Before thousands of Minnesotans, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann delivered a hard-edged message Wednesday of freedoms threatened and an overreaching liberal government that must be stopped at the polls in the fall elections. 
 
 They pitched "common-sense conservatism," wrapped in patriotic, down-home language, and voiced a repeated call to return Bachmann to Congress. 
 
 "We've been criticized lately ... that we're the 'Party of No' and we're saying: What's wrong with being the 'Party of No,' when you consider what it is that Obama, Pelosi and Reid are trying to do to our country?" Palin said to whoops and cheers from the adoring crowd. 
 
 "This country's had enough," Bachmann said. 
 
 Although the rally wasn't a fundraiser -- it was free and organized by the Minnesota Republican Party -- both women repeated references to ways to help Bachmann win her upcoming election fight. Palin also attended a private high-dollar Bachmann fundraiser after the public event. 
 
 "Will you do the rest of the world a favor and reelect Michele Bachmann?" Palin pleaded at the rally. 
 
 The two galvanize Republicans and gall Democrats like few others on the national stage. 
 
 The Republican Party gave out more than 10,000 tickets to the rally, although the crowd did not fill out the cavernous Minneapolis Convention Center hall. But the crowd had passion. 
 
 "We're here because we want to take back our country," said Cherie Taylor, of Crystal. Taylor brought her two daughters, ages 7 and 10, to see the event. Taylor said the girls were home-schooled and she considered the event "social studies." 
 
 Palin and Bachmann may glitter more than other Republican Party stars, but they strike supporters as just regular folk. 
 
 "She comes from an average, normal family -- not a rich, lawyer-type politician," Chad Jankowski, of Hutchinson, said of Palin. 
 
 Bachmann sounded the same theme. ||||| CBS 
 
 Thousands of conservatives flocked to the Minneapolis convention center Wednesday afternoon for a rally on behalf of Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, two heroes of the Tea Party movement. 
 
 Though the rally was for Bachmann's reelection campaign, the controversial Minnesota lawmaker was the warm up act for Palin, who told an enthusiastic crowd that "the tea party is growin' and steamin.'" 
 
 Introducing Palin, Bachmann, clad in a striking yellow jacket, told the audience: "She is so much one of us." 
 
 Before Bachmann's speech, the two women emerged onstage together to the song "This One's for the Girls," by Martina McBride. In her remarks, Palin said studies had shown many of the Tea Party leaders are women. 
 
 Bachmann said more than 11,000 tickets had been distributed for the event, adding: "Take that liberals!" 
 
 She went on to criticize the Obama administration for its new nuclear weapons policy. 
 
 "So if in fact there is a nation who is compliant with all the rules ahead of time...if they fire against the United States, a biological weapon, a chemical weapon, or maybe a cyber attack, then we aren't going to be firing back with nuclear weapons," said Bachmann. "Doesn't that make us all feel safe?" 
 
 She stated her support for repealing the health care reform bill, saying "repeal is what this girl is going to be all about after November." 
 
 Bachmann also complained of an "infamous monstrosity of a vote to nationalize effectively health care in the United States of America." 
 
 Palin spent much of her speech lauding Bachmann for standing up to Democrats in Washington. 
 
 "What's wrong with being the party of no when you consider what Obama, Pelosi and Reid are trying to do to our country? So be it," she said. "Not when it violates our Constitution!" 
 
 Palin said it was good to be in Minnesota, where people hunt and fish and some are "clinging to your guns and religion like the rest of us." 
 
 She told the crowd that many in Washington are "addicted to opium -- o.p.m., other people's money." 
 
 She said a vote for Bachmann was a vote "for the principles that make this country great." Such a vote, she added, was a way to state that members of the military are "a force for good in this world and that is nothing to apologize for." 
 
 "What do you say, Minnesota?" asked Palin. "Will you do the rest of the nation a favor and reelect Michele Bachmann?" 
 
 Before Palin and Bachmann spoke, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is widely expected to run for president, took the stage. 
 
 "We now live in a country where Wall Street gets a bail out, the poor get a handout, and everybody else gets their wallet out," said Pawlenty. He said that the rule of law is "under assault" by the Obama administration because of the individual mandate in the health care bill. 
 
 America, he added, is in a situation where there are "state sponsored companies that are too big to fail," "a federal government that is too big to succeed," and "national leaders that are too small to do anything about it." 
 
 A succession of speakers preceded the three politicians, many taking shots at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for what they deemed a "government takeover of health care." 
 
 After the event's invocation, the host joked that any Democrats present would be offered therapy because the words "god" and "Jesus" had been spoken.
– A political dream team—for the tea party set, anyway—of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann wowed the faithful today during a joint appearance in Minneapolis. "The tea party is growin' and steamin,'" declared Palin, who showed up to give Bachmann a boost in her campaign for re-election to Congress. She spent much of her speech lauding Bachmann for standing up to the trio of "Obama, Pelosi, and Reid." "Let me ask you, Minnesota, do you love your freedom?" Palin asked the crowd described as "rapturous" by the Star Tribune. "Voting for Michele ... is the belief that the government that governs least governs best." Bachmann returned the favor: "She is so one of us," she told the crowd of Palin, notes CBS.