Tampa, Fla. — The official line is that Paul Ryan spent two weeks preparing for his speech at the Republican National Convention. In the beginning, there were late-night chats about the theme with his speechwriters, John McConnell and Matthew Scully. Later came the practice sessions at a Holiday Inn Express in his hometown of Janesville, Wis., and in the final days, there were frantic editing sessions aboard the campaign plane and inside the Marriott hotel near the Tampa Bay Times Forum. 
 
 But according to sources close to him, Ryan rarely sweated the preparation, even though his Wednesday-night appearance before the cheering throngs of Republican delegates was, in a sense, his national introduction. To the 42-year-old congressman, who was elected to the House in 1998, the speech was always a continuation of an argument he has made since he came to Washington, two decades ago, to write speeches for his mentor, Jack Kemp, the late supply-side Congressman. 
 
 Ryan has accomplished much since he was a twentysomething aide, and his adherence to conservative principles is, evidently, as strong as ever. He took care to cite Kemp tonight, in the biggest speech of his political career, to send a message about who Paul Ryan is as a thinker — to go beyond the anecdotes about his days flipping burgers at McDonald’s or his recent efforts as chairman of the House Budget Committee. 
 
 Standing at the podium, Ryan ably weaved his biography and his political philosophy into a celebration of economic freedom and an articulation of the GOP ticket’s brand, which is a combination of competency and fiscal courage. “My dad used to say to me, ‘Son, you have a choice. You can be part of the problem or you can be part of the solution,’” Ryan said. “Mitt Romney and I have made ours: Before the math and the momentum overwhelm us all, we are going to solve this nation’s economic problems.” 
 
 “And I’m going to level with you: We don’t have that much time,” Ryan said, as the activists nodded. “But if we are serious, and smart, and we lead, we can do this.” 
 
 Since Romney tapped Ryan to be his running mate earlier this month, Ryan has worn many hats on the campaign trail, from attack dog to budget expert. And Wednesday’s remarks had elements of all those roles. There were withering critiques of President Obama’s economic record and a sober discussion about federal spending. Ryan, however, worked to personalize each passage. On Capitol Hill, he often sticks to data-heavy speeches on the House floor, which win plaudits from politicos, but here, speaking to the entire country, he painted his vision with broad strokes. ||||| TAMPA -- The second day (and night) of the Republican National Convention is history. 
 
 The night's speaking program started very slowly but picked up steam as it wore on -- a good thing for Mitt Romney and Republicans since the major national networks only showed the 10 pm hour of the festivities. 
 
 Below is our take on the best and the worst of the night that was. Agree with our picks? Or -- more likely -- disagree? The comments section awaits. 
 
 WINNERS 
 
 * Condoleezza Rice: Rice's speech had it all. She spoke forcefully on foreign policy (no surprise there from a former secretary of state) but also showed that she could speak just as powerfully on domestic issues. Her emphasis on educational reform undoubtedly appealed to the ideological middle of the country. And her personal touches - telling the now-familiar story of growing up in segregated Birmingham, Alabama - were moving and powerful. With her speech, Rice ensured that the next time the Republican presidential nomination is open, she will be a major player in the race. (If she wants to be, that is.) 
 
 * Paul Ryan: The Wisconsin congressman started very slowly - so slowly that we had begun to put him mentally into our "loser" category. He was halting in his delivery, stepping on applause lines and quotable lines alike. But about halfway through his speech, Ryan found his footing. He made the case against the Obama administration effectively - "They have no answer to this simple reality: We need to stop spending money we don't have" - and argued just as effectively for Romney. He spoke eloquently about how he and Romney were of different faiths but, at their core, believed the same things. One other note: Ryan's speech was the best written of any we've heard so far at the convention. It was packed with great lines, most of which - particularly in the second half of his speech - Ryan delivered well. 
 
 * Susana Martinez: Before tonight most people - including most Republicans - didn't know much (if anything) about the New Mexico governor. Martinez changed that with down-to-earth delivery and an ease in the moment that many politicians with much more experience on the national stage would rightly envy. In listening to Martinez, she struck us as the female equivalent of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie - very comfortable in her own skin. The strength of Martinez's speech was, for us, the most surprising thing about the night. 
 
