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TechnoratiBoth sides will be counting on their rank and file to turn out voters over the next two months.
In the days since McCain selected Palin, the media spotlight turned on the little-known governor's personal and professional life.
The world heard that her unwed teenage daughter is pregnant and that her husband once belonged to a fringe political group in which some members supported Alaska's secession from the United States.
Voters learned that a private attorney is authorized to spend $95,000 of state money to defend her against accusations of abuse of power and that she sought federal money for special pet projects for her city and state, in conflict with her reformer image.
Some Republicans questioned whether McCain had reviewed her background thoroughly enough. Many Democrats hammered McCain for having the gall to attack Obama on experience when he has chosen a running mate who hasn't been a governor for even two full years.
None of it seemed to matter to rock-solid conservatives.
They rushed to defend her and, in line with the McCain campaign's newfound strategy, attack the "liberal media." It's a surefire way to score points with the right — and talk radio hosts who speak to slews of conservatives.
Leading the charge, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson called Palin "a courageous, successful reformer who's not afraid to take on the establishment" and said her candidacy "has got the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic."
Added former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, "I'd like to thank the elite media for doing something that, quite frankly, I wasn't sure could be done, and that's unifying the Republican Party and all of America in support of Senator McCain and Governor Palin."
It's no wonder why the right is embracing her.
Palin is more conservative than McCain on a range of issues.
She favors oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; he does not. Palin has called for teaching creationism alongside evolution in Alaska's public schools; McCain says he believes in evolution when it comes to the origin of life.
She backs a complete ban on abortion except when a doctor determines that the mother's life is at stake; McCain would also support exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Palin has said she doesn't believe humans have caused global warming; McCain says they have contributed to it.
There's no doubt that those who have "generally been sitting on their hands for the last year and grousing about McCain," are "pumped about her," said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback. "He may have pulled off the impossible by finding someone who fires up independents and Reagan Democrats while not turning off social conservatives."
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