GOP holds breath awaiting Palin speech

Alexander Burns 1 hour, 10 minutes ago

ST. PAUL, Minn. — It’s a rare convention moment, a night when all eyes will be focused on the running mate to the exclusion of everything else. In a speech that may eclipse nominee John McCain’s one night later, his surprise vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, takes the stage Wednesday evening with the eyes — and hopes — of her party upon her.

Call it the Republican answer to Barack Obama’s Invesco Field speech.

“I’ve watched this thing echo and build,” said Iowa Rep. Steve King. “Now it’s the buildup to the anticipation of the speech.”

For Palin, this event, more than any other, will determine whether she will succeed or fail as a running mate. It’s undoubtedly the most important speech of her career.

“I think we had a very good night last night for Sen. McCain. Having said that, there’s no question that Palin, because she was such a surprise pick, is getting a lot of attention,” said Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole. “It’s a very big night tonight."

“Every person I talk to, the first thing they say is they can’t wait to hear Sarah Palin speak on Wednesday night,” said Erik Iverson, chairman of the Montana Republican Party.

“This is my third convention and I can’t remember a vice presidential candidate, or any of the other speakers, generating as much excitement and enthusiasm.”

Palin, who has never addressed a national audience, will have to clear an extraordinarily high bar with her performance this evening. The Obama campaign sought to raise expectations even further for the 44-year-old Alaska governor Wednesday morning, when communications director Robert Gibbs predicted Palin’s speech would “bring the convention floor out of its chairs.”

Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, said delegates were so eager to hear from Palin because they currently know so little about her.

“I think people are very excited about finding out who she is and meeting her for the first time. In reality, most Republicans have not seen her or heard her or met her,” Anuzis said.

New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen agreed.

“She is a fresh face on the national scene, so there’s a huge level of interest in it,” said Cullen, who recalled watching televised Palin’s speech from Dayton, Ohio, on Friday with Republican officials who teared up in response to the Alaska governor’s performance.

“I used to mock Democrats when I saw them weeping about either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama,” Cullen said, “and here I saw a room of Republicans doing the same.”

Tuesday’s speeches by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) went off well enough, said several party chairmen. But even at this morning’s delegate events, people were more focused on Palin’s speech tonight.

“There was a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement about hearing from Palin,” Anuzis said. “It wasn’t ‘I hope she says this’ or ‘I hope she says that.’ It was more like, ‘I can’t wait to hear her.’”

Texas Republican Party Chairman Tina Benkiser heard the same kind of talk in her state’s convention delegation.

“Our delegates are ecstatic” about Palin’s nomination, she said, but they are also anxious to finally see her up close.

“People have not seen her on the national stage,” Benkiser said. “They know she has the ability to get out there and just wow America.”

Since McCain unveiled her as his running mate on Friday, Palin has been the subject of intense curiosity and criticism. Conservatives have hailed her reformist credentials and staunchly conservative record on social issues, while Democrats and some media commentators have assailed her as an inexperienced pick.

In advance of Palin’s speech, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel released a statement blasting Palin as “a brand new governor with no foreign policy experience, who hasn’t been thoroughly vetted and tested, and could be one heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world.”

Tonight, Palin is expected to tout her background as a political outsider in Alaska in order to refocus the campaign on a message of change — and energize delegates left uneasy by the shaky start to the convention on Monday.

Benkiser said Republican delegates were distracted on Monday after nearly all convention programming was canceled because of the impending landfall of Hurricane Gustav, and it’s taken some time to get people refocused on political events.

“Everything was so weird here on Sunday and Monday,” Iverson said. “It sort of took even last night to shake off that somber mood.”

“There was a different feel in the auditorium last night,” he added, predicting that there would be “a lot more raw emotion and enthusiasm from the delegates” in response to Palin’s speech.

Convention attendees remain excited for McCain’s speech Thursday, party chairmen said, but for the time being the whole event seems focused on his running mate.

“For the moment, I think it’s about Palin,” said Anuzis. “She’s the hot speech tonight, and I think after tonight we’ll be talking about John McCain the next day.”