IN THE HEADLINES

McCain caps GOP convention vowing 'change is coming' to Washington ... Obama says Republicans attack him to avoid talking about economy and housing problems ... Palin keeps up criticism of Obama as she ventures out solo to campaign ... Biden says he'll vigorously challenge Palin but refrain from personal attacks

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McCain vows change in Washington

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ John McCain, a POW turned political rebel, vowed Thursday night to vanquish the "constant partisan rancor" plaguing the nation as he launched his fall campaign for the White House. "Change is coming" to Washington, he promised the Republican National Convention.

"I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again," McCain said in remarks prepared for the a prime time address. "I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not," he said of his rival for the White House, Sen. Barack Obama.

McCain also invoked the five years he spent in a North Vietnamese prison. "I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's," he said. "I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's."

McCain's speech was the highlight of the final night of the party convention, but before he took the podium, delegates unanimously awarded the vice presidential nomination to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She is the first female ticketmate in Republican history.

McCain, 72 and campaigning to become the oldest first-term president in history, faced a delicate assignment as he formally accepted his party's presidential nomination: presenting his credentials as a reformer willing to take on his own party and stressing his independence from an unpopular President Bush _ all without breaking faith with his Republican base.

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Obama says GOP avoiding issues on voters' minds

YORK, Pa. (AP) _ Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that Republicans at their national convention are attacking him to avoid talking about the sagging economy and housing problems.

"You're hearing an awfully lot about me _ most of which is not true _ but you're not hearing a lot about you," Obama said.

The Illinois senator told voters that the GOP convention speakers are spending all their time talking about politics, not about issues that matter to voters. He criticized the Republicans for not addressing the economic distress or housing foreclosures that have grown during the Bush administration.

Speaking with reporters later, Obama dismissed the idea that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP's vice presidential candidate, had been criticized unfairly because of her gender.

"The notion that many questions about her work in Alaska is somehow not relevant to her potentially being vice president of the United States doesn't make too much sense to me," Obama said.

"I assume she wants to be treated the same way guys are treated, which means their records are under scrutiny. I've been through this for 19 months. She's been through this for, what, four days so far?"

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Palin swings at Obama

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Thursday blamed supporters of the Democratic ticket for spreading "misinformation and flat-out lies" about her and her family.

But her spokeswoman said Obama's campaign was not responsible, even though a Palin fundraising letter named the Democratic ticket with the words: "the Obama-Biden Democrats have been vicious in their attacks directed toward me, my family and John McCain."

The Obama campaign has raised questions about Palin's qualifications based on her six years as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and less than two years as governor, but Obama himself has said her family should be off-limits. He also said he would fire any staffer who talks about it.

Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said: "We appreciate the fact that he came out and condemned this kind of personal attack." Asked whether Palin thought Obama or his running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, were personally responsible for the attacks mentioned in the letter, Comella said, "No."

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said "the only 'flat-out lie' is this ridiculous claim, and it proves that John McCain has wasted no time in teaching Sarah Palin the ways of the Washington he's inhabited for the last 26 years."

By acclimation, the Republicans nominated Palin as their vice presidential pick Thursday night, an almost anticlimactic step after McCain's surprise selection of her last Friday and her speech Wednesday night.

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Biden to vigorously challenge Palin

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) _ Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden said Thursday that he will vigorously challenge his Republican counterpart Sarah Palin on the issues, but will refrain from personal attacks.

Biden made the remarks Thursday in response to a question from a woman who attended his forum on national security and veterans issues in military-heavy Virginia Beach. The questioner said she realized it's tricky for a male candidate to debate a woman but implored Biden to "please promise me you'll go after her the same way...."

The rest of the question was drowned out by applause and cheers.

"The way I was raised is: I never, ever, ever attack the other person," Biden said, adding that probably was not what many his fellow Democrats want to hear. "I will take issue with her as strongly as I can."

Biden said that has been his approach through 13 presidential debates.

"I'm not good at the one-line zingers. That's not my deal," Biden said.

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DAILY TRACK

Democrat Barack Obama has a 7-percentage-point lead over Republican John McCain _ he has 49 percent to McCain's 42 percent _ among registered voters in the presidential race, according to the latest Gallup Poll daily tracking update.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Barack Obama stopped in the Pennsylvania cities of York and Lancaster.

Joe Biden discussed national security in Virginia Beach, Va., and the economy in Manassas, Va.

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THE REPUBLICANS

John McCain planned to accept his party's presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Sarah Palin attended a Republican governor's meeting in the Twin Cities.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"I've been called worse on the basketball court. It's not that big of a deal." _ Democrat Barack Obama, on Republican criticism from GOP convention speakers.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

Republican Mitt Romney said "liberal" or "liberals" 14 times in his speech on Wednesday night to delegates at the Republican National Convention.

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Compiled by Ann Sanner.