The convention to crown Mitt Romney as Republican presidential nominee kicked off with the usual blend of political theater and razzmatazz Tuesday despite a hurricane bearing down on New Orleans.
Romney flew in two days early to attend a storm-delayed opening night of speeches headlined by his wife Ann\'s attempt to capture the lighter side of a candidate who has struggled to connect on a human level with many voters.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus launched proceedings before the national anthem was sung and the political feast began with a series of addresses by party luminaries punctuated by upbeat musical numbers.
Ann Romney was all smiles as she offered reporters her home-baked cakes on the plane, showing no sign of nerves as she prepared for the biggest speech of her life, one that could be crucial to her husband\'s hopes.
"You will see that my speech is heartfelt, and I think a lot of you have been covering me long enough and you know that I\'ve never gone off of a written text. So this is a unique experience for me," she said.
Romney\'s decided to come to hear his wife\'s pitch, flying to Florida two days earlier than expected and fuelling speculation that he might take the stage and kiss her afterwards, imitating Al Gore and wife Tipper in 2000.
First day convention events had to be scrapped or incorporated into the program due to Isaac, a tropical storm which strengthened to a hurricane as it neared New Orleans, threatening to cast a pall over Romney\'s grand coronation.
The storm presented the candidate with a tricky challenge as he must tread a fine line between driving home his political message and showing sensitivity to voters in harm\'s way.
Romney\'s image will get a carefully scripted makeover during the convention as the Republican White House hopeful aims to close the yawning likability gap between himself and the president.
Ann\'s prime time speech later Wednesday was to lead efforts to weave a new narrative for a candidate who appears stiff and awkward as he interacts with voters and has not been helped by a string of wealth-related gaffes.
Charismatic New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will follow Mrs Romney, giving the night\'s keynote address and no doubt firing up the 20,000 crowd with an impassioned tear-down of Obama and a ringing endorsement of Romney.
While most surveys show the former Massachusetts governor trumping Obama on the crucial question of who voters trust more to handle the flagging US economy, he trails the president badly in terms of likability.
Romney lies neck-and-neck with Obama in national polls 10 weeks before an election that should be his for the taking given the sour economic times -- America\'s unemployment lingers stubbornly above eight percent.
Many Americans do not tune in until the convention season starts -- Obama and the Democrats hold theirs next week in Charlotte, North Carolina -- so Tampa provides Romney with a golden opportunity to reintroduce himself.
"For the Romney folks this is a chance to speak to a lot of voters who have only paid casual attention so far," Charles Franklin, politics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told AFP.
"Some will be looking for the first time, others will be reconsidering and open to some change," he added.
The run-up to the convention was marred by incendiary remarks from Todd Akin, a Republican congressman seeking a Senate seat in Missouri, who suggested women\'s bodies spontaneously prevent pregnancy after a "legitimate rape."
The Romney camp, which roundly condemned the remarks, is keen to get back on message, pressing the case that the successful businessman understands the economy better than Obama and knows how to get the country back on track.
Romney will tout a "more positive vision for America" on Thursday when he accepts the Republican Party\'s White House nomination, a senior aide said.
"It will be a clear vision of a Romney presidency, and very much from his heart about America, and why he wants to be president," strategist Stuart Stevens told reporters.
Obama will break with tradition and campaign hard through his rival\'s event, countering Romney\'s bid to grab an uninterrupted chance to make his case.
Forecasts put Hurricane Isaac on a direct path to hit New Orleans overnight, seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and killed 1,800 people in one of the country\'s worst-ever natural disasters.
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