Gov. Linda Lingle says the Republican presidential team of Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has a chance of winning Hawai'i, the state where Democratic nominee Barack Obama was born.

Lingle told C-SPAN at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., that Palin's addition to the ticket could appeal to women voters who had supported Hillary Clinton.

Lingle says McCain's ties to Hawai'i may help him.

His father, Adm. John Sidney McCain Jr., served as commander in chief of U.S. Pacific Command from 1968 to 1972. After he was freed as a POW, McCain received a rousing reception during a stop in Hawai'i as he returned home to the Mainland. And McCain and his wife, Cindy, met in 1979 at a military reception in Hawai'i.

In the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry received 54 percent of the Hawai'i vote, compared to 45 percent for President Bush.