Ryan to go before spotlight in RNC speech - NBCNews.com

>>> right now the gop numbers man, paul ryan is prepping to make his big debut when he takes center stage at the gop convention in florida. he's going to have a tough act to follow after ann romney 's big speech last night. there you see mrs. romney this morning attending a victory breakfast in tampa with paul ryan 's wife jana. ann romney 's speech is the most buzzed about on twitter. she got a standing ovation after telling the story of a man, a marriage and a family.

>> i love you women ! and i hear your voices. i read somewhere that mitt and i have a storybook marriage. well, let me tell you something. in the storybooks i read, there never were long, long rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. and those storybooks never seemed to have a chapter called m.s. or breast cancer . a storybook marriage? nope. not at all. what mitt romney and i have is a real marriage.

>> new jersey governor chris christie followed ann romney on that stage. dished out plenty of red meat rhetoric in his keynote address.

>> i know the simple truth. and i am not afraid to say it. our ideas are right for america , and their ideas have failed america . here's their plan. whistle a happy tune while driving us off the fiscal cliff. as long as they are behind the wheel of power when we fall.

>> let's say good morning to our wednesday political power panel. joy ann reed , managing editor for the grio. chris kofinas and aliss. we're going to look forward before we monday morning quarterback here. alice , i want to start with you. as we talked about, paul ryan is tonight. this is the biggest speech of his life. the obama campaign is already out with this new ad hitting ryan . take a look.

>> mitt romney has chosen paul ryan to be his vice presidential candidate . mr. ryan is new to the national scene with out of step views from a bygone era.

>> alice , what does paul ryan need to do to silence anyone who may think he's a risky pick on mitt romney 's part?

>> he was a fantastic pick on romney 's part simply because the biggest issue in this election cycle is economy. and who is going to turn the economy around to create jobs? and paul ryan 's approach and the romney / ryan ticket is to take away and do away with big government spending and encourage private sector growth and start out to balance the budget. and their plan for middle class america is one that will work which focuses on energy exploration and encourages better job skills for people out there entering the workforce. it includes doing away with obama care and reducing the debt and deficit. and also doing away with burdensome government regulations. those steps will go a long way to helping to turn the economy around and create jobs. paul ryan knows these numbers. he's been a numbers cruncher for quite some time. and as one great iowa blogger said, he is the president's worst nightmare. and that's because he does know the numbers. and the obama campaign doesn't like to talk about the economy because the economy is in a bad shape and the policies have failed to make things better for the american people . but the romney / ryan ticket has a solution that this country needs.

>> chris , the obama ad also hits paul ryan on his record for women . he has to follow in the footsteps of sarah palin 's speech in '08 where she knocked it out of the park. are democrats hopeful that paul ryan doesn't make a case for women voters tonight, the all-important middle class working woman?

>> well, to be honest, i'm not sure what the focus of ryan 's speech is going to be because i don't think he's going to be talking about women 's issues because his policies and positions when he was in congress, or since he's been in congress are not very good for women . i'm not sure what he's going to say about the deficit and debt because if you look at his numbers for a guy who is supposedly a budget guy, can't do math because his very budget idea is adding to the debt. he's going to have to talk about voucherizing and privatizing a program most american s cherish. he's going to give what people expect but the message is not going to be bought just because he says it. it's going to be bought as credibility. when you scratch past the surface you see a plan that doesn't pass muster.

>> all right. so joy ann , he doesn't think that he's going to talk about medicare tonight. the new " washington post " polling goes into this week's convention saying romney topped the president on the issue of medicare . so what democrats were hoping to win on especially in florida is that message. so has the romney camp turned that issue around in their favor?

>> well, i think one poll really doesn't necessarily tell the story. what you have is an electorate very polarized. each of these guys is going in with a pretty high base. very few undecided voters left. older voters are skewing toward the republican party and toward romney and ryan regardless. but today, greeting ryan is a full page ad in the tampa tribune about the issue of voucherizing medicare . that's an issue that tends to favor democrats. what cuts against that is that older, senior voter, particularly older white voters tend to skew toward the republican party and toward romney as opposed to president obama . i think for paul ryan it's a national challenge at humanizing himself on the issues of medicare , on these women 's issues which cut against him and on the compassion issue. i think ann romney had to humanize mitt romney . tonight paul ryan has to humanize himself.

>> speaking of ann romney , she spoke briefly this morning about her big speech. she was addressing a group at a victory breakfast. take a listen.

>> i said last night, you can trust this man. i also said he will not fail.

>> all right. so alice , your reaction to the speech. was that ann romney 's finest moment last night?

>> i think she did a fantastic job. and as tom brokaw said, she not only talked about her husband but why he would be a good president and did it with great compassion and a lot of women were brought to tears in the convention hall last night because it was a very heartfelt speech. what she also did, which was incredibly important, was she appealed to the women in the audience and across the country watching on television. she talked about how women have a hard job in this country. moms of this country, grandparents of this country. women get up earlier and stay up later to get their kids ready for school. and they worry about putting gas in the tank and food on the table. women have a difficult role. and also an important role in this election cycle. and she empathized with them and stressed the importance of them getting involved.

>> a big night for ann romney . also for chris christie . however, a lot of people have been analyzing the fact that christie didn't mention romney until 16 minutes into that speech last night. before that he focused primarily on himself. take a look.

>> we need politicians to care more about doing something and less about being something. and, believe me, believe me if we can do this in a blue state like new jersey with a conservative republican governor, washington, d.c., is out of excuses.

>> more about doing something, less about being something. i don't know. mixed message there because he was definitely doing something for himself there last night. if you are mitt romney and you make this early appearance on that convention floor to thank ann for her speech and then you have to sit there and watch chris christie and the cutaways. did you guys notice the cutaways? he looked heavyhearted and in pain at times in a room that was supposed to be full of love for him. what did you think of chris christie 's speech?

>> well, it was an interesting juxtaposition. i thought ann romney did a really good job. i think she gave a great speech. then you go to christie where he talks about himself. he didn't get the memo his job was to go there and talk about mitt romney . very self-serving speech. and to be honest, when you look at the message, the part about the line where he talked about shared sacrifice. give me a break. you can't talk about shared sacrifice when you aren't willing to talk about the wealthy paying a little bit more in taxes. it's a little bit laughable. a very selfish speech, i think, on christie 's part. i don't think he did a lot of service to the romney campaign.

>> all right. i want to thank my wednesday power panel, joy- ann reid, chris kofinas and alice stewart .