What to watch for at the Republican convention: Trump rivals and VP on stage | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Day Three of the Republican National convention is vice presidential nominee Mike Pence’s prime-time turn inside Quicken Loans Arena.

In an evening heavy with GOP political star power, Pence, the Indiana governor, will cap an evening that also includes three of Trump’s vanquished primary opponents – Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Their prime-time speeches are designed to promote healing of a Republican Party fractured by a bruising primary season. But they also could serve as auditions for 2020 or 2024 White House runs.

In keeping with the convention’s family theme, Eric Trump — the 32-year-old son of the GOP nominee and his first wife, Ivana — will talk about his father as part of the "Make America First Again" theme. He is executive vice president of the Trump Organization and founder of the Eric Trump Foundation, which helps raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Protests possibly grow louder

While the atmosphere inside Quicken Loans Arena was more festive Tuesday with the roll call for Trump’s nomination, the atmosphere on Cleveland’s streets grew increasingly tense.

More protests are likely Wednesday. A "Wall Off Trump" protest, in which a 15,000-foot fabric "wall" is schedule to be unfurled in the city’s Public Square to rail against the giant wall Trump vows to build along the Mexican border between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Who else will be on stage?

Wednesday’s convention activities begin at 7 p.m.:

▪ Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista. Gingrich was considered as a VP possibility. He could have a foreign affairs role in a Trump administration.

▪ Conservative talk radio host and author Laura Ingraham, who has been critical of so-called establishment Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan.

▪ Phil Ruffin, the 81-year-old casino owner and businessman is a Trump friend. With the controversy over whether Trump’s wife, Melania, plagiarized portions of her Monday evening convention speech from First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic speech, Ruffin told McClatchy’s Wichita Eagle that Tuesday that he wrote his four-minute speech.

▪ Pam Bondi, Florida attorney general. Bondi solicited a $25,000 check from a Trump foundation in 2013, while her office was reviewing consumer complaints about Trump University. Bondi told The Miami Herald last month: "I never, nor was my office, investigating him. Never. I would never lie. I would never take money. I’ve been obviously devastated over this."

▪ Kentucky state Sen. Ralph Alvarado Jr. An internal medicine and pediatrics physician, Alvarado served as president of Winchester Medical Associates before joining KentuckyOne Medical Group.