Sarah Palin Cries as John McCain gives Concession Speech at “Say Cheese”

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had tears in her eyes as John McCain gave his concession speech Tuesday night in Arizona.

He called his running mate (and self-described “hockey mom”) “one of the best campaigners I have ever seen and an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength.”

That line received the loudest applause of the night. Palin is expected to arrive in Alaska sometime today in a campaign plane. After McCain’s loss, she phoned supporters attending an event at the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex.

“Wasilla, are you there?” she asked.

The crowd cheered as a cell phone was set up next to a microphone.

“There are just no words for my appreciation for all the hard work you did,” Palin said. “Obviously it was not our time, it was not our moment.”

“We’re going to be just fine,” she went on. “It is a shining moment tonight in history. We do congratulate Barack Obama. It’s a great night in history. But I’ll tell ya, Wasilla - and everybody there in Alaska - I am just proud to be able to represent Wasilla.

“I am neither bitter nor vanquished, but very confident in the knowledge that there will be another day,” she continued. “We can do that even from the homefront up in Alaska. I can’t wait to join you there in Alaska. God bless you, thank you very much, and I love you more than you’ll ever know, Mat-Su Valley.”

McCain chose Palin — the nation’s first female Republican vice presidential nominee and the butt of Saturday Night Live jokes — to hopefully win the votes of Democratic and independent women. Shortly after he announced the news, she confirmed reports that her 17-year-old daughter Brisol was five months pregnant.

After a rousing speech at the Republican National Convention (she famously called herself a pit bull in “lip stick”), however, Palin’s popularity slipped.

She came under fire after it was revealed that the Republican National Committee shelled out more than $150,000 to dress her.

Polls also showed that men accounted for most of her support.

On Tuesday, only about four in 10 voters told exit pollsters that they found Palin — who had come under fire for rocky press interviews — qualified to lead the nation, according to reports.

Palin blamed the media for the reason why some female voters didn’t fully embrace her.

“You have to consider that there has been the constant barrage, a kind of spin on my record or my positions,” she said on ABC’s 20/20 last week.

Some experts predict Palin’s political future is far from over, suggesting that she could run in 2012.

Asked if she made any regrets along the way, Palin told Fox News on Tuesday: “I just wish there was more hours in the day so we could’ve gotten around to more areas of our country.”