Palin gets hero's welcome in Alaska

Fairbanks, Alaska: Republican vice-presidential running mate Sarah Palin returned home to Alaska on Wednesday to a hero's welcome as a new US political star and promised her compatriots she would make the state proud.

The Alaska governor was greeted by cheers and even squeals of excitement at her first solo rally as Republican John McCain's running mate, less than two weeks after she burst onto the national stage.

"It's been an amazing couple of weeks," Palin told about 2,000 supporters in a Fairbanks airport hangar. "The response has been overwhelming."

"USA, USA," the crowd cheered.

While in Alaska, Palin is to attend a deployment ceremony for the Army unit of her 19-year-old son, Track, who is going to Iraq. She will also participate in her first major television network interview.

It was clear that the crowd was well aware of a controversy that erupted in recent days over comments from Democrat Barack Obama that the McCain campaign said it construed as a sexist attack on Palin, a charge denied by Obama.

Obama's comment that McCain's plans for government reform were like "putting lipstick on a pig", a comment that the McCain team saw as a put-down to Palin for her remark in a speech last week that a hockey mum is a pit bull with lipstick.

"Read my lipstick, Sarah," said one sign held up in the crowd.

Palin has proved a powerful tool for McCain in his presidential campaign, helping draw white women and independent voters and giving the Arizona senator a surge in the polls a week after his accepted the nomination of his party to face Obama in the November 4 election.