Update: 28k and growing signatures for Alaska to secede to rejoin Russia

(NY Daily News) -If some Alaskan separatists have their way, Sarah Palin won't just be able to see Russia from her house — she'll live there.
A petition calling for Alaska to give the lower 48 the cold shoulder and rejoin Russia garnered more than 28,400 signatures on the White House's web site since Friday.

The petition, named "Alaska Back to Russia," needs 100,000 by April 20 to get an official response from the Obama administration.
But many Alaskans are content to stay with the U.S. and even some secessionists wouldn't exactly want to join up with the northern Eurasian nation.

"I believe in my heart that it is Alaska's density to be an independent republic on this planet," Lynette Clark, chairwoman of the Alaskan Independence Party, told the Daily News. "I find it ridiculous to think that Alaska would go to Russia."
Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million back in 1867. Congress approved the territory for statehood in 1958 and the following year President Eisenhower proclaimed Alaska to be the forty-ninth state in the union.
"We the People" is a feature on WhiteHouse.gov that lets Americans start open petitions on a range of important — and not so important — issues facing the nation.