dairyman.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin spoke to a crowd of about 10,000 supporters Sunday in a Roswell airplane hangar, not only making a reference to Joe the Plumber, but alluding several times to "Ed the Dairyman" after seeing someone in the crowd holding a sign identifying himself that way.

She warned voters about Democratic plans to raise taxes "on America's hardworking families and our small businesses and a lot of folks just like Joe the Plumber and Ed the Dairyman out there."

Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Holland, Ohio, became a media sensation last week when Republican presidential candidate John McCain referred to "Joe the Plumber" several times during a debate with Democrat Barack Obama.

Palin challenged the tax plan advocated by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, which she warned would expand government and "destroy jobs" by redistributing wealth.

"Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth. Joe Biden calls higher taxes patriotic," Palin said. "But Joe the Plumber and Ed the Dairyman, I believe they think it sounds more like socialism.

"Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism," she told the cheering crowd.

Palin, appearing near a big American flag and a large sign that read "Victory in New Mexico," hammered on energy policy, saying New Mexico shares a lot with Alaska when it comes to energy.

She called for drilling in the United States to reduce dependence on foreign oil and said all energy possibilities should be considered, including solar, wind, clean coal and offshore oil and gas drilling.

"Our opponents keep saying, 'No, no, no,' to sound and responsible energy solutions," she said. "Drilling in New Mexico and elsewhere can be an economic engine to provide jobs."

She drew cheers from the crowd when she said, "We'll drill here, we'll drill now."

McCain, she said, would cut business taxes, double child tax deductions for families and cut capital gains taxes.

Palin said McCain wants her to take the lead on helping families with special needs children. She was carrying her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, when she landed in Roswell to cheers from the crowd.

In an interview Sunday with New York's WWOR-TV, Palin called for more funding for the National Institutes of Health. "We haven't prioritized so enough funds go there to strengthen that, so we can start finding these cures," she said.

Asked what the hardest part of campaigning was, Palin said: "Toughest has been the shots taken against the kids, against the family. ... You know, you got the mama grizzly bear in you sometimes. You want to rear up on hind legs and say, wait a minute. ... It has nothing to do with taking the country in a new direction."

Palin began her remarks in New Mexico with a reference to her appearance on "Saturday Night Live" hours earlier, saying there was no place she would rather be than live from Roswell on Sunday afternoon.

Her visit to Roswell came two days after Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden appeared at a rally at the Mesilla plaza near Las Cruces, also in southern New Mexico.

[Associated Press; By TIM KORTE]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.