WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- A beaming John McCain bounded on to the stage at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday night, pointed at his vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, and proclaimed to the audience, "Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?"

As far as they were concerned, he assuredly did.

The Alaska governor lit up the crowd and the grassroots of the Republican Party across the United States in an election in which they were supposed to go quietly into the sunset with her knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark introductory speech to the national political scene.

It was the most impressive speech by a political newcomer to a national American party convention since Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama took the Democratic National Convention by storm in Boston in 2004.

There should be no doubt that Palin's extremely impressive performance was a vital boost for the violently seesawing electoral prospects of tough, durable old McCain, who finally received the presidential nomination of his party, which he previously sought in vain for so long, after Palin's knock-'em-dead performance Wednesday night.

It will still be some days before tracking polls and longer-term polling will provide a balanced picture of how the last two-month stretch of the presidential contest will look after the Republican National Convention finishes its three days of activities -- abbreviated because of the cancellation of the convention's first night over concerns about the possible damage that might have been inflicted by Hurricane Gustav.

Polls over the past few days showed the initial Democratic storm of sneering and criticism against Palin was proving highly effective. Gallup gave Obama a clear 6-point lead -- 49 percent to 43 percent, with independent voters moving to him at a faster rate than to McCain.

But that was before the Republican counter-blast at the St. Paul convention and Palin's own defining speech. It remains to be seen if her performance will win back the crucial centrists.

However, Palin's long-term achievement was clear. She staked out a strong claim to be a major figure in the Republican Party and on the national U.S. political scene for decades to come. Following her speech, media pundits were already discussing the possibility of a race between her and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who won more votes than Obama in the Democratic primary race, in 2012 or 2016.

No presidential or vice presidential candidate in modern times has arguably faced so much intense and potentially hostile scrutiny as Palin did when she strode boldly up to the podium in St. Paul.

But she proved no Dan Quayle. She remained poised, professional and in command throughout her speech. She did not stumble over her lines once. Her performance hit every mark. She virtually ignored her opposite number on the Democratic ticket, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and alternated between passionately boosting McCain and contrasting his record -- and hers -- with that of Obama and ridiculed Obama's documented lack of experience throughout.

Palin took a bold approach, contrasting Obama's total lack of executive experience with her own extremely popular and impressive record during her first two years as governor of Alaska, the youngest and first female governor in the state's history.

It seemed to work. Democrats appeared rattled in their response. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., claimed it was "scary" that Palin said in her speech that she had negotiated the sale on eBay of a former Alaskan governor's state plane.

"If, God forbid, anything happens to John McCain, then we are in for a scary proposition," Wasserman Schultz said.

Of course, Palin also documented her purging of corruption at the highest levels of the Republican Party in Alaska and her success in building new pipelines to increase the amount of energy Alaska could offer to the rest of the nation. Wasserman Schultz never referred to any of that.

The speech was a triumph that gave McCain a badly needed boost and energized the Republican conservative base behind him. It also may have succeeded in swinging some centrist voters behind the GOP ticket, but that remains to be seen.