2009: The Year of Sarah Palin

Earlier this week, Steve Pendlebury, Editor of The Point, made a very astute observation:

The president is always under a microscope, so it's natural that he dominates
the news throughout the year. That's especially true for the first year of a
young president who was swept into office on the promise of change. But if
anyone rivaled President Barack Obama this year when it came to making
headlines and consistently eliciting strong reactions from all sides, it was
the woman who hoped to be vice president.

In many ways, 2009 was the Year of Sarah Palin.

Hardly a day went by when Palin wasn't getting some kind of
attention – for better or worse – on TV, radio, Facebook, Twitter, as well
as news outlets and blogs across the spectrum. For anyone in the business of
attracting an audience, Palin and her family were the gift that kept on
giving all year long.

Beginning with her resignation as governor of Alaska, Pendlebury went on to list a number of Governor Palin’s events and statements for the year.

So I thought I would fill in some of the events he missed and add awards and recognitions she received during the year. Governor Palin’s accomplishments ase governor are listed in detail here and here , so I will focus on her events outside her role as governor.

On January 31, Governor Palin shared the spotlight with Obama at the exclusive Alfalfa dinner.

On March 11, a comic book starring Governor Palin was released by Bluewater Productions.

On May 14, she was presented a custom made AR-15 rifle called The Alaskan Hunter by the National Rifle Association. Governor Palin was not able to attend the NRA banquet on that date but received the rifle at a different time.

On April 17, she spoke at the Indiana Right to Life dinner and impressed one of the attendees enough to write about her.

On April 30, she made a guest appearance on TLC’s American Chopper show.

On April 30, she made the Time 100 Most Influential People of 2009 list.

On May 12, her book deal with HarperCollins was announced.
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On May 21, HarperCollins announced that Lynn Vincent had been selected as collaborator for Governor Palin’s memoir.

On June 6, she spoke to a crowd of thousands in Auburn, New York after leading their Founders Day parade in observance of the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood.

On June 8, after being invited and then disinvited as the keynote speaker for the NRCC fundraiser in Washington, she showed up and stole the spotlight.

On July 3, Governor Palin announced that she would be resigning the governorship to spare her state the added expense of continuing to handle the politically motivated ethics complaints against her.

On July 9, SarahPAC announced that it had raised $732,867. between January 1 and June 30.

On July 26, Team Sarah sent 1000 red roses to Sarah at her resignation speech as a culmination of Project Rose.

On August 1, she spoke on Second Amendment rights at a gun collectors’ function in Anchorage, where she was awarded lifetime memberships from out-of-state gun collectors groups and the National Rifle Association’s Gold Medal Award of Merit for the Promotion of Gun Collecting.

On September 14, Cathy Maples of Huntsville, Alabama paid $67,500. for dinner with Sarah Palin after winning an online auction that benefitted wounded veterans.

On September 23, she addressed a standing room only crowd at the CLSA Investors Forum in Hong Kong. and presented a Main Street viewpoint on issues ranging from U. S. domestic policy to foreign policy.

On September 29, it was announced that Governor Palin had finished her memoir early, after 4 months of writing.

On October 6, the book cover for Going Rogue was released.

On November 17 , her memoir Going Rogue, which was already a bestseller from preorders, was released.

On November 18, her Going Rogue book tour kicked off with a book signing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A chronology of the interviews and book signings of the tour in the form of videos can be found here, here, here, and here.

On November 20, she was named iVillage Woman of the Week.

On November 22, she had dinner with Billy Graham and his family and talked with BGEA about her faith.

On November 24, Going Rogue debuted on the USA Today bestsellers list and has remained there.

On November 26, she participated in the Thanksgiving Day 5k Turkey Trot fundraiser in Kennewick, Washington – the fundraiser raised a record $45,000.

On November 30 or thereabouts, Help! Mom! Radicals Are Ruining My Country, a children’s book in which Sarah Palin stars as a heroine, was released.

On November 30, Going Rogue debuted on the New York Times’ bestseller list, where it has remained.

On December 1, Going Rogue went platinum two weeks after release.

On December 2, she spoke at the College of the Ozarks and was presented the Great American Award.

On December 5, she “entered the lion’s den” and gave a well-received speech to a group of political writers at the exclusive Gridiron dinner in Washington, D. C.

On December 9, she appeared on Barbara Walters’ show as one of the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009.

On December 16, she made Time’s Person of the Year list and was listed on their "25 people who mattered" list.

On December 18, John G. Miller paid $57,000. for the red jacket Governor Palin wears in the cover photo of Going Rogue at the end of Laura Ingraham’s auction

for the benefit of wounded veterans.

On December 22, her Going Rogue book tour ended with a book signing in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska.

Governor Palin either headed or made the list for a number of end-of-the year awards for 2009.
Don Surber at the Daily Mail named her the Man of the Year.

She ended up in a statistical tie with Hillary Clinton in a USA/Today Gallup poll for America’s Most Admired Woman.

She was No. 2, next to Obama, on the Winners list of Politics Daily’s “The Top 15 Winners and Losers of 2009”.

She tied for second with Ellen DeGeneres with Ellen DeGeneres behind the Obamas in a Most Desirable Neighbors poll conducted by Zillow.com..

She was one of three finalists (the other two being George Bush and Dick Cheney) for PJTV’s Trifecta Person of the Year Award.

She was third on USA Today’s list of The biggest political winners and losers of 2009.

She was No. 4 on Frontpage’s list for their Man of the Year award, which went to Glenn Beck.

She was No 6 on GOP Toast’s list of Top 10 Republicans of the Decade.

She was listed as one of People’s '25 Most Intriguing People of 2009'.

Josh Painter at Texas4Palin (cybersleuth for everything Palin) lists even more end-of-the-year awards and nominations for Governor Palin.


Governor Palin has already begun lining up speaking engagements for early 2010. For example:

She will be a keynote speaker on January 24 at the National Conservative Symposium in San Atonio Texas.

She is the first person ever for which the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner in Salina, Kansas, which will be held on February 5, has sold out.

She will be the keynote speaker at the national Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee on February 6.

Governor Palin has also promised to campaign in the 2010 mid-term elections for candidates of any party who represent conservative principles.

Keep up with Governor Palin’s upcoming events with the Multi-Blog Unofficial Gov. Sarah Palin Events Calendar.

If you think 2009 was the “year of Palin,” just wait for 2010 … and 2012!