John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, are now the official Republican nominees for president and vice president of the United States. With that one decision, John McCain reinforced his “maverick” reputation, energized the party base and excited the American electorate.

In fact, Nielsen reported that 37.2 million watched Sarah Palin deliver her speech accepting the vice presidential nomination. That’s almost the same number, 38.4 million, that watched Barack Obama’s televised stadium extravaganza accepting the Democrat presidential nomination the week before; or the 40 million that watched John McCain the following night. Joe Biden drew 24.0 million to his speech. Noteworthy within all these viewer numbers is that four networks — BET, TV One, Univision and Telemundo — that covered Obama and Biden, did not cover the Palin speech; and two — BET and TV One — did not cover McCain’s speech.

This suggests that the real star just entered stage right. And many Americans were interested.

It also tells us clearly that like the campaign song written by country singer John Rich, Sarah Palin is definitely “Raising McCain.”

From the moment John McCain introduced Sarah Palin to the nation, the Democrat campaign and the left-stream media, suffering shock and awe, have been stuck in react and attack mode.

Ironically, the liberal media talkfest and land mines set to imperil Sarah Palin remind us of the film classic “The Perils of Pauline.” While many moviegoers back then were attracted to the damsel in distress motion picture plot, delivered as a 20-week serial, some movie historians hold that the character was much more resourceful than the damsel stereotype.

Governor Palin is no damsel in distress. The only resemblance to Pauline in the film classic is that Palin is being menaced by assorted media villains and political hacks who choose to consciously operate outside the bounds of traditional decorum in their efforts to hijack and undermine at all costs their target’s reputation and candidacy.

Despite these media put-downs, the initial media coverage actually resulted in more people wanting to hear from Alaska’s governor, and she delivered.

Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech struck a chord with many Americans, women and men.

Palin clearly conveyed her personal beliefs and values, recapped her executive problem-solving record and the reforms she set in place in Alaska. The following night, John McCain made it clear that the ticket of “two mavericks” would set about doing the same in Washington.

So, it’s understandable that talk of reform is not pleasant to entrenched congressional leaders, Democrat party chieftains and the left-stream media invested with statist government.

What could be worse for the entrenched than conservative candidate talk of reform? New Polls that indicate Palin delivered once again.

All the national polls have tightened, and several respected pollsters now report that McCain and Palin have opened small leads. That trend, if it holds up, is good news for all Americans who want real reform of the federal government as in a smaller and more limited government.

But, such a poll trend is bad news that portends still more shock for the vested left-stream media. That, in turn, means more media-induced storm clouds for the two mavericks in the days and weeks ahead.

Americans seem to know John McCain has the right stuff; and that he is a genuine American hero. It seems that growing numbers of Americans are beginning to believe that, like Pauline, Sarah is a resourceful leader, who just may have the right stuff to overcome “the perils of Palin.”

Richard Olivastro is a member of the National Speakers Association, president of People Dynamics and founder of Citizens For Change. He can be reached at Rich@Olivastro.net or 877-RichSpeaks.