Just hours before the Republican National Convention played a campaign video Wednesday night showing Mitt Romney at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, his single-biggest financial backer -- billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson -- made a rare public appearance, telling reporters at a Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) event that the GOP presidential candidate is “very pro-Israel” and is “going to defend what he thinks is best for the relationship” between Israel and the United States.

But Adelson, who with his wife has given $10 million to the pro-Romney Restore Our Future super PAC, never had the chance to expand on his views about the Middle East or respond to questions about his mega donations to the GOP cause. As soon as the frail but feisty 79-year-old chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. sat down -- after making a grand entrance clutching a cane and assisted by his Israeli-born wife -- RJC coalition organizers chased away members of the media, repeatedly shouting: “The event is over! We’re going to close this down!”

(Later that evening, a producer with the radio show Democracy Now sought to question Adelson —  being accompanied by Karl Rove — while he was being taken by wheel chair to a fourth floor corporate skybox at the convention. In an incident caught on videotape here, the producer, Mike Burke, reported that a woman identified as Adelson’s daughter grabbed his camera, took it into the skybox and threw it on the ground. Burke said the daughter later apologized.) 

Lior Mizrahi / Getty Images

U.S. gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam arrive to hear Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney delivers foreign policy remarks on July 29, 2012 in Jerusalem, Israel.

The brief appearance by Adelson came at a spirited event where top members of Congress rubbed elbows with wealthy GOP donors and “Obama ... Oy Vey!” buttons were freely distributed to attendees. At the same time, new details emerged about Adelson’s role in steering supersize checks to groups working to defeat the president and elect Republican members of Congress.

Shortly before Adelson arrived, celebrity rabbi Shmuley Boteach, author of “Kosher Sex” and a one-time spiritual adviser to Michael Jackson who is now running as a Republican candidate for Congress from New Jersey, boasted that Adelson and his wife had recently given $500,000 to “my super PAC” and that they were “heroes of our community.”

Boteach later told reporters that he had then dined with Adelson this week during the RNC convention. “Well, I mean, look they’re friends,” he said of Adelson and his wife. “They don’t need me to tell them where to give their money. They’re very savvy political donors.”

As for the super PAC, called “Patriot Prosperity PAC,” Boteach at first said that, while “we obviously don’t have any contact with them,” it was “set up by the professionals who run my campaign.” 

Although the half-million dollar donation by Adelson and his wife to the “Patriot Prosperity PAC” had already been reported, Boteach’s  reference to “my super PAC” and his reference to it being “set up” by his campaign “professionals”  seemed to raise fresh questions about whether the donations complied with federal election laws. Those laws bar campaign committees from coordinating their activities with supposedly independent super PACs -- which are allowed to take unlimited donations.

But when pressed by reporters about his comments about the origins of the group, the rabbi corrected himself.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” he said when asked if his campaign staff had set up the super PAC donations. “Let’s not pull me into something that I am not -- I said the people who run my campaign are the ones who tell me what we’re allowed to do and what we’re not allowed to do. And we are allowed to tell the people who support us that if they want to support us, there was a super PAC. And that’s what we did. That’s exactly what I meant.”

Adelson’s contributions in the 2012 election --- now, combined with those of his wife, total more than $40 million -- have stirred controversy, in part because of his hardline views on Israel (he is a close friend of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu) but also because of ongoing federal investigations into his gambling empire over allegations that it has paid bribes to Chinese officials.

Also this week, Bloomberg News reported that Adelson’s Sands Corp. -- which generates more than half of its multibillion-dollar revenues from four casinos in Macau -- could see its profits soar if Romney were elected and fulfills his pledge to demand that China loosen currency restrictions, allowing the value of the yuan to rise against the dollar.

Adelson’s appearance was the highlight of the RJC event -- partly sponsored by Comcast (owner of NBC News) -- which was attended by other big GOP donors such as hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer. Also present: GOP Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Allen West of Florida, Ed Royce of California and Renee Ellmers of North Carolina.

The event -- briefly interrupted by two protesters who loudly denounced Israeli policies towards the Palestinians and were quickly evicted -- was marked by multiple denunciations of Obama’s policies to Israel.

“I don’t know how there are any Democratic Jews,” said GOP Rep. Billy Long of Missouri. “The way the president has treated [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu and the land of Israel, I don’t know how any Democratic Jew can still be a Democrat.”

NBC’s Jamie Novogrod also contributed to this story.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Pat Tippett of Baxley, Georgia and Linda Dennison of Blackshear, Georgia, wear GOP logo cut-off jean jackets with matching blue hats during the Republican National Convention, Aug. 29.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Brittany Edwards of West Memphis, Arkansas shows off her GOP logo tattoo on her foot that she's had for five years during the Republican National Convention, Aug. 29.

Justin Lane / EPA

A Republican delegate wears an elephant hat during the roll call vote on the floor of the Republican National Convention, Aug. 28.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Elephant pins are on display for sale in the GOP gift shop during the Republican National Convention Aug. 29.

Mike Segar / Reuters

A delegate wearing a quilt shirt walks to her seat at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 28.

Slideshow: Republican National Convention

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Republicans gather in Tampa, Florida to officially nominate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

The elephant, a symbol of the Republican party, is another popular accessory at the Republican National Convention. Attendees could be spotted with the animal on their heads, feet, backs and lapels. 

Stars and stripes on display at the RNC

Accessorize! RNC attendees show off their buttons

More photos from the RNC on PhotoBlog 

Full coverage

Mitt’s moment and his four objectives… How we got to here -- a story of endurance and survival… Ryan makes his mark with last night’s speech… He also makes some misleading and unfair assertions… And the GOP’s diversity on display.

Brian Snyder / REUTERS

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney addresses the American Legion's national convention in Indianapolis, Indiana August 29, 2012.

TAMPA, Fla. -- After Ann Romney's introduction on Tuesday and Paul Ryan's rousing speech last night, Mitt Romney gets his moment tonight when he accepts the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination. If tonight’s speech is to be successful, Romney has to meet four objectives. One, he has to better introduce himself to the American public; it remains striking that after running for president for much of the past five years, voters still don’t have more than a two-dimensional understanding of the soon-to-be nominee. Two, he needs to convince the public that, while he looks the part, he’s the man Americans are comfortable seeing on their TVs for the next four years. Three, he has to try to close the empathy gap; our most recent NBC/WSJ poll found President Obama holding a 22-point advantage on who cares more about average people. And four, he needs to put some meat on the policy bone to make the case how his plans could actually work better than Obama’s -- and how they are different from the past Republican administration. If four hours are going to decide this presidential election, the first hour comes tonight.

*** How will he use it? So how will Romney use this hour? Focus on the personal? Emphasize the policy? Talk to the base? Reason with the swing voter? All of the above? There is no obvious answer here. But we’ll find out 13 hours from now, at 10:00 p ET. What’s more, it’s interesting how many of the things Romney has to accomplish tonight were the same things that Al Gore had to accomplish 12 years ago, and Gore’s story proves you can turn it around. By the way, the Romney camp says it’s holding more than 250 watch parties in 13 battleground states to celebrate Romney becoming the GOP’s official nominee. Meanwhile, the Obama camp has unveiled a new web video, hitting Romney for trying to shake “an Etch-A-Sketch of epic proportions.”

