Sarah Palin Book Signing

On November 20, 2009 Governor Sarah Palin made an appearance at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, Ohio, the fourth stop on her on-going book tour for "Going Rogue". In the week leading up to the event, the book store was pre-selling copies of the book, which included a line number for the book signing. All available pre-sale copies sold briskly and were sold out by the evening of November 16 - more than three days before the event! Luckily, I had a friend who had an extra line number so even though I missed out on the pre-sale, I still had a line number for the event. Each line number entitled the bearer to get two books signed.

As I arrived at the event, just before noon, I spotted the Sarah Palin tour bus in front of me, also arriving at the event. The bus pulled behind the store and Governor Palin was already inside the store by the time I parked and got around to take pictures. Contrary to prior statements that the store would be closed for business, I entered Joseph-Beth Booksellers to find it bursting with people and barely enough room to navigate my way to the autograph line even though I was holding a VIP ticket. Weaving my way through the crowds, I eventually took my advance place in line and awaited my time to meet Governor Palin. The book signing was held in the area at the top of the steps on the second level of the store. The area was surrounded with flowing, blue curtains and Sarah Palin was not even visible until I was at the top of the steps. A table was set up there where any bags or packages were to be checked. We also were reminded constantly that no cameras were allowed and photographs were prohibited once entering the area where Sarah Palin was signing. However, we were informed that a professional photographer would be taking photographs as we met Governor Palin, which would be available for us to access on the internet, afterwards. Two different store staff members made sure that each person had the book turned to the tile page for signing and yet another staff member took each person's book upon approaching the table. As I approached governor Palin, she smiled, looking right at me, extending her hand and asked, "Hello. What's your name?" As we shook hands, I answered and Sarah queried, "What do you do?" I replied, "Small business owner...Here in Cincinnati and in Los Angeles." She asked me, "How are things right now?" "Good, but they would be better with you in office," I responded. Smiling even bigger, Sarah said, "Thank you, that is very sweet of you." Palin signed both of my books with a big, bold signature with the black Sharpie she was wielding. In a moment the moment was over and upon exiting, a staff member handed me a business card with a website that stated that photographs from the event would be available in 5 days. I can say that even today, closing in on two weeks after the fact, the photos have still not been posted to the website: http://www.shealahcraighead.com/. With the book signing scheduled from noon-3:00 pm, Palin's bus pulled up to the backdoor exit of the bookstore a little after 3:00. She came out, got on the bus quickly and it took off for the next stop, a signing that evening in Columbus, Ohio. With well over 1,000 people in attendance, it was amazing to see Governor Palin handle the overwhelming crowds so well and take the time to engage in conversation with attendees. Sarah shook each person's hand before she signing their book and truly seemed to be enjoying the event. It was an honor to meet Governor Palin and I look for her to run for President of the United States in 2012.

A few minutes after the bus departed, a staff member began walking through the store, offering "signed" bookplates to anyone purchasing copies of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue". Unlike the signatures that Sarah signed earlier that resembled "S-A-P-A-L-I", these were every letter, spelled-out autographs: "S-A-R-A-H-P-A-L-I-N". I was given four of these bookplates and the fact that these were complete, unrushed autographs made them that much more desirable. My elation over these perfect autographs was short-lived, as upon closer inspection the next day, it became apparent that these "signatures" are autopens. All of the bookplate signatures are signed exactly the same and since no one signs exactly the same every time, it is obvious they are autopens. Autopens also exhibit a bit of a mechanical, shaky appearance which was also evident in the bookplate autographs.