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TAMPA - Thousands of pumped delegates flocked into this hurricane-wary city over the weekend far giddier about the prospects of beating President Obama than they were four years ago - or even four months ago.
Have they finally fallen in love with Mitt Romney - their emotionally unavailable standard-bearer - after a lackluster courtship? Not quite.
Continue ReadingFor many, it is the other guy who is filling the passion gap for them.
“I liked Romney but I love the ticket,” said Linda Lepak, a lawyer from Oklahoma, and self-described conservative who started out as a Rick Santorum supporter. “Paul Ryan can win back the hearts and minds of the young people in the country. I have five grown children and he speaks to them. He’s just awesome. It’s made me excited.”
Asked if she had concerns about some of Romney’s more moderate positions when he was governor of Massachusetts, she cut him some slack that she might not have 9 months ago. “Everyone has life experiences that mature him or her,” she said. “He’s matured.”
Interviews with more that two dozen delegates here reflect a consistent theme: a shift from resignation that their nominee was an uninspiring candidate who can’t match President Barack Obama’s communication skills, to a renewed sense of optimism that the race could be won with the Wisconsin congressman on the ticket.
“This was a caffeine choice for Mitt - it gave him energy,” said Elizabeth Poirier, a Massachusetts delegate and state representative.
But with this new fervor among the most committed party activists also comes awareness that, at the moment, polls show that the nation doesn’t share their joy. The Ryan pick has not generated a significant bump for Romney nationally, or in the battleground states. Gallup’s daily tracking, as well as several other national polls, found that following the Ryan announcement, Romney rose one or two points in popularity –which is within the margin of error- and the race remains a dead heat. He narrowly trails the president in most polls.
Still among the 2,286 delegates and 2,125 alternate delegates cramming the street and sprawled across dozens of hotels here, there was clearly cause to breath a little easier.
“Is Mitt Romney Ronald Reagan? No. But he’s alive and he’s a safe alternative to Obama. I’m confident he can lead the country,” said Maine delegate Stavros Mendros. “He is delivering a stronger economic message and I think people are starting to wake up. And Paul Ryan puts Wisconsin and Minnesota in play for us.”
After dragging himself across the finish line following a bruising primary season, Romney spent the spring and most of this summer struggling to muster some passion for his candidacy within his own party. In the face of dismal economic news for Obama, Romney nonetheless failed to get out his own economic message—swamped instead by demands he release more tax returns and questions over whether he helped send jobs overseas while a principal at Bain Capitol. In addition, poll after poll showed that voters didn’t much like him personally.
A revealing April focus group - conducted by Peter Hart for the Annenberg Public Policy Center - among a dozen likely Republican voters in the Tampa area indicated that even people who were staunchly anti-Obama were still looking for a reason to vote for Romney instead of staying home. “I would love to find out what the man really stands for. Without knowing that, because he doesn’t take a stand on anything firmly, I can’t vote for him,” said one retiree.
Nationally voters do give him credit for being a successful businessman and knowledgeable on the economy, but they find Obama more relatable to their concerns. And this worried even Romney’s strongest supporters.