*** How we got here -- a story of endurance and survival: Remember that Romney’s upcoming moment tonight almost didn't happen during one of the wildest presidential nominating cycles we can remember. After Rick Perry jumped into the race in Aug. 2011, the Texas governor became the immediate front-runner in the GOP race, but a combination of the Romney campaign’s attacks on his immigration record and Perry’s own stumbles in the debates (“Oops”) sank his chances. Then, about a month before the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich made his surge, becoming the new GOP front-runner. But entered the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future, whose negative TV ads pummeled Gingrich so hard that the former House speaker finished fourth in Iowa. And then there was Rick Santorum’s surge in Feb. 2012. We often forget how close the former Pennsylvania senator came to upsetting Romney in his native state of Michigan -- it was 41% to 38% -- and had Romney lost that contest, it’s fair to say that he probably wouldn’t be standing on the stage tonight in Tampa accepting the GOP’s presidential nomination. Romney’s story, at least as it relates to the GOP nominating contest, is one of endurance and survival. 

*** Ryan makes his mark: As for Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech last night, it was quite an introduction for the Wisconsin congressman, and he did the things you’d expect from the VP speech. He gladly took on the role of attack dog. “Ladies and gentlemen, these past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House. What’s missing is leadership in the White House.” He proclaimed that he and Romney -- with Ryan’s budget plan -- were the reformers. “Medicare is a promise, and we will honor it. A Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare, for my Mom’s generation, for my generation, and for my kids and yours.” And following Ann Romney’s lead from Tuesday night, he tried to humanize the man at the top of the ticket. “Mitt and I … go to different churches. But in any church, the best kind of preaching is done by example. And I’ve been watching that example. The man who will accept your nomination tomorrow is prayerful and faithful and honorable.” And Ryan did all of these things projecting youth and energy, although it didn’t appear his target audience was swing voters.  

*** And he also makes some misleading or unfair assertions: That was the positive part of his speech last night. The negative came from the facts and fairness of some of his assertions. Perhaps the most egregious was his hit on Obama over Simpson-Bowles. “He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.” But here’s the thing: Ryan served on that same debt commission, and voted AGAINST it. Had Ryan voted for it (and convinced his fellow House members on the commission to do the same), Simpson-Bowles would have become law. Ryan also knocked Obama for the S&P downgrade, not mentioning the role that House Republicans like him played in that debt-ceiling debate. He also again attacked the president over those $716 billion in cuts/savings to Medicare -- the same $716 billion in cuts/savings that Ryan includes his budget. And he argued that Obama was unable to keep a GM plant open in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, WI, when that plant closed before Obama became president. Out of all of the assertions, the only one the Romney-Ryan camp is pushing back on today is the GM plant, saying it was put on “standby” -- not shut down -- during the Bush administration. 

*** The VP speech typically doesn’t have a long shelf life: We want to make a final point about Ryan’s acceptance speech, and it’s the same one we made yesterday: Don’t get carried away by a strong VP speech; it typically doesn’t have a long shelf life. Think Ferraro in ’84, Bentsen in ’88, Kemp in ’96, Lieberman in ’00, and Edwards in ’04. The exception, of course, is Sarah Palin in ’08. But she isn’t the rule.

*** Diversity on display: Democrats, by far, have a more diverse electorate. But Republicans have done their best at this convention to demonstrate they have a more diverse bench. On Tuesday, they showcased Mia Love, Ted Cruz, and Nikki Haley; last night, it was Condi Rice and Susana Martinez; and tonight, it will be Marco Rubio. A few words on Rice’s speech: She started slowly, but won the crowd over, especially when she talked about how a young girl who grew up in the Jim Crow South later became secretary of state. It was a campaign speech without being ideological, and that’s hard to pull off. Rice’s biggest shortcoming was to talk about foreign policy but not acknowledge the role the administration she worked for played in the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And we’ll say this about Martinez’s speech: It might have been the most underrated address at this convention. She was strong. 

*** Thursday’s schedule (the theme is “We Believe in America”): 

7:00 pm ET hour: Connie Mack, Newt and Callista Gingrich
8:00 pm hour: Jeb Bush, Romney adviser Bob White
9:00 pm hour: former MA Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, former Olympians Michael Eruzione, Derek Parra and Kim Rhode
10:00 pm hour: Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney 

Countdown to Dem convention: 4 days
Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 34 days
Countdown to VP debate: 42 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 47 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 53 days
Countdown to Election Day: 68 days

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The NBC Politics team has curated some of the notable speeches from the second night of the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan addresses the 2012 RNC.

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivers remarks at the 2012 RNC.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee backs Mitt Romney's private sector business record while delivering remarks at the RNC.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty tells the RNC that the U.S. is "out of money" and that President Obama is "out of time."

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, delivers a speech at the RNC, explaining why Mitt Romney's economic policies would benefit America while criticizing President Obama's fiscal record.

During his speech at the Republican National Convention, South Dakota Sen. John Thune blamed a sluggish U.S. economy on Obama administration's policies.

While speaking at the RNC, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., explains why he disagrees with the way President Obama has handled foreign policy decisions over the past four years.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., criticizes President Obama for "punishing" the upper class while he delivers a speech at the Republican National Convention.

TAMPA, Fla. – Paul Ryan stressed what he said was a shared desire with Mitt Romney to confront the nation’s most difficult challenges in an upbeat, if ideologically unflinching, speech accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination.

The Wisconsin congressman joined other Republicans on the second night of the Republican National Convention in attempting to refocus the fall campaign on big issues, deploying diverse GOP voices to make a broad appeal to independents.

Ryan, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez received rock star welcomes from delegates in Tampa with speeches extolling nominee-in-waiting Mitt Romney and the virtues of leadership. 

"When Gov. Romney asked me to join the ticket, I said, 'Let’s get this done,'" Ryan said in his speech formally accepting the party's vice presidential nomination. "And that is exactly, what we’re going to do."

Ryan’s speech was both a plea for unity – he urged voters to “come together for the sake of our country” – and an emotional and ideological appeal, a type of clarion call that has endeared Ryan with conservatives.

Related: Future leaders on display at GOP convention

It was arguably the most important speech of Ryan’s political career, leveling an indictment of President Barack Obama on taxes, entitlements and energy while acclaiming Romney as a decisive leader and the best-suited candidate to lead a turn around in the economy.

"These past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House," he said. "What’s missing is leadership in the White House!"

The Wisconsin congressman's speech punctuated a prime-time lineup of speakers geared at painting the GOP as a party of principle and opportunity.

Rice, the former top diplomat for President George W. Bush (who was the subject of a tribute earlier in the evening, along with his father, President George H.W. Bush), weaved together her personal narrative about overcoming segregation and other barriers into a case for American exceptionalism.

