[cheers and applause] i cannot tell you how much this means to him. and how much it means to me, imam of a special needs child. -- the mom of a special needs child. [cheers and applause] raising our family and building our business have been the twin passions of our lives, but what struck me is how similar they are. if you have ever raised a child or started a business, you know what i am talking about. you put your heart and soul into it. you work to find 25 hours in a day. you struggle to overcome insurmountable odds, and you do

it all because you believe in an unlimited future. isn't that what america is all about? but today when i talk to the young families and the struggling businesses that i meet three of delaware, i have to ask, are we creating an unlimited future for them? a report recently said that nearly 50% of small-business owners are not hiring because of what they call regulatory uncertainty. can you blame them? this administration has opposed 106 new regulations, major regulations. they are on track to create 109 million new paperwork burden $110, and by year's end, billion worth of new regulatory costs will be laid on the back

of business owners and taxpayers. you might call that regulatory uncertainty. i call it an all-out assault on free enterprise. that is what worries me about this administration. they seem so eager to fix society, but they don't have a clue about how to fix the economy. [applause] in the end, it comes down to what you believe. yes, they are believers. the obama administration believes in experts and blue- ribbon panels. they believe in creating new agencies and boards. they believe in all that, but they just don't trust the onto entrepreneur's ability grow

their business and create jobs. mitt romney believes in the value of economic freedom. his entire life has been committed to advancing it. last april i was privileged to be one of a dozen business leaders in delaware to sit down and meet with mitt romney. this was not a scripted photoshops. it was not a staged event. this was a real discussion with someone who understands what -- where small businesses are coming from. governor romney, for him it is not free enterprise, not just a theory. it is not just something new study in graduate school. it is a creed, a commitment, our world view. is what commits americans, families, and communities, to an unlimited future. that is why this election is so important to small businesses

and to our country. i represent a small businesses, the women, the families working so hard to rebuild our communities. in order to secure our own limited future, we need a leader who understands the moral case for free enterprise. someone like mitt romney, who believes in an unlimited future. these are not just words for mitt romney. his track record proves this. let's secure that future together by sending mitt romney and paul ryan to the white house in november. god bless america. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please

welcome the oak ridge boys. [applause] >> thank you. it is an honor and pleasure to be here tonight to represent our great party and to represent mitt romney and paul ryan for the next president and vice- president of our country. there is an element that exists that is trying very hard to push got further and further out of our lives. we think we need got more and more -- we think we need god more and more in our lives. if you feel like singing with us, we hope you will join.

>♪ amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me i once was lost, but now i am found was blind, but now i see ♪ 'twas grace that talked my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved

how precious did that grace appear the hour i first believed ♪ been there 10,000 years bright, shining as the sun we've no less days to sing god's praise first begun ♪irst believ

>> please give a big hand to welcome to the stage congresswoman cathy rodgers of washington state. [applause] >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. i am proud to represent eastern washington in congress. tonight, we are going to do things a little differently. i have the pleasure of serving as your host for the evening, guiding you through the next few hours. i am delighted to report, we

have a wonderful line up for you. each speaker will be joining together to send a message to president obama. that message is three simple words. we build it. -- we built it. before i ran for congress, i ran the family's business for 13 years. i work hard every day, and i can assure you that my family built that business from the ground up.

today, that hands-on experience guides my decision making in congress. unlike president obama, i know that small businesses are the true engine of our economy, not the government. what businesses need to grow and create jobs is less tax than and less regulation, not more. tonight, you will hear a variety of stories from people who work hard every day to build our economy. you'll hear from jack gilchrist, the owner of a family-owned metal fabricating business in new hampshire. a number of our leading governors are with us tonight, the chief executives from states like ohio, wisconsin, oklahoma,

south carolina, nevada, and virginia. places where they have created an environment that unleashes american ingenuity, instead of stifling it. they will tell us how their job creators in their communities are found it is are not found in the state house, they are found on main street -- their job creators in their communities and are not found in the state house. one of the speaker's eye most looking forward to hearing from tonight is someone who i think we can all agree will make a fabulous first lady, and romney.n to close out the evening, we will hear from a dynamic and engaging leader who is really

shaking up the way they do business in new jersey, governor chris christie. so let's get started. our next speaker was elected to the united states senate in 2010. ladies and gentlemen, senator kelly ayotte. [applause] >> live free or die. that is the model of the great state of new hampshire, but i believe tonight, we all share that view, as have generations of americans before us. like most americans, our life and changed after 9/11.

my husband, joe, who was on track to be a commercial pilot, instead served our great country flying combat missions in iraq. [applause] and when joe returned home from the war, he found himself in the same position as so many americans. he needed a job. so he started a family business, a landscaping and snow plowing company. when i say he, i mean we. i spent many sleepless night shoveling snow, and i am proud of the fact that in addition to being the united states senator, i am also pretty good with a snowplow. [applause]

we are no different from those families who take risks starting their own business. we borrowed money to pursue our dreams, and believe me, there was no guarantee of success. we were certainly not too big to fail. we had to make it work. yet, through all the hard work and sacrifice, we pulled together as a family. and as the business grew, so did our extended family. i speak to you tonight with great concern for our employees, their families, my family, and your family. my concern is that president obama is making it very difficult for small businesses to get started, to create jobs,

and to survive. [applause] you know what i hear all the time from small business owners that i speak with? they want to focus on their business. the obama administration wants to bury them with rules, regulations, and red tape. from the national labor relations board to the department of labor to the epa, under this administration, the regulations are up and the job creation is down. president obama's view is clear. he actually believes that as a small business grows, the federal government should take a larger and larger share of its earnings.

that is punishment for expanding and creating more jobs. i call it a success cap. the very best example is obamacare. let me tell you what i hear in the real world about obamacare. just a couple of months ago, a successful restaurant owner in new hampshire, tell me about his dilemma. he wanted to open up a second restaurant and hire more employees. he realized that if he did, he would trigger penalties under obamacare. and he could not afford it. so we never opened up that rest run. is that what we want for small businesses in america? to be afraid to grow because the

government's rigid because of the government? -- to be afraid to grow because of the government? to be facing penalties when you create new jobs? to be told that you are earning too much? isn't it time that we had a leader who believed that creating jobs ought to be celebrated, not penalized? that is why mitt romney is running for president. [applause] he will get the federal government out of the business of small business. he will fight to lower and simplify taxes. he will work to eliminate job

killing red tape. and he will roll back obamacare, starting on day one. in both the private sector and as governor of massachusetts, mitt romney always asked, how can i help small businesses grow, in the bay, and compete? it is the right question. it is the question that this the administration never thinks to ask. but why should we be surprised? obama has never even run a lemonade stand. and you know what? it shows.

for the sake of the future of small business, we need to replace barack obama with mitt romney. we need to replace barack obama with mitt romney because mitt truly gets it. he understands the hopes and dreams of small-business owners throughout our great country. but don't just take my word for it. i want you to hear it from someone who is directly on the front lines of small business. jack gilchrist is a small- business owner from hudson, new hampshire. three generations of his family have used their own hands to build hillcrest metal fabricating. it is a true family business bounded over 30 years ago by

jack's father and carried on by jack and his son. jack gilchrist is the face of small business in america. and yes, he did build it. please join me in welcoming my friend, jack gilchrist. [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much. am i glad to have viewed as a small champion of business for new hampshire. governor sununu, like many small businessmen, my dad borrowed against our house to purchase the machinery to start

gilchrist metal fabricating. machines making equipment for drilling oil, generating power, television broadcasting, processing food, and many other indices that touch our lives every day. machines run by taxpaying americans like us. we employ about 40 people, most with families, including my son, stuart. that we have enjoyed success, we face more global pressure every day. so dilute our suppliers and customers. -- so do our suppliers and customers. if we don't continually streamline our processes to stay efficient, we will lose out to our competition. we don't have a choice. we often make decisions that are difficult. running a business means taking responsibility. presenting a certain future to

the management team, developing a functional budget, assuring that we have adequate supplies, and making a commitment to fulfill our customers' orders on time. there are things which i cannot control, but running the business is my job, and mine alone. i blame no one else for the challenges we face. i am often reminded of something lee iacocca said. lead, follow, or get out of the way. everyone who runs a business understands this. everyone but our federal government. they won't leave. there are rules and regulations are too hard to follow, and they won't get out of our way. this administration is killing us out there. small business needs a leader who understands the entire spectrum of business and

industry, a leader who can work with all parties involved, a leader who will not avoid dealing with difficult issues. a leader with experience to understand what it takes, a leader who is in touch with america's small businesses. mitt romney is exactly that leader. help us elected mitt romney president of the united states. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, from ohio, please welcome governor john kasich. [applause] >> thank you. you know, i don't know about

feeling.i've got a i have a feeling we are about to elect a new president of the united states of america. let me tell you why it matters. we need a president who will restore the strength and power of the american people so we can rebuild our economy and rebuild the united states of america. plain and simple. we have made real progress in ohio in restoring confidence. that is what so much of life is about. we are setting people freak in order to build success, but we need a new partner in washington.

this relationship is just not working. it is holding us back. i am going to tell you our story. i am going to tell you the story of ohio and the story of lessons learned. i took office in 2011, and when i came into office, we were 48th in the nation in job creation. we had an $8 billion budget deficit, the largest in the history of the great state of ohio, and we had 89 cents an hour rainy day fund. most toddlers have more than 89 cents in their little piggy banks, let alone what was then our treasury. our credit rating was headed down the drain. we had suffered a loss of 400,000 jobs. ladies and gentlemen, tonight, the greatest moral issue in america today is job creation. we have lost four hundred

thousand jobs. our people and families were hurting as a result of the recession. in ohio, we were following a policy of tax, spend, and doc. that is too much of what politicians do. they want to avoid the tough issues. when we came into power with my colleagues in the legislature, we took our problems head-on. the balance our budgets, that $8 billion deficit was eliminated without a tax increase in the state of ohio. and we could not raise taxes, because we were not competitive. we did it the way a family does it. we sat down and set priorities. we eliminated those programs that we no longer needed. when government people spend our money, they are very wasteful about it. so we went through and eliminate those things we did not need, but we prioritize those things

that we really did need. i will give you an example. we allowed mom and dad to stay in their own home if able, instead of going into a nursing home, where the costs were five times as high. when they are in their own home, they are healthier and happier and more independent. that saves us a lot of money, because we made government work better. that made a heck of a lot of sense for us. we also cut taxes because ohio needed to be competitive. we balance the budget but we cut our taxes, and would cut the income tax. the reason the cut is so that ohio could be competitive. at the same time, we killed the death tax. [applause] and we killed it because no person should have to visit the undertaker and the tax man on

the same day, and small businesses and farmers should be able to pass on their hard work to the next generation. we need to do is in washington as well. and we restored common sense in our regulations. and we still protect the environment. we protect our families, but we don't over regulate and create the jobs -- and kill the job creators in our state. we want to honor them and work with them because they help our families. just like what mitt romney is going to face, the actions that we took were not always easy. and the actions that we took were not always popular. but when you get yourself in public service, you must lead and you must do what is necessary. i want to tell you the good news of where we are today. i told you a minute ago that when we came into office we

were 48th in job creation. you know where we are today? we are fourth in america in job creation and no. 1 in the midwest. we went from 89 cents in our rainy day fund to $500 million in surplus, a half billion dollars in surplus, from being in the hole. i watched in horror as we saw the italians and french and spanish and the greeks have their credit downgraded. i remembered the night that i watched america's credit debt downgraded. but in ohio, instead of credit going down the drain, our credit outlook has been improved because it has been recognized that we are managing our finances and creating jobs. but ladies and gentlemen, win over those last four years we

lost 400,000 jobs, in ohio today we have grown new jobs by 122,000. 120,000 families are better off. but you know what? the wages -- win is in our face. the president has given us headwinds. president obama has doubled the national debt. i was chairman of the budget committee when we balance the budget in 1997. i look with horror at that clock that shows 15 trillion dollars of the national debt. that is the sort of damocles hanging over our children's head, and the president is doing nothing about it. each year, he is increasing at by one trillion dollars. that also tell you that the president says his answer to these problems light in this -- more taxes. let's take more money out of the pockets of the american people

and send it to, of all places, washington d.c. can you believe it? we need to cut taxes, not raise them, to get on the right track. his regulations have had a smothering effect on businesses, and it has paralyzed the job creators. folks, this is the wrong philosophy. these are the wrong policies, and we needed new leader. that is exactly why i am for mitt romney president of the united states. i wanted tell you about a minute. he is a business leader. if there is anything we in government today, it is people who know how to create jobs, plain and simple. the people that criticized folks in business just simply don't get it. that put us in this whole, and mitt romney has a history of being a great job creator.

secondly, he was a great governor. it went from billions of dollars in a whole when he became governor to billions of dollars in surplus when he left. he went from a loss of tens of thousands of jobs when he became governor to the creation of 40,000 new jobs when he left office. and he did in massachusetts, of all places. [applause] be on his work in business and government, he is a natural leader. he took those salt lake city winter olympics when they were in peril and headed down the drain. he fixed the olympics and made every american proud of what he did in salt lake city. he built a shinier and broader america as a result. i want to tell you this. joe biden this is a lot of those facts, but joe biden told me that he is a good golfer.

i played golf with joe biden, and i can tell you that is not true, as well as a lot of other things that he says. for the good of our kids, i know we are at a republican convention, but this is not about republican and democrat. this is about somebody that is going to get this country moving again, restore the strength of our country, energize the people, set them free, get your free enterprise system. that is what this is all about, our children, our families, our country. frankly, it is about the world. they depend on the united states of america to lead and to bring moral purpose to the globe. we have to leave here and march and get to everybody to make sure that mitt romney and paul reinhart president and vice president of the united states. thank you all very much.

