Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20120828

he unveiled a national debt clock. speakers tonight include ann romney and new jersey governor chris christie. we want to hear from you this morning which speaker you want to hear most from and why. here are the telephone numbers for you to call. you can also find us online. send us your tweets. we can share that on the air. we also have a special hashtag set up for this week. on facebook, join the conversation and you can also e- mail us. which speaker are you most looking forward to hearing and why? we would like to hear what is motivating you to listen and watch. which speakers do you want to hear? tonight, ann romney and governor chris christie. we will bring that to you live. here is a story about what is happening tonight in "the new york times." let's take a look at this speech is happening at 10:00 tonight. ann romney kicks things off and we will also hear a keynote address from governor chris christie. other speakers we will be seeing during the lineup live. ann romney will be making an address at. the papers say she will be there humanizing her husband. here is what "usa today" says. let's get to the phones and hear what you have to say. abraham is an independent caller. good morning. caller: good morning. host: who are you looking forward to hearing? caller: [unintelligible] host: you are interested in hearing about budget solutions, from candidate mitt romney himself. he will be speaking on thursday night. here is a story from "the wall street journal." our next caller is samuel, a republican in south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. i am looking so much forward to listening to mrs. ann romney. i love the romneys. i am in a health care facility here and just came from the hospital. anyway, enough about me. i think that president mitt romney is the most honest person he'ste all the heat taken, mitt romney is the most honest person to run for the presidency in my lifetime. i am not a mormon, but he is a good man. ann and him -- if the electorate cannot look at him and his wife and his family, his sons and offspring and it really do some homework, it would be a travesty if they do not -- host: what do you want to hear from mrs. mitt romney tonight? caller: i think mrs. romney is going to give us a synopsis of mitt's life. i want everybody to listen because maybe she will give us some insight. i will probably learn some things. i know a little bit about his biography. his dad was born in mexico city. his dad was one really great man. he worked for nixon through hud. this man comes from great stock, and it will be a tragedy if he does not get to be president. like i said, i will get off the phone and make room for people to knock him around again, but he is the most honest person to ever run for the presidency. i thought back on all the presidents, i have to go back to eisenhower who i think was a pretty honest man and a great president. in the 20th century, i have two men. host: thank you for your call, expressing enthusiasm for mitt romney as a candidate and for an romney as a speaker tonight. here is what a viewer tweets into us -- "the washington times" profiles ann romney, saying -- let's go to springfield, va., to hear what john has to say on the are democrats -- on our democrats' line. caller: i want to hear mitt romney speak because so far i have not heard anything he has put on the table about what he is going to do for america. so far what he has been saying is just negative, negative, negative. what is his plan? that is what i want to hear him say. what is he going to do to bring jobs and opportunities to people like me? i have been out of work for about two years. i am working part-time for two years now. i want to hear what he is going to say. the negativity is it too much. we have had that enough. nobody wants to hear that anymore. host: paul is an independent. caller: two people i am looking forward to is ann romney and neil love from utah. host: why are you interested in listening from her? caller cauchy is going up against scott matheson -- caller: she is going up against scott matheson. she has a very interesting story. a child of haitian immigrants from the east coast and converted to mormon ism and moved out there -- mormonism and moved out there. i think she is a very interesting character and will impress people. host: chris christie is giving the keynote address tonight. here is a story from "the wall street journal." let's take a listen to comments that governor chris christie made just recently talking about party compromise at an event in washington. >> the job of an executive is to make sure you get the job done, forcing people into a room and finding a way to get a compromise. not on every issue. my experience is more times than not you can find a compromise. i hope new jersey is setting and example for the rest of the country. i think you are seeing more and more. hopefully this intersection of compromise will eventually spread here. i am not nearly as hopeful about that it will spread to the other states, but we need to continue to talk about it. that is why i am here. i am coming to this place, washington, d.c., because i want people to know that the government can work for them, but they need leaders willing to take risk with their own parties and with the public who vote for them. host: governor chris christie speaking last month. from oklahoma. caller: i am looking forward to hearing chris christie. i also went to hear mitt romney. i am really tired of the news media saying that he is not a likable guy. i think he is very, very likable. i have not seen any negative things coming from him. that is about all i have to say. and i want to hear ann romney. i think she is a very charming lady. host: what is it about her that appeals to you? caller: well, i saw chris wallace sunday in their home. just one huge family. i think about 18 grandchildren and i don't know how many adults, but they have a huge house of people. they were just laughing and cooking and they all have their chores to do. i did not see anything contentious about them at all. i thought they were