Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Romney officially selected as presidential candidate

Updated at 6:30 pm on 29 August 2012

Republicans have formally nominated Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate to challenge President Barack Obama in the United States elections.

Mr Romney was nominated at the party's national convention in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday.

Opening the convention, Republicans condemned Mr Obama's economic record and reminded voters of the country's stubbornly high unemployment rate and ballooning budget deficit.

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus warned that re-electing Mr Obama would mean "four more years of failure" and told delegates Mr Romney and running mate Paul Ryan would "get America working again."

The nomination sets up a two-month dash to the 6 November election with polls showing Romney running level or slightly behind the Democratic president, Reuters reports.

The convention was delayed for a day due to concerns that Hurricane Isaac, which has made landfall in in south-eastern Louisiana on Tuesday, might cause disruption.

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