>> if you have been successful, you did not get there on your own. i am always struck by people who think, it must be because i was just so smart. there are lot of smart people out there. must because i work harder than everybody else. they tell you something. if you've got a business, you didn't bill that, somebody else made that happen. >> he was trying to say, you did not build that business on your own, the government helped you build it. that is what ticked me off more than anything. mr. president, you have no idea how we hear in midwestern ohio have to run a small business, from daylight until night. what we need is a leader who truly understands how business works. >> the idea to say that steve

jobs did not build apple, that henry ford did not build ford motors. to say something like that is not just foolishness, it is insulting to every entrepreneur and innovator in america. under president obama, we have less success, and i will change that. >> please give a warm welcome to governor mary fallin of oklahoma. >> thank you. president reagan once said there are no great limits to growth, because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder. he believed, like i believe, like mitt romney and paul ryan

believe, that the potential for america is limitless. we can and we will overcome any economic challenge if the federal government gets out of the way and lets go of the regulatory chokehold that is taking the air and out of our economy. we need a president who will applaud and encourage those who work hard to pursue their dreams, to reach their potential, and in doing so, make themselves and america better and stronger. that man is mitt romney. [applause] the history of the state of oklahoma offers a great example of pursuing the american dream. it was build and sell or buy pioneers moving west to see better lives. during the great land run of

899, thousands of families rushed up and put down a state on empty plots of land. they build tent cities overnight. they farmed the land and worked very hard. in 1897, eight years after the land run, a handful of very adventurous pioneers, with their own money -- it was not the federal government's money. they risked their own money to drill oklahoma's first oil well. by doing so, these early day pioneers changed the picture and the fortune of oklahoma forever, and today, oklahoma is one of the nation's key energy producers and job creators, with an unemployment rate of 4.9%. president obama wants us to believe that oklahoma zero is

that success to the federal government, to the department of energy or the epa or the irs, or maybe even him. well, mr. president, we know better. in oklahoma, we say that adog won't hunt. we owe these remarkable successes to the imagination and ingenuity to the people like my friend, harold ham. he is the son of sharecroppers and the youngest of 13 children. he grew up in a small town, lexington, oklahoma. as a child, he helped out on the far. he went to school only after the first freeze or christmas, whichever came first. while attending high school, he worked for a dollar an hour at a gas station. after school, he took a job cleaning out oil barrels. at the age of 20, he bought his own truck and began a one-man

oil-field service business. he made enough money to begin taking college level courses in geology and mineralogy. at the age of 26, he drilled a wildcat well that produced 75 barrels of oil and our. in oklahoma, we call that a gusher. today herald is the chairman and ceo of continental resources, a top-10 producer of petroleum liquids. he has nearly 740 operating in 10 states, valued at over $13 billion. harold and his company are helping to power cars and homes and businesses all across the nation. harold and other energy have transformed

the country's energy outlook. with president romney, will help end america's dependence on foreign oil. we will create even more american jobs. herald's success story is not one of a kind. it is the american dream that has been realized by countless men and women since the founding of this country. he is just one of the many visionaries and innovators in the private sector that of a true drivers of economic growth and creation. ladies and gentlemen, that is what president obama just does not get. he will tell you if you have a business, you did not build that, somebody else made that happen. well, mr. president, not true. you think it is the irs, the epa, are the federal government? the president believes the government is responsible for

our successes. that is why his solution to everything is more government, bigger spending, more regulations, more bureaucratic programs like obamacare. and he says his plans are working, but look at the results. 42 months of unemployment, over 8%. 23 million americans out-of- work, underemployed, are not even looking for work anymore. a nation that is threatened by nearly 16 trillion dollars of debt, and families that are filling -- feeling pinched, not just by a bad economy, but by president that promised hope and change, and left many americans with no hope and just change in their pockets. president obama believes that the power of big government is the key to a hamas american success. let me tell you, mitt romney

believes in the power of the 'sople -- the key to america success. mitt romney understands is free enterprise and hard work has made the united states the envy of the world. and by the way, the selection of wisconsin paul ryan to be his running mate is an excellent choice. there are many reasons he will make a great vice president, not the least of which is that his wife is from oklahoma. and of course he has two dogs that are named boomer and sooner. the romney-ryan team will reverse the tide of decline and promote economic security. they know is hard working american families that have built our great and glorious

nation. mitt romney is ready to lead. he has the experience, the vision, and we will restore america's economy and its greatness. [applause] i am proud to support his candidacy for president, and as the next leader of the free world, mitt romney will make us all very proud. god bless you, and thank you. [applause] >> if you have been successful, you did not get there on your own. i am always struck by people who think, it must be because i am just so smart. there are a lot of smart people out there. it must be because i work harder than anybody else. if you have is this, you did not build that. somebody else make that happen.

>> we got started way back in 1945. we are celebrating 67 years of farming. we started with 40 acres, and today we on about 3,000 acres. it is company that is respected through integrity and honesty. what did i think about president obama for years ago? i have to admit that i was rather impressed with him, and i have to be very honest with you today. there is no real meat to his conversations anymore. the thing that i am most proud of is what i was taught by my father. success is not when you knock people down and climb the ladder, but success is when you build people up. that is what we did in our organization.

i believe president mitt romney could bring this trust and confidence back to this nation. thatdent obama's statement we as small business did not make this on owned is completely nonsense. my family and my employees built this. [applause] please welcome virginia governor bob mcdonnell. >> thank you. thank you very much. good evening, my fellow republicans. are you ready to let mitt romney and paul ryan in 70 days -- ready to elective mitt romney and paul ryan?

imagine that. we will never president who actually knows how to create jobs, and the vice president who knows what state he is in. i don't have to tell any of you this is a tough economy. we all have friends and family and neighbors who have lost their jobs and their homes. worse, they have lost their hope. they are lost hope is why we need a big change this november. this election is about restoring the american dream. that dream led my grandfather, a poor farm boy, to leave ireland 100 years ago and come to ellis island to begin his journey of freedom in america. i grandfather could have never guessed that his son would fight for this nation in world war ii,

that is great granddaughter would lead a platoon in iraq, and his grandson would grow up a middle-class kid in fairfax county, serve in the army, and now hold the same job as thomas jefferson and patrick henry. what an incredible country we call home here in the united states of america. [applause] this nation is powered and defined by the great ideas of the american dream. that is an idea that says if you work hard, if you dream big, if you follow the rules and pursue opportunity, the sky is the limit in the united states of america. we cannot lose that dream. unfortunately, many americans are now hurting very badly. to many americans are looking for work, because this

president's policies simply have not worked. washington today has a surplus of rhetoric and a deficit of leadership and results. you know the problems. unemployment, over a 8% for 42 straight months. the national debt, immoral at 16 trillion dollars and growing. new business start-ups at the lowest level in 30 years. and now, the epa is the employment prevention agency. these times call for new leadership to get this great country out of debt and back to work. the choice is very clear. the status quo of the entitlement society versus a dynamic change to an opportunity society. that is what we need in america.

we need a president who will say to a small businesswoman, congratulations, we applaud your success. you did make that happen. you did build at that in america. -- you did bill that in america. big government did not build america. you built america. small businesses don't come out of washington d.c. cremate on flatbed trucks. -- premade on flatbed trucks. that florist in virginia beach, that bakery in virginia, they were all built by american entrepreneurs. it is remarkable, in 236 years of the american experiment, but

the ingenious people of this magnificent nation can do when they are given the opportunity. every american deserves the opportunity of a limited, responsible government that performs its core functions well and then gets the heck out of the way. that is when good things happen in the united states of america. look at the results of republican policies in the states. states with republican governors, the average employment rate -- garrard unemployment rate is one point lower than in states with democratic governors. republican governors lead seven of the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates, and 12 of the 15 states that have been ranked best for business have republican governors.

while the obama administration spends $3 billion a day just to keep the lights on, republican governors have not raise taxes. virginia over the last two years, with republicans and democrats working together, our unemployment rate is down 20%, to 5.9%. we have added 151,000 jobs in virginia. we have had $1.40 billion in budget surpluses, by keeping legislation and litigation to a minimum, and we have not raised taxes. while the president talks, republican governors lead. talk is cheap, results matter.

conservative fiscal policies are working, and so are more americans in the states with republican governors today. just think what we could do if we had a president who would support us and not obstruct us? someone who has created jobs in the private sector, who understands the economy, and who has actually balance the budget bid for that matter, somebody who has actually passed a budget. we need president mitt romney. when mitt romney and paul ryan get together and they work with scott walker or john kasich and governors from both parties across the country, we will get

people back to work in this country. our great country can no longer afford the job destroying policies coming out of washington d.c. but we don't just have to hope for change, we can make the change this november. we will lift up and grow the middle class. we will celebrate job creators again. we will restore that great american dream that led my grandfather. from ireland 100 years ago. that all starts with electing mitt romney and paul ryan this november. thank you very much. [applause] now, ladies and gentlemen, it is

my pleasure to introduce one of those hard-working job creators that i was just talking about. bev gray is president and ceo of the exhibit edge. added -- designs, produces, and manages trade show exhibits. she and her husband, who is vice president of the company, employs 20 virginians, and this year they celebrate 20 years of success in business. here is the thing about becker v. when she talks about her business, yes, she built that business. please welcome bev gray. >> thank you, governor. imagine working every day for four years without a paycheck. i did.

i worked while our children played and napped, and after i talk to them into bed, i worked. our first nine months, we had one client, a client who waited six months to pay us. we sustain our business by tapping into our personal credit cards and borrowing against our home. the commitment, expenses, and stress kept us up at night, but we were determined to build a successful business. and after several years of hard work, long hours, no pay, and low pay, we did it. [applause] today, exhibit 8 employees 20 people and helps businesses grow through trade show

marketing. when those businesses grow, they employ people. the president said that business owners did not get there on our own. well, he is wrong. we risked everything, and succeeded because of our hard work and commitment. what president obama does not understand is that when businesses grow, unemployment goes down, and people drive. fivethrive.o -- people thrive. governor romney knows and appreciates what it takes to build a successful business. that is why i am supporting mitt romney.

♪ >> if you have been successful, it didn't get there on your own. i am always struck by people who think, in us because i was just so smart. there are a lot of smart people out there. it must be because i work harder than everybody else. let me tell you something. if you have a business, you did not build that. somebody else make that happen. >> that took the risks? who put in the long hours? your words are bad enough, but your actions over the last four years speak even louder. job creators like me are trying to build this country back up. this is what makes america great.

everybody out there, every young individual can start a company, but you have to have that individual initiative. i am the owner of kimmie candy, and i built it. >> please give a very warm welcome to governor scott walker of wisconsin. >> thank you. thank you. thank you, and good evening. on june 5, voters in wisconsin asked would you want to go back to double-digit taxes and record job loss, or moving forward with reforms that lowered the tax

burden, balanced the budget, and help small businesses create jobs? by june 5, voters in my swing states were asked to decided they wanted elected officials who measure success by how many people are dependent on the government, or if they wanted leaders who believe success is measured by how many people are not dependent on the government, because they control their own destiny in the private sector. on june 5, voters in wisconsin got to determine who was in charge. was it the big government special interests in washington, or the hard-working taxpayers of our state? the good news is that on june 5, the hard-working taxpayers onwon. just ask sandy why that is important. when the economy took a dive of

years ago, she took a pay cut. not long after that, she lost her job. today she is working in wisconsin. she just received a promotion. g3 is one of those companies that added jobs in the past year, and now the honor said he likes the way we're moving our state forward and he is more committed since the last election. without our positive changes he told me he would not have had the confidence to grow business in wisconsin. improving the business climate is not only good for small business owners, it is good for people like sandy and her family. we need more stories like hers in america because the last couple of years have been pretty tough. like many places across the country come up wisconsin lost more than 100,000 jobs from 2008 to 2010.

unemployment topped out at to over 9% because of our reforms, wisconsin has added thousands of new jobs and unemployment rate is down from when i first took office. equally as important, we improve the economic climate for job creators. today, 94% of our employers believe wisconsin is headed in the right direction. [applause] that compares to 10% who thought the same thing just two years ago. elections have consequences. as was the case in wisconsin two years ago, to many americans think our country is headed in the wrong direction. mitt romney understands like i understand that people, people, not governments create jobs. my administration is making it easier for people to create jobs in wisconsin. our reforms with the hard-

working taxpayers back in charge. people like sandy. the federal government seems to be going in the opposite direction. nationally we have experienced 42 consecutive months of unemployment above 8%. last month, 44 of the 50 states saw an increase in the unemployment rate. more than 12 million of our fellow citizens are unemployed. we need someone to turn things around in america. that leader is governor mitt romney. [applause] mitt romney turned businesses around in the private sector. he said the winter olympics and balanced state budget without raising taxes in a way that help the private sector create more jobs. with the announcement of paul ryan as his running mate, governor romney not only show that he has the experience and the skill to become president,

he showed he has the courage and the passion to be an exceptional president. with this picture, he showed that the "r" next to his name does not just stand for republican, it stands for a former -- reformers. we need leaders that think about more than just the next election. that is we get from mitt romney and paul grand. a few weeks we will celebrate the 225th anniversary of our constitution. what makes america -- moments like that remind us of what makes this so great. throughout our history in moments of crisis, be the economic or fiscal, military or spiritual, what makes america amazing is there have always

been man and woman of courage who think more about the future of their children and their grandchildren than they did occur -- about their own political careers. let me watch -- let this be one of those moments. let this be the time so that someday we can tell our children and grandchildren we were there. that we changed the course of history for the better. let us tell them we helped elect mitt romney and paul ryan to change america. [applause] thank you. >> please welcome back lane turner. ♪

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>> please give a very warm welcome to gov. ryan sandoval of nevada. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. i stand here tonight, humbled to share with you the story of a nation, a state, and one man. is the story of america itself. a courageous, freedom loving visionary who believes in the promise of opportunity rather than the divine right of kings. who dare to dream that anyone could rise above the circumstances of their birth. it is also the story of the great silver states. we joined the union to help keep abraham lincoln in the white house and fulfill the promise of opportunity as he ended forever discourage of slavery. it is my story. the child of working-class

hispanic americans who lived the american dream. the proverbs tell us from small beginnings come great things. my father was one of 10 children. my mother and her family lived in a tiny, two-bedroom house in the southwest. dad worked his entire career as an aviation technician. mom was a legal secretary who became a teacher. we lived a simple, american life. when i was a boy, my parents brought us to nevada in search of opportunity. my first job was cleaning sheep pens. in college i worked in a hospital cafeteria. i worked my way through law school. encouraged by my parents love for this country, i dreamed of public service. i became a state legislator. and giving regulators, and

attorney general. my story could end their but this is america. and so in 2005, a simple son of promise was appointed by president bush and confirmed by the u.s. senate as a federal judge. [applause] i saw my court room the fulfillment of all that our forefathers sought to create, a nation of laws and a process and merit and justice for all. and yes, a nation of immigrants. one of the greatest duties i performed was to administer the oath of citizenship to new rec -- new americans, immigrants to embody our dream of opportunity and prosperity. from the federal bench, and also saw an nation beset on all sides

by unprecedented challenges. i watched my state's economy falter, stagnate, and slide into decline. the batons lost their jobs -- nevadans lost their jobs in their homes. it was hard hit by the recession. highest foreclosure and bankruptcy rate. like so many, i looked around for help and what did i find? a president who promised change but turned instead to the same tired strategy of ever larger government. a president who abandoned hope and embraced only blame. i stepped down from a lifetime appointment to make a difference. i ran for governor, was elected, and like republican governors across this nation, i chose to make the tough decisions.

on issues like economic development, education reform, and redesigning how state government operates. on job creation, and reducing state spending and eliminating red tape. it has not been easy. we're not through it yet. but i put my faith in the people of my great state because they are the ones who will grow our economy. [applause] i have seen hispanic business owners and families from backgrounds not unlike my own struggling in this economy. i have seen young children from all walks of life began to wonder if their future holds any hope at all. make no mistake. the current administration's failed experiment with big government gets in the way of economic recovery.

their love affair with government regulation is a drag on business confidence. from personal experience, i can tell you what will help states like nevada and families like mine elect the team that understands how to get america working again. send mitt romney and paul ran to the white house. -- paul ryan to the white house. [applause] this administration sings the siren song that this is all there is. they say government is the answer, but we know it is the problem. they tell us why did not build our businesses, but somebody else made it happen. they tell us not to dream, but to settle. you and i know america is better than that. our national story is one of confronting challenges and

winning. we have overcome economic devastation, defeated mighty oppressors, and lifted up generations after generations of americans. we can and we will do it again. for that is our birthright as members of the american family. white, black, hispanic, asian, immigrant, or descendant of the founding fathers themselves. [applause] we must leave tampa this week on a mission to remind americans they deserve more than the status quo. they deserve to dream big. we must remind americans that the promise of opportunity remains unbroken, that every person in this great nation can succeed through hard work,

courage, and personal responsibility. for that is the real american story. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] now have the privilege of introducing to you one of those hispanic business owners that i mentioned are struggling in this economy. mr. phil archuleta of the great state of new mexico. [applause] >> thank you, governor and thank you, tampa. [applause] my story is the story of many americans. just like governor sent a ball

-- sandoval's. from humble beginnings, and build a successful business. -- i built a successful business. for 40 years, my company [inaudible] in fact, in 1984, i was fortunate to receive the national award from president reagan for being the most successful minority business in the united states. in 2004, president bush made it possible for our companies to manufacture all the signs for federal agencies. when president obama came on board, he pushed the stimulus. i believed my business was going to explode with work.

unfortunately, it did not happen. the democratic congress and the obama administration created a new procurement process harms existing small businesses contracts, which devastated my business. i pleaded for my congressmen and senators, all democrats and meetings were arranged with the forest service. they all listened carefully. they made promises but nothing ever happened. today, i am barely hanging on with orders from the state of new mexico. thanks to governor cézanne martinez -- suzanna martinez and orders that are coming through

the forest service from very loyal customers. i have heard these things -- the same story from other small businesses all over the country. president obama talks like he supports small businesses, but his actions are destroying us. his illustrations as putting us out of business. it is our turn to put them out of office. thank you. >> there are always going to be bumps on the road to recovery.

