Palin to visit Jefferson City on Monday
The vice presidential candidate will come to Missouri to energize voters the day before the election.
COLUMBIA — Gov. Sarah Palin will speak in Jefferson City on Monday, one day before voters head to the polls to choose the next president of the United States.
Her stump will mark the end of a month of heavy campaigning across the state by both tickets. Palin has already been to Cape Girardeau, while Sen. Barack Obama visited Columbia on Thursday and Springfield on Saturday. Sen. John McCain swung through Columbia and rallied Belton, and Sen. Joe Biden stopped in Jefferson City and Springfield.
The Palin rally will be held outside the Missouri Capitol, 201 W. Capitol Ave., in Jefferson City. The gates will open at 8 a.m., and the program will begin at 11 a.m.
Tickets to the free rally are available at a number of locations throughout mid-Missouri, including one in Columbia — at the Columbia Victory Office at 1301 Vandiver Drive, Suite P — and one in Jefferson City. Tickets can be picked up Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
However, no one without a ticket will be turned away, said Tina Hervey, spokeswoman for the Missouri Republican Party.
Missouri has been a frequent stopping ground for the presidential and vice presidential candidates because of its swing state status.
Fivethirtyeight.com, a blog about political polls that aggregates and muses on state and national polling data, has pinned Missouri as the toughest state to call for Election Day.
"Sitting at an Obama projection of 0.1% (Friday), Missouri is truly the median state of the 2008 election, and it could go either way," a post on the blog said.
Palin has made appearances in the "corners" of the state, hitting St. Charles, Springfield and Kansas City, Hervey said, and "the only spot in the state she hasn't covered yet is mid-Missouri."
"Missouri is a battleground state; it's important to both candidates," she said.
A rally at the midnight hour of the presidential race might seem inconsequential, but Hervey said that even now, a rally "will sway undecided voters."
"We know there are still folks out there who haven't made up their minds," she said.
Hervey said she also sees the rally as a way to get people excited about Election Day.
"It will energize our base, energize our volunteers ... remind them that McCain and Palin are the right choice for Missourians," she said.