Republican presidential candidate John McCain yesterday defended his running mate, Sarah Palin, as having a "clear record of doing what America wants," while Democrat Barack Obama said her policies aren't much different from those of President Bush.

McCain, on CBS' "Face the Nation," said Palin's outlook and political experience as governor of Alaska and a former small-town mayor "not only qualifies her but brings to Washington a kind of an energy and a fresh wind."

Obama said Palin is "even more aligned" than McCain is with the policies of fellow Republican Bush. Her selection undermines McCain's claim that he would depart from Bush's agenda, Obama said on ABC News' "This Week."

Both Obama and McCain have made changing U.S. policies a focus of their presidential campaigns.

. . .

Obama wouldn't comment on whether Palin is qualified for the vice presidency, calling her a "skilled politician" and saying the "résumé contest that's been going back and forth is not what the American people are looking for."

"What I didn't hear from Governor Palin, what I didn't hear from John McCain," was "how are they going to put people back to work? How are they going to deal with health care?" said Obama, a first-term Illinois senator whose political résumé has been called thin by Republicans.

McCain, on "Face the Nation," said he has to "make a strong case that we're going to bring about" change and that Palin can help him.

"Who better in the political landscape who could do that than Governor Palin, whose whole life has been engaged in that, taken them on and winning?" McCain said. "I have taken them on and won less than she has."

. . .

McCain cited Palin's successful campaign to unseat a governor of her own party, Frank Murkowski, as evidence she was a political maverick like him.

Voters are enthusiastic about his choice of Palin because she backs reform in Washington, McCain said.

"She has not only excited our base, she has excited Americans," McCain said. "All over this country we have campaigned together. The electricity has been incredible. She is kind of what Americans have been looking for."

McCain called Palin "the most popular governor in America" because she "passed ethics and lobbying reform" and "gave money back to the taxpayers" and "cut spending."

Obama won't be able to change Washington because "I don't think he has the judgment," McCain said. Obama "never took on his own party on any single major issue. I have taken them on a lot," he said.

. . .

Obama's running mate, Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., said debating Palin won't be different from debating "a lot of very tough, smart women" he encounters every day in the Senate.

"What is new is, I have no idea what her policies are," Biden said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Biden predicted that Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, will campaign side by side with Obama as well as independently in the eight weeks before the election.

. . .

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a national co-chairman of Obama's presidential campaign, sought to poke holes in Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention last week.

McCain's running mate had said she canceled Alaska's "bridge to nowhere," Kaine noted in an appearance on CNN's "Late Edition."

"Yeah, but you kept all of the federal money," Kaine said.

He noted that Palin said she put Alaska's state plane up for sale on eBay.

"Well, you put it up for sale, but it didn't sell, so it ended up selling to a contributor and supporter at a loss," Kaine said.

According to The Washington Post, the jet, which Palin's predecessor as governor had purchased for nearly $2.7 million, did not sell on eBay. It later was sold to an Alaska businessman for $2.1 million.

"Lines can be delivered that are funny, but they don't really speak to the concerns that Americans have," Kaine said.

Times-Dispatch Politics Editor Andrew Cain contributed to this report.