>> i am an american, not above in the road. i am an american, not a bump in the road. >> i am an american, not a bump in the road. >> i am an american, not a bump in the road. >> i am an american, not a bomb in the road. >> i am an american, not a bump in the road. >> we are americans, not a bump in the road. >> i am an american, not a bomb in the road. -- bump in the road. >> i am an american. ping]lap

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome rick santorum. [applause] whathank you. thank you. [applause] thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. it is -- thank you. bless you. thank you, pennsylvania. it is a great honor for me to be here tonight with the love my wife karen over here -- of my

wife karen over here and my 93- year-old mother from florida. and some of our children. my oldest son, john, wanted to be here tonight, but he is a first-year cadet at the citadel. i want to say to you, john, proud of you, son. thank you -- thank you. i am a first-generation american. at the age of seven, my dad came from -- to johnstown, pa. from the mountains of northern italy. on a ship named providence. how providential that one day, his son would announce for president just down the road, from the deep mines were hurt -- his father, my grandfather, my cold -- mined coal until he was

72. when my grandfather died, i remember as a kid kneeling at his casket, and not being able to take my eyes off his thick, strong hands. hands that dug his path in life and gave his family a chance at living the american dream. working in the minds may not have been the dream he ever may not -- inth the mines have the -- have been the dream he ever dreamed. i did not ask him. america give him more than he ever hoped. america believed in him. that is why he believed in america. [applause] my grandfather, like millions of other immigrants, did not come here for some government

guarantee of income equality, or government benefits to take care of his family. in 1923, there were no government benefits for immigrants except one. freedom. under president obama, the dream of freedom and opportunity has become a nightmare of dependency, with almost half of our receiving some sort of government assistance. it is no surprise fewer and fewer americans are achieving their dreams and more and more parents are concerned their children will not realize there's. -- theirs. president obama spent four years and are of five trillion dollars try to convince you that he could make -- borrowed $5 trillion to try to convince you that he could make things different.

and you could trust the government to take care of every problem. the results, and limit growth, and millions more unemployed. -- anemic growth, and millions more unemployed. that is not how america works. in america, we believe in freedom and the responsibility that comes with it to work hard to make the dream of reaching our god-given potential come true. we believe get -- it, because it still works, even today. graduate from high school, work hard, and get married before you have children and the chance you will ever be in poverty is just 2%. yet, if you do not do these three things, you are 38 times more likely to end up in

poverty. we understand many americans do not succeed because the family that should be there to guide them and serve as the first wrong -- rung on the ladder of success is not there or is badly broken. the fact is that marriage is disappearing in places where government dependency is the highest. most single mothers do heroic work at an amazing job -- and an amazing job raising their children. [applause] if america is going to succeed, we must stop the assault on marriage and the family in america today. [applause]

from lowering taxes to reforming social programs, mitt romney and paul ryan are dedicated to restoring the home where married moms and dads are pillars of strong communities raising good citizens in our neighborhoods. [applause] a solid education should be the second rung on the letters to success. but the system is failing. president obama's solution has been to deny parents choice, attack private schools, and nationalize curriculum and student loans. mitt romney believes that parents at the local community must be in charge of our schools not to it -- in charge of our schools, not to the department of education. [applause] yeah, we all know there is one

key to success -- yet, we all know there is one key to success that has helped people overcome the greatest of obstacles. hard work. that was why hard work was the centerpiece of the law. requiring work succeeded and not just because the welfare rolls were cut in half. but because employment went up, poverty went down, and dreams were realized. it is a sturdy ladder of success that is built with healthy families, education, and hard work. policies obama's undermine the traditional family, weaken the education system, and he showed us once again he believes in government

handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare. i helped write the welfare reform bill. we made a lot crystal clear. no president can waive the work requirement, but as with his refusal to enforce our immigration laws, president obama rose like he is above the law. -- rules like he is above the law. [applause] americans, take heed. when a president can simply give a speech or write a memo and changed the lot to do what the law says he cannot do -- the law to do with the law says -- what the law says he can do, will not be a republic. -- we will not be a republic.

yet as my family and i crisscrossed america, something became so obvious to us. america is still the greatest country in the world and with god's help, and good leadership, we can restore the american dream. why? because i held its hand. i shook the hand of the american dream, and it has a strong grip. i shook the hand of farmers and ranchers who made america the breadbasket of the world. hands, weathered and worn and proud of it. i grasped the dirty hand with scars that come from years of labor in the oil and gas fields,

mines and mills, hands the power and build america and our stores of the abundant resources that god has given us. i have grouped hands of that work in restaurants and hotels, hospitals, banks, and restores. hens that serve and care for all of us. i clasped hands with men and women in uniform and their families. hands that sacrificed and risked all to protect and keep us free and hands that pray for their safe return home. [applause] i held hands that are in want, hands looking for the dignity of a good job. hands growing weary of not

finding one a refusing to give up hope. finally tell -- finally, i cradled the little, broken hands of the disabled. hands that struggle, hands that bring pain to my hands that enable us -- ennoble us and bring great joy. they came to see as. they came to see is when they found out that karen and i were blessed with caring for someone special, too. i stood for a half years ago over a hospital isolette,

staring at the tiny hands of our newborn daughter who we hope was perfectly healthy. were just aands little different, and i knew that different was not good is. the doctors later tallest -- told us that she was incompatible with life and to be prepared to let go. they said, even if she did survive, disabilities would be so severe that she would not have the life worth living. we did not let go. [applause] today, bella is full of life as

she has made our lives and countless others' much more worth living. [applause] i thank god that america still has one party that reaches out their hand in love to lift up all of god's children, born and unborn. [cheers and applause] and we say that each of us has

dignity. and all of us have the right to live the american dream. [applause] wilson say that without you, without you, -- we also say that without you, america is not keeping faith with the extreme, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. [cheers and applause] where students of the great inheritance.

in november, we have a chance to vote for life and liberty, and a dependency. a vote for mitt romney and paul ryan will put our country back in the hands of leaders who understand what american can and for the sake of our children, must be to keep the dream alive. thank you and god bless you. god bless america. thank you. >> please welcome the next u.s. senator from the great city texas, -- state of texas, ted cruz. >> good evening. i have the honor of standing before you this evening for one

reason. because thousands and thousands of grass-roots activists stood united. but for theandidate tha sake of liberty. [no audio] we're seeing something extraordinary. something that has dumbfounded the chattering class'. it began in 2010 right here in florida. in utah, in kentucky, and in pennsylvania. it continues this summer in the state of indiana, in nebraska, in wisconsin, and in the lone star state.

we are seeing a great awakening, a national movement of we the people, brought together by what unites them. they share love of liberty and an understanding of the unlimited potential of free men and free women. i want to tell you love story. it is the story of all of us, is a love story of freedom. is the story of our founding fathers who fought and bled for freedom and crafted the most reckless political document ever conceived. the framers understood that our rights come not from marks but from god. and those rights to secure only

when government power is restrained. it is the story of the brave ana inwhen general santa demanded they haven't -- hand over the guns. they responded with the immortal cry caught come over and take it. -- the immortal cry, come over and take it. it is the story of the greatest generation, who rose up to confront the grotesque table that was the nazis and who ushered in the greatest era of peace and prosperity the world has ever seen. is the story of civil-rights pioneers like dr. martin luther king who stood up to the surge

of discretion. and bravely championed that each of us must be judged not by the color of our skin, but the content of our character. it is the story of president ronald reagan who turned back the growth of government and restored morning in america. who stood up against the oppressive evil of communism and demanded, mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. it is the story of my mom. irish and italian working- class, the first in her family ever to go to college. she became a pioneering computer

programmer in the 1950's. it is the story of my father, imprisoned and tortured in cuba, beaten nearly to death. he fled to texas in 1957, not speaking english, with $100 sewn into his underwear. he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour to pay its way through college and to start a small business in the oil and gas industry. my father is here today. when he came to america, [speaking spanish] he had nothing, but he had heard. a hard for freedom. thank you, dad. -- a heart for freedom.

of each andhe story everyone of you. where are the sons and daughters that risk everything for freedom and each of us has the duty to pass that seem liberty on to the next generation. and yet today, many in washington seem content to settle for crushing debt and a limited future. we're going broke. i'm here today with a word of encouragement. millions of americans are standing up saying, we want our country back. republicans, democrats,

independents. we will not go down the path of greece. we will not go quietly into the night. president obama is immensely talented and a man of deep conviction and get his economic agenda is perilous indeed. this election presents a stark choice. we can continue down the road of the aba, democrats, more and more spending, debt, and government control, or we can return to the principles of our nation. free markets, fiscal responsibility, and individual liberty. [applause] unfortunately, president obama's campaign is trying to divide

america. to separate us into groups. telling seniors, medicare will be taken away. telling hispanics that we are not welcome here. and sending the vice-president to preach a message of division. it is tragic how far we have come from hope and change. all this is designed to distract from the real issues that matter. 23 million americans struggling to find work. 16 trillion dollars in national debt and government takeovers of much of our economy. imagine for a moment, if someone surreptitiously charged thousands of dollars on your credit cards, settling your kids with debts they could never escape, my wife and i are blessed with two little girls.

caroline and kathrin, four and one trade when caroline was born, our national debt was $10 trillion. today, as the debt clock shares, is $16 trillion. larger than our gross domestic product. how do we turn our nation around? president obama thinks the answer is more and more government. government is not the answer. [applause] you're not doing anyone a favor by creating dependency. destroying individual responsibility. when my dad was a penniless

teenager, thank god some well- meaning bureaucrats did not put his arm around him and say, let me take care of you. let me give you a government check and make you depended on government. do not bother learning english. that would have been utterly destructive. instead, my parents worked together to build a small business, to provide for their families, and to chart their own future. that is the american dream. mitt romney and paul ryan understand the government does not create jobs. all entrepreneurs do. two-thirds of all new jobs that are -- in our economy, from small businesses and 2.3 million hispanics own small businesses.

and yet, this administration has waged a war on small businesses. a war that is costing our future and our opportunity. i want to close by asking a few questions. with apologies to barack obama. can we restore the constitution? yes, we can. can we retake the senate? can we repeal obamacare? and can we defeat president barack obama? [applause]

stand together with mitt romney and paul ryan. restore the american love story. that, my friends, is change we can believe in. thank you and god bless you. [applause]

>> please welcome to the republican party, former democratic congressman archer davis -- artour davis. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. thank you so much for that warm welcome. thank you so much. last time i spoke at a convention i was in the wrong place. so tampa, my fellow republicans, thank you for welcoming me where i belong. thank you. we have to get off the shelf.

we have to get on with the show because we have a country to turn around. this very night, you nominated the most experienced executive to seek the presidency in years. he has no illusions seep -- illusions. he does not confuse the presidency. what a difference four years makes. negative adsrats' -- his record convinces me he knows how to lead and we need more. and now, america is the land of second chances and i gather in this close race to have room for

the estimated 6 million of us who got it wrong in 2008 and one to fix it. maybe we should have known that night in denver that things that began with styrofoam, greek columns, and artificial smoke typically do not end well. maybe the hollywood stars and the glamour blinded as a little. you thought it was the clear, some of us thought it was a halo. -- glare, some of us thought it was a halo. do you know why so many of us believe we lead with our heart and our dreams that we could be more inclusive than america had ever been and no candidate had ever spoken so beautifully.

so many of those high flown words have faded. remember, my friends, the president saying of negative politics and in true ads, not this time? who knew not this time just meant, not unless the economy is stuck and we cannot run on our record. remember when the president said of his own election, this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to swell and our planet -- who knew the plain english of up that was, middle america, get ready to shell out $60 to fill up your car. and their crown jewel

legislative the chief men -- an achievement, who knew that government could impose a federal mandate requiring middle class americans to buy health insurance whether they could afford it or not, that the obama answer would be, yes we can. so this time, in the name of 22 million of our parents and children and brothers and sisters who are officially unemployed or underemployed, or who have stopped looking for work, let's start creating jobs again. this time cannot instead of moving motions and healing planets, let's pay our bills down and pay down the debt on the wall so it can control our future. -- we can control our own

future. and of course, we know that opportunity lies outside the reach of some of our people. we do not need floury words about inequality to tell us that. and we do not need a party that has led while poverty rose to record levels to give us lectures about suffering. ladies and gentlemen, there are americans who are listening to the speech right now who have not always been with you. i wanted to let me talk just to them for a moment. i know how loaded up our politics is with anger and animosity. i'd have to believe we can make a case over the raised voices. there are americans now who voted for the president but they are searching right now because they know that their votes did not build the country they wanted.

to those democrats and independents, whose minds are open to argument, listen closely to the democratic party that will gather in charlotte, and ask yourself if you hear your voice in the clamor. ask yourself if these democrats still speak for you. when they say we have a duty to grow government, even when we cannot afford it, does it sound like compassion to you? or does this sound like recklessness? when you hear the party that glorified occupy wall street, when you hear that minimize the genius of the men and women who make jobs out of nothing, is that when you teach your children about work? when they tell you america is this an unequaled place where the powerful trample on the powerless, does that sound like the country your children or your spouse risk their lives for in iraq or afghanistan?

do either recognize the america they're talking about? -- do you recognize the merit that they are talking about? what can we say about a house that does not honor the pictures on its walls. john kennedy asked us what can we do for america? do not worry about the bills. bill clinton took on his base and made welfare thing you have to work for. this current crowd that's the work requirement in the dead of night and will not tell the truth about it. bill clinton, jack kennedy, and lyndon johnson reached across the aisle and said, meet me in the middle, but their party ran through a health care bill that took over one sixth of our our economy -- of our economy without accepting a single republican idea, without winning a single vote in either house

from a party whose constituents make up half of this country. the democrats used to have a night when they presented a film of their presidential legends. if they do it in charlotte, the theme song should be "now you're just somebody that i used to know." my fellow americans, when great athletes falter, their coaches sometimes whisper to them, " remember who you are." calling to their greatest at a time when their bodies and spirit are to sapped to remember their strength, this sweet, blessed god-inspired place called america is a champion that has absorbed some blows, but we bend, we do not break.

this is no dark hour. hour.sn ono dark this is the dawn before we remember who we are. maybe said of this time in our history, 2008, to 2011, lesson learned. 2012, mystics corrected. god bless you. god bless you, tampa. god bless you, america. let's take this country back. thank you so much. >> representing the pellett estate, please give a warm welcome to gov. -- palmetto state, please give a warm

welcome to gov. nicky haley of south carolina. >> of south carolina. -- i love south carolina. i am the proud daughter of indian immigrants to reminded my brothers, my sister, and me how blessed we were to live in this country. they loved the fact that only in america we could be as successful as we wanted to be and nothing would stand in our way. my parents started a business out of the living room of their home and 30 + years later, it was a multimillion-dollar company. there was not a single day that it was easy and it was not a single day that my mom and dad did not put everything they had into making that business. president obama, with all due respect, do not tell me that my parents did not build their business.

