Alaska Governor and Republican VP candidate, Sarah Palin, rallying in the battleground state of New Hampshire, said Wednesday that she feels a kinship with the moose-hunting, tax-hating voters of the state. She said New Hampshire shares much in common with her home state, and even wished she could share the motto “Live free or die.”

During the first of three rallies, outdoors at the picturesque Weirs Beach, Palin urged the nearly 3,000 cheering supporters to prove the pundits wrong with a Granite State upset November 4. Talking about John McCain’s slip in recent polls, she said: “Granted, we’re coming from behind, but with your help it can be done.”

Referring to McCain’s surprise victory during the primary, Palin said: “The people of New Hampshire went to the voting booth and turned the underdog into the victor. We’re going to take a maverick and a patriot of the Senate and we’re going to put him in the White House with your support.”

The straight-talking hockey mom largely kept her attacks at McCain’s Democratic opponents - Barack Obama and Joe Biden - in check and only made a few swipes at them during her hour-long speech.
However, she played up the fact that Alaska and New Hampshire are the only states with neither a general income nor a general sales tax, and repeated her argument that Obama would raise taxes.

Palin said that while McCain proposes extending all of President Bush’s tax cuts; Obama would raise income taxes on families making more than $250,000 and individuals making more than $200,000, and has proposed $80 billion in tax breaks mainly for poor workers and the elderly.

She said: “Barack Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes. That’s 94 times he had the opportunity to be on the right side, on your side.”

Palin also could not refrain herself from accusing Obama of flip-flopping about drilling for oil, as well as for his opposition to the war in Iraq. She said: “It sure would be nice if just once he said he wanted America to win.”