CNN

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stepped into the national spotlight Wednesday at the Republican convention.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) - Sarah Palin accepted the Republican Party's nomination for vice president following a lengthy standing ovation as she took the stage at the Republican National Convention Wednesday.

In her speech, she praised John McCain as a leader who "refused to break with those troops in Iraq who now have brought victory within sight. That is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief."

Palin presented herself as both a mother and as an outside-the-Beltway reformer in the McCain mold, saying she "took on the old politics as usual in Juneau" and "stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network."

She tied oil - a major industry in her home state of Alaska - to foreign policy and national security on a night when convention delegates repeatedly burst into chants of "Drill now, baby, drill now!"

Full story