RENO - Sara Palin told a raucous crowd of just more than 2,000 on Tuesday the attacks on Barack Obama and Joe Biden are fair and will continue.
"It's not mean spirited and not negative campaigning to talk about someone's record, their plans, their associations," she told the crowd of party faithful at the Reno-Sparks Events Center.
The Republican vice presidential nominee then charged that Obama "wants to sit down with the world's worst dictators with no preconditions," and wants to invade Pakistan.
She again raised "Joe the Plumber" to the cheers of the crowd saying he "somehow succeeded in doing something the rest of us had not been able to do: He got our opponent to say what his plans are - spreading the wealth."
Over the past few weeks, the campaign has also made accusations including that Obama consorts with terrorists and wants to impose a socialist agenda on America.
Although enthusiastic, the crowd was smaller than organizers had hoped. The meeting hall was only about half full with crowd estimates ranging from 2,000 to 2,500.
Palin accused Obama of "not being candid about his plans."
"We're going to keep doing this - calling someone out on their record and their plans."
She said she and McCain are "for a real tax cuts, which is when the government just takes less of your earnings in the first place."
"We're going to let you keep more of what you earn and produce so you can hire more people," she told small-business owners in the crowd.
"John and I will lower your income taxes and we will double the child tax deduction for every family, cut the capital gains tax and cut business taxes."
At the same time, she promised a balanced federal budget by the end of a first McCain term, saying they will impose a spending freeze.
"Our opponent is just more big government and big government is the problem, not the answer."
Palin promised a comprehensive plan to achieve energy independence, including development of renewable energy sources.
"And we will safely drill for the billions of barrels of oil we have in the ground," she said. "Drill, baby, drill and mine, baby, mine."
Palin asked the crowd to get their friends and families to the polls over the next two weeks to help deliver Nevada's electoral votes for the GOP.
• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.