Here are their speeches. When nominated, Geraldine Ferraro was representing queens, new york, for three terms as a member of the u. S. House. Earlier, as a Public School teacher she took night classes , at the university to earn a law degree and later work as an assistant district attorney. She went on to lose two primary races for the u. S. Senate and was the u. S. Ambassador to the un human rights commission. Geraldine ferraro accepted the Vice President ial nomination in san francisco. [applause] [cheering] [applause] [cheering] [applause] [applause] ladies and gentlemen of the convention [cheering] [applause] ladies and gentlemen of the convention, ladies and gentlemen of the convention, my name is Geraldine Ferraro. [cheering] [applause] i stand before you to proclaim tonight america is a land where dreams can come true for all of us. [applause] [cheering] as i stand before the American People and think of the honor this Great Convention has bestowed upon me, i recall the words of dr. Martin luther king, junior, who made america stronger by making america more free. He said, occasionally in life, there are moments which cannot be completely explained by words. Their meaning can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. Tonight is such a moment for me. [applause] [cheering] my heart is filled with pride. My fellow citizens, i proudly accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States. [applause] [cheering] [chanting] you are wonderful. [chanting] and i am proud to run with a man who will be one of the great century, wal this ter f. Mondale. [applause] tonight, the daughter of a woman whose highest goal was a future for her children, talks to our nations oldest party about a future for us all. Tonight, the daughter of working americans tells all americans that the future is within our reach if we are willing to reach for it. [applause] tonight, the daughter of an immigrant from italy has been chosen has been chosen to run for president in the new land my father came to love. [applause] our faith that we can shape a Better Future is what the American Dream is all about. The promise of our country is that the rules are fair. If you work hard and play by the rules, you can earn your share of americas blessings. Those are the beliefs i learned from my parents, and those are the values i taught my students as a teacher in the Public Schools of new york city. [applause] at night i went to law school and became an assistant strict attorney. I put my share of criminals behind bars. I believe if you obey the law, you should be protected. But if you break the law, you , must pay for your crimes. [applause] when i first ran for congress, all the political experts said a democrat could not win my home district in queens. I put my faith in the people in and the values that we shared. Together we prove the political experts wrong. I this campaign, mondale and have put our faith in the people, and we are going to prove the experts wrong again. [applause] [cheering] we are going to win. [applause] [cheering] we are going to win because americans across this country believe in the same basic dream. Visited elmore, town a, a small [cheering] yay, elmore. The small town where Chris Mondale was raised. 900 people live in elmore. In queens, there are 2000 people on one block. [laughter] you would think we would be different, but we are not. Children walk to school in elmore past grain elevators. In queens, they pass by subway stops. No matter where they live, their future depends on education, and their parents are willing to do their part to make those schools as good as they can be. [applause] [cheering] in elmore, there are family farms. In queens, small businesses. But the men and women who run them all take pride in supporting their families through hard work and initiative. On the fourth of july in elmore, they hang flags out on main street. , they fly them over grand avenue. But all of us love our country and stand ready to defend the freedoms that it represents. [applause] americans want to live by the same set of rules. But under this administration, the rules are raised against too many of our people. It is not right that every year the sheriffs taxes paid by individual citizens tax is going the share of taxes paid by individual citizens tax is going share by large corporations is getting smaller and smaller. [applause] the rules say everyone in our society should contribute their fair share. It is not right that this year, Ronald Reagan will hand the American People a bill for interest on the national debt, larger than the entire cost of the federal government under john f. Kennedy. Our parents left us a growing economy. The rules say we must not leave our kids a mountain of debt. [applause] it is not right that a woman . 