Republicans Compose a New Way of Campaigning

The Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, says in Grand Rapids, Mich., that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the best choice for president. (By Stephan Savoia -- Associated Press)

It was the first time Palin had answered questions from voters since McCain chose her for the ticket, and the campaign could not have found a safer environment.

Boisterous, blissful Republicans cheered her every utterance. Many questions seemed designed more to allow her to answer critics than to elicit her views. One woman asked about criticism that "you can't be a woman and the vice president" and added quickly, "Which, of course, you can."

"Well, let's prove 'em wrong," Palin responded.

There followed an endorsement from a woman who said she formerly supported Clinton, a request on how to recruit more Hispanic supporters, and a blessing for McCain from a fellow Vietnam veteran: "May the grace of God be with you always, sir."

Palin was a sensation at the Republican National Convention with her barbed acceptance speech. On the campaign trail, she is more prone to peppy declarations -- "Let me tell you, I know a little bit about energy. That's going to be my baby when I get to Washington, D.C." -- and homespun appeals to common folks.

"There's nothing wrong with small towns," she said in Michigan. "In fact, I think all the best people in the world I know come from small towns."

Palin seems a natural campaigner, energetic in a crowd and calm on stage. If there's such a thing as an Alaskan accent, it sounds on Palin a lot like the Upper Midwest, a more subtle version of the actress Frances McDormand in the movie "Fargo."

Palin regularly and seemingly deliberately rounds off words that end in "g" -- the economy is "hurtin' " and needs "fixin.' " After McCain answered a question the other night, she asked, "Can I add somethin'?"

Palin provides blue-collar balance to McCain, who touched off a storm when he couldn't precisely say how many houses he and his multimillionaire wife, Cindy, own. Palin talks of her sister who "just opened a new gas station" and of husband Todd's parents, who run a hardware store.

"She's one of us," Andrea Lawson said after one rally. She carried a "Go Sarah" sign painted with lipstick rather than marker.

Palin makes a special appeal to the parents of special-needs children, and she doesn't have to explain that her infant son, Trig, has Down syndrome when she reaches out to the "many American families that know that some of life's greatest joys sometimes come with some unique challenges."

She also inspires protest. A small but noisy group disrupted her remarks in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, protesting her hard-line antiabortion position, and a more organized protest outside Grand Rapids Community College drew mostly young people.