[applause] almost 45 years after my parents first became americans, i stand before you and then tonight as the proud governor of south carolina. [applause] we build things in the palmetto state. we have three of the four largest tire producers in the world and we're about to become the no. 1 producing state in the country. "the wall street journal" says anyone who is thinking the u.s. has lost its chops has not been to south carolina. we have so much potential and so much to be proud of. but like so many states, we have our challenges. whether they be on employment or education or poverty, and like

so many of my governors, i work day in and day out to try to improve the lives of the the people of my state, and, sadly, the hardest part of my job continues to be this federal government. this administration, and this president. [applause] as i said to my parents love it when they came to america. if you worked hard, the only things that could stop you were the limits you placed on yourself. unfortunately, these past few years, you could work hard. try to be as successful as possible, follow the rules, and president barack obama will do everything he can to stand in your way. south carolina recently passed one of the most innovative illegal immigration laws in the country. what did this president who has

failed to secure our borders and address this issue in any way do? he sued us. if this president refuses to secure our borders, refuses to protect our citizens from the dangers of illegal immigration, and states have to take it upon ourselves. we said in south carolina that come at you have to show a bit friday to buy a sudafed, to set foot on an airplane, then you should have to show a picture i.d. to protect one of the most available, more central rights in america, the right to vote. [cheers and applause] and what happened? president obama stopped us.

and now we come to the most unbelievable of them all. in 2009, south carolina was blessed to welcome a great american company that chose to stay in our country, to continue to do business. that company was selling -- was eing. it gave our state a shot in the arm when we needed it. at the same time, they expanded their numbers in washington state. not a single person was hurt by their decision. not one. and what did president obama and his national relations board do? they sued this iconic american company. it was shameful. and not worthy of the promise of america.

but we did one of the things we do best in south carolina. we got loud. we are fighters in south carolina. we watched an amazing thing happened. you fought with us. and guess what. we won. a few months ago, high set on the tarmac in north charleston and watched as a new mac daddy plane rolled onto the runway, sporting a "made with pride in south carolina" decal and surrounded by 6000 non-union employees, a cheering and smiling and so proud of what they had built. [cheers and applause]

we deserve a president who will not sacrifice american jobs and american workers to pacify his bullying -- american businesses ideserve a government that does not stand in their way. fighting american ingenuity and innovation, that is what this president has meant to this governor. that is why this governor will not stop fighting until we send him home, back to chicago, and send it and ann -- and send mitt and ann romney to 1600 pennsylvania avenue. [cheers and applause] i have had the pleasure of knowing mitt romney for several years. there is so much to appreciate about him. he fixes things'. he is results-driven. he has taken companies and made

them successful p.m. he took the solid olympics and made it a pride of this country. and, by the way, he actually balanced his budget. [applause] this is a man at peace with who he is, with the challenges he faces, and with what he it -- what he intends to accomplish. this is not just a candidate looking to win an election. but a leader yearning to return our nation back to its potential. this is a man who has a silver bullet, his greatest asset by far, the first lady of the united states -- the next first lady of the united states ann romney. ann is the perfect combination

of strength and grace. she does what some many women in america do. she balances in an exceptional way. she raised five amazing boys, battled ms, is a breast cancer survivor. through it all, she was a true partner to mitt. ann romney makes all women proud by the way she has conducted her life, by a strong woman of faith, as a mother, as a wife, and as a true patriot. she is an amazing inspiration to me and for some many women across the country. [cheers and applause] not too long ago, i traveled to campaign for the romney's. toward the end of the day, two self-described independents came up to me and said, we like what we hear about governor romney. although we don't know everything about him, what we do know, without a doubt, is that

we deserve better than what we have today. [cheers and applause] they are so right. we deserve a president who will turn our economy around. we deserve a president who will balance our budget. we deserve a president who will reform and protect our retirement programs for future generations. we deserve a president who will fight for american companies, not against them. [applause] we deserve a president who will strengthen our military, not destabilize them. [applause] america deserves better than what we have today. we deserve a president mitt romney. [cheers and applause] thank you. god bless you.

he continued to bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] please welcome to the stage the first lady of puerto rico, who pay for to know -- lupe fortuno. >> evening. my name is luce and it is great to be here with you tonight. i am the proud mother of 20- year-old triplets. i am a practicing attorney, a very proud latina, and a die- hard republican. [cheers and applause] i am also the wife of someone we are extremely proud of back home

in puerto rico, luis portuno. as governor, he has unleashed a true revolution that has already accomplished very much did it is the success story of fiscal responsibility, control government spending, lower taxes, and pro-growth policies. but it is also one of caring and compassionate attention to its social and faith-based agenda of unprecedented reach and consequence. through it all, i have stood by his side. i know what it takes to the the rough of support to a great leader, just like our next speaker has done for 43 years for our next president mitt romney. [cheers and applause] ann's story is one of remarkable

courage, tenacity, perseverance, and commitment. a story that stands in its own right, one that inspires all who know her. a woman of faith, a devoted wife, a caring mother to five boys, a multiple sclerosis and cancer fervor, a tireless advocate and a timeless first lady of massachusetts. [applause] for decades, she has been a fighter who has championed the cause of abandoned children, has been an advocate of teenage pregnancy prevention, of community-based initiatives, and multiple sclerosis awareness. watching her in a recent visit to puerto rico, i marvel that her ability to endear children come to connect with the

elderly, and in gauge workers at a farmers' market with such ease -- and engage workers at a farmers' market with such ease that it made many wonder who was that hanson gentleman next to her. [laughter] no wonder she has been mitt romney's secret weapon for 40 years. ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you my friend and the next first lady of the united states ann romney. [cheers and applause]

>> hello! what a welcome. [cheers and applause] thank you. and thank you, luce. i cannot wait to see what we will all do together. this will be so exciting! [cheers and applause] just so you all know, the hurricane has hit landfall and i

think we shall take this moment and recognize that fellow americans are in its path and just hope and pray that all remain safe and that no life is lost and no property is lost. we should all be thankful for this great country and great hope for our first responders to keep us safe in this wonderful country. [applause] well, i want to talk to you tonight not about politics and not about party. while there are many important issues that we will hear discussed in this convention and throughout this campaign tonight, i want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts. [cheers and applause] i want to talk about not what

divides us, but what holds us together as an american family. i want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one great thing that brings us to our greatest joy when times are good and the deepest solace in our dark hours. tonight, i want to talk to you about love. i want to talk to you about the deep and abiding love i have for a man i met at a dance many years ago. and the profound love i have and i know we share for this country. i want to talk to you about that love so deep, only a mother can fathom it. a love that we have for our children and our children's children. and i want us to think tonight about the love we shared for those americans, our brothers and our sisters, who are going through difficult times, whose

days are never easy and nights are always long and his work never seems done. they're here with us tonight in this hall. they are here in neighborhoods across tampa and all across america. the parents who lie awake at night, side by side, wondering how they will pay the mortgage or make the rent. the single dad who is working extra hours tonight so that his kids can buy new clothes for school, can take a school trip or play a sport. so his kids can feel, you know, just like other kids. and the working moms who love their jobs, but would like to work justin little less to spend more time with the kids, but that is just out of the question with this economy. or how about that coupled with like to have another child but wonder how they will be able to afford it? i have been all across this country and i know a lot of you guys. [cheers and applause]

and i have seen and heard stories of how hard it is to get ahead now. you know what? i have heard your voice is. they have said to me i am running in place and we just cannot get ahead. sometimes, i think that, late at night, if we were all silent for just a few moments and listened carefully, we could hear a collective sigh from the moms and dads across america who made it through another day and know that they will make it through another one tomorrow. but in the end of that a moment, they are just not sure how. and if you listen carefully, you'll hear the women find a little bit more than the men. it is how would this, isn't it? it is the moms who have always had to work a little harder to make everything right. it is the mom's of this nation, single, married, widowed, who really hold the country together. we are the mothers. we are the wives.

we're the grandmothers. we're the big sisters. we are the little sisters and we are the daughters. you know it's true, don't you? [cheers and applause] i love you, women! [cheers and applause] s.d i hear your voice i those are my favorite fans down there. you are the ones who have to do a little bit more and you know what it is like to earn a little bit harder earn the respect you deserve at work and then come home to help with the book report just because it has to be done. you know what those late-night phone calls with an elderly parent are like. you know what it's like to go to the emergency room and which doctor answers the phone call when you call at night and i know all about that.

you know what it is like to sit in a graduation ceremony and wonder how it was that so many long days turned into years that went by so quickly. you are the best of america. [applause] you -- [cheers and applause] you are the hope of america. there would not be an america without you. tonight, we salute you and sing your praises! [cheers and applause] i am not sure if men really in a stand this, but i don't think there is a woman in america who really expected live to be easy. in our own ways, we all know better. that is fine. we don't want easy. but the last few years have been hotter than they needed to be. it is all the little things, the

price of the pump you could not believe and the grocery store bill that is bigger good all the things that used to be easy, like high-school sports are now one more bill to pay. the little things become the big things. and the big things, the kids going to college and the home you want to buy have become harder. everything has become harder. we are too smart and know that there are no easy answers. but we are not dumb enough to know that there are not better answers. [cheers and applause] and that is where this boy that i met at a high school dance comes in. his name is mitt romney and you should really get to know him. [cheers and applause] i could tell you about him again he was tall and laugh a lot. he was nervous.

girls like that. he was nice to my parents. he was also really glad when they were not around. [laughter] i don't mind that. but more than anything, he made me laugh. some of you might not know this, but i am the granddaughter of a welsh coal miner. [applause] he was determined that his kids get out of the mines. my dad got his first spot in a little village in wales. cleaning bottles. when he was 15, dad came to america. in our country, he saw hope and opportunity to escape from poverty. he moved to a small town in the great state of michigan. [cheers and applause] michigan! [cheers and applause] there he started a business, one he built by himself, by the way.

[laughter] [cheers and applause] he raised a family and he became mayor of our town. my dad would remind my brothers and me how fortunate we were to grow up anyplace like america. he wanted us to have every opportunity that came with life in this country. he pushed us to be our best and to give our all appeared inside the houses that line the streets in downtown, there were a lot of fathers teaching their sons and daughters the same values good one of those ads was my future father-in-law, george romney. [applause] this data never graduated from college. instead, he became a carpenter. he worked hard and then he became the governor of michigan. when we fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in a way of our future. i was episcopalian and he was

morning. we were both in college. -- he was mormon. we were both in college. there were many reasons to wait. but we just didn't care. we got married and moved into a basement apartment. [cheers and applause] we walked to class together, eight a lot of pasta and tuna fish. our dining room table was a pull down dining board in the kitchen. but those were the best days. then our first son came along. all at once, a 22-year-old who was going to business school and law school at the same time, probably like every other girl who finds herself in a new life far from family and friends with a new baby and a new husband, it dawned on me that i had absolutely no idea what i was getting into. [laughter]

that was 42 years ago. i survived. we now have five sons and 18 beautiful grandchildren. [cheers and applause] i am still in love with that boy that i met at a high school bands and he still makes me laugh. [cheers and applause] i read somewhere that mitt and i have a storybook marriage. well, let me tell you something. in the storybooks i read, there never were long, long rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once and the storybooks never calledto have chapter's m.s. or breast cancer. this storybook marriage? nope, not at all. what mitt romney and i have is a real marriage. [cheers and applause]

i know the good and decent man for what he is. he has tried to live his life with a set of values based on family, faith, and one of service to his fellow man. i have seen him work several of -- several hours. he has been there for late-night calls of panic from a member of our church with a child taken to the hospital. you may not agree on his issues on politics. massachusetts is only 13% republican, so it is not a shock to me. [laughter] but let me say this to every american who is thinking about who should be our next president.

no one will work harder. no one will care more. and no one will move heaven and earth like mitt romney to make this country a better place to live. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] it's true that mitt has been successful at each news

challenge he has taken on. i know that he has been attacked. as a mom, do we want to to raise their children afraid of success? do we send our children out in the world with the advice tried to do okay? >> know! >> and let's be honest. if the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on mitt romney's success? >> no! >> of course not. he would be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world. he had to loving parents who taught him the value of work. he had the chance to get the education his father never had. but, as his partner in this amazing journey, i can tell you mitt romney was not handed success. he built it. [cheers and applause]

[chanting] mitt!'s go itt!s go, m >> he stayed in massachusetts and got a job. i was there when he had a small group of friends talking about starting a new company. i was there when they struggled and wondered if the whole idea was just not going to work. his reaction was to work harder and press on. today, the company has become another great american success story. has it made those who started the company successful beyond their dreams? yes, it has. it allowed us to give our sons a chance at good educations and made those long hours of the reports and homework worth every

minute. it has given us the deep satisfaction of being able to help others in ways that we could never have imagined. this is important. i want you to hear what i am going to say. mitt does not like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point. [cheers and applause] we are no different than the millions of americans who quietly help their neighbors, their churches and their communities. they don't do it so that others will think more of them. they do it because there is no greater joy. be it and it shall be given unto you.

