Did Sarah Palin hit the headlines again? You betcha! The Alaska governor delivered a message for her usual “Saturday Night Live” impersonator, Tina Fey, at a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday. We don’t know whether she was just trying to convince the audiences or herself that she would be elected vice president, but John McCain’s running mate told the “30 Rock” creator to get ready for four more years of Sarah Palin-like political impressions.

Tina Fey has been filling the shoes of Sarah Palin on the NBC show for a couple of months now and helped boost the ratings for the program. The real Republican vice presidential candidate also made an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” on October 18 and drew approximately 15 million viewers, the highest audience result for the show in 14 years.

During the Sunday rally in Columbus, Sarah Palin talked about John McCain’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” which took place the previous night. She told the crowds that the Republican presidential contender played his role like a pro in the political sketches. “And a little advice for Tina. We wanted to make sure she’s holding on to that Sarah outfit, because she’s going to need it for the next four years,” the Alaska governor added so as to highlight her optimism with regard to the results just two days before the elections.

In spite of the fact that Sarah Palin praised John McCain’s act on last week’s “SNL,” he did not manage to outnumber the huge audiences which tuned in for his running mate’s appearance on the same show. Saturday night’s episode drew a rough estimate of 12 million viewers, which makes it the second most watched “SNL” show in 11 years when NBC aired a Christmas compilation on December 20, 1997, according to preliminary figures. In addition, the episode featuring John McCain boosted the program with 73% compared to a year ago. Final numbers are due to be out on Thursday.

Along with Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin, the Republican presidential candidate made fun of his own campaign, its financial problems, as well as his political maverick rank.

When the show kicked off, John McCain joked, subtly referring to Barack Obama’s prime time buy, that his campaign could only afford airtime on QVC, hawking several products such as pork knives, commemorative plates and “Joe” action figures. The new kind of Superman toy stands for Tina Fey’s “personal favorite,” Joe Biden.

“If you pull this cord, he talks for 45 minutes,” the “30 Rock” creator joked, alluding to Barack Obama’s running mate.

The Arizona senator also made a cameo appearance during “SNL’s” “Weekend Update” fake newscast, in which he said that his new campaign strategy, dubbed “the reverse maverick,” included doing everything he was told. However, he explained, if the method proved to be useless, “I’d go to the double maverick. I’d just go totally berserk and freak everybody out.”

John McCain’s wife, Cindy, also made a brief appearance on Saturday’s late-night show and advertised “McCain Fine-Gold” jewelry, a relatively slight reference to the campaign finance law the Republican presidential contender authored with the help of Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

It is unclear yet whether “SNL” helped John McCain in any way regarding his potential presidency, but as elections approach, the truth is about to be revealed.