US:REPUBLICANS YESTERDAY hailed the birth of a new political star after John McCain's vice-presidential running mate Sarah Palin thrilled the party's national convention with a barnstorming speech that slammed Barack Obama as insubstantial and elitist, while defending her own credentials, writes Denis Stauntonin St Paul, Minnesota.
Delegates in St Paul were on their feet for much of the speech, which was eagerly anticipated after almost a week during which questions about Ms Palin's background had dominated the presidential campaign.
Looking nervous at the start of her speech, Ms Palin introduced her husband and five children, praising her eldest son's decision to serve in the US armed forces in Iraq and speaking of her joy in her youngest child, who has Down syndrome.
"Children with special needs inspire a special love," she said. "To the families of special needs children all across this country, I have a message: for years you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House."
She also made an oblique reference to the news this week that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.
"From the inside, no family ever seems typical," she said. "That's how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other . . . the same challenges and the same joys."
Ms Palin, who was until two years ago the mayor of a town of fewer than 9,000 people, hit back at media commentators who questioned her experience, suggesting it compared favourably to Mr Obama's early life as a community organiser in Chicago. And she delivered a sharp dig at the Democrat's description, during a San Francisco fundraiser, of small-town voters as "bitter".
"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organiser' except that you have actual responsibilities," she said.
"I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco."
Ms Palin said she had discovered during the past few days that media commentators disapproved of her because she was not part of the Washington establishment.
"But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country," she said.
Describing how she had fought a culture of corruption in Alaska, Ms Palin spoke of how she had given up some perks enjoyed by previous governors, putting the official jet up for auction on eBay.
She drew a sharp contrast between Mr Obama and Mr McCain, dismissing the Democrat as eloquent but lacking in substance and political courage.
"In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change," she said.
"They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.
"Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things. And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk."
Earlier, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered a blistering attack on Mr Obama, describing him as the most inexperienced presidential candidate in more than a century.
"This is not a personal attack," Mr Giuliani said. "It's a statement of fact - Barack Obama has never led anything. Nothing. Nada."
Mr Giuliani dismissed the Democratic candidate as a "celebrity senator" with little legislative achievement, accusing him of changing political positions to promote his own career. "Obama was against wiretapping before he voted for it. When speaking to a pro-Israel group, Obama favoured an undivided Jerusalem. Until the very next day, when he changed his mind," Mr Giuliani said. "I hope for his sake Joe Biden got that VP thing in writing."