The nominee walked onstage after Palin won wild applause with an address that mixed aggression and humor with a compelling personal story from small-town America.

And a night that enthused Republicans heading into the general election concluded with the indelible image of the new vice presidential nominee holding her baby in her arms on the convention stage.

Palin, in her first major introduction to the American people, sent a bolt of energy through the crowd as she repeatedly attacked Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for what she said is his lack of experience and empty rhetoric.

“But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state Senate,” Palin said. “This 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. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot — what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet?”

Palin’s highly anticipated speech went over the primetime speaking slot as she sought to accomplish several tasks — hit Obama and the media, applaud McCain and introduce herself and her family to the country. Her own introduction was that of a former mayor and governor who has executive experience and a reformer’s attitude.

“I came to office promising to control spending — by request if possible and by veto if necessary,” she said.

The governor’s family has been the early and most discussed aspect of her new role as her announcement was made only last Friday and was shortly followed by the revelation that her unwed, 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

Palin did not directly address the matter in her remarks, talking instead about the “ups and downs” that her family shares with other American families.

She spoke in front of changing backdrops such as the St. Louis Arch, the Reflecting Pool at the Washington Monument and the Liberty Bell, and the crowd repeatedly jumped to its feet, reflecting the energy that many analysts think she has injected into the Republican Party.

Palin mentioned the near-collapse of McCain’s campaign last summer, and used the episode to attack the media for getting it wrong and writing him off, saying that “voters knew.”

“And maybe that’s because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership ... a time to campaign and a time to put our country first,” Palin said.

The governor hit the media for questioning her experience, delighting the crowd, portions of which turned to the MSNBC booth at one point and started chanting, “Shame on you.”

But Palin’s mission, first and foremost, seemed to be to establish herself as a fighter. Time and again she went after Obama and seemingly every gaffe he has made since launching his campaign almost 20 months ago.

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities,” she said. “I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.”

The Obama campaign responded that Palin’s speech was divisive and out of the Karl Rove playbook because of the sharpness of her attacks.

“The speech … was well-delivered, but it was written by George Bush’s speechwriter and sounds exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we’ve heard from George Bush for the last eight years,” Bill Burton, an Obama spokesman, said in a statement. “If Gov. Palin and John McCain want to define ‘change’ as voting with George Bush 90 percent of the time, that’s their choice, but we don’t think the American people are ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.”

Immediately after Palin’s speech, the convention officially nominated McCain and her to the GOP ticket.