McCain "proud" of Palin as Republicans launch defence

BRECKSVILLE, Ohio - John McCain insisted on Tuesday he was "very proud" of Sarah Palin, as Republicans rolled out a major defence of their under-fire vice presidential pick, decrying attacks against her as "sexist."

As the Republican National Convention got back to politics after a first day curtailed by Hurricane Gustav, the McCain camp, the Republican Party and the White House backed Palin as she faces a string of personal and legal storms.

"I want to repeat again how excited I am to have Sarah Palin, the great governor of Alaska as my running mate," Republican White House hopeful McCain said during a campaign stop in Ohio.

"America's excited and they're going to be even more excited once they see her tomorrow night. I'm very, very proud of the impression she's made on all of America and I am looking forward to serving with her."

Palin is due to make what will be a high pressure address to the Republican convention on Wednesday night, her first chance to calm a political firestorm over her experience and background.

The Alaska governor announced on Tuesday that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant but would have the baby and marry its father.

It also emerged that she had hired a lawyer to defend her into a legislative probe into her alleged abuse of power as Alaska governor.

McCain's top female supporter, trailblazing business executive Carly Fiorina warned that attacks against Palin were taking on a "sexist" tone.

"I am appalled by the Obama campaign's attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin's experience," Fiorina said in a statement.

"The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a mayor and governor than Barack Obama has made in his life," she said referring to the Democratic presidential nominee.

"Because of Hillary Clinton's historic run for the presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognise and decry sexism in all its forms.

"They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin."

Fiorina's mention of Clinton was no mistake, as the Obama campaign at times struggled to find the right language to attack Clinton, and was accused by some of her supporters of stooping to sexism.

The selection of Palin was seen by some observers as an attempt to appeal to white working class women in swing states who are still disgruntled about Clinton's defeat and have yet to embrace Obama.

However, Palin's record as a staunch foe of abortion is likely to complicate her attempts to woo such voters.

Obama said on Monday in a CNN interview that he had much more experience than Palin, given that he was running a multi-person, multi-million dollar campaign, and she was a first term governor and former small town mayor.

The White House also came to Palin's defence, warning the media not to "exploit" the pregnancy of Palin's teenaged daughter Bristol.

"The president of the United States (George W. Bush) believes that this is a matter that this family has chosen to work through together," and "believes that this is a private family matter," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"Whether or not this is an issue in the campaign is actually more up to the media," she added.

Republican leaders on Tuesday decided to resume normal programming at their nominating convention in St Paul, Minnesota, after the opening day was cut short in a show of respect for those in the path of Hurricane Gustav.

Bush, who had been due to appear Monday at the start of the four-day convention, would now address the party faithful on Tuesday by video link, John McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis said.

Other primetime speakers will be former senator and Hollywood actor Fred Thompson and former Democratic senator Joseph Lieberman who broke with his party over Iraq and is a staunch supporter of McCain's hawkish foreign policy.

Two new polls meanwhile showed McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama in the November 4 presidential elections, had won a significant bounce in the polls following his historic nominating convention in Denver last week.

A USA Today-Gallup poll said Obama had garnered 50 percent, compared to 43 percent for McCain. While a new CBS/New York Times poll put Obama and his vice presidential pick Joseph Biden up 48 percent to 40 percent, ahead of the November 4 election.