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Igniting political passions anew, the woman who could have become VP re-emerges with a book — and a lot of chattering about her future

If you thought America was obsessed with Sarah Palin when she ran for vice president in 2008, get ready for Round Two.

The former Alaska governor’s new autobiography, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” debuts in stores across the nation tuetoday and is already dominating the media, best-seller lists and chitchat around the water cooler.

She appeared Monday on “Oprah,” launches a national book tour Wednesday (including a Saturday stop in the Rochester area), and the publishers expect that her ardent supporters will deposit lots of copies of “Going Rogue” under the Christmas tree, too.

It all jump-starts super-early talk about a Republican presidential candidacy in 2012 and whether the former Wasilla mayor, who resigned as Alaska governor after 2½ years, is laying the groundwork to become the nation’s first female president. The new book only resurrects the passions that surround the different kind of politician whom Republican presidential candidate John McCain elevated from obscurity in 2008.

“She’s electric, and what she does lack in experience she can get over time,” said Russ Gugino, a Hamburg Republican who has become a big Palin supporter. “And what she does have, other people can’t get.”

But Palin also acts as a lightning rod for the left, generating fierce criticism even as her detractors remain fascinated by her rapid ascent to a household name.

Diana Cihak, a Citizen Action community organizer who was among the area’s earliest supporters of Barack Obama for president, says Palin’s latest move is part of a strange strategy that now concentrates on making money.

“It’s all about her and self-aggrandizement,” Cihak said. “It’s all about Sarah and not the issues.”

While the most optimistic Republican would never put heavily Democratic New York in the Palin column, her appearance at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Borders bookstore at 1000 Hylan Drive in Henrietta marks her second upstate visit in the last five months. At a June ceremony at the Auburn home of William H. Seward, the Civil War secretary of state who purchased Alaska, Palin drew 25,000 people helping her commemorate the state’s 50th anniversary.

Jim DiBlasi, a former Onondaga County legislator and Syracuse financial adviser who helped coordinate that event, hosted her and other Republican VIPs at a downtown restaurant during her Auburn visit. He recalls her as “less guarded than the average politician from upstate New York.”

And it’s that “anti-politician” persona, he says, that lies at the base of her appeal.

“She gave a short speech and mentioned God several times,” he said. “That’s why people like her, because she’s so different from what you see in Albany or Washington.”

DiBlasi said the attacks that have come to define Palin’s persona also resonate with people flocking to her side. He referred to a now-infamous interview that many observers believe Palin botched when questioned by CBS anchor Katie Couric.

“You have to wonder if people resented the media pounding on her,” he said. “Katie Couric put her on the spot, and that put the value systems of many people on the spot, too.”

Gugino, who also attended the Auburn event in June, agrees. He said Palin has become a serious political entity because of her ability to connect with people who share the values she “lives and believes.”

He theorizes that “Going Rogue” will provide the former governor the financial wherewithal she needs now that she has left Juneau and that she will continue to dominate the media in the years ahead. At 45, the mother of five is young enough to prove a viable candidate for many presidential elections into the future, he said.

“She will be a major player in the Republican Party and a conservative who strongly espouses the Republican platform,” Gugino said.

Palin also could be heartened by the results of a new poll conducted by Zogby International of Utica. As many observers credit non-affiliated voters with electing Democrat Obama to the White House last fall, the Nov. 4 survey finds those independents now leaning conservative.

“A growing contingent of independents is mysteriously moving to the right,” pollster John Zogby wrote with associate Zeljka Buturovic. “The most plausible explanation is that the Republican Party is leaking some conservatives to independents. This weakens the Republican Party, to be sure, but it also makes it harder for Democrats to win over independents.”

To committed Democrats, however, Palin has emerged as a Republican they detest.

Cihak, a Democratic activist, called Palin “disastrously unprepared and not able to lead.” Her departure from the governor’s office will lead to some new media career, she predicted, and she hopes Palin will not emerge as the first woman nominated by a major party for the presidency.

She calls Palin “anti-woman, anti-choice, anti-equal rights and anti-equal pay.”

“She’s the opposite of a champion for women,” Cihak said. “She takes the women’s movement back so many years.

“It’s only about Sarah and what makes Sarah look good,” she added.

But James E. Campbell, a University at Buffalo expert on presidential campaigns, said Palin must be regarded as a major political figure because of her story. She was plucked from obscurity, took the Republican National Convention by storm, was pilloried by the media and is now basking in the national spotlight once again with what he calls just another politician book.

“The topics are not particularly important,” Campbell said. “It’s about run-ins with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson and not on international crises and economics.

“To some extent, it’s indicative of the shallowness of some of our political debate, as this borders on celebrity rather than political news. She’s going on “Oprah,’ not “Meet the Press.’ There’s a little bit of gossip aspect here.”

Still, Campbell believes that Palin’s book, written with the help of Lynn Vincent of the conservative Christian magazine World, helps her establish a plain, simple, folksy, down-home image that has served many Republican presidents well, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush.

“Many conservatives don’t care about politicians who are polished and articulate; they’re even put off by all that slickness,” he said. “They’re more concerned about someone who is well-grounded and highly principled.”

But the latest chapter in the Palin story will serve a purpose, Campbell said. For certain, she will sell lots of books. But it also is certain that it supplies her with a new national stage on which she will once again be called upon to prove herself.

“If her critics are right, she may do herself in,” Campbell said. “If her supporters are right and her problems [of 2008] were superficial rookie mistakes, maybe we’ll find out differently. We’ll see.”