TAMPA, the United States. Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Republican Party is convening their national convention Monday in Tampa, Florida, to nominate Mitt Romney as their standard bearer to challenge President Barack Obama in the coming presidential election.
Experts say the convention holds high stakes for Romney going forward, presenting him probably the best chance to connect with voters after being hammered relentlessly by the Obama campaign with negative ads.
HIGH STAKES
"Romney has two big opportunities between now and the election to communicate" with voters, one is the convention, the other is at the debates, said Professor Peter Feaver, a political scientist with Duke University, "convention especially, because he has total control" over the message.
The Republican Party has rolled out a starred-studded roster of headliners to build up to Romney's nomination, speakers include conservative favorites such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former senator Rick Santorum, Senator Rand Paul and Romney's wife Ann. But the biggest moment will be Romney's acceptance speech, when he will present himself, as well as his vision of the future to the country.
"One of the points about a convention is it's the time when campaigns make their candidates look as presidential as they possibly can," said Feaver at a recent Washington briefing.
And presidential is what Romney needs to look like. Despite the sluggish economy, he has not been able to overtake Obama at the polls, and the race is still a dead heat.
"I am amazed and surprised that in some polls Obama is slightly ahead or not far behind in others. When economy is as bad as it is, I would expect to see Republican team doing much better than it is at this stage of the game," said Kerry Haynie, another political scientist with Duke University.
The convention represents Romney's best chance so far to turn this thing around. According to Gallup, party conventions typically bump presidential candidates' support numbers up by five percentage points.
In an interview with Xinhua, John Pickering, a political scientist with Lynn University, said he would expect two to three percentage points bump in polls nationally to Republicans going out of Tampa.
