By Steve Holland
ST. PAUL (Reuters) - Republican John McCain cast himself asan independent-minded reformer on Thursday and said he had thescars to prove it in a speech that promised Americans "changeis coming" if they elect him on November 4.
McCain accepted his party's presidential nomination in apacked convention hall, insisting he can pull off the kind ofchange that Democratic candidate Barack Obama talks about in ayear Americans are hungry for new leadership.
"Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending,do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: changeis coming," said McCain, himself a U.S. senator since 1986.
The 72-year-old Arizona senator, who bears the scars of 51/2 years as a Vietnam prisoner of war, launched a two-monthcampaign to win the White House, entering the push to ElectionDay as the underdog with most polls showing Democrat BarackObama ahead by a few percentage points.
McCain, portrayed as no different than unpopular PresidentGeorge W. Bush by Obama and the Democrats, tried to reclaim hisimage as a Republican maverick in hopes of attractingindependent voters likely to be key to the election.
"I don't work for a party. I don't work for a specialinterest. I don't work for myself. I work for you," he said."I've fought corruption, and it didn't matter if the culpritswere Democrats or Republicans."
Speaking to Americans' fears about the weak U.S. economy,McCain promised to keep taxes low and accused Obama of seekingto raise them.
He said he would offer education programs to help workerswho have lost jobs from a loss of the country's manufacturingbase.
"My opponent promises to bring back old jobs by wishingaway the global economy. We're going to help workers who'velost a job that won't come back, find a new one that won't goaway," he said.
A handful of protesters tried to disrupt the proceedingsbut were shouted down by the crowd with chants of "USA, USA."Security hauled out two women.
"Please don't be diverted by the ground noise and thestatic," McCain said. "Americans want us to stop yelling ateach other."
BIPARTISANSHIP
Promising bipartisanship, McCain bemoaned "the constantpartisan rancour that stops us from solving" America's problemsand said he has a record of reaching across the party aisle,unlike Obama.
"Again and again, I've worked with members of both partiesto fix problems that need to be fixed. That's how I will governas president. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me getthis country moving again. I have that record and the scars toprove it. Senator Obama does not," he said.
McCain portrayed Washington as broken and said both partieswere responsible for it, taking a shot at Illinois Sen. Obamaover his energy policies, a sensitive issue in this electionwith both campaigns offering energy plans to wean the UnitedStates from foreign oil.
"We lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves froma dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Sen.Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies,"he said.
McCain also talked about his defining experience, the yearshe spent as a Vietnam prisoner of war, a period in which hesaid he realized how special his own country was.
"I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, acause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn'tmy own man anymore. I was my country's," he said.
He had a tough act to follow.
More than 37 million viewers tuned in to watch the speechby his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin,just shy of the record set last Friday by Obama, whosenomination acceptance address in Denver was seen by 38.4million, Nielsen Media Research reported.
"So how about that Sarah Palin?" McCain's wife, CindyMcCain, asked the crowd before her husband spoke. "John haspicked a reform-minded, hockey-mommin,' basketball shootin,'moose huntin,' fly-fishin,' pistol-packing, mother of five forvice president."
OBAMA FIGHTS BACK
Obama, speaking to reporters, shot back at Palin for sayingthat being mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, was a little likeObama's service as a community organizer in Chicago, exceptthat "you have actual responsibilities" as mayor.
"They think that the lives of those folks who arestruggling each and every day, that working with them to try toimprove their lives is somehow not relevant to the presidency?"Obama said.
"I think maybe that's the problem. That's part of whythey're out of touch and they don't get it because they haven'tspent much time working on behalf of those folks," he toldreporters in York, Pennsylvania.
Palin was at it again at a luncheon of U.S. Republicanstate governors, saying governors have to make decisions and"we don't have a 'present' button as governor."
That was a knock on Obama's history of voting "present"instead of yes or no on many pieces of legislation in the U.S.Senate.
(Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst, Jeff Mason andRob Doherty, editing by Jackie Frank)
