Campaign plays up softer, gentler Romney

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HARRY E. WALKER / MCT Presidential nominee Mitt Romney greets Republican delegates in Tampa, Fla., Thursday night. (TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT)

TAMPA, Fla. -- A portrait of a humane, tender-hearted Mitt Romney emerged on Thursday at the Republican National Convention, even as he urged Americans to punish Barack Obama for his broken promises about a brighter future by voting him out of office this November.

"I accept your nomination for president of the United States," a teary-eyed Romney told cheering delegates, many of whom were long cool towards his candidacy. "I do so with humility, deeply moved by the trust you've placed in me."

Romney took aim at Obama's record, saying Americans deserved better than the president.

"Hope and change had a powerful appeal," Romney said.

"But tonight I'd ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's President Obama? You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him."

The prime-time speech was clearly aimed at the disaffected Obama voters tuning into the convention, rather than the thousands of like-minded Republicans gathered in Tampa, as Romney reiterated time and again: Obama is a failure.

Romney's speech had two goals: to forcefully make the case that his private-sector experience makes him the better man than Obama to pull the country out of its economic morass, and also to give wary Americans a glimpse of his heart and soul.

The big question on the convention floor all day Thursday was this: Would the 65-year-old Romney let his guard down and let Americans in?

He did his part in his high-stakes Thursday speech, the most important of his life.

"My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all -- the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would be, and much less about what we would do," he said in his prepared remarks.

But it was the testimonials from a trio of every-day Americans personally touched by Romney's Mormon faith and kindness that were the most powerful of the entire convention, leaving the array of political speakers in their dust and many on the floor of the Tampa convention centre in tears.

An elderly Vermont couple told how Romney, acting as a lay pastor for the Mormon church, helped them deal with the terminal illness of their 14-year-old son more than 30 years ago. Romney helped the boy craft his will so that he could leave his teenaged possessions to his friends and family.

Pat Finlayson had a similar story about Romney pitching in to help her and her husband deal with the demands of a seriously ill baby, even helping to fold laundry. The girl died at 26 last year, and again, the Romney family reached out.

"In the midst of making the final decision to run for president -- which had to be the most difficult of their lives -- when they heard of Kate's passing, both Mitt and Ann paused to personally reach out to extend us sympathy, and express their love," said the Massachusetts woman.

They were the types of stories that must have been regarded as a manna from heaven by prominent Republican politicians, pundits and strategists alike, all of whom had spent the day urging the Romney campaign to show Americans their candidate's human side.

A video segment featuring home movies of Romney cuddling and playing with his young boys also pulled at the heartstrings of delegates.

-- The Canadian Press

Clint didn't make Mitt's day

TAMPA, Fla. -- It was perhaps the weirdest moment of a convention with no shortage of them.

Grizzled star Clint Eastwood took to the stage on the final night of Republican convention to throw his support behind Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, a celebrity endorsement considered a major coup by Team Romney.

Ten minutes later, Romney campaign officials looked pained as the legendary Dirty Harry star became the subject of gleeful ridicule by comics and journalists.

It started promisingly enough as the 82-year-old Eastwood assured Republicans that not all Hollywood stars were "lefter than Lenin." But then it went off the rails as he proceeded to have a rambling, disjointed, surreal conversation with an empty chair meant to be U.S. President Barack Obama.

"Am I high?" asked one Tweeter.

"Would it be inappropriate to ask for a blood-alcohol test?" asked Time magazine's Michael Scherer.

Some suspected a diabolical Democratic plot. "Clint Eastwood on the phone with Obama now: 'It all went according to plan, sir,'" comedian Chris Rock tweeted.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 31, 2012 A15