After the balloons dropped and the red, white and blue confetti was swept up, what did American voters learn from the national conventions of the Republican and Democratic parties? Whose speech soared and who ranted at an empty chair?

One outcome was clear; conventions are more political theater for the party faithful than a referendum for undecided voters. They are pep rallies for the final months of campaigning and debates before the November election.

Here, then are the top 10 takeaways from the Republican National Convention (RNC) August 27-30 in Tampa and the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Sept. 4-6 in Charlotte.

Women Rule

In 2008, 10 million more women than men voted in the U.S. presidential election, and both Republicans and Democrats are targeting female voters on issues like abortion, equal pay and women's rights. Both sides say it is women who will decide the 2012 election, and both parties made women a centerpiece of their conventions – despite the lack of a female candidate on the ticket.

Ann Romney cried out "I love you women!" during her speech at the RNC and Republican candidate Mitt Romney spoke movingly of his mother, seeking to bolster the party's support among women voters. Republicans, who have made repealing legal abortion as a part of their platform, aimed to repair some of the damage caused Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, who said women's bodies have a way of avoiding pregnancy in "legitimate rape." Republican strategists say American women care more about the national economy and job growth than reproductive rights and paraded conservative women governors and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who defended the party's position on women's rights.

Democrats, too, put women front and center of their convention speeches. Lilly Ledbetter, namesake of the equal-pay act that Obama made his priority to sign once in office, was paraded on stage and before the press. Sandra Fluke, the college student derided by conservatives for demanding health care coverage for contraception, was given a prime time spot. Michelle Obama said her most treasured title was "Mom-in-Chief."

Obama currently leads the polls among women voters, 51 percent to Romney's 43 percent.

'Truthiness'

American comedian Stephen Colbert called the half-truths and misleading statements by politicians "truthiness" and the term has taken firm root in the lexicon as campaigns stretch the boundaries of veracity into outright lies. Despite a fleet of media fact checkers at the ready, dismantling the campaigns' claims, both parties have learned that even baseless accusations hit their mark with voters. This year, we're seeing "truthiness" used like never before.

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was accused of riddling his convention speech with false claims. Even conservative Fox News said in a commentary, "To anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan's speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations into a single political speech." Ryan claimed that Obama has amassed more debt then "almost all of the other presidents combined," that he broke a promise to save a General Motors plant in Wisconsin, that he raided $716 billion from Medicare to fund healthcare reform and that the president plans to weaken work requirements for welfare recipients – all demonstrably false.

The Democrats weren't above a few exaggerations themselves. Former president Bill Clinton claimed Medicare would go broke by 2016 under Romney policies but program administrators say there would be enough funds to pay 87 percent of costs by 2016 if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. Medicare would likely die a slower death than Democrats claim. Clinton also exaggerated when he claimed Obama's 2009 stimulus bill cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans. In fact, it cut taxes for 95 percent of "working" Americans and 76 percent of Americans overall.