ON DEADLINE: Republicans in love with Sarah Palin

So far, the Republicans love their blind date.

Sarah Palin, John McCain's surprise selection for vice president, introduced herself to the Republican National Convention and the television nation Wednesday night and showed she's no rookie as a campaigner.

Her message was standard McCain Republican fare but there was nothing routine about her delivery. She's good at it. When she gibed at "high-flown speechmaking" she was needling Barack Obama. But she's no slouch at it.

For nearly 40 minutes she was center stage, hailing McCain, slapping and sniping at the Democrats, some lines straight on, some sarcastic. She worked the biggest audience of her political career to draw cheers and laughter, as if on cue.

She even had a brief kind word for Obama. "There is much to like and admire about our opponent," she said. Followed at once by the barb - he has "authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform."

A week after Democrat Joe Biden's vice presidential speech at the Democratic convention in Denver, Palin got the last word in acceptance speeches, and she had the advantage because her role was so unexpected. She hadn't been on a national stage; since she got to the convention on Sunday, the McCain campaign had kept her under wraps, presumably for briefings and guidance on her new role and the campaign ahead.

Biden's was a familiar voice. He jokes himself that he's sometimes long-winded. He's been there before.

This was her debut. Advantage Palin.

She'll have to prove herself in settings less safe and scripted than the convention stage as she heads out on her own this weekend to seek votes for the ticket. At some point, she will have to deal with questions without a text, although the McCain campaign team traveling with her is likely to avoid that for as long as they can.

In less than a month, on Oct. 2, she'll face another major test, the vice presidential debate against Biden in St. Louis. But given the skill she showed on the GOP stage, it will not be an easy test for him either.

For Republican leaders and TV spinners at the convention, the message on Palin became a chorus: She's ready to serve as vice president and, should the need come, as president, despite a slim resume. They tried to make a plus of it, calling her a breath of Alaskan fresh air, a tough governor equipped to shake up the Washington establishment. Rudy Giuliani said she's been a mayor like he was, although his city was New York and hers was tiny Wasilla, Alaska. He also said he'd have had confidence in her had she been president on 9/11 instead of George W. Bush.

At times, they seemed to be trying to persuade themselves.

She brings some problems with her. She casts herself as a reformer, but she worked the pork barrel earmarking system she now denounces - McCain has long opposed it - to get federal money for her town and her state. She's embroiled in an investigation in Alaska over her firing of a state official.

That, and the experience gap, have been overshadowed by the disclosure that her daughter, 17 and unmarried, is five months pregnant. Palin defenders said, accurately, that has nothing to do with her credentials to serve as vice president.

That will fade quickly as a campaign topic. Palin's family, husband and five children, came to the convention stage when she was done; she held her four-month-old baby in her arms before McCain himself stepped out to join them.

"What a beautiful family," he said, seeking in a moment to change a potential problem into an asset. Perhaps that will succeed.

But more pertinent questions about her record and her experience will not be stopped so easily. Palin dealt with the latter with a snide reference to Obama's work as a community organizer in Chicago, saying the Democrats look down on her experience as mayor. "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer except that you have actual responsibilities," she said.

Contrast all that with the Democratic ticket. Barack Obama chose a seasoned senator to run with him. Biden has 35 years in the Senate, is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and earlier the Judiciary Committee, and twice has been an unsuccessful candidate for president.

The criticism of that choice was from newly-energized Democrats backing Obama's message of change and hope, over the selection of a man who epitomizes the establishment.

Biden's convention speech included a reminder that he's been around foreign policy. "I've been on the ground in Georgia, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said, "and I can tell you in no uncertain terms: This administration's policy has been an abject failure."

Obama, in his first Senate term, is the newcomer. Biden is the veteran.

For the Republicans, the ticket is the reverse. Palin is 44, three years younger than Obama, and a rookie in national politics. Many of the party leaders hailing her selection had never met her. McCain, 72, knows them all, and more. He was first elected to Congress in 1982.

Biden suggested Friday that he was a reluctant candidate. "I didn't want to be vice president," he said as he campaigned in Florida. "I'm in this for my children and my grandchildren. I'm in this for the people I grew up with."

Palin clearly relished her new role. "I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election," she said as she began it.

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EDITOR'S NOTE - Walter R. Mears has reported on presidential campaigns for The Associated Press for more than 45 years.