Did Sarah Palin have crib notes on her hand during National Tea Party Convention interview?

The blogosphere was spinning today with reports that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice-president, used notes scrawled on her left hand during an interview this past weekend at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn.

According to thinkprogress.org, which posts a snippet of the interview from CNN, organizer Judson Phillips asked Palin what should be done when the United States has both a conservative House and Senate. Palin replied that Congress should cut spending, but then looked into her left palm before continuing.

The Web site also reports that today on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell said Palin "very clearly" used "cheat sheets."

Palin's critics noted that she has made fun of President Barack Obama for relying on a teleprompter.

Palin's appearance before more than 1,000 tea-partiers was televised live. The movement is trying to shift from holding rallies to winning elections, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"The Tea Party movement is growing up," the Journal quoted Phillips, the Nashville lawyer who organized the convention. "If 2010 is another year of rallies, we've lost."

Palin is courting the movement and saying it would be "absurd" for her not to consider running for president in 2012.