New Hampshire Republican leaders were cheering yesterday for Sen. John McCain's vice presidential pick, the young, little-known governor of Alaska. Sarah Palin, they said, would bring energy and a pair of X chromosomes to the ticket, and her reputation as a reformer would mesh well with McCain's "maverick" image that has made him a New Hampshire favorite since 2000.

"She's the John McCain of Alaska," said Chuck Douglas, the McCain campaign's vice chairman in New Hampshire. "She's the maverick up there."

Politicos here said they were enthusiastic about the choice. But many confessed that they did not know much about Palin, 44, beyond the broad-stroke outline released in early news reports yesterday. Palin was not one of the contenders that was most discussed in recent weeks, and she's had little mileage on the national stage.

"This is inspired," said Donna Sytek of Salem, the former Republican speaker of the New Hampshire House. "I didn't know we had someone like this in the party."

McCain supporters ticked off Palin's plusses this way: she's a woman, she's young, she's a reformer, she has executive experience, she's a self-described "hockey mom."

"To find somebody that is such a complete package - thinks outside the box, isn't afraid to take unorthodox stands on issues, to challenge the way of doing things, to just have somewhat of a libertarian streak - I think that will be very appealing to New Hampshire voters," said Rep. Fran Wendelboe, the New Hampton Republican and founder of the New Hampshire Reagan Network, who said she'd had her eye on Palin for several months.

In a campaign where the word "change" has come up so often, several partisans said that it made sense for McCain to choose a governor with a reputation as a crusader rather than selecting another senator, as his rival, Sen. Barack Obama, did in his choice of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden. To win election in Alaska, Palin beat both an incumbent governor and a former governor by pursuing a reform platform.

"She's as far away from Washington as one can get," said Fergus Cullen, the executive director of New Hampshire's GOP.

Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire, said that the Palin choice has a big potential upside for the McCain campaign. As a woman, she might help McCain lure disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters to vote Republican. And with her pro-life and pro-gun bona fides, Palin could reassure Republican voters who were uncertain about McCain's commitment on social issues.

But Scala said that Palin also has huge potential downsides. She's untested, and it's too soon to know whether she'll succeed as a national political figure.

"This is the definition of a high-risk, high-reward pick," Scala said.

Andy Smith, the director of the UNH Survey Center, said the announcement was a brilliant public relations move - shifting the spotlight away from Obama and the Democratic Convention, which wrapped up Thursday night. But he agreed that McCain's selection could go either way.

"There's definitely a risk there - kind of the Dan Quayle risk," Smith said.