What Romney accomplished… And what he didn’t… Romney’s nostalgic optimism and Obama’s forward… Romney’s pitch to women… Clint Eastwood: Go ahead, make our day… It was yet another unforced error by Romney and his campaign… Romney and Ryan stump in FL, Romney heads to New Orleans, and Ryan stumps in VA... Obama speaks at Ft Bliss, TX… And “Meet” will interview Rahm Emanuel.

Watch: Slideshow from the Republican National Convention

TAMPA, Fla. -- Yesterday, we wrote that Mitt Romney had four objectives with his acceptance speech: 1) better introduce himself to the public, 2) close the empathy gap, 3) get American voters to be comfortable with him as president, and 4) put more meat on the policy bone. He accomplished those first two goals, especially if you were in the convention hall or watching the live feed in the 8:00 pm hour.The testimonials from families who had lost loved ones during the time Romney played a key role in his church were powerful, and there were tears in the audience after these families told their stories. It was something we hadn’t seen from Romney or his campaign before. But how many people saw that? You didn’t if you only tuned in for the primetime hour beginning at 10:00 pm, which began with Clint Eastwood’s very unusual introduction (more on that below). On the empathy question, Romney also delivered this line that was very effective: “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. MY promise is to help you and your family.”

*** And what he didn’t: So the campaign largely succeeded on those first two objectives. But on the last two? Not as much. On getting American voters more comfortable with him as president, Romney made a stronger case -- and devoted more time -- to why Obama should be fired than why Romney should be hired. Indeed, the speech was heavy on trying to channel disappointment with the current president. One example: “I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed. But his promises gave way to disappointment and division.” Yet Romney didn’t make the case how he could get past the current division, polarization and gridlock, especially given how these campaigns are currently conducting themselves. And as for more meat on the policy bone, we didn’t get it. Romney discussed his five-step plan on the economy -- take advantage of domestic energy sources, give Americans the job skills they need, encourage free trade, cut the deficit, and lower taxes. But outside the budget deficit, none of those steps is any different than what George W. Bush pursued when he was president. And this was surprising, but Romney never mentioned the word “Afghanistan” once. By not putting more meat on the policy bone and by not differentiating his policies from Bush’s, Romney left the Obama campaign a lot of room to work with.

*** Nostalgic optimism vs. Forward: If you could sum up the majority of Romney's acceptance speech it would be with these two words: nostalgic optimism. Per NBC’s Sarah Blackwill, Romney used the word “restore” three times (" Now is a time to restore the promise of America"). And he vowed to “return” to the foreign policy legacy of Truman and Reagan. And the message of nostalgic optimism -- to the time of his father and mother -- was typified by this line: "I was born in the middle of the century in the middle of the country, a classic baby boomer. It was a time when Americans were returning from war and eager to work. To be an American was to assume that all things were possible. When President Kennedy challenged Americans to go to the moon, the question wasn't whether we'd get there, it was only when we'd get there.” But looking backwards only gets you so far; after all, another story of America is moving forward. And that word “forward” happens to be the slogan of the man Romney is trying to unseat.

*** Shades of Dole in ’96? In fact, Romney’s message of a return to yesteryear made us think of Bob Dole’s message in his 1996 acceptance speech. “Let me be the bridge to an America that only the unknowing call myth. Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquillity, faith, and confidence in action,” Dole said. “And to those who say it was never so, that America has not been better, I say, you're wrong, and I know, because I was there. And I have seen it. And I remember… We have fought and prevailed on almost every continent and in almost every sea. We have even lost, but we have lasted, and we have always come through.  Like Dole (Greatest Generation) vs. Clinton (Baby Boomer), Romney vs. Obama is a battle between generations, too.

Jae C. Hong / AP

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney acknowledges delegates before speaking at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012.

*** Romney’s pitch to women: Another thing struck us about Romney’s speech: He made a direct pitch to women voters. He said of his mother, “I wish she could have been here at the convention and heard leaders like Gov. Mary Fallin, Gov. Nikki Haley, Gov. Susana Martinez, Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. As governor of Massachusetts, I chose a woman Lt. governor, a woman chief of staff, half of my cabinet and senior officials were women, and in business, I mentored and supported great women leaders who went on to run great companies.” If you didn’t think the Romney camp knows the gender gap is an issue, you know now…

*** Go ahead -- make our day: And finally, we come to the story that’s likely to be the subject of late-night comedians -- and that’s still the talk of Tampa: Clint Eastwood. After all of the scripting, Eastwood delivered a 10 minute-plus rambling speech, part of which was an imaginary interview with President Obama. Romney World has to ask itself: Why Eastwood over the touching Romney video in the primetime hour? Why Eastwood over those touching stories about Romney? The word we’ve received about Eastwood from the Romney camp is this: The Obama campaign is dedicated to tearing down Romney, and an American icon like Eastwood is on Romney’s side.

