In a convention with few reminders of the 2012 Republican primary just a few months ago, Rick Santorum brought everyone back.

The former Pennsylvania senator delivered a somber speech that was more about his personal story than a ringing endorsement of Mitt Romney. It hit on many of the same themes he pushed while pursuing his longshot presidential bid, including family values, marriage and abortion. 

In fact, even though Santorum was the first speaker to raise the welfare issue, his allusion to abortion was the best-received line of his speech.

“I thank God that America still has one party that reaches out their hands in love to lift up all of God’s children -- born and unborn -- and says that each of us has dignity and all of us have the right to live the American Dream,” Santorum said to a standing ovation.

On welfare, Santorum, who touted his work on welfare reform in the 1990s, accused the president of trying to “weaken our republic” and acting as if he were “above the law.”

“President Obama’s policies undermine the traditional family, weaken the education system,” Santorum said. “And this summer he showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare.

“I helped write welfare reform; we made the law crystal clear -- no president can waive the work requirement. But as with his refusal to enforce our immigration laws, President Obama rules like he is above the law. America take heed, when a president can simply give a speech or write a memo and change the law to do what the law says he can’t, we weaken our republic.”

Of course, the welfare attack has been widely discredited, and there is still a work requirement for welfare. There also was limited crowd reaction to the attack, which has become a mainstay of the Romney campaign on the trail and in millions of dollars in television ads.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The two highest-profile speakers Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention sought to paint Mitt Romney as sensitive and relatable, but also resolute and decisive in a way that President Barack Obama is not.

Ann Romney, the wife of the Republican nominee-in-waiting, made an unmasked pitch to women voters, a bloc her husband has struggled with in the polls.

Watch Tuesday night's speeches here

And Chris Christie, the brash governor of New Jersey, used his keynote event to lionize Romney as a problem solver who would prioritize "respect over love" from voters.

Charlie Neibergall / AP

Ann Romney, wife of U.S. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, addresses the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012.

These speeches, broadcast to a national audience, were among the best-received remarks in an evening that sometimes suffered from a lack of energy among delegates who have gathered in downtown Tampa.

"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," Mrs. Romney said in one of the evening's biggest applause lines.

Slideshow: The 2012 Republican National Convention

Many of Tuesday's various speeches showcased the party's diversity, particularly among women and Latinos.

The speakers emphasized hardscrabble roots and the importance of small businesses in keeping with the evening's theme, "We Built It" -- a play on President Barack Obama's comments in July about government's role in supporting business.

"We ended an era of absentee leadership without purpose or principle in New Jersey; it’s time to end this era of absentee leadership in the Oval Office and send real leaders to the White House," Christie said, adding a degree of immediacy before the crowd of delegates.

"America needs Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and we need them right now," he added.

The New Jersey governor is regarded as one of the Republican Party's most direct voices, which has made him a star in the GOP -- so much so that some Republicans had recruited him (unsucessfully) to run for president this campaign cycle.

The Republican convention was shortened after inclement weather forced organizers to cancel Monday's programming. In this time span, the GOP is tasked with making their case against Obama and humanizing Mitt Romney, whose personal opinion rating was in net-negative territory entering the convention.

Part of that included an attack on Obama's own words from a Roanoke, Va., campaign event: "If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen," followed by criticism of that "you didn't get there on your own" contention.

"Now if a guy walked into our bar, heard all that, and said, 'If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that,'" said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, referring to his own family's bar. "You know what we’d do. Throw him out."

The evening was often an excercise, too, in projecting the party's diversity. For a stretch during the evening, no white men were featured as speakers.

Watch Tuesday night's speeches here

Ann Romney's speech was tailored in large part to speak directly toward women, whether single or working.

"It's the moms who always have to work a little harder, to make everything right," she said.

Obama led Romney 51 percent to 41 percent among women in the August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, and the GOP brand lags significantly behind the Democratic brand among women voters. Forty-five percent of women in the August poll had a favorable impression of the Democratic Party, while 36 percent had an unfavorable view; women voters had a 36 percent positive view of the GOP, and a 47 percent negative view.

Scott Olson / Getty Images file photo

Sen. Kelly Ayotte stands on stage during a soundcheck with stage manager Howard Kolins during the Republican National Convention on Tuesday.

Ann Romney also described her relationship with Mitt as far from a "storybook marriage," recounting difficulties ranging from raising five sons to battling multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.

"I know this good and decent man for what he is -- warm and loving and patient," she said.

But if Mrs. Romney's speech was directed toward softening Romney's public persona, Christie's was intended to project Romney's strength (and boast a little bit of his own).

