Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin waves to the crowd after giving a speech Monday evening at Salem Stadium. She focused on taxes and energy policy.

Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Supporters spell out "I'm Joe" at Salem Stadium before an appearance by vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Palin supporters, one dressed as John McCain, applaud Monday during vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's speech at Salem Stadium.

Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Organizers estimated that some 16,000 people attended the rally headlined by vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

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Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin blew in and out of Salem on Monday night like a brisk Alaskan wind, calling on Virginians to vote her and presidential running mate John McCain into the White House next week.

On an evening where the wind chill approached freezing, Palin fired up an estimated crowd of 16,000 with a half-hour speech that focused largely on taxes and energy policy.

"I love the weather because it reminds me of home," the Alaska governor said.

This is the first time that McCain or Palin has visited Western Virginia since the general election campaign began. The pair did make a stop in Virginia Beach earlier this month, and Palin appeared in Richmond at a NASCAR track. Their opponents, Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden, have visited Southwest and Southside Virginia five times since June.

The most recent Mason-Dixon poll shows the two campaigns in a dead heat in Virginia, which hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1964.

Though she acknowledged a close race in the state, Palin said Monday that based on the crowd in Salem, it didn't sound like that trend would change.

"It doesn't sound to me like many of you are supporting Barack the wealth-spreader on Nov. 4," Palin said, referring to Obama's comments to Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher that "when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Palin said that those comments to Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plumber," showed Obama's true intentions to take money away from hard workers and redistribute it elsewhere.

She told the crowd that if they worked hard and believed in the American dream, "then you all, you're Joe the Plumber, too. And we're all in this together, Virginia."

Obama's plan calls for a tax cut for those who make less than $250,000 annually, but Palin said that would hurt small businesses and instead touted McCain's tax plan, which includes cutting the corporate tax rate, maintaining the 15 percent rates on dividends and capital gains, simplifying the tax code and banning Internet and new cellphone taxes.

Palin played on the blue-collar "Joe the Plumber" theme throughout the night, entering and leaving to the tune of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5."

She introduced her husband, Todd Palin, as "Alaska's first dude" and she asked the crowd at one point, "So, Virginia -- will you hire us?"

Palin touted the McCain campaign as one of reform. She said times have been tough economically, requiring someone with "experience and courage and good judgment and truthfulness" as president. Palin said the McCain campaign offered "a bold and a fair and a free plan to take this country in a new direction."

She said that if elected they'd "shake things up" and promised to have a balanced budget by the end of McCain's first term.

Palin also endorsed McCain's "all-of-the-above" energy plan, particularly its calls for new domestic oil drilling and coal mining. The crowd responded, chanting "Drill, baby, drill."

"And mine, baby, mine," Palin added.

She also defended her sharp criticism of Obama and Biden, saying that drawing distinctions helps to inform voters.

"It is not mean-spirited and it is not negative campaigning to call someone out on their plans and their record and their associations," Palin said to cheers. "It is not negative campaigning. It is in fairness to you, the voters, so we're going to call them out."

Many people in Salem Stadium had been waiting much of the day for Palin's arrival, but it was the third event of a busy day for her, following appearances in Leesburg and Fredericksburg.

Her plane touched down at Roanoke Regional Airport at 6:30 p.m., and she quickly entered a Chevrolet Suburban that -- as part of a motorcade of nearly 20 vehicles -- made the drive along closed-off roads to Salem in just about 15 minutes.

Palin's campaign declined to make her available for questions. She left quickly after the speech and returned to the airport, again on roads closed to motorists by police. Her plane lifted off the runway at 8:22 p.m., bound for a campaign event with McCain this morning in Hershey, Pa.

In all, Palin spent less than two hours in the Roanoke Valley.

The event began at 5:30 p.m., but many people had arrived hours before that time. Palin's supporters helped to fill the time before her arrival by listening to songs by musicians and speeches by state Republicans. U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, led the crowd in a chant of "Drill, baby, drill," while U.S. Senate candidate and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore told them they needed to send Obama back to Chicago and led a chant of "Send him home!"

U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, and Virginia Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, were among others who spoke.

Virginia Democrats issued a response to Palin through state Del. Kris Amundson, D-Fairfax County: "Governor Palin again proved she's good at distorting Barack Obama's positions, but what she didn't do today is provide an explanation for how John McCain's economic policies would be any different than George Bush's. The truth is that Barack Obama will cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans, curb wasteful spending and eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses. That's exactly the change Virginians need."

The presidential focus on Virginia will continue when Obama makes an appearance at James Madison University in Harrisonburg this afternoon.

Staff writer Rob Johnson contributed to this report.