>> coming out to the stage. as we said, this is a planned period of welcome. for ann romney . [ cheers and applause ]
>> welcome!
>> scenes of her husband and family behind her. she is 63 years old. they've been married for 43 years.
>> thank you and thank you. i can't wait to see what we're going to all do together. this is going to be so exciting! just so you all know, the hurricane has hit landfall and i think we should all take this moment and recognize that fellow americans are in its path, and just hope and pray that all remain safe and no life is lost and no property is lost. we should all be thankful for this great country and grateful for our first responders and all that keep us safe in this wonderful country . well, i want to talk to you tonight, not about politics and not about party. and while there are many important issues we'll hear discussed in this convention and throughout this campaign, tonight i want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts. i want to talk not about what divides us but what holds us together as an american family . i want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us. that one great thing that brings us our greatest joy when times are good and the deepest solace in our deepest sorrows. tonight i want to talk to you about love. i want to talk to you about the deep and abiding love i have for a man i met at a dance many years ago. and the profound love i have, and i know we share for this country. i want to talk to you about that love so deep, only a mother can fathom it. the love we have for our children and our children's children. and i want us to think tonight about the love we share for those americans , our brothers and our sisters who are going through difficult times. whose days are never easy, nights are always long and whose work never seems done. they're here among us tonight in this hall. they are here in neighborhoods across tampa and all across america . the parents who lie awake at night side by side wondering how they'll be able to pay the mortgage or pay the rent. the single dad who is working extra hours tonight so that his kids can buy new clothes to go back to school. can take a school trip or play a sport. so his kids can feel, you know, just like other kids. and the working moms who love their jobs but would like to work just a little less to spend more time with the kids. but that's just out of the question with this economy. or how about that couple who would like to have another child but wonder how they'll afford it? i have been all across this country and i know a lot of you guys. and i have seen and heard stories of how hard it is to get ahead now. you know what? i've heard your voices. they've said to me, i'm running in place and we just can't get ahead. sometimes i think that late at night if we were all silent for just a few moments and listened carefully, we could hear a collective sigh from the moms and dads across america who made it through another day and know that they'll make it through another one tomorrow. but in the end of that day moment, they just aren't sure how. and if you listen carefully, you'll hear the women sighing a little bit more than the man. it is how it is, isn't it? it is the moms who have always had to work a little harder to make everything right. it is the moms of this nation, single, married, widowed who really hold this country together. we're the mothers. we are the wives. we're the grandmothers. we're the big sisters . we're the little sisters and we are the daughters. you know it's true, don't you? [ cheers and applause ] i love you women! and i hear your voices. those are my favorite fans down there. you are the ones that have to do a little bit more and you know what it's like to work a little harder during the day to earn the respect you earn at work. then you come home at night and help with the book report just because it has to be done. you know what those late night phone calls with an elderly parent are like and the long weekend drives just to see how they're doing. you know the fastest route to the emergency room and which doctors actually answer the phone call when you call at night. i know all about that. you know what it's like to sit in that graduation ceremony and wonder how it is like that so many long days turned to years that went by so quickly. you are the best of america . you -- you are the hope of america . there would not be an america without you. tonight we salute you and sing your praises. [ cheers and applause ] i'm not sure if men really understand this but i don't think there is a woman in america who really expects her life to be easy. in our own ways, we all know better. you know what? we don't want easy. but the last few years have been harder than they needed to be. it is all the little things . the price at the pump you just can't believe. the grocery bills that just get bigger. all those things that used to be free like school sports are now one more bill to pay. it is all the little things that pile up to become big things and the big things , the good jobs, the chance at college, that home you want to buy, just gets harder. everything has become harder. we're too smart to know there aren't easy answers but we're not dumb enough to expect that there aren't better answers.3 f2 f?ciles. and that is where this boy i met at a high school dance comes in. his name is mitt romney and you should really get to know him. i could tell you why i fell in love with him. he was tall, laughed a lot, he was nervous. girls like that. it shows the guy is a little intimidated. he was nice to my parents but he was also really glad when they weren't around. i don't mind that. but more than anything, he made me laugh. some of you might not know this but i am the granddaughter of a welsh coal miner. he was determined. he was determined that his kids get out of the mines. my dad got his first job when he was 6 years old in a little village in wales cleaning bottles at the collier's arms. when he was 15, dad came to america . in our country he saw hope and an opportunity to escape from poverty. he moved to a small town in the great state of michigan . michigan! there he started the business, one he built by himself, by the way. he raised a family and he became mayor of our town. my dad would often remind my brothers and me how fortunate we were to grow up in a place like america . he wanted us to have every opportunity that came with life in this country and so he pushed us to be our best and give our all. inside the houses that lined the streets of our town, there were a lot of good fathers teaching their sons and daughters those same