Romney Gets Nominated, Giffords Starts Gabby PAC, and More

Mitt’s It:

And your official 2012 Republican presidential nominee is — no surprise here — Mitt Romney! The former Massachusetts governor won well over the 1,144 delegates needed to become the Republican presidential nominee Tuesday afternoon. Because the vote happens alphabetically by state, New Jersey ended up being the one to put him over the top. Incidentally, the state’s governor, Chris Christie, is scheduled to give the keynote address Tuesday night. (Read more)

Podium Hypocrisy: The theme of the second day of the Republican National Convention is “We Built This.” Among the featured speakers Tuesday evening will be Delaware Lt. Gov. candidate Sher Valenzuela, who is scheduled to give an address about small business issues. Interestingly enough, Valenzuela—who, by the way, has benefited from millions of dollars in government funds to start her small business — gave talks this year that focused entirely on how to get the government to help build your company. Bet she won’t be talking about that Tuesday night. (Read more)

Activist Finds a Way Into Convention: Conservative activist and filmmaker James O’Keefe is among those not making the trek to Tampa for the GOP convention. O’Keefe is on probation after pleading guilty to entering Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office under false pretenses, and his permission to travel has been revoked. However, O’Keefe still had a presence at the gathering, delivering a presentation on “the role of the citizen journalist” via Skype. (Read more)

Gabby PAC Launches: Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who resigned her seat to focus on her recovery after being shot in the head in an assassination attempt nearly two years ago, is making a return of sorts to politics. Giffords has started her own political action committee called Gabby PAC. The PAC filed a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission this month, records released Tuesday revealed. (Read more)

Video of the Day: Talk about a flip-flop. Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch was angry about Todd Akin’s statement that women rarely get pregnant from “legitimate rape.” She called his comments “abhorrent,” “insulting” and “disgusting,” saying “rape is rape.” And then she found out fellow Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan co-sponsored legislation with Akin that attempted to categorize rape. Suddenly, Kleefisch changed her tune. No joke. “Well, I think there is a way to have a more forcible rape, the same way there are different types of assault,” she said. Facepalm.