News roundup: Eastwood has awkward debate with an invisible Obama

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Romney says its time to turn the page. Clint Eastwood makes a bizarre appearance. 67 days to the election.

Happy Friday. Mitt Romney had the final say at the Republican Convention, where he got choked up talking about his family, embraced his Mormon faith and then pilloried President Barack Obama: "You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him." [Trib] [FoxNews] [USAToday] [CNN] [NYTimes] Watch the speech here: [Trib]

-> Utahns react to his speech. [Trib] And Romney had a chance to greet some of the Utah delegation on his walk to the podium. [DNews]

Topping the news: Fellow Mormons, whom Romney led as a bishop in Massachusetts shared personal and at times heart wrenching stories that showed Romney's humanity and got more than a few delegates to shed a tear. [Trib] [NBCNews] [CNN] [APviaGlobe] [DNews]

-> Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood was the GOP's surprise speaker and Eastwood certainly was a surprise. He gave a disjointed, unscripted speech where he made fun of an invisible Obama who was supposedly sitting in the empty chair next to him saying crude things. [WaPost] [Politico] [USAToday] Watch the speech here: [NYTimes]

Tweets of the day: From @WillieGeist: "I was so upset about the end of the Vandy game I hallucinated Clint Eastwood was talking trash to an empty chair at the RNC."

From @david_j_roth: "I didn't realize that, when Clint Eastwood was announced as a surprise speaker, that it would also be a surprise to him."

Happy birthday: Today to State Rep. Christopher Herrod and former Trib intern Andreas Rivera. We also send birthday wishes to State Rep. Rebecca Edwards, who will be celebrating on Sunday.

GOP Convention: Check out the winners and the losers from the final night of the convention. If you guest Eastwood was one on the losers, you were right. [WaPost]

Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced Romney, but also told his own story and cemented himself as a potential presidential candidate of the future. [WaPost] [CBSNews] [CNN]

-> A band of Olympians took the convention stage to pay tribute to Romney's leadership of the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. [Trib] [WSJ]

-> Craig Romney, the youngest son of Mitt Romney, touted his grandfather who was raised in a Mexican polygamist community as an immigrant success story. A new tactic for the campaign. [Trib] [FoxNews] [WaPost] [ABCNews]

-> Former Fla. Gov Jeb Bush deviates from his prepared remarks to defend the legacy of his brother, former President George W. Bush. [FoxNews] [Yahoo]

-> After making it clear she considers herself a "liberal Democrat," the former secretary of the workforce under Romney in Massachusetts praised Romney's work ethic and ability to bring out the best in America. [WaPost]

-> Paul Ryan's Wednesday night convention speech got a variety of fact checkers up in arms, some calling his comments false, while others said his comments on a GM plant, Medicare and a debt commission lacked the appropriate context. [CNN] [Yahoo] [PolitiFact] The Romney campaign goes on the defense. [CNN]

-> Paul Ryan's convention speech attracted just over half as many viewers as Sarah Palin's did in 2008. [BusinessWeek]

-> Mia Love removed several racial references from the original version of her convention speech. [Trib]

-> Love and Senate candidate Deidre Henderson find themselves among a growing group of women who believe that the discussion of social issues should step aside and let the talk of the economy take the spotlight. [NYTimes]

-> Love has become a hard-to-reach celebrity at this year's convention. [WeeklyStandard]

-> Rubio offered Utah delegates his reasons for backing Romney, citing the 2002 Olympic turnaround as but one example of Romney's ability to lead. [Trib] [DNews]

-> Political analyst Charlie Cook says Romney must connect with voters or he's toast. [Trib]

-> Little did you know, an actual Ronald Reagan hologram was planned to project at the convention but its unveiling has since been pushed to later this year or early next year. [Yahoo]

-> Some wonder if a lack of reference to the tea party indicates Romney is distancing himself from the conservative movement. [BuzzFeed]

-> West Valley Mayor Mike Winder writes about the things that struck him at the convention. [UtahPolicy]

In other news: While Gov. Gary Herbert was away, Senate President Michael Waddoups filled the hierarchical void by meeting with South African dignitaries. [Trib]

-> Utah's Senate hopefuls are staging another debate on Tuesday but Sen. Orrin Hatch won't be there. His campaign manager insists this is no indication he won't be at future debates. [Trib]

-> Jon Huntsman appeared on The Colbert Report and talked about why he skipped the GOP convention. [Colbert]

-> Sen. Mike Lee calls an Obama-supported amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision a "full-throated assault on political speech." [Caller]

-> Pat Bagley gives his take on what Mormon leaders must have felt watching Romney's big speech. [Trib]

-> Paul Rolly reports that George Zinn, the unofficial mascot of the Utah Republicans, made it to Tampa, but was turned away by hotel guards and hasn't been seen at any of the festivities since. [Trib]

-> Bernick and Schott talk about the state of Utah's 4th District race between Rep. Jim Matheson and Mia Love. [UtahPolicy]

-> And Bernick wonders if Love has true staying power. [UtahPolicy]

-> Utah now has 613 distinct local governments, up from 600 counted by the Census Bureau in 2007. [Trib]

-> Leaders of the Outdoor Industry Association push yesterday's deadline for Herbert to share his vision on preserving outdoor recreation on public lands to January. [ABC4]

2012 watch: Government documents suggest the Bain & Company turnaround, touted by the Romney campaign as one the nominee's greatest selling points, might owe its greatest thank you to a multi-million dollar FDIC bailout. [RollingStone]

-> Obama says he respects that Romney takes his Mormon faith "very seriously." [ABCNews]

-> One of the toughest challenges the Romney campaign faces is disenchanting voters who are"emotionally invested" in their current president. [NYTimes]

-> Ryan looks forward to an Oct. 11 debate with Vice President Joe Biden. [ABC4]

-> Obama's Reddit appearance annihilated the social media website's online traffic records, and now co-founder Alexis Ohanian has publicly invited Romney to make a similar appearance. [CBSNews] [WaPost]

Where are they?

SLC Mayor Ralph Becker will meet with Jodi Langford, Salt Lake City Benefits Manager.

SL Co. Mayor Peter Corroon can be found at the Volunteers of America food drive on South State Street.

President Barack Obama will have a roundtable discussion with service members and military families and then speak to the troops in Fort Bliss, Texas.

Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Email us at cornflakes@sltrib.com. If you haven't already, sign up for our weekday email and get this sent directly to you inbox. [Trib]

— Matt Canham and Betsy Blanchard Twitter.com/mattcanham and Twitter.com/betsyblanchard