HAMILTON — Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, appearing in Lebanon Tuesday with GOP presidential running mate John McCain, has developed a following in southwest Ohio among "hockey moms."

The mother of several hockey-playing children in her home state of Alaska, Palin drew loud applause at the recent GOP convention with the line "the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick."

"Right now it's my favorite thing," said Judy Hannon of Hamilton, adding that fellow hockey moms with children on the Butler County Youth Hockey Association "are psyched.

"She seems like she's on the same level ... she's doing the mom-thing ... she's going to games," said Hannon, association treasurer. "We feel that we have somebody with a voice who understands the family."

Although work responsibilities will keep most of the moms from attending the McCain/Palin rally in Lebanon today, Sept. 9, most said they feel a commonality with the Alaskan governor and mother of five.

BCYHA officer Sarah Persinger, an eight-year hockey mom, said she loves Palin.

"I am Republican so I would have voted for her anyway," Persinger said. "But it's so much better that we have someone running for vice president we can be excited about.

"And it seems like she's not just going to be a figurehead — she has tackled some pretty heavy issues."

Five-year hockey mom Ronda Spaulding hasn't decided how her vote will go just yet, but the fact that Palin also is a hockey mom "got me interested. I started listening and reading information about her.

"On one of the morning programs they were talking to some of Palin's hometown friends and I stopped what I was doing and listened."

Palin seems to be extremely committed to her family and very organized, said Lisa Croucher of Oxford, a hockey mom for the last six years. She found Palin's pitbull comment to be "funny and quite true."

"Competitive hockey is a lot of fun for both parents and players and takes a large commitment by the family," Croucher said. "The main reasons I encourage my son to play hockey is the sport teaches self-discipline, team work and supports a healthy lifestyle."

As a fellow hockey mom and also coming from a rural environment, Palin's similar background "definitely puts her in perspective. I can relate to her and she seems more real to me." Croucher said.