Projo Politics Blog

The scramble is on for the hottest ticket in town -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's appearance late today at a gathering of abortion foes a few blocks from the Republican National Convention hall in St. Paul.

There aren't enough tickets left to meet the demand for a hotel reception dubbed "The LIFE of the Party,'' so many delegates will be disappointed.

But not Andrea Coletta, a first-time convention-goer from the North End of Providence who was elected in Rhode Island's GOP primary as a delegate for presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.

Coletta, 30, the self-employed proprietor of a small business, started researching Palin's politics as long as six weeks ago, when she got an email invitation to this afternoon's event from the sponsors, the Republican National Coalition for Life, an anti-abortion group.

After reading up on Palin, "I was very excited, even though I had never heard of her,'' said Coletta.

Coletta learned about McCain's selection of Palin as his running mate last Friday, from an e-mail sent by the pastor of the non-denominational Christian church she attends. "I started Googling and You-Tubing and I watched her speech on-line and I was elated,'' Coletta said this morning, recalling her look at the footage of McCain and Palin at their first public appearance together in Dayton, Ohio.

So later this afternoon, Coletta will be part of a platoon of Huckabee backers from Rhode Island who plan to jump into a pair of taxis -- minivans, if you please -- for the drive across the Mississippi from their hotel near the Twin Cities airport.

When she signed up for today's event back in July, "I was looking forward to a very intimate gathering,'' Coletta said. "I don't think I'll be getting that now.''

 Tags  Andrea Coletta anti-abortion rally Huckabee McCain Palin R.I. GOP delegate Repubican Convention

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