-- give and it shall be given unto you. [cheers and applause] but because this is america, that small company that helped so many lead better lives, the company that grew from the risk, that has helped fund scholarships, pensions and retirement funds. this is the genius of america. dreams fulfilled, help others launch new dreams. [cheers and applause] at every turn in his life, this man that i met at a high school dance has helped lift the others feared he did it with the olympics when others wanted to give up. he did it in massachusetts where he guided the state.

the massachusetts school for the best in the nation. the best. [cheers and applause] he started something that i really love it. he started the john and abigail adams scholarship which gives the top 25% of high-school graduates a four-year tuition- free scholarship. [cheers and applause] this is the man america needs. [cheers and applause] this is a man who will wake up every day with the determination to solve the problems that others say cannot be solved, to fix those who say will be beyond repair, this is the man who will work harder than anyone so that we can work a little less hard. i cannot tell you what will happen or the next four years. but i can only stand here tonight as a wife and a mother and a grandmother, an american, and make you this solemn

commitment. this man will not fail. [cheers and applause] this man will not let us down. this man will lift up america. it has been 47 years since that tall, kind charming young man brought me home from their first dance. not every day since has been easy. but he still makes me laugh and never once did i ever have the reason to doubt that i was the luckiest woman tonight. i said tonight that i wanted to talk to you about love. looking to your heart's. -- look into your hearts.

this is our country. this is our future. these are our children and grandchildren. you can trust mitt. [cheers and applause] he loves america. he will take us to a better place, just as he took me home safely from that dance. give him that chance. did america that chance. god bless each and everyone of you and god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] ♪

[playing "my girl"] ♪ >> what do you like about being governor? >> my favorite thing is that every day i get a chance to do something great. i don't do something great every day. but i have a chance every day to do something great. >> chris is such a jersey boy.

he wants the rest of the country to know how great new jersey is. >> what you see is what you get. >> a high level of integrity. >> there is no one above the law. there is no one is immune to the law. >> i was a prosecutor for seven years. i don't pretend that i have all the answers. but i know how to make decisions and how to make things happen. i think that, if folks believe they have a group of leaders that will said to them that this is necessary, it needs to be done, i think the american people and the people of new jersey are willing to tell -- willing to hear the truth. >> he has taken this state that was going downhill. chris christi gets a lot of the credit. >> thank you for giving me the greatest privilege i am sure i will ever have in my life, and that is to be the governor to the place i wasn't born and

raised and live. i will walk in the door and still shake my head. i do every time. how the hell did this happen? >> "the new york times" calls you one of the most intriguing political figures of our time. >> go figure. i got sent you to do a job. i am passionate about what i believe in and i also think that the public needs to be treated like adults. thank you very much. i appreciate that. thank you so much. my mother had a very direct way about her. one of the things used to say to me all the time was just be yourself. because then, tomorrow, you will

not have to worry about remembering who you pretended to be yesterday. sometimes, people will like you and sometimes they won't. but be who you are. and so this is who i am. [applause] ♪ >> thank you! [cheers and applause] thank you! thank you all very much. thank you. well, this stage and this

moment are very improbable for me. a new jersey republican. [laughter] delivering the keynote address to our national convention. [applause] from a state with 700,000 more democrats than republicans. a new jersey republican stand before you tonight proud of my party, proud of my a state, and her out of my country -- and proud of my country's. of an irish father and a sicilian mother. hmhome and father was gregariou.

in the automobile of love, dad was just a passenger. mom was the driver. they both lived hard lives. dad grew up in poverty. and after returning from army service, he worked at the briers ice-cream plant in the 1950's. it was that job and the g.i. bill. he put himself through rutgers university at night to be the first person in his family to earn a college degree. our first family picture was on his graduation day with my mom beaming next to him pregnant with me. mom also came from nothing. she was raised by a single mother who took three different buses every day to get to work. and mom spent the time that she

was supposed to be a kid actually raising children, her younger brother and younger sister. she was tough as nails and did not suffer fools at all. the truth was she could not afford to. she spoke the truth, bluntly, directly and without much garnish. i am her son. [cheers and applause] i was her son as a listened to the darkness on the edge of town with my high school friends on the jersey shore. i was her son when i moved into that studio apartment wutith ma. i watched with pride as a guard

daughters marched with their soccer teams in the labor day parade -- and i am still her son with the rules the she taught parts andeak from the har to stick to your principles. the greatest lesson she taught me was this one. she told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose. between being loved and being respected. she said to always pick being respected. she told me that love without respect was always fleeting, but that respect could grow into real and lasting love. of course, she was talking about women. [laughter] but i have learned over time that it applies just as much to leadership. in fact, i think that advice applies to america more than ever today. [applause]

uc, i believe we have become paralyzed by our desire to be loved. our founding fathers had the wisdom to know that social acceptance and popularity were fleeing. and that this country's principles needed to be rooted in strengths > the passions and emotions of the times. but our leaders of today have decided to be popular, to say and do what is easy come to say yes rather than to say no when know is what is required -- when no is what is required. [applause] in recent years, we, as a country, have too often chosen the same path. it is easy for our leaders to say not us, not now in taking on the tough issues. and we have stood silently by and let them get away with it. but tonight, i say enough.

[cheers and applause] tonight, i say it together, let's make a much different choice. tonight, we are speaking up for ourselves and stepping up. tonight, we're beginning to do what is right and necessary to make america great again. [cheers and applause] we are demanding that our leaders stop tearing each other down and work together to take action on the big things facing america. tonight, we will do what my mother taught me. tonight, we will choose respect over love. we are not afraid. we are not afraid. we are taking our country back because we are the great- grandchildren of the men and women who broke their backs in the name of american ingenuity,

grandchildren of the greatest generation, the sons and daughters of immigrants, the brothers and sisters of everyday heroes, the neighbors of the entrepreneurs and firefighters, teachers and farmers, veterans and factory workers and everyone in between who shows up, not just on the big days for the good days, but on the bad days and the hard days. each and every day. all 365 of them. you see, we are the united states of america. [cheers and applause] now, it is up to us. we must lead the way our citizens live, to lead as my mother insisted i live, not by avoiding truth, especially the hard ones, but by facing up to

them and being better for it. we cannot afford to do anything less. i know this because this was the challenge in new jersey. when i came into office, i could continue on the same path of wealth and jobs and people leaving our state. or i could do the job the people elected me to do, to do the big things. there were those who said it could not be done, that the problems were too big, too politically charged and two broken to fix. but we were on a path we could no longer afford to follow. they said that it was impossible. they told me that it was impossible to cut taxes where taxes were raised 18 times before became governor, that it was impossible to balance the budget at the same time with $11 billion in deficit. but three years later, we have three balanced budgets in a row with lower taxes. we did it. [cheers and applause]

they said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics, to take on the public- sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy. but with bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers 130 two billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions. we did it. [cheers and applause] they said that it was impossible to speak the truth to the teachers' union. [laughter] they were just too powerful. real tenure reform that the man's accountability and and the guarantee of a job for life regardless of performance, they said it would never happen. but for the first time in 100

years, with bipartisan support, you know the answer. we did it. [cheers and applause] now the disciples of yesterday's politics, they always underestimate the will of the people. they assumed our people were selfish. the difficult problems, the tough choices and the complicated solutions, but they would simply turn their backs. that they would decide it was every man for himself. they were wrong. the people of new jersey stepped up. they shared in the sacrifice. in what else they did? they're rewarded politicians who led instead of politicians who pandered. [cheers and applause] but you know, we shouldn't be

surprised. we shouldn't be surprised did we have never been a country to shy away from the truth. our history shows that we stand up when it counts. and it is this quality that has defined our significance in the world. i know this simple truth and i am not afraid to say it. our ideas are right for america and their ideas have failed america. [cheers and applause] let me be clear with the american people tonight. here is what we believe as republicans and what they believe as democrats. we believe in telling hardworking families the truth about our country's fiscal reality, telling them what they already know, the mass of federal spending does not add up. with $5 trillion in debt added over the last four years, we have no other option but to make the hard choices, cut federal

spending and fundamentally reduce the size of this government. [cheers and applause] want to know what they believe? they believe that the american people want to hear the truth about the state of our fiscal difficulties. they believe the american people need to be coddled by big government. they believe the american people are content to live the line with them. they are wrong. we believe in telling our seniors the truth about our overburdened entitlements. we know seniors not only want these programs to survive, but they just as badly want them secured for their grandchildren. our seniors are not children. [applause] here is what they believe.

they believe seniors will always put themselves ahead of their grandchildren. and here's what they do. they prey on their vulnerabilities and scare them with misinformion for the single cenacle purpose of winning the next election. here is their plan. winslet happy tune while driving us off a fiscal cliff -- whistle a happy tune while f.iving us off a fiscal clif we believe that the majority of teachers in america know that our system must be reformed, to put students first so that america can compete teachers do not teach to become rich or famous. the teeth because they love children. [cheers and applause] -- they teach because they love children. [cheers and applause] we believe we should honor and do good for the good ones, demanding accountability, demanding higher standards, and demanding the best teacher in every classroom in america.

[cheers and applause] get ready. here is what they believe. they believe the educational savages will only put themselves ahead of children, that self- interest will always trump common sense, they believe in pitting unions against teachers, educators against parents, lobbyists against children. they believe in teachers' unions. we believe in teachers. [cheers and applause] we believe that, if we tell the people the truth, that they will act bigger than the pinnace we see in washington, d.c.

we believe it is possible to forge bipartisan compromise and stand up for our conservative principles. [cheers and applause] you see, because it has always been the power of our ideas, not our rhetoric, that attracts people to our party. we win when we make it about what needs to be done. we lose when we play along with their game of schering and dividing. [applause] make no mistake about it, everybody. the problems are too big to let the american people lose. the slowest economic recovery in decades, and an education system that is failing to compete in the world. it does not matter how we got here. there's enough blame to go around. what matters is what we do now. [applause] i know.

i know we can fix our problems. when there are people in the room who care more about doing the job they were elected to do than worrying about reelection, it is possible to work together, achieve principal compromise, and get results for the people who give us these jobs in the first place. [cheers and applause] the people have no patience for any other way anymore. it is simple. we need politicians to care more about doing something and less about being something. [applause] and believe me, believe me, if we could do this in a blue state like new dollars a with conserve again -- like new jersey with a conservative republican governor, washington is out of excuses. [cheers and applause]

leadership delivers. leadership counts. leadership matters. and here is the great news i came here tonight to bring you. we have this leader for america. we have a nominee who will tell us the truth and will lead with conviction. and now he has a running mate who will do the same. we have gov. mitt romney and congressman paul ryan to be the next president and vice- president of the united states! [cheers and applause] i know mitt romney. he will tell us the hard truths we need to year to put this back on a path to growth and create

good paying private sector jobs again in america. mitt romney will tell us the hard truths we need to year to end the torrent of debt that is compromising our future and their earning our economy. mitt romney will tell us the hard truth to end the debacle of putting the hands of the critical care system in the hands of the bureaucrats and putting the bureaucrats between an american citizen and her doctor. [cheers and applause] we ended an era of absentee leadership without purpose or principal in new jersey. i am here to tell you tonight. it is time to end this era of absentee leadership in the oval office and send real leaders to the white house. america needs mitt romney and paul ryan and we need them right now. [cheers and applause]

we have to tell each other the truth, right? listen, there is doubt and fear for our future in every corner of our country. i have traveled all over the country. i have seen this myself. these feelings are real. this moment is real. it is a moment like this where some skeptics wonder if america's greatness is over. they wonder if those who have come before the before us had in the spirit and tenacity could not to look around and say not me, but to look around and say yes, me. i have an answer tonight for the skeptics and the naysayers, the dividers and the defenders of the status quo. i have faith in us. i know. [applause]

i know we can be the men and women our country calls us to be tonight bi. there's only one thing missing now. leadership. you see, mr. president, real leaders do not follow polls. real leaders change polls. [cheers and applause] and that is what we need. that is what we need to do now. we need to change polls through the power of our principles. we need to change polls through the strength of our conviction. tonight, our duty is to tell the american people the truth. our problems are big and the solutions will not be painless. we all must share in sacrifice and any leader that tells us differently is simply not telling the truth. [cheers and applause]

i think the night of the greatest generation can we look back and marvel at their courage, overcoming the great depression, fighting nazi tyranny, standing up for freedom around the world. now it is our time to hansard -- to enter history as col. -- now it is our time to answer histories call. we assuage ourselves with the creature comforts we have acquired and that someone else will make a different because we cannot. or will they say it was that we stood up and made the tough choices that needed to be made to preserve our way of life. i don't know about you, but i do want my children and grandchildren to have to read the history books about what it was like to live in an american century. i do not want of an american country that is overtaxed, over

borrowed. i want them to live in a second american century. [cheers and applause] a second american century. of strong economic growth for those were willing to work hard, who will have good paying jobs to support their families and reach their dreams, a second american century where real american exceptional was and is not a political punch line, but is evident to everyone in the world just by watching the way our government conducts its business everyday and the way americans live their lives. a second american century where our military is strong, our values are sure, our work ethic is unmatched, and our constitution remains the model for anyone in the world struggling for liberty. [cheers and applause]

let us choose a path that will be remembered for generations to come, standing strong for freedom will make the next century as great an american century as the last one. this is the american way. we have never been victims of destiny. we have always been the masters of our own. [cheers and applause] and i know you agree with me on this. i will not be part of the generation that fails that test and neither will you. [applause] all right. it is now time to stand up and stand up! everybody, stand up! stand up. because there is no time left to wait. if you're willing to stand up with me for america's future, i will stand up with you if you're

willing to fight with me for mitt romney. i will fight with you. if you're willing to hear the truth about the hard road ahead and the rewards for america, i am here to begin with you this new era of truth telling tonight. we choose the path that has always defined our nation's history. tonight, we finally and for me answer the call that so many generations have had the courage to answer before us. tonight, we stand up for mitt romney as the next president of the united states. [cheers and applause] and together -- [cheers and applause] and together, everybody, together, we will stand up once again for american greatness for

our children and grandchildren. god bless you and god bless america. [cheers and applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, performing a world premiere of their song "one light," please welcome three doors down. [rock music playing] >> humble they call my name

be there firmly displayed i'm never broken and i'm not afraid >> come with me to make a change and we'll give this the moment you'll see this if we could find just one light to shine one light to shine

>> fighyt for hope we'll kill this doubt angels go to war let me out come with me to make a change to give this the moent you'll see this if we could find just one light to shine [guitar solo] one light to shine come with me to make the case

if we could find just one light to shine [guitar riff] one light to shine [music ends] >> god bless you, my friends. >> ladies and gentlemen, delegates and alternates, please welcome back chairman reince pr iebus. >> to lead us in tonight's benediction, please welcome the rodriguez.m roluel

>> ladies and gentlemen, as you well know, this evening many of our fellow americans find themselves on the path of the storm. to our neighbors along the gulf coast, our hearts and prayers are with you. now resources are being mobilized along the coast, we here at the republican convention puase to acknowledge -- pause to acknowledge the uncertainty you are facing. please support the relief effort by going to redcross.rog and texting to recross at 90999. let us pray. awesome and amazing god, we give you praise. we understand and the midst of more relativism and spiritual

apathy, what america needs most is of freshed outpouring og go'' holy spirit. let his spirit move, not the spirit of sacrifice on the altar of political expediency, but the redemptive trip that sent us through. let your spirit move us, reconciling the image of god with the habits of christ, righteousness with justice and kg's message with martin luther king's dream, a dream expressed so eloquently by him on the steps of this lincoln memorial on this day 50 years ago. let your spirit moves u, reminding that our nation stands on a simple principle, god over man and man over government.

together we can declare that it is not by might or by power by rights granted by you that we are one nation under god. god, let your spirit protect those touched by the storm called isaac. they are looking to you at a time when they are vulnerable. here in we gathere er tampa, believing that god is not done with america and america is not done with god. in than a month of all -- the names we pll nmeove all ray amen and amen. >> the chair recognize is the delegate from arizona carrot >> i make a motion at that the convention do now adjourn. >> thank you.

the question occurs on a motion to adjourn. all those in favor will signify by saying aye. those opposed no. the ayes have it. accordingly, the convention stands adjourned until 7 p.m. tomorrow. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> over the last 3.5 years, we've seen hopes and dreams the diminished by a weekly version. americans are tired of being tired. to all of the thousands of good and decent americans i have met who want nothing more than a better chance, a fighting chance, hold on a little longer.

a better america begins tonight. we launch this campaign in june on a farm in new hampshire. though each of us has chosen to walk a different path in life, we are united by one, great overwhelming passion. we love america. we believe in america. it's been an extraordinary journey. we have the moral responsibility to keep america the strongest nation on earth, the hope of the earth, the shining city on the hill. the president puts his faith in government. we put our faith and the american people. when we gather in tampa, seven months from now, we will be forming a united party with a winning ticket. it is an american driven by freedom. i see an america with a growing

middle class, with rising standards of living. i see children even more successful than their parents and others congratulating them for their achievement, not attacking them for it. join me in the next step towards that destination of november 6 when across america we can give a sigh of relief and no the promise of america has been kept, so dreamers can dream a little bigger. the help-wanted signs can be dusted off and we can start again. this time we will get it right. our greatest days are ahead. we are, after all, americans. god bless this great nation. god bless the united states of america. and god bless you people. thank you so much. thank you.

cipherable conversations]

>> the republican national convention finishing for today from tampa. the gavel to gavel coverage will continue when at the convention resumes tomorrow evening. tonight we heard the key note speech from new jersey governor chris christie. also a speech by ann romney.

