JOHN McCAIN VISIT
Stories:
McCain, Palin take campaign to battleground Virginia
Obama, McCain to stump in Virginia
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Slideshow: See photos from the event in Fairfax, Va.
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Wednesday morning, the McCain Palin Express made its first stop in Virginia to a Fairfax crowd so big the rally had to move to a larger location.
The crowds of thousands were here to see the new dynamic duo of politics, particularly the sidekick: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Since her introduction to the nation at last week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN, Palin has become a political rock star. In a week's time she has helped McCain move up in the polls (he is either slightly ahead or now tied with Barack Obama) and pound home the new message of the GOP ticket: change.
In Fairfax, Palin did it by playing up McCain.
"The Senator [McCain] has called us a team of mavericks and I'm honored to be on this team of mavericks," she said.
And she also used the change message to subtly attack Obama.
"In politics, there are politicians that use change to promote their careers and then there are others like John McCain that us their careers to promote change."
Palin set it up for the main act: John McCain telling the crowd, "You know he is the only great man in this race."
McCain kept the theme going by saying over and over how he'd change Washington. Here are some examples.
"That's what this campaign is all about: change and reform."
"We're going to reform it."
"We'll bring about change."
"We must reform the way the governor does business."
Barack Obama owned that message outright for two years. It helped him win the Democratic nomination. But it is no longer he message alone as the Republicans press the same agenda. McCain is using it to build a new campaign of reform and service.
"I want to be president because I know that I can inspire a generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than their self interest and greater than themselves," he said.
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