Sarah Palin: "A cookie-cutter Republican"?

Interviews with women who supported Clinton suggested that the fact that McCain picked someone as conservative as Palin will be reluctant to vote for McCain, even for those who have been flirting for months with the idea of defecting to the GOP ticket.

Amilyn Lanning, who knocked on doors for Clinton near her home in Zionsville, Pa., before her state's primary, was intrigued by the idea of Palin until she did some research and concluded that she is "a cookie-cutter Republican."

"She's a little too conservative. She's very much pro-life. I don't think she's supportive of gay rights" said Lanning, who is gay and a lifelong Democrat. "It was a nice appeal, but having her versus someone like Clinton just doesn't hold any water for me."

Even Conway emphasized that women do not vote simply on gender, and Democrats such as Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) argued that McCain would have been better off tapping one of his Senate colleagues.

"Senator McCain had so many other options if he wanted to put a woman on his ticket, such as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison or Senator Olympia Snowe -- they would have been an appropriate choice compared to this dangerous choice," Boxer said in a statement, adding that when it came to Palin, "The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women. On the issues, they could not be further apart."