[applause] >> hello. what a welcome. thank you. i cannot wait to see what we will all do together. this is going to be so exciting.

the hurricane has hit landfall and i think that we should recognize that fellow americans are in its path and hope and pray that all remain safe and no life is lost and no property is lost. we should be thankful for this great country and grateful for our first responders and all that keep us safe in this wonderful country. well, i want to talk to you tonight not about politics and not about party. while there are many important issues that we will hear

discussed in this convention and throughout this campaign tonight, i want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts. [cheers and applause] i want to talk about not what divides us, but what holds us together as an american family. i want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one great thing that brings us to our greatest joy when times are good and the deepest solace in our dark hours. tonight, i want to talk to you about love. i want to talk to you about the deep and abiding love i have for a man i met at a dance many years ago. and the profound love i have and i know we share for this country. i want to talk to you about that love so deep, only a mother can fathom it. a love that we have for our children and our children's children. and i want us to think tonight about the love we shared for those americans, our brothers and our sisters, who are going through difficult times, whose days are never easy and nights

are always long and his work -- whose work never seems done. they're here with us tonight in this hall. they are here in neighborhoods across tampa and all across america. the parents who lie awake at night, side by side, wondering how they will pay the mortgage or make the rent. the single dad who is working extra hours tonight so that his kids can buy new clothes for school, can take a school trip or play a sport. so his kids can feel, you know, just like other kids. and the working moms who love their jobs, but would like to work justin little less to spend - just a little less to spend more time with the kids, but that is just out of the question with this economy. or how about that coupled with like to have another child but wonder how they will be able to afford it? i have been all across this country and i know a lot of you guys. [cheers and applause] and i have seen and heard stories of how hard it is to get ahead now.

you know what? i have heard your voice is. -- your voices. they have said to me i am running in place and we just cannot get ahead. sometimes, i think that, late at night, if we were all silent for just a few moments and listened carefully, we could hear a collective sigh from the moms and dads across america who made it through another day and know that they will make it through another one tomorrow. but in the end of that a moment, they are just not sure how. and if you listen carefully, you'll hear the women find a -- sighing a little bit more than the men. it is how would this, isn't it? it is the moms who have always had to work a little harder to make everything right. it is the mom's of this nation, single, married, widowed, who really hold the country

together. we are the mothers. we are the wives. we're the grandmothers. we're the big sisters. we are the little sisters and we are the daughters. you know it's true, don't you? [cheers and applause] i love you, women! [cheers and applause] and i hear your voices. those are my favorite fans down there. you are the ones who have to do a little bit more and you know what it is like to earn a little bit harder earn the respect you deserve at work and then come home to help with the book report just because it has to be done. you know what those late-night phone calls with an elderly parent are like. you know what it's like to go to the emergency room and which doctor answers the phone call when you call at night and i know all about that. you know what it is like to sit in a graduation ceremony and

wonder how it was that so many long days turned into years that went by so quickly. you are the best of america. [applause] you -- [cheers and applause] you are the hope of america. there would not be an america without you. tonight, we salute you and sing your praises! [cheers and applause] i am not sure if men really in a stand this, but i don't think -- understand this, but i don't think there is a woman in america who really expected live to be easy. in our own ways, we all know better. that is fine. we don't want easy. but the last few years have been hotter than they needed to be. -- harder than they needed to be. it is all the little things, the

price of the pump you could not believe and the grocery store bill that is bigger good all the things that used to be easy, like high-school sports are now one more bill to pay. the little things become the big things. and the big things, the kids going to college and the home you want to buy have become harder. everything has become harder. we are too smart and know that there are no easy answers. but we are not dumb enough to know that there are not better answers. [cheers and applause] and that is where this boy that i met at a high school dance comes in. his name is mitt romney and you should really get to know him. [cheers and applause] i could tell you about him again he was tall and laugh a lot. he was nervous. girls like that. he was nice to my parents.

he was also really glad when they were not around. [laughter] i don't mind that. but more than anything, he made me laugh. some of you might not know this, but i am the granddaughter of a welsh coal miner. [applause] he was determined that his kids get out of the mines. my dad got his first spot in a little village in wales. cleaning bottles. when he was 15, dad came to america. in our country, he saw hope and opportunity to escape from poverty. he moved to a small town in the great state of michigan. [cheers and applause] michigan! [cheers and applause] there he started a business, one he built by himself, by the way. [laughter] [cheers and applause]

he raised a family and he became mayor of our town. my dad would remind my brothers and me how fortunate we were to grow up anyplace like america. he wanted us to have every opportunity that came with life in this country. he pushed us to be our best and to give our all appeared inside the houses that line the streets in downtown, there were a lot of fathers teaching their sons and daughters the same values good one of those ads was my future father-in-law, george romney. [applause] mitt's dad never graduated from college. instead, he became a carpenter. he worked hard and then he became the governor of michigan. when we fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in a way of our future. i was episcopalian and he was morning. we were both in college. -- he was mormon. we were both in college.

there were many reasons to wait. but we just didn't care. we got married and moved into a basement apartment. [cheers and applause] we walked to class together, eight a lot of pasta and tuna -- ate a lot of pasta and tuna fish. our dining room table was a pull down dining board in the -- ironing board in the kitchen. but those were the best days. then our first son came along. all at once, a 22-year-old who was going to business school and law school at the same time, probably like every other girl who finds herself in a new life far from family and friends with a new baby and a new husband, it dawned on me that i had absolutely no idea what i was getting into. [laughter] that was 42 years ago. i survived.

we now have five sons and 18 beautiful grandchildren. [cheers and applause] i am still in love with that boy that i met at a high school bands and he still makes me laugh. [cheers and applause] i read somewhere that mitt and i have a storybook marriage. well, let me tell you something. in the storybooks i read, there never were long, long rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once and the storybooks never seemed to have chapter's called m.s. or breast cancer. this storybook marriage? nope, not at all. what mitt romney and i have is a real marriage. [cheers and applause]

i know the good and decent man for what he is. he has tried to live his life with a set of values based on family, faith, and one of service to his fellow man. i have seen him work several of -- several hours. he has been there for late- night calls of panic from a member of our church with a child taken to the hospital. you may not agree on his issues on politics. massachusetts is only 13% republican, so it is not a shock to me. [laughter] but let me say this to every american who is thinking about who should be our next president. no one will work harder.

no one will care more. and no one will move heaven and earth like mitt romney to make this country a better place to live. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] >> it's true that mitt has been successful at each news challenge he has taken on. i know that he has been

attacked. as a mom, do we want to to raise their children afraid of success? do we send our children out in the world with the advice tried to do okay? >> no! >> and let's be honest. if the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on mitt romney's success? >> no! >> of course not. he would be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world. he had to loving parents who taught him the value of work. he had the chance to get the education his father never had. but, as his partner in this amazing journey, i can tell you mitt romney was not handed success. he built it. [cheers and applause]

[chanting] >> let's go mitt! let's go, mitt! >> he stayed in massachusetts and got a job. i was there when he had a small group of friends talking about starting a new company. i was there when they struggled and wondered if the whole idea was just not going to work. his reaction was to work harder and press on. today, the company has become another great american success story. has it made those who started the company successful beyond their dreams? yes, it has. it allowed us to give our sons a chance at good educations and made those long hours of the reports and homework worth every minute. it has given us the deep

satisfaction of being able to help others in ways that we could never have imagined. this is important. i want you to hear what i am going to say. mitt does not like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point. [cheers and applause] we are no different than the millions of americans who quietly help their neighbors, their churches and their communities. they don't do it so that others will think more of them. they do it because there is no greater joy. be it and it shall be given unto you. -- give and it shall be given unto you. [cheers and applause]

but because this is america, that small company that helped so many lead better lives, the company that grew from the risk, that has helped fund scholarships, pensions and retirement funds. this is the genius of america. dreams fulfilled, help others launch new dreams. [cheers and applause] at every turn in his life, this man that i met at a high school dance has helped lift the others feared he did it with the olympics when others wanted to give up. he did it in massachusetts where he guided the state. the massachusetts school for the -- were the best in the

nation. the best. [cheers and applause] he started something that i really love it. he started the john and abigail adams scholarship which gives the top 25% of high-school graduates a four-year tuition- free scholarship. [cheers and applause] this is the man america needs. [cheers and applause] this is a man who will wake up every day with the determination to solve the problems that others say cannot be solved, to fix those who say will be beyond repair, this is the man who will work harder than anyone so that we can work a little less hard. i cannot tell you what will happen or the next four years. but i can only stand here tonight as a wife and a mother and a grandmother, an american, and make you this solemn commitment. this man will not fail.

[cheers and applause] this man will not let us down. this man will lift up america. it has been 47 years since that tall, kind charming young man brought me home from their first dance. not every day since has been easy. but he still makes me laugh and never once did i ever have the reason to doubt that i was the luckiest woman tonight. i said tonight that i wanted to talk to you about love. looking to your heart's. -- look into your hearts. this is our country. this is our future.

these are our children and grandchildren. you can trust mitt. [cheers and applause] he loves america. he will take us to a better place, just as he took me home safely from that dance. give him that chance. did america that chance. god bless each and everyone of you and god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] ♪ [playing "my girl"]

♪ >> we want to get a reaction to speech,y mrs. romney's peech but the entire evening. the numbers to call -- mitt romney supporters -- 202-737-

0001 president obama supporters -- 202-737-0002. independents 202-628-0205. the goal of ann romney's speech was to reveal the softer side of her husband. her theme was you can trust mitt. caller: 13 u.s. president, washington, -- clinton, bush, obama, all used marijuana. then clinton, bush and obama used cocaine.

ben franklin used opium. mexican presidents have called for drug legalization in america. [unintelligible] will congress support the barney frank bill to end the war on drugs? are we grossly underestimating the 100 years' war on drugs? the linett is on eht lin from fiat phil, pennsylvania. as we see a picture of rick santorum -- matt from fayetteville, pennsylvania. caller: i am sixth generation of

veterans. i am a proud father of my second generation to serve our country. my biggest issue with this election is where is governor romney going to step out and when and say he is going to do whatever it takes to take sequestration of the books and off the table as far as balancing our budget from the perspective of our department of defense? e that if a young person has the guts to swear to defend our country and if they do what is expected of them while they are in uniform, then job security should be the least of their concerns. host: we have a supporter of president obama on the line. caller: good evening. been watching c-span

for so many years. this is only the second time. i am very happy. i want to let you know that chris christie speech was so distorted. years under the republican leadership and administration, the country has gone downhill, they outsourced jobs, they deregulated so many things. that is why we are and this condition that we are in. and they want to put republicans back in. ann romney is a lovely woman but, i am sorry, her husband made money on the backs of taxpayers. the chris christie keynote speech is coming up and 10 minutes once we take your calls. we are looking at live pictures from the convention in tampa, fla..

if you do not get a chance to call in now, you can join us tomorrow on "washington journal." on the line is richard, kentucky, independent. caller: chris christie gave a very tough speech. the governor of a tough state. made democrats to work with him it to cut all the budgets and everything. in his speech when he talked about entitlements and, hope the people when they listen to his speech again, he spoke about the entitlement programs and how it was supposed to be shared sacrifices. in the same sentence or same paragraph, he spoke about seniors and shared sacrifices. and i am hoping we can find out just exactly what he meant about that. was he talking about social security and medicaid?

was he talking about seniors now, seniors like 55 and younger? what he did in new jersey he did for the people now? host: what is your take? caller: i am thinking he is saying across the board from welfare to social security, everything, every entitlement has to be cut. and i could not agree with him more. top to bottom, everybody that gets $1 from the government is going to have to give some of that back. and he is absolutely right. host: chris christie spoke about economic matters in new jersey and nationally and took some time on the back end of his speech to talk about mitt romney as a leader. here is a piece from that speech. >> i know we can fix our problems. when there are people in the room who care more about doing the job they were elected to do

it then they worry about winning reelection, it is possible to work together, a chief principle compromise, and get results for the people who gave us cease jobs in the first place-- these jobs in the first place. the people have no patience for any other way anymore. it is simple -- we need politicians that care more about doing something and less about being something. and believe me, if we can do this in a blue state like new jersey with a conservative republican governor, washington d.c. is out of excuses. leadership delivers.

leadership council. touchet matters. and here is the great news i came here tonight to bring your -- leadership matters. we have this leader for america. we have a nominee who will lead with conviction and now we as a running mate who will do the same. we have governor mitt romney and congressman paul ryan and we need to make them the next president and vice president of the united states! host: full speech coming up shortly and the newark star ledger has this headline -- chris christie's advice to romney, talk about what makes you most uncomfortable. we will take a couple more calls. from greenville, n.c., a romney supporter. caller: there were a lot of great things said tonight. i would especially like to pull

from ann romney. her encouraging her children, speaking about not encouraging them too much. ridiculous. you cannot do that. a lot of college students do not understand a lot of the politics and are easily persuaded towards barack obama. most college students do not want to be hit hard when it comes to taxes and things. so i really do enjoy hearing things like ann romney's speech. host: appreciate you weighing in via twitter. "ha ha. anyone who votes for either side. niether either will say this country." caller: i did not kick to watch the entire republican debate. i do not like all of the

nastiness -- i did not get to watch the entire republican debate. the one thing that keeps saying is the government is larger. that is incorrect. i have a two family members that work for the federal government. we have not had a pay raise in over six years. my husband's pay has been cut by $6,000. people that have been gone have not been replaced. so people need to do some cap checking before they go to the ballot box. one more tidbit. the republicans are trying to slowly but surely diminish the vote. my grandmother has to get an i.d., because she does not have a driver's license. we have tried to find her birth certificate. host: are you still there? where is all of this going? who has the answers you are looking for? caller: that's it. i'm poor. so the democrats have given me

more rights -- i am allowed to vote. i am able to work. i have a choice over my own body. i was a raape victim. guess what? if i would have been pregnant, thank god i did not turn out to be, i do not want someone saying you are not allowed to have that. don't get me wrong. i do not believe in abortion as a form of birth control. most democrats don't believe that. host: sheila from virginia. we will be back. tonight, we will have highlights through the night of the convention and be back tomorrow for another edition of "washington journal." will be on the air for several hours taking your calls. a full afternoon of related coverage. day three in tampa starts at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. in the early hour, we will hear from senator mitch mcconnell and

senator rand paul. hving on to the 8 p.m. our, john mccain, john thune. during the 9:00 a.m. hour, tim pawlentry. in that final hour, condoleezza rice, governor martinez, and the acceptance speech from the congressman paul ryan. as mitt romney takes the podium. bonnie on the line. a mitt romney supporter. caller: hello. i enjoyed listening and watching the whole republican convention. it was very interesting and

quite informative. and i enjoyed everybody that spoke, truly. i even enjoyed the music. host: what about the political messages, the economic core issue messages? what did you hear that moved you? caller: well, i enjoyed the different ones who like santorum, how he was a family man. i appreciate the family supporters there. it is wonderful to see, because we need then. host: there he is. rick santorum, spending lots of time and taking photos. a former pennsylvania senator who spoke earlier tonight.

