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Promising to "reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again," Mr McCain added: "I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not."

Mr McCain described once more how he got some of those scars during a five-year stint in a Vietnam prison cell when he was repeatedly tortured but refused to return home because, as the son of an admiral, he did not want to be used as a propaganda pawn.

"I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's," said Mr McCain to sustained applause.

In a swipe at the sometimes self-regarding oratory of Mr Obama, he added: "I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has annointed me to save our country in its hour of need. My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God."

He praised Mrs Palin as someone who "stands up for what's right, and she doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down". Mr McCain said he was proud to have introduced her to the country and with a glint on his eye, added: "I can't wait until I introduce her to Washington. And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing, me first, country second Washington crowd: change is coming."

Mr Obama, speaking on a campaign stop in Pennsylvania yesterday, shrugged off Mrs Palin's attacks on him saying he had been "called worse on the basketball court". He added that Democrats intended to focus on her record.

"I think she's got a compelling story, but I assume she wants to be treated the same way that guys want to be treated," he said. "I've been through this 19 months, she's been through it - what - four days so far?"

His campaign announced it had raised roughly $10 million from more than 130,000 donors since Mrs Palin delivered her speech as aides suggested that her pitch towards the conservative base may already be backfiring.

Last night Mr McCain devoted just a single paragraph in his speech to the socially conservative agenda of the Religious Right, as he talked of his belief of faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don't legislate from the bench".

Instead, he spent more time discussing plans to lower taxation, create jobs, promote energy independence, tackle corruption and improve education - as well as maintain a robust, even hawkish, stance on foreign policy.

"I fought for the right strategy and more troops in Iraq, when it wasn't a popular thing to do. And when the pundits said my campaign was finished, I said I'd rather lose an election than see my country lose a war," said Mr McCain.

"I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption.

"We lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger. We lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies. We lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles," he said.

"We're going to change that. We're going to recover the people's trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire. The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics."Although using the word "fight" no less than 43 times in his speech, the 72-year-old Republican nominee reiterated that his experience made him abhore war and determined to keep America strong enough to be safe.

But even the rousing call to arms with which he ended his speech included an implicit acknowledgement that a Democratic victory appears likely in November.

“Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight,” he said. “Nothing is inevitable here. We’re Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.”

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