Palin to attend anti-abortion banquet

EVANSVILLE, Ind., April 15 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's planned visit this week to an Indiana anti-abortion activist banquet will burnish her credentials among conservatives, analysts say.

The Vanderburgh County Right to Life Banquet in Evansville, Ind., will be attended by nearly 3,000 people and is billed as the biggest such banquet in the country. It will mark Palin's first major public event outside Alaska since the 2008 presidential campaign, when she lost her Republican bid for the U.S. vice presidency, the Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday.

"For her to go to a place like Indiana speaks volumes about who she is and where her heart is," said Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List, which supports female political candidates who oppose abortion. "I think it's a good choice for her because it's a reflection of who she is: sort of out of the Beltway."

Palin's visit, done with an eye toward the 2012 presidential election, has drawn the ire of some in Alaska, where both Democratic and Republican political opponents have complained about her leaving Juneau in the final days of the state's legislative session, the Daily News reported.