Jobs for U.S. citizens, is "the main thing for John McCain," said Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota. "He would rather spend his time creating 200,000 jobs in America than speaking to 200,000 Germans in Berlin," referring to the Democratic Illinois senator's fact-finding mission to the Middle East and Europe.

Meg Whitman, eBay's former president and chief executive, called McCain and Sarah Palin, poised to be nominated the GOP's presidential and vice presidential candidates, "the real agents of change."

Another speaker, California state Sen. Abel Maldonado, suggested his father, a share-cropper, could teach Obama about economics.

McCain doesn't "just talk about problems," Coleman said, "but will actually do something to solve them."

Michael Williams, Texas railroad commission chairman, said "change is just a slogan when the ideas are old," coming from the post-Great Society era of Democrats Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Sen. George McGovern, former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Walter Mondale.

"We have a proven leader with a record of reform," Williams said. "That is why John McCain will be my president."