GOP women highlighted in Tuesday’s GOP convention speeches

GOP women had prime slots at the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday night and told viewers why they support Mitt Romney for president. 

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) hosted the evening events that featured the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s wife, Ann Romney, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Govs. Mary Fallin (Okla.) and Nikki Haley (S.C.) and congressional candidate Mia Love (Utah), among others.

McMorris Rodgers spoke on Tuesday’s theme, “We Built it,” meant to challenge President Obama's "you didn't build that" comment earlier in the campaign cycle in support of government-funded projects and subsidies.

“Each speaker will be joining together to send a message to President Obama. And that message is three simple words: we built it,” McMorris Rodgers said. “Unlike President Obama, I know that small businesses are the true engine of our economy — not the government — and what businesses need to grow and create jobs is less taxes and regulation, not more.”

Republicans have increasingly used Obama's remark to frame the 2012 election. In July, Obama told an audience, "If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Love, who would be the first Republican African-American women elected to Congress, also hit hard on the evening’s theme.

“From a woman on the bus to a man with a dream ... this is our story,” said Love, the mayor of Saratoga Springs who’s running in Utah’s 4th district. “This is our America, this is the story we know because we built it.

“Mr. President, I’m here to tell you that the American people are awake and we’re not buying what you’re selling in 2012.”

McMorris Rodgers introduced Ayotte, who talked about her and her husband’s small business of gardening and snow plowing.

“I addition to being a United States Senator, I’m also pretty good with a snowplow,” Ayotte said. “We’re no different than many families who dream to start their own business ... President Obama has never even run a lemonade stand and it shows.”

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