Romney vows to rescue US economy

“What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It doesn’t take a special government commission to tell us what America needs,” Romney said in his prime-time pitch.
“What America needs is jobs. Lots of jobs.”
The former Massachusetts governor told Americans that Barack Obama had singularly failed to deliver the “hope and change” he promised and that the country must elect Romney to save an economy crippled by wrong-headed policies.
“Our problem is not that he is a bad person, our problem is that he is a bad president,” Florida Senator Marco Rubio said as part of a barnstorming introduction that will likely aid the rising star’s own ambitions.
Romney’s elevation to official challenger to Obama in the November election comes more than five years after he launched his first White House bid and with the race neck-and neck and dependent on a handful of key states.
The convention injects momentum into the Republican campaign as Romney slingshots out of Tampa on a 10-week sweep across battleground states like Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Colorado — any of which could decide the race.
After trailing for months, the multimillionaire former venture capitalist has recently drawn even in national polls with Obama, an incumbent saddled with a sluggish US economy and stubbornly high unemployment.
Romney has touted his business acumen, arguing that he has the skills necessary to steer America back to prosperity, but he trails Obama badly in terms of likability and can come across as stiff, awkward and out-of-touch.
He sought to blunt that advantage for Obama from the moment he entered the convention hall, surprising delegates by striding in on a red carpet, hugging and kissing dozens of supporters before taking to the stage, his eyes wet with emotion. 
“Tonight I am asking you to join me to walk together to a better future,” he said, adding that the running mate he chose, Paul Ryan, is “a man with a big heart from a small town (who) represents the best of America.”
The job of softening Romney’s edges has largely fallen to his wife Ann, who brought down the house Tuesday with a rousing speech about their high school romance, their all-American family and his devotion to public service. — AFP.