Sen. John McCain's acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday night in St. Paul, Minn., concluded the Republican gathering and the convention season for 2008.

Both parties seemed to be pleased with their nominating conventions. Far from boring, the events rallied the Democratic and Republican faithful. Both camps featured many speakers to promote their party's candidates and cast doubts upon their opponents.

Viewers who took time to listen to a sampling of speeches from both parties witnessed a fascinating political discussion. Emerging from the slogans and attacks were real issues, concerns, policies and philosophies that characterize the parties' approach to governing.

Two speeches stood out among the many — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's for the GOP vice presidential slot. Toward the end of his acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination, Arizona Sen. John McCain revealed much about himself and what motivates him to run — an impressive performance. This is all to the good.

Rallying the party faithful is the easy part. Convincing the undecided or uncertain is the bigger challenge. Public opinion polls have shown this presidential election to be a close race. Political analysts seem to think that the independent, undecided and uncommitted voters, those in the middle, will play an important part in this election.

That stands to reason. The last two presidential elections have been close. Voters whose minds are not made up should pay special attention to the candidates in the days and weeks to come. Actually, we should all pay attention.

There are real differences between the presidential candidates and the national parties. There are important issues at stake — energy, the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, national security, foreign policy and health care, to name a few.

The conventions are over. The last leg of the presidential race has begun.