ST. PAUL, Minn. — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin electrified the Republican convention last night, pitching herself as a champion of government reform, mocking Democratic Sen. Barack Obama as an elitist and belittling media criticism of her experience.

In a speech that served as her introduction to most of the nation after Sen. John McCain's surprise decision to pick her as his vice presidential running mate, Palin pitched herself as the product of small-town America and laced her address with sarcastic digs at Obama.

She said it is his experience, not hers, that is lacking, and she embraced the role of leading the attack against the Democratic ticket.

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities," she deadpanned. "I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening."

Palin said she will ignore the "Washington elite" who do not consider her qualified to be vice president, and she served notice that she will not wilt in the face of critical coverage that followed her surprise introduction as McCain's running mate.

"Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators," she told the convention delegates, who wagged their fingers toward the arena's media boxes as she delivered the punch line. "I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion — I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country."

The 44-year-old wife and mother of five was greeted with thunderous applause after a fiery and rousing introduction by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who called her a woman "who has no fear," and added: "This is a woman who stands up for what's right."

McCain joined her on stage, to even bigger cheers. In an anti-climactic roll call vote, the delegates then awarded him the presidential nomination he has sought for a decade — propelling him into the fall campaign. At 72, the Arizona senator is the oldest first-time nominee in history.

Earlier, Palin greeted McCain as he arrived in Minnesota, and the two posed for photographers on the tarmac with their families, a gathering that included a dozen children — her five and his seven. Joining them was Levi Johnston, 18, the fiance of Palin's daughter Bristol and the father of the baby she is due to deliver in December. He had flown in from Alaska.

SCATHING COMMENTS

Palin focused on almost every tactical misstep Obama's campaign has made, painting a caricature of the Democrat as an out-of-touch elitist and a lightweight celebrity with no sense of what matters to average Americans.

"We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco," she said.

Mocking the speech in which Obama accepted the Democratic nomination before a crowd of more than 84,000 at a Denver football stadium, she asked: "When the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot, what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?"

She leaned heavily on her own biography, introducing her husband, Todd, as a commercial fisherman, a union member, a world-champion snow-machine racer and an Eskimo. She described herself as a mom-turned-politician with the "same challenges and the same joys" as other families.

She also offered at least one apparent ad-lib: "The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?" she asked. "Lipstick."

Palin pledged that she would join McCain in a crusade for change, promising to "govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart." And she praised McCain's character, making it clear that Obama has not served his country the way McCain has.

"Victory in Iraq is finally in sight; he wants to forfeit," she said of Obama. "Al-Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America; he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."

To the delight of the delegates, McCain strolled unexpectedly onto the convention stage after the speech and hugged his running mate.

"Don't you think we made the right choice?" he said as his delegates roared their approval. He is scheduled to appear tonight to accept the party's presidential nomination.

THREE MUSKETEERS

For all of Palin's charm, however, it was three men who had tried to deny McCain that nomination who first delivered the searing attacks on liberalism, the media and Obama that the conservative crowd desperately craved.

Giuliani brought delegates to their feet repeatedly, turning out an energetic, biting assault on Obama's candidacy, mocking the Democrat as an inexperienced, overly ambitious, flip-flopping politician.

"Where nearly 130 times he couldn't make a decision. He couldn't figure out whether to vote yes or no. It was too tough. He voted present," Giuliani intoned with mock surprise. "I didn't know about this vote — present — when I was mayor of New York City. For president of the United States, it's not good enough to be present. You have to make a decision."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tapped into delegates' palpable anger about what many consider to be unfair coverage of their vice presidential nominee.

"For decades, the Washington sun has been rising in the East," home to "the Eastern elites, to the editorial pages of the Times and the Post," he said. "If America really wants change, it's time to look for the sun in the West, 'cause it's about to rise and shine from Arizona and Alaska."

Romney was followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who employed his trademark wit to deride Obama's foreign policy judgment and reject Democratic attacks on Republicans as the party of the wealthy.

"I really tire of hearing how the Democrats care about the working guy, as if all Republicans grew up with silk stockings and silver spoons," he said, bringing delegates to their feet. "In my little home town of Hope, Arkansas, the three sacred heroes were Jesus, Elvis and FDR, not necessarily in that order."

Using some of the toughest language of the night, Huckabee predicted that Obama would "continue to give madmen the benefit of the doubt. If he's wrong just once, we will pay a heavy price."

McCain, he said, "will follow the fanatics to their caves in Pakistan or to the gates of hell. What Obama wants to do is give them a place setting at the table."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.