John McCain is the first to admit that oratory isn't his strong suit, but when he delivered his acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention on Thursday he brought a forceful message we've been waiting to hear: The maverick is back.

And that sets the stage for a strong presidential campaign. Frankly, we really didn't care for the expediency of McCain the candidate as he was courting the right wing of his party during the primaries and caucuses.

Resurrection of the maverick, who is not beholden to party loyalty and can cross the political aisle to forge compromises, will provide a strong contrast to Democrat Barack Obama. Regardless of who winds up winning, the American public deserves that kind of issues-oriented campaign in picking the president.

On balance, the GOP convention was surprisingly productive, thanks in no small part to McCain's not-so-secret weapon (at least not anymore) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She energized the party faithful, many of whom had frowned on McCain as their standard bearer, with a dynamite speech Wednesday. In so doing, she left no doubt as to who will be the lightning rod in the GOP campaign.

And as the self-described hockey mom and pit bull with lipstick takes on all comers, she frees the Arizona senator to be himself. That's a critical need for the GOP ticket to counter Democratic claims that election of McCain would pretty much be a rehash of eight years of President George W. Bush.

There remain some questions surrounding McCain's choice of Palin and whether McCain staffers did their background homework before she was tapped to complete the ticket. But all that will play out in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, the GOP presidential nominee has made it clear that they're moving ahead as a team: "I've found just the right partner to help me shake up Washington," he said.

Frankly, we expected no less from a maverick.

On reflection, the Republicans did what they had to do as the convention wound down. Picking Palin was a gigantic McCain gamble that paid off with an energized GOP campaign cadre now ready to do battle.

As for McCain's speech itself, it was largely predictable convention stuff you'd expect from someone preaching to the choir. As was the case with Obama a week before, it was short on specifics and long on rhetoric. McCain, once the independent-minded lawmaker who worked with Democrat Ted Kennedy to forge proposed immigration reform legislation in Congress, didn't even mention it Thursday. He did commit to more domestic drilling for oil, certainly no surprise, even as he said he is willing to explore alternate sources of energy.

But both were convention speeches, not state of the union addresses, and specifics on key issues -- the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care, energy independence, Social Security, to name a few -- will be demanded during the campaign. In that sense, the presidential and vice presidential debates will offer much more substance and contrast -- at least they should.

Now for an aside. Two things stood out in McCain's acceptance speech.

First was the most detailed public look we've heard or seen yet about the years he spent as a prisoner of war in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Certainly this man speaks from personal experience and with unchallenged credibility when he said: "I hate war!" He's seen it up close and personal and his insight was a powerful and moving moment.

It was also satisfying to hear McCain telling his party that he and his colleagues had lost their way: "We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger."

Now it's time for serious campaigning before the Nov. 4 general election. It's the maverick vs. the candidate for change. The undercard featuring Palin and Joe Biden isn't too shabby either when it comes to potential fireworks. Stay tuned and pay attention, because we've got a really competitive race for a wide-open presidency.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.