Palin makes entrance on reform, prosperity themes (2nd Roundup)

By Frank Fuhrig Sep 3, 2008, 23:35 GMT

St Paul, Minnesota - Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, will introduce herself to US voters in a primetime address on Wednesday night that paints an image of her as a reform-minded Washington outsider.

Palin will forcefully answer the concerns about whether she has the experience necessary for the job after two years as governor of the sparsely-populated state and will take special aim at the media, according to prepared remarks released in advance.

'I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment,' Palin will say, according to the excerpts.

'But heres a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: Im not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - Im going to Washington to serve the people of this country.'

Before Palin's speech, 2,380 national convention delegates will formally nominate McCain and Palin as the centre-right Republican Party's presidential ticket.

Convention organizers said Wednesday's schedule, revised after Monday's programme was scuttled out of respect for victims of Hurricane Gustav, would emphasize issues of reform and prosperity.

McCain, 72, a US senator from Arizona, will deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday night.

Palin, 44, was little-known outside her remote home state before being introduced Friday as McCain's unexpected choice for the vice presidential slot.

She was the mayor of a small Alaska town before her election as governor in 2006 on a reformist agenda. Palin's choice has set off a debate about her relative inexperience, and raised comparisons to both four-year US Senator Barack Obama, the opposition Democratic Party's presidential nominee, and to McCain, a former Vietnam War prisoner of war with 26 years in the Senate.

Palin will argue that Obama's message of change could not compare to McCain's own record in the legislature.

'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 in the prepared remarks.

Palin becomes only the second woman on a US major-party national ticket. McCain's selection of Palin was seen as an overture to disgruntled supporters of former first lady Hillary Clinton, who narrowly lost the Democratic nomination to Obama and was passed over as his running mate.

Obama chose Delaware Senator Joe Biden for the vice presidential slot before the Democratic National Convention last week in Denver, Colorado.

McCain, long considered a maverick within his own party, seems to have solidified his support among the conservative Republican base with the choice of Palin.

Texas delegate Tammi Sturm supported former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a favourite of conservatives early in the Republican primaries, before switching to McCain when Romney quit the race in the primary election.

'I think she is wonderful, a wonderful choice, just a very strong female leader,' Sturm said of Palin.

The mother of five, including a boy born this spring with the genetic abnormality Down syndrome, has a strong track record of opposing abortion, making her immediately popular with the pro-life Republican base.

But her policies on reproductive issues, including opposition to sex education in public schools, have been in high focus since Monday, when Palin and her husband announced that one of their daughters, Bristol, 17, was pregnant and planning to marry the teenage father of the unborn child.

Although the Palins asked for privacy from the media, Bristol and her fiance, Levi Johnston, were among the Palin family members welcoming McCain on Wednesday at Minneapolis-St Paul Airport.

Palin will be introduced Wednesday night by Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, a Republican leading a heavily Democratic state. Hawaii, Obama's birthplace, shares Alaska's separation from the other 48 or 'continental' United States.

Other speakers Wednesday are to include three of the Republican presidential hopefuls defeated by McCain earlier this year: former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, Romney and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

Giuliani, who ran New York during the September 11, 2001, attacks, will frame the role of the presidency as 'an important job that involves the safety and security of your family,' in arguing that McCain is best prepared to take on that role, according to excerpts.

Romney, who made a fortune as a venture-capital investor before entering politics, is to say that Democrats 'would replace opportunity with dependency on government largesse. They would grow government and raise taxes. ... Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity.'

Former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina, a top McCain economic advisor, and former Ebay executive Meg Whitman were also speaking on a night when issues such as the economy, trade, health care, energy and the environment are expected to receive heavy emphasis.