Romney secures GOP nomination for president

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Romney

SEE ALSO: Isaac makes landfall in La.

Staff/wire report

TAMPA, Fla.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney swept to the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night, praised lovingly by his wife from the stage of the party’s national convention and cheered by delegates eager to propel him into the fall campaign against President Barack Obama.

“I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a “storybook marriage. Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long, rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once,” she said in a prime-time turn at the podium.

“A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage,” she added in an appearance meant to cast her multimillionaire- businessman-turned politician husband in a softer, more likable light.

The Romneys watched on television at a hotel suite across the street from the convention hall as delegates sealed his hard-won victories in the primaries and caucuses of last winter.

New Jersey put him over the top in a ritual roll call of the states.

Later, about 8:30 p.m., Ohio Gov. John Kasich took the stage and delivered a great speech, according to Mark Munroe, Mahoning County Republican Party chairman.

“John Kasich was on fire tonight,” said Munroe, who’s attending as an alternate delegate. “He was probably more animated, more energetic than I’ve ever seen him — and he’s a pretty energetic guy.”

One thing Kasich said that resonated particularly well with the crowd was how the states are in a much better position than the federal government at addressing their problems, Monroe said.

“He told a great story about how Ohio was in trouble and how Ohio on its own found innovative solutions to its problems,” he said.

Convention activity returned to normal after a tropical storm caused a delay. Republicans from the Mahoning Valley at the convention said they have been busy, despite the storm.

The Ohio delegation heard Monday and Tuesday from three former GOP presidential candidates — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, ex-U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania — who also gave a prime-time address Tuesday night to the general convention, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

Also, Josh Romney, one of the presidential candidate’s sons, spoke to the delegation.

“Josh Romney invited us to the inauguration,” said Craig Bonar of Cortland, a delegate and former Trumbull County Republican Party chairman. “But we’ve got some work to do between now and Election Day to get Mitt Romney elected. Everyone is telling us that it’s coming down to Ohio.”

Munroe, of Boardman, said: “A lot of attention is on Ohio and we certainly appreciate it. We’ve been treated well.”

Anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Isaac caused the convention to briefly convene Monday and then recess until Tuesday afternoon.

It rained on and off Monday, but not heavily and there was no flooding, the Valley Republicans said.

The threat of a possible tornado kept the delegates in their hotel, Tampa’s Mainsail Suites, for about an hour Monday while Gingrich talked to the Ohio delegation.

“There’s a lot of excitement and plenty of enthusiasm,” Munroe said. “There will be a lot of Buckeyes fired up and ready to come home to campaign even more than before when the convention ends.”

Tracey Winbush of Youngstown, a Republican state central committeewoman at her first convention, said she is “impressed” by the event.

“The speakers are great, the motivation of the crowd and the unity of the Republican Party is really awesome,” she said. “I haven’t been around this many Republicans in my life.”

The convention has shut down much of Tampa, she said.

“There’s security everywhere, roads are barricaded and, unless you’re going to the convention, there are no motorists,” Winbush said. “It’s amazing and I’m having a good time meeting a lot of people.”

Republican mockery of President Barack Obama began almost instantly from the convention podium. The Democratic president has “never run a company. He hasn’t even run a garage sale or seen the inside of a lemonade stand,” declared Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican Party.

The opening session passed up no opportunity to broaden Romney’s appeal. Speakers included Hispanic candidates for office, former Rep. Artur Davis, a former Democrat and member of the Congressional Black Caucus, businessmen and -women and Santorum, Romney’s most persistent, conservative nemesis in the nominating campaign.

To send Romney and ticketmate Paul Ryan into the fall campaign, the convention quickly approved a conservative platform that calls for tax cuts — not government spending — to stimulate the economy at a time of sluggish growth and 8.3 percent unemployment.

Ann Romney’s speech was scheduled as a prime-time highlight, an appearance meant to cast her multimillionaire-businessman-turned-politician husband in a soft and likable light before a national TV audience.

While there was no doubt about Romney’s command over the convention, the residue of a heated campaign for the nomination was evident inside the hall.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who never won a primary or caucus, drew several dozen delegate votes. Earlier, his supporters chanted and booed after the convention adopted rules they opposed, but were powerless to block, to prevent those votes from being officially registered.

Opinion polls made the race a close one as the Republicans’ days of pageantry and speechmaking began in earnest, and the man tapped to deliver the keynote address set the stakes.

“Conventions are always huge for a challenger, because they’re the ones introducing themselves” to the voters, said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Convention planners squeezed two days of speeches and other convention business into one after scrapping Monday’s scheduled opener because of fears that Isaac would make a direct hit on the Florida Gulf Coast.

That threat fizzled, but it was instantly replaced by another — that Republicans would wind up holding a political celebration at the same time the storm turned its fury on New Orleans, devastated almost exactly seven years ago by Hurricane Katrina.

Romney’s convention planners said they were in frequent contact with weather forecasters, but they declined to discuss what contingency plans, if any, they had to accelerate plans for him to deliver a formal acceptance speech Thursday night.