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CEDARBURG — Twelve hours after officially accepting the
nomination as the Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., and his vice presidential pick Sarah Palin made their first
post-convention stop Friday in Cedarburg.

With wife Cindy on hand, the trio rolled up in McCain’s
campaign bus dubbed the “Straight Talk Express,” telling the crowd of over
17,000 that political corruption in Washington, D.C. is “going to stop.”

“I fought corruption, and it didn’t matter if they were
Democrats or Republicans,” McCain said. “We have former members of Congress
residing in federal prison because of the system — earmarking and pork barrel
spending has corrupted what used to be good people.”

The first earmark pork barrel bill that comes to McCain’s
desk when he is president will be vetoed, he said, adding the information will
be made public.

McCain also stressed the importance of becoming an energy
independent nation.

“Friends, we’ll build more nuclear power plants. We’ll
develop clean coal technology. We’ll increase the use of wind, tide, coal and
natural gas,” McCain said. “We’ll make everything happen — it’s all of the
above, my friends.”

He added the U.S. must produce more energy at home, saying
“we will drill offshore and we will drill now.”

“We’re going to stop spending $700 million a year to
countries that don’t like us very much,” McCain said. “Because if some of that
money ends up in the hands of terrorists organizations, this is a national
security issue — it’s an economic issue.”

McCain also called for some “straight talk,” as the nation
is going through some “tough times.”

“You’re worried about keeping your jobs, finding a new one,
struggling to put food on the table, saving your home,” McCain said. “All you
ever ask a government is to stand on your side and not in your way, and that’s
what I intend to do.”

McCain was introduced by Palin, calling her “the most
marvelous running mate in the history of this nation.”

Palin said she empathized with the needs of people in small
towns like Cedarburg, calling them people with honesty, sincerity and dignity.

“They grow our food and they run our factories and they
fight our wars and they love their country in good times and in bad, and they
are always proud to be an American,” Palin said, resulting in cheers of
“U.S.A.” from the crowd.

McCain’s good judgment makes him the best candidate, Palin
said, including his consistent stance on the Iraq war, in which troops “have
now brought victory within sight.”

“This is a man who has always been there to serve his
country and not just his party — a leader who’s not looking for a fight, but he
certainly isn’t afraid of one,” Palin said.

Palin said McCain “had the vision and the will to see the
surge through to victory” and criticized McCain’s opponent, U.S. Sen. Barack
Obama, D-Ill., for saying in an interview with Fox News only one day prior that
the troop surge in Iraq succeeded.

“In politics, there are some candidates who use change to
promote their careers and there are those, like John McCain, who use their
careers to promote change,” Palin said.

University of Wisconsin College Republicans Chair Sara
Mikolajczak, who attended the event Friday, said McCain and Palin successfully
spread their message to Republicans and moderates alike.

“I though that they both did a phenomenal job and that they
really did try to hit home not only with the conservative base, but also to
sway the moderates,” Mikolajczak said.

She added she has been “praying since the spring” that Palin
would be picked as McCain’s running mate.

UW College Democrats chair Claire Rydell said it was no
surprise McCain and Palin stopped in Wisconsin after the convention and said
McCain’s pick of Palin was a “poor decision.”

“She is in no way qualified to be the vice president and
definitely not president,” Rydell said.

Obama’s running mate, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is making
his first stop in Wisconsin as the vice presidential nominee today in Green
Bay.