Sarah Palin: ‘I Was Just Your Average Hockey Mom’

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin delivered a hotly awaited speech Wednesday night to accept the Republican nomination for Vice President. The speech also served as her introduction to most of the voters of America.

Presidential Candidate John McCain joined Palin onstage at the end of the speech and said some impromptu words himself. "What a beautiful family," he commented on Palin and her husband and five children onstage. Palin's unwed pregnant 17-year-old daughter Bristol stood onstage holding hands with Levi Johnston, the father of her unborn child.

The small town mayor-turned-Governor of Alaska stressed her status as a Washington outsider in her speech: "Well, I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. Now, here's a little news flash for those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion -- I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this great country."