World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives on stage to deliver a speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012 in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Mitt Romney was crowned the Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday at the party's national convention, but his rare moment in the sun following a bruising primary battle was clouded by a fierce hurricane battering the Gulf Coast.

Delegates from every U.S. state and territory officially affirmed Romney as the party's nominee, finally celebrating him as the man they hope will deny President Barack Obama a second term on Nov. 6 with a conservative platform of lower taxes, fiscal responsibility and small government.

His wife of 43 years, Ann Romney, opened her hotly anticipated speech on the convention's opening night to ask delegates to remember those in the path of hurricane Isaac before taking dead aim at criticisms that the Republican party, and by extension, her husband — is anti-woman.

"I love you women, and I hear your voices," she said. "You are the best of America. You are the hope of America. There would not be an America without you. Tonight, we salute you and sing your praises."

But seven years after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and the city of New Orleans, another hurricane, this one dubbed Isaac, cast a pall over Romney's triumph.

The convention started a day late because of Isaac, a slow-moving but powerful hurricane packing 120-kilometre-an-hour winds and following the same ominous trajectory as Katrina. There were also tornado warnings in some Gulf states late Tuesday.

New Orleans has still not fully recovered from Katrina, which roared ashore exactly seven years ago Wednesday. George W. Bush's much-maligned response to that hurricane was considered one of the lowest moments of the Republican president's eight years in office.

Hurricane Isaac, thankfully, wasn't as mighty as Katrina as it made landfall in Louisiana late Tuesday evening, though meteorologists warned it could gain strength overnight. Federal officials said the galvanized levees around New Orleans can withstand stronger storms than Isaac.