WASHINGTON -- Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge will speak at the Republican National Convention, the event's organizers announced Thursday morning.

Her name was on a list of 62 politicians, religious leaders, athletes and others who will get podium time.

The Batesville native is a delegate for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and she served on the party's platform committee.

Three other Arkansas elected officials also made the cut. U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Gov. Mike Huckabee already had acknowledged that they would be appearing.

The speaking roster boasts some of Capitol Hill's top Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc­Connell. Several members of the Trump family also will be given stage time.

With another Arkansan on the agenda, Republican delegates from the Natural State will have plenty to cheer about.

Republican Party of Arkansas Chairman Doyle Webb has attended every national convention since 1980 and he's unaware of any that featured three Arkansas speakers, let alone four.

"The selection of Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, the first elected female AG in Arkansas, further highlights the significant role Arkansans are now playing at the national level as we work to restore America," he said in a text message Thursday.

In an interview, Rutledge said she'll be speaking Tuesday during prime time, the same night that Hutchinson takes the stage.

"My focus will be on Secretary [Hillary] Clinton, her dishonesty, deception, what sort of a lack of leadership she has displayed," she said. "Certainly my remarks will talk about the differences between Hillary Clinton as president and Donald Trump ... and how much is at stake in this election."

This will be Rutledge's fourth Republican convention. She is a former counsel for the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee, and also served on Huckabee's 2008 campaign.

Rutledge already has been in Cleveland once this week, helping to prepare the party's official position paper. As the chairman of the platform committee's subcommittee on the Constitution, she helped oversee planks emphasizing gun rights and religious liberty, she said.

The platform committee met for two days and crafted "a strong, conservative platform" that will be submitted to the delegates next week, she said.

Now back in Little Rock, she's preparing for the nationally televised speech. "I can't state enough what a tremendous honor it is to be asked to be representing my fellow Arkansans at this level," she said.

A Section on 07/15/2016