AT THE Republican convention in St Paul, Minnesota this week it was hard to remember the party has been in power for eight years and that George W Bush is still president of the United States.
John McCain's populist strategy of distancing himself from Washington's elite by appropriating the rhetoric of political change, his fighting nationalism and, above all, his inspired choice of Sarah Palin as his running partner paid off in a distinctive platform and re-energised the party's conservative base to stand against Barack Obama.
This is a remarkable achievement in a week which saw the convention nearly called off because of Hurricane Gustav and then consumed with worries over whether selecting Ms Palin was the right decision. Her remarkably confident speech to delegates dispelled all such doubts. She captured the imagination of evangelical conservatives hitherto unsure of Mr McCain's credentials, ensuring they will be more effectively mobilised into his campaign. This matters in a contest which depends crucially on voter networks in key states. The lengthy excitement of Mr Obama's struggle for the Democratic nomination against Hillary Clinton has brought the party many new members. His organisers say they will make a crucial difference. Suddenly they are confronted with renewed competition from the Republican base they thought could be discounted after Mr Bush's record.
Thus the contest is even more wide open at the end of this week than it was after the Democrats met last week in Denver. Mr McCain's relatively low-key concluding conference speech reinforced the patriotic message he has made his own, and concentrated on consolidating his party coalition for the two months ahead. There is an odd symmetry in the two sides, with two younger and two older candidates, their gender and ethnic distinctiveness, a similar message on the need for change, and now a greater equality of funding and organisation between them. All this makes it one of the most exciting elections in a generation, with a great deal hanging on the result for US domestic politics and its role in the world.
Policies will be brought more to the centre stage by these parallel developments. Mr McCain's speech was not as effective as Mr Obama's in this respect. The McCain programme is still curiously derivative of Mr Bush's, especially on economics and national security. He would continue the tax changes that have made the US far more socially unequal than before and crippled its fiscal position. He is quite unclear on how to pay for the indefinite war he wants to fight in Iraq. And he has yet to spell out how he would generate the employment growth he argues is the best way to tackle pervasive economic insecurity.
On the face of it this shortcoming should play handsomely into Mr Obama's campaign, since jobs, health and welfare are so prominent voter concerns. But he too has yet to deliver on his potential advantage here, or to communicate effectively with those most affected. Balancing the racial factor against Ms Palin's appeal to women voters could make all the difference in such a close contest.