TAMPA, Fla. -- Almost two weeks ago, Missouri Republican Senate nominee Todd Akin found himself mired in controversy after his remarks about "legitimate rape" and his doubts that a woman could get pregnant after being raped. Since then, many Republican leaders have called for Akin to withdraw from the race, while some conservative leaders (like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee) have defended him.

Recommended: First Thoughts: Mitt's moment

According to interviews with a handful of conservative women here at the Republican convention, opinions about Akin are mixed, with some believing he should remain in the contest. “I think he should stay in," said Mary Summa, an attorney and Republican activist from Charlotte, N.C. "Everybody makes a mistake. It was stupid, it was incorrect, it was wrong. But the guy’s a good man." 

But others think he should step aside. “When something happens like [Akin’s] statement, it’s disappointing to women because rape is the most awful thing that can happen to a woman,” said Suzanne Terrell, a delegate from New Orleans. 

Some of those interviewed are delegates to the convention; others are activists who have gathered here in Tampa. Here are their opinions in their own words: 

Mary Summa
Attorney and Republican activist from Charlotte, North Carolina
Member of the Republican Party Platform Committee 
“I think he should stay in.  Everybody makes a mistake. It was stupid, it was incorrect, it was wrong, but the guy’s a good man.  And he made a misstatement.  He apologized a thousand times.  You know, I think Republicans are really good at eating their own… I don’t think he should get out.  And it’s up to Missouri.  If they want him out, they can get him out.” 

“I’m very pro-life and from my perspective I think it was mountains out of molehills, and the Republicans were the ones who made mountains out of molehills.  We have got to understand – and this is my humble opinion –the inherent dignity of the human person and the right to live is the lynchpin of freedom.  And once we lose that freedom, we will lose every freedom we have.” 

Suzanne Terrell
Delegate from New Orleans, Louisiana
(Terrell runs two organizations working to elect Republican women to office: Project GoPink and ShePAC.  The organizations did not take a position on the Akin controversy, though Terrell said she thought Akin should have stepped aside.  Her organizations supported Akin’s opponent in the Missouri primary, Sarah Steelman.) 

“When something happens like [Akin’s] statement it’s disappointing to women because rape is the most awful thing that can happen to a woman.” “There are [certain] issues that women are better spokespeople on.  Perhaps the Republican Party – and I think they got it this time – needs to encourage more of that conversation, and that sensitivity, that this man clearly was lacking.”  

Natalie Lavering, a delegate from Lake Stevens, Wash., and Heidi Shaw, who is a guest of the Washington state delegation.
Natalie:  "It was an unfortunate comment." 
Heidi:  "He shouldn’t have said it.  I was disappointed in that statement… I thought he was a total idiot to say that."    

Penny Young Nance
Concerned Women for America President 
“[Akin] put not only his foot, but his entire leg in his mouth – and then he kept talking… He apologized and he should have.  Because he really blew it.   However, I don’t think it’s Washington’s place to tell the people of Missouri what to do.”

“[Akin is] pro-life.  He believes in a life exception for the mother.  He believes that in cases of rape that the rapist should be punished, but he thinks it’s still a baby, and so do I.  I have friends… that are products of rape.  And I don’t think that at the end of the day an abortion helps a woman that has been raped.  I think that it further wounds her.  And in addition to the fact that there’s 2-million parents waiting on babies.  No one has to keep a baby they don’t want.”

Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) previewed Mitt Romney's primetime convention address tonight saying it will have a mix of elements from both the “head” and the “heart.”

Ayotte is one of the many young female  GOP stars that were showcased this week at the party’s gathering in Tampa. After last week’s “rape” comments from Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), the Republican party has had to deal with the resurgence of the abortion rights debate and talk of the “gender gap.” The party also just adopted a platform that does not include exceptions on abortion in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, does believe in having those exceptions.  

When asked how Mitt Romney's views on this square with the party, Sen. Ayotte said, "there's wide room in our party for diverse views on those issues. ... That is demonstrated [by] our nominee and many in our party who have their own personal views on these issues, and we respect that."

The freshman senator also thinks the GOP is a different party than it was under the Bush administration and has become more fiscally responsible.

"I've acknowledged that when we look at the debt this is a bipartisan issue, that Republicans spent too much and Democrats spend too much." Ayotte pointed to budget proposals from Paul Ryan to show that the GOP is not "gonna duck the tough issues."

Watch the entire PRESS Pass conversation above to hear more from Sen. Kelly Ayotte and the 2012 race, and get her reviews on some of the speeches thus far in Tampa.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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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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 

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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.

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

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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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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.

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

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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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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

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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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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.

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.

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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

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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.