Will Romney give an acceptable acceptance speech?

>>> all the warm-up acts are over and the main event starts tonight when mitt romney gives the biggest speech of his political life . here's a look at memorable acceptance speeches.

>> we stand today on the edge of a new frontier, the frontier of the 1960s .

>> i would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

>> i end tonight where it all began for me. i still believe in a place called hope.

>> let's bring in the panel. susan ferriccio, megan mccain, msnbc contributor chris eli za and of course my colleague msnbc's ron mott who is our man on the trail of mr. paul ryan . welcome.

>> thank you, sir.

>> chris, i want to start with you. we heard three examples of what could be an acceptance speech. looking ahead, optimism, biography, partisanship. what will be the pieces of the recipe tonight?

>> it's interesting. i think that the the least piece of that mix will be partisanship would be my guess. solely because mitt romney is not a red meat conservative. it's remarkable that he got to this point in the race. it will be relatively heavy on biography and uh think one thing interesting about that is this is not someone in mitt romney who has ever been comfortable talking about himself. you know, the idea that mitt romney could do the "i still remember a place called hope" it is harder to imagine that. but i think he has to find a way to tell the story. his wife did it well. turned over the sawhorse as a desk, eating tuna fish . can he humanize himself in the way he's struggle to so far?

>> outit's interesting to see at that time bill clinton needed a good speech and it worked. these things can turn things around and help a lot.

>> you can only go so far with mitt romney . we all know his personality.

>> do we?

>> uh i think we do.

>> he was governor of massachusetts . he's been in the public eye for years. i don't think we'll get much more biography tonight than we have already. that's a risky opinion to have now. but i think paul ryan did a lot of biography last night when he talked about religion and readiness for being the president. he's not good at talking about himself. even one on one with the press without cameras around. it will be about his vision moving forward, more than biography.

>> your father didn't like talking about himself, megan. he was getting a lot of advice going up to the acceptance speech about those things.

>> talking about himself?

>> doing more in the acceptance speech to weave a narrative about himself.

>> i agree with you. i think tonight -- [ inaudible ] -- policy, red meat , about what to do in separating ourselves. the obama administration -- i don't see it being auto biographical.

>> interesting. paul ryan last night was a very red meat -- how much of that was new to you in what he said?

>> not a lot. a lot of what we heard last night is in the standard speech. we were talking about how he came out and tried to soak up the energy in the crowd. it was a little nervous at first. his body language to me was fine. it took him a few minutes to get into the rhythm of the speech. once he did, he had the crowd. that was electric for him. romney needs to stay within the bounds of the field for himself. don't try to recreate yourself in a big moment like tonight.

>> like chris christie came out like a statesman, not a jersey boy.

>> although not many statesman come out with -- [ laughter ]

>> we're going to take a quick break. when we come