RNC 2012 Roundup: Ann Romney Steals Show, Gov. McDonnell Makes Rounds

The first full day at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. had multiple headliners, thanks to a condensed schedule caused by Hurricane Isaac. While Ann Romney, wife of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, is the star of the first night of the convention, the delegates tended to a number of the official proceedings during the day. 

Some of the procedural items included: 

• Officially nominating Mitt Romney; New Jersey’s delegates put him over the edge.
• Party leaders opted not to seat Ron Paul delegates; the image of them being "steamrolled," may rub some the wrong way, NPR’s Mark Memmott notes.
• The GOP approved some rule changes, including allowing changes to the RNC procedures to be made between conventions, and giving the party power to remove delegates — the last of which was vehemently opposed by one of the Virginia delegates, Morton Blackwell, The Hill’s Alex Bolton reports. 

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell had his moment Tuesday: 

• McDonnell’s speech at the convention addressed small business and the economy, following the night’s "we built it" theme by noting that business owners "built America." Much of it would have been familiar to Virginians who have listened to McDonnell’s speeches before, NBC Washington notes. 
• The governor also appeared on WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show yesterday, urging Congress to reach a budget deal that would prevent significant job losses in Virginia. He also minimized a State Integrity Investigation report that gave the commonwealth an F; Virginia does “a pretty good job” on transparency, McDonnell said. 
• McDonnell’s name also came up as a potential U.S. Attorney General for a Romney administration during an appearance by WAMU’s Michael Pope on a convention night call-in show with WNYC's Brian Lehrer. 
• Virginia Republicans at the convention were also getting excited about Artur Davis who many think could have the best chance of beating Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) in 2014.
• And one of the convention’s youngest delegates, 21-year-old Alexander Reber of Virginia, told NPR that McDonnell is the main reason he became a committed Republican at such a young age. 

Local ties not withstanding, there was plenty of chatter about the other speakers on day one: 

• Ann Romney worked the crowd, and the moment Mitt joined her on stage caused the highest tweet volume last night, Twitter reports on its blog. 
• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was fired up, although the audience at the convention was less so, according to The Fix’s Chris Cillizza; he sort of goaded the crowd into giving him a standing ovation, BuzzFeed's Zeke Miller notes.
• Christie's speech also mentioned himself 37 times, while it mentioned Romney only 7 times, notes Miller.
• Artur Davis’s statement that Obamacare requires the middle class to buy healthcare even if they can’t afford it was "mostly false," according to a Politifact fact check. 
• New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte accuses President Obama of never operating a lemonade stand. Do we need a fact check on that one?

Elsewhere around the convention: 

• Party officials are reportedly looking for an opening for the convention’s youngest delegate, 17-year-old Evan Draim, to speak today, according to PBS NewsHour's Alex Bruns.
• One of the RNC attendees reportedly threw nuts at a black CNN camerawoman, saying "this is how we feed animals."
• McDonnell wasn't the only D.C.-area governor at the convention Tuesday; Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-Md.) was also on hand to rebut some of the Republican platform at a press conference.
• Following on Ann Romney’s speech, NPR looks at how the GOP is trying to court women at the convention more through programming than platform. 
• #FlatKojo rode a Tampa streetcar, hobnobbed with Newt Gingrich and the D.C. GOP, but was noticeably absent from this Kojo Show picture of the convention’s most interesting headgear.