McCain and Palin relive national convention in Michigan

Vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at a McCain-Palin campaign event held at Freedom Hill Amphitheatre, Sterling Heights, Mich., with John and Cindy McCain and Rep. Candice Miller (photo: Minehaha Forman)

John McCain has finally held an old-fashioned campaign rally in Michigan — the kind the public gets to attend.

After months of carefully scripted, invitation-only campaign events (some closed to the public and the media entirely), McCain and Sarah Palin rolled out of St. Paul, Minn., after the Republican National Convention for their first full day of joint public appearances as the ticket’s presidential and vice presidential nominees. They stopped first in Cedarburg, Wis., and then arrived in Sterling Heights for Friday afternoon’s rally at the Freedom Hill Amphitheatre.

“Here’s a little warning for the big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: Change is coming,” McCain told a cheering audience of about 7,000 in a speech that sounded the theme of change that both campaigns are scrambling to claim.

If that line sounds familiar, it’s because it was part of McCain’s convention acceptance speech Thursday night. In fact, nearly all of his and Palin’s speeches were near-verbatim abbreviated repeats of their convention addresses, down to the punch lines.

But the crowd didn’t seem to mind that they had waited three hours to hear platitude-rich speeches repeated live. They cheerily persevered through nearly a dozen speakers before McCain and Palin arrived, about an hour after the rally was scheduled to begin, and roared at both candidates’ applause lines on the war in Iraq, reforming a corrupt Washington and the value of McCain’s military service.

Palin, especially, seemed to be sticking to a script, mentioning Michigan by name only when describing her son’s attendance of a Michigan high school.

“I owe Michigan a great big thank you,” Palin said, further warming up the crowd that had brought to its feet by the song “Eye of the Tiger” as she and McCain came onstage, along with McCain’s wife, Cindy, and their daughter. “My son spent a couple of years here near Kalamazoo and played hockey. Michigan, you took care of my boy when he was doing what he loved to do. And now that boy is a man, serving in the U.S. Army.”

McCain paid slightly more attention to where he was, telling the audience: “These are tough times for many of you. In the state of Michigan, times are tough. You’re worrying about keeping your job or finding a new one. You’re worried about keeping food on your table or even keeping your home…I intend to stand on your side.”

Neither Palin nor McCain mentioned today’s Labor Department report that the nationwide unemployment rate hit 6.1 percent in August, the highest in five years, with 605,000 jobs disappearing since the beginning of the year.

Palin made no mention of jobs, the economy, health care, energy, the foreclosure crisis, problems facing the auto industry — all significant issues in Michigan. Instead, she revisited her own record of reform in Alaska, describing her willingness to fight corruption and trim wasteful spending.

McCain homed in on some issues, like taxes and health care, though gave few specific details to support statements like: “I’ll keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them. My tax cuts will create jobs. His tax increases will eliminate them…I’ve worked with both parties to fix these problems. Sen. Obama never has.”

A few kinks still need to be worked out as the McCain campaign makes the transition to an all-out national campaign: McCain’s late arrival came after nearly three hours of performances by high school bands and a cheerleading squad, and a string of of speakers that often sucked the air out of the room.

Even a former POW who was jailed with McCain for two years in Vietnam spoke for so long (20 minutes, five minutes longer than McCain himself) and so ramblingly that he managed to make the most compelling part of McCain’s biography difficult to focus on. And it was all managed by master of ceremonies U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, who seemed unaware that the microphone could project her voice without her needing to shout.

Still, McCain at least put himself before the public, if not before the media — he took no questions from the press or the audience.