Convention Coverage

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) angrily accused the Obama administration Monday of "race-baiting" in an effort to wrest Latino voters from the Republican party.

Mitt Romney will get a carefully scripted convention makeover as the Republican White House hopeful aims to close the yawning likability gap between himself and President Barack Obama.

Tropical storm warnings and grey skies still loomed over Tampa on Monday, and more than a few journalists braved the drive over the miles-long Howard Frankland Bridge from St. Petersburg in strong winds while the choppy waters of the bay slapped against the barriers and occasionally topped them. That ominous site soon faded when one reached downtown Tampa and saw several helicopters hovering between skyscrapers as though hung from the clouds.

Mitt Romney is set to fly to Florida on Tuesday, two days earlier than expected, as he seeks to prevent Tropical Storm Isaac from overshadowing his coronation as the Republican presidential nominee.

While delegates and newsmakers more or less took the day off while waiting for Issac (and waiting out tornado warnings in the area), the March on the RNC went forward as initially planned. But when the official march reached its end point, a few of the participants decided they weren't done, and headed toward the Tampa Convention Center to try to draw the media's attention away from the official opening of the convention, where they were met by a bunch of bicycle cops trained to use their transportation as roving barricades.

It was barely a week ago that Rep. Todd Akin's comments about "legitimate rape" and a woman's supposed inability to conceive during one surfaced. Since then, he's been pressured by his party to drop out of his Senate race, called out by almost everyone in the conservative movement (including Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and anti-abortion activist Rebecca Kiessling, whose whole activism is dedicated to convincing rape victims to keep any children conceived). But at the Republican National Committee's welcome party on Saturday night, Raw Story spotted a number of women delegates sporting flashing pro-life buttons and Todd Akin stickers. Three of them -- Zina Hackworth (of This Race Will Self-Destruct, an African-American anti-abortion and HIV awareness organization), Connie Eller (of Missouri Blacks for Life) and Debi Demien, agreed to speak to us.

The Republican convention to crown Mitt Romney the presidential nominee opened Monday not with a bang but with a whimper, as the symbolic session was adjourned almost immediately for a day's storm delay.

The presence of Isaac wasn't the only thing dampening the moods of those who made it to Tampa on Sunday to attend or cover the Republican National Convention: the sheer size and visibility of the police and military presence was enough to give even some conservatives pause. Though patches identified which of the surrounding counties the individual officers normally serve, the fact that the police officers' khaki outfits and the military's standard camouflage matched had the effect of making the large and very visibly-armed force of men and women seem more like one cohesive force than several individual ones. The contrast of some officers' black leg holsters made them seem somehow even more ominous and intimidating, especially when officers stood guard at seemingly random spots blocks from the convention zone. The officers at times seemed to outnumber the March on the RNC protesters with their vagina costumes, hand-made signs, snare drums and vuvuzelas, trying to make their voices heard at a convention that decidedly isn't interested.

"Welcome to Tampa for the Republican National Convention" signs scream out from lampposts, billboards and shop windows across the region, as conventioneers continue to pour into Tampa from across the country and media descends from across the world to cover the Republican Party's 4-day free advertisement for its candidate for president, former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA).

This is Sarah Palin like you've never seen her before. Or not. Lisa Ann is a porn star, and has made it big impersonating America's would-be vice president since 2008.

The Republican National Convention will be shortened one day by bad weather, but activists from the conservative Tea Party movement heralded advancing Tropical Storm Isaac as a timely symbol of big changes ahead after November's election.

Rule changes pushed through by the Romney campaign that appear designed to prevent an insurgent candidacy like that of Ron Paul from mounting any meaningful challenge to the party establishment in the future are provoking a strong grassroots reaction.