ST. PAUL, Minn. — John McCain, self-proclaimed political maverick, accepted the GOP's presidential nomination Thursday night, taking the reins of a bruised and battered party long suspicious of him with a promise to put "country first" ahead of politics and to overcome the poisonous rancor in Washington.

With Americans clamoring for political change in a time of war, record high gas prices and economic uncertainty, McCain used his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination to try to co-opt the message of change offered by Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

"Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: Change is coming," McCain declared to the thousands of Republican delegates jamming the Xcel Energy Center.

With President Bush, his fellow Republican, ending his second term as one of the most unpopular presidents in history, McCain sought to reclaim his image as a political maverick who would put his own stamp on Washington, not simply serve up "more of the same," as the Obama campaign charges.

"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," he said. "I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not."

McCain also shared his thoughts about the defining experience of his life — the 5? years he spent as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, years of deprivation and torture that transformed him from a Navy pilot prone to carousing into a man called to greater service.

"I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's," he said. "I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency, for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my man anymore. I was my country's."

McCain promised lower taxes, improved education and new jobs, but he spent more time on national security matters, invoking the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to underscore his point.

"We have dealt a serious blow to al-Qaida in recent years, but they are not defeated, and they'll strike us again if they can," he said. "I'm running for president to keep the country I love safe ... to build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace."

McCain's speech, interrupted briefly by a protester, capped the four-day gathering of the Republican delegates, officials and activists, and it came with the added pressure of the

72-year-old Arizona senator energizing the party faithful at least as much as his running mate, Sarah Palin, a newcomer to the national political stage.

It also was the culmination of one of the most remarkable comebacks in American politics. A year ago, McCain's campaign, bloated with consultants and strategists and overwhelmed by debt, was given up for dead.

But a stripped-down McCain campaign resurrected the Straight Talk Express of the campaign that nearly defeated George W. Bush in 2000, and McCain bounced back, ultimately vanquishing a field of eight fellow Republicans.

Palin, the 44-year-old first-term governor of Alaska, was formally nominated by the party just hours before McCain took the stage of the convention center, becoming the first woman to have a spot on a Republican presidential ticket.

The day before, in a prime-time speech to the convention, Palin had responded defiantly to critics questioning her qualifications, a performance that got rave reviews and, because of her stiletto-like attacks on Obama and his running mate Sen. Joe Biden, lived up to her nickname "Sarah Barracuda."

McCain, on the other hand, struck a more statesman-like pose as he made the case for his election to the delegates in the convention hall and, more importantly, to the national television audience watching the proceedings.