World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Ann Romney, waves with her husband Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Republican Mitt Romney, in the most critical speech in his presidential campaign, told a television audience of millions that Barack Obama had failed to deliver on his promise of hope and change and it is time for new leadership in the White House.

Romney accepted the Republican presidential nomination late Thursday, casting himself as the best hope to lift the struggling U.S. economy and "restore the promise of America."

His speech marked the climax of the three-day Republican National Convention and a milestone in his long, often-rocky quest for the presidency.

He will claim the honour he was denied when John McCain won the nomination four years ago. This year, he had to fend off a series of Republican challengers, questions about his shifting positions and mutterings about his Mormon religion.

The ultimate prize, the White House, will be determined in a November vote. Polls show Romney and Obama in a dead heat with the economy the biggest issue in the campaign.

The United States is struggling with 8.3 per cent unemployment and the slowest economic recovery in decades.

Romney noted excitement over Obama's promises from his campaign four years ago "gave way to disappointment and division."

"You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him," he said.

While polls show voters view Romney, a multimillionaire former businessman, as more capable of fixing the economy, they find Obama to be more honest and likable.

The campaign hopes the speech and the convention in general will change perceptions of Romney.

Speakers have portrayed the candidate as a man of family and faith, savvy and successful in business, saviour of the 2002 Winter Olympics, yet careful with spending. A portion of the convention stage was rebuilt overnight so he would appear surrounded by delegates rather than speaking from a distance, an attempt to soften his image.

Romney made a press-the-flesh entrance into the hall, walking slowly down one of the convention hall aisles and shaking hands with dozens of delegates. The hall erupted in cheers when he reached the stage and waved to his cheering, chanting supporters before beginning to speak.

"I accept your nomination for president," he said, to more cheers.

Romney's speech was the traditional convention finale, and thousands of red, white and blue balloons nestled in netting high above the floor, ready to be released on cue once the Republican candidate completed his remarks.

But more than the hoopla, the evening marked one of a very few opportunities any presidential challenger is granted to appeal to millions of voters in a single night.

Cheering him on would be the Republican delegates who overwhelmingly approved his nomination in a rollcall vote Tuesday. The party has rallied behind Romney despite longstanding concerns about his shifting political positions and doubts about whether he was a true conservative.

Romney's religion also unsettled some evangelicals, a core Republican constituency, who do not see Mormonism as a true Christian faith.

But the Republican desire to evict Obama from the White House overwhelms any trepidation about Romney.

Moreover, the party was thrilled when Romney picked congressman Paul Ryan, the architect of a plan to slash government spending, as his vice-presidential running mate.

Ryan delivered a rousing acceptance speech Wednesday.

--

Associated Press writers David Espo, Robert Furlow, Kasie Hunt, Steve Peoples, Philip Elliott, Beth Fouhy, Thomas Beaumont and Julie Mazziotta in Tampa and Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this story.