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            Conventions Loom as Test for US Presidential Candidates

   by Jim Malone

   The next phase of the U.S. presidential campaign is about to begin with
   the Republican and Democratic conventions.  Republicans will meet in
   Tampa, Florida, beginning on Monday, August 27, to formally nominate
   Mitt Romney. Democrats gather in Charlotte, North Carolina the
   following week to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term.
   Negative ads from both sides blanket the TV airwaves and the candidates
   are taking it personally.
   "The other side has decided that compromise is a dirty word," President
   Obama said.  "And they spend a lot of time trying to beat me instead of
   moving the country forward."
   "So Mr. President, take your campaign of division and anger and hate
   back to Chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting America,"
   said Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
   Mitt Romney has excited conservatives with his choice of Wisconsin
   Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.
   But Democrats are attacking Ryan's past plans to reform Medicare, the
   government's health care program for older Americans.
   "So we know hope and change has become attack and blame," Ryan said.
   "We're not going to blame other people.  We're going to take
   responsibility."
   Romney has a chance to reintroduce himself at the Republican convention
   in Tampa, says analyst Norman Ornstein.
   "Romney now has an opportunity to show that he is not the imperious,
   mean-spirited, out-of-touch rich guy but rather a warm family person
   who cares about others and also somebody who is competent enough to
   move forward," he said.
   Polls show President Obama is more likeable than Romney, but
   politically vulnerable because of the weak economy.
   The president is trying to convince voters that better days are ahead.
   "I'll wake up every single day fighting as hard as I know how for you,"
   he said.  "I will think about you and I will represent you and I will
   fight for you and I have kept that promise, Iowa!  I have kept that
   promise!"
   Obama will have a different challenge when he speaks to Democrats at
   their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in September, says
   Ornstein.
   "You want to reinforce the things that you've done including killing
   Osama bin Laden that show you as the tough, resolute decision-maker,"
   he said.
   Political conventions have changed from the days when they actually
   chose candidates, says Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown.
   "They are a way of presenting each party in its best light, and it's a
   way of telling voters, this is who the party is, this is who the
   candidate is and this is what he stands for," he said.
   After the conventions, the next major campaign test will be a series of
   candidate debates beginning October 3.
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   dential-candidates/1492325.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/conventions-loom-as-test-for-us-presidential-candidates/1492325.html