Indeed, one of the most warmly welcomed Republicans to speak Tuesday evening was Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who pushed a controversial bill curbing collective bargaining rights through his state legislature, and survived a resulting recall effort.

"Now, more than ever, we need reformers: leaders who think more about the next generation than just the next election," Walker said. "That’s what you get from Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan."

Don’t call it a comeback. At least not anymore.

Chris Christie proudly touted the “New Jersey Comeback” in both his 2011 and 2012 State of the State addresses. 

But the hard-charging Republican governor said those three words won’t be in his hotly anticipated keynote speech at tonight’s Republican National Convention.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie looks over the podium during a sound check at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012.

"Let’s make one thing really clear,” Christie said Wednesday, per the New Jersey Star Ledger. “There are three words that are not in my speech Tuesday night: ‘The Jersey Comeback.’ So for all those Democrats real worried or got real excited that maybe I’d have to take it out or maybe I put it in, those three words aren’t in the speech.”

There’s a reason for that. When Christie took office in Jan. 2010 unemployment was 9.7 percent. It dropped to 9.0 percent earlier this year, but has since ballooned to 9.8 percent – the highest it’s been in 35 years.

It declined to 9.4 percent when Christie gave his 2011 State of the State Address.

“New Jersey’s comeback has begun,” Christie declared. He added later: “The unemployment rate has begun to drop— and today is below, not above, the national average.”

By his 2012 address, New Jersey’s unemployment rate fell even further to 9.0 percent -- and Christie was going to capitalize. He mentioned “New Jersey Comeback” eight times during the speech.

“Today, I am proud to report that the New Jersey Comeback has begun,” Christie said. “How do we know it has begun? Just look around you. In the last two years, we have come together to address the mess that was our budget. The decline, deficits, and departures that plagued our State just two years ago have been reversed. The budget is balanced. Our unemployment rate is no longer going up, it is coming down. Job growth has been restored – in the private sector, where we want it. New Jersey is back. … People are recognizing the New Jersey Comeback all around the world.” 

But in the months since that speech, the state’s unemployment rate has since climbed to 9.8 percent.

The stimulus, which allocated $17.5 billion to New Jersey, helped keep teachers, firefighters, and police officers employed. But, since Jan. 2010, the state has lost 26,000 government jobs, a 4 percent decline. On the other hand, private-sector jobs have gained 73,000 jobs, a 2% gain. 

Christie is sure to fire up the crowd with what the Mitt Romney campaign is billing as trademark Christie -- “brash” and “bold.”

He is still popular back home. A Quinnipiac poll in July found his approval rating at 54 percent. But his statewide economic record could also highlight for a wider national audience the potential downside of severe budget cuts when it comes to short-term job creation.

Updated 6:21 pm. - TAMPA, Fla. -- Republicans formally nominated Mitt Romney for president on Tuesday, minting the former Massachusetts governor as the party's official opponent this fall versus President Barack Obama.

Romney has been the presumptive Republican presidential nominee since late spring, when his major opponents ended their campaigns for president. But he will be able to shed the "presumptive" qualifier when he formally accepts the nomination during his Thursday night speech.

David Goldman / AP

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks as as Mitt Romney is nominated by the state delegates for the Office of the President of the United States at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012.

Republicans held the roll call of state delegations late Tuesday afternoon, delayed from its initial scheduled vote during Monday's hurricane-canceled session. Convention Secretary Kim Reynolds presided over the vote.

"I am truly honored to annouce these votes for a man who happens to be my brother, and whom I love: Mitt Romney, the next president of the United States," said Scott Romney, the brother of Mitt Romney, in leading Michigan's delegation in casting its votes.

Shortly thereafter, Republicans nominated Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as their vice presidential candidate by acclimation.

Slideshow: The 2012 Republican National Convention

There were occasional outburts of cheers for Texas Rep. Ron Paul when some states' delegates voted for the retiring congressman. Some delegates abstained from voting in instances, suggesting their dissenting opinion from Romney.

The fanfare on Romney's behalf at the convention hall made the delegate math of the Republican primaries earlier this year almost seem like an afterthought. Romney's battles with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had seemed, for a time, to threaten to transform the battle for the GOP nomination into a protracted delegate battle.

When Romney accepts the nomination, he'll be able to access and spend tens of millions of dollars he has raised in general election funds. This formal distinction will enable the former Massachusetts governor's campaign to spend millions more on organization and television ads heading into the height of the fall campaign.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Republican leaders pushed through contentious changes to delegate rules over the objection of conservatives and supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Loud boos erupted Tuesday on the floor of the Republican National Convention as RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, ruled that a voice vote was sufficient to approve credentialing rules for delegates at future conventions.

