Nomination

TAMPA, Fla. - Presenting himself as a turnaround artist for economically troubled times, Mitt Romney accepted his party's presidential nomination Thursday night with a forceful promise to lead America to renewed prosperity after years of dashed expectations. The Republican challenger, standing before a packed arena in the swing state of Florida, repeatedly invoked President Obama's 2008 slogan of hope and change, saying that his November opponent had instead delivered disappointment and division.

Four former winners and one newcomer were nominated for the 65th annual Directors Guild of America Award for directorial achievement in feature film for 2012. Steven Spielberg, 66, earned his 11th DGA nomination for "Lincoln," the acclaimed epic about the nation's 16th president's efforts to end slavery and the Civil War. Spielberg has won the DGA award three times, a feat no other director has accomplished. He won for the 1985 drama "The Color Purple," the 1993 Holocaust epic "Schindler's List" and the 1998 World War II drama "Saving Private Ryan.

WASHINGTON - A Senate committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Mary Jo White's nomination to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, clearing the way for the former federal prosecutor to be confirmed soon as Wall Street's top watchdog. The Senate Banking Committee also approved the nomination of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But that vote was split 12-10 along party lines, and the nomination is stalled because of the insistence of nearly all Senate Republicans that the bureau's structure be changed before they would allow a confirmation vote.

Question: If Jackson had won the Democratic nomination for President, what role would he have alloted to Dukakis? RUTH E. SMITH Porterville

2,081 delegates needed to secure nomination Dukakis: 1,494 Jackson: 927 Uncommitted: 555 Gore: 421 Simon: 185 Others: 3

The Senate will vote Tuesday on the nomination of James A. Baker III for Treasury secretary, Majority Leader Robert J. Dole said Thursday.

Mitt Romney apparently didn't make the cut for Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating People of 2012 list, but the British boy band One Direction did. Go figure. The TV personality has unveiled her picks, and they include Ben Affleck, director-star of the likely Oscar contender "Argo," and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, likely contender for the 2016 Republican Party presidential nomination. Also fascinating, in Walters' view, are U.S. Secretary of State and potential contender for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination Hillary Rodham Clinton; "Fifty Shades of Grey" author E.L. James; and Gabby Douglas, the Olympic gold medalist and likely contender for the 2016 Green Party nomination (just kidding about that last one -- Pop & Hiss just threw that in to see how fascinated you really were)

TAMPA, Fla. -- Mitt Romney claimed the Republican nomination for president Tuesday, six years after he first began his run for the White House and on the first full day of a storm-shortened national convention. For months the unofficial nominee, Romney won his party's formal imprimatur in the traditional roll call of states. Romney, 65, served as governor of Massachusetts for one term but has rested much of his campaign on his business background as a consultant and venture capitalist.