Romney sweeps nomination

It’s official: Mitt Romney won the GOP nomination for president.

Delegates at the Republican…It’s official: Mitt Romney won the GOP nomination for president.

Delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., chose Romney as their presidential nominee Tuesday night.

Shortly after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Speaker of the House John Boehner announced that Romney officially secured the Republican nomination with 2,061 votes.

Though Romney has been considered the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for months, the current Massachusetts governor needed 1,144 votes to clinch the Republican Party’s nomination. He pushed over that mark at about 5:40 p.m. on Tuesday with 50 votes from New Jersey.

And while the media has been all over the assumption that Rep. Paul Ryan would be Romney’s running mate, the convention also served as a time to solidify him as the vice presidential candidate.

Pennsylvania awarded 67 votes to Romney and five votes to Rep. Ron Paul. While announcing the Pennsylvania vote tally, Gov. Tom Corbett mistakenly attributed the five votes not given to Romney as belonging to vice presidential nominee Ryan.

Ron Paul’s votes were not announced at the convention podium.

The delegates also approved a conservative platform for the Romney/Ryan ticket that includes tax cuts — not government spending — and a ban on abortions and gay marriage.

Paul’s supporters showed up in Florida and vocally supported their candidate, but the Texas congressman will not officially speak at the convention.

The Republican National Convention opens the process of nominating a candidate to public spectators. 2,286 delegates and 2,125 alternate delegates from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories converged on Tampa this week for the convention, which began on Aug. 27 and is expected to run through Aug. 30.

Unexpected weather complications resulting from Hurricane Isaac led to a shortening of events for day one of the convention on Aug. 27.

The announcement of Romney’s capturing the nomination came after a series of speeches on the second day of the convention. Speakers for the day included former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, convention Chairman Reince Priebus and Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann Romney.

Romney is expected to accept his nomination Thursday night during a speech at the convention. By accepting the nomination, Romney will set the stage for his electoral showdown with President Barack Obama on Nov. 6. Recent polls predict that the race between Romney and Obama will be a close one.

The Democratic Party will also hold its own convention during the week of Sept. 3 in Charlotte, N.C.