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CONVENTION WATCH: Mitt and Ann kiss, praising women, they built it
• TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Around the 2012 Republican National Convention and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details to you:
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• THERE HE IS
• The song playing was "My Girl" by The Temptations as Mitt Romney made his first appearance at the Republican National Convention to congratulate his wife, Ann, after her speech Tuesday night.
• They kissed. He grinned. She grinned. The crowd roared. The whole thing lasted less than 30 seconds. And the newly minted GOP presidential nominee was gone -- at least for the moment.
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• WATCHING THE SHOW: Authenticity is essential in politics -- but what, exactly, is it anyway?
• TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Presidential candidates are like a good Bordeaux, says Samuel Popkin, who has studied them (the candidates, that is). Winemakers use every cutting-edge scientific technique to perfect wines for modern palates. Then they sell them as the authentic product of age-old values and unchanging practice.
• So, too, for modern candidates. Authenticity is essential. Once you can package that, the rest is easy.
• "How can a candidate exemplify authenticity and sincerity when they constantly confer with pollsters, writers and media experts to 'decide' what they truly mean?" asks Popkin, an adviser to several Democratic presidential candidates and a professor of Political Science at the University of California in San Diego.
• Nowhere during a campaign does this dilemma come across more directly than political conventions, where supporters, family and finally the candidate himself speak "from the heart" while following a carefully managed script on a heavily produced stage to one of the largest audiences they will ever have.
• In an age of something called reality TV -- of a public that demands to be brought inside to see the unscripted choice of dancing stars and American idols -- how can a political leader communicate authenticity when the very act of communicating requires authenticity-crushing packaging?
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