Mitt Romney nominated Republican candidate

TAMPA � Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was officially
nominated as the Republican Party's presidential candidate Tuesday,
ending a lengthy selection process that began with the Iowa caucus
vote in early January.
Romney will challenge the Democratic president in November's elections.
Republican delegates attending the party's national convention in
Tampa, Florida, also heard a rousing speech from New Jersey Governor
Chris Christie.
Opinion polls show Obama neck and neck with Romney, who will deliver
his big speech to the convention on Thursday.
Although there was no suspense about the outcome, Republicans went
ahead with the traditional roll call of the states that assured Mitt
Romney of the presidential nomination and a showdown with
PresidentBarack Obama in the November election.
Highlighting Romney's image problem, a new opinion poll suggests the
former Massachusetts governor's favourability rating is the lowest of
any major party nominee since Ronald Reagan's presidency.
Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan was also nominated to be Romney's
vice presidential running mate.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a favorite with conservative
activists within the party, delivered what is known as the convention
keynote speech that touched on the main themes the Republicans will
emphasize during the campaign.
�I don't know about you but I don't want my children and grandchildren
to have to read in a history book what it was like to live in an
American century," said Christie. "I don't want their only inheritance
to be an enormous government that has overtaxed, overspent and
over-borrowed a great people into second-class citizenship. I want
them to live in a second American Century. A second American
Century.�
Delegates also gave a warm reception to Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, who
is likely to play a larger campaign role in trying to attract women
voters.
Ann Romney also sought to highlight her husband's personal side, part
ofa broader Republican effort this week to help Mr. Romney better
connect with American voters.
�I can't tell you what will happen over the next four years," she
said."But I can only stand here tonight as a mother, a wife, a
grandmother, an American, and make you this solemn commitment: This
man will not fail!�
Romney joined his wife onstage briefly after her speech amid cheers
from delegates.
Polls show Obama with a slight lead nationally and in several
competitive so-called battleground states, thanks in large part to a
clearedge over Romney among women voters.
Some of Romney's former rivals for the Republican nomination have
also rallied around him at the convention, including former
Pennsylvaniasenator Rick Santorum, a favorite of social conservatives
within the party.
�We are stewards of a great inheritance," said Santorum. "In November
we have a chance to vote for life and liberty, not dependency.A vote
for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will put our country back in the hands
of leaders who understand what America can and, for the sake of our
children, must be to keep the dream alive.�
Democratic Party officials have set up a small counter operation here
in Tampa to try to blunt the Republican attacks on President Obama's
economic record, the key issue in the campaign.
Maryland's Democratic Governor, Martin O'Malley, was among those
whospoke to reporters on a conference call.
�On the national scale, Romney economics would spell disaster for
America's middle class, would be wrong for America's middle class,
would not grow our middle class and in fact would harm our middle
class," said O'Malley.
The convention builds to a climax on Thursday when Mitt Romney gives
his acceptance speech before a nationwide television audience. But
it'snot known yet how much of a distraction Hurricane Isaac will prove
to be as it makes landfall along the Gulf of Mexico coast in
Louisiana.
Source: TOE www.timesofearth.com and agencies