Senator John McCain's big night drew support from across the country and from Silicon Valley Republicans. Dozens gathered in San Jose to hear from their party's presidential nominee.
"He's led by example and I think that he represents the best hope of America going forward," said Joyce Cordi, Santa Clara Women's Coalition Chair For McCain.
The 45-minute-long speech touched on oil, education, and unemployment.
The most anticipated piece of information from the speech has to do with the economy and McCain's plan to fix it, especially on a day when the Dow fell 300 points.
"He didn't have a very specific plan for the economy and that's where the Obama campaign is going to hit him in the next few days, what his specifics were," said Republican Strategist Bill Whalen, a research fellow from the Hoover Institution.
Whalen, thinks over all though, McCain's speech was effective, especially when the senator focused on his time as a POW.
"I thought he actually took a very clever route, a high road and said that experience changed my life and my attitude about things," said Whalen.
"What he said tonight was straight from the heart," said Dick Blanding, the Los Altos Chair For McCain.
However, it's the support of independent voters that McCain needs the most. Bill Whalen says Thursday night's speech was strong enough to at least get their attention.