By Steve Holland

ST. PAUL (Reuters) – Republican John McCain cast himself as an independent-minded reformer on Thursday and said he had the scars to prove it in a speech that promised Americans “change is coming” if they elect him on November 4.

McCain accepted his party’s presidential nomination in a packed convention hall, insisting he can pull off the kind of change that Democratic candidate Barack Obama talks about in a year Americans are hungry for new leadership.

“Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: change is coming,” said McCain, himself a U.S. senator since 1986.

The 72-year-old Arizona senator, who bears the scars of 5 1/2 years as a Vietnam prisoner of war, launched a two-month campaign to win the White House, entering the push to Election Day as the underdog with most polls showing Democrat Barack Obama ahead by a few percentage points.

McCain, portrayed as no different than unpopular President George W. Bush by Obama and the Democrats, tried to reclaim his image as a Republican maverick in hopes of attracting independent voters likely to be key to the election.

“I don’t work for a party. I don’t work for a special interest. I don’t work for myself. I work for you,” he said. “I’ve fought corruption, and it didn’t matter if the culprits were Democrats or Republicans.”

Speaking to Americans’ fears about the weak U.S. economy, McCain promised to keep taxes low and accused Obama of seeking to raise them.

He said he would offer education programs to help workers who have lost jobs from a loss of the country’s manufacturing base.  Continued…