Tampa, U.S.A. — The following are remarks as prepared for delivery by the Hon. Susana Martinez, Governor of New Mexico, at the 2012 Republican National Convention:

Thank you and good evening.

On behalf of the great state of New Mexico, let me express my gratitude for being invited to speak tonight.

Growing up, I never imagined a girl from a border town could one day become a governor.

But this is America

Y, en America todo es posible.

My parents taught me to never give up and to always believe that my future could be whatever I dreamt it to be.

Success, they taught me, is built on the foundation of courage, hard-work and individual responsibility.

Despite what some would have us believe, success is not built on resentment and fears.
We grew up on the border and truly lived paycheck to paycheck.  My dad was a golden gloves boxer in the Marine Corps, then a deputy sheriff. My mom worked as an office assistant.

One day, they decided to start a security guard business. I thought they were absolutely crazy—we literally had no savings, but they always believed in the American Dream.

So, my dad worked to grow the business.

My mom did the books at night.  And at 18, I guarded the parking lot at the Catholic Church bingos.

Now, my dad made sure I could take care of myself.

I carried a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum — that gun weighed more than I did!

My parents grew that small business—from one 18-year-old guarding a bingo—to more than 125 people in three states.

And sure, there was help along the way.  But my parents took the risk. They stood up.  And you better believe that they built it.

My parents also taught me about having the courage to stand for something.  So, I went to law school and became a prosecutor.

I took on a specialty that very few choose to pursue – I prosecuted child abuse and child homicide cases.  Cases that were truly gut-wrenching.

But standing up for those kids, being their voice for justice, was the honor of a lifetime.

Sometimes you pay a price for standing up.

When I was a young prosecutor, I got called to testify against my boss. I could have backed down, but I didn’t. I stood up to him.  And he fired me for it.

So I took him on, ran against him for district attorney and beat him by a landslide!

I fear some of our leaders today have lost the courage to stand up.

What we have now are politicians.  They won’t offer real plans, and only stand up when they want to blame someone else.

And I don’t say that just because a Democrat is in the White House.  I was a Democrat for many years.  So were my parents.

Before I ran for District Attorney, two Republicans invited my husband and me to lunch.  And I knew a party-switch was exactly what they wanted.

So, I told Chuck, we’ll be polite, enjoy a free lunch and then say goodbye.

But we talked about issues—they never used the words Republican, or Democrat, conservative or liberal.

We talked about many issues, like welfare – is it a way of life, or a hand-up?

Talked about the size of government — how much should it tax families and small businesses?

And when we left that lunch, we got in the car and I looked over at Chuck and said, “I’ll be damned, we’re Republicans.”

This election should not be about political parties.  Too many Americans are out of work, and our debt is out of control.  This election needs to be about those issues.
And it is the responsibility of both parties to offer up real solutions and have an honest debate.

In New Mexico, I inherited the largest structural deficit in state history.

And our legislature is controlled by Democrats.

We don’t always agree.

But we came together – in a bi-partisan manner—and turned that deficit into a surplus, all without raising taxes.

That’s not the kind of leadership we are seeing from President Obama.

He promised to bring us all together, to cut unemployment, to pass immigration reform in his first year and even promised to cut the deficit in half in his first term.

Do you remember that?

But he hasn’t come close.

They haven’t even passed a budget in Washington, DC in three years!

If he can take credit for government building small businesses, then he can accept responsibility for breaking his promise and adding 5 trillion dollars to the national debt.

Because he did build that.

As the first Hispanic female governor in history, little girls often come up to me in the grocery store or the mall.  They look and point, and when they get the courage, they ask “Are you Susana?” and they run up and give me a hug.

And I wonder.  How do you know who I am?

But they do. And these are little girls.

It’s in moments like these when I’m reminded that we each pave a path.   And for me, it’s about paving a path for those little girls to follow.

No more barriers.

In many ways Mitt Romney and I are very different. Different starts in life. Different paths to leadership. Different cultures.

But we’ve each shared in the promise of America, and we share a core belief that the promise of America must be kept for the next generation.

El sueno Americanos es tener exito.

It’s success.

Success is the American Dream.

And that success is not something to be ashamed of, or to demonize.

There is one candidate in this election who will protect that dream, one leader who will fight hard to keep the promise of America for the next generation.

And that’s why we must stand up and make Mitt Romney the next president of the United States.

Thank you!

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From the eleven speakers announced for the Republican Convention, four of them are women: Condoleezza Rice, Susana Martinez, Nikki Halley and Mary Fallin.

Republicans wish to gain women’s sympathy during a time in which they have been accused by the Democrats of waging war against women.

The Democrats have directed hard criticism against the Republicans for trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which Democrats think is a law that offers many benefits and crucial protection for women.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid wrote in a Huffington Post article called “Republicans Renew War on Women” that “thanks to the Affordable Care Act, new insurance plans are already required to cover preventive care like mammograms, colonoscopies, blood pressure checks, prenatal exams and childhood immunizations without cost-sharing. Yet Republicans are so intent on blocking women’s preventive services like contraception coverage from taking effect, they are willing to risk national security.” Democrats want their voters to see the Republicans as the villains on this subject.

