LIVE at the Romney Event in Philadelphia, PA

Mitt Romney didn’t quite make it across the Delaware, Save Jerseyans, so I decided I would meet him over here in Pennsylvania. With the all important primary in the all important swing state rapidly approaching, Mitt Romney is making a solid drive for a strong showing in what will be his first real test as the truly presumptive nominee.

Today he is taking a crack at the Tea Party crowd in Philadelphia, PA. The Independence Hall Tea Party, one of the largest of such groups in our area, is holding their 4th annual “Tax Day Summit” and Romney is the keynote speaker. I know what you are thinking, Romney has not really been the Tea Party darling some of the other candidates, both former and current, have tended to be in this race. But the thing is, he is going to need them, their support, their grassroots work ethic, and of course their votes.

The way that Romney postures himself in this speech will be quite interesting. Romney is not and has never claimed to be a Tea Party candidate, and I do not believe he will pander heavily tonight at all. Romney’s new tact is the Christie approach. He is exactly who he is. This is not 2007 anymore.

I am attempting to get some video that we will post tomorrow (assuming it comes out well), but keep checking back during the speech for pictures and musings on what is happening here.

6:50PM –

This picture is from a few minutes ago when people were first starting to file in. The room is now packed.

6:55PM –

Philly radio personality Dom Giordano is the opening speaker for the event. He really got the crowd going. I’d imagine that many of these Tea Partiers listen to his show, which covers political issues both local and national.

6:57PM – There are protestors outside making all sorts of noise. Someone just came on stage to thank veterans for giving those protestors the right to yell and make all of that noise. The room went wild with applause.

7:00PM – Crowd applauses at the idea of bringing all conventional forces home. More of a Paul position than a Romney position. The establishment position and Tea Party position, at least in this group, clearly part ways on foreign policy.

7:07PM – 

Packed room with more crowd to the left behind the giant Ben Franklin statue (for those of you familiar with the room).

Currently speaking are a few of the many candidates running for the Republican nomination for US Senate. Unfortunately its none of the candidates you would have ever heard of. One guy introduced himself as being from Pittsburgh. Anyone following the Flyers –  Penguins playoff series can imagine that doesn’t play well.

Correction: Tom Smith is now speaking. Anyone in the Philadelphia media market has heard of him. He’s been running commercials for the Senate nomination in PA since last summer.

7:13PM –  Anna Little is actually speaking now. Cannot say I was expecting that. She is introducing the two US Senate candidates in New Jersey. So Joe Kyrillos and the other guy.

7:15PM –  Editor’s Note: If I hear one more Ronald Reagan quote my head might explode. They aren’t event using the good quotes.

7:22PM – 

Anna Little introducing Joe Kyrillos as the candidate for US Senate in New Jersey.

Also we just learned that today is Ann Romney’s birthday. Fun fact I guess.

7:31PM – Romney just walked out to a Kid Rock song looking super tan today. Gave a shout out to Joe Kyrillos in the first 20 seconds of his speech.

7:36PM – 

Joe Kyrillos and Anna Little have seats together behind the giant Ben Franklin statue.

7:40PM – Romney says that culture matters when it comes to freedom and a strong economy. Couldn’t agree more. “[Obama has] waged war on economic freedom in this country.”

7:41PM – 54% of small businesses in the United States are taxed at the 35% individual tax rate, according to Romney. If that tax rate goes up to 40% as the President wants, it will kill jobs.

When Romney mentioned Vice President Biden, the name was met with both chuckles and boos.

7:45PM – 

Romney is way shorter than Ben Franklin. (No idea how that ended up being upside down).

7:50PM – 

That’s better. Romney is talking about how he wants to restore America rather than “transform” it like President Obama wants to do. He was met with a long standing ovation when he said that he believes American to be “One Nation Under God.”

This speech is actually turning into one applause line after another. I’ll be honest Save Jerseyans, there have been many Romney speeches I have seen that have flat out put me to sleep. This one is keeping my attention. Full of red meat, statistical substance, anecdotal stories, and actual ideas. The platitudes are there, of course, this is a political speech after all. But I will admit it, I am impressed with Governor Romney’s presentation today.

7:58PM – 

Speech is over. I have to head out to beat the traffic. One last photo. This is my little press table I shared with Michael Kranish, Deputy Chief of the Washington Bureau at the Boston Globe. He was a pretty nice guy saving me the seat and all. He was writing a long column (presumably for tomorrow’s paper) while I was sitting here live blogging away, so go and check out his piece tomorrow.

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