ST PAUL, Minnesota // Republicans formally declared John McCain their presidential candidate yesterday, but his nomination was overshadowed by a fiery speech from his running mate, Sarah Palin, who launched a stinging counterattack on her critics and blasted Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
Mr McCain officially received the nomination with a roll-call vote late yesterday at the Republican National Convention.
Republicans hope the veteran senator, with a reputation as a maverick, can overcome the legacy of George W Bush and give their party four more years in the White House. Some convention-goers said the state-by-state vote was almost anticlimactic in the aftermath of the speech by Mrs Palin. In one week, the Alaska governor has gone from virtual unknown to the most controversial figure in American politics. Her address was the most closely watched event of the four-day convention.
Mrs Palin took special care in introducing her husband and five children, including a son who is a soldier heading to Iraq, a 17-year-old pregnant daughter and a son born in April with Down syndrome. She mixed together praise for Mr McCain, quips about small-town life, criticism of Washington insiders and a smiling, sarcastic attack on Mr Obama. "The American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of `personal discovery.' This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organiser," Mrs Palin said, a clear reference to Mr Obama's time as a community organiser in Chicago.
After the speech, Mrs Palin and her family were embraced on stage by Mr McCain, his first appearance at the convention. "Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States," Mr McCain asked through the deafening noise that washed through the hall after Mrs Palin's polished first appearance before a national television audience. Mr McCain, 72, is scheduled to accept the nomination in a speech tonight. If elected, he would be the oldest first-term US president. * AP
