Tea Party matriarch Sarah Palin urged the US right on Friday to draw inspiration from Ronald Reagan, as she kicked off a weekend of commemorations on the ex President's 100th anniversary.
The former Alaska governor rallied conservatives ahead of Sunday's centenary of the Republican icon's birth, saying they stood at a crossroads following the Republican victory in mid-term elections.
"I think President Reagan would be so proud of the conservative movement on Saturday," she told conservatives gathered in St. Barbara, near where the former California governor had his ranch.
"Because we have never been more engaged, and more passionate, and more willing to put up with what it takes in order to serve," she added.
Palin has become the darling of the US right since she rocketed onto the political stage as Senator John McCain's running mate in the 2008 Presidential election campaign.
She has refused to be drawn on whether she could run for the presidency herself in 2012, against President Barack Obama's Democratics hobbled by the fallout from the global financial crisis.
Palin scorned Obama's $600-billion stimulus plan designed to jolt the US economy out of its slumber, saying: "That didn't work, because it didn't stimulate anything but a Tea Party."
Drawing repeated applause with touchstone rhetoric about free markets, American exceptionalism and pride in the US military, she evoked Reagan's "Time for Choosing" speech about risks and rewards facing America in the early 1960s.
"We are at a crossroads, but this is a time for choosing, and the choices before us are as clear now as they were in 1964," she said, referring to Reagan's speech.
"We are shackled with . Tax rates and the overegulation . But get big government out of the way and there is no reason that we cannot win," she added.