Romney Officially Nominated As GOP Presidential Candidate At Republican National Convention

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was officially nominated as the GOP's 2012 presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention Tuesday evening in Tampa, Fla., following the party's official roll call vote.

Heading into the convention as the party's presumed nominee, his selection was no surprise to anyone with even a fleeting interest in American politics.

And he cleaned up in the final delegate count, taking 2,061 of the 2,286 available delegates, significantly more than the 1,144 votes needed to secure the nomination, as House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio told the crowd of cheering supporters:

"On this vote, the honorable Mitt Romney has received 2,061 votes, more than the majority of those votes entitled to be cast at this convention," Boehner told the crowd after the lengthy roll call finished.

But just because he won the nomination handily, that doesn't mean everything went smoothly at the RNC on Tuesday. The roll call was set against the backdrop of persistent sniping from followers of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Paul's virulent supporters were very vocal throughout the reading of the delegate tallies during the roll call, and KVR News reported that Paul was able to pick up 190 votes. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania picked up 9 votes, and former Utah Gov. John Huntsman, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota each got one vote, according to KVR News. Twenty delegates abstained from casting a vote.

The votes Ron Paul received came in the aftermath of a crazy day for Paul supporters in Tampa, where a number of his supporters walked out of the Tampa Bay Times Forum in protest of rules changes that make it more difficult for an alternative candidate to get nominated at Republican National Conventions, according to The Huffington Post.

Despite the fact that he got fewer than a tenth as many votes as Romney, Paul's supporters were able to be heard at many points during the roll call, yelling his name and cheering for him as the votes for him were cast, while Mitt Romney supporters were often less exuberant.

Romney has long had a difficult time building enthusiastic support even among his Republican base, and though his party has obviously made the decision to back him in the November election against President Barack Obama, his supporters are often less loud and emotional than those for Obama, Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and even his vice presidential candidate pick, Paul Ryan. Ryan was nominated Tuesday by acclamation -- rather than by a roll call vote.