Convention: Romney, Rudy and coming together as a party

At 12:32 on Saturday, Kristina Kiik wrote: The keynote speaker at the dinner was Governor Mitt Romney. The governor was introduced as being on the short list, which is a euphemism for the short list of prospective vice-presidential nominees. He delivered a strong speech in support of McCain and used the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the legal rights of Gitmo detainees as an illustration of the differences between McCain and Obama. Later I overheard some delegates remark that had Romney performed just as he had tonight, he would have gotten along farther in the campaign. In the interest of full transparency, I supported Rudy Giuliani for president, and while I was disappointed he wasn’t able to re-write the primary politics playbook by making a hail-Mary play for Florida, I sense that Republicans are beginning to coalesce around our presumptive nominee, John McCain. Tonight was no exception. In spite of an often vitriolic primary season, Romney made a strong case for why McCain is the only choice for president to an audience he really didn’t have to work hard to convince.

-- Kristina Kiik