2012 Presidential Election, Republican National Convention | featured news

Aides say both acceptance speeches were meticulously written and rewritten, with the White House even vetting some lines through focus groups. Perhaps that caution was the problem, because -- as many commentators pointed out -- neither speech seemed to attain the soaring resonance of remarks delivered by other speakers at the same two conventions.

Fox News Channel’s 10 to 11-ish p.m. coverage of Clint Eastwood’s debate with a chair — followed by Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech — was the country’s second-most-watched TV program last week. Romney, Eastwood & Chair finished the week trailing only Howard Stern & “America’s Got Talent” on NBC; the telecasts averaged 9.1 million viewers and 9.9 million viewers, respectively.

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan declined on Tuesday to back away from statements in his party convention speech that nonpartisan fact checkers have branded as false or misleading.

David Frum says the drought is driving up world food prices, and history suggests that is likely to produce unrest within poor nations. Prediction: 2013 will be a year of serious global crisis. That crisis is predictable, and in fact has already begun. It will inescapably confront the next president of the United States. Yet this emerging crisis got not a mention at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. We'll see if the Democrats do better.

President Obama's aides also have nothing but nice things to say about Clint Eastwood -- though they suggested he may be a problem for Mitt Romney. "We're all Clint Eastwood fans here in the White House," said senior adviser David Plouffe on ABC's This Week. Obama himself told USA TODAY that he is a"hug" fan of Eastwood, calling him "a great actor, and an even better director."

Women voters care most about the economy and jobs. But with a critical caveat: nine out of 10 women say that a candidate must "understand women." To do that requires an acknowledgment of two things: that women's economic security -- by almost every measure -- still lags behind that of male counterparts and that their economic security is inextricably tied to their ability to control their health, including reproductive choices. And on those points, no illusions and tradesman's tricks can obscure the fact that the GOP agenda fails the test.

The Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. received mediocre television ratings — and the polling data so far suggests that it may produce only a modest bounce in the polls for Mitt Romney.

Ratings for the final night of the Republican National Convention, which featured Mitt Romney and Clint Eastwood, weren't a blockbuster. An estimated 30.3 million viewers watched Thursday's coverage over 11 networks, Nielsen Co. said Friday. The event included presidential candidate Romney's acceptance speech and Eastwood's faux interview with an absent President Barack Obama.

Clint Eastwood earned plenty of bad reviews for his latest performance: a bizarre, rambling endorsement of Mitt Romney. "Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic," tweeted film critic Roger Ebert as Eastwood ad-libbed Thursday night to an audience of millions - and one empty chair - on stage at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. "He didn't need to do this to himself. It's unworthy of him."

Ann Romney says she appreciates the support Clint Eastwood gave her husband's presidential bid, even if the actor's bizarre monologue at the GOP convention isn't earning rave reviews.