in stirring address to the nation
from business leaders who got their start with help from his privateequity firm Bain Capital, including Staples founder Tom Stemberg.
The campaign also tried to show Romney as a compassionate man, with testimonials from Mormon church members whom he comforted when their kids were sick.
The stories about dying children — a 14yearold boy named David with nonHodgkins lymphoma and a girl named Kate born months premature — cast a hush over the crowd.
For a moment, the political convention took on the feel of a religious revival and some delegates wept.
“That’s how it is in America,” Romney said. “We look to our communities, our faiths, our families for our joy, our support, in good times and bad.”
Mississippi delegate Rita Wray said, “We saw a different side than we are used to seeing. He showed us a softer side.”
Romney made several noteworthy appeals to women a group leaning heavily Obama’s way.
“My mom and dad were true partners, a life lesson that shaped me by everyday example,” Romney said.
“When my mom ran for the Senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. I can still hear her saying in her beautiful voice, ‘ Why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation?’
“As Governor of Massachusetts, I chose a woman lieutenant governor, a woman chiefofstaff; half of my Cabinet and senior officials were women, and in business, I mentored and supported great women leaders who went on to run great companies.”
When Romney finished, he appeared onstage with his five sons and their wives and lids as well as running mate Paul Ryan and his family.
Romney still has his work cut out for him.
Despite the stalled economic recovery and widespread discontent with the direction in which the country is moving, Romney leads Obama in the polls in just two of 13 swing states likely to decide the race.
Romney will almost immediately launch a TV ad blitz to gain ground in swing states now that he can tap into his generalelection war chest, which has been off limits until he formally became the nominee last night.
He’s got more cash on hand than Obama, who had been spending more than he was taking in as he pursued a strategy to do as much TVad damage as possible to Romney before the convention.
Obama predicted in an interview with Time magazine that more might get done after the elections because “the American people will have made a decision.”
“My expectation is that there will be some popping of the blister after this election, because it will have been such a stark choice,” he said.
Additional reporting by Tara Palmeri and Beth DeFalco