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I have great access, but even I couldn't get a seat in the ballroom for John McCain's speech. Instead, I'm set up to watch in the exhibit hall with dozens of other true believers who were shut out of the main event. The line to get in snaked back hundreds of feet through the lower level of the hotel. Everyone here wants to see how McCain will appeal to the crowd here, now that "the conservative's conservative," Mitt Romney, is out of the race.

Not to say there aren't McCain fans here. They're here in force. But there is a great skepticism of McCain. It's not enough to assert a claim to be conservative. It needs to be earned. It needs to be proven.

The event is getting underway now. Former Senator George Allen, R-Va., is introducing McCain now...

3:10 EST: Allen is making the case for McCain's experience and determination, especially in Iraq. He's also trying to make the case that McCain is sound on the economy and fiscal responsibility. "There will be no bridges to nowhere! There will be no Woodstock museums!" Good applause line.

3:13 EST: Correctiom: Allen isn't introducing McCain. It's Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.

3:15 EST: Coburn extols McCain's guts, courage and determination. I'm detecting a theme here. Also, he will cut spending. Incidentally, there are about 40 people crowded around the monitor. Here I thought I had a good vantage!

3:20 EST: Coburn's job is to buttress McCain's conservative bona fides before the candidate takes the stage. The best possible case for McCain is his strength on taxes and spending. No earmarks. Defense comes a close second. As Bruce Herschensohn noted last week, McCain would likely be tenacious and, if necessary, brutal in waging the war. There is little enthusiasm here for those claims.

3:24 EST: McCain is on. Begs pardon for missing the event last year. Didn't want to be mistaken last year as the early front-runner. Extends kind words to Romney, but McCain's people weren't expecting the news. The words weren't in the early copy of the speech that's circulating here.

3:33 EST: McCain is reinventing himself as a Declaration of Independence conservative. And he's emphasizing his fiscal credentials, which is, as I mentioned previously, his greatest strength.

3:37 EST: A mea culpa on illegal immigration. Nothing new, but the crowd appreciates it. "Judge my record as a whole and understand that I'm not in the habit of making promises to my country that I do not intend to keep." Not bad. He's also reaching out to moderates, independents and Reagan Democrats here. He's trying to show that he is, in the end, a "conservative maverick."

3:42 EST: Now McCain is putting the burden on Democrats. "This election is going to be about big things, not little things." He vows to reduce the size of government in contrast to Clinton and Obama. "I will not sign a bill with earmarks in it... any earmarks in it." He's also vowing to restore the line-item veto (yay!), and is taking a hard-line on entitlements. Notice how we're back on fiscal responsibility again. He went from fiscal responsibility, to a minute or two on national defense and security, back to fiscal responsibility. Interesting.

3:46 EST: He's saying the right things. His speech writers are very good. We're back to national security and Iraq now. "I intend to win the war," he says. And McCain is saying some strong words on Iran, too. "I intend to defeat the threat by staying on offense." He's articulating the differences between the McCain position and the Democrats' position. He's speaking like the nominee.

3:49 EST: "To be denied liberty is an offense to nature and to nature's creator." The Declaration again. He's asserting his own independence here, but it's tough not to respect. He's asking for the counsel and support of conservatives. Nice ending.

Here is the text of McCain's speech. I'll have updates later. But now I'm off to get a seat for Ron Paul's speech.