Arledge shrugged off their ideological differences, on abortion, for example: "I'm a centrist, so I don't care what her social views are."
Ronda Bryce, a 46-year-old preschool administrator from Haymarket, Va., said the Alaska governor "seems like somebody you could shop with and have intelligent conversation with. It wouldn't always be about the shoes, but the shoes would be good," she said with a laugh.
To Debbie Keller, a 51-year-old homemaker from Littlestown, Pa., who attended a McCain-Palin rally in Lancaster, Pa., the debate over Palin's credentials seemed ridiculous, since Palin is already juggling a governorship and a campaign with her duties as a mother of five children, including a baby with Down syndrome and a pregnant teenage daughter.
"I have six kids, so I think she has a lot of experience to do it," she said. "If you can deal with the problems in your family and your own children, you're not going to get overwhelmed."
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maeve.reston@latimes.com
