G.O.P. Convention Will Include Video Tribute to Paul
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
New York Times
August 24, 2012
WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s campaign on Friday extended an olive branch to the small army of Ron Paul delegates who will arrive in Tampa, Fla., next week even as Mr. Romney’s lawyers sought to prevent a similar show of political force at future conventions.
Republicans will run a tribute video to Mr. Paul on Tuesday night, the second night of the Republican National Convention, part of an effort to soothe the delegates that Mr. Paul collected during his long primary battle with Mr. Romney this year.
But at the same time, the campaign proposed a new rule that would prohibit states from holding nonbinding primary contests and then picking the actual delegates at a later state convention. The new rule was narrowly approved by the convention’s rules committee and is set to be adopted Monday by the convention delegates.
Mr. Paul, a Texas congressman who did not win a single primary or caucus during his run for the nomination this year, used the existing process to amass a large delegation, primarily in states where Mr. Romney had won nonbinding contests.
After losing a primary or caucus, supporters of Mr. Paul frequently swarmed later state conventions, turning what had been a victory for Mr. Romney into a delegation bound to vote for Mr. Paul at the national convention.
Supporters of Mr. Paul were hoping to force his name into nomination at the convention, giving him a national platform. But Mr. Romney’s backers made sure that did not happen, and denied Mr. Paul a speech during the four-day event.
A.J. Spiker, the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party and a supporter of Mr. Paul, told Radio Iowa that the new rule was unfair. Mr. Paul came in third in Iowa’s caucus in January, but earned nearly all of the state’s delegates at a later convention.
“I’m shocked that the Romney campaign would decide to divide Republicans just before the national convention,” Mr. Spiker said.
A top aide to Mr. Romney said the video was proposed by supporters of Mr. Paul and approved by convention planners as an expression of solidarity with Mr. Paul’s advocates, many of whom disagree with Mr. Romney in many policy areas.
“We feel that we’re in a good place,” said Russ Schriefer, a top media strategist for Mr. Romney and a central planner for the convention. “We know that not everybody is going to agree with us at all times.” In the film about Mr. Paul, he said, “Several of his colleagues will give testimony to his principles and his dedication to America.”
Mr. Schriefer said that while Mr. Romney and Mr. Paul “certainly disagree on many issues,” the onetime rivals had “a lot of mutual respect.” In addition to the video, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mr. Paul’s son, will address the convention on Monday.
Republicans also confirmed Friday that Ann Romney’s convention speech was moving to Tuesday night after the party failed to persuade the broadcast networks to televise any of the Monday convention speeches.
Mr. Schriefer had said Friday morning that convention officials were still optimistic that the networks would change their minds. But by the end of the day, Mr. Romney’s camp gave in and agreed to move his wife’s speech so that she would receive some prime-time coverage.
Republican officials also described the themes they hoped to offer during the convention.
Speakers on Monday will hammer President Obama as a “failure” as they try to drive home the theme that “we can do better.” Mr. Schriefer said the speeches would not be overly negative, but promised to draw a sharp contrast between Mr. Romney and the president.
“You need to lay down the predicate and make the case of why President Obama has failed and why this administration has failed on many levels,” Mr. Schriefer said. He said the speakers would “talk about the areas where President Obama hasn’t lived up to his many promises.”
The second night will be built around Mr. Romney’s criticism of the president’s comments at a rally that “if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” Mr. Romney has seized on that comment in speeches and television commercials, suggesting that the president was dismissing the work of small-business owners.
Mr. Obama’s campaign has accused Mr. Romney of twisting the president’s words. Independent fact-checkers have said the full context of the remarks makes clear that the president was talking about government’s role in helping to build infrastructure like roads and bridges.
Mr. Schriefer said the convention speakers on Tuesday would make the case that the remark by Mr. Obama “showed that he more believed that government has a bigger role in job creation.”
The effort to tell Mr. Romney’s personal story will be left for Thursday, when he will arrive to formally accept his party’s nomination to be president.
Republicans said the speakers on the last day would be people who had known or worked with Mr. Romney in his church or at the 2002 Olympics, including three former Olympians: Kim Rhode, Mike Eruzione and Derek Parra.
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