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‘First dude’ Todd Palin draws crowd in Glenwood Springs

Sara Burnett
Rocky Mountain News
Aspen, CO Colorado
Judy DeHaas/Rocky Mountain NewsTodd Palin, husband of Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, visits the Village Inn in Glenwood Springs Tuesday.
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GLENWOOD SPRINGS ” They talked snowmobiling and fishing holes, hiking and Alaska.

But most of all, the people having breakfast Tuesday at the Village Inn in Glenwood Springs when Todd Palin walked in this morning wanted to talk about his wife, Gov. Sarah Palin, and the upcoming election.

“We’re all praying for you,” Gwen Porter of Glenwood Springs told the “first dude” of Alaska, as he’s known, after posing together for a photograph.



“Tell your wife she’s doing great,” another man told him.

The Republican vice presidential nominee, joined by Todd Palin and three of their children, held rallies in Colorado Springs, Lakewood and Grand Junction on Monday.




But Todd Palin stayed behind as the campaign moved on to Nevada Tuesday.

A commercial fisherman and four-time winner of the Iron Dog snowmobile race, he’s appealing to fellow sportsmen and women to support his wife and Sen. John McCain.

After the stop in Glenwood Springs, he swung by a cafe in Eagle and the Bass Pro Shop in Denver.

Outside the Village Inn, five supporters of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden ” who is campaigning in Colorado Tuesday ” waved Obama/Biden signs.

Rosie Lewis of Golden, who happened to be having breakfast with friends on her way home from camping, walked outside the restaurant to greet them.

Lewis, who was wearing an Obama button, said she wanted to stick around to hear what Palin had to say.

“I know he’s good on a dogsled, but I don’t know if he can speak,” she said.

Palin walked into the restaurant around 8 a.m. dressed in Levis and wearing a black jacket with the Iron Dog race logo.

He shook hands and signed a few autographs before pausing to thank the crowd of about 60 people and give a few brief remarks.

“As you know, John and Sarah are the only guys who can point to a record of reform,” he said before sitting down for a quick breakfast in a corner booth.

Fern Mattivi, 68, of nearby New Castle, asked Palin to sign a book she bought on her last trip to his home state, “Alaska: A Scenic Wonderland.”

Mattivi is planning to move to Alaska soon, and she said she’s a huge fan of the Palins, watching them on TV at every opportunity.

“When you see these people, you just can connect with them,” said Mattivi, who also attended the rally Monday night in Grand Junction. “And he’s so good looking and she’s so pretty … I hope to get to know them better.”