AS the storm clouds of Hurricane Isaac gathered around the Republican Convention, Ann Romney set out to do what an army of spin doctors could not – put a human face on her husband.
She spoke movingly of her "deep and abiding love" for Governor Mitt Romney, crowned that evening as his party's nominee for president.
Mitt was trustworthy, loving and caring, she insisted. Mitt was dependable.
"This is the man America needs," Ann told the adoring party faithful. "This man will lift up America."
It's an image of Romney his party need to sell, and Ann's speech in Tampa on Tuesday won high praise. But the public are still sceptical.
Even with the opinion polls showing a virtual dead heat, and the sluggish US economy hanging like a millstone around President Obama's neck, Romney is finding it hard to get America to trust him.
Many distrust his party's hard-right policy platform, which features deep cuts to aid for the old and poor, a ban on abortion, the repeal of Obama's flagship health care law and the reversal of measures brought in after the credit crunch to curb the worst excesses of Wall Street.
And many others simply do not like the look of him.
Despite years of campaigning for the White House – he lost the nomination to John McCain in 2008 and has been at it ever since – Romney is still seen as stiff, remote, cold.
He remains, in the eyes of his critics, a very rich man who only cares about other very rich people.
Willard Mitt Romney, 65, is the son of a wealthy businessman who became a wealthy businessman himself. He amassed a £160million fortune while running a private equity firm, Bain Capital.
Democrats branded him a Wall Street insider who put thousands of Americans out of work as he "turned around" their companies.
And they called him a hard-hearted fat-cat when he said: "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me." Romney insisted his quote had been taken out of context.
The Democrats also imply, while stressing that they don't accuse Romney of breaking the law, that he doesn't like paying his taxes.
Most candidates release a decade's worth of their personal tax returns. Romney produced figures for just two years – 2010 and 2011 – and steadfastly refused to release any more.
He said he had never paid less than 13 per cent tax in a year.
That failed to impress working Americans, who pay a 35 per cent top rate. And Democrats have not been shy of mentioning the Swiss bank account he held until 2010.
Dad-of-five Romney was once seen as a moderate. He was governor of liberal Massachusetts, where he brought in a health programme seen as the model for Obama's.
His positions on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage were well to the left of the Christian fundamentalists who rule his party.
The Evangelicals also disliked his Mormon faith. Many still do.
But Romney has changed, out of pure cynicism, say the sceptics. He couldn't win the nomination from where he was, so he moved right.
He now backs strict curbs on abortion, while allowing it in cases of rape and incest and where the life of the mother is in danger.
His stance displeases many in his party who want a total ban, and angers women voters even more. He trails Obama badly among women, a situation he hopes Ann's speech will improve.
Romney also takes a hard line on immigration – another problem, since Hispanic voters could be crucial and currently favour Obama by two to one.
In foreign affairs, Romney has already caused alarm by telling Israel he wouldn't stop them bombing Iran's nuclear sites.
In London on the same foreign trip, he used his status as former boss of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics
to lecture Britain about being unprepared for our Games. He was wrong, and critics wondered why he had chosen to insult his hosts.
More gaffes from Romney can be expected before polling day, but he has a large ace up his sleeve.
One issue – the economy – overshadows all others, and it's here that he hopes to secure victory.
The polls consistently show Romney doing better on the economy than Obama. His spin doctors hammer home the message that his business background makes him the perfect man to fix America inc.
As a loyal disciple of Ronald Reagan, Romney thinks government is the problem, not the solution.
He plans to drastically shrink it as he attacks America's trillion-dollar budget deficit, relying on "free enterprise" to create jobs.
His ideas appeal to the far-right Tea Party movement, dismissed by some as a lunatic fringe but a major power in the Republican party.
And he bolstered his credentials with them with his choice for vice-president, Wisconsin Congressman and Tea Party darling Paul Ryan.
Ryan, 42, is seen as a leading party thinker on the deficit, but opponents say his plans are terrifying.
He wants to replace Medicare, the cherished health care programme for pensioners, with vouchers for old folk to buy private insurance.
Hundreds of billions of dollars more would be slashed from the Medicaid programme, which helps the poor and disabled. At the same time, the richest Americans could look forward to generous tax cuts.
The Republicans' planned spending cuts make the Con-Dems in Britain seem moderate by comparison.
And this, many believe, is the true battleground of the US election.
Obama says the state can help the economy and protect the poor. Romney and Ryan, backed by huge donations from Wall Street, favour aggressive, free-wheeling capitalism.
What will America prefer? The race is so close that we're unlikely to know for sure until the last results are in.
There is a long way to go until November 6 and Romney has many hurdles to overcome.
Americans distrust Obama on the economy but polls suggest most like him as a man. Romney must use his convention speech tonight to boost his own popularity but he is not known as a gifted orator.
Obama, the smooth on-camera operator, will get three cracks at his often-wooden opponent in the presidential debates. Romney must stand up to him to win.
He has to convince the moderate "undecideds" who hold the balance of electoral power that he won't destroy American society to make his rich friends even richer.
And most of all, he must prove he truly is the man his wife describes.
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