Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has the experience to help lead John McCain to victory -- at least that's the judgment Indiana Republicans expressed Friday.

McCain stunned many political observers by passing over better known vice presidential prospects in favor of Palin, a former small-town mayor who became governor of the 49th state two years ago. The 44-year-old mother of five brings strong conservative credentials to the GOP ticket.

"We think Governor Palin fits very well with mainstream Hoosiers' beliefs, values," said Indiana Republican Party Chairman Murray Clark. "She has shown in Alaska that she stands for budgetary restraint. She stands for energy independence. She certainly stands for ethics reform, which really was an important part of her being elected governor."

Clark said Palin completes a "maverick partnership" with the 72-year-old McCain, who is set to accept the GOP presidential nomination next week in Minnesota. But Palin's selection also opened a rhetorical window for Democrats seeking to defuse criticism that their newly minted presidential nominee, Barack Obama, lacks experience.

"For us to be looking at a candidate that is a heartbeat away from the presidency, who has been just a small-town mayor, and then a governor of just a few months, I question John McCain's judgment on this one," said state Sen. Earline Rogers, a Gary Democrat and ardent Obama backer.

Hoosier Republicans argue Palin's time as mayor of Wasilla, a town of 6,500 near Anchorage, and her two years as governor trump Obama's four years in the U.S. Senate and eight years as an Illinois legislator.

"She has much more executive experience than Barack Obama," said Porter County Republican Chairman Chuck Williams. He called Palin "the female modern-day Teddy Roosevelt," an ode to an outdoors resume that includes fishing, hunting and snowmobiling.

Palin, also the runner-up for Miss Alaska in 1984, is the first female Republican vice presidential pick and first female major party running mate since Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.

"This basically tells the world that we're ready for a woman in leadership," said Gayle Van Sessen, who won the Republican primary for Crown Point mayor a year ago. Van Sessen, executive director of the Greater Crown Point Chamber of Commerce, said she expected Palin's nod to draw supporters of former Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

But Rogers, who was in Denver to see Clinton endorse Obama at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night, doesn't buy that argument.

"Gender is not enough of a reason for me to change my pick for president or vice president," Rogers said. "(Clinton) made it very clear that the race was never about her. It was about this country."