Former Republican US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has given one of the strongest indications yet that she will run for president at the next election.
She spent much of her weekend speech putting down the current president, including his use of teleprompters, but then found she needed a hand herself remembering her own notes.
The election is still a long way off, but Palin was sounding very much like a candidate as she addressed the 'Tea Party' convention in Nashville.
"We're drowning in national debt," said Palin. "Only a limited government can expand prosperity and opportunity for all… We've got to make Washington start walking the walk."
Half the speech was devoted to slamming Barack Obama.
"How's that hopey-changey stuff working for ya?" she asked, criticising him for everything from the stimulus bill to national security.
"We need a commander-in-chief, not a professor of law, standing at the lectern."
"What was different about this Sarah Palin speech is that it had all of the smell and look of a campaign speech," says CBS news political analyst John Dickerson, "both in the way she delivered it and in the reaction from the crowd. The constant standing ovations, it was as if she was already a candidate."
Indeed the next day when asked whether she would consider a White House bid, Palin left the door wide open.
"I would if I believe that that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family - certainly, I would do so," she told Fox News.
And while the former Alaska governor dismissed the president Saturday night as "a charismatic guy with a teleprompter", she may have been relying on some crib notes of her own. Cameras captured the words "energy", "tax cuts" and "lift American spirits" scribbled on her hand – which she looked at often.
Her supporters called it an endearing sign that's Palin's a real person, while Democrats argue it's proof she doesn't know her facts.
3 News / CBS