Palin speech in full | View from Alaska | Ferraro criticises 'sexist' media | Alaska's Margaret Thatcher | Punters fail to take to Palin |

John McCain is hoping tonight to lead Republicans towards a third successive White House term by recasting a party that now crackles with electrical charge from his running mate, Sarah Palin, as renegade reformers ready to shake up Washington.

His speech accepting the presidential nomination will cap a week in which the stellar power of Mrs Palin and the soap opera surrounding her family have overshadowed not only him but also — for the first time in months — his Democratic opponent Barack Obama.

But Mr McCain will seek to use his own moment in the primetime spotlight to bind a lifetime of service and his lasting maverick appeal tightly to the fresh and ferocious Mrs Palin, whose performance from the same stage 24 hours earlier sent a surge of energy through this Republican convention.

After six days in which her vice-presidential credentials have been subjected to ridicule and her family to a glare of media scrutiny, she bestrode the convention stage mixing defiance with withering scorn for Mr Obama.

“I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment,” said the 44-year-old Alaskan Governor. “And I’ve learnt quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

“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.”

Announcing herself proudly as the product of small town America, she earned thunderous applause by comparing ordinary “hockey mom” like herself with pit bulls. The only difference, she said pointing at her red-lined mouth, was “lipstick”.

Mr McCain’s advisers believe that Mrs Palin has secured a Republican base that had held back from embracing him as their nominee because of the years he has spent as a focal point for dissent and a generally disruptive force within the party.

But they also acknowledge that with voters deeply hostile to President Bush’s Administration and apparently yearning for change, such conservative support will not be enough to deliver victory in November’s general election and that his speech must be a “wake-up call” to the party.

Jill Hazelbaker, Mr McCain’s spokeswoman, said that the address would pitch towards swing voters, independents and disaffected Democrats by focusing on “the maverick piece, the independence piece”.

The 72-year-old Senator is expected to emphasise that far from representing "more of the same", he is a proven reformer with a thick record of practical achievements and policies on Iraq, the economy and energy that contrast sharply with the more ephemeral message of Mr Obama.

But this is trickier terrain for the Republicans now that they have nominated a largely unknown and untested running mate. So Mr McCain will put further emphasis both on her real world experience as a small town mayor and state governor, as well as his own compelling story as a Vietnamese prisoner of war.

Mrs Palin last night had rehearsed many of these themes, citing Mr McCain’s record in the military and the Senate floor with Mr Obama’s soaring rhetoric..“There are some candidates who use change to promote their careers,” she said. “Then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.”

She poured sarcasm over Mr Obama's repeated references to his career as a Chicago community organiser before sneering he is “a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word ‘victory’ except when he’s talking about his own campaign”.

After several days in which the pregnancy of her teenage daughter and the birth of her own Down's Syndrome baby have been picked over in unforgiving detail, she re-introduced her children even as a dozen TV cameras focused in on their faces as they sat in the crowd. "From the inside, no family ever seems typical. That's how it is with us," she said.

Joe Biden, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, today toured the breakfast TV shows to praise the great skill with which Mrs Palin had delivered her remarks. Mr Obama's strategists, while recognising that she may win blue some collar voters, remain sceptical about Mrs Palin’s appeal. They suggest that by pitching so hard to socially conservative activists the Republicans risk losing the centreground.

Mr Obama, speaking on a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, shrugged off Mrs Palin's attacks, saying he had been "called worse on the basketball court". He added: "I believe that the American people need change, they want change, and I’m in the best position to do it.”

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