Her reflection about overcoming Jim Crow laws to become secretary of state proved to be one of the evening's most emotional moments.

"The essence of America -- that which really unites us -- is not ethnicity, or nationality, or religion," she said. "It is an idea, and what an idea it is:  That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.  That it doesn't matter where you came from but where you are going."

Both Ryan and Rice seemed to uniquely stir passions among the Republican delegates. Rice’s speech in particular won plaudits from political observers on the left and right for its broad themes and relative lack of rhetorical firebombs.

An address from Martinez was sandwiched between Rice and Ryan. Her speech was one that made overtures to women and Latinos, and one which told the story of her own conversion from the Democratic Party to the GOP.

Slideshow: Republican National Convention

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Republicans gather in Tampa, Florida to officially nominate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

She downplayed political parties, and kept with a theme emphasizing the primacy of solutions over politics.

"This election should not be about political parties. Too many Americans are out of work, and our debt is out of control. This election needs to be about those issues," Martinez said. "And it is the responsibility of both parties to offer up real solutions and have an honest debate."

Earlier in the evening, delegates heard harsher criticism of Obama.

In his speech, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made a direct appeal to his party's conservatives, mocking Obama and prominent Democratic leaders for "radical, left-wing" leadership.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty mocked Obama for his semi-regular golf games on weekends, and South Dakota Sen. John Thune said he could easily defend the president in a game of pick-up basketball -- because Obama would always go to his left.

The evening also featured a tribute to the retiring Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who has attracted a devoted following in his two bids for the Republican presidential nomination.

But the carefully scripted speeches in the 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET hour on Tuesday and Wednesday were more likely to foreshadow Romney’s acceptance speech during Thursday’s culminating night of the Republican National Convention.

Romney aides said Wednesday that the former Massachusetts governor’s speech -- tied into the need for Romney to reverse negative public opinion toward him – was mostly finished. Romney watched the evening’s speeches just a few paces away from the site of his speech tomorrow, at a nearby hotel.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a spirited defense of free trade, foreign aid, a welcoming immigration policy, and a robust national defense Wednesday night at the Republican convention.

Both Rice and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who spoke earlier in the evening, mocked the Obama administration for the remark an unidentified Obama adviser last year made to describe the U.S. role in the effort to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi in Libya: “leading from behind.”

Rice started her speech on a subdued note with a brief recollection of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

She then invoked the “freedom agenda” of her old boss, President George W. Bush, saying that “the desire for liberty and freedom is indeed universal” among all people in the world but acknowledged that “the promise of the Arab Spring is engulfed in uncertainty.”

And she listed some discouraging international trends:

• “Internal strife and hostile neighbors are challenging the young, fragile democracy of Iraq,"
• “Dictators in Iran and Syria butcher their people and threaten regional security,"
• “Russia and China prevent a response” to the oppression in those countries.

Rice said these developments cause people abroad to wonder, “where does America stand?” She said, “when friends or foes, alike, don't know the answer to that question — unambiguously and clearly — the world is likely to be a more dangerous and chaotic place.”

She seemed to imply that President Obama had not done enough to champion freedom and democracy in the Arab world.

Charles Dharapak / AP

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addresses the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.

But her speech seemed as much a rebuke to isolationist or anti-global engagement forces in her own party as to Obama.

Earlier in the evening, the delegates saw a short video tribute to Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, one of the few Republicans who voted to oppose the Iraq invasion. Paul has also been a critic of foreign aid.

Defending foreign aid, Rice explained that it is often “hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies and to intervene on behalf of the most desperate — the AIDS orphan in Uganda, the refugee fleeing Zimbabwe, the young woman who has been trafficked into the sex trade in Southeast Asia,” she said. Yet “this assistance — together with the compassionate work of private charities — people of conscience and people of faith — has shown the soul of our country.”

She added, “I know too that there is a weariness — I know that it feels as if we have carried these burdens long enough.”

But if America turns inward, she warned, “no one will lead and there will be chaos, or someone will fill the vacuum who does not share our values. My fellow Americans, we do not have a choice. We cannot be reluctant to lead — and you cannot lead from behind.”

Touching on a topic that divides Republicans, she delivered an argument for an open-hearted immigration policy. “We must continue to welcome the world’s most ambitious people to be a part of us,” she told the delegates. “In that way we stay young and optimistic and determined. We need immigration laws that protect our borders, meet our economic needs and yet show that we are a compassionate nation of immigrants.”

Two hours earlier, McCain gave the delegates a more pointed criticism of the man who defeated him four years ago.

“At our best, America has led. … We have led, when necessary, with the armed might of freedom’s defenders. And always we have led from the front, never from behind,” McCain said. 

“By committing to withdraw from Afghanistan before peace can be achieved and sustained, the president has discouraged our friends and emboldened our enemies, which is why our commanders did not recommend that decision and why they have said it puts our mission at greater risk,” he said.

McCain accused Obama of “playing no leadership role” in preventing defense spending cuts mandated by last year’s Budget Control Act.

And McCain said Obama “missed a historic opportunity to throw America’s full moral support behind an Iranian revolution that shared one of our highest interests: ridding Iran of a brutal dictatorship that terrorizes the Middle East and threatens the world.”

He added, “The situation is far worse in Syria. What began as peaceful protests has now become, 18 months later, a savage and unfair fight” as Bashir Assad uses tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets to kill his opponents.

“Sadly, for the lonely voices of dissent in Syria, and Iran, and elsewhere, who feel forgotten in their darkness, and sadly for us, as well, our president is not being true to our values.”

Although he did not mention it in his speech Wednesday, in June McCain advocated helping the Syrian opposition to establish safe havens inside the country, using U.S. airpower to defend the safe areas in Syria, and using the safe havens as “platforms for increased deliveries of food and medicine, communications equipment, doctors to treat the wounded, and other non-lethal assistance. They could also serve as staging areas for armed opposition groups to receive battlefield intelligence, body armor, and weapons.”

Slideshow: Republican National Convention

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Republicans gather in Tampa, Florida to officially nominate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

TAMPA, Fla. -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee served up red meat to Republicans at their national convention, rallying conservatives behind the party’s nominee-in-waiting, Mitt Romney.

Huckabee leaned on standard Republican tropes -- from mocking House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to decrying "radical left-wing" policies -- in a pitch firmly directed toward the GOP's right wing.

"To those who question how once-rivals can now be united, it’s quite simple -- we have Barack Obama to thank," said the former 2008 presidential candidate, who sparred with Romney in that year's GOP primaries, in a bid to stir conservatives' passions.

Huckabee passed on running for the Republican presidential nomination a second time in 2012, leaving a void in the primary field this cycle for a visible social conservative like this former Southern Baptist preacher.

It was one of the most direct and pointed speeches targeted at President Barack Obama and it riled up delegates as the convention built towards vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech Wednesday night. 

