Palin works to get Americans more comfortable with her

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said on Friday she believes being an outsider has led some Americans to be hesitant about her but she thinks they will eventually become more comfortable.

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Alaska Gov. Palin said if elected on Tuesday to serve as John McCain's No. 2, she would focus on issues she has experience in -- reforming government, developing energy policies and, as the mother of a Down Syndrome child, working on policies to assist children with special needs.

Since McCain plucked her from relative obscurity to become his running mate, Palin, 44, has had a sometimes difficult debut before the American people, drawing charges of inexperience.

An opinion poll in The New York Times said 59 percent of Americans surveyed did not feel she was qualified to be vice president. And various commentators, some of them from her own party, have been critical.

"It probably takes a while" for Americans to become more comfortable with her, Palin said. "And those who have some hesitancy there, it's no doubt when you consider that I'm such a Washington outsider."

But she said other state governors have successfully "come from outside that Washington elitism," citing past presidents, Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican Ronald Reagan.

"So maybe that takes a little bit of getting used to. But I think as more Americans in these next three days hear our commitment to reform, they will become more and more comfortable," she said.

Palin has been making more substantive speeches in recent days on energy, children with special needs and other issues, prompting media speculation she has her eye on campaigning for president in 2012, given that McCain, 72, is behind in the polls now.

"SENSE OF MOVEMENT"

She denied any such effort.

"You know what I'm going to be doing in 2012? I'm going to be helping John McCain get re-elected president," she said.

Palin said she and McCain felt their campaign charge that Democrat Barack Obama would have to raise taxes for ambitious spending plans was breaking through to more voters.

She feels that she and McCain are closing strong, particularly in Pennsylvania, a typically Democratic state where McCain has lagged.

"Oh yeah, there's a sense of movement. I feel like our campaign is really hitting its stride now right at the right time -- wish that we had more hours in every day of course," Palin said.

Palin said Obama might be taking victory for granted.