WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday showcased his "family values" before an influential audience of conservative Republicans by pointedly introducing his wife of 37 years just hours after thrice-married Rudolph Giuliani made a pitch for support from the same audience.

"I came in with my sweetheart, who's here in the front row, I think, somewhere," Romney told thousands of enthusiastic participants at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of grass-roots activists who serve as foot soldiers in Republican presidential campaigns.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, seamlessly invited his wife, Ann, to join him on the stage — the only one of the six male presidential aspirants who introduced his wife to the crowd during separate appearances on Friday.

"This is not fair for me to ask her to say something, but I want her just to say hello," Romney told the audience.

Mrs. Romney obliged.

"We have an exciting month this month," she told the crowd. "Some of you might think, 'Well, of course, you're running for president. That's exciting.' There's another reason we're excited — Mitt and I will be celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary."

Ann Romney introduced the couple's 37-year-old son, Tagg, before confiding to the audience that Romney's public accomplishments pale in her mind against "the accomplishments that I hold most dear in my heart, because for me he has been an extraordinary husband and most importantly, he's been a terrific example to our five sons and now to our 10 grandchildren." The couple was married in 1969.

Romney, 59, who went on to deliver a stirring appeal for support, never mentioned Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City whose turbulent marital history has raised eyebrows among some religious conservatives.

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll released last week showed Giuliani leading Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., 44 percent to 21 percent, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., running third with 15 percent and Romney running fourth with 4 percent.

Romney did manage to take two indirect swipes at McCain, who was absent, by vowing to repeal the McCain-Feingold law that limits contributions for publicly financed federal campaigns and by challenging provisions of the McCain-Kennedy law that requires federal, state and local governments to provide basic medical and education benefits to illegal immigrants.

McCain skipped the three-day conference in favor of presidential campaign appearances in Utah and his home state of Arizona, a choice that irked some conservatives.