Paul Ryan and his wife, Janna, join Ann and Mitt Romney on stage under a shower of red, white and blue confetti at the closing of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., Thursday. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)
TAMPA, Fla.?? Mitt Romney launched his fall campaign for the White House in a rousing Republican National Convention finale Thursday night, proclaiming America needs "jobs, lots of jobs" and promising to create 12 million of them in perilous economic times.
"Now is the time to restore the promise of America," Romney said in a prime-time speech to a nation struggling with 8.3 percent unemployment and the slowest economic recovery in decades.
Often viewed as a distant politician, Romney made a press-the-flesh entrance into the hall, walking slowly down a convention hall aisle and shaking hands with dozens of delegates. The hall erupted in cheers when he reached the stage and waved to his cheering, chanting supporters
before beginning to speak.
"I accept your nomination for president," he said, to more cheers.
The evening sealed a triumph more than five years in the making for Romney. He ran unsuccessfully for the nomination in 2008 after a single term as a moderate Republican governor of a liberal Democratic state.
"I wish President (Barack) Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed," he said. "But his promises gave way to disappointment and division."
Clint Eastwood, legendary Hollywood tough guy, put it more plainly earlier. "When somebody does not do the job, you've got to let 'em go," he said to the packed convention hall.
In his speech, Romney appealed to millions of voters who say they are disappointed in the president yet haven't decided to cast their votes for his Republican challenger.
"This isn't something we have to accept," Romney said. "Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, 'I'm an American. I make my destiny. And we deserve better! My children deserve better! My family deserves better! My country deserves better!'?"
Romney's remarks came on a night when other speakers filled out a week-long portrait of the GOP nominee as a man of family and faith, savior of the 2002 Winter Olympics, savvy and successful in business, yet careful with a buck.
A portion of the convention stage was rebuilt overnight so Romney would appear surrounded by delegates rather than speaking from a distance, an attempt to soften his image.
The campaign to come
The two-month campaign to come includes other big moments ? principally a series of one-on-one debates with Obama ? in a race for the White House that has been close for months. In excess of $500 million has been spent on campaign television commercials, almost all of it in the battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada.
Romney holds a fundraising advantage over Obama, and his high command hopes to expand the electoral map soon if post-convention polls in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and perhaps elsewhere indicate it's worth the investment.
Shouts of "USA, USA" echoed in the convention hall as several Olympic medal winners came on stage, a reminder of Romney stepping in to help rescue the faltering 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
In an evening that blended the political and the personal, delegates saw a video in which his sons poked fun at him. "I can't explain love," Romney said.
As for Obama, Romney said, "Many Americans have given up on this president, but they haven't ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves. Not on each other. And not on America."
The economy
Sean Conway, Colorado Republican delegation chairman, middle, Nancy McKiernan, right, and Lori Horn, left, dance Thursday as "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks sings during the Republican National Convention. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)
is issue No. 1 in the race for the White House, and Romney presented his credentials as the man better equipped than the president to help create jobs.
Speaker after speaker testified to the help they received from Bain Capital, the private equity firm that he created ? and that Democrats argue often took over companies, loaded them down with debt and walked away with huge fees as bankruptcy approached.
"When I told him about Staples, he really got excited at the idea of saving a few cents on paper clips," businessman Tom Stemberg said of the office supply store chain he founded with backing from Bain.
Short on details
Romney's aides did not say whether he would offer any new information on what has so far been a short-on-details pledge to reduce federal deficits and create 12 million jobs in a country where unemployment stands at 8.3 percent.
Romney would have to nearly double the current, anemic pace of job growth to achieve 12 million jobs over four years. That's conceivable in a healthy economy. Moody's Analytics, a financial research operation, expects nearly that many jobs to return in four years no matter who occupies the White House, absent further economic setbacks.
Romney's steps for achieving the employment growth include deficit cuts that he has not spelled out and a march toward energy independence that past presidents have promised but never delivered.
He has called for extension of tax rate cuts due to expire at all income levels at the end of the year, and an additional 20 percent across the board cut in rates. But he has yet to sketch which tax breaks he will eliminate or cut to prevent deficits from rising.
Nor has he been forthcoming about where to make the trillions in spending cuts needed to redeem his pledge of major deficit reduction, or about his promise to rein in Medicare or other government benefit programs before they go broke.
Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, has called for remaking Medicare into a program in which the government would send seniors checks to be used to purchase health care insurance.
Fact check: Romney's statements
"To assure every entrepreneur and every job creator that their investments in America will not vanish as have those in Greece, we will cut the deficit and put America on track to a balanced budget."
The Facts: Romney has promised to cut $500 billion per year from the federal budget by 2016 to bring spending below 20 percent of the U.S. economy, and to balance it by 2020. But he's vague on how. He has offered ideas like repealing President Barack Obama's health care law, which is actually projected to save money overall, and cutting smaller areas of government spending. Some of his priorities, such as increasing military spending and reversing $716 billion worth of Obama's cuts to Medicare, would make the job more difficult. He has also proposed to cut tax rates while ending some deductions and exemptions, but he hasn't detailed which ones.
"I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs."
The Facts: No one says he can't, but economic forecasters are divided on his ability to deliver. He'd have to nearly double the anemic pace of job growth lately. Moody's Analytics, one financial research operation, expects nearly that many jobs to return over the next four years no matter who occupies the White House. Other analysts have questioned Romney's rosy job promises.
"President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet."
The Facts: Really? Yes, pretty much. In a June 2008 speech marking his victory in the Democratic primaries, Obama said generations from now, "We will be able to look back and tell our children that ... this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."
The Associated Press
Source: http://feeds.denverpost.com/~r/dp-news-frontpage/~3/NoAEczVq15o/nation-and-world
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