Political panel: Convention speech reaction

>>> on the biggest day of paul ryan 's career, we just heard for the first time from the woman who may know him best. his wife, jana.

>> our families, our children, our future, that's what this race is all about. it is a tremendous honor to be on america's comeback team with you all. i look forward to meeting so many of you in the weeks ahead.

>> let's bring in our wednesday super panel american crossroads, steven law , host of msnbc's "the cycle -- do we call you each a host?

>> sure, that works.

>> washington bureau chief, susan page . and msnbc political analyst, former rnc chairman and the man who made tampa a reality, michael steele .

>> there you go, in the hot seat.

>> you know what, though, it's a low-humidity day. susan page , you're the head of the newspaper of record in the hotels this morning. the headline, ann romney or chris christie ? what was the headline?

>> i think the headline is ann romney . she had the bigger job, and she did it well. she was compel, she was personal, she was vulnerable, a little surprisingly feisty, i thought. and chris christie gave a speech i thought more about chris christie than about mitt romney . certainly waited a long time before he got around to saying the word "romney."

>> michael steele , everybody wants to backseat drive. you? i'll give you a chance to backseat drive these convention organizers was the order of the speeches the correct order?

>> no. i think we should have gone out with ann romney . i think that would have been the cap of that evening. chris christie , to get everybody -- the meat they need. but then the smooth wind-up at the end would have been her. i think she laid it out very nicely. i thought, quite frankly, the messages were a little bit conflicting. she comes out and said i want to talk about love and he comes out and says we're not talking about love, we're talking about respect. so it was a dissonance in terms of the flow of the messages. stand-alone, perfect. together, it was a little bit choppy.

>> any disagreement over here on that?

>> i think they both worked well. i would agree with you that ending with ann romney would have been a great way to finish off the night. clearly what chris christie did, and i think did with signature strength was deliver the locker room pep talk at halftime and i think he did that well. but ann romney was a standout performance, probably one of the best i've seen by a candidate's wife.

>> i want to sort of move the conversation along. whose party is this, paul ryan 's or mitt romney 's?

>> i think it's a little bit of both. i think paul ryan , essentially, came on to the ticket and gave conservatives permission to vote for mitt romney and still feel like good conservatives. still feel like they were --

>> interesting way to put it.

>> they were doing the right thing.

>> they feel --

>> good krch active --

>> they feel redeemed doing it, like they can hold their heads high and vote for mitt romney .

>> you buy that?

>> i don't know if people think about it in that great deal of depth, but clearly that choice made it more palatabpalatable.

>> he's young, fresh, from the state having the best year ever, wisconsin.

>> my word. republican party history .

>> it really is, yeah. so i think there was a lot that he added. and this is certainly going to be a huge night for him and a huge night for the ticket.

>> boy, ripping wisconsin.

>> paul ryan 's party, for sure. no question. what is mitt romney 's party? would that have been the massachusetts governor 's record? i don't know how -- where is the stamp of mitt romney on this party? this is a forward-looking, surprisingly forward-looking convention looking not just at november, it's looking to 2016 , it's looking to 2020 .

>> a lot of conventions have that feel and then all of a sudden the nominee speaks. i do feel like we do get caught up in that a little bit. and then the nominee speaks and we're like, oh. that convention was about two speeches.

>> exactly.

>> mr. and mrs. nominee. not --

>> i get everybody's feel that this is ryan's party and all of that. but tomorrow night, this becomes mitt romney 's party. he puts this in one way or another. paul ryan fades to second place tomorrow night, period. that's how it works. and is i think we're going to see how that turns out.