Tonight was the second night of presentations made at the Republican National Convention.  The speakers included Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, former presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Rudy Giuliani, Governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii, and the vice presidential nominee, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

Romney did what Romney does best: hard and fast, peddle-to-the-metal attacks on his opponents.  With such gems as leading the crowd in a round of liberal Democrat bashing and lines like “there was never a day I was not proud to be an American,” Romney delivered a speech that was a fireband attack on liberals and the Democrats.

Rudy Giuliani delivered a speech that I found, with my dry sense of conservative humor, hilarious.  It was the terrific performance of whit, humor, and style that I always enjoy seeing from America’s Mayor that tore into Obama like few can.  He went after Obama’s lack of experience, promise of change, and big government while shoring up the arguments for McCain’s war experience and strength on foreign policy.  Watching Rudy work Obama over for half an hour was like watching Mike Tyson fight Michael Jackson: Unbelievably brutal and absolutely hysterical.

Of course, the main event of the evening, the speech everyone wanted to hear, was Sarah Palin.  Without a doubt, no speech was more anticipated or had higher stakes.  After watching her deliver her address, I can honestly say that she meet or beat every possible expectation of her.  Her speech was intended to be an introduction to herself and, given the recent controversy, her family, as well as convince the audience that she was the right person for the job.  She did a terrific job at both and took some major shots at Obama all the while.

The Republican National Convention has had a tremendous message this year, especially when compared to the generic, boring, speech-in-a-can we got from the Democratic convention.  Today there was a great deal of “red meat” – hard hitting attacks – that Obama and the Democrats failed to deliver with their convention.

When I watch a politician talk, I really only want to know one thing: Why should I vote for you?  Answer that one question better than your opponent and you win.  Last week, the Democrats failed to properly impress upon their audience why they should vote for Barack Obama.  This week, the Republicans are making a major push to differentiate themselves from their Democratic rivals and explain why they are a better choice for the job.

This is what it takes to win.  This is what a convention should be.