we will have his remarks and the overnight hours. cynthia from kansas city. hi. you are on the air. caller: i am a supporter of barack obama because i cannot even begin to stand the republican policies that so are -- are so prevalent in missouri. we have a democratic governor, thank god. but, you know. the thing -- and i think the reason why obama, and i am not the only one, obviously, cannot seem to get anything done is because the republicans have stood fast with each other. it is like they are welded

together and blocking anything any democrat tries to do. host: you mentioned republican policies. is there one thing that bugs you the most? caller: the lies. that they tell about the president. host: here is one other tweet. :simply put, ann romney's speech was a home run. a smashing success." the president will leave colorado tomorrow en route to charlottesville. he will make remarks midafternoon and will head back to the white house tomorrow. we have judy on the line from california. caller: hi. i became an independent because of being very disappointed in obama. watching mitt romney throughout

the last few months, i do not find him as annoying as i expected to. i also find that his being considered or not considered by his own party for a while was a person that i directed my thinking. i thought ann romney tonight came across somewhat sympathetic. i thought she had a sincerity about her. but i think she overplayed the boy at the dance. she has much of a struggle. i think the beginning story was probable, but the rest of it seemed too much considering where they are at. i do think that if there is something going on with this country, that i agreed with one of the callers, we are needing such huge structural changes. that until we do something about those things, neither party, there is no way we will get further. we cannot go back to the old

ways. i feel like obama has not come full circle on acknowledging that. mitt romney is not going to. the reality that we are in much deeper trouble than we want to talk about. host: "the gop must not believe in romney/ryan because of the campaign is based on lies." hi there. you for takingank my call. obama ran a campaign in 2008 were was going to be the most transparent candidacy we have ever seen. he pushed a health care bill through on the american people

that most americans do not agree with. nancy pelosi held up and said, you not need to read it. you just need to sign it. most democrats wonder and blame republicans why we have such high unemployment rate in this country, and it is because you d-frankilt lig dod- who create thousands of regulations for small businesses. we have the highest tax rate of any industrialized nation, and they wonder why our unemployment rate is so high. host: highlights to the overnight on c-span. "washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. we will be back through the day and the evening tomorrow leading up to paul ryan's speech. i want to let you know about our convention hub. go to our website at c-span.org. web exclusive video security

create and share video clips. you can connect with other videos and add your comments. the schedule is there. lots of different opportunities to gather information and lead information or videos of your own. go to c-span.org, and you will find it all right there. so here is the keynote speech from governor chris christie, republican of new jersey. >> thank you! [cheers and applause] thank you! thank you all very much. thank you.

well, this stage and this moment are very improbable for me. a new jersey republican. [laughter] delivering the keynote address to our national convention. [applause] from a state with 700,000 more democrats than republicans. a new jersey republican stands before you tonight proud of my party, proud of my a state, and her out of my country -- and proud of my country's. i am the son of an irish father and a sicilian mother. home and father was gregarious. my mom, who i lost 8 years ago,

was the enforcer. in the automobile of love, dad -- of life, dad was just a passenger. mom was the driver. they both lived hard lives. dad grew up in poverty. and after returning from army service, he worked at the briers -- breyers ice- cream plant in the 1950's. it was that job and the g.i. bill. he put himself through rutgers university at night to be the first person in his family to earn a college degree. our first family picture was on his graduation day with my mom beaming next to him pregnant with me. mom also came from nothing. she was raised by a single mother who took three different

buses every day to get to work. and mom spent the time that she was supposed to be a kid actually raising children, her younger brother and younger sister. she was tough as nails and did not suffer fools at all. the truth was she could not afford to. she spoke the truth, bluntly, directly and without much garnish. i am her son. [cheers and applause] i was her son as a listened to the darkness on the edge of town with my high school friends on the jersey shore. i was her son when i moved into that studio apartment with mary. i watched with pride as a guard daughters marched with their

soccer teams in the labor day parade -- and i am still her son with the rules the she taught me, to speak from the parts and -- the heart and to stick to your principles. the greatest lesson she ever taught me was this one -- she told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose. between being loved and being respected. she said to always pick being respected. she told me that love without respect was always leading but that respect could grow into real and lasting love. she was talking about women. [laughter] but i have learned over time that it applies just as much to leadership.

i think that advice applies to america more than ever today. [applause] you see, i believe we have become paralyzed by our desire to be loved. our founding fathers have the wisdom to know that socialist -- social acceptance and popularity where fleeting and that this country's principles need to be rooted in things greater than the passion and the motions of the times. our leaders today decided -- to say yes rather than no when no is what is required. [applause] in recent years, we have a country have to often chosen the same path it is been easy for our leaders to say not us, not now, in taking on tough issues.

we stood silently by and let them get away with it. tonight, i say enough's. tonight i say together let's make a much different choice. tonight we're speaking up for ourselves and stepping up. we are beginning to do what is right and necessary to make america great again. [applause] we are demanding our leader stop tearing each other down and work together to take action on the big things facing america. tonight we are going to do what my mother taught me. tonight we are going to choose respect over love. [applause] we are not afraid. we are not afraid. we are taking our country back

because we are the great- grandchildren of the men and women who broke their backs in the name of american ingenuity. the grandchildren of the greatest generation. the sons and daughters of immigrants, the brothers and sisters of everyday heroes. the neighbors of entrepreneurs and firefighters. teachers and farmers, veterans and factory workers and everyone in between. who shows up, not just on the big days or the good days but on the bad days. and the hard days. each and every day. all 365 of them. we are the united states of america. [applause] now it is up to us. we must lead the way our citizens live. to lead as my mother insisted i

live. not by avoiding truth, especially the hard ones but by facing up to them. and being better for it. we cannot afford to do anything less. i know this because this was the challenge in new jersey. when i came into office, i could continue on the same path to wealth and jobs and people leaving our state or i could do the job people like me to do. to do the big things. there were those who said it could not be done. that the problems were too big. too politically charged, too broken to fix. but we were on a path we can no longer afford to follow. they said it was impossible. this is what they told me, to cut taxes at that a state where taxes were raised 115 times in the eight years before i became governor. that it was impossible to balance the budget at the same time with an $11 billion deficit. three years later, we have three balanced budgets in a row with

lower taxes. we did it. [applause] they said it was impossible to touch the third real politics, to take on the public-sector unions and to reform pension and health -- health benefits that was headed to bankruptcy. but the bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers $132 billion over 30 years and say to retirees their pension. we did it. they said it was impossible to speak the truth to the teacher'' union. there were just too powerful. that demand accountability and

and the guarantee of a job for life regardless of performance. they said it would never happen. but for the first time in 100 years with bipartisan support, you know the answer -- we did it. [applause] there we did the disciples of yesterday's politics always underestimate the will of the people. the assumed our people are selfish. they were told of the difficult problems and tough choices and complicated solutions that it would turn their backs. that they would decide it was every man for himself. they were wrong. the people of new jersey stepped-up. they shared a bed of the sacrifice. the rewarded politicians who lead -- they stood up and made

the sacrifice. they reported politicians who led. we should not be surprised. we have never been a country to shy away from the trees. our history shows -- from the truth. our history shows that we stand up when it counts. i know this simple truth and i am not afraid to say it -- our ideas are right for america and their ideas have failed america. [applause] that may be a clear with the american people tonight. here is what we believe as republicans and what they believe as democrats. we believe in telling hard- working families the truth about our country's the school realities. telling them what they already know, the math of federal spending does not add up.

with $5 trillion in debt added over the last four years, we have no other option but to cut and run spending and fund -- fundamentally reduce the size of this government. [applause] want to know what ey believe? they believe the american people do not want to hear the truth about the extent of our fiscal difficulties. they believe the american people need to be coddled by big government. they believe the american people are content to live the lives with them. they are wrong. we believe in telling our seniors the truth about our overburdened entitlements. we know seniors not only want these programs to survive but they just as badly want the secured for their grandchildren. our seniors [inaudible]

here is what they believe -- they believe seniors will always put themselves ahead of the grandchildren. they prey on their vulnerabilities and scare them with misinformation for the single, cenacle purpose of winning the next election. here is their plan. whistle a happy tune while driving us off the fiscal cliff. as long as they are behind the wheel of power when we fall. we believe that the majority of teachers in america know our system must be reformed to put student's first said that the -- america can compete. that teachers cannot teach to become weaker famous. the peace because they love children. we believe that we should honor and reward the good ones while doing what is best for our nation's future.

demanding accountability, demanding higher standards and demanding the best teacher in every classroom in america. get ready. here is what they believe. they believe the educational establishment will always put themselves ahead of children. that self interests always trump common sense. they believe in piting unions against teachers, educators against parents, lobbyist against children. they believe in teachers' unions agree believe in teachers.

the believe that if we tell the people the truth, they will act bigger than the petty ness we see in washington, d.c. we believe it is possible to forge bipartisan compromise and stand up for our conservative principles. because it has always been the power of our ideas, not our rhetoric, that attracts people to our party. we win women make about what needs to be done. we lose we play along with their game of schering and dividing. -- we win when we make it about what needs to be done. we lose when we play along with their game of dividing. spiraling out of control deficit and an education system failing to compete in the world. it does that matter how we got here. there is enough blame to go around. what matters is what we do now.

i know. i know we can fix our problems. when there are people in the room care about doing the job they were elected to do instead of winning elections, it is possible to work together and get results for the people who give us the jobs in the first place. the people have no patience for any other way anymore. it is simple. we need politicians to care more about doing something and less about being something. and believe me, if we can do this and a blue state like new jersey with a conservative republican governor, washington, d.c. is out of

excuses. and leadership delivers. leadership counts. leadership matters. here is the great news i came here tonight to bring you -- we have this leader for america. we have a nominee who will tell us the truth and will lead with conviction. now he has a running mate who will do the same. we have governor mitt romney and congressman paul ryan and we need to make them the next president and vice president of the united states. i know mitt romney and he will

tell us the hard truth we need to hear. to put his back on that path to growth and create good paying private sector jobs again in america. mitt romney will tell the stark truth we need to hear to and the torrent of debt that is compromising our future and bering -- burying our economy. mitt romney will tell us hard truth we need to hear about putting the world's greatest health care system in the hands of federal bureaucrats and putting those bureaucrats between the american citizens and her doctor. i'm here to tell you tonight it is time to end this era of absentee leadership in the oval office. america needs mitt romney and paul ryan and we need them right now.

we have to tell each other the truth, right? listen. there is doubt and fear for our future in every corner of our country. i have traveled all over the country and i have seen this myself. these feelings are real. this moment is real. moments like this, some skeptics wonder if america's greatness is over. they wonder how those who came before us had the spirit to lead america to a new era of greatness in the face of chalice. -- the face of challenge. i have an answer tonight for the skeptics and the naysayers, the dividers and the defenders of the status quo. i have faith in us.

i know we can be the men and women are country calls on us to be tonight. i believe in america and our history. there is only one thing missing now -- leadership. it takes leadership that you do i get from reading a poem. real leaders do not follow polls, real leaders change polls./ that is what we need to do now. we need to change polls through the power of our principles. we need to change polls to the strength of our conviction. tonight, our duty is to tell the american people the truth. our problems are big and the solutions will not be painless. we all must share in the sacrifice and in a leader that

tells us differently is simply not telling the truth. i think tonight, we look back and marvel at their careers, overcoming the great depression, fighting not to tyranny, standing up for freedom around the world. now it is our time to enter history as col. every generation will be judged and show will we -- so will we. what what our children and grandchildren say of us? that our problems were too big and we were too small? that someone else should make a difference because we cannot? what will they say of us -- that we stood up amid the tough choices that needed to be made to preserve our way of life? i did not know about you but i did not want my children and grandchildren to read the history books but it was like to live in an american century.

i cannot want their inheritance to be an enormous government that is overspent and overrode -- overborrowed. i want them to live in a second american century. a second american century of strong economic growth for those who are willing to work hard will have good paying jobs to support their families and reach their dreams. a second american century where real american exceptional with them is not a political punch line. when it is evident to everyone in the world by watching the way our government conducts its business in the way americans live their lives. a second american century where are millet -- military is strong, our values are short. our work ethic is unmatched and our constitution remains a model for anyone in the world struggling for liberte.

the-choose the path that will remember -- be remembered for generations to come. this is the american way. we have never been victims of destiny. we have always been the masters of our own. i know you agree with me on this. i will not be part of the generation that fails that test and neither will you. it is now time to stand that. everybody stand up.

because there is no time left to waste. if you are willing to stand up with me for america's future, i will stand up with you. if you are willing to fight with me for mitt romney, i will fight with you. if you are willing to hear the truth about the hard road ahead and the rewards for america that truth will bear, i am here to begin with you. this new era of truth telling. tonight. we choose the path that has always the fight our nation's history. tonight we finally and firmly answer the call that some many generations have had the courage to answer before us. tonight we stand up for mitt romney as the next president of the united states.

and together we will stand up once again for american greatness for our children and grandchildren. god bless you and god bless america. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> we will hear from new hampshire senator kelly ayotte, john kasich, bob mcdonnell and oklahoma governor mary ellen. here is a look at wednesday's lineup at the convention. we will hear from senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and senator rand paul. in the 8:00 hour, senators john mccain, john thune and portman. at 9:00, luis fortuno and former arkansas governor mike huckabee.

at 10:00 p.m., speeches by condoleezza rice and susanna martinez. although by paul ryan's vice- presidential nomination expect -- acceptance speech. watch every speech live here on c-span. >> john kennedy once met with harold macmillan, the british prime minister. discussed arms control, issues between the two powers. long afterwards we got the notes on what exactly they said. it turned out that kennedy spent a lot of the time complaining about bad press coverage. the press was being tough on jackie and other things. macmillan, a generation older, said why you care? brush it off. it does not matter. you have other things to worry about. kennedy said that is easy for you to say. how would you like it the press said if your wife was a drunk?

he replied i will would simply say, you should have seen her mother. [laughter] cannot learn these things in real time. >> historians and biographers use the advantage of hindsight to understand their subjects through a prism of time. sunday, your questions, calls, e-mails for presidential historian michael on lives of presidents. and wars, hot and cold. at noon eastern on c-span2's book tv. >> here is more from tonight's gop convention with first-time u.s. senator kelly ayotte. she talks about how small businesses have aired under the obama presidency. we will then hear from the governors of ohio, virginia, and oklahoma. [applause]