"No small differences among us in our party approximate the vast differences between the liberty-limiting, radical left-wing, anti-business, reckless-spending, tax-hiking party of Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, versus an energized America who knows that we can do better," said the former Arkansas governor.

That hard-hitting rhetoric was largely typical of Huckabee's speech, which included jokes about the president's Nobel Peace Prize and Vice President Joe Biden's charitable giving -- along with jabs directed toward a familiar Republican bogeyman, the media.

Huckabee also made reference to his role as a socially conservative leader in an attempt to rally Catholics, a group whom Republicans have courted this cycle, partially by attacking new Obama administration rules about requiring insurers to cover contraception.

"The attack on my Catholic brothers and sisters is an attack on me," he said.

Huckabee made no mention, though, of one of his sharpest differences of late with Republican leaders, over the candidacy of Todd Akin -- the Republican Senate candidate in Missouri whose controversial comments about rape prompted most GOP leaders to call for Akin to end his campaign. Huckabee has stood by and defended Akin.

Slideshow: Republican National Convention

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Republicans gather in Tampa, Florida to officially nominate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

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Four years after he accepted the Republican nomination for president, John McCain returned to the GOP convention.

“I had hopes once of addressing you under different circumstances,” McCain said. “But our fellow Americans had another plan four years ago, and I accept their decision.”

This year, McCain was here in a different capacity – as Mitt Romney’s chief foreign policy attack dog, leveling harsh criticism of President Obama, the man who defeated him in 2008.

Related: Rice and McCain prepare to draw foreign policy contrast with Obama

He casually charged that because of withdrawing from Afghanistan, “the president discourages our friends and emboldens our enemies.”

Because of Obama’s stance on Syria, McCain said, “Our president is not being true to our values.”

He said he trusts Mitt Romney to lead and without American leadership, “the world will grow darker, poorer and much more dangerous.”

Romney starts at a deficit when it comes to foreign affairs. According to the latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, President Obama has a 54 percent approval rating on foreign policy and more say Obama would be a better commander in chief.

TAMPA, Fla. -- A member of the U.S. Secret Service detail assigned to Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney inadvertently left a firearm unattended in the bathroom of the candidate's chartered flight Wednesday from Tampa to Indianapolis.

A reporter using the restroom later discovered the pistol next to the bathroom sink and alerted a flight attendant, who summoned a Secret Service agent to retrieve the weapon.

It remains unclear whether the weapon was loaded, and how long it was left in the 737's restroom before being discovered.

"We are aware of the incident. We take the care and custody of our equipment, especially firearms, very seriously," a spokesman for the Secret Service told NBC News. "We will deal with this matter internally and in an appropriate manner."

A spokesperson for the Romney campaign declined to comment on the matter, referring all questions to the Secret Service.

Romney first received Secret Service protection in January, following his victory in the Florida primary. His wife Ann received her own personal detail just last week.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Republican National Convention played host Wednesday evening to a tribute to Rep. Ron Paul, and signaled a potential passing of the torch to his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Though the retiring Texas congressman was not in attendance for tonight's tribute, a series of lawmakers participated in a video toasting the career of Ron Paul, whose supporters have been a noticeable presence at the convention.

"Whether people want to admit it or not, Ron Paul changed the conversation," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in the video.

Acolytes of Paul's brand of libertarian conservatism appeared as well, including Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Reps. Jimmy Duncan of Tennessee, Justin Amash of Michigan and Walter Jones of North Carolina. Ron Paul and his wife appeared as well.

The Romney campaign had assented to the tribute as part of an overall effort to placate dedicated supporters of Paul, a two-time presidential candidate who sought to win enough delegates in a sufficient number of states to at least have his name put forth for nomination.

That effort prompted rules changes at the outset of this convention aimed at guarding against similar efforts to use the arcane delegate allocation rules to a grass-roots candidate's advantage.

But while the elder Paul appears set to exit the national stage, his son, Rand, appears poised to at least inherit supporters of his father, if not grow that coalition.

Rand Paul was welcomed to thunderous applause by supporters, some of whom chanted his name at the conclusion of the speech.

His speech continued the Republican "You Didn't Build That" attack, but featured one of the most forceful rebukes of President Barack Obama's health care reform law.

"I think if James Madison himself -- the father of the Constitution -- were here today he would agree with me: The whole damn thing is still unconstitutional!" he said.

Like his father, Rand Paul also broke with some Republican orthodoxies on foreign policy on a night set to feature some high-profile attacks on the Obama administration's national security record.

"Republicans must acknowledge that not every dollar spent on the military is necessary or well-spent," he said, drawing some cheers. (Many Republicans have sought to undo automatic defense spending cuts stipulated by the 2011 debt ceiling agreement.)

Rand Paul also won thunderous applause for warning against allowing curbs to civil rights in the name of national security.

"To thrive we must believe in ourselves again, and we must never -- never -- trade our liberty for any fleeting promise of security," he said.

Slideshow: Republican National Convention

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Republicans gather in Tampa, Florida to officially nominate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

President Barack Obama on Wednesday became the first commander in chief to appear on the website that bills itself as "the front page of the Internet," drowning it in traffic and offering responses to 10 of over 10,000 comments and questions submitted.

Click here for the Reddit chat

Becoming the first president to use the popular Internet meme-engine and news hub Reddit Wednesday, Barack Obama's "Ask Me Anything" appearance caused the site to crash repeatedly.

See related: Obama does first presidential 'ask me anything' chat on Reddit

He took questions ranging from one about money in politics (he proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United case that green-lighted super PACs) to one on small-business measures (he plugged his tax and jobs plans) to the beer being brewed in the White House ("It is tasty!")

But, while some of those questions were among the most "upvoted" or highly rated by Reddit users, many of the forum's more provocative and popular questions went unanswered; for example, questions about the administration's failure to close Guantanamo Bay, its embrace of drones for national security operations, and the war on drugs did not receive a response

Obama opened the Internet Q&A session with condolences for the victims of the ongoing storm in the gulf region. "I do want to say that our thoughts and prayers are with folks who are dealing with Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf," he typed. "And to let them know that we are going to be coordinating with state and local officials to make sure that we give families everything they need to recover."

Ahead of an evening at the Republican National Convention expected to take aim at President Barack Obama's foreign policy and Mitt Romney doing the same today before the Foreign Legion, the president himself questioned Wednesday whether his GOP opponent Mitt Romney would be able to back up his "tough talk."

Speaking at a rally with college students in Charlottesville, Va., the president took aim at his Republican opponent on issues of energy and foreign policy.

Obama accused Romney, for instance, of lacking detail in his plans to wind down the war in Afghanistan.

"He doesn't have a plan to bring home the 33,000 troops who will be coming home from Afghanistan next month," the president said in a mid-afternoon rally. "He likes to talk tough but he doesn't have a lot of details when it comes to -- to these critical issues."

And, as Republicans rally in Tampa, Obama made light of the Romney campaign's reaction to new fuel efficiency standards as "extreme."

