"I'm Alex Salmond, and I'm running for First Minister." The American presidential overtones were no accident.

The SNP leader was yesterday setting himself up as an equal of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Elevating himself to the status of national leader, he didn't even bother to mention Jack McConnell.

Mr Salmond has been full of bombast before, but there was a different quality to it at Glasgow's Science Centre yesterday. His leader's speech was introduced by his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, predicting the next time he addresses his party, it will be as First Minister.

With the SNP's campaign continuing to out-manoeuvre Labour, yesterday's conference carried a sobering realisation that, this time, it could be true.

The conference arena was an Imax cinema, the platform party garishly lit and apparently floating on air, like a political Wurlitzer organ. Speakers strained across a broad and steep sweep of audience, while a 50ft-wide digital clock ticked away the seconds until the May 3 election.

Mr Salmond had dispensed with his patronising chuckle and cheeky chappie attacks. This was serious stuff about serious power, and it called for a serious tone.

His speech was the main point of a weekend that made Alex Salmond the main focus of the SNP campaign. Having identified Jack McConnell as a Labour weak spot, and Alex Salmond as a key strength, the SNP will put their leader at the top of every ballot paper in Scotland.

"Alex Salmond for First Minister" will be the first thing you read when you vote, followed by the letters SNP and its symbol. That will be for the regional vote, while the constituency option follows, to the right of the single sheet. The leader drew on the party's poll findings that suggest it is ahead for the first time at both ends of the socio-economic spectrum.

The policy platform is "brewed in Scotland, from girders", he went on, borrowing on Irn-Bru's boast. There was talk of education being personalised, and a promise to introduce a health check for all Scots reaching retirement.

But this was not a speech about pulling political rabbits out of nationalist hats. The surprises had come over two previous days of an endorsement by the former Royal Bank chairman and a half-million pound donation from Brian Souter. Instead, it was getting people used to the idea that Salmond could soon be leading a government, and setting out plans for his first 100 days in Bute House - another idea borrowed from American presidential politics.

This is to counter Labour's claims the SNP merely intends to publish its independence referendum plans. It went to the other extreme, making it seem the entire manifesto is going to be advancing on all fronts by September.

Other policies rolled out at conference included a plan to set up a trust which would help 1000 buyers into the housing market each year. Ambitious green targets were also embraced, pushing carbon emission reduction further than the government.

Mr Salmond took a big risk, by mixing the promise to be a credible devolved government with a challenge to Westminster on reserved ones, most notably control of North Sea oil. The party faithful would expect nothing less. But it risks alarming undecided voters with the prospect of political conflict.

If Mr Salmond wants to open discussions about powers with Tony Blair or Gordon Brown, it is a reasonable bet that the conversations will be terse.

That gamble may be all the greater if Sir Sean Connery was right in a recorded message to the conference. "There will never be a better opportunity than now," he said - and that is why Mr Salmond and his party are throwing everything at the next six weeks of campaigning.