*** Yet another unforced error: Unfortunately for the Romney campaign, Eastwood was yet another unforced error. Of course, all campaigns make them -- Obama made one when he allowed Republicans to seize on his “You didn’t build that” line. But Romney and his campaign stumble on the EASIEST of situations. Remember the speech at Ford Field in Detroit? Romney questioning London’s readiness before the Olympics? All were unforced errors, and all were VERY avoidable.

*** On the trail: Romney and Ryan hold a farewell rally in Lakeland, FL at 10:00 am ET; Romney then heads to New Orleans; and Ryan stumps in Richmond, VA at 2:00 pm ET… Obama speaks at Fort Bliss, TX at 2:45 pm ET… And Biden campaigns in Lordstown, OH at 11:00 am.

*** On Sunday’s “Meet the Press”: NBC’s David Gregory interviews Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Countdown to Dem convention: 3 days
Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 33 days
Countdown to VP debate: 41 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 46 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 52 days
Countdown to Election Day: 67 days

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“With tens of millions of viewers watching the most important speech of his life, Romney painted a fuller portrait of himself, countering the image of a wealthy, out-of-touch, opportunistic politician that his political opponents have spent the past year creating for him,” the Boston Globe’s Viser writes, adding some lines from Romney: “What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It doesn’t take a special government commission to tell us what America needs. What America needs is jobs. Lots of jobs.”

And: “He also mocked President Obama’s goals, saying to laughter, ‘President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family.’”

“In accepting the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday after an eight-year quest for it, Mitt Romney opened a new chapter of his campaign: his closing argument to the American people,” the Boston Globe’s Johnson adds. “Before the largest television audience he has drawn as a political figure, the former Massachusetts governor sought to humanize himself by talking about his family history and personal life." 

The AP: “Romney asks US to 'turn the page' on Obama.”

The AP in a separate story: “Social Security. Medicare. Iraq. Afghanistan. Illegal immigration. They’re all costly to taxpayers and the next president presumably will have to address them to one degree or another. Yet GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney made no mention of those issues Thursday in his wide-ranging acceptance speech that closed the Republican National Convention.”

Reuters: “Though U.S. voters may respect Romney, they don't seem to like him much, and the central mission of the Republican convention was to show the personal side of a candidate who has been reluctant to reveal it himself. Romney may never beat Democratic President Barack Obama in a popularity contest, but Republicans hope that voters will at least warm to him enough in the final months before the November 6 election that they can turn the focus back to the sluggish economy and Obama's job performance.”

The New York Daily News: “Mitt Romney accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for President Thursday by declaring that Barack Obama failed to deliver the change he promised — and warned that America’s future greatness is in danger. Romney, in the defining moment of his political career, briefly pulled back the curtain that had long shielded much of his private life from voters, but his main objective was to convince Americans they made the wrong choice in 2008.”

AP: “Mitt Romney promised voters Thursday night that he would cut deficits and put America on track to a balanced budget as president, but he left voters to take it on faith that he could deliver. The details behind that pledge, and the painful spending choices involved, are conspicuously lacking in his agenda.” 

The Mormon moment: “It was more than politics,” USA Today writes. “This was the Mormons' moment, like African Americans' in 2008 with Barack Obama and Catholics' in 1928 with Democratic nominee Al Smith and 1960 with John F. Kennedy. … In his campaign this year, the candidate rarely and only vaguely spoke of his role in the church. But in an effort to explain Romney the Mormon, he was preceded on the convention stage Thursday night by other Mormons who told stories about him, his faith and his church work. He was described as a follower of Christ who worried less about theology than serving other people.”

USA Today: “To Democrats who have denounced him as an untrustworthy flip-flopper and Republicans who once derided him as a ‘Massachusetts moderate,’ Mitt Romney finally defined himself this week — as a cheerful conservative capable of rescuing the country from economic collapse. Think Ronald Reagan meets Clint Eastwood, both of whom played key roles — Reagan in a video, Eastwood in person — as the Republican National Convention ended Thursday." 

