Labor Day, Gustav, NFL fail to distract party

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By Jon Ward and Gary Emerling

ST. PAUL, Minn | It opened with Americans still filtering home from their Labor Day weekend and ended with television viewers distracted by the National Football League opener.

In between, it was thrown off message by the ravages of Hurricane Gustav and a media ruckus over the surprise pregnancy of Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter.

Yet, at the end of the most chaotic and unpredictable nominating convention in recent memory, John McCain had managed to win over some of his harshest conservative critics and unite the recently fractious Republican Party for the election campaign ahead.

The turning point came Wednesday night with the blockbuster speech by Mrs. Palin, the Alaska governor named last week as Mr. McCain's running mate. She electrified the crowd in the convention hall, won the hearts of skeptical conservatives and drew more than 37 million curious Americans to their television sets.

Mrs. Palin's speech was watched by just 1 million fewer people than watched Democratic candidate Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech a week ago.

"This lady has turned it all around," crowed Rush Limbaugh on his nationally syndicated radio show Thursday.

Mr. Limbaugh, who has been an outspoken critic of Mr. McCain, said, "From now on, on this program, John McCain will be known as John McBrilliant. ...

"The convention has been unified on the basis of conservatism," Mr. Limbaugh said. "Believe me, Barack Obama has a lot to fear today and he knows it."

The reaction was no less enthusiastic among the delegates awaiting Mr. McCain's acceptance speech in St. Paul. "Things built up to Palin's speech, and she knocked it out of the park," said Rep. Steve King of Iowa.

Lanny Davis, a former Clinton White House lawyer who was one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's most vocal supporters in the Democratic Primary, said in an interview that he was hearing from other Democrats on Thursday who "were very taken with [Mrs. Palin], enough to consider voting for McCain."