Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will eventually have to defend "some fairly extreme views" on climate change when she starts granting interviews as Republican presidential hopeful John McCain's running mate, her Democratic rival Joe Biden said Monday on a Wisconsin campaign stop.

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"Her views on everything from global warming to a host of other things, if they are as presented, they are pretty far out there," said Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware and Democrat Barack Obama's running mate, during a town hall-style meeting. "She's going to have to defend those positions."

Palin has expressed doubt over whether human activity has contributed to global warming and has clashed with environmentalists over classifying the polar bear as a threatened species and her defense of Alaska's right to shoot down wolves from the air to boost caribou and moose herds for hunters. She also favors creatonism being taught in publi high schools and once inquired about having books banned from her local library.

A woman in the crowd of about 1,000 people urged Biden not to "be afraid to debate her." Biden said he would debate Palin just as he does his female colleagues in the U.S. Senate.

"The idea that somehow, there's a woman, 'oh my God, I don't know how to deal with this,' I think guys who think that way have never been around strong women," Biden said.

Biden also pledged help for laid-off paper workers, courted Catholic voters and claimed to be a longtime Green Bay Packers fan.

Palin, meanwhile, got an endorsement from Vice President Dick Cheney, who told reporters in Rome on Monday that he "loved" Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention. He laughed when he recounted her line about the difference between hockey moms and pit bulls being a coat of lipstick.

"I thought her appearance at the convention was superb," Cheney said. He was asked whether he thought Palin could handle the No. 2 job under a president John McCain.

"Everybody brings a different set of experiences to the office and also a different kind of understanding with whoever the president is," Cheney said during remarks at the residence of U.S. Ambassador to Italy Ronald P. Spogli.

Cheney said he watched Palin's speech with great interest Thursday morning during a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan. Cheney had met Palin before and called to congratulate her shortly after McCain named her as his running mate.