Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska introduced herself to America before a roaring crowd at the Republican National Convention as “just your average hockey mom” who was as qualified as the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama, to be president of the United States.

An hour later Senator John McCain, a scrappy, rebellious former prisoner of war in Vietnam whose campaign was resurrected from near-death a year ago, was nominated by the Republican Party to be the 44th president of the United States after asking the cheering delegates, “Do you think we made the right choice” in picking Palin as the vice-presidential nominee?

The roll-call vote made McCain, 72, the first Republican presidential candidate to share the ticket with a woman and only the second presidential candidate from a major party to do so, after Walter F Mondale selected Geraldine A Ferraro as his running mate for the Democratic ticket in 1984.

But the nomination was a sideshow to the evening’s main event, the speech by the little-known Palin, who was seeking to wrest back the narrative of her life and redefine herself to the American public after a rocky start that has put McCain’s closest aides on edge. Palin's appearance electrified a convention that has been consumed by questions of whether she was up to the job, as she launched slashing attacks on Obama's claims of experience.

“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown,” Palin told the delegates in a speech that sought to eviscerate Obama, as delegates waved signs that said “I love hockey moms”. “And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organiser,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”

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