59 on the one dollar on the dollar for the same work as a man. [applause] [cheering] if you play by the rules, you pay for afair days fair days work. [applause] it is not right that if trends continue by the year 2000, nearly all the poor people in america will be women and children. The rules of a Decent Society say when you distribute sacrifice in times of austerity, you do not put women and children first. [applause] it is not right that young people today fear they will not get the Social Security they paid for and that Older Americans fear they will lose what they have already learned. Social security is a contract between the last generation and the next, and the rules say you do not break contract. [applause] [cheering] we are going to keep faith with Older Americans. [applause] we hammered out a fair compromise in the congress to save Social Security. Every group sacrifice to keep the system sound. It is time Ronald Reagan stopped scaring our senior citizens. [applause] it is not right that young couples question whether to bring children into a world of 50,000 nuclear warheads. [applause] that is the vision for which americans have struggled with for more than two centuries and our future does not have to be that way. Change is in the air, just as surely as when john kennedy beckoned america to a new frontier. When sally ride rocketed into space. [applause] [cheering] and when reverend Jesse Jackson ran for the office of president of the United States. [cheering] by choosing a woman to run for our nations secondhighest office, you send a powerful signal to all americans. There are no doors we cannot unlock. [applause] [cheering] we will place no limits on achievement. If we can do this, we can do anything. [applause] [cheering] tonight, we reclaim our dream. We are going to make the rules of American Life work fairly for all americans again. [applause] to an administration that would have us debate all over again whether the Voting Rights act should be renewed and whether segregated schools should be taxexempt, we say, mr. President , those debates are over. [applause] [cheering] on the issue of civil rights, Voting Rights, and affirmative action for minorities, we must not go backwards. We must and we will move forward to open the doors of opportunity. [applause] [cheering] to those who understand that our country cannot prosper unless we draw on the talents of all americans, we say, we will pass the equal rights amendment. [cheering] [chanting] the issue is not what america can do for women but what women can do for america. [cheering] [whistling] [applause] to the americans who will lead our country into the 21st century, we say we will not have a Supreme Court that turns the clock back to the 19th century. [cheering] to those concerned about the strength of American Family values, as i am, i say, we are going to restore those values. Love, caring, partnership, by including and not excluding those whose beliefs differ from our own because our own faith is strong, we will fight to preserve the freedom of faith for others. [cheering] [applause] to those working americans who , utilities, and large special interests have a lot in the white house, we say, join us. Lets select a peoples president lets have a , and government by and for the American People again. [cheering] to an administration that would savage Student Loans and of a new at the dawn technological age, we say, you fit the definition of a cynic. You know the price of everything but the value of nothing. , [cheering] to our students and their parents, we say, we will insist on the highest standards of excellence because the jobs of the future require skilled minds. To Young Americans who may be called to our countrys service, we say, we know your generation will proudly answer our countrys call, as each generation before you. This past year, we remember the bravery and sacrifice of americans at normandy, and we finally pay tribute, as we should have done years ago, to that unknown soldier who represents all the brave, Young Americans who died in vietnam. [applause] let no one doubt we will defend security and the cause of freedom around the world, but we want a president who tells us what america is fighting for, not just what we are fighting against. [cheering] we want a president who will defend human rights, not just where it is convenient, but wherever freedom is at risk, from chile, to afghanistan, from poland to south africa. [applause] to those who have watched this administrations confusion in tilteddle east as it has first toward one and then another of israels longtime enemies, and wonder, will america stand by her friends . We say, america knows who her friends are in the middle east and around the world. America will stand with israel always. [applause] [cheering] finally, finally, we want a president who will keep america strong, but use that strength to keep america and the world at peace. A Nuclear Freeze is not a slogan. It is a tool for survival in the nuclear age. [cheering] if we leave our children nothing else, let us leave them this earth as we found it, whole, green, and full of life. [applause] i know in my heart that Walter Mondale will be that president. [applause] a wise man once said, everyone of us is given the gift of life, and what a strange gift it is. If it is preserved jealously and it impoverish is and imps impoverish is overishes and saddens, but if used for others, it enriches and beautifies. My fellow americans, we can debate policies and programs, but in the end, what separates the two parties in this Election Campaign is whether we use the gift of life for others or only ourselves. [applause] tonight, my husband john and our three children are in this hall with me. Donna and laura, and to my son john junior, i say, my mother did not break faith with me, and i will not break faith with you. [applause] to all the children of america i say, the generation before ours kept faith with us, and like them, we will pass on to you a stronger, more just america. Thank you. [applause] [cheering] a [cheering] senator palin, the only woman to earn the republican partys Vice President ial nomination was governor of alaska before being tapped as john mccains running mate. She grew up in alaska, she earned a bachelors in communications from the university of idaho and won elections