"Just yesterday my opponent called my position on fuel efficiency standards extreme," Obama said. "It doesn’t seem extreme to me, more fuel-efficient cars. Maybe the steam engine is more his speed."

The president's trip today to Virginia -- and yesterday, to Colorado and Iowa -- amounted to a somewhat concerted effort to offer counterprogramming to the Republican National Convention.

Obama hadn't watched any of this week's festivities, according to his spokesman, though that didn't stop him from taking direct aim at the Tampa gathering in his speech.

"This week in Tampa, my opponents will offer you their agenda. It should be a pretty entertaining show," he said. It will be. And I’m sure they’ll have some wonderful things to say about me," Obama said Tuesday to about 6,000 students at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa Tuesday.

“But what you won’t hear from them is a path forward that meets the challenges of our time. Instead, it will be an economic plan that says if you just give folks making $3 million or more a year another $250,000 tax cut, then jobs and prosperity will magically rain down on everybody else.”

That criticism both downplays the importance of the event, at which Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will introduce himself to a national audience, and builds it back up as an event representative of what Obama says is the GOP platform: all rhetoric with no policies.

on Wednesday, here at the nTelos Pavilion, he actually encouraged the crowd of 7,500 to “pay a little attention” to the convention but suggested they wouldn’t be satisfied by it.

“You can listen very carefully, very hard, and you wont’ hear them offer a clear, serious path forward,” he said.

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the president was campaigning during the convention in order to draw a contrast between Republicans’ message, which she suggested was short on details, and his own.

“Conventions are opportunities for both parties to present who they're fighting for and what they stand for and while we didn't hear a lot of answers from the Republicans speaking at the conventions, the president feels it's necessary to keep laying out the choice in this election.”

RNC spokesman Tim Miller argued the opposite point about Obama’s convention-time counterprogramming: “Greek Columns Obama is an expert on showmanship with no follow-through, while our convention is offering a plan for helping the middle class and turning this sputtering economy around.”

INDIANAPOLIS -- The day before he formally accepts the Republican Party's presidential nomination, Mitt Romney today addressed the American Legion's conference here, slamming President Obama on the looming defense-spending cuts and announcing a new policy to benefit veterans.

"We are now just months away from an arbitrary, across-the-board budget reduction that would weaken the military," Romney said. "President Obama’s own Secretary of Defense has warned that these reductions would be 'devastating.' And he is right."  

"The devastation will be felt here at home, where up to 1.5 million jobs could be lost. GDP growth could fall significantly. These cuts will place further stress on an already stretched VA system." 

The upcoming automatic defense cuts (as well as cuts to domestic programs) were part of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that Congress passed and the president signed into law. Under the legislation, if Washington leaders were unable to settle on a comprehensive bipartisan deficit-reduction solution, then those automatic cuts would go into effect.  

Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, voted for the Budget Control Act. 

The Obama campaign fired back at Romney. "Lost in his speech was the fact that the only thing standing in the way of preventing the automatic defense cuts he decried is his refusal to ask for another dime from millionaires and billionaires. If Mitt Romney were truly serious about helping veterans, he’d tell Congressman Ryan and his Republican allies in Congress to work with the president to achieve a balanced deficit reduction plan," Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said.

In his remarks to the American Legion conference, Romney also accused Obama of apologizing for America -- an allegation that non-partisan fact-checkers have consistently debunked. "The threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction continues to be very real and, of course, we're still at war in Afghanistan. We still have uniformed men and women in conflict, risking their lives just as you once did... We salute them. We honor them. We respect and love them.

He continued, "All of this is happening around the world now.  And yet for the past four years President Obama has allowed our leadership to diminish.  In dealings with other nations he's given trust where not earned, insult where it's not deserved, and apology where it's not due." 

At the outset of his remarks, Romney discussed Hurricane Isaac, which landed in Louisiana as the GOP convention was under way last night. "And I appreciate this invitation to join you on dry land this afternoon," he said. "Our thoughts are, of course, with the people of the Gulf Coast states. Seven years ago today they were bracing for Hurricane Katrina; this afternoon they're enduring Isaac."

And he explained why he was in Indianapolis instead of Tampa, where the Republicans are holding their convention; Romney was in Tampa on Tuesday for his wife's primetime speech.

"I’ll be heading back to Florida later today, and you may wonder why I’m not down there right now, practicing and polishing my final draft of my speech. My answer’s this: When our nation called, you answered. And I consider any opportunity to address our nation’s veterans a privilege not to be missed."

TAMPA, Fla. -- President Barack Obama suggested he would support beginning an effort to amend the U.S. Constitution to undo a Supreme Court decision that gave way to the rise of so-called "Super PACs."

In a chat on the social media website Reddit, the president told readers that he would back an amendment to counteract the impact of the court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, a 2010 decision that did away with limits on corporate and labor spending in elections.

"Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn't revisit it)," the president wrote. "Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change."

The president said he still supports the Disclose Act, which would force greater transparency from outside spending groups in disclosing their sources of funding. Obama also emphasized his support for banning lobbyists from the practice of "bundling," or raising large sums of contribution from a group of donors.

The 2012 campaign has seen an unprecedented influx of political spending due to the rise of super PACs, which are able to raise and spend unlimited sums on electioneering. Many of those groups also have twin nonprofit arms, which are able to raise and spend millions on "issue advocacy" without having to disclose its funding source.

Both Obama and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, have super PACs spending on their behalf this cycle. Obama reluctantly endorsed his, Priorities USA Action, after having initially opposed the groups;

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and 2008 presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will present the Republican case on national security and foreign policy to the Republican National Convention Wednesday evening.  In a campaign dominated by the economy, jobs and the proper role of government, foreign policy has not been a featured issue but Rice and McCain will attempt to draw contrasts between the Republicans and President Obama.   

Mary Altaffer / AP

A reporter, left, tries to interview Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as he walks the floor of the Republican National Convention, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012, in Tampa, Fla.

In a speech Wednesday morning to the Ohio delegation, Rice hit some themes she may reprise in her convention address.

“When the United States is not feeling strong and confident at home, it shows abroad,” she said. “And when the United States is not willing to speak with a robust voice for free peoples and free markets, the world is a pretty chaotic place. And so the rebuilding of America here at home and the rebuilding of an American voice abroad is really right at the core of what we have to accomplish, and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are the people to do that.”

Both Rice and McCain advocated the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein -- Rice was President George W. Bush’s national security adviser at that point. The presence of Rice and McCain on the platform Wednesday night will be a reminder of the costs of the prolonged U.S. military deployment in Iraq.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice looks over the main stage during a sound check at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.

Next Thursday night at their convention in Charlotte, N.C., the Democrats will also highlight foreign policy and national security, with the focus likely to be on the killing of Osama bin Laden and the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq, and President Barack Obama’s planned troop drawdown in Afghanistan.

The Democrats’ 2004 presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., whom Republicans mocked in 2004 for his vacillating support for the Iraq war, will be the featured speaker.

