Gov. Linda Lingle said last night that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin showed the Republican presidential ticket would mean "a breath of fresh air in Washington, D.C.," and said voters are looking for a new direction away from partisan politics.

Lingle, who was serving as a surrogate for Palin and U.S. Sen. John McCain with the news media after the vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, referred to her background as a Republican governor elected twice in a traditionally Democratic state as an example.

"Americans want people working together," Lingle said in an interview on "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. "And I think she made that point consistently, that Sen. McCain has developed a long record as someone who can work across party lines. He doesn't just reach across the aisle, he walks across the aisle."

Lingle, who has been campaigning for McCain and Palin on the Mainland, said McCain has shown he could break with his party on matters such as immigration reform and climate change and work with Democrats to resolve issues such as filibusters against President Bush's judicial nominees.

"He's had such a long and consistent record of being bipartisan and I honestly believe that's what America is looking for," Lingle said.

She cited her election victories in a state where Democrats hold overwhelming majorities in the state House and Senate. "It shows that people are not partisan," Lingle said. "They'll vote for Democrats. They'll vote for Republicans. What they do want, they want us working together, and that's what the Palin-McCain ticket is all about."

Olbermann, in the interview, said time constraints prevented him from pressing Lingle on her statement that McCain called for the resignation of former Department of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. McCain said in December 2004 that he had lost confidence in Rumsfeld over his strategy in the war in Iraq but never publicly called for his resignation.

Instead, Olbermann asked whether Lingle thought it was fair to the debate process for Palin to tell the moderator she may not answer questions in the way the moderator wanted or not answer the question posed by the moderator.

"I thought it was great debate strategy and showed an experienced debater," Lingle said.

Palin mentioned Lingle — a friend through the Republican Governors Association — during the debate when Palin was describing some of McCain's prominent national supporters.

LOCAL REACTIONS

The debate was of interest to many voters curious about whether Palin could handle herself against the more experienced Sen. Joseph Biden, Sen. Barack Obama's running mate on the Democratic ticket. Palin's experience as a first-term governor and small-town mayor in a remote state has been a significant question for her to address since she was nominated.

Andy Blom, executive director of the local McCain campaign, said Palin answered any doubts about her capability. "She spoke right to the American people and connected with them," he said.

Andy Winer, Obama's state director, described the differences between Biden's and Palin's answers to foreign policy questions, particularly on Iraq, as "stark."

"I thought he basically made the case for Obama pretty well," he said.

Winer said Palin avoided answering several questions and often circled back to her talking points. He said Palin did not make any serious gaffes but said that was a poor standard for judging a debate. "That's pretty pathetic," he said.

State Sen. Rosalyn Baker, D-5th (W. Maui, S. Maui), the Maui chair of the local Obama campaign, said the debate showed Biden is better prepared.

"I thought it was really clear who was able to answer the question about who is ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency," she said.

Baker described some of Palin's answers as "folksy," a style the state senator said masked Palin's lack of expertise on public policy.

"At the end of the day, I didn't feel she had the policy background," she said.