If there was any doubt as to what had brought out the 400-500 souls who showed up in a Gander Mountain parking lot on the outskirts of Duluth this afternoon, the hand-made signs in the crowd spelled it out:

Three things keep us free: God, Guns, Sarah!

Charles Manson was a community organizer

And, on a truck loaded with firewood: Let’s turn Washington DC into a hockey rink

Roben Feldhaus of Hoyt Lakes was there with her dog, an American Eskimo decked out in McCain/Palin sandwich boards. (”And she wasn’t registered by Acorn!”) The event was billed as a Sportsmen for Norm Coleman rally featuring Todd Palin, but the guests of honor — besides Norm and the “first dude,” they included Coleman’s wife Laurie and National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre — arrived to find the crowd in the midst of a full-throated “We love Sarah!” chant.

Norm Coleman seemed for all intents and purposes an afterthought. Before the rally started, local police faced off with some Barack Obama supporters intent on getting near the stage with their Veterans for Obama and Women for Obama banners.

“I want to know what he has to say!” protested one woman. “I want to know if he’s smarter than his wife.”

“This is like standing in front of a zoo and watching a bunch of monkeys,” sneered one pony-tailed McCain fan standing nearby.

LaPierre took the stage first to offer some boilerplate remarks about the Constitution and the Second Amendment.

Then came Todd Palin, who spoke for all of two minutes or so and lived up to his growing stump reputation as a man of few words and even fewer memorable ones. Here are a few I remember because I wrote them down: “I feel right at home here in Minnesota.”

Sounding a little like a utility infielder on a World Series team, Palin added, “I’m just glad to be a part of the McCain/Palin ticket and help out wherever I can.” (”Part of the ticket.” Just imagine the furor if Michelle Obama pronounced herself “part of the ticket.”)

Last came Coleman. “The Second Amendment is a symbol,” he said. “It’s part and parcel of the DNA of America.” He went on to invoke the name of the late NRA spokesman Charlton Heston and of Coleman’s own deceased father, both of whom, Coleman noted, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. “They’re together there,” he remarked, “looking down.”

After about 20 minutes, the whole thing was over. Coleman and Palin hung around signing autographs for a few minutes afterward. Then, for first dude and me, it was on to Grand Rapids’ Timberlake Lodge at 4:30.

More, including photos from both events, later.

UpTake/MnIndy video: Todd Palin and Norm Coleman in Duluth 10/16/08