ANALYSIS: Republicans leave St Paul with possible Obama 'equalizer'

St Paul, Minnesota - Republican presidential nominee John McCain's choice of the obscure Alaska governor as his running mate may have achieved the improbable: energizing the conservative base while appealing to swing voters.

Republican Presidential Nominee Senator John McCain reaches for the crowd as he is joined by his wife Cindy after delivering his acceptance speech at the fourth and final session of the 2008 Republican National Convention in the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, 04 September 2008. EPA/TANNEN MAURYMost of the 2,380 delegates at the Republican National Convention are more conservative than McCain, long regarded as a maverick within his own centre-right party. Even as they celebrated McCain's acceptance speech Thursday night in an ice hockey arena in St Paul, Minnesota, delegate after delegate conceded to have been less than fully enthused with the nominee prior to his surprise pick of Sarah Palin. Her riveting address on Wednesday, introducing herself to the national party and the rest of the country, was easily the highlight of the four-day convention, leaving a hard act to follow for McCain, who prefers the town-hall format to formal speeches. Democratic presidential standardbearer Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech to 84,000 people in a Denver, Colorado, football stadium. As Obama became the first African-American major-party presidential nominee, one in four US households - 38.8 million people, beating the Oscars and even the best night of last month's Beijing Olympics - watched on live television. Palin has a home-spun yet sharp-tongued style unlike any other national politician of either sex. Monday's revelation that her 17- year-old daughter was pregnant created a soap opera that only stoked public interest in Palin's Wednesday speech. But the news late Thursday was astonishing in an election year dominated by Obama's personality-driven campaign: Palin attracted more than 37 million viewers herself, putting her in the same league as the history-making Illinois senator. Republican delegate Fernando De Baca, local party chairman in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, was amazed that the ratings for Palin's speech had practically equalled Obama's. 'It tells me that she's connecting very well with the American public,' he said. 'She comes across as an ordinary citizen. The general public will identify well with her.' De Baca called her 'the equalizer' against Obama, who has quickly built a base of sometimes obsessive supporters and is favoured in the November 4 general election. Palin, 44, was elected governor two years ago and previously spent six years as mayor of her small town in Alaska, as well as serving on state commissions. A self-described ice hockey mom, she and her husband of 20 years have five children, including one son about to deploy to Iraq in the US Army infantry and a boy born in April with Down syndrome. Her hobbies reportedly include salmon fishing and moose hunting. Her husband works as a commercial fisherman and oil field worker. Palin is strongly pro-life and pro-gun rights, which quickly endeared her to the Republican base. 'I still have political disagreements with what (McCain) has done in the past,' said Karl Voigtsberger, a Republican delegate from Richardson, Texas. 'He's shown us real good judgement in picking Sarah Palin. That just put me right over the top.' Moments after McCain ended his address, delegate Gale Sayers of Converse, Texas, was standing on the convention floor, hip-deep in red, white and blue balloons dropped from the arena ceiling. Amid the celebration, she said that after Palin's addition to the ticket and McCain's acceptance speech, 'I feel a lot warmer toward him than I did when I got here.' De Baca readily conceded a 'lukewarm faction' remained even among delegates at the start of the convention. Palin's impact, though, had served 'to awaken all these people, to energize and motivate them.' Former Ohio state attorney general Betty Montgomery, a delegate from Columbus, the state capital, said that McCain had 'struck the right notes, the right tone,' in his own acceptance speech. The response fueled her optimism for the Republican ticket entering the general election campaign. 'I think we launched perfect,' Montgomery said. De Baca called Palin a 'good match' for McCain, 72. 'She's got so much freshness about her,' De Baca said. 'It's clear that people are looking for change. With her it's a whole new ballgame.' Palin's lack of experience in national politics became an issue as soon as she was named. But in her first week in the race, Democrats found themselves in the wrong argument: whether standardbearer Obama, who was an Illinois state senator before winning a US Senate seat in 2004, was more seasoned than Palin. The comparison only underscores Obama's own inexperience, while leaving McCain, a retired fighter pilot and former POW with 26 years in Congress. 'Palin is going to be running against Obama,' De Baca said, 'and (Democratic running mate Joe) Biden is going to be running against McCain,' De Baca said. 'It's going to be interesting to see how the campaign develops over the next two months.'