US Republican presidential candidate John McCain has pledged to cut taxes and government spending.
In his nomination acceptance speech at the party's convention in St Paul, Minnesota, last night the Arizona senator also promised political reform and to restore people's trust in the Republican party.
Representing himself once again as a maverick, he pledged to fight corruption - whether Democratic or Republican - and make sure that he worked for the good of the American people.
Senator McCain reminded delegates of his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, in a speech full of patriotic rhetoric.
He promised US citizens that 'change is coming' to Washington if he is elected president on 4 November (click here to watch his speech).
Senator McCain sought to co-opt the message of change offered by his Democratic opponent, Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
The Arizona senator cast himself as an independent-minded reformer and said he had the scars to prove it.
He called the five and a half years he spent as a Vietnam prisoner of war as the period when he realised how special his own country was.
'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 own man anymore. I was my country's,' he said.
However, Mr McCain's speech was interrupted twice by protestors who oppose his staunch support for the war in Iraq.
Delegates on the floor yelled 'USA, USA' as the hecklers were escorted off the floor.
Senator McCain remarked: 'Please don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static ... Americans want us to stop yelling at each other.'
For the 72-year-old it is the pinnacle of his career. Long considered by many a maverick in his party and distrusted by some in the conservative base, he has now received the long-sought nomination to be his party's candidate for the White House.
His run for president in 2000 was derailed after a smear campaign during the South Carolina primary claimed he had an 'illegitimate black child'.
She was actually his adoptive Bangladeshi daughter Bridget, whom Cindy McCain proudly introduced to the country last night (left).
Senator McCain had a tough act to follow.
He took to the podium at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minnesota, a day after his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, electrified Republicans with a fiery speech criticising Democratic opponents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
More than 37m US viewers tuned in to watch the speech by the political newcomer (right), just shy of the audience Senator Obama attracted last Thursday, when his acceptance speech in Denver, Colorado was seen by 38.4m.
Mr McCain stumbled a number of times during his speech and seemed ill at ease in parts as he addressed issues of corruption in Washington, the economy and his time as a POW.
Despite this the party faithful gave their presidential candidate a standing ovation at the end of his speech followed by the traditional red, white and blue balloon drop.
With both major party candidates officially nominated, the presidential election campaign gets under way.
Three other candidates for president have been appearing in the polls: former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, who is running on the Libertarian ticket; consumer advocate and frequent candidate Ralph Nader running as an independent; and former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, an African-American woman running on the Green Party ticket.
Read the full text of John McCain's and other Republican speeches here
Look at photos from the final day of the convention here
