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ST. PAUL, Minn. — The stage was set for John McCain’s climactic acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention Thursday night.

Or, more precisely, the stage was reset.

The speaker’s platform was rearranged prior to McCain’s appearance, configured into a walkway to allow McCain to get out among the delegates who will surround him.

It emulates the town hall format McCain thrives on the campaign trail.

Similarly, the attitudes of the thousands of delegates, alternates and guests who filled the Xcel Energy Center Thursday seem to have been rearranged from earlier in the week.

Delegates who spoke in the minutes before McCain took the modified stage universally said they feel more optimistic about McCain’s chances now than they did a week ago.

The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to join McCain on the Republican ticket has energized the party.

“Did you see the speech last night?” asked New Jersey delegate Joseph Turula of Jersey City. He was referring to Palin’s prime-time address to the nation, which drew almost as many viewers as Barack Obama’s speech in Denver not quite a week before.

“Who thought one week ago there would be this much excitement at the Republican Convention?” Turula said.

“I think the vice presidential candidate has been very much a boost to everyone’s confidence and everyone’s spirits. I would say I’m very optimistic,” said David Cole, a delegate from Cassville, Mo. Optimism shouldn’t be mistaken for overconfidence, Cole warned. “There’s a lot of work left to be done.”

Brian McAuliffe’s voice was hoarse and his hands bruised from a week of cheering and clapping from his seat with the raucous Texas delegation.

“(McCain’s) choice for vice president could have destroyed him. I’m so glad he got a true conservative. Sarah Palin was always high on my list,” said McAuliffe of San Marcos, near Austin.

Palin has been referred to as the only candidate, with the possible exception of Teddy Roosevelt, who would know how to field dress a moose. McAuliffe said she proved it in her Wednesday address. “She left no meat on Obama’s political bones. She shredded all of his rhetoric.”

Warming up the crowd for McCain was a roster of speakers including Florida Sen. Mel Martinez. Like so many speakers before him, Martinez took the dual track of highlighting McCain’s trials by fire while calling into question Obama’s qualifications to lead America in a dangerous age.

“Only one man in this race is qualified to meet the current global challenges.

Only one man has a history of always putting country first.

That man is John McCain,” Martinez said.

“John is a leader committed to peace, because he knows — first-hand — the pain and horror of war.

Senator Obama is a relative newcomer on the national scene and an unproven quantity on the global stage, so, do we know what he stands for?” Martinez asked.

Turula, the New Jersey delegate, believes after this week that message is finally getting through.

“It’s going to be close, but I think — in fact I know — we’re going to pull it out.”

■ ■ ■

Reaction in and around the Xcel Energy Center to Sarah Palin’s speech before the Republican National Convention Wednesday night ranged from “great,” to “fantastic.”

Floridians attending the convention were so taken with Palin that Attorney General Bill McCollum, speaking to state delegates Thursday morning, sounded almost critical when he said, “Sarah Palin was good last night. Very good.”

Only very good?

“That gal is amazing,’ said Carla Dean, Collier County’s party chairwoman.

OK, so committed Republicans are enthusiastic about John McCain’s vice presidential pick.

What would a political analyst with years of experience studying convention speeches say?

Pretty much the same thing.

Susan McManus is a professor of political science at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

She’s attending the Republican National Convention as an analyst for a Tampa television station.

“This is my fifth convention cycle,” McManus said Thursday as Florida delegates gathered for their morning meeting. “This is the most enthused I’ve ever seen Republicans. The speech was just what the party needed.

“They (Republicans) had been lagging behind in enthusiasm and this (Palin’s speech) closed the gap.”

She cautioned that women shouldn’t be viewed as a monolithic voting block.

But Palin’s speech should help Republicans win over some women voters, a group which has been polling toward Barack Obama.

“I regard her speech as waking up a sleeping giant, which is the suburban mom, the working mother.”

She said the perceived sexism directed at Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nominating process could help Palin’s story to resonate with female voters. “On the heels of the treatment of Hillary, she has clearly energized women voters on both sides of the aisle. Women over 40 with kids don’t appreciated the treatment of Hillary and Sarah Palin.”

In McManus’s estimation, Palin succeed in communicating key points. One is that she is not afraid to take on the political establishment, allowing her to share McCain’s maverick image.

Another is that she showed spunk, directing sarcastic jabs at Obama and his work as a community organizer.

“The sarcasm allays fears she won’t be able to keep up with (Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe) Biden. It’s a tough balancing act, being a soft mother and fulfilling the attack dog role vice presidential candidates are expected to fill.”

Leaving the hall, McManus said she heard a couple of comments. One person described Palin as “feisty.” Another said, “She just talks in everyday talk.”

“If people are getting that, those are not too bad,” McManus said.

So is the McCain-Palin ticket a winner? McManus said two weeks ago she gave McCain little chance of beating Obama in November. Based on what she’s seen since, she expects it will be a close race.

* * *

If the Florida Republican delegation appears overwhelmingly white and male, that’s because it is.

Unlike the state Democratic Party, which goes to great lengths to fill its delegation with men, women, minorities, disabled people and even different sexual orientations, Republicans make no attempt to fill quotas.

State party Chairman Jim Greer said he tries to find the best delegates. As women and minorities fill that bill he’s happy to bring them on board, but as for setting aside a certain number of spots for each demographic, Greer said, “I don’t agree with the Democratic philosophy.”

Republican Party staff members don’t closely track the race and gender makeup of their delegation.

Some delegates chose not to answer questionnaires inquiring about their race and other particulars.

Sixty-three of the 114 Florida delegates and 111 alternates declined to answer questions about race. Of the 162 that did, there are six African-Americans and 18 Hispanics. The delegation is made up of 158 men and 67 women.