US Candidates Clash Over Palin's Politics and Experience

The two main candidates for the US presidency locked horns yesterday over the credentials and qualities of Sarah Palin, the little-known governor of Alaska who has been propelled into the center of the electoral battle with her appointment as John McCain's Republican running mate.

As the race now fans out across America at the end of the two parties' national conventions, attention continues to focus on Palin, who has delighted the Christian right base of the Republican party but provoked criticism of her lack of experience, particularly in foreign affairs.

Interviewed on politics programs of the US networks yesterday, McCain and his Democratic opponent Barack Obama presented conflicting perspectives on Palin's politics and role in the election.

Obama, appearing on George Stephanopoulos' show on ABC, praised her as a skilled politician but rolled out his camp's new weapon - to depict her as a sort of John McCain-Bush with brass knobs on. Obama said that Palin was "even more aligned with George Bush or Dick Cheney and the politics we've seen over the last eight years than John McCain himself".

Obama derided claims over the weekend by McCain that the governor for Alaska had more foreign affairs experience than he had by dint of the fact that her state lies next to Russia. "I actually knew Alaska is next to Russia - I saw it on the map," Obama quipped.

McCain, who came under heavy fire immediately after he announced Palin as his vice-presidential candidate for picking a lightweight and failing to vet her properly, has been buoyed up by her combative speech to his party's convention in Minnesota last week. "She has a clear record of what Americans want uppermost - reform. She took on the people in her own party," McCain told Face the Nation on CBS. He characterized Palin's strength as "taking them on and winning. I've taken them and won less than she has."

Despite the rapturous reception Palin received from the party faithful last week, Republican election strategists remain cautious about exposing her to the full force of the national media. All requests for interviews have so far been turned down, apart from a soft-soap window on her family life given to People magazine.

The McCain camp has also been careful to keep Palin within the protective embrace of the senator for Arizona - Palin has only appeared with McCain, and it remains unclear when she will appear solo on the campaign trail.

In a further twist, she had been due to appear today campaigning in Tampa, Florida, though that event has been canceled. The cause of the change in schedule is unclear, though it is notable that Hillary Clinton will be making a high-profile tour through Florida that starts today.

The protective cordon thrown around McCain's running mate has already caused tension with media outlets. After a CNN presenter last week questioned a Palin aide over her national security experience, McCain pulled out of a planned interview with CNN's Larry King, saying that the news channel had gone "over the line".