SIOUX CITY -- Managers at Barnes & Noble Booksellers here were just as surprised as many Siouxlanders to learn Monday that 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be in the house Dec. 6 to promote her memoir.

Palin begins a book tour Nov. 18 for "Going Rogue: An American Life." The sole Iowa stop will be at the Sioux City Barnes & Noble, which community relations manager Elisha Karr admitted will focus attention on the bookstore.

Karr expressed surprise at the former Alaska governor's upcoming appearance while saying she's so pleased at the opportunity. She said she heard from a Barnes & Noble official that Palin specifically picked Sioux City after feeling buoyed by the crowd of some 4,500 that attended her West High School campaign stop days before the election in which she and presidential candidate John McCain came out on the losing end.

Karr said she couldn't estimate how many people might turn out but said it will top the biggest event she's seen to date for a book signing at the store -- when another Republican conservative, Newt Gingrich, drew hundreds in May 2005.

"We really haven't had anyone of (Palin's) magnitude come through," Karr said. "She is just such an engaging personality, and she is such a nice lady."

Woodbury County Republican Party Chairman Brian Rosener said the Palin book-signing event has the potential to create an overflow crowd, since she's "one of the most sought-after speakers in the U.S."

"I certainly am not going to be surprised if they have lines all day long," Rosener said. "She just stands for the conservative values that many Americans hold dear."

Carla Mohlmann of Sioux City isn't so sure Palin is the right voice for Republican ideals, although she admitted to being intrigued by her persona. In any case, she won't be in line for the book signing, as she has other plans for that day.

Karr said she'll have a better grasp by Friday of how Barnes & Noble will mange the crowds, although she knew Tuesday that the store will open four hours early, at 7 a.m., to hand out wristbands for those lining up to get an autographed copy of the book.

Palin kicks off the tour in Grand Rapids, Mich., and the seven stops at Barnes & Noble stores skew heavily to the Midwest, including a second Dec. 6 stop, in Sioux Falls. Karr said many national book tours focus on metropolitan cities such as New York, so she gave Palin kudos for taking an atypical approach.

Patricia Wood of Decatur, Neb., sees it differently. Wood said Palin bypassed the "sophisticated audience" available in New York to pitch the book to "more rural, back-minded people." Wood is no fan due to Palin's campaign remarks disparaging Democrat Barack Obama's background as a community organizer in Chicago.

"I believe in community action as a strength of the United States," Wood said.

Edwin Fritzmeier of Sioux City said he has no interest in seeing Palin. "She didn't seem smart enough to me," Fritzmeier said.

Cassie Belitz of Norfolk, on the other hand, said many were empathetic when Palin's teenage daughter's pregnancy became public after the family stepped into the national spotlight for the 2008 Republican Convention.

"I think most people could relate to her because she was a mom," Belitz said.

And Mason Hill of Norfolk, Neb., who voted for the McCain-Palin ticket, hopes Palin runs for president in 2012.

Some see her signaling such a move with the stop in Iowa, home to the first-in-the-nation caucuses in the presidential selection process.

"I'd really enjoy to see her," Hill said. "I feel like she is her own person."