She may have received a chilly greeting outside from protesters dressed as polar bears, but Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin got a warm, boisterously friendly reception last night inside the Westin Convention Center Hotel at a $1,000-a-ticket fundraiser, in what was her second visit to Pittsburgh as Arizona Sen. John McCain's running mate.

The Alaska governor, accompanied by her daughter Piper, delivered a 30-minute speech to a whooping, cheering crowd of about 200 people -- some of whom had paid $25,000 for a "round table" session with Ms. Palin beforehand, while others had shelled out $10,000 for a photograph with her.

By the time Ms. Palin walked onto the podium at 6:24 p.m., the staunchly Republican audience, dressed mostly in business attire and downing cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, was ready for some red meat.

They got some almost right away. "Right after I'm through here, I will text him [Mr. McCain] the message I have heard from so many of you here today, which is: 'Tell McCain to take the gloves off,' " she said, to wild applause. "It's not negative, and it's not mean-spirited; it's telling the truth."

It had been a long day for Ms. Palin, who was up at 5:30 a.m., her handlers said, and appeared earlier at two Ohio fundraisers.

Meanwhile, news reports led with release of an Alaska state investigative report which concluded that the governor had abused her power when she fired her public safety commissioner in July. Perhaps not surprisingly, that subject didn't come up at this fundraiser.

And while Ms. Palin has aggressively attacked Mr. Obama on the campaign trail, last night she never mentioned his association with Chicago neighbor and 1960s radical William Ayers

But Ms. Palin made sure she connected with the locals. She delivered shout-outs to U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, and state Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, along with former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey and Melissa Hart, also of Bradford Woods, the GOP former 4th District congresswoman who is vying to win back her seat.

There was no talk of the Pittsburgh Penguins -- today, Ms. Palin will drop a ceremonial puck for the Pens' rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers -- and the only reference to hockey moms came from Indiana businesswoman and Republican national committeewoman Christine Torretti, who introduced Ms. Palin with a loud "Oh, boy, you betcha!" and informed the crowd that she, too, was a hockey mom.

But football was definitely on Ms. Palin's agenda. After describing Western Pennsylvania as "coal country, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers," she cited an interview with a reporter who noted that "I just love sports and asked me 'who's your team?' Well, growing up in Alaska, we had no teams. But who could forget the late '70s and the Pittsburgh Steelers?

"Jack Lambert heard about that and sent me a jersey," she continued. "... He said, 'Hang this on the wall of the vice president's office and let them know I'm your best friend.' "

The crowd ate it up.

Ms. Palin walked through her stump speech's main talking points: tax cuts, winning the war in Iraq, energy independence, cracking down on government waste and resolving the financial crisis, and -- in one of the night's biggest applause lines -- preserving an America "where the culture of life is cherished."

She noted to her campaign's new proposal, unveiled yesterday, to eliminate a tax code provision that requires people age 70 and over to sell off their 401K retirement plan assets.

"Barack Obama has packaged and prettied up a very left-wing agenda to make it look like mainstream policies," she said. "But when it comes down to it, our opponent wants higher taxes and bigger government and activist courts and retreat in war. And that's not the right track for America."

And in what seemed to be a mild complaint, she added, "Nobody seems to be asking Barack Obama the questions, certainly not the same questions that John McCain and I are. ..."

She was drowned out by applause.

Outside the convention center, about 200 people --almost all of them Obama supporters -- gathered at 10th Street and Penn Avenue, chanting, banging drums and waving signs. Police expressed surprised at the crowd's size, but there were no control problems.

Leeann Anderson, assistant to the United Steelworkers, president, said several unions -- including SEIU, AFCSME and the Steelworkers -- had gathered at the Steelworkers building yesterday afternoon and marched over to the convention center.

Ms. Anderson said of Ms. Palin, "Ever since she was nominated, she hasn't said anything about working women's issues -- nothing about family leave, elder care or child care."

The crowd had a handful of McCain supporters. One was Lawrenceville's Steven Satzger, carrying a "Democrats for McCain" sign and wearing a Hillary Clinton T-shirt.