ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Gov. Sarah Palin's selection by Sen. John McCain to run with him on the 2008 Republican presidential ticket has been unanimously ratified by GOP convention delegates.

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Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman formally placed Palin's name in nomination for the vice presidential spot on the ticket. He said, "We are looking for a beacon of light to show us the way. ... We are looking for Sarah."

Huntsman called the U.S.'s public policy challenges daunting. But he also said that Palin has the kind of confidence and independent spirit necessary for the job. He declared: "Hockey moms of the world: United" and said that Palin is not afraid to "kick a few fannies and raise a little hell."

Later tonight, McCain embarks on his final drive for the White House, accepting the Republican presidential nomination and addressing the party's national convention from a stage that workers hastily rebuilt to fit his "town hall" approach.

In his speech, McCain will portray himself as a presidential candidate who has a record of putting the good of the country before all else, and Democrat Sen. Barack Obama as just the opposite.

"Again and again, I've worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That's how I will govern as president," McCain says in prepared remarks released in advance of his appearance Thursday night. He planned to accept the party's nomination with a promise "to reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again."

"I have that record and the scars to prove it," McCain will say. "Sen. Obama does not."

In excerpts of his prepared remarks, McCain bemoaned "constant partisan rancor" and said: "It's what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not you."

McCain, a four-term Arizona senator, will also issue a warning "to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: Change is coming."

Parts of the platform at the Xcel Energy Center were removed by construction workers on Thursday to bring delegates closer to where McCain will give his acceptance speech, giving the stage a T-shape. Organizers said the change reflected the town hall-type forums in which McCain has campaigned.

"The extended podium will serve as a fitting complement to John McCain's preference for direct interaction with his fellow citizens," said Maria Cino, a convention official.

Meanwhile, party leaders added two speakers to the night's lineup. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will speak before Cindy McCain. Both are close to McCain. Ridge was considered a finalist for the No. 2 spot before McCain picked the Alaska governor. And Graham has appeared frequently with McCain on the campaign trail.

Palin Reaction Continues

Elsewhere on the final day of the convention, a lot of the talk was still about Palin, who gave her big introductory speech Wednesday night, less than a week after being chosen for the ticket. (Watch Video | Full Text)

Obama shrugged off the speech as a rehashing of McCain's policies and suggested Democrats would not slacken their criticism.

"I think she's got a compelling story, but I assume she wants to be treated the same way that guys want to be treated," he told reporters during a campaign stop in York, Pa. "I've been through this 19 months, she's been through it -- what -- four days so far?"

He said he would focus his attention on McCain and "who's got a better agenda to move this country forward."

Cindy McCain suggested in one interview that she doesn't agree with Palin's support for a nearly total ban on abortions.

And Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden declared that some news coverage of his Republican counterpart had been sexist.

Democrats dismissed rave GOP reviews of Palin's speech and asserted that the Alaska governor had misrepresented Obama's record. "There wasn't one thing that she said about Obama or what he's proposing that is true," top Obama strategist David Axelrod told reporters in Pennsylvania.

Axelrod also questioned her claim to be an outsider, given her sharp attacks on the Democratic nominee. "For someone who makes that point that she's not from Washington, she looked very much like she would fit in very well there."

Biden, campaigning in Virginia, said he would challenge Palin on issues "as strongly as I can" -- but would refrain from personal attacks.

"I'm not good at one-line zingers. That's not my deal," he said at a forum in Virginia Beach. He said he believed Palin was "going to be an incredibly competent debater." The two face off on Oct. 2 in St. Louis.

Obama's lead over McCain was virtually unchanged since the GOP convention began, according to a Gallup Poll. The Democrat led 49 percent to 42 percent, based on interviews conducted Monday through Wednesday. All but a few of the interviews were conducted before Palin gave her Wednesday night speech.

In a Gallup survey covering last Friday through Sunday -- before the Republican gathering began -- Obama led by a similar 6 percentage points.

McCain's speech was expected to provide the climax to the four-day convention. His wife, Cindy, admitted that she was nervous about addressing delegates herself.

Cindy McCain told ABC's "Good Morning America" she doesn't agree with Palin's opposition to abortion in cases of rape and incest. And they also part ways on sex education. "I don't agree with that aspect, but I do respect her for her views," she said.

Palin opposes abortion and rejects the view that pregnancies caused by rape and incest should be exceptions. The Alaska governor's only exception would be when a doctor determines that continuing a pregnancy would lead to the death of the mother. Palin has also opposed government financing of sex-education programs in Alaska. Cindy McCain told ABC that she advocated abstinence as a part of sex education at her children's school, but "I believe that it's twofold and I think all of it should be taught."

Palin and her husband, Todd, announced this week that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant and would be marrying her boyfriend, saying they were making a private matter public because of Internet rumors.

Biden said the Democratic campaign was not criticizing Palin over her family.

"It is off limits to talk about her family," the Delaware senator said in an interview with "Fox and Friends" on Fox News Channel. "Every family has difficulty as they're raising their children. I think the way she's handled it has been absolutely exemplary."

Asked if some of the criticism aimed at Palin has been sexist, Biden said: "Yes, by you guys in the media."

The McCain camp expressed satisfaction with the generally positive reception that Palin's speech had received from the public.

"I have no doubt that Gov. Sarah Palin today is a household name," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told reporters in a conference call.

In his acceptance speech, McCain is expected to review his career in public service -- first as a Naval Academy midshipman and wartime pilot and then as a 26-year veteran of Congress -- while drawing stark policy differences with Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

Democratic critics have questioned Palin's political experience as a small-town mayor and her brief tenure as Alaska's governor. Wednesday night she offered a searing, sometimes sarcastic attack on the opposing ticket.

Palin joined other Republican speakers Wednesday night in praising McCain as a man of character, a former Vietnam prisoner of war who had spent his early career in the military and had sought to change the ways of politics in Washington.

Police, Protesters Face Off

Police on horseback blocked a bridge Thursday afternoon as hundreds of anti-war protesters attempted to march from the Minnesota State Capitol to the Republican National Convention.

Within a block of the Capitol, hundreds of protesters were met and stopped by police, who had announced they didn't have a permit to march. A group of protesters sat in the street in front of the police chanting, "Whose war? Their war. Whose streets? Our streets." Others chanted, "This is what a police state looks like."

Police donned gas masks for a possible confrontation.

Protesters attempted to cross the bridge after another possible route was blocked off by police.

Two people were arrested before the march even started. A group of about 10 police officers on bikes rode onto the Capitol lawn to arrest a young man and young woman lying on the grass.

About 400 people had been arrested in Minneapolis and St. Paul since Saturday in pre-emptive raids and at protests that were marred by violence from people hoping to interfere with the convention.