Ayotte Shines at Republican National Convention

Last night was the night Republicans were waiting for ... the speech by Ann Romney.

New Hampshire Republican activists are very familiar with the style and humanity of Ann Romney, so they knew what to expect. But the rest of the media and nation were waiting to see if she would be up to the challenge. The room went wild for her, and the press seemed to be totally impressed, some smitten. Mitt making an appearance after her speech was the icing on the cake and it came off as the loveable couple, especially with the  song “My Girl” playing in the background.

Of course, there was another lady in red who spoke last night that New Hampshire was waiting with bated breath for – our very own Kelly Ayotte. The start was a little rocky as her voice cracked as she started with our state's "Live Free or Die" slogan. I thought, "Oh no, she is losing her voice," but she continued on and hit her stride. She came across as warm and just an average wife and mother as she told her story. Cheers erupted when she mentioned her fighter pilot husband Joe and his service in Iraq. The GOP highlighted a number of bright and rising female political stars, showing that the party is full of up and coming women candidates in the future.

The biggest winners? Mrs. Romney, Artur Davis and Gov. Chris Christie.

The biggest losers? All those delegates put into bus hell trying to get back to their hotels after the convention ended at 11 p.m. Some people had it take over two hours to go to hotels only 5 miles away. 

There seem to be a few kinks that need to be worked out before tonight in this area. And did I mention how hot and muggy it was waiting for those buses? I had driven downtown and parked outside the “convention perimeter,” as it is called, and it took me an hour on a taxi line to get to where I parked my car. I will say that I was very impressed how quickly we got through security checkpoints. Much better than prior conventions. But I am still amazed about how much police presence there is.

This morning, the New Hampshire delegation joined the Pennsylvania delegation for breakfast where Gov. John H. Sununu spoke with his usual partisan spiced and fiery words. Then we heard from Gov. Chris Christie, who came across as a real person with a great sense of humor. The final speaker was Kelly Ayotte, who looked very fashionable in a royal blue with black trim jacket dress. She was confident, poised, and gave a great inspirational speech about the importance of this election.

She pointed out several times that this election is not about “winning the election” for candidates but that this election is about the future of the next generation.

Tonight’s red meat speaker will be Paul Ryan, who will set the tone on the road map back to getting our budget in control and our citizens back to work.

Fran Wendelboe is a former Republican state representative from New Hampton. She will be providing occasional updates from the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida this week.