by Rick Pearson Chicago SunTimes

Illinois' Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich admits he can't field dress a moose and his hunting targets tend to be more along the lines of state legislators in his own party who don't trust him.

But Blagojevich, who supports favorite son U.S. Sen. Barack Obama for president, today criticized Democrats for belittling the experience of Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and took a jab at the work of legislators who run for executive positions.

Blagojevich, who has acknowledged in the past voting for Ronald Reagan for president, appeared on WGN-AM's Spike O'Dell show in Chicago this morning where he said he was a committed Obama supporter and predicted the Illinois senator would do "great things for America.

But Blagojevich, who said he spent two summers after high school working on the Alaska pipeline, readily defended the executive experience that governors have in contrast to legislators when it comes to being presidential material.

"I would hope the Democrats wouldn't say that about a governor," Blagojevich, a former state legislator and congressman, told O'Dell of criticism that the first-term Palin lacks experience.

"The reality is, governors every day have to make decisions for better or for worse. That's part of the job. It's an executive position. And it's a position that is like what you're going to do when you're president. Legislators, they do different things. They debate and they pass their bills back and forth," he said.

"But governors make decisions, and I think it's a tactical mistake for the Democrats to question Gov. Palin's experience when she's been a governor of a state," he said. "I don't think the size of the state is relevant. It's the kinds of decisions you have to make as governor. They (Democrats) should focus on the issues and why the policies of President Bush ought to be changed and I think that's what will help Obama win."