Of the four nominees, Whitman points out that Sarah Palin is the only one with executive experience.

Question: How would you evaluate Sarah Palin’s tenure as governor?

Christine Todd Whitman: Any governor with 80% approval rating has done something very, very right, and that is not a partisan. 80% approval rating isn’t a partisan approval rating. That’s a non-partisan approval rating. So, while I don’t live in Alaska and haven’t been there in the last year, actually, who knows what happened there within a year, but she is clearly doing something right.

And the nice thing about having someone with executive experience is just that the Presidency and the Vice Presidency are executive positions. We need someone that has actually made executive decisions and balance the budget and, near as I can tell, she’s the only one of the four that’s balanced a budget.

Question: Has the media treated Sarah Palin unfairly?

Christine Todd Whitman: She is new and there’s going to be intense scrutiny. She’s new and this is the Federal level, about the second most important job in this country. So you’re going to expect very hard, harsh light being thrown on her and hard questions to be asked.

On the other hand, there’s also sexism in our media. There’s no question about that. Hillary Clinton suffered from it, and so is Sarah Palin.

And I think, at this point, the media is going to be a little careful about how they ask their questions and the kinds of the questions they ask because they create a backlash. There are a number of people now that are going to the McCain-Palin campaign because they’re mad. They’re mad at the way Hillary Clinton was treated. They don’t like the way Sarah Palin is being treated, and I think it’s time for a woman.

Recorded on: September 15, 2008