Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was in her North Dallas home, penning her Republican National Convention speech, when John McCain announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Sen. Hutchison applauded the selection, saying Gov. Palin's youth, gender, down-home persona and reputation as a reformer “can take the change mantra away from the Democrats.”

The first woman to represent Texas in the Senate said she hopes Alaska’s first woman governor, a working mom, will appeal to disaffected Democratic women.

“I can see the things McCain saw in her,” she said from her wooded home, where she came out wearing blue flip-flops, jeans and a lime-green suit jacket.

“He thought she was a good balance," she said. "She comes from a modest family, and has family who are members of a union and know the working people’s blight.”

Although rumored to have crept onto the list of potential running mates, Sen. Hutchison said she had no intention of becoming vice president since her “hopes and aspirations are in Texas.” The senator has hinted that she may run for governor in 2010.

She is scheduled to address the GOP convention, meeting in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday.