Last night, she addressed the convention in prime time, with a speech touting Hawai'i's economic recovery as a symbol of what Bush's policies have helped do.

Lingle boasted that Hawai'i had the nation's lowest unemployment rate, 3 percent in July, and that the state's exports were up this year, giving credit for both to Bush's tax cuts and economic policies.

"Are things better in Hawai'i than they were four years ago?" she asked. "You bet they are."

As the state's first Republican governor in more than 40 years — and a moderate in a party that's trying to soften its hard edges to attract swing voters — Lingle was a natural choice for the GOP to highlight. But she said in an interview before her speech that she was just hoping to get some good press for Hawai'i.

"It gives me an opportunity to talk about our changing economy," she said. She reminded voters watching on the Mainland that Hawai'i has more going for it than Kona coffee, macadamia nuts and tourism. "Any time we can highlight our state outside the obvious, that's good."

Hawai'i delegates stood and cheered as Lingle spoke, and alternates gathered just off the floor chanting, "Linda! Linda!" For Hawai'i Republicans, the night signaled the Mainland's recognition of the state.

"Times have changed," Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona said. "We're no longer that speck of dust in the Pacific somewhere."

It's been a busy week for the governor. Lingle got to the East Coast earlier than many of her counterparts from around the country, heading to Rhode Island for a ceremony Friday to mark the start of construction on the USS Hawai'i, a nuclear submarine set to launch in 2007.

Convention organizers notified Lingle's aides only Saturday that they wanted her to speak. Delegate Miriam Hellreich, a Republican National Committee member from Kailua, joked that she spent the RNC's entire summer meeting — held the week before the convention — pestering GOP officials to put Lingle on the stage, and that they gave the governor speaking time to quiet Hellreich.

Lingle spoke briefly to a Nebraska delegation breakfast Monday, before heading to the convention's morning session, which she gaveled to a close. She also has been honored at receptions for Republican women, Jewish Republicans and the party's governors.

After her speech last night, Lingle was a guest in the president's box and watched some of the speeches with Bush family members.

Many of the convention's speakers have been, like Lingle, more moderate than Bush or his administration. But for Lingle, who supports abortion rights and believes gay marriage should be left up to states, the areas where she disagrees with national Republicans don't overshadow the ones where she agrees.

"Husband and wife, you don't agree on everything," she said. "Brother and sister, you don't agree on everything."

Lingle said she supports the president completely in his aggressive fight against terrorism and in his tax cuts.

No matter how effectively she helps deliver the party's message to voters, or sell Hawai'i to delegates, Lingle said there was another goal for the week that was weighing more on her mind.