With national party conventions over, chairmen of both the county Republican and Democratic parties say voters and campaign workers now enjoy renewed enthusiasm about upcoming fall elections.

Lampasas County Republican Party Chairman Skipper Wallace said Republican presidential nominee John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate has energized conservatives.

"I think it solidifies the base of the party," Wallace said. "Picking a liberal or a Democrat would've been the death-knell for the Republican Party. I believe the conservative base of the party will be 100 percent behind her."

Before the convention, the county chairman had 200 McCain signs and was having trouble giving them away. Now he has used up all 200 and has ordered a shipment of McCain-Palin signs. Volunteer efforts and donations to Republican efforts in the county also have increased since the convention, Wallace said.

"I'm putting them up just as fast as I can," he said of McCain-Palin signs. "People finally are excited about this election."

County Democrats' enthusiasm also has grown since their party's national convention in Denver, Lampasas County Democratic Party Chairman Daniel Melder said.

"Every day since the convention I've been answering a flood of telephone calls and e-mails from people who are eager to volunteer and from people who want to display a yard sign or a bumper sticker," Melder said in an e-mail. "The convention proved that 2008 will be a banner year for Democrats and for America. People are more excited about our party and the nation's future than I've ever seen them."

Presidential nominee Barack Obama and other Democratic speakers emphasized issues important to working families, Melder said, including health care, renewable energy, mortgages, and domestic job creation and retention.

"Sen. Obama's speech outlined some of the more serious errors of the outgoing administration while providing a solution for each of those disastrous mistakes that won't require tax hikes on working families," Melder said.

"Sen. Obama refused to accept the talking points that Republicans try to pass off as truth. Instead, he told Americans what we really needed to hear about the tough challenges we face."

Wallace said former presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani's and Fred Thompson's speeches highlighted the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.

"And McCain gave the best speech I've heard him give," said Wallace.

Although he conceded Obama still possesses an oratorical advantage, the GOP county chairman said he expects Mrs. Palin to give tough competition to Joe Biden, who has served as a U.S. senator from Delaware since 1972, in the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis.

"I believe she would go toe to toe with nearly anybody," Wallace said of the Republican vice presidential nominee. "Frontiersmen are usually the saltiest, hardest people to deal with."

Wallace said the selection of Mrs. Palin likely will result in a much larger Republican turnout than if McCain had not picked a conservative running mate.

"I think the down ballot races will certainly benefit from large voter turnout in the presidential race," he said.

Conservative voter participation will be essential, the party chairman added, to keeping Republican majorities in the Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives. The Republican Party also hopes to gain a few seats in the U.S. Congress, Wallace said. The party needs at least 41 Senate seats to filibuster Democratic legislation.

"We certainly can't afford to let the Democrats get 60 percent in the Senate," he said, "because then we can't block any legislation."

Melder, however, said the Obama-Biden campaign is attracting interest from many who never have voted Democratic. Typically Republican states like Kansas, Virginia, North Carolina, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Missouri, and both North and South Dakota all could be "swing states" in November's presidential election, Melder said.

"Some pollsters even suggest that [Obama] could see success in states like Texas and Mississippi," the Democratic county chairman said. "With Sen. Obama polling at 41 percent to John McCain's 50 percent here in Texas, Sen. Obama is the most popular Democrat running for president that we've seen in this state for some time."