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

Delegates shout in protest over changes in Republican party rules that would restrict the impact of grassroots movements, before a vote to adopt the new rules during the second session of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 28, 2012.

Chants that sounded like "Seat them now!" did battle with chants of "U-S-A" from supportive delegates seeking to shout the protestors down.

The rules change essentially tightens party control over the manner in which delegates are allocated and bound to candidates.

The proposal prompted frustration from some supporters of Paul, whose campaign was able to appeal to the somewhat arcane rules of delegate allocation to win a majority of four states' delegations, despite having failed to win a single nominating contest.

Other conservatives -- including 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin -- had protested the move as a power play to shut out grassroots conservatives.

As Priebus and Boehner brought up the controversial rules change for a voice vote, supporters replied with loud "ayes," and almost equally vocal "noes."

When Boehner determined, in his capacity as the convention's permanent chairman, that the ayes had won it, cheers and boos mixed together in the convention hall.

TAMPA, FL -- How much of a bounce in the polls can Mitt Romney expect coming off his official acceptance of the GOP nomination this week at the Republican National Convention in Tampa? 

It depends on whom you ask in Romney World. Indeed, two Romney advisers have given two different answers to this question in the past month.

This morning on a campaign flight from Boston to Tampa, senior strategist Stu Stevens faced a question about the predicted bounce, and replied with these four words: "I have no idea."

Stevens attributed the uncertainty to the extraordinary nature of this convention, including the truncated program thanks to Hurricane Isaac, and the opening of the Democratic National Convention immediately following the upcoming holiday weekend.

"Of course, this convention is different because of the hurricane. I mean, conventions are different now. They’re much later now than we were having them. The way that you’re having back-to-back conventions."  

"We’ve never come into a convention after another campaign has spent half a billion dollars. Plus the outside groups. So I just think all bets are off about any kind of past performance being a predictor of the future," said Stevens, a veteran of multiple past Republican presidential campaigns. 

But on Aug. 10, at a briefing with senior staff and advisers to the Romney campaign, one top campaign official suggested that if history is any guide, Romney stood to gain more political ground from his convention than President Obama would from his. 

The senior Romney adviser cautioned that this convention would be unlike any in recent history because of how close the two conventions run to one another, but added that if history was a guide, Romney should get a substantially bigger bounce than President Obama following the two conventions.

Displaying a power point slide, the Romney adviser showed two sets of historical polling dating back to 1976, and explained:

"The incumbent averaged a minus-four on the ballot going into the convention and came out plus three. The challenger, because the challenger is less well known and not as well defined, came in at minus-four and came out at plus seven. So they picked up about 11 points. So the challenger picks up more points than the incumbent does, which makes sense."

"In terms of image, the incumbent's image on average before and after their convention went up nine points. The challengers image on average went up 18 points," the adviser continued, explaining that while it would be nearly impossible to get a good measurement on a possible Romney bounce before the DNC begins but that history seems to suggest, as the lesser-known challenger Romney could see a big swing in the polls after the convention gavels closed. 

"It just gives you an idea of potentially the convention should be of more benefit to Mitt Romney and our campaign than it will be to Barack Obama because Barack Obama is already pretty well defined," the adviser said.

President Barack Obama set off on a college tour on Tuesday intended to recapture young voters' enthusiasm heading into the height of his re-election campaign.

The president told an audience of Iowa coeds that they should be more invested in his campaign than any other age group, during a stop at Iowa State University in Ames.

"The truth is you've got more at stake in this election than just about anybody. When you step in that voting booth, the choice you make in that one instance is gonna shape your country and your world for decades to come," Obama told about 6,000 students. "I know that's a pretty heavy idea to lay on you on a Tuesday but it's true."

Obama warned that his Republican opponent Mitt Romney, if elected, would enact policies that would be detrimental to college-aged students and recent graduates, seizing on Romney’s opposition to the national health care law, which has allowed students up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans.

"Gov. Romney promised that sometime between taking the oath of office and going to the inaugural ball he'd sit right down, grab a pen and kick 7 million young people off their parents' plan by repealing health reform," the president said.

Playing on the Republicans’ derisive term for the law – "Obamacare" – the president said, "Maybe we should call his plan Romney Doesn't Care. Because I do care."

Speaking in front of thousands of enthusiastic college students is an unusual route for an incumbent to take while his opponent’s party is kicking off its convention, but the president took a full-steam-ahead approach, even taking a jab at the Tampa confab during his Iowa speech.

