CNN contributor Ana Navarro says Mitt Romney 'needs to sell himself as the comeback artist' at Republican National Convention

Despite some nasty weather here this morning from tropical storm Isaac, the Republican National Convention is set to kick off its first full day on Tuesday.

Mitt Romney will be making his official debut this week as the party's presidential nominee. The candidate was at church in New Hampshire yesterday with his wife, Ann, who will join a long list of Republican leaders taking the stage this week.

This morning on "Early Start," Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ana Navarro says that though polls are more in Romney's favor, it's still a 'neck-and-neck race' with President Obama.

"This is an important week for Mitt Romney," Navarro says. "It is really his party here, his coming out party. He needs to show himself. He needs to open himself up. He needs to make the sale with the American people and see if he can bump up those numbers."

Navarro adds, "The economy was going to be the issue, but it's turned out to not be the only issue, but it's very important that Romney has got that lead that he has currently and he needs to grow that. He needs to sell himself as what he's been calling himself, the comeback artist."