(Missouri’s GOP delegation thinks the party’s candidate for President sent the right messages to the right people when he accepted that nomination last night, at the National Convention.
Mitt Romney formally accepts the Republican party nomination for President of the United States at its National Convention in Tampa, Florida.
Mitt Romney’s wife Ann spent a lot of time in her speech on Tuesday night talking to women voters. Many messages ahead of Romney’s speech last night were geared to Hispanic voters and immigrants. Former Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway thinks when Romney came out, he spoke to everyone he needed to.
“Who he spoke to was Americans. Immigrants were included, minorities were included, women were included, but at the bottom line he created this imagery of what it really feels like to be a parent. To do the hard work of raising your family … of sitting at home doing your homework with your kids … and he conjured those images that remind Americans of what our most core values are.”
Hanaway thinks Romney did a good job of making himself identifiable to the average American, answering ad campaigns that paint him as being out of touch.
“Quite honestly I think Mitt Romney without a hair out-of-place … perfectly tailored suit … sometimes looks a little too perfect and it makes it easy for the other side to say, ‘he’s kind of a robot, he isn’t like you,’ and when you see him … the video they showed before he went on where he puts a lightbulb in a socket that’s too small … just all those kinds of crazy things that are a part of your real family life, I think it was an important message for Americans to hear.”
Romney laid out a plan he says will create 12 million new jobs in five steps. One of those would be to make America energy independent by 2010.
Ballwin delegate Chris Howard says he doesn’t know if that’s attainable. “I would think it could be if you want to do it bad enough … I think the whole thing about this week was proving that he has the will to make a hard choice or set a goal and reach it. So if he’s really committed to reaching that goal, then I say yeah, it’s possible.”
Romney also reaffirmed his support for school choice, which Missouri Republicans agreed is where he would face the most resistance, from groups like the National Education Association. Howard says that position will appeal to African-Americans.
“We know from polling inside the party … African-Americans hugely value school choice because they know that a good education is their path to a better job. They’re pro-small business because they know that’s the best opportunity to build personal financial security, which is the real path to freedom. They are pro-life, they are pro traditional family.”
Missouri’s Republicans say they’ll be watching to see if the Democratic National Convention responds to the themes of the RNC, and say they expect the controversy surrounding comments made last week by Senate candidate Todd Akin will be heavily featured at the DNC next week.
