Washington - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who would be the first female to hold that office if elected, said Democrat Barack Obama may now wish he had also chosen a woman to be his running mate.

In a broadcast interview with US network ABC, Palin was asked if Obama should have picked Hillary Clinton to be his party's vice presidential candidate.

"I think he's regretting not picking her now, I do. What, what determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way, she handled those well," Palin said.

Clinton and Obama were rivals in a closely contested months-long series of primary elections that divided the party, and many Clinton supporters had then hoped she would be tagged for the number two slot. Instead, Obama named Joe Biden, a senator from Delaware who heads the Senate's foreign relations committee, as his running mate.

Biden himself said earlier this week when defending Clinton at a meeting with voters that she might have made a better candidate.