McCain faces his biggest speech

SCRIPT:

For John McCain's highly-anticipated convention speech Thursday night, the good news is that while his Democratic opponent Barack Obama is burdened with inflated rhetorical expectations, McCain is blessed with deflated ones.

While McCain is at his best in the town-hall meeting format, his abilities with a teleprompter are as some analysts charitably put it-- not his strong suit.

The Cato Institute's Michael Tanner.

SOUNDBITE: The Cato Institute's Michael Tanner saying (English):

"We'll they've done everything they can. They've made the stage seem more like one of his town hall meetings to try to bring some of that intimacy. It's going to be less I think a speech resorting rhetoric than it's going to be a conversation with the audience. And it's going to be short. He's not going to talk for a long time. I'm hearing it might be about 20 minutes at most. He's going to get in, make his points, and get out."

As for the substance of his speech, McCain is likely to emphasize his image as a "maverick"-- a Senator who has often taken positions at odds with his own Republican party -- sometimes putting his own political future at risk.

SOUNDBITE: The Cato Institute's Michael Tanner saying (English):

"He's gonna attack corruption in Washington. He's gonna attack earmarks. He's gonna talk about out of control spending. This is John McCain anti-establishment candidate-- the wind of change so to speak."

McCain, of course, must thread the needle in his prime-time convention speech -- by reaching out to Independents and keeping the Republican base on board, while at the same time separating himself from a very unpopular Republican president.

At the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, I'm Jon Decker for Reuters Television.