values. i didn't know it at the time but one of those dads was my future father-in-law, george romney . mitt's dad never graduated from college. instead he became a carpenter. he worked hard, he became the head of a car company and then the governor of michigan. when mitt and i met and fell in love , we were determined not to let anything stand in the way of our life together. i was an e-episcopalian, he was a mormon. we were very young, both still in college. there were many reasons to delay marriage. and we just didn't care. we got married and moved in to basement apartment. we walked to class together, shared the housekeeping, ate a lot of pasta and tuna fish . our desk was a door propped up on saw horses. our dining room table was a fold down ironing board in the kitchen. but those were the best days . then our first son came along. all at once, i'm 22 years old with a baby and a husband who is going to business school and law school at the same time and i can tell you, probably like every other girl who finds herself in a new life far from family and friends with a new baby and a new husband, that it dawned on me that i had absolutely no idea what i was getting into. well, that was 42 years ago. i've survived. we now have five sons and 18 beautiful grandchildren. [ cheers and applause ] i'm still in love with that boy i met at a high school dance and he still makes me laugh. i read somewhere that mitt and i have a story book marriage. well, let me tell you something. in the story books i read, there never were long, long rainy winter afternoons and a house with five boys screaming at once. and those story books never seemed to have a chapter called m.s. or breast cancer . a story book marriage? nope, not at all. what mitt romney and i have is a real marriage. [ cheers and applause ]3 f1 i know this good and decent man for what he is. he is warm and loving and patient. he has tried to live his life with a set of values centered on family, faith and love of one's fellow man. from the time we were just married, i've seen him spend countless hours helping others. i've seen him drop everything to help a friend in trouble and late night calls from a friend in the church whose child was taken to the hospital. you may not agree with mitt's positions on issues or his politics. by the way, massachusetts is only 13% republican so it is not like it was a shock to me. but -- but let me say this. to every american who was thinking about who should be our next president. no one will work harder. no one will care more. and no one will move heaven and earth like mitt romney to make this country a better place to live.7 cc3 [ cheers and applause ]3 f2 y grita a la se?ora mitt romney it's true that mitt has been successful at each new challenge he's taken on. do you know what? it actually amazes me to see his history of success being attacked. are those really the values that made our country great? as a mom of five boys, do we want to raise our children to be afraid of success? do we send our children out in the world with the advice, try to do okay? and let's be honest. if the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on mitt romney 's success? of course not. mitt will be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world. he had two loving parents who gave him strong values and taught him the value of work. he had the chance to get the education his father never had. but as his partner on this amazing journey , i can tell you mitt romney was not handed success. he built it.3 f1 [ chanting ]
>> he stayed in massachusetts after graduate school and got a job. i saw the long hours that started with that first job. i was there when he had a small group of friends talking about starting a new company. i was there when they struggled and wondered if the whole idea just wasn't going to work. mitt's reaction was to work harder and press on. today that company has become another great american success story. has it made those who started the company successful? made them successful beyond their dreams? yes, it has. it allowed us to give our sons the chance at good educations and made all those long hours of book reports and homework worth every minute. it has given us the deep satisfaction of being able to help others in ways we could never have imagined. this is important. i want you to hear what i'm going to say. mitt doesn't like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege. not a political talking point.3 f1 we are no different than the millions of americans who quietly help their neighbors. their churches and their communities. they don't do it so others will think more of them. they do it because there is no greater joy. give and it shall be given unto you. but because this is america , that small company which grew has helped so many others. the jobs that grew from the risks they took, that success has helped fund scholarships, pensions and retirement funds. this is the genius of america . dreams fulfilled. help others launch new dreams. at every turn in his life, this man i met at a high school dance has helped lift up others. he did it with the olympics when many wanted to give up. he did it in massachusetts where he guided the state from check crisis to unemployment just under 4.7%. under mitt massachusetts has the best schools in the nation. the best. he started something that i really love. he started the john and an game adams scholarship which gives the top 25% high school graduates a four-year tuition-free scholarship. this is the man america needs. this is the man who will wake up every day with a determination to solve the problems with others say can't be solved. fix what others say is beyond repair . this is the man who will work harder than anyone so that we can work a little less hard. i can't tell you what will happen over the next four years but i can only stand here tonight as a wife and a mother and a grandmother, an american, and make you this solemn commitment. this man will not fail. [ cheers and applause ] this man will not let us down. it has been 47 years since that you can trust mitt. we love america . he will take us to a better place just as he took me home safely from that dance. give him that chance. give america that chance. god bless each and everyone of you and god bless the united states of america .
>> ann romney , wife of mitt romney who appears at her side on this stage. one of the best kept secrets was that this might happen after she was done with her remarks. this gathering gets their first glimpse at their eventual nominee. after 43 years of marriage, this crowd just heard from the best living expert on mitt romney .
