Palin bus tour rolls into Gettysburg

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin said Monday that if she were to run for president in the 2012 presidential election that it would be a non-traditional and unconventional campaign.

Palin, speaking to a group of reporters who had tagged along with her during her ongoing "One Nation" bus trip after it arrived in Gettysburg said she was not on the trip as part of any proto-campaign but seeking to illuminate Americans' knowledge of the country.

Asked if she were to run, would the campaign be different, she said "it would definitely be unconventional and non-traditional, yes, knowing us. It would have to be."

Asked if she would consider running, Palin, wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt, sunglasses and a sun visor, said she did not know, right now.

"I don't know, I honestly don't know," she said.

"It's still a matter of looking at the field," she said, adding that "the field is not set yet."

Palin arrived in Gettysburg on Monday but her planned presence drew hundreds of people to the military park hoping to see her, including satellite trucks for broadcasters, local and national, though she never showed.

Jeanne Tull of Selmer, Tenn., was visiting Gettysburg for the weekend and stayed at the monument for nearly seven hours, the Gettysburg Times reported on its website Monday night.

"A lot of them (people waiting for Palin) have been here all day, and some of them left and came back," Tull told the newspaper, adding she supported Palin because of "Christian morals."

Later Monday, Palin drew a small crowd of admirers and some reporters at a hotel in the city where she greeted supporters and fans and posed for pictures while answering questions about the 2012 race.

"There truly is a lot to consider before you through yourself out there in the name of public service," Palin said about any political run.