Ann Romney tries again to make us like Mitt. And fails.

The Romneys, hoping the "please like Mitt" pitch finally works. Ann Romney had an impossible job to do for her husband last night:

His biggest problem is that regular voters don't like him as much as Obama. That's especially true of women, and that's why the stakes are high for Ann Romney's speech on the crucial opening night of the convention. [...]

Who better to reassure women that Romney is on their side than his attractive, personable mate of 43 years?

This has been the expectation and part of a "three-pronged" strategy unveiled by the campaign in April to close the gaping gender gap'which has yet to happen. Ann was tasked with "warming up his image by emphasizing his role as a devoted father and husband." Earlier this month, Ann was officially named national chairwoman of "Women for Mitt."

In other words, last night, Ann was supposed to deliver a miracle. She failed:

I want to talk to you tonight not about politics and not about party.

And while there are many important issues we'll hear discussed in this convention and throughout this campaign, tonight I want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts.

I want to talk not about what divides us, but what holds us together as an American family. I want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one thing that brings us our greatest joy when times are good, and the deepest solace in our dark hours.

Tonight I want to talk to you about love.

Tonight, Ann tells us, at last, she will help the country to understand what it is she sees in her awkward, arrogant, insulting, out-of-touch husband'something thus far lost on the rest of us.

Except that she doesn't. She offers generic Hallmark-esque platitudes about "love so deep only a mother can fathom it." She insists that she loves her fellow Americans. But when it comes to explaining why Americans should love Mitt, this is the sum total of her argument:  

I could tell you why I fell in love with him -- he was tall, laughed a lot, was nervous -- girls like that, it shows the guy's a little intimidated -- and he was nice to my parents but he was really glad when my parents weren't around.

That's really all Ann has to offer. Mitt was, apparently, the right height. As for his laughter and his nervousness, we've seen that'and have yet to be swept off our feet as Ann was.

(Continue reading below the fold.)