Economic malaise and not national security has so far been the dominant theme of the 2012 campaign, but to the degree that voters pay attention to foreign affairs and national security, Romney and the Republicans find themselves in an unaccustomed position: for most of the years from 1972 to 2004, Republican presidential candidates enjoyed an advantage over Democrats on national security.

But this fall Romney is running against a Democratic president who seems to be proving that the United States doesn’t need to garrison 150,000 troops for a multi-year stay in an Arab country in order to have a robust national security and counterterrorism policy.

Mostly dispensing with the need for “boots on the ground,” Obama has made it standard policy to use drones to kill terrorist suspects, even U.S. citizens living abroad such as Muslim cleric and champion of violent jihad Anwar al-Awlaki who was in Yemen last year when a U.S. drone killed him.

Obama’s targeted killing policy has drawn protests from the likes of Rep. Ron Paul, R- Texas, but not from most Americans or most members of Congress.

“We’re fighting them over there so that we don’t have to fight them over here,” was the refrain of Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush in making the case for his intervention in Iraq. Obama is showing that “fighting them over there” doesn’t necessarily require Marines and Army soldiers running the risks of IEDs and ambushes.

In the most recent NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll, conducted Aug. 16 to Aug. 20, 54 percent of respondents approved of Obama’s handling of foreign policy.

Even the survey done last week by Republican pollster Whit Ayes for the group Resurgent Republic indicates that a plurality of people, 39 percent, think America is safer from terrorists under Obama than it was in January 2009 when he became president. Only 20 percent said America is less safe from terrorist attack now than it was in 2009.

Given this data, it seems that the two former advocates for the Iraq war speaking tonight at the Tampa convention may not be exactly aligned with the 2012 electorate. It will be interesting to see if either of them gives Obama some credit for his drone policy.

Although Bush will be making a brief appearance via video at Wednesday night’s session of the convention, Bush’s “freedom doctrine” seems to have faded from the public’s awareness.

“As Americans, we believe that people everywhere -- everywhere -- prefer freedom to slavery, and that liberty, once chosen, improves the lives of all,” Bush declared in 2005. He said, “The seeds of freedom have only recently been planted in Iraq, but democracy, when it grows, is not a fragile flower; it is a healthy, sturdy tree.”

Now seven years after Bush said those words and after a costly American investment of lives and money, events in Iraq indicate that democracy and respect for political opponents aren’t “healthy” or “sturdy’ in Iraq. More than 300 people died in car bombings and other Sunni-versus-Shia violence in Iraq last month. And many Americans have stopped paying attention to Iraq. So at the very least the Bush freedom doctrine is no longer serving as an inspirational appeal.

Romney has said the Defense Department bureaucracy is “bloated to the point of dysfunction,” but he has also called for a larger Navy – increase the shipbuilding rate from nine per year to fifteen per year – and for building a ballistic missile defense system. But this additional cost would bump up against the need for fiscal restraint.

The foreign policy challenge that may be most daunting to either Obama or Romney may be Iran’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons.

Romney predicted in March that if Obama were elected to a second term, “Iran will have a nuclear weapon and the world will change.”

Voters must weigh how much an Iranian nuclear arsenal might threaten the United States, and whether they believe that Romney, Obama -- or perhaps neither one of them -- would be able to deter, persuade or use force to prevent the Tehran regime from getting nuclear weapons.

Romney said in March that Obama had failed to communicate that military options are “on the table and in fact in our hand,” although Obama and his spokesman have said a U.S. military response is one possibility if Iran is on the brink of getting nuclear weapons.

NBC’s Andrew Rafferty contributed to this report.

A strange thing happened just outside the Republican convention: A civil conversation about the economy broke out.

Media doyenne Arianna Huffington, whose Huffington Post website is closely aligned with progressive causes, hosted a panel discussion alongside the convention in Tampa, Fla., with a distinctly nonpartisan tone around the theme of how to solve the job crisis.

Despite the nearby convention, the event, hosted by the Huffington Post, NBC News and Microsoft, took a mostly neutral tone, focusing on solutions and successes rather than stoking party flames. A similar event will be held in conjunction with next week's Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C.

"Having a job is not just about economic security, it’s about emotional security and cultural security for the country," said moderator Tom Brokaw, an NBC News special correspondent.

Huffington said the purpose of the event was to tell people that they “can no longer be bystanders” in finding ways to end the jobs crisis.

The stubbornly high unemployment rate, currently 8.3 percent, has provided Republican challenger Mitt Romney with one of his most potent weapons in his race to unseat Democratic President Barack Obama.

Panelists returned often to the theme of education and its role in driving the economy.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, suggested that if his state could get private businesses to divulge more of their plans, he could push schools to match their needs.

"If you can forecast and move academics to be consistent with training people (in) what they are born to do … it will be a tremendous benefit to our state," he said.

Kasich also pointed to predominantly African-American urban centers as an overlooked area of growth, and said entertainer Jay-Z's involvement with the Brooklyn Nets could serve as an inspiration.

Kasich provided the lone exception to the generally nonpartisan tenor of the discussion when he took a brief swipe at business regulations that drew an applause from the crowd.

Scott Case, founder of an advocacy group called Startup America, pointed to the value of entrepreneurs.

“If you look at the last 30 years, all the net new jobs were created by companies that were less than five years old," he said, arguing that such commercial successes should be celebrated more widely, not just in Silicon Valley and New York.

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J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Sen. Marco Rubio is surrounded by reporters during a tour of the convention floor at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday, Aug. 29.

Slideshow: Republican National Convention

Charles Dharapak / AP

Republicans gather in Tampa, Florida to officially nominate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, as the party's candidates for the 2012 presidential election.

Launch slideshow

Florida Senator Marco Rubio was often discussed as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney. Though he didn't get the honor, he'll have an important role in the Republican National Convention on Thursday night when he introduces Romney. Today the press greeted him in a way that recognizes his importance in the party, and the importance of the Latino vote. 

Story: As Republicans build their farm team, Latinos are in demand

More photos from the RNC on PhotoBlog and in our slideshow at right

Full coverage

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Republican National Convention has in some ways become as much of a showcase for the GOP's potential 2016 contenders as it has for this year's nominee, Mitt Romney, through the first full day of speeches.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker received a hero's welcome from gathered delegates during his speech Tuesday. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivered a barnburning keynote address that touted his own accomplishments as much as Romney's.

And while Romney’s running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, will surely tout the top of the ticket, he may end up doing as much to burnish his own credentials for a future bid for higher office when he accepts the vice presidential nomination Wednesday evening. 

Related: First Thoughts: Mixed messages

If Mitt Romney is elected this fall, many of the featured Republicans this week will have to put their own presidential ambitions on the back burner, presumably waiting until 2020 for their chance to make a bid for the White House. But if President Obama wins a second term in November, the party will have had ample opportunity this week to size up some of their top contenders for four years from now. 

Jason Reed / Reuters

Republican congressional candidate and Saratoga Springs, Utah, Mayor Mia Love addresses delegates during the second day of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 28.