>> live free or die. that is the model of the great state of new hampshire. but i believe tonight we all share that view. as have generations of americans before us. like most americans, our life changed after 911. my husband who was on track to be a commercial pilot instead served our great country flying combat missions in iraq. when he returned home from the war, he found himself in the same position as so many americans. he needed a job so he started a

family business, a landscaping and snow plowing company. when i said he, i mean we because i spent many a sleepless night selling snow -- shoveling snow. i am also predicted with a snowplow. -- pretty good with a snowplow. [applause] we are no different from most families to take risks starting their own business. we borrowed money to pursue our dreams and believe me, there was no guarantee of success. we were not too big to fail. we had to make it work. yet through all the hard work and sacrifice, we pulled together as a family and as the

business grew, so did our extended family. i speak to you tonight with great concern for our employees, their families, my family, and your family. my concern is that president obama is making it very difficult for small businesses to get started, to create jobs, and to survive. you know what i hear all the time? from small-business owners that i speak with? they want to focus on their business, the obama administration wants to bury them with the rules, regulations and red tape. from the national labor

relations board to the department of labour to the epa, under this administration, the regulations are up and the job creation is down. president obama's view is clear. he actually believes that as a small business grows, the federal government should take a larger and larger share of its earnings. that is punishment for expanding and creating more jobs. i call it a success tax. [applause] the very best example is obamacare. let me tell you what i hear in the real world about obamacare. just a couple of months ago, a successful restaurant owner in concord, new hampshire, tell me

about his dilemma. he wanted to open up a second restaurant and hire more employees. but he realized if he did, he would trigger penalty is under obamacare. and he could not afford it. so he never opened up the restaurant. is that what we want for small businesses in america? to be afraid to grow because of the government? to face penalties when you create more jobs? to be told your earning -- you're earning too much? isn't it time that we had a leader who believes that crating jobs ought to be celebrated, not penalized? [applause]

that is why it mitt romney as running for president -- is running for president. he will get federal government out of the business of small business. he will fight to lower and simplify taxes. he will work to eliminate jobs killing red tape. obamacarell roll bnacack starting on day one. [applause] in both the private sector and as governor of massachusetts, mitt romney has always asked how can i help small businesses grow, and a bit, and compete?

it is the right question is. it is the question that this administration never thinks to ask. but i shall we be surprised? president -- but why should we be surprised? president obama has never even run a lemonade stand. and you know what? t shows/ -- it shows. for the sake of the feature a small business, we need to replace barack obama with mitt romney. we need to replace barack obama with mitt romney because mitt truly gets it. mitt understand the hopes and dreams of small-business owners throughout our great country. word for just take my

it. i want you to hear from someone who has -- who is directly on the front lines of small business. jack is a small business owner from hutton, new hampshire -- huhdson, new hampshire, three generations of his family have used their hands to build metal fabricating. is it any business out of over 30 years ago by his father and carried on by jack and his sons. jack is the face of small business in america. and, yes, he did build it. [applause] please join me in welcoming my friend, jack hilcrest. [applause]

>> thank you very much, senator ayotte. i'm glad to have the as a champion of small business for new hampshire. -- have you as a champion of small business for new hampshire. governor sununu, like many small businessmen, my father bar to get our house to purchase the machinery to start gilcrest fabricating. machines making it the equipment for generating power, television broadcasting, processing food and many other industries which touch our lives every day. run bya's -- machines taxpaying americans like us. we employ about 40 people. most with families, including my son stuart.

though we have enjoyed success, we face more slow world -- global pressure every day. so do our suppliers and customers. if we do not continually streamline our processes to stay efficient, we will lose out to our competition. we did not have a choice. running a business means taking responsibility. presenting a certain feature of the management team, developing a functional budget. interim we have adequate supplies and making a commitment to fill orders on time. running the business is my job and mine alone. i blame no one else for the challenges we face. i am often reminded of something lee iacocca said. lead, follow, or get out of the way.

everyone who runs a business understands this. everyone but our federal government. they will not -- there will and regulations are too hard to follow and it will mike get out of our way. this administration is killing our -- us out there. small business needs a leader who understands the entire spectrum of business and industry. a leader who can work with all bodies involved, a leader who will not avoid dealing with difficult issues. a leader with experience to understand what it takes, a leader who is in touch with america's small businesses. mitt romney is exactly that leader. help a select mitt romney for president of the night it states. -- help us elect mitt romney for

president of the united states. >> ladies and that gentleman, from ohio, please welcome governor john kasich. >> thank you. i do not know about you but i have got a feeling that we are about to elect a new president of the united states of america. let me tell you why it matters. it really matters. we need a president to restore the strength of the power of the american people so weak, the people, to rebuild our economy

and so we the people can rebuild the united states of america. plain and simple. we have made real progress in ohio in restoring confidence. that is what so much of life is about. we are sending people free in order to build success. but we need a build -- we need a new partner in washington. this relationship is not working. it is holding us back. i am going to tell you our story. i am going to tell you the story of ohio and the story of lessons learned. i took office in 2011 and when i came into office, we were 48th in the nation in job creation. we had an $8 billion budget deficit. the largest in the history of ohio. we had 89 cents in our rainy day fund. most others have more than 89

cents in their little piggy banks. our credit rating was handed down the drain and we suffered a loss of 400,000 jobs. ladies and gentlemen, tonight, the greatest moral issue in america today is job creation. we have lost 400,000 jobs. our people were harding and our families were hurting as a result of the recession. in ohio, we were following a policy of tax, spend, and duck. that is to much of what politicians do. they want to avoid the tough issues but we came into power with my colleagues in the legislature, we took our problems head on. we balance our budget. a billion dollar deficit was eliminated without a tax increase.

we cannot raise taxes because we were not competitive. you know how we did it? the way a family does it. we sat down and set priorities. be eliminated those programs that we no longer needed -- we eliminated those programs that we no longer needed. we went through it and eliminated those things we did not need me prioritize those things that we really did need. i will give you an example. we allowed mom and dad to stay in their own home if able instead of going into a nursing home or the costs were five times as high and when they are in their own homes, they are healthier and happier and more independent. that saves us a lot of money because we made government work better. that made a lot of sense for us. we also cut taxes because ohio needed to be competitive. we were $8 billion in the hole. we balance the budget cut our taxes. because the income tax.

-- the reason we cut is that so ohio could be competitive. at the same time, we kill the death tax. [applause] we killed that tax because the person to have to visit the undertaker and the tax man on the same date. at small businesses and farmers should be able to pass on their hard work to the next generation. we need to do it in washington as well. emmy restore common sense in our regulations. we still protect the environment, we protect our families but we do not over regulate until the job creators in our state. we want to honor the job creators and work with them because they help our families. ladies and gentlemen, just like what mitt romney is going to face, the actions that we took

were not always easy. the actions that we took were not always popular. but you know what? when you get yourself in public service, you must lead and do what is necessary. i want to tell you the good news of where we are today. i took a minute ago that women came into office, we were 48th and adopt rigid. do you know where we are today costa mark4th in america and #one in the midwest -- do you know where we are today? 4th in america and #1 in the midwest. i watched in horror as we saw the attack and the french and spanish and the greeks have their credit downgraded.

i remember the night i watched americas credit co downgraded. but in ohio, instead of our credit going down the drain, our credit outlook has been improved because it has been recognized that we are managing our finances and creating jobs. ladies and gentlemen, went over those last four years we have last -- lost 400,000 jobs, today we have grown in new jobs by 122,000. 122,000 families better off. but you know what? the wind is in our face. the president has given us had winds -- head winds. president obama has doubled the national debt. i was chairman of the budget committee may balance the budget in 1997. i look up in horror at that clock. that is the sort of damage

hanging over our children had and the president is doing nothing about it. each year, he is increasing that by $1 trillion. let me also tell you that the president said his answer to these problems lie in this -- more taxes. let's take more money out of the pockets of the american people and send it to of all places wash today, d.c. can you believe it? we need to balance the budget and cut taxes, not raise them to get on the right track. and his regulations have had a smothering of fact on businesses and it has paralyzed the job creators. folks, this is the wrong philosophy. these of the wrong policies. and we need a new leader. that is exactly what i am for mitt romney for president of the united states.

i want to tell you about mitt romney. he is a business leader. if there is anything we need in government today, it is people understand how to create jobs, plain and simple. and the people that criticize folks in business simply do not get it. they put us in this whole. mitt romney has a history of being a great job creator. he was a great governor. he went from billions of dollars in the hole when he became governor to billions of dollars in surplus when he left. he went from the loss of tens of thousands of jobs when he became governor to the creation of 40,000 new jobs when he left office. and he did it in taxachussettes of all places, okay? remember this. beyond his work in business and government, he is a natural leader. he took those salt lake city winter olympics and took them when they were in peril, headed

down the drain, fixed the olympics and made every american proud of what he did and build a brighter america as a result. i want to tell you this -- jill biden disputes a lot of those facts but joe biden told me that he was a good golfer. and i played golf with joe biden. i can tell you that does not choose. as well as all the other things that he says. -- that is not true. well as all the other things he says. i know we are at a republican convention but this is about somebody that is going to get this country moving again. restore the strength of our country. energize the people. set them free in a free enterprise system. that is what this is all about. it is about our children, our families, our country. ladies and gentlemen, it is about the world because even

though they do not want to admit it, they depend on the united states of america to lead and bring moral purpose to the globe. we have to leave here in march and get to everybody to make sure that mitt romney and paul ryan are president and vice- president of the united states. thank you all very much. >> please welcome virginia governor bob mcdonnell. >> thank you. thank you very much. good evening, my fellow republicans. are you ready to let mitt romney and paul ryan in 70 days? imagine that. we will have a president who actually knows how to create jobs and the vice-president who actually knows what state he is in.

i cannot have to tell any of you -- this is a tough economy. we all have friends and family and neighbors to of lost their jobs. and their homes. worse, they have lost their hope. they're lost hope is why we need a big change this november. this election is about restoring the american dream. that dream led my grandfather, a poor farm or -- farm boy to leave ireland and come to ellis island to begin his journey of freedom in america. my grandfather could have never guessed that his son would fight for this nation in world war ii, that his great granddaughter would be a platoon in iraq and his grandson would grow up in middle-class kid in fairfax

county, serving the army and now hold the same job as thomas jefferson and patrick henry. what an incredible country we call home here in the united states of america. this nation as a coward and defined by the great idea of the american dream. -- is powered and defined by the great idea of the american dream. the sky as the limit in the united states. we cannot lose that dream. unfortunately, many americans are now hurting very badly. to many americans are looking for work because this president policies simply have not worked. washington today has a surplus. of rhetoric. and a deficit of leadership and results.

you know the problem. unemployment, over 8% for 42 straight month. the national debt, and moral, at $16 trillion and growing. new business start-ups at the lowest level in 30 years. and now, the epa is the employment prevention agency. [applause] these times call for new leadership. to get this great country out of debt and back to work. and the choice is very clear. the status quo of the entitlement society versus a dynamic change an opportunity society. that is what we need in america. we need a president who will say to a small businesswoman, congratulations. we applaud your success.

you did make that happen. you did build that in america. big government did not build america. yugo america. small businesses do not come out of washington, d.c. pre- made on flatbed trucks. that coffeeshops, that florist, that bakery, they were all built by american entrepreneurs with big dreams, not a big spending government with a wide open wallet full of other people's money. it is remarkable in 236 years of the american experiment with the ingenious people of this magnificent nation can do. when given the opportunity. every american deserves the

opportunity of a limited, responsible government that performs its core functions well and then gets the heck out of the way. that is when good things happen in the united states of america. look at the results of republican policies in the states. and did the states with republican governors, the average unemployment rate is a full point lawyer -- lower in -- than in states with democratic governors. makes a difference. republican governors lead seven of the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates. and 12 of the 15 states that have been ranked best for business have republican governors. [applause] mall the obama administration barrault's now $3 billion a day -- while the obama $3ministration bowworrows now

billion a day -- mitt romney can do it without raising taxes. in virginia with republicans and democrats working together, our unemployment rate is down 20% to 5.9%. we have added 151,000 net new jobs in virginia. we have had nearly -- nearly $1.4 billion in budget surpluses by keeping rich elite -- by keeping regulations to a minimum and we have not raised taxes. while the president talks, republican governors lead. chaka cheap. results matter. -- talk is cheap. results matter.

think what we could do if we had a president who was support us and not obstruct us. someone who is created jobs in the private sector who understand the economy and u.s. actually -- who has actually balance a budget. somebody was actually passed a budget, for that matter. we need president mitt romney. when mitt romney and paul ryan get together and work with scott walker or john kasich and governors from both parties across the country, we will get people back to work in this country. our great country can no longer afford the job destroying

policies coming out of washington, d.c. we do not does have to hope for change. we can make the change this november. we will lift up and grow the middle class. we will celebrate drop creators again. -- job creators again. we will restore the american dream that my grandfather here from ireland 100 years ago. that all starts with elected mitt romney and paul ryan this november. thank you very much. [applause] >> representing the state, please give a welcome to governor mary fallin of oklahoma.

thank you. president reagan once said there are no quick -- great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination and wonder. he believed, like i believe, like mitt romney and paul ryan believe, that the potential for america is limitless. we can and we will overcome any economic challenge if the federal government gets out of the way and if it let's go of the regulatory chokehold that is taking the air out of our economy. it is deflating the spirits of our entrepreneurs. we need a president who will applaud and encourage those who work hard to pursue their dreams, to reach their potential. in doing so, make themselves and america better and stronger. that man is mitt romney.

the history of the state of oklahoma offers a great example of pursuing the american dream. it was built and settled by pioneers moving west to seek better lives. during the great land run of 1889, thousands of families last up and put state down on empty plots of land. they built tent cities overnight, they farmed the land. it worked very hard and in 1897, eight years after the land run, a handful of pioneers -- it was not the federal government's money. they raised their own money to drill oklahoma's first oil well. by doing so, these early date pioneers changed the feature and the fortune of oklahoma forever

and today, oklahoma as one of the nation's key energy producers and job creators with an unemployment rate of 4.9%. [applause] president obama wants us to believe that oklahomans 0 that success to the federal government, to the department of energy or the epa or irs or maybe even him. mr. president, we know better and as we say in oklahoma, that dog will not hunt. we owe these remarkable successes to the imagination and ingenuity of people like my friend harold ham. he is the son of sharecroppers and the youngest of 13 children. he grew up in a small town of lexington, oklahoma. as a child, he helped out on the

farm and went to school after the first freeze or christmas, whichever came first. while in high school, he worked for $1 an hour at a gas station. after school, he took a job cleaning up oil barrels. at the age of 20, he bought his own truck and began a one-man business. he made enough money to begin taking college level courses in geology and mineralogy. at the age 26, he drilled a wildcat well that produce 75 barrels of oil and our -- an hour. we call that a gusher. today, he is the chairman and ceo of oklahoma's own continental resources, a top 10 u.s. producer of petroleum liquids. yet gotten at least 700 employees operating in 10 states -- he has gotten at least 700

employees operating in 10 different states. he and his company are helping to power cars and homes and businesses all across the nation. harold and other energy entrepreneurs have completely transformed the u.s. energy outlook and with president romney, we will and america's dependence on foreign oil. most of portly, we are going to create even more jobs -- more importantly, we are going to create even more jobs. his life is one of the many visionaries and innovators of the private sector, the two drivers of economic growth in creation. ladies and gentleman, that is what president obama as black

get. he will -- just does not get. he will tell you if you have a business, you did not build that. somebody else did. like who? the irs, epa or federal government? the president believes the government is responsible for our successes and that is why his solution to everything is more government, bigger spending, more regulation, more of your credit programs like obamacare. he says his plans are working but look of the results. 42 months of unemployment over 8%. 23 million americans out of work, underemployed or even just not even looking for work anymore. a nation that is threatened by nearly $16 trillion of debt. nearly $16 trillion of debt. and families that are entre