“It should be a pretty entertaining show,” Obama said. “It will be and I’m sure they’ll have some wonderful things to say about me,” he continued, referring to Republicans gathered in Tampa.

The president’s three-state college tour, which after Iowa takes him to Colorado and Virginia, taps into two key elements of his 2012 re-election strategy: winning a combination of battleground states as well as repeating his lopsided victory among college-age voters.

By the end of this trip, the president will have visited five colleges in August alone, all of them in key swing states: Rollins College in Florida; Capital University in Ohio; plus the three schools in Iowa, Colorado and Virginia.

The good news for Obama in recent polling? He’s still leading Mitt Romney 52 to 41 percent among young voters, a key part of his winning 2008 coalition.

Tonight’s theme at the GOP convention -- “We Built It” -- is a direct reference to President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” remark he made in Roanoke, VA on July 13. 

Republicans have argued that the line typifies Obama’s disdain for the private sector. An example from excerpts the Romney campaign released of Virginia  Gov. Bob McDonnell’s speech tonight:

“We need a President who will say to a small businesswoman: congratulations, we applaud your success, you did make that happen, you did build that! Big government didn't build America: You built America!”

Democrats point out that the line was taken out of context – in a discussion about how no one achieved success on their own. In fact, they have argued that “You didn’t build that… Somebody  else made that happen” was referring to the roads and bridges that preceded the comment, not someone’s business. Here's what Obama said:

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

TAMPA, Fla. –  After a one-day delay, the Republican National Convention has kicked off, and the party’s overtures to women and Latinos – two groups with whom the GOP has lagged in this election cycle – will make up the centerpiece of Tuesday’s programming.

Some Republican Latinos regarded as rising stars in the party will be thrust into the national spotlight over the next few days, part of a comprehensive effort by the GOP to court Hispanic voters, an increasingly important voting bloc in several swing states.

Among the Latino speakers appearing at Tuesday's Republican National Convention session are Rep. Francisco Canseco, R-Texas, Sher Valenzuela, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Delaware, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, and Texas GOP Senate nominee Ted Cruz.

And Luce Vela Fortuno, the first lady of Puerto Rico, will introduce Ann Romney before her highly anticipated address.

All conventions are choreographed to send a very specific message to voters, and are intended to win additional support that the presidential candidate or party might not have been able to count on.

NBC Latino: Republican Latinos unite behind Romney and focus on the economy

But the stakes are particularly high for the GOP this cycle given Mitt Romney’s deficit with Latino voters, along with a similar disadvantage with women – groups whom the Obama campaign has assiduously courted as it charts a path toward re-election.

“The party has shot itself many times in the foot with the community; it hasn’t done all it could,” said Al Cardenas, the American Conservative Union chairman who’s long pushed for greater efforts to court Latinos. “The good news for Romney is that the party kind of hit bottom, so the arrow has nowhere to point but north.”

Johnny Hanson / AP

Ted Cruz, left, and his general consultant Jason Johnson look at early returns in his war room at the JW Marriott in the Galleria during his runoff election on July 31, 2012, in Houston.

Republicans feel they’re putting forward more powerful voices than ever, though, in their bid to win over Hispanics. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s speech introducing Romney on Thursday is one of the convention’s most highly anticipated, as are the speeches by Cruz and Sandoval.

“I think the GOP putting our five highest-level elected Latinos as speakers at the convention is really a very good thing,” said Ana Navarro, a Florida-based Republican strategist.

Read: Villaraigosa: Republicans 'can't just trot out a brown face'

President George W. Bush won 44 percent of the Latino vote in his 2004 re-election bid, and Arizona Sen. John McCain won 31 percent of the Latino vote in 2008. Both were proponents of comprehensive immigration reform.

In the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll, Romney won the support of just 23 percent of registered Latino voters – an ominous sign, especially since Hispanic voters are wielding growing influence in several swing states.

“If the polls are accurate, and Romney is under 30 percent – in the high 20s with Latinos – it really is very concerning,” said Navarro.

“If the needle doesn't move, put a fork in Romney because he's done.”

Democrats have been dismissive of Republican efforts to court Latinos as mere lip service for Hispanic voters and their concerns.

"You can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate," said Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at a press conference Tuesday morning.

But arguably just as pressing for Republicans this week is their need to eat into Obama's and Democrats’ advantage among women.

Obama led Romney 51 percent to 41 percent among women in the August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, and the GOP brand lags significantly behind the Democratic brand among women voters. Forty-five percent of women in the August poll had a favorable impression of the Democratic Party, while 36 percent had an unfavorable view; women voters had a 36 percent positive view of the GOP, and a 47 percent negative view.

