First night winners at GOP convention

Chris Cillizza:

...

* Ann Romney: Unlike almost everyone who spoke on Tuesday night, Ann Romney isn’t — and never has been — a politician. That makes her performance that much more impressive. Was she nervous at times? Yup. (Her nervous laugh was a bit jarring.) But, overall Ann Romney did exactly what her husband and his campaign needed her to: she told the story of a Mitt Romney that almost no one in the country knows. She talked about how they met at a high school dance, how he made her laugh, how they ate tuna fish when they were a young married couple. Her best line? “Mitt doesn’t like to talk about how he’s helped others,” she said. “Because he sees it as a privilege not a political talking point.” Cue huge applause. 

* Nikki Haley: Of all the men and women touted as rising stars within the GOP who took the stage on Tuesday, the governor of South Carolina was the best. She was poised and relaxed and drew the crowd to their feet with her mentions of the Palmetto State’s voter ID law and the National Labor Relations Board fight. Runner-up for the best performance by a rising star goes to Texas Senate nominee Ted Cruz — although we still aren’t sure what to make of his decision to abandon the podium and wander around the stage. 

* Chris Christie: Yes, Christie will take some (justified) criticism for spending 95 percent of his speech talking about himself and five percent talking about Mitt Romney. (And that’s being generous.) But, Christie burnished the Christie brand with his keynote address, which, after all, was kind of his goal. Christie was blunt and remarkably relaxed. He came across as entirely at ease in his own skin and as close to a regular guy as politics can produce. In short, he did nothing to hurt chatter about his own future as a presidential candidate in 2016 or 2020 — and that makes him a winner in our scoring system. 

* Mia Love: The biggest surprise of the night was this Utah House candidate. While Love, who is running against Rep. Jim Matheson (D) in November, spoke early in the night she acquitted herself quite well with an energetic speech — and a video that preceded her speech that cast her as sort of Super-everywoman. 

* John Kasich: The Ohio governor doesn’t have the reputation as a blow-the-doors off speaker but he was near the top on Tuesday night. Kasich, smartly, spoke using only written notes rather than a TelePrompter, which made him seem more authentic and unscripted. Aside from Love, Kasich might have delivered the biggest surprise –in a good way — to those watching the convention.
...

I thought all of them did well, but I would have put Christie's rank a bit lower.  What made the Haley, Kasich and Christie speeches really stand out is how they showed conservatism works to lower taxes and balance budgets.  Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia also made this case.  It makes for a strong counter to Democrat pander politics and vote buying schemes.

Mia Love did a great job.  Utah needs to send her to the House Republican majority.  Adding another strong voice for conservatism to black caucus will help to defray the awful narrative that comes out of what is now mainly a victims' caucus.

Cillizza put Kelly Ayotte in the loser category, but I thought her speech made a good argument for conservatism and for defeating liberalism.  That is always a winner in my book.