Regarding your comment about Romney going to lengths to mention exactly the hospitals he and his wife were born in, I was also wondering if he mentioned it because Obama’s birth hospital has been a large part of the birth certificate controversy. There has been differing information in the press about which hospital Obama was born in, and Obama’s letter to one hospital differs from his bio. Even Snopes showed both hospitals at different times and was caught in screen captures doing so... It is usually cut and dried which hospital someone was born in, and I think Mitt was poking fun at yet another Obama “mystery”, too.
http://www.wnd.com/2009/07/103306/
If you view the video again, you can note that Mitt pauses after naming the hospitals while the crowd cheers (cheers the hospitals being named). It had that great of a “hometown” impact.