ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - With the U.S. financial crisis dominating voter concerns just two weeks before election day, Republican John McCain is facing renewed criticism for his choice of Sarah Palin as a vice presidential running mate.

Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain and Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (L) greet supporters during a rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania October 8, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Conservative commentators, late-night comedians and even retired Gen. Colin Powell have questioned the Arizona senator’s judgment for putting the little-known Alaska governor on the White House ticket.

Palin, a mother of five whose staunch opposition to abortion rights has energized her party’s base, is still drawing large crowds and bringing conservative voters who were wary of McCain back to the Republican fold.

But crucial independents in must-win battleground states on November 4 are having second thoughts, analysts say, after Palin’s performance on the national stage failed to illustrate her readiness to take over the country’s top job.

Powell, a Republican former secretary of state under President George W. Bush, cited McCain’s shaky response to the financial crisis and his choice of Palin as one reason he crossed party lines to endorse Democrat Barack Obama.

“She’s a very distinguished woman, and she’s to be admired, but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“That raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made,” he said.

Influential Republican commentators like Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, are also unimpressed.

“There is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office,” Noonan wrote of Palin in the Wall Street Journal last week.

“This is not a leader, this is a follower.”

McCain vigorously rejects that charge, and supporters at his rallies give enthusiastic support to the Alaska governor, brushing off criticism from the political left and the right.

“I think she’s qualified just by the simple fact ... (of) how she’s handled being the governor of Alaska (and) seeing her as a mother and handling a family,” said Nina Robinson, 46, of Toledo, Ohio.

“She’s actually done something, you know, she’s had to run a big budget, she’s had to deal with that kind of stuff,” said Robinson’s husband, Darryl, 46, a carpenter.

Palin’s supporters cite her grit and concern for her family as qualities that go beyond political experience and say her critics are out of touch with average Americans.

ECONOMIC CRISIS

But many others are not convinced. They question whether her experience as a small-town mayor and two years as governor of a lightly populated state with no international experience qualified her to handle a crisis should she become president.

McCain was grilled about her qualifications in a conference call with Jewish voters on Sunday and during an interview with “Fox News Sunday” he was asked whether Palin’s choice as a “cold political calculation” had backfired.

“As a cold political calculation, I could not be more pleased,” McCain responded.

“She’s a reformer. She’s a conservative. She’s the best thing that could have happened to my campaign and to America.”

Despite some narrowing in recent days, McCain is trailing Obama in national and battleground state opinion polls, which many observers chalk up to the economic crisis.

“Before the financial crisis she helped him. Now she hurts him,” said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

“Those questions about (McCain’s) leadership, layered over a crisis that is scaring Americans in very profound ways, made Palin’s weaknesses even more important in terms of whether she can handle these challenges,” he said.

Michele Swers, an associate professor in government at Georgetown University, said concern about Palin was especially pronounced among independents, whom McCain is trying to woo.

“The independent voters are the ones who are most likely to have questions about her and not be comfortable with her, and possibly that would be one more reason to turn away from McCain,” she said. “But I think overall, if they’re turning away from McCain, it’s because of the economy.”

At least one independent voter, who said she was a McCain supporter, disputed that at a rally in Ohio.

“I like Sarah Palin. I think she’s refreshing,” said Mary Carol Krotzer, 64. “I don’t want to live in a socialist country and I think that’s where Barack and the Democrats are taking us.”

Analysts said in the end, voters will most likely vote based on the presidential candidates -- not their running mates -- anyway.

“People vote for president, not vice president,” said Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, an assistant professor in political science at the University of North Texas.

“Powell has reservations, and I think numerous people express the Palin pick in the same light -- a question about McCain’s judgment,” he said. “I just do not think anyone who may decide their pick based on the (vice president) is still undecided.”