GOP nominates Mitt Romney

The Republican Party nominated Mitt Romney today as their contender for the U.S. presidency. The delegation from New Jersey sent Romney over the top with the magic number of delegates although the nomination does not become official until he formally accepts it on Thursday.

Today's event occurred as Hurricane Isaac made an official first landfall off southeastern Louisiana. Forecasters expect Isaac to make a second landfall sometime tonight possibly south of New Orleans.  The tropical weather is upstaging the convention to some extent and organizers are careful not to seem insensitive while celebrating the Romney nomination.

The location of the event in Florida helps to highlight the importance of that state for the Republican nominee. North Carolina, the location for the Democratic National Convention, has been looking good for President Obama lately.  In previous polling, the state looked like it was sliding in Romney's direction.

However, the three most recent polls may suggest that Obama has closed the gap and pulled into a tie with his opponent.

On prime time television tonight, Ann Romney and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will try to "humanize" the nominee who many view as lacking in animation and feeling. On Wednesday, we can expect more of the same thing as Republicans attempt to create a clear image of Mitt Romney for the nationwide viewing audience.

With only 70 days left until the election, the GOP does not have that much time to define their nominee for voters.  Television ads help, but nothing is quite so effective as seeing the candidate live during a televised broadcast.  Thursday will really be Romney's biggest opportunity to let people know who he is and what he stands for.  The other big major windows will be the three debates with President Obama coming in October.

While many people on the Democratic side worry about Romney's fundraising advantage, up to now it has not done much to swing the election in the Republicans favor.  For the 2012 election, Romney and the Republican Party have spent about $368 million compared to about $262 million for Obama and the Democratic Party.   Outside spending for Romney so far is at $107 million compared to only $39 million for Obama.

However, the president still leads by a slight margin in national polls and he is doing quite well in battleground state surveys.

What to watch for at GOP Convention

The national conventions of both major American political parties are gatherings of the faithful. In each case, the ideological base of the party shows up in very high percentage.

 For Mitt Romney, this is problematic. He has never been popular with his party's base. Polls consistently show that supporters of President Barack Obama are more enthusiastic when compared to Mitt Romney's supporters.

The national convention serves as a point in which the parties rally behind their nominees and begin mobilizing at a much faster pace in the field. In a way, it is like a massive national pep rally. For Romney and his close followers, the convention will largely be about convincing his skeptics that he deserves their energetic support.

 Back when it became obvious that Romney would be the Republican nominee, I knew that he would not reset too much toward the "center" as some were predicting. Like another noted moderate, Sen. John McCain, he could not wiggle his way out of commitments made during the primary contest.

 Like McCain, Romney chose a Tea Party favorite, a very risky favorite, in Rep. Paul Ryan. Watch Mitt Romney's speech when he accepts his party's nomination and, I believe, you will see more of the same. He will go out of his way to appeal to the ideological right wing.

Indeed, surrogates will probably spend much of their time during the convention trying to convince Tea Party members and other conservatives that they can trust Romney on key issues.

President Obama and the Democrats should take full advantage of this situation.  The task for them is to clearly illustrate the clear choice that Americans have on election day.  They need to continuously press Romney on issues that show the stark differences on issues that exist between the presidential tickets and their respective parties.