NEW ORLEANS -- Sarah Palin is the rock star of the Republican Party, drawing the biggest crowd yet in the three-day conference and signing autographs for adoring fans who rushed the stage.

Palin delivered the first major speech of the day, and her mere presence excited the crowd. Her loudest ovation came before she uttered a word of her speech, which focused on domestic energy production. It wasn't Palin's most rousing speech, but it centered on the issue many Republicans believe is her strength.

"Let's drill baby drill, not stall baby stall," Palin said of President Obama's recent offshore drilling announcement.

She mocked Democrats' concern for the environmental impacts of drilling in Alaska -- where she said the majority of people want it expanded -- as well as the reluctance to put wind farms off the coast of New England. Palin also criticized Democrats' "snake oil science" and "this global warming, Gore-gate stuff."

"We have the resources, we have the ingenuity," she said. "Now all we need is the political will."

That's nothing a "good ol' fashioned election can't fix," she added.

Like the other speakers and the general feeling among conference-goers, Palin intimated that the midterm elections this November are a chance to put the country on a different path: "We're writing the new chapter in this proud history. I say we just stand together and take our country back."

Palin also touched on Obama's foreign policy and "Obamacare," which she called "The mother of all unfunded mandates."

Newt Gingrich stressed last night that he'd like to see the party move away from the tagline super-glued to it by Democrats. Palin, however, has no problem with it as long as Democrats are in power.

"There is no shame in being the Party of No," she said. "What's wrong with being the Party of No?"