LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Jennifer Granholm has met Sarah Palin several times and says the Alaska governor seems like a very nice woman.

But the Michigan governor says that doesn't mean the Republican vice presidential candidate should be exempt from tough questions in an Oct. 2 debate with her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden.

"She wouldn't ask to be treated with kid gloves. This is the vice presidency," Granholm told reporters Thursday. "She's tough. She's made that very clear."

Granholm declined to say if she thought the Alaska governor was qualified to be vice president and ready to become president if anything were to happen to 72-year-old John McCain if the Arizona senator is elected president.

But she did remark on the need for a person in that position to be knowledgeable about foreign policy.

"I'd be the first to say — and I've been governor for six years — that I do not have international relations experience," Granholm said. "The question for the American people to decide is whether you want a vice president who's a heart beat away to have no international relations experience."

Palin, 44, was the mayor of an Alaskan town for two terms and elected governor in 2006. She and her husband, Todd, have five children. Granholm and her husband, Dan Mulhern, have three.

Mulhern created a bit of a controversy last week when he spoke about Palin and her family on Frank Beckmann's show on WJR radio.

"She's got a 5-month-old Down syndrome baby, and a 17-year-old daughter who's pregnant now. This girl is going to go through a lot," Mulhern said. "Does she (Palin) know what she's putting her family through?"

Asked by Beckmann why the situation was different for Palin than it was for his wife and family, Mulhern answered: "This is an entirely different situation. ... Number one, our kids were much older. Number two, we didn't have a teenage pregnant child. Number three, we didn't have an infant with Down syndrome.

"I'm not saying they can't do it," Mulhern added. "I'm not judging her. I'm asking, do they understand what they're getting into?"

Asked Thursday if she agreed with her husband's comments, Granholm refused to say.

"Dan would say it's her business, her and her spouse, and that it's not what we should be talking about," she said. "We should be talking about policy."

The Associated Press has requested an interview with Mulhern to discuss his comments, but has not been granted one.

The Democratic governor will be Palin's stand-in as Biden prepares for the Washington University debate in St. Louis. She said being the only female governor besides Palin with children at home may give her "a perspective that allows me to step into those shoes a little more easily."

Biden must "be prepared for someone who is very real, and who will be aware of the issues that real working mothers are facing," Granholm said. "You have to hit the policies that will affect people's pocketbooks and minds and hearts, but say it in a way that everyday citizens can relate to."

Michigan Republican Chairman Saul Anuzis said Granholm is a good debater, but called it "ironic" that the Michigan governor will be pretending to be Palin.

"Granholm will be playing the role of a governor who actually cut taxes, created jobs and reformed government," Anuzis said. "It's a far cry from the role that she's played over the last seven years."

Granholm doesn't know when or where the debate preparations will take place, but says she won't be helping Biden until she returns Sept. 20 from a trade trip to Japan.

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EDITOR's NOTE: Kathy Barks Hoffman heads the Lansing AP bureau and has covered Michigan politics since 1986.