Perhaps no speaker this week represents both the future of the party and the delicate balance between ambition and assisting Romney this year than Ryan, who has been a loyal soldier for Romney since joining the Republican ticket earlier this month, gladly taking a backseat to Romney on policy issues where their differences could be politically thorny. 

Slideshow: The 2012 Republican National Convention

But Ryan's star power has long been evident in the GOP, and even Romney has hailed him as an "intellectual leader" of the party. While Ryan's rock star status could well electrify Republican delegates on Romney's behalf, his speech could preserve his national brand well past 2012.

Other representatives of the GOP's deep bench took the stage on Tuesday, with some mixed results. 

Christie's keynote speech -- a slot traditionally reserved as a launching platform for future leaders -- last night seemed to do that much; he referenced himself over 30 times, but only mentioned Romney eight times. While Christie rebuffed efforts to draft him into the presidential race this cycle and eventually endorsed Romney, his appearance Wednesday morning before the delegation from New Hampshire -- which traditionally hosts the first presidential primary -- did little to quell speculation about his future ambitions. 

Walker mixed boasts of his successes in curbing collective bargaining rights for public workers in Wisconsin with effusive praise for Romney and especially Ryan, the home-state congressman whose ambitious fiscal work links his governing philosophy with Walker's.

While conventions are not solely meant as coronations for presidential nominees, and down-ballot candidates -- such as Mia Love and Ted Cruz, two featured speakers last night -- must be mindful of their own electoral prospects, rank-and-file Republican voters might take solace in their party's future when looking at the deep bench of GOP stars on display this week. 

Related: GOP headliners cast Romney as relatable and decisive

Among the other speakers on Tuesday who could have future political ambition were Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, the runner-up against Romney in this year's presidential primary. (Santorum's speech only mentioned Romney a handful of times, and seemed to dwell more on his erstwhile campaign than the battle ahead. He said he and his family "shook the hand of the American Dream" during their travels across the country last year.)

In addition to Ryan, some second-tier contenders in 2016 -- South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul -- will speak earlier Wednesday evening. 

And one of the GOP's pre-eminent stars, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, will introduce Romney during Thursday night's primetime session. 

Of course, there are also difficulties for politicians looking to preserve their future political opportunities while another candidates sit atop their party's ticket. Every Republican this week has expressed effusive confidence in Romney as the nominee; if any Republican even hinted at running in 2016, it would imply an assumption that Romney won't win in 2012.

"I am not running for president today. I am not running for president period," Walker said, for instance, at a forum this morning organized by the Washington Post.

Democrats may too suffer from showboating to some degree during their convention next week in Charlotte, N.C. The critical difference for them? Win or lose in 2012, Obama won't be on the ballot in 2016.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Out of all the speakers, all the proclamations, and all the political rhetoric, one topic was barely mentioned here last night, if at all: foreign policy.

That will change somewhat tonight when Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Bush Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice address the Republican convention. According to Romney officials, McCain's speech -- which daughter Meghan McCain said would be "red meat to the lions" on MSNBC -- will focus on defense matters, while Rice's will concentrate on foreign affairs.

Slideshow: The 2012 Republican National Convention

But that's pretty much it. 

Tonight's other key speakers -- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. Rob Portman, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez -- will discuss domestic issues affecting the middle class, organizers say. And tomorrow's final night will be a build up to Mitt Romney's acceptance speech. 

(That said, Romney will talk about defense and veterans' issues in his upcoming speech today before the American Legion in Indianapolis.)

This lack of attention to foreign policy and national security is a departure from past political conventions. Four years ago in Denver, Democrats devoted the theme of their Wednesday program to the issue (the title of the night was "Securing America's Future"). And given that McCain was the GOP's nominee in the 2008 cycle, foreign affairs was a dominant theme in the Republican convention in St. Paul.

And in 2004 -- just removed from the 9/11 attacks and the start of the Iraq war -- both the Democratic and Republican conventions had a heavy focus on defense and foreign affairs. (Remember John Kerry's "reporting for duty" speech? Or George W. Bush's finale? Or Rudy Giuliani's?)

Of course, one obvious explanation for this change is the focus on the economy. Indeed, almost every poll shows that jobs and the economy rank as the public's top concern. "Obviously, the economy is No. 1," said a top Romney official in response to a question why there's so little attention to national security and foreign affairs at the GOP convention.

Another reason is the truncated schedule. "We only have three nights," an additional Romney official replied. "That's a piece of it." 

A third reason is President Barack Obama's strength on these issues, especially compared with his standing on the economy. In fact, the most recent NBC/WSJ poll found the president's approval rating on foreign policy at 54%, versus 44% on the economy.

And so guess what's a big Thursday theme of next week's Democratic convention in Charlotte?

According to the Boston Globe, it will be national security. 

John Brecher / NBC News

"I like the idea that Mitt Romney is a businessperson, and is concerned about what's important to small business owners," said Kathy Eshelman of Columbus, Ohio. As the founder of a small business, Eshelman's main concern is the reinvigoration of the economy.

John Brecher / NBC News

Jane C. Edmonds, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, is a Democrat who came to the RNC to offer her support for Mitt Romney's candidacy.

NBC's Michael O'Brien reported Tuesday on the Republicans' need to capture the support of women from Democrats, noting:

"Obama led Romney 51 percent to 41 percent among women in the August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, and the GOP brand lags significantly behind the Democratic brand among women voters."

 At the same time, there are thousands of women attending the Republican National Convention, and not all of them are Republicans.

At left, Jane C. Edmonds, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, is a Democrat who came to the RNC to offer her support for Mitt Romney's candidacy. She served as secretary of workforce development for Gov. Romney in Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and says that experience convinced her that he'd be a good president:

"I want to be able to feel that the next president of the United States will be in a position to move us from the place that we're at right now to a better future."

John Brecher / NBC News

Mary Elizabeth Russell, who studies international political economy at the University of Texas at Dallas, holds her just-autographed copy of Dinesh D'Souza's "Obama's America" in the Channelside district of Tampa. She said about her presence at the RNC: "We're the first generation who's worse off than our parents, and that's what makes me want to get involved."

Siobhan "Sam" Bennett is president and CEO of The Women's Campaign Fund of Washington D.C., which provides money through its political action committee to female candidates of any party, provided they support abortion rights. Bennett says that though her positions on issues haven't changed in 30 years, her place on the political spectrum has shifted from moderate Republican to liberal Democrat.

John Brecher / NBC News

"I stopped believing you have to be a Democrat to effect change," said Anita Moncrief of Washington D.C., editor-in-chief of emergingcorruption.com. A former employee of ACORN, she voted for Obama but then became disillusioned with his administration's political appointments. She registered as a Republican in March after "two and a half years and a lot of soul-searching."

John Brecher / NBC News

"We probably don't really understand how good we have it," said Colorado blogger Michelle Morin about living in America. Morin's perspective starts with the idea that the United States is unique among nations because of the principles established by its Founding Fathers, and that the freedoms that make it special are subject to continuous erosion. She said: "Most Americans I talk to outside of the conservative movement don't really have a full understanding and grasp of those principles that made this nation great."

