MINNEAPOLIS -- Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams on Monday called Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "a great choice" as John McCain's running mate on the GOP presidential ticket, and blasted Democratic attacks on Palin being unqualified as a former small-town mayor.

"She rallies the conservative base, but while at the same time she makes our ticket even more appealing to swing voters who are going to decide this election," Wadhams told PolitickerCO.com at the Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis hotel. "And she's got more executive experience than Barack Obama and Joe Biden combined."

Wadhams, who is running former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer's U.S. Senate campaign in Colorado, also said Democrats "immediately disparaged rural America again" by pointing out that two years ago, Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska -- a town with an estimated population of 8,471.

"This comes on top of them saying that rural America is clinging to guns and religion and now they disparaged her as a small-town mayor," Wadhams said. "I mean, Barack Obama and Joe Biden -- we know what they think of rural America. They think it's beneath them.

"Rural voters were hookwinked by [Gov.] Bill Ritter and [U.S. Sen.] Ken Salazar in the last two elections," Wadhams said. "They're coming back home - they're going to be voting for John McCain, Sarah Palin and Bob Schaffer."