McCain appeals to moderates with vow to reform GOP

“I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's,” he said. “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.”

McCain also emphasized a longstanding theme in his political career, his willingness to work across the aisle – and promised more of the same if elected.

“The constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn’t a cause, it’s a symptom,” he said. “It’s what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not you. Again and again, I’ve worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That’s how I will govern as president.”

After praising Mr. Obama early in his speech – a bow to the young African-American senator’s feat of gaining the Democratic nomination, following Governor Palin’s harsh attacks the night before – McCain then laid out the case against Obama, both on policy and on approach.

“I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again,” McCain said. “I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not.”

Even if McCain did not electrify the arena as much as Palin had the night before, the senator still won praise from delegates.

Elgine McArdle, a lawyer and alternative delegate from Wheeling, W. Va., said the absence of "pomp and circumstance" in the speech was a testament to McCain's character.

"He told of his exploits in Vietnam not for the purpose of elevating himself, but elevating his country," she said.

"He was soft-spoken and humble," she added, in contrast to what she saw as Obama's "arrogance and flamboyance."

William De La O, a delegate from Brownsville, Texas, and retired engineer, said that McCain's willingness to criticize corruption in his own party shows his backbone.

"You can't necessarily say one party is cleaner than the other because the temptation is the same for both," he said. "He has the resolve to say what he stands for."

Nita Waddell, an alternate delegate from Hope, Ark., and retired social worker, said she liked McCain's speech but that it was Palin's address Wednesday that finally sold her on a ticket she had some misgivings about – mostly because of McCain's support for campaign-finance-reform measures that conservatives view as an infringement on free speech.

"Palin made the difference, baby," she said, stomping her feet and clapping.

– Staff writer Ariel Sabar contributed to this report.

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