There’s a wide swath of opinion making its way through the news networks and media that last night’s headliners at the RNC, Ann Romney and Gov. Chris Christie, were somehow resounding disappointments. That their respective messages of love and respect were at odds, that Ann Romney didn’t reveal enough, that Christie was too self-centric yet not pugnacious enough, and I don’t even know what else. I have to disagree — I thought they were both great, well-orchestrated speeches, and accomplished what they set out to do exceptionally well. Their messages and the personality of their deliverers were successful complements, and the crowd loved ’em both. Anyhow, onward to this evening’s festivities.

The big names on tonight’s docket are Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and of course Rep. Paul Ryan. Word on the street is that Condi Rice’s speech is going to be a break from our regularly scheduled jobs n’ economy agenda and take a moment to highlight President Obama’s foreign-policy failures:

Ms. Rice, who served under former President George W. Bush, said on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” that her address will touch on the need for a domestic economic recovery, but will also tout presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney as the man who will make the U.S. a stronger world leader.

“The only thing that the world hates more than unilateral American leadership is no American leadership,” she said. “There has to be a country that says, “Here’s the view of how human history ought to unfold.’ ”

During the interview, Ms. Rice was critical of the Obama administration for what she considers its lack of involvement in Syria, where a civil war rages between rebels and President Bashar Assad. The U.S. is in favor of Assad’s removal, but he has stayed in power with support from Russia and China.

I’d count on the upcoming sequestration cuts to our defense budget and the recent high-security leaks coming out of the White House making their appearance in the grand scheme of exposing Obama’s International Weaksauce as well, a message that an earlier speech from Sen. John McCain is slated to help with.

Susana Martinez will be a definite crowd-pleaser, as she’s got Hispanic-voter appeal and can help to showcase how ridiculous this war-on-women meme is (if certain news outlets actually care to acknowledge her presence, that is) with her general gubernatorial excellence, and Paul Ryan will of course follow up on his vice-presidential breakout with classic free enterprise-themed stylings. We managed to snag a quick vid of him doing some speech prep and a walk-through on the floor with his family earlier this afternoon, just for funsies:

The earlier speakers setting up tonight’s “We can do better” theme will include Sen. John Thune, Sen. Rob Portman, Sen. Rand Paul, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Puerto Rico Luis Fortuno, and former Gov. Mike Huckabee — meh. Maybe not the most exciting buildup ever, but rest assured they’ll make some great points and keep hammering home the economic message. Should be a good time, be sure to tune in!