The most popular story on USA Today’s website is: “Clint Eastwood makes sudden impact at RNC.” From the story: “In an unusual speech for what is typically a highly scripted affair, Eastwood talked to an empty chair, which he addressed as if President Obama was sitting there. At one point Eastwood suggested the imaginary president had told him to say derogatory things. ‘What do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. I can't tell him to do that to himself,’ he said.”

“Clint Eastwood was supposed to make Mitt Romney’s day. Instead, he made a mess of the Republican night,” the New York Daily News writes. “The Republican National Convention’s “surprise” act turned into a surreal shtick as the “Dirty Harry” actor delivered a swerving diatribe punctuated by a running conversation with an empty chair, a symbol of GOP dissatisfaction with President Obama.”

The New York Times: “Clint Eastwood’s rambling, head-scratching endorsement of Mitt Romney on Thursday set off immediate questions and finger-pointing among Romney supporters: Who booked Mr. Eastwood? Did anyone have an idea of what he was going to say? Did anyone read his remarks before they were broadcast? The actor, in one of the more unusual moments in Republican convention history, offered a speech in which he pretended to have an off-color conversation with an imaginary President Obama sitting by his side in an empty chair.”

Obama’s Twitter handle responded with a photo of the president sitting in a chair saying: “This seat's taken. http://OFA.BO/c2gbfi">http://OFA.BO/c2gbfi ,pic.twitter.com/jgGZTb02”

Orrin Hatch defended Eastwood on FOX: “I love Clint Eastwood. He's such a character.... and he's got guts. I mean, to be in the movie industry and come out and support Mitt Romney over the president, I thought was very, very good. Now my personal belief is that the monitor must have stopped running, but that doesn't make any difference. Clint's up there in age. I got to tell you, to come out there on that stage in front of all those people whooping and yelling and so forth, and to stand up for Mitt Romney the way he did? I thought it made a lot of sense tonight. I love him for it."

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Romney campaign planned a surprise guest to address the Republican convention here: Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood.

But it might have been more of a surprise than they bargained for.

In a rather rambling speech that lasted for more than 10 minutes -- not delivered on TelePrompter -- Eastwood criticized President Obama, in part by conducting an imaginary interview with the president.

"It might be time for someone else to come along and solve the problem," Eastwood told the GOP audience, adding: "When somebody doesn't do the job, we've got to let him go."  

The crowd ate up most of what Eastwood said, but it was an unusual address, especially at such a highly scripted political convention.

Eastwood ended his remarks by delivering his signature line: "Go ahead, make my day."

After his remarks, the Romney campaign issued this statement: "Judging an American icon like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn't work. His ad libbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd enjoyed it. He rightly pointed out that 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed is a national disgrace and it's time for a change."

Mitt’s moment and his four objectives… How we got to here -- a story of endurance and survival… Ryan makes his mark with last night’s speech… He also makes some misleading and unfair assertions… And the GOP’s diversity on display.

Brian Snyder / REUTERS

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney addresses the American Legion's national convention in Indianapolis, Indiana August 29, 2012.

TAMPA, Fla. -- After Ann Romney's introduction on Tuesday and Paul Ryan's rousing speech last night, Mitt Romney gets his moment tonight when he accepts the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination. If tonight’s speech is to be successful, Romney has to meet four objectives. One, he has to better introduce himself to the American public; it remains striking that after running for president for much of the past five years, voters still don’t have more than a two-dimensional understanding of the soon-to-be nominee. Two, he needs to convince the public that, while he looks the part, he’s the man Americans are comfortable seeing on their TVs for the next four years. Three, he has to try to close the empathy gap; our most recent NBC/WSJ poll found President Obama holding a 22-point advantage on who cares more about average people. And four, he needs to put some meat on the policy bone to make the case how his plans could actually work better than Obama’s -- and how they are different from the past Republican administration. If four hours are going to decide this presidential election, the first hour comes tonight.

*** How will he use it? So how will Romney use this hour? Focus on the personal? Emphasize the policy? Talk to the base? Reason with the swing voter? All of the above? There is no obvious answer here. But we’ll find out 13 hours from now, at 10:00 p ET. What’s more, it’s interesting how many of the things Romney has to accomplish tonight were the same things that Al Gore had to accomplish 12 years ago, and Gore’s story proves you can turn it around. By the way, the Romney camp says it’s holding more than 250 watch parties in 13 battleground states to celebrate Romney becoming the GOP’s official nominee. Meanwhile, the Obama camp has unveiled a new web video, hitting Romney for trying to shake “an Etch-A-Sketch of epic proportions.”

