Getting to know you: Palin boosts McCain campaign

By Jeff Mason

ALBUQUERQUE (Reuters) - John McCain's backers are reveling in the crowds his White House campaign has drawn in the 10 days since he made Alaska's little-known governor Sarah Palin his running mate.

"Governor, you're a breath of fresh air," Ken Starrs, a police lieutenant from Corpus Christi, Texas, told Palin, 44, at a Detroit ceremony where the political pair picked up an endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police union.

"She's very real," he said after they shook hands.

Critics have questioned the 72-year-old Republican senator's judgment in choosing a vice presidential candidate without high-profile experience. Palin has been governor since 2006. Her previous public service was as a small-town mayor.

Democrat Barack Obama has raised far more cash in the race for the November 4 election. He has sought to paint McCain as heir to Republican President George W. Bush's unpopular policies. But McCain and Palin are holding their own.

Two public opinion polls released on Monday showed McCain and Obama dead even as they headed into the final eight weeks of the race for the White House.

McCain has decided to keep Palin with him on the trail a few more days before sending her out to campaign on her own.

"I saw a new McCain today, and I'm very excited," said Bonnie Norris, 63, after a lively performance by the Arizona senator in Albuquerque. "He's opened up more. He's more dynamic."

Some 15,000 people turned out to see McCain name his vice presidential pick in Dayton, Ohio, on August 29. To soaring music and high drama, Palin entered the stage with her family like a new, if somewhat baffled, rock star.

'SARAH, SARAH'

Not known for the inspiring oratory that is Obama's trademark, McCain has since soaked up some of the energy generated by Palin, who is greeted with shouts of "Sarah, Sarah" at most rallies.

"She's ignited America," McCain declared in New Mexico on Saturday night. "The response to her has been overwhelming."

At the Albuquerque rally, which packed more than 6,000 people into a tight hall, McCain's "Straight Talk Express" bus pulled up and dropped the candidates in front of the crowd while Van Halen's song "Right Now" blasted over loudspeakers.

The many signs ranged from "Sarah, you had USA at hello" to "Lipstick wearing pitbulls for McCain" in a reference to her quip at the Republican convention suggesting lipstick was the only thing to distinguish a pit bull from a "hockey mom."

Aides said their relationship was cementing quickly.