Democratic activists who were disappointed over Senator Hillary Clinton's loss of her party's nomination called Republican John McCain's vice presidential choice strategically "brilliant." ( dpa )
McCain named as his running mate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin - a young woman unionist and mother of five who has a son heading to Iraq with the US army.
"It's a brilliant, spectacular move," Mary Boergers, a Maryland state senator and unhappy Democratic delegate for Clinton told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"For women leaning to McCain because they're so angry that the Democratic Party ignored women, I think it could have an impact," she said.
Boergers is critical of how her own party and Democratic nominee Barack Obama handled Clinton's delegates at the just-ended convention, and says she is still unsure whether she will go out and work or vote for him.
But she also said it would not "sway" her to vote for McCain.
"McCain is stepping on Obama's historic Democratic convention by doing it today," she said. "It's really brilliant!"