to the city council and became mayor. The governor accepted the 2008 nomination at the Republican National convention in st. Paul, minnesota. [cheering] [applause] thank you. Thank you. [cheering] thank you. Thank you so much. [cheering] thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens, i will be honored to accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States. [cheering] [applause] i accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend america, and i accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election against competent opponents at a crucial hour for our country, and i accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much Harder Missions and met far graver challenges and knows how tough fights are won, the next president of the United States, john f. Mccain. [cheering] [applause] it was just a year ago when all the experts in washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves, with their usual certitude, they told us all was lost and there was no hope for this candidate, who said he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. [applause] pollsters and abundance the pundits overlooked one thing, the caliber of the man himself, the determination and resolve and the shared gut of senator john mccain sheer gut of senator john mccain. [applause] the voters knew better, and maybe that is because they realized there is a time for politics and a time for leadership. A time to campaign and a time to put our country first. [applause] [cheering] our nominee for president is a true profile in courage and , people like that are hard to come by. He is a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in iraq who now have brought victory within sight. [applause] [cheering] and as a mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man one to as commander in chief. [applause] thank you. [cheering] [chanting] [applause] i am just one of many moms who will say an extra prayer tonight for our sons and daughters going into harms way. Our son is 19, and one week from tomorrow, september 11, he will deploy to iraq with the Army Infantry in the service of his country. My nephew casey also enlisted and serves on a carrier in the persian gulf. My family is so proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. [cheering] [chanting] track is the eldest of our five children. In our family, it is two boys and three girls in between. My strong and kindhearted daughters, bristol, willow and piper. [applause] [cheering] and we were so blessed in april, todd and i welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy. [applause] you know, from the inside, no family ever seems typical, and that is how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys. Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge, and children with special needs inspire a very, very special love. To the families of special needs [cheering] to the families of special Needs Children all across this country, i have a message for you. For years, you fought to make america a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you, if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the white house. [cheering] [applause] todd is a story all by himself. He is a lifelong commercial fisherman and production operator in alaskas north slope, and a proud member of the united steelworkers union. Todd is a World Champion snow machine racer, so in his ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package, and we met in high school, and two decades and five children later, he is still my guy. [cheering] my mom and dad both work at the Elementary School in our small town, and among the many things i owe them is a simple lesson i have learned, that this is america, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity. And my parents are here tonight. [applause] [cheering] i am so proud to be the daughter of chuck and sally. [applause] long ago, a young farmer and a haberdashery from missouri followed an unlikely path. He followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency. And a writer observed, we grow good people in our small town, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity. I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised harry truman. I grew up with those people. They are the ones to do some of the hardest work in america, who grow our food, run our factories and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they are always proud of america. [cheering] [applause] i have the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the pta. [cheering] [laughter] [chanting] i love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull . Lipstick. [laughter] [cheering] so i signed up for the pta because i wanted to make my kids Public Education better. When i ran for city council, i andnot need focus groups voter profiles because i knew those voters and their families, too. Before i became governor of the great state of alaska [cheering] i was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this , president ial election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. [cheering] [chanting] i guess a small town mayor is sort of like a community that you haveept actual responsibilities. [cheering] [applause] i might add, i might add that in small towns, we do not quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people are not listening. [cheering] [applause] we tend to prefer candidates who do not talk one way in scranton and another way in san francisco. [cheering] as for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is li