GOP Convention Notebook Day 4

In his GOP Convention Notebook today, WBUR's Bob Oakes looks at former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's Wednesday night speech.

BOB OAKES:

Undoubtedly, it was not the speech he had planned, for a very long time....to deliver....nor the night on which he hoped to speak.

Except for the next 60 days or so of surrogate campaigning for the McCain-Palin ticket....Mitt Romney's bid for the White House...which started in Feb 2007...came to its real end last night with a 10 minute long Weds night...not Thurs night speech....overshadowed Sara Palin's convention debut.

The speech in fact...was not new....it was recycled....a modified version of an address he has recently been giving on McCain's behalf.

It was a strange moment. On TV....Romney's delivery was clear and strong.

But in the room...in the convention hall...you could almost sense some disappointment....the delegates seats were not completely full....and there was a din delegate and guest chatter.... that seemed to reflect a degree of disinterest.

Just the same....Romney hit a few Red Meat lines....which brought the crowd to its feet....for example...when he talked about fighting terror...and radical islam....

The satisfaction of getting a crowd to chant....may have to last Romney a long time.

But....if he was disappointed he didn't show it...as he flashed his ready smile again and waved to the crowd in the hall that housed what he truely believed would be his convention....

And the music....as he exited..... was it a dig...or a bit of sympathy by the convention music programmer.. He left to a country song....by Rodney Atkins....that goes like this:

If you're going through hell
Keep on going, don't slow down
If you're scared, don't show it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you're there.

Some of the conventioneers were singing.