So, what was it like inside the $500-a-head Sarah Palin fund-raiser Monday night in Boca?

As the guest of honor might say, darn pleasant — except for the hour-long check-in and security clearance line outside closed-to-the-small-fry Boca Raton Resort.

The food was A-OK with pasta salad; cold vegetables with dip; 25 kinds of cheeses; a carving station with prime rib and turkey; and fine pastries for dessert.

The drinks? Even better. Open bar for all.

Entertainment? For Republican political wonks, top flight.

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Diane Palermo (left) and Sarah Palin

The Sarah Palin look-alike that the pranksters (above) from the Paul & Young Ron show on FM radio’s The Gater used to impersonate the Alaska Governor in several Boca restaurants this morning is a staunch Palintologist.

She just can’t afford her favorite politician in in the flesh.

“I’d love to see her tonight in Boca,” said college instructor Diane Palermo, who lives in nearby Coral Springs. “She’s a straight shooter, and I love her platform.

“But I can’t pay to get into her event. It’s out of my price range.”

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Sales for Sarah Palin’s fund-raiser Monday must be going well.

Several wings of the swanky Boca Raton Resort & Club, where the governor of Alaska and vice presidential wannabe is set to appear Monday, are already booked solid.

There are no rooms available that night at the classic Mizner-style hotel’s $200-a-night Cloister or at the $10,000-a-night Beach Club.

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Florida retiree Tad Duke was a Sarah Palin groupie long before John McCain tapped the Alaska governor.

In fact, Duke was her only political support in the Sunshine State.

Duke, 67, a former trucking company owner, was the state’s lone donor to Palin’s 2006 victorious run for governor of the Union’s largest state, according to Alaska elections records.

Of Palin’s 324 donors that year, Jacksonville resident Duke stood among 11 from the Lower 48. He gave the most allowed: $1,000 for the primary, then another grand for the general election.

“I’ve known the family since 1969, Sarah since she was 6,” the lifelong Floridian says. “That year, I went mountain-goat hunting with her dad, Chuck. He was a guide. I’ve stayed in touch with him since. I went back about six years ago to shoot some caribou in the Brooks Range.

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Florida’s Republican women are ticked off, and they’re taking on TV’s most popular personality.

The Florida Federation of Republican Women are calling for a boycott of Oprah Winfrey’s afternoon talk show in retaliation for Oprah’s refusal to have VP candidate Sarah Palin on her high-profile program during the election.

Winfrey, who rarely got involved politically until now, has been a vocal candidate of Democratic presidential wannabe Barack Obama.

Winfrey, who made her fortune appealing to women, had Obama on her set before he announced his run for president, and she showed up at several Obama campaign stops.

The boycott call, which includes the cancellations of subscriptions to Winfrey’s O magazine, came from Linda Ivell in Central Florida. She’s the boss of the FFRW, one of the state’s largest political groups.

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