TAMPA, Fla. – Mitt Romney was formally nominated Tuesday as the Republicans' presidential candidate, hitting the magic number of delegates late in the afternoon -- capping an eight-year quest for his party's nomination.
Shortly before 6 p.m., Romney notched the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the party nomination going into November. The New Jersey delegation, whose governor is giving the keynote, delivered the final delegates that put him over the top.
The proceedings, as per tradition, were part pep rally for the individual state delegations that one-by-one took the stage and jazzed up the crowd before announcing their delegate totals. But they also concluded what for Romney has been a protracted and hard-fought battle for the nomination -- he is here in Tampa only after warding off a rotating field of feisty primary challengers ranging from Rick Perry to Newt Gingrich to Rick Santorum to Herman Cain.
The nomination sets into motion a convention that until a few hours ago was fairly lifeless. Tropical-storm-turned-hurricane Isaac delayed the convention start by a day and continued to overshadow the event. But the atmosphere at the Tampa Bay Times Forum late Tuesday was ebullient. Concessions were flowing in the halls of the arena, and delegates -- some in state-specific costume -- had been streaming in all day in advance of the nomination and later a slew of major speeches.
Romney and his family, as well as running mate Paul Ryan and his family, touched down in Tampa earlier in the day.
Romney's wife Ann, upon landing in Tampa, immediately went to the convention site for a walk-through ahead of her speech Tuesday night. She did a quick sound-check, reading the opening of the Gettysburg Address from a teleprompter placed at the back of the room.
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