Related: “We need the Hispanic vote and we want to win it,” says Craig Romney

Republicans are hopeful that Tuesday evening’s speeches by Ann Romney and Washington Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers will help soften women’s views of the party, especially on the heels of Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin’s recent comments about rape.

Other prominent GOP women taking the stage tonight are Gov. Nikki Haley, R-S.C., Gov. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte (a rumored member of Mitt Romney's vice presidential short list).

“We’re not in territory where we can’t win … you can lose women by 7 to 8 points and win the election,” said Sara Taylor Fagen, a former communications director in the Bush administration. “We’re in territory with Hispanics where, if over the long term we don’t improve, we can’t win.”

Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images

Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, answers questions from the media on board their campaign plane on Aug. 28, 2012 en route to Tampa, Florida, for the Republican National Convention.

The Obama campaign has seized on instances where Republicans seemed to target access to contraception this past year in order to strengthen its advantage among women; it's backed up that message with millions in television advertising.

California Rep. Mary Bono Mack, a Republican who supports abortion rights, said earlier today on MSNBC that she wished the GOP would use “softer” language in its platform when it comes to reproductive rights.

“I think that we would be better served if we loosened that up a bit,” she said.

But Republicans might be better served to stay the course with their emphasis on the economy and health care rather than contraceptive issues.

“Women in this campaign who are going to vote on the basis of social issues have already probably decided for Barack Obama,” she said. 

TAMPA, Fla. -- Ron Paul's appearance Tuesday on the floor of the Republican National Convention evoked split conventions of the past as the retiring Texas congressman received a hero's welcome from supporters.

The former two-time GOP presidential candidate walked out to greet a roaring group of supporters from the Nevada delegation, one of several he won during the detailed process of allocating delegates to this convention.

When asked by NBC News what he hoped to accomplish by visiting the floor, Paul said, "Just saying hi to some friends from Nevada."

Paul supporters started chanted, "Let Him Speak!" When Romney supporters started chanting "Romney, Romney!" Paul backers screamed "Ron Paul! Ron Paul," drowning out the delegates pledged to the Republican nominee-in-waiting.

After posing for pictures and signing some autographs, Paul left the floor ahead of the official start of the session. The convention will feature a video tribute to Paul, and his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, will address delegates this week.

The NBC Politics team is pleased to offer our app and mobile users a live stream of the 2012 Republican National Convention for your convenience. Watch the latest convention speeches and events in real time, on the go, on your iPad or iPhone. Tonight's session will begin at 7:00 p.m. with remarks from House Speaker John Boehner.

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Updated, 1:30 p.m. - TAMPA, Fla. -- Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that Republicans "can't just trot out a brown face" to make inroads with the Latino community, an increasingly important growing bloc.

As the GOP prepares to showcase some of its rising Hispanic stars during the next two days of its national convention, the Democratic mayor dismissed Republican overtures toward Latinos as insincere.

"You can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate," Villaraigosa said at a press conference here organized by the Democratic National Committee.

"People are going to vote just like Anglos do, just like African-Americans do, and virtually every demographic group. They vote for people based on what they say, what they've done, and what they're going to do," he later added.

Among the Latinos speaking in Tuesday's Republican National Convention programming are Rep. Francisco Canseco, R-Texas. Sher Valenzuela, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Delaware, Republican Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Texas GOP Senate nominee Ted Cruz.

But, other staunch opponents of illegal immigration -- like Iowa Rep. Steve King, who's speaking as well on Tuesday -- will also be among the featured voices in the day's program.

"I don't think it's going to do much for him, frankly," Villaraigosa said of the GOP's overall message.

The Los Angeles mayor predicted that President Barack Obama would win "close to 70 percent" of the Latino vote in his re-election effort; Romney advisers have set a goal in the upper-30th percentile in targeting Hispanic voters.

Latino voters are of particular importance in swing states like Colorado, Florida and Virginia -- a sign of shifting demographics that Republicans have worried would put them at a long-term political disadvantage unless they were to become more welcoming of Latinos.

Ryan Williams, a spokesman for Romney, said in response to today's Democratic bracketing event: "Today, as we learn that more than a quarter of Democrats believe President Obama does not have a clear plan for creating jobs, his surrogates in Tampa continued to launch false and baseless attacks against Governor Romney.  The facts speak for themselves – with 23 million Americans struggling for work, nearly one in six Americans living in poverty, and median incomes declining, the Obama campaign cannot defend a record of broken promises and failed policies.  Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have a plan to strengthen the middle class by creating jobs and turning around our economy."