Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, arrives for a campaign event in Dover, N.H., yesterday.

AP / Jim Cole

LACONIA, N.H. — Her hometown may be 4,600 miles away, but Sarah Palin says she has much in common with the residents of this working-class city set along the hills and lakes of central New Hampshire.

“You seem to be a lot like the people of Alaska — so independent,” the Republican vice presidential candidate told several hundred supporters at a rally on the banks of Lake Winnipesaukee yesterday afternoon. “I know you guys love your moose hunting, also.”

Palin hopes those commonalities will pay dividends on Nov. 4.

As the Republican presidential ticket loses ground nationally, the latest polls show that the McCain-Palin team also trails its Democratic opponents in this state of 1.3 million, generally considered the last of New England’s presidential battleground states.

Palin made three public appearances in New Hampshire yesterday. Political observers suggest it may have been the candidate’s final visit to the Granite State, as the GOP shifts its energy and resources toward a growing number of larger swing states worth far more than New Hampshire’s four electoral votes.

Palin acknowledged those challenges yesterday, characterizing the GOP ticket as an “underdog” in the contest’s final three weeks.

“We’re coming from behind, but it can be done with your help,” she told a cheering crowd from a podium bearing the Republican mantra, “Country First.” The campaign’s large blue bus — the words “Straight Talk Express” painted on its side in large white letters — flanked the stage.

Palin’s half-hour address was laced with a few barbs for the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, but it lacked the more controversial attacks of recent weeks linking Obama to a domestic terrorist. She also referenced McCain’s economic plan, shared her experience with a special-needs child and spent considerable time on McCain’s energy policy, which includes expanding offshore drilling.

The energy discussion prompted a brief chant from the excited crowd. Palin joined in: “Drill baby, drill! You betcha! Yes!” she exclaimed.

Yesterday was the first opportunity for most of the New Hampshire crowd to see the rising Republican star in person. Most were enamored.

“I wish McCain was more like her. She understands. She’s conservative. She’s willing to fight,” said Thomas Toner, a 57-year-old Lyme man with a campaign button on his hat featuring Palin with a shotgun. “Read my lipstick: change is coming,” it read.

Jeanne Duquette, a 41-year-old mother from nearby Meredith, was also impressed. It was her first presidential rally. “She just seems like a normal person, an everyday person,” Duquette said of the Alaska governor.

Indeed, many audience members interviewed — most of whom were registered Republicans or said they were leaning Republican — said they could relate to Palin on a personal level.

“She seemed real,” said Gene Zarella, of Gilford, a 37-year-old father of two who works as a crane operator. “She was in the PTA in Alaska … We need more regular people going to Washington.”

David Corriss, 45, a psychologist from Rochester, attended the rally with his 13-year-old son, Justin.

“I don’t really know a lot about her; what I see I like,” said the elder Corriss, adding that he wished McCain took on Palin’s more aggressive stance at times. “McCain is lackluster in the debates.”

While he was holding out hope, Corriss acknowledged that the Republican ticket has a lot of ground to make up, with less than three weeks before Election Day.

“I’m already prepared for the loss,” he said.

Despite the largely positive reception in Laconia, University of New Hampshire associate professor of political science Dante Scala suggests that Palin’s appeal to conservatives may not play well in the Granite State, which has been shifting to the left in recent years.

The New Hampshire electorate “is intensely more moderate on social issues than Sarah Palin is,” Scala said. “Maybe she helps among the base, perhaps, but not among independent voters, and independent voters are really the key here.”

An Oct. 3 poll released by St. Anselm College, Manchester, shows Obama leading McCain 49 percent to 37 percent. The candidates were in a statistical dead heat in late July.

Scala played down the perception that New Hampshire has much in common with Alaska.

“The southern tier of the state, it’s very suburbanized. It’s become part of the Boston suburbs,” he said. “Even the north of New Hampshire is changing.”

And despite Palin’s star power, Scala said vice presidential candidates aren’t generally major factors.

“Ultimately, she’s a supporting actor in all of this. This race is not about Sarah Palin; it’s about the top of the ticket,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see if this is the last go-around for these candidates here. There are still a dozen other battleground states in play.”

One of those is Indiana, home to Gerald McCarthy, who is vacationing in New Hampshire this week. He has been impressed by Palin so far.

“You have to give her time,” he said. “Just to pick up what she’s done in the last six weeks is amazing.”

speoples@projo.com