TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Republicans have nominated former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president, culminating a long primary fight and setting the stage for a close contest against President Barack Obama.
In a roll call of states Tuesday, New Jersey put Romney over the top, giving him the prize that eluded him four years ago. Romney is scheduled to accept his party's nomination in a speech Thursday night.
Republican voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals before settling on Romney, who effectively clinched the nomination in May. All of Romney's former GOP competitors have endorsed him, with the exception of Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
Paul did not have enough support to have his name placed in nomination, but he got votes in roll call.
Republicans also have nominated Rep. Paul Ryan for vice president, rounding out the GOP ticket that will challenge President Barack Obama in November.
Ryan was nominated by acclamation at the GOP convention on Tuesday. There were no other candidates.
Mitt Romney, who was nominated minutes earlier, tapped Ryan as his running mate a little more than two weeks ago.
Ryan, of Wisconsin, has earned a reputation as a fiscal hawk in Congress, earning praise from conservatives and ire from liberals as chairman of the House Budget Committee.
At 42, Ryan has vast Washington experience, serving as a young Capitol Hill staffer before being elected to Congress, where he has served for 14 years.
Ann Romney is declaring that her husband Mitt Romney will lift up America if elected president.
Excerpts of her speech to the Republican National Convention were released before her address Tuesday night. In those remarks, she says, "This is the man America needs."
Mrs. Romney talks of her 43-year marriage to the just-nominated Republican presidential candidate, speaking of her own experiences with muscular sclerosis and breast cancer and says her husband is a man who wakes up every day determined to solve the problems that others say can't be solved.
Saying she was standing on the platform as a wife, a mother, a grandmother and an American, she said that Romney will not fail. In her words, "This man will not let us down."
Republican governors are working to rally voters to Mitt Romney by arguing that the Republican presidential nominee understands how to improve the country's business climate -- and that President Obama doesn't.
The governors speaking Tuesday at the Republican National Convention were long on blame for the economy's sluggishness but only spoke generally about the changes Republicans would make by emphasizing the need to cut government spending and red tape.
The governors selected to speak serve some of the most critical swing states in the coming presidential election, such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
Some also signify efforts to connect with key voting blocs, such as Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, the state's first Hispanic governor.
Feeling slighted, supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul's presidential run are making their voices heard at a Republican convention intended to promote party harmony.
The Paul delegates booed and chanted against new party rules adopted Tuesday, which they saw as a power play by the Republican old guard.
The rules are designed to limit the ability of insurgent presidential candidates to amass delegates to future Republican conventions. They will bind delegates to the outcome of presidential primaries and caucuses, preventing a candidate like Paul from pushing up their delegate counts at state conventions.
Supporters of the new rules say voters expect the delegate count to reflect the outcome of state primaries and caucuses.
In Ames, Iowa, President Obama looked to tap into the enthusiasm that sent millions of young people out campaigning for him and voting for him four years ago.
He told students at Iowa State University Tuesday that they and their fellow students hold the power to determine the outcome of the November election.
Obama said, "Your vote matters." He told about 6,000 students, "Change was possible because of you and now we've got more work to do." He said students have a lot at stake in November -- describing Mitt Romney as a candidate without a plan to move the country forward.
But rival Mitt Romney's campaign responds that Obama has left young people facing "higher unemployment, mounting debt, rising costs and fewer opportunities." The Romney campaign sees an opportunity to cut into Obama's support among young people by focusing on those issues.
Polls show Obama leading Romney among college-age voters.
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