Mom-in-law of McCain's VP pick still not sure how she'll vote

Wasilla (Alaska), Sep.1 : The mother-in-law of Sarah Palin, the running mate of Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, has said that she is not sure which way she will vote in the November 4 presidential polls.

The New York Daily News quoted Faye Palin as saying that she enjoyed hearing Barack Obama speak, and still hasn't decided which way she'll vote.

"We don't agree on everything. But I respect her passion. Being pro-life is who Sarah is," she said.

"I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative. Well, she's a better speaker than McCain," Faye Palin said with a laugh.

"People will say she hasn't been on the national scene long enough. But I believe she's a quick study," she added.

With a population of just 6,715, Wasilla is a fast-growing railroad town that got its start as a mail and supply hub linking the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to Alaska's interior mining camps along the Iditarod dog sled trail.

She said people doubted Sarah Palin when she ran for City Council, but that her daughter-in-law had a "singular focus."

"She was out there with [then-young son] Track, pulling him around from house to house in a wagon," she said.

Sarah Palin is well known as a former high school basketball star, cross-country runner, beauty queen, hockey mom, city council member and Wasilla's mayor from 1996 to 2007.

"I think it's great. She's a hometown girl from Smallville, USA," said Felix Bruno, 43, a masonry contractor who plowed her driveway.

"She's not afraid to speak her mind. She really dropped the hammer on the politicians fleecing Alaska."

At the local Mat-Su Family Restaurant in downtown Wasilla, a Bible-study group that includes two ex-mayors from neighboring cities cheered her pick as McCain's running mate.

But even with her impressive approval rating, Palin still has work to do even in her own hometown.

"I'm still leaning toward Obama. I think Sarah has been really good for our state, and it would be wonderful to see her in the White House, but she's on the ticket with McCain, and I can't vote for McCain," said Eileen Moe, 33, a second grade teacher at Iditarod Elementary, which Palin's kids attended.

Not everyone is convinced her experience as mayor and governor are enough for a vice president who would be next in line to the presidency.

ANI