Aug. 24--Vice President Mike Pence told Republican delegates in Charlotte Monday that “the choice in this election has never been clearer, the stakes have never been higher.”

In response to Democrat Joe Biden’s assertion that “democracy is on the ballot” in November, Pence said that “the economy is on the ballot, law and order is on the ballot.”

“Four more years means more judges,” Pence told delegates at the Charlotte Convention Center. “Four more years means more support for our troops and our cops. Its going to take at least four more years to drain that swamp. So . . . it’s on. Now is the time. This is the moment.”

Pence spoke shortly before an expected appearance by President Donald Trump. Delegates were in the midst of a roll call that would renominate the president.

The convention was scheduled to wind up by early afternoon before shifting to Washington for the rest of the week.

In a year when party conventions are unlike any that have come before, the convention began in the most traditional way, following parliamentary procedure in the adoption of resolutions and other arcane party matters.

Republicans signaled that they plan to beat the drum this week for Trump’s record on the economy, tax cuts, abortion, guns and standing up to China. But there was little mention of the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the few mentions was from North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley, who said, “Only President Trump will eradicate the coronavirus and rebuild our economy.”

Delegates road-tested slogans and themes that could become part of the campaign, including “Jobs, not mobs” and the perennial “Four more years.”

GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel set the tone for the convention. She said last week’s Democratic convention was “depressing, doom and gloom, night after night.” She called it “a masterpiece of fiction about Trump’s record” and dismissed Biden and running mate Kamala Harris as “the most radical socialist far-left ticket in American history.”

“At this week’s Republican National Convention, expect to hear real stories from real Americans, not condescension from liberal elites,” she said in an earlier statement. “The Democrats may have Hollywood, but it is the Heartland where President Trump has made everyday life better for real hardworking middle-class Americans.”

In contrast to the Democrats’ roll-call vote, which took viewers on a video tour around the country, Republican held a classic in-person roll-call, complete with the tradition of adding in local flavor to the rote listing of votes. Connecticut, the Nutmeg state, cast 28 “spicy” votes for Trump. Delaware’s representative wore a tri-corner hat, to commemorate that state’s role in the American Revolution.

The events that led to this admittedly low-key event zigged and zagged from the handshake world of local Charlotte politics to a pitched conflict between Gov. Roy Cooper and President Donald Trump. Even before the pandemic hit, the Charlotte City Council vote to host the convention in the first place passed by a slim margin two years ago.

In the months since the pandemic set in on the U.S., the fate and location of the convention was in doubt numerous times. Early into the pandemic, Trump threatened to pull the convention from Charlotte if he couldn’t have a full crowd to speak to. Cooper declined to indulge the idea. Trump then said he would move the convention to Jacksonville, leaving only the contractually required activities in Charlotte.

But when thousands began to die from the virus in Florida, in part due to the state’s rapid relaxation of public health restrictions, a Jacksonville convention was no longer an option. A skeleton convention in Charlotte, tightly hewn to local public health guidelines, was all that was left.

Despite the tumultuous path to Monday’s events, McDaniel praised Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat who was a top booster of bringing the RNC to Charlotte. “You, the city, and Mecklenburg County have been great partners,” McDaniel said.

Trump’s nomination came eight years after former President Barack Obama also was renominated in Charlotte.