See more visual stories from the RNC in PhotoBlog, and NBC's full coverage of the event.

Slideshow: 2012 Republican National Convention

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

TAMPA, Fla. -- Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., will have a starring role at the Republican convention in Tampa Thursday night when he introduces Mitt Romney to accept the party’s presidential nomination.

Like many politicians who ascend to high positions, including President Obama, Rubio did a stint early in his political career as a state legislator.

John Brecher / NBC News

Republican candidate Hector Revoron, running for State Senate in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Not unlike a professional baseball team, a political party’s success in developing its future leaders in Washington hinges partly on how good a farm team it builds in state legislatures.

And with the Census Bureau projecting that Latinos will be 30 percent of the U.S. population less than 40 years from now, up from about 17 percent of the population today, Republicans were eager to introduce some of their Latino state legislative candidates at the GOP convention this week in Tampa.

John Brecher / NBC News

Republican candidate Martha Flores Gibson of Long Beach, Calif.

There are only 44 Latino Republican state legislators out of 3,975 GOP legislators nationwide.

The Republican State Leadership Committee is trying to change that arithmetic with its $3 million Future Majority Project which it launched last year with the goal of finding and financing at least 100 new Latino legislative candidates.

In Indianapolis, Ind., one of them, AJ Feeney-Ruiz, is making a bid for an open state House seat that has been held by a Democrat. Indiana’s Republican-controlled legislature used redistricting to make the district friendlier to a Republican candidate. It also has the highest percentage of Latinos of any state legislative district in the state.

Recommended: “We need the Hispanic vote and we want to win it,” says Craig Romney

Feeney-Ruiz is part owner of a technology firm that helps connect nonprofit businesses and volunteers and he also works as a media and public advocacy consultant. He used to work as a spokesman for Todd Rokita, the former Indiana Secretary of State who’s now a House member.

In an interview at the GOP convention, Feeney-Ruiz said, “Because of the gridlock you see in the federal government, you see all the action happening at the state level: you see budgets being balanced, you see great educational reforms going through -- especially in Indiana: We’ve just been going gangbusters, setting the stage for future success for Indiana.”

He said, “So when you’re talking about the ‘farm team,’ you’re talking about a lot of folks who are very passionate, engaged at the local level, creating these laws that should be models for the federal government – if they ever get over the gridlock.”

Feeney Ruiz is member of a party that includes Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed a law tightening enforcement against illegal immigrants, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who wants more deportations of illegal immigrants – some of whom are the cousins, nephews and nieces of Latino voters.

In June, President Barack Obama made an election-year appeal to those same Latino voters by announcing that his administration won’t deport illegal immigrants under age 30 who came to the United States, or were brought to the United States before reaching age 16. “That’s not a uniquely Obama idea – that was originally a Republican idea that was proposed by President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain,” Feeney-Ruiz said. “It’s unfortunate how the president went about it, but I think it’s an idea that’s been developing over years that the Republican Party has been trying to figure out and get its hands around it, how best to execute that in the most efficient and fairest way possible.” 

John Brecher / NBC News

Republican candidate AJ Feeney-Ruiz, running for District 97 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Asked about GOP leaders such as Brewer, Feeney-Ruiz diplomatically said, “I think there’s a learning process on both sides. I think Republicans need to understand that this is something that happened in the 1970s” – the influx of illegal immigrants and their children. “You don’t ever want people to live in the shadows. You don’t want to have a society that lives outside of mainstream society. From a fiscal point of view, you want to be able to collect that income tax (on the income earned by illegal immigrant workers) sufficiently; you want to be able to educate the children…”

Another Future Majority Project hopeful, Hector Reveron, is running for a state Senate seat in East Hartford, Conn. Reveron works as a technician for jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney.

If Reveron wins, he will be the first Latino of either party to serve in the Connecticut State Senate.

Recommended: Future leaders on display at GOP convention

But why be a Republican in such a heavily Democratic state? “My moral values and my views on economic policy are more represented by the Republican Party,” he replied. “If the Democrat Party was more centered in Connecticut than they are now – they are so far left that the only thing they believe in is taxing us for any type of revenue that they can get. And it’s driving our companies out of the state. That’s what’s really hurting us, so I cannot be with a group that continues to push that kind of philosophy.”

Another Northeastern Latino who’s part of the Future Majority Project is Peterson Vazquez, running in a New York state Assembly district representing part of the city of Rochester and the towns of Henrietta and Chili. The seat is held now by Democrat Harry Bronson. Roughly 40 percent of the voters in the district are Latino.

John Brecher / NBC News

Republican candidate Peterson A. Vazquez in Tampa, Fla.

Vazquez, an Army veteran, founder of a firm called Simply Served Process Servers, Inc., and a former Internal Revenue Service revenue agent, left the IRS to run for office. His wife is an attorney.

Vazquez explained his run for office by saying, “I grew up in the neighborhood that I’m trying to represent. And when I got out of the Army in 2003, I was a single father, I bought the house I grew up in, I was excited to put my kid in the same school I went to – but then when I got there and I started getting my kid registered and looking around the community, I realized that the community go worse. And the representation just wasn’t been there and hadn’t been there.”

He said as he goes door-to-door to meet voters, “A lot of people say to me, ‘If I elect you, you’re a Republican and we’re going to end up losing entitlements, we’re going to end up losing some of the benefits we have,’ and then it reverts back to the national politics and the people running on the Democrat side where a lot of promises are being made. And I remind them of one thing: I tell them, ‘I grew up where you are today.’ I try to do everything I can to make them understand that the control of their future, their success -- where they go and where their kids go -- is in their hands. What the Republican Party tries to do is remind them that it takes hard work to achieve goals. It’s not so much taking away entitlements; it’s using entitlements as a hand-me-up so that they can better themselves and the future of their children.”

If the Republican State Leadership Committee’s investment in candidates such as Vazquez pays off, perhaps at some future GOP convention, Vazquez will be standing where Rubio stands Thursday night.

Former RNC Chairman and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour thinks Paul Ryan's keynote address tonight will shy away from partisan messaging and have “much less red meat” than the normal campaign fare.

“I think they want to make the point [that] … this is a serious election and the American people deserve somebody who's willing to lead, even when it isn't easy," he said.

Barbour, a man who has planned his own Republican convention (1996), said there's one major thing he hopes will come out of the convention: he wants "the American people to come out of here knowing the challenger much, much better."

He argues that Romney's image for the past five months has "suffered $200 million of carpet bombing, fear and smear." This convention, he hopes, will allow voters to see the "real" Mitt Romney.

Watch David's full conversation with Haley Barbour above to hear more of the former governor's thoughts on his party, and what they need to do to win support from independent voters.

NBC's Tom Brokaw and Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, moderate a panel discussion on the jobs crisis and the diverse initiatives companies, nonprofits and foundations have undertaken to address it.