GOP secret weapon set to hit the stage

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Delegates watch a video presentation during the abbreviated session of the Republican National Convention on Monday. (J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Ann Romney takes centre stage today on the opening night of the Republican National Convention to deliver a speech aimed at convincing not just the American public but some wary party delegates that her husband is honest, caring and relates to average citizens.

Mitt Romney's campaign advisers have long considered his personable, 63-year-old wife their not-so-secret weapon as he's spent the better part of eight years running for president. Even their sons refer to her as "the great Mitt stabilizer."

By all accounts, the Republican presidential hopeful is devoted to his wife, praising her once again on Monday in Wolfeboro, N.H., where the Romneys have a summer home.

"I really like Ann's speech," he said as the couple prepared to head off to Tampa, Fla., for what is essentially his coronation as the Republican presidential nominee.

"She's going to do terrific."

Romney, indeed, is expected to do what she does best tonight -- humanize Mitt Romney by portraying him to an American prime-time audience as a loving, loyal husband, father of five and grandfather to 18.

That type of messaging is particularly important for an emotionally remote politician like Romney, said historian and first lady expert Catherine Allgor.

"First ladies or first-lady wannabes can make a difference, and Ann Romney can make an especially huge difference for him because of how negatively he's being perceived right now," Allgor, of the University of California, Riverside, said Monday.

"The critique against him is this notion that he's a money guy who slashes jobs and fires people and ruins businesses all to make money, but she can go a long way to portray him as a warm, loving person, someone who cares deeply for women, children and families."

Romney has already warmed up for the task in a round of weekend interviews leading up to the convention, recalling how her husband comforted her in 1998 after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

"Even when I was as sick as that, he would curl up in the bed with me," she said, wiping a tear away as she spoke to CNN.

"So, you just knew that that was where he was. It was like he was going to do anything he could do just to say 'I'm here. You're OK. Just stay right there, and we'll be OK.' "

Rae Chornenky, president of the National Federation of Republican Women, says she hopes Romney's speech focuses on her own personal journey with her husband.

"She's a very big asset to Gov. Romney, no question, but her own story and what they both had to go through is also very inspirational and motivational," Chornenky said from Tampa on Monday.

"It's good for the party to hear those stories about their struggles; it's an inspiration to all of us -- men, women and young people."

The Republican National Convention to nominate Romney as the party's challenger to U.S. President Barack Obama was gaveled into session for just a few minutes Monday in a largely empty hall, a symbolic opening as delegates waited out a tropical storm on course to bring back memories of Hurricane Katrina.

Republicans effectively cancelled the first day of an event aimed at repairing party unity after a bruising primary season and recharging the campaign before the Nov. 6 election. Polls show Obama holding a small lead in a race dominated by concerns about the still-struggling economy.

The convention's script was being hurriedly reshaped Monday as Tropical Storm Isaac threatened to come ashore as a hurricane along the U.S. Gulf Coast, almost seven years to the day after Katrina devastated the city, killed 1,800 and led to criticism of Republican President George W. Bush's response.

Romney suggested there were no thoughts of cancelling the convention and said he hopes those in the storm's path are "spared any major destruction."

-- The Canadian Press

with files from The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 28, 2012 A9