Outside a jet hangar in Colorado Springs Saturday, their two campaign planes, one emblazoned with "McCain for President" and the other with "McCain-Palin," gleamed in the midday sun, prominently on display to the crowd of 10,000 supporters who gathered to see, hear and rally behind the newly minted ticket.

McCain and Palin couldn't have picked a more favorable place to continue their campaign. Colorado Springs, the state's second largest city, is home to the Air Force Academy, a military base and more than 80 evangelical churches and ministries, including James Dobson's Focus on the Family. In other words, it's McCain-Palin country.

Prior to picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain had failed to excite the nation's conservatives. Colorado was no exception. On Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, he lost the state's closed GOP caucus to Mitt Romney 60 to 18 percent. That same day, Focus on the Family leader James Dobson refused to endorse McCain, blasting him in a statement that Laura Ingraham read aloud on her radio show: "I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are."

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