 * The Pauls: The entire first hour of tonight's official program was dedicated to Ron and Rand Paul. First came the four-plus minute video of politicians from Sen. Jim DeMint to Sen. Mitch McConnell (!) praising Paul, a validation of the campaign the Texas congressman has been running for the last five years or so. Then came Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator, who had the Paulites in the convention crowd fired up with his attacks on the constitutionality (or lack thereof) of President Obama's health care law. The idea that a full hour of nighttime programming at a GOP convention would be dedicated to the Pauls would have been unthinkable as recently as a few years ago. Tonight it became a reality. 
 
 * Twitter: How did we cover these convention night speeches without it? And we're not just saying that because we live-tweeted the proceedings. Ok, maybe a little. 
 
 LOSERS 
 
 * Tim Pawlenty: We'll never understand why the former governor of Minnesota fashions himself as some sort of amateur comedian. He opened his speech Wednesday night with 10 minutes of not-so-funny jokes about Obama that elicited as many groans as laughs. Once Pawlenty turned to advocating for Romney and the Republican Party, he did quite well. But that was about three-quarters of the way through his speech. Too little. Too late. 
 
 * John Thune: On paper, the South Dakota senator has it all - conservative bona fides, good looks, Midwestern roots. But in three dimensions Thune is less impressive. He was somewhat flat in his delivery and the crowd seemed largely disinterested. Speaking before primetime didn't help Thune - the crowd is just very dialed in until10 p.m. or so - but he didn't bring the sort of energy and charisma required to leave a major mark on the proceedings. 
 
 * "Interviews" with delegates: In a transparent attempt to break the monotony of speech after speech, convention planners interspersed several live interviews with delegates throughout the program. It didn't work. The interviews felt scripted and wound up sapping some of the momentum and energy from the room rather than building on it. 
 
 * Convention floor dancing: Let's start with this: The Fix is a bad dancer. But, we know well enough not to dance. Not so for many of the convention delegates whose awkward dancing brought the Fix back to his junior high school dance days. And not in a good way. ||||| At the Republican convention, the former secretary of state was graceful and serious. The vice-presidential nominee came off as callow and glib. Reuters TAMPA -- When Paul Ryan was named to the GOP ticket, bolstered by recommendations from conservative elites like The Weekly Standard and the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, the idea was that he would bring it gravitas. His charts full of numbers and penchant for policy, the narrative went, would imbue with intellectual responsibility a Romney campaign derided even on the right for its vacuousness and lack of specificity. At the Republican convention Wednesday night, there was indeed a lofty, high-minded speech, one that managed to forcefully articulate a conservative world view without cheap partisan attacks or facts stretched to the breaking point. But it wasn't Ryan's -- it was delivered by Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state. Rice's address had a sophistication, ease, and grace almost never found in modern political speeches. It was a speechwriter's speech, the kind you could imagine reading in a history book. She spoke with a diplomat's formality and the teleprompter turned off, glancing only occasionally at her notes on the podium. 
 
 Most of the speech was a policy argument, starting with foreign policy and moving to economics, but at the end, Rice, more circumspect than emotive, struck a personal note. "A little girl grows up in Jim Crow Birmingham, the segregated city of the south," she said. "Her parents can't take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant. But they have her absolutely convinced that even if she can't have a hamburger at the Woolworth's lunch counter, she can be president of the United States if she wanted to be -- and she becomes the secretary of state." The crowd, rapt throughout her remarks, came to its feet and roared, and you could practically feel the Condi for President buzz sweeping through the collective hearts of the Republican elites. Being pro-choice, Rice's actual presidential prospects might prove tricky, but that's a matter for another day. For now, she has clearly -- and by no accident -- established herself as a political voice. After another strong speech from New Mexico's governor, Susana Martinez, Ryan took the stage to close the night. He seemed nervous, his eyes wide as a deer's, his Adam's apple cranking up and down in the sinews of his neck. Combined with his too-big jacket and too-wide tie, the 42-year-old vice-presidential nominee seemed like a kid. It quickly became clear that that was the point. Ryan, in his speech, played the part of the glib, ambitious student, his youth underscored with sentimental riffs about his mom and dad and their lives -- there was fairly little about his own experiences -- and references to his buddies from high school. "College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life," he said. Ryan even mocked his running mate's taste in music: "I said, 'I hope it's not a deal-breaker, Mitt, but my playlist starts with AC/DC and ends with Zeppelin.'" The casting of the Romney-Ryan ticket as a father-son pairing rather than a team of equals couldn't have been more explicit. ||||| Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan wants to talk policy. Mitt Romney's team wants his No. 2 to focus more on his immigrant family and small-town values. 
 
 Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, center, R-Wis., works on the speech he will deliver at the Republican National Convention, with senior adviser Dan Senor, left, and senior aid... (Associated Press) 
 
 Romney is certain to win out as the Wisconsin congressman _ who made a name for himself with an austere vision of government spending on social programs for the elderly and poor _ accepts the vice presidential nomination of his party Wednesday night. 
 
 Ryan will deliver a speech to thousands of delegates at the Republican convention and millions of viewers watching from home that is likely to be heavy on personality and lighter on policy. 
 
 Romney's choice of Ryan suggested he had accepted the arguments of powerful conservative forces who felt he could not capture the White House in the November election by portraying himself as a successful businessman with sweeping but vague outlines for economic recovery. But mindful of just how controversial Ryan's views are among centrists, Romney has tried to keep his distance from his agenda. 
 
 Ryan's willingness to focus on his personal story and play down policy is the latest example that of him deferring to Romney's preferences. As Ryan puts it, Romney is "the boss." 
 
 Ryan and his team, a mix of longtime aides and new advisers, have spent a chunk of the past few weeks writing _ and re-writing _ the speech. 
 
 "Words matter a lot and I'm putting a lot of effort into them," said Ryan, a former speechwriter to 1996 vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp and former Education Secretary William Bennett. 
 
 Early versions were scrapped and adjusted to include bits of Ryan's natural, easygoing speaking style. In between campaign events and daily workouts, Ryan has been working to put his own voice into the drafts. 
 
 At campaign events, Ryan has tended to favor policy over his personal story. From Ohio to Virginia to Florida, he talks more often about the U.S. debt and deficit than his own life as a congressional aide who became a congressman at age 28. The 42-year-old is more comfortable citing Congressional Budget Office statistics than real people. 
 
 Romney's aides want that to change. Advisers are pushing Ryan toward more personal territory. 
 
 The hope among Romney's team is that Americans get to know Ryan's story, one they say working-class voters could relate to. Left unsaid is the fact that Ryan's policy positions, specifically his controversial budget proposals, have caused headaches for Romney and dominated the storyline of the campaign since he was named the running mate. 
 
 A message of small-town values and self-reliance is set to play a prominent role in his speech. 
 
 Ryan offered a preview of that message Monday at the Wisconsin high school where he cheered for classmates two decades ago. He spoke of his ancestors' journey in the 1850s from Ireland to Wisconsin. Reflecting on more recent history, Ryan spoke of his time in the town when he said neighbors took care of each other. 
 
 He will likely speak about the economic troubles that have hit Janesville, a city that has become synonymous with Ryan's Midwestern appeal. On Monday, he said the city's response to the rough economy is what the United States should do on a grand scale. 
 
 Aides are seeking to lower expectations, saying not to expect a blockbuster speech like the one 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin delivered. Instead, Ryan is likely to paint a picture of himself as a reasonable governing partner for Romney.
– Paul Ryan made GOPers swoon with what most pundits say was the best speech of the convention so far. He used his regular-guy appeal to clearly set out a case against the Obama administration—but critics are challenging many of his facts. Ryan "came off young, which he is, but generally not so youthful as to seem off; he was emotional but not soft; he was tough on President Obama but not caustic," writes Maggie Haberman at Politico. His speech—ideological but "delivered in a non-threatening way—went a long way to making a convention that has been troubled a success," she writes. "Ryan has worn many hats on the campaign trail, from attack dog to budget expert," and his speech had elements of all those roles, writes Robert Costa at the National Review, likening Ryan's "conservative rallying cry" to those of Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, and Barry Goldwater. "Those men urged Americans to shrink government and empower individuals, and Ryan did just that," he writes. Ryan "played the part of the glib, ambitious student," casting the Romney-Ryan ticket as a "father-son pairing rather than a team of equals," writes Molly Ball at the Atlantic. But the speech was heavy on distorted facts, which seemed intentional, she writes. Ryan "is being positioned as the Republican ticket's gleeful, unabashed attack dog, someone willing to take it to the other side without regard for the sniffing of the poobahs: Sarah Palin in an ill-fitting suit." Ryan's start was a little rocky, but he recovered to eloquently deliver a speech packed with great lines, Chris Cillizza writes at the Washington Post. Ryan "made the case against the Obama administration effectively—'They have no answer to this simple reality: We need to stop spending money we don’t have'—and argued just as effectively for Romney."