Some contend that adding Palin to the ticket will help the Arizona senator's standing among female independent voters who were disappointed that Democratic presidential contender Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York was bested by eventual nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, The Washington Post said Saturday.

"It's basically the equivalent of a midnight raid behind enemy lines," Juleanne Glover, a GOP strategist with ties to the McCain campaign, told The Post. "Hillary said she made 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling. Well, McCain just shattered it."

"The early feminists worked for the rights of women to vote and our right to life," added Serrin Foster, president of the anti-abortion Feminists for Life group, to which Palin belongs. "This is one more step in a long march for women's history."

Others, however, said instead of reflexively voting for any woman, most female independents will realize that Palin's positions on abortion, gun control and other controversial subjects are further right than their own, the Post reported.