Reid continued criticizing the Republicans for blocking the opportunity for women to gain access to contraception methods. Sen. Reid said that the Republicans are only acting for ideological motives and are putting them ahead of scientific reasons.

Mary Fallin is the lastest female politician announced as a speaker for the Tampa Convention, and she is currently the first female Governor of Oklahoma. She is one of the most popular governors in the country, based on a poll made by sonnerpoll.com and released in January; almost 70 percent of the surveyed thought Fallin was doing a good job after just a year in office.

The Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll on the presidential race shows that in key states like Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, Obama has an advantage on female vote over Romney, so Martinez, Rice, Halley and Fallin have a difficult mission trying to gain female voter’s sympathy for the Republicans.

Each of the women selected for the Republican National Convention have something special to offer and have made history in their positions. Susana Martinez is the first female Hispanic Governor of New Mexico and of the Country; Condoleezza Rice was the first African-American women that became Secretary of State, Nikki Haley is South Carolina first female Governor and Mary Fallin is Oklahoma first female Governor. This will hopefully prove to the female voters that the Republicans have women in important positions and that they support them.

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New Mexico Governor, Susana Martinez, who is the first female Hispanic governor in the U.S. and the first female governor of New Mexico, is among the chosen speakers at this year’s Republican National Convention.

Three women are among the first seven announced speakers that include Condoleezza Rice, Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez, John McCain, Rick Scott, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich. These three women are expected to boost Rooney’s profile for the female vote. Polls have shown that President Obama is currently ahead of Romney when it comes to appealing to the American woman.

Both Martinez and Nikki Haley, who is Indian-American, are expected to help Romney with minorities, who now majorly support Barack Obama.

Something that may surprise many is that none of Romney’s top considerations for the vice-president post–Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio or Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey–are among the seven headline speakers. This will keep his vice-president nomination a mystery, at least until the eve of the 2012 Republican National Convention.

The Republicans have only announced the speakers mentioned so far. They are holding back with the rest, including the keynote speaker — an honor that could catapult a rising member of the party to national prominence.

Susana Martinez could help Romney with the Hispanic segments of women and according to Fox, “she can also address voters who feel securing the nation’s Southern border is a top concern.” New Mexico was won by Obama in the 2008 election with 56.7% of the votes, but Martinez’ popularity in the state might give Romney a slight advantage in this year’s race.

The Democrats also know the importance of the Hispanic vote in this election, so they have chosen Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio, for their keynote speaker at the Democrat National Convention in Charlotte on September 4. Both Martinez and Castro will try to help their respective parties gain the support of Hispanic voters.

Susana Martinez’ background is very humble; she comes from a middle class working family, and her parents started a security business with almost no money in their pockets. Susana herself worked as a security guard while attending college. Governor Martinez obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and a law degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Martinez’s official website explains that “she was elected on November 2, 2010, pledging to cut wasteful spending, lower taxes to create more jobs, end ‘pay-to-play’ practices and other corruption in government and fight to reform education.”

Susana Martinez has expressed the importance of the Republican National Convention for achieving victory in the November elections: “The Republican National Convention will give Mitt Romney momentum for securing a critical victory for our country this fall. Americans want to work. They want to build their businesses, compete and succeed in order to create more jobs and a secure future for their families.

Mitt Romney knows that is the formula for our economic growth – not more government roadblocks. We will share this message in Tampa in a few weeks, and the American voters will make their voices heard on this at the polls in November.”

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The Republican National Convention will be held this year at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, from August 27 to 30. Nearly 50,000 people are expected at the event. The Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has announced the first list of headliners that would address the Convention; additional speakers will be announced in the next days.

The list includes:

• South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is the youngest sitting governor in the country and South Carolina first female governor. Her official website describes her as “one of the strongest fiscal conservatives in state government.”
• Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who is one of the most popular conservatives, author of nine books, and a radio and television show host. He recently organized the Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day.
• Ohio Governor John Kasich, who was elected to the Ohio State Senate at the age of 26 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 at the age of 30, he was also former House Budget Committee chairman
• New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, who has become the first female Hispanic Governor in the country and the first female governor of New Mexico. Her official website explains that “She was elected on November 2, 2010, pledging to cut wasteful spending, lower taxes to create more jobs, end “pay-to-play” practices and other corruption in government and fight to reform education. She was sworn in as Governor of New Mexico on January 1, 2011, making her the first Latina governor in United States history.
• Arizona Senator John McCain, who was the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, he is a war veteran that is now serving his fifth term in the U.S. Senate. McCain was taken as a prisoner of war in Vietnam in 1967, where he was denied medical treatment and was often beaten by the North Vietnamese.
• Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was the first African-American female to hold this position. From 2005 to 2009 she served as the 66th Secretary of State, she also served from 2001 to 2005 as President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, becoming the first woman to hold this position. According to her official profile she is currently a “professor of Political Economy in the Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of Political Science at Stanford University. She is also a founding partner of Rice Hadley Gates.”
• Florida Governor Rick Scott, representing the convention host state, Scott is Florida’s 45th Governor; his official website explains that “Rick is focused on creating jobs and turning Florida’s economy around.”

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