ST. PAUL, Minn. — The nominee's friend described him as a "restless reformer who will clean up Washington." His defeated rival described him going to the capital to "drain that swamp." His running mate described their mission as "change, the goal we share." And that was at the incumbent party's convention.

After watching two political conclaves the last two weeks, it would be easy to be confused about which was really the gathering of the opposition. As Sen. John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president, he and his supporters sounded the call of insurgents seeking to topple the establishment, even though their party heads the establishment.

This was, of course, part McCain's nature and part political calculation. It was also part history. For the first time since 1952, the party holding the White House has nominated someone other than the sitting president or vice president, someone without a vested interest in running on continuity, and at a moment when the party finds it difficult to defend its record from the last eight years.

The effort to position McCain and the Republicans as the true agents of change benefited this week from his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. Known for taking on her own state party over corruption and wasteful spending, Palin projects the image of the ultimate Washington outsider, from more than 2,800 miles outside the Capital Beltway. And she would be the first woman to serve as vice president.

But as a matter of history, it is easier to run as the opposition party if you actually are the opposition party.

"When the president of the United States is from your own party, to present yourself as a change agent is not the easiest thing to pull off," said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist. Referring to Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, Trippi added, "All Obama has to do is say, 'Bush-McCain, Bush-McCain."'

That was certainly a chant never heard in the Xcel Energy Center here over the last four days. President Bush canceled his trip here to supervise the response to Hurricane Gustav and addressed the delegates only by video hookup Tuesday, before the broadcast networks began their coverage for the night.

Heading into the final evening, Bush's name had not passed the lips of any of the marquee speakers since his image faded from the screen. Indeed, a computer count showed that Democrats mentioned Bush's name five times as often at their convention as the Republicans were doing at theirs. And delegates on Thursday were shown a video about the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that included a picture of Rudy Giuliani and Donald Rumsfeld but none of Bush, whose presidency was singularly shaped by that day.