In the days since, she has faced a storm of scrutiny, some of it relating to her tenure as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and her time as governor, but most involving her 17-year-old unmarried daughter who is pregnant.
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Cindy McCain, the wife of Sen. John McCain, sits with Trig and Willow Palin (L), the children of Gov. Sarah Palin at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota September 3, 2008. [Agencies]
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For the most part, McCain's aides have kept Palin out of public sight while vociferously defending her readiness to become president. She emerged Wednesday night during prime time to deliver a smiling, sarcastic attack on Obama that generated roars of approval -- and acceptance — from the delegates.
She followed up in the hours before McCain's convention appearance with a meeting with Republican governors and a fundraising appeal that blamed Democrats for spreading "misinformation and flat-out lies" about her family and her.
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Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin blows a kiss to her baby during her speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota September 3, 2008. [Agencies]
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Even so, there were fresh questions about her readiness to sit one chair away from the Oval Office.
McCain has cited her authority over the Alaska National Guard as one example. But in a memo last spring, Air Force Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell warned that "missions are at risk" in the state's units because of a personnel shortage. The lack of qualified airmen, Campbell said, "has reached a crisis level."
In an interview on Wednesday with The Associated Press, Campbell said the situation has improved since then, but not enough to eliminate his concern that shortages will result in the burnout of troops.
McCain won the presidential nomination late Wednesday night in an anticlimactic vote that followed a campaign lasting most of a decade. He first ran for the White House in 2000, but lost the Republican nomination to Bush in a bruising struggle. He began the current campaign the Republican front-runner, but his chances seemed to collapse last winter when opposition to the Iraq war rose among independents and conservatives grew upset over his backing for legislation to give illegal immigrants a path toward citizenship.
In one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent times, he recovered to win the New Hampshire primary in early January, then wrapped up the nomination on Feb. 5 with big-state primary victories on Super Tuesday.
Obama, campaigning in swing-state Pennsylvania on Thursday, said he wasn't surprised at Palin's criticism of him, and said 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?"
Obama's campaign announced it had raised roughly $10 million from more than 130,000 donors since Palin delivered her speech Wednesday night.
Outside the hall, police on horseback thwarted plans by anti-war demonstrators to march on the convention hall.
protesters calling for an end to the Iraq war vowed to march as McCain spoke.
More than 100 demonstrators were arrested earlier in the day after a concert by the rock group Rage Against the Machine.
Police arrested more than 250 demonstrators on the convention's first day on Monday, but the streets have been relatively quiet since.
