ASSOCIATED PRESS Govs. Jim Douglas of Vermont, left, and Sonny Purdue of Georgia, second from right, applauded after Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, right, introduced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate, as she made a brief comment to reporters after a visit to the Museum of Russian Art yesterday in Minneapolis.

Lingle defends backing Palin

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"She's so very different from Gov. Palin in what she stands for," said Hawaii Senate President Colleen Hanabusa. "Gov. Lingle has been able to be successful in Hawaii because she's a very centrist candidate.

"To some extent, she's a liberal Republican. She's very different from Gov. Palin."

Lingle was tapped by the McCain campaign to introduce Palin in a 17-minute speech on Wednesday night.

Palin, whose strong stand against abortion was seen by many as an appeal by the McCain camp to the Republican Party's conservative base, contrasts with the stance of Lingle, who supports a woman's right to choose.

Lingle said she might not agree with Palin on all issues of the GOP platform, but that that does not lessen her support for the first-term Alaska governor. "The Republican Party has a wide range of people within it - some conservative, some moderate," Lingle said yesterday. "I think of myself as a progressive who's a fiscal conservative, so (Palin) and I really are in alignment on fiscal issues, on reform, on the military and how we support them.

"On social issues she's more conservative, but so are many of the voters in Hawaii who supported me."

As a McCain surrogate, Lingle has spoken of her friendship with Palin and their similar experiences in political life, while promoting the GOP ticket as one that could even appeal to Democrats.

In an interview with C-SPAN yesterday, she went so far as to say the ticket could give Hawaii-born Democrat Barack Obama a run in the islands.

"If you would have asked me this a while ago, I might have said, not really, the Republicans don't really have a chance in Hawaii," she said. "But I think with the added excitement of Sarah Palin on the ticket, women who may have gone on the other side if Hillary Clinton had been on the ticket are now going to give the McCain-Palin ticket a look."

In an interview with the Star-Bulletin, Lingle stood by that sentiment, saying she believes many women are upset over how Palin has been handled by the media.

"I got e-mails and voice mails from home (Thursday) from women who are pro-choice themselves, telling me, 'We are really upset about the way that Gov. Palin is being treated,' about how she's being asked about her family and how's she going to do both," Lingle said. "They said: 'The same way we do - we take care of our children and we do our job.'

"They also feel that this experience issue has been somewhat sexist, as well, because her experience is so much superior to their presidential candidates' experience and yet people are raising that issue."