Aides acknowledge that Palin’s presence has turned McCain into a sharper campaigner, and that is perhaps why she abandoned her plans to return to Alaska this weekend. Instead, she will accompany him for two more days than planned this week…

“I’m ready for her for president — I wish it was switched,” said Spilsbury, a 30-year-old auto glass technician who lives with his wife, Shannon, and their two children in nearby Rio Rancho, N.M. “We love her. I just wasn’t going to vote at all, [but] she sold us both.”…

“He’s pumped,” McCain’s longtime aide Mark Salter conceded after watching McCain and Palin in Albuquerque. “He’s feeding off the crowds — you’ve got these huge crowds, they’re wildly enthusiastic and that’s going to pump up any speaker. He loves campaigning with her.”