Notice anything about this campaign poster? (I did it back in 1992 when I was teaching sixth grade.)

Only men were running. Not anymore. Not since John McCain selected Sarah Palin for his v.p.

Last night was just amazing. I think I was more nervous than Sarah Palin but five minutes into her speech I was relaxing, laughing, tearing up, applauding and agreeing with my husband that Gov. Palin was hitting a grand slam. So did John McCain by having the guts to pick her.

Rush said today that he is going to address Senator McCain as John McBrilliant and I do agree.

I am really anticipating Senator McCain’s speech tonight.

What did Sarah Palin in her gutsy speech achieve last night besides giving some really bad heartburn to the Obama team?

Sarah roused the Republican base in a way no one else could. She is like many of us in so many ways, a working mom with opinions, strong convictions and a desire to do what is right.

And yes, she is a woman but not the kind of woman who fits in to the N.O.W. cookie cutter, an organization I and many of my fellow women never would have joined. We do not spend our time brooding about petty grievances, we get out there and work with our fellow man (and women.) We are more concerned with bringing up our children right, paying for the food and putting it on the table.

Sarah Palin loves her guy, her baby, Trig and all of her children. She initially stepped up into public life by joining the PTA so she could make sure that her children have a good public school education. In the interest of her children Sarah Palin made her first public impact.

She is a gutsy, outdoors woman who loves sports. She is a hockey mom and many of us Moms who spent many hours taking our kids to practice for their various sports can identify with that. It was the practice that was tough. For hockey moms maybe even tougher because they get up at the crack of dawn to get their sons and daughters to practice.

Sarah Palin is not an Ivy Leaguer. (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Last night in her speech, she praised the value of small town life, the people who grow food, run our factories and fight our nation’s wars.

Boy is that ever true.

Gov. Palin put a special emphasis in her speech last night on the word exactly when she talked about the kind of man she wants as commander-in-chief.

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by. He’s a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who now have brought victory within sight.

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief.

As a mom of an Iraq War veteran who spent much of my time in prayer while he was gone I can identify with Sarah Palin. We have to have a Commander-in-Chief who understands, appreciates and supports the United States military.

Sarah Palin has a son who will be deploying to Iraq in one week. How precious must be the time she and her family have to spend with him before he leaves. How important it is to all military families that our nation honors their service and supports the war they fight. Sarah gets it.

Sarah Palin spoke of her baby, Trig who has Downs Syndrome and promised all the parents of special-needs children that they will have an advocate in Washington. I am an art teacher and one of the classes I teach is children with special needs. What a blessing these kids are to me. They are my favorite class. The kids love art, need art and are able to express the beauty of their soul through art. These children are of so much value. Those who have never had the experience of working with children of special needs cannot comprehend the enrichment it will give to them as well as the children. Sarah Palin touched my heart when she spoke these words:

And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.

That’s how it is with us.

Our family has the same ups and downs as any other . . . the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

Sarah Palin is a conservative woman and the coolest thing that she demonstrated last night is that conservatives aren’t ogres. We are normal, hard-working, patriotic, and yes, forgiving people. We care about our fellow man and want to see people enjoy the freedom of this country. Sarah Palin and John McCain want the best for it.

As I watched John McCain deliver his moving speech tonight I could see the authentic man who loves his country and wants it to continue in its greatness. One of the most touching parts, of course, was the following:

I loved [America] because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn’t my own man anymore. I was my country’s.

As for the (shocking to some) line, “it broke me,” that is the reality of life as a POW. That does not mean what some would read into it, that McCain betrayed his country by giving away military secrets, it means that the torture was too much. By that time McCain had been imprisoned for years. He may have revealed information but it couldn’t have been anything current. He was encouraged by his fellow prisoners-of-war to get back up the next day.

By the time of the Vietnam War the code of conduct had been changed because of the torture of prisoners of war in Korea. It is evident that John McCain kept faith with his country. He didn’t allow himself to be used for propaganda purposes. The will of the man is amazing and I believe he will make a wonderful president.

Instapundit has the full transcript of the speech here.

The past week has changed the whole dynamics of the presidential race. John McCain chose an authentic American woman as his running mate. They are a fit. They will fight.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We’re Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

That line in my opinion is the essence of America…

We never hide from history. We make history.

A line we will never hear Obama utter.

The maverick and the reformer will win.