Last week's Republican Party convention and its nomination of Sen. John McCain for president and Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president has put the line-up in place for the final weeks of a long, expensive campaign.

The Republican convention was unconventional in at least two regards. The first was that, normally, a party in power in the White House for eight years would be running on its record. It would be pointing out to the electorate how well the country has done under its rule and urging the voters to continue that happy state of affairs by giving its candidate a fresh term in office.

Instead, this year's Republicans are running Mr. McCain, who has had in the past a reputation for independence within the party and whose principal campaign pledge is to bring change to Washington, a sad reflection of their own assessment of the party's record in power.

In addition, an outgoing two-term president would normally be given a prominent role in the convention proceedings. The most recent case in which they did not was President Richard M. Nixon in 1976, for obvious reasons.

The star of the Republican show this week was Mr. McCain's surprise vice presidential pick, Mrs. Palin. Mr. McCain's own speech Thursday night had nothing new in it and included heavy reference to his experience 35 years ago as an American prisoner of war in Vietnam. It is an inspiring story but, apart from the tribute to his character that it constitutes, has little relevance to the future of the country. That is what is in question at this point.

Mrs. Palin got a lot of attention, for a variety of reasons. It remains to be seen how the aggressive limitedness manifested in the speech she presented on Wednesday night will be received by voters whom she seeks to attract to the Republican ticket. What was clear from the reaction of convention delegates was that she brought a welcome spark to the proceedings, and life to the ticket.

The Republicans' other prime-time speakers represented some curious choices on the part of the party's strategists. Part of their problem in choosing speakers came from the fact that an estimated half of the sitting Republican senators did not attend the convention, busy campaigning, disgruntled with the choices of Mr. McCain or Mrs. Palin, or concerned at risking going down with a sinking ship in November.

As a result, Tuesday's speakers were the plodding former Sen. Fred Thompson; yesterday's Democrat, today's independent and perhaps tomorrow's Republican Sen. Joe Lieberman; and outgoing President George W. Bush by satellite. The next round Wednesday included former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Where were the Republicans' rising new stars, apart from Mrs. Palin?

Whomever Americans are ultimately going to choose between the two line-ups, it is eminently clear that what is needed now from both sides is vigorous, specific presentation and discussion of the serious issues facing America -- the impact of the state of the economy on our people and what to do about it, how to wrap up the Iraq war and how to keep the country safe without launching any more unnecessary wars.

Let's pray the next few weeks are as blessedly free as possible of props, hokey music and silly hats and chants, and full of chewy, thought-provoking examination of what can be done to fix our country and who has the best ideas to lead us forward in that task.