McCain to set out aims for presidency

John McCain will set out his aims for the US presidency as he accepts the Republican Party’s nomination tonight.

It will have to be one of his best speeches yet if he is to generate as much excitement and enthusiasm at the party’s national convention as his running mate did last night.

Sarah “Pit Bull” Palin electrified the Republicans and savaged their Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama as she fought back against critics who said she may not be up to the job.

On the final night of his party’s convention, Mr McCain, who at 72 would be the oldest first-term US president, is expected to talk about his experience as a combat pilot, his time as a Vietnam prisoner of war, and his maverick reputation as he strives to distance himself from the unpopular presidency of George Bush.

It will cap a remarkable and improbable comeback for the veteran Arizona senator after weeks of poor fundraising, significant staff departures, and falling poll numbers threatened to derail his campaign last summer, which followed his 2000 election loss to then-candidate and Texas governor Mr Bush.

He has now been his party’s presumptive nominee for months, since long before Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton stopped fighting between themselves, and Mrs Palin’s selection will help him win support from the party’s conservative base.

Critics have questioned whether the youngest and first female Alaskan governor would be able to step in as America’s commander-in-chief, working with world leaders, should anything happen to Mr McCain, a septuagenarian with a history of skin cancer.

But last night she was unflinching as she strode on to the party’s national convention stage in St Paul, Minnesota, to a roaring three-minute standing ovation.

And that was before her speech.

She hailed Mr McCain as the only leader able to navigate the United States through troubled domestic and international waters.

“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.

As she continued attacking Mr Obama, the 44-year-old mother-of-five, who has described herself as a “hockey mum”, joked that the only difference between a hockey mum and a pit bull was lipstick.

Skilfully balancing her toughness and femininity, Mrs Palin, who earned her nickname “Sarah Barracuda” through her tough games of basketball, said that, unlike Mr Obama, she had had “actual responsibilities” in the past.

Watched by her husband Todd, known as the “First Dude” of Alaska, and her family who have been at the centre of a political storm this week, she set out to dismiss questions about her experience, and about Mr McCain’s judgment in choosing her, after a series of potentially damaging revelations.

Her unwed teenage daughter is pregnant, Mr McCain met the former beauty queen only once before making his decision, and her office is being investigated over the dismissal of a commissioner who refused to fire her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, following a messy divorce from her sister.

But she came out fighting with a speech which appealed to the Republican party’s conservative base and which also highlighted her small-town values in a bid to woo some of Hillary Clinton’s disillusioned former supporters.

Away from the political rhetoric, millions of TV viewers saw her youngest daughter Piper, seven, cradle her four-month-old brother Trig while licking her hand and trying to smooth down his hair as her mother introduced her family to America and the world.

Mrs Palin’s oldest daughter Bristol, 17 – the centre of a media frenzy this week – held hands with her fiance Levi Johnston, who flew to the convention from Alaska after the family announced Bristol was due to give birth to their baby in December.

The 18-year-old high school hockey player, who described himself as a “f*****’ redneck” who did not want children in an obscenity-laden entry on the popular networking site MySpace, wore a smart blue jacket and tie for his first major public appearance.

Mrs Palin kissed Mr Johnston on the cheek when he joined her on stage, along with the other members of the Palin family, during a rousing standing ovation at the end of her speech.

Mr McCain also emerged from backstage to congratulate Mrs Palin and her family.

“Don’t you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?” he said.

“What a beautiful family.”

Today, Mr Obama’s vice presidential nominee, veteran politician Joe Biden, complimented his Republican counterpart for delivering an impressive speech with skill, but said that issues important to Americans were missing from her remarks.

“I didn’t hear the phrase ’middle class’ mentioned, I didn’t hear a word about health care,” he told CBS’ The Early Show.

“I didn’t hear a single word about what we’re going to do about the housing crisis, college education, all the things that the middle class is being burdened by now.”

Mr Biden also stressed that Mrs Palin’s family was “off limits”.

Mr Obama’s top strategist, David Axelrod, dismissed Mrs Palin’s address as dishonest about his candidate’s record and said she was only parroting advisers.

“There wasn’t one thing that she said about Obama or what he’s proposing that is true,” Mr Axelrod said.

“She tried to attack Senator Obama by saying he had no significant legislative achievements. Maybe that’s what she was told.”