Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. gestures during a walk through ahead of his delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

TAMPA, Fla. - Republicans turned their attention Wednesday to Mitt Romney's budget-conscious running mate, Paul Ryan, but also to two groups that far prefer U.S. President Barack Obama to Romney as the Nov. 6 election looms — women and Hispanics.

With the Republican national convention abuzz about the prime-time appearance at the podium by Ryan, the event's daytime agenda was aimed at reaching out to demographics where Republicans are getting pummelled in the polls by the president.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American, made the rounds of the morning talk shows to suggest Romney's immigration policies are evolving.

He reiterated his belief that the party has a problem with Latinos, saying he agreed with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's remark earlier this week that "you can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate."

Villaraigosa was making reference to the number of prominent Hispanics speaking at this week's convention, Rubio among them, to no apparent benefit in the polls. Public opinion surveys show Latino voters overwhelmingly vote Democrat, and far prefer Obama to Romney in 2012.

"I think what he's saying, quite frankly, is true for both parties," Rubio told ABC of Villaraigosa's comments. "Policies matter and, look, the Republican Party does have a challenge. We can't just be the anti-illegal immigration party, we have to be the pro-legal immigration party."

The American immigration system is broken, he added.

"And we have to deal with that in a way that honours our legacy both as a nation of compassion and a nation of immigrants but also as a nation of laws," he said.

"That's a real challenge. That's not an easy thing to do. We're going to confront that not by pandering, not by making unrealistic promises but by trying to find a balanced approach."

Hispanics are currently the fastest-growing demographic in the United States. Prominent Republicans like Jeb Bush and John McCain have been arguing for years that the Republican party has to make every effort to bring Latinos into the Republican fold.

But Romney's hard-right turn on immigration issues during primary season has practically rendered him kryptonite to Hispanics.

Fret not, said Rubio — Romney is rethinking his immigration policies.

"I think he's going to replace it. That's what I think you can expect from the Romney presidency," he said.

If so, such a flip-flop would infuriate those among the Republican base, including the Christian evangelicals and social conservatives who are vehemently anti-immigration. Their might, in fact, is reportedly one of the reasons why Romney opted against choosing Rubio as his running mate.

Women are another trouble spot for Romney. A prime time Tuesday night speech by his wife, Ann, to the convention was surprisingly political as she made a passionate pitch to women.

She was at it again on Wednesday, joining forces with Ryan's wife, Janna, to headline a "Women for Romney" breakfast fundraiser.

"They are the ones that have figured it out," Ann Romney said of women at the breakfast event that featured her five daughters-in-law making short, reverential speeches about her.

"They are the ones that have done the math, and know where we're headed if we don't get someone in there to fix the direction of the country."

She argued that women are particularly concerned about the economy, so Romney is a better choice for them on voting day.

"This is why so many of the women in this nation have got to figure out: 'Am I going to go in that voting booth and vote for my children's future?' That's what they have got to ask, because this is going to be an economic question for them."

Later Wednesday, Ann Romney attended a Latino Coalition lunch with her Spanish-speaking youngest son, Craig, who assured those in attendance that his father is "a man you can trust."

Democrats try to portray the Republicans as a party that doesn't care about Hispanics, his mother added.

"That's not true," she said. "We very much care about this community." And Hispanics, she insisted, would be better off economically under a Romney presidency.

But Ryan's proposals to slash the mammoth U.S. national debt in part by overhauling Medicare, a cherished government program that provides health insurance to Americans over 65, isn't winning him any fans among undecided voters, Hispanic and non-Hispanic alike.

All eyes were on the Tampa convention centre on Wednesday to see how Ryan would introduce himself not just to delegates but to the American public. Condoleezza Rice and Rand Paul were among the other marquee speakers scheduled to take the stage later Wednesday.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2012