*** How we got here -- a story of endurance and survival: Remember that Romney’s upcoming moment tonight almost didn't happen during one of the wildest presidential nominating cycles we can remember. After Rick Perry jumped into the race in Aug. 2011, the Texas governor became the immediate front-runner in the GOP race, but a combination of the Romney campaign’s attacks on his immigration record and Perry’s own stumbles in the debates (“Oops”) sank his chances. Then, about a month before the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich made his surge, becoming the new GOP front-runner. But entered the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future, whose negative TV ads pummeled Gingrich so hard that the former House speaker finished fourth in Iowa. And then there was Rick Santorum’s surge in Feb. 2012. We often forget how close the former Pennsylvania senator came to upsetting Romney in his native state of Michigan -- it was 41% to 38% -- and had Romney lost that contest, it’s fair to say that he probably wouldn’t be standing on the stage tonight in Tampa accepting the GOP’s presidential nomination. Romney’s story, at least as it relates to the GOP nominating contest, is one of endurance and survival. 

*** Ryan makes his mark: As for Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech last night, it was quite an introduction for the Wisconsin congressman, and he did the things you’d expect from the VP speech. He gladly took on the role of attack dog. “Ladies and gentlemen, these past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House. What’s missing is leadership in the White House.” He proclaimed that he and Romney -- with Ryan’s budget plan -- were the reformers. “Medicare is a promise, and we will honor it. A Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare, for my Mom’s generation, for my generation, and for my kids and yours.” And following Ann Romney’s lead from Tuesday night, he tried to humanize the man at the top of the ticket. “Mitt and I … go to different churches. But in any church, the best kind of preaching is done by example. And I’ve been watching that example. The man who will accept your nomination tomorrow is prayerful and faithful and honorable.” And Ryan did all of these things projecting youth and energy, although it didn’t appear his target audience was swing voters.  

*** And he also makes some misleading or unfair assertions: That was the positive part of his speech last night. The negative came from the facts and fairness of some of his assertions. Perhaps the most egregious was his hit on Obama over Simpson-Bowles. “He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.” But here’s the thing: Ryan served on that same debt commission, and voted AGAINST it. Had Ryan voted for it (and convinced his fellow House members on the commission to do the same), Simpson-Bowles would have become law. Ryan also knocked Obama for the S&P downgrade, not mentioning the role that House Republicans like him played in that debt-ceiling debate. He also again attacked the president over those $716 billion in cuts/savings to Medicare -- the same $716 billion in cuts/savings that Ryan includes his budget. And he argued that Obama was unable to keep a GM plant open in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, WI, when that plant closed before Obama became president. Out of all of the assertions, the only one the Romney-Ryan camp is pushing back on today is the GM plant, saying it was put on “standby” -- not shut down -- during the Bush administration. 

*** The VP speech typically doesn’t have a long shelf life: We want to make a final point about Ryan’s acceptance speech, and it’s the same one we made yesterday: Don’t get carried away by a strong VP speech; it typically doesn’t have a long shelf life. Think Ferraro in ’84, Bentsen in ’88, Kemp in ’96, Lieberman in ’00, and Edwards in ’04. The exception, of course, is Sarah Palin in ’08. But she isn’t the rule.

*** Diversity on display: Democrats, by far, have a more diverse electorate. But Republicans have done their best at this convention to demonstrate they have a more diverse bench. On Tuesday, they showcased Mia Love, Ted Cruz, and Nikki Haley; last night, it was Condi Rice and Susana Martinez; and tonight, it will be Marco Rubio. A few words on Rice’s speech: She started slowly, but won the crowd over, especially when she talked about how a young girl who grew up in the Jim Crow South later became secretary of state. It was a campaign speech without being ideological, and that’s hard to pull off. Rice’s biggest shortcoming was to talk about foreign policy but not acknowledge the role the administration she worked for played in the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And we’ll say this about Martinez’s speech: It might have been the most underrated address at this convention. She was strong. 

*** Thursday’s schedule (the theme is “We Believe in America”): 

7:00 pm ET hour: Connie Mack, Newt and Callista Gingrich
8:00 pm hour: Jeb Bush, Romney adviser Bob White
9:00 pm hour: former MA Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, former Olympians Michael Eruzione, Derek Parra and Kim Rhode
10:00 pm hour: Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney 

Countdown to Dem convention: 4 days
Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 34 days
Countdown to VP debate: 42 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 47 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 53 days
Countdown to Election Day: 68 days

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