a really neat family. host: here is a story from "the new york times." virginia, david is on the democrats' line. caller: good morning. ann seems like a nice enough lady. i'd like to heart it from her. obviously we are not going to hear anything from him except sound bites. i just want to hear from her because they seem like a decent family. host: brooklyn, new york, hi. caller: good morning. how are you? i am looking forward to hearing their running because i have not heard any specifics from mitt romney since he started running for the presidency. and mitt romney has chosen representative ryan which is a polarizing figure, and mitt romney had the nerve to come on television before the world and say that the president and his campaign are using under the table ads and so forth, which mitt romney used to destroy the other candidates. in particular, newt gingrich, john huntsman, and the other republican candidates. he used the same tactics. if you are in the kitchen and you cannot take the heat, get out of the kitchen. that is exactly the tactics that he used. i am looking forward to hearing mitt romney and paul ryan give specifics about what they are going to do for this country. they have the backers of the billionaires and the american people need to wake up and see what is going on. if these people get into office, the middle class which is already disheveled is going to be totally destroyed. wake up, america, and see what is going on. host: bill is our next caller on our independents' line. who are you looking forward to and why? caller: newt gingrich although i would have liked to see him have a more traditional role. i think he is being muzzled. i would also have like to hear ron paul speak. i think our current choice -- i want to echo the last caller. we need to wake up. the current choice is not really a choice. i see the mitt romney presidency starving the treasury and obama draining it. sorry to be negative. i enjoyed it ron paul's rally that he had. it will be nice to hear newt gingrich speak but i wish he had more of an open mic. host: what does it mean for you when it comes down to the election? caller: in terms of what i am going to do with my vote? host: will the content of the speeches make a difference to you? caller: only marginally. what i would like to see living in new york my vote is somewhat of a foregone conclusion, but i would like to see obama win and the republicans pick up seats. i might look for some third party that might have a chance for the next cycle after the debt keep on climbing and climbing. it is tough. it is a pretty bleak landscape out there right now. i am hopeful. i find the current conversation to be almost futile. you know? host: here is a story about newt gingrich. he has been given a role at the republican national convention that he says he loves to play. he is bringing together a host of politicians and experts to talk about things like medicare, small business, energy, and obamacare. new hampshire, our republicans' line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am definitely a mitt romney supporter. i have been following their family for five years. i followed him as governor of my state joining new hampshire which is massachusetts. he recovered their deficit while not taking any pay for four years. i do not hear that in the mainstream media. i also did phone banking for him in 2008. all the folks i spoke to in new hampshire -- people who worked for him had glowing things to say. on the phone for a candidate, that was nice to hear. i think the romneys will show themselves as people who are down to earth. the boys are lovely and the family is wonderful. i think it is a wonderfully positive message. for people who say he does not put out there what he once, they are only listening to the mainstream media. they need to listen to his campaign. go to his web site. this is an economy candidate at a time when we needed economic president. have your folks look back and do their due diligence on their part and look at the candidate from his web site and other sources than the mainstream media. host: here is a story in "usa today." c-span will be bringing you live coverage of the republican convention this week. let's take a look at the schedule so you can get a sense of when the action is happening. things get underway today at 2:00. tomorrow and thursday, 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. eastern time. c-span will be bringing you gavel-to-gavel coverage of everything going on in tampa this week. we will be heading out to check out protests, bringing you speeches and events. you can find everything at our convention hub on our website at c-span.org. links to videos, past events, and a schedule of what is coming up. which republican speaker are you looking forward to hearing this week? good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to see mr. romney speak. i can just picture my children -- i have five children, eight grandchildren. i can picture those children going from one insurance company to another, trying to get health care coverage with a little about her. the bridge with a little about her -- voucher.ittle about mr. romney has to be totally insane to even say stuff like that and lie about obama taking all that money out of medicare. it is reducing payments to medicare advantage programs. that money is going to be used doughnut hole fornot hl our prescriptions. he is nothing but a liar. i wish somebody could sue him for slander. thank you very much. host: liz tweets in to share her thoughts and writes -- you can also share your comments on twitter. new baltimore, mich., welcome to "washington journal." caller: thank you. i have a short comment. number one, romney has -- there are a lot of things being said about how he conducted his businesses, his private business, before he stopped working, so to speak, and became a candidate. during the primaries in north carolina, florida, and other areas over there, he mentioned twice that he wanted to have a military that could support a two-front war. i have not heard him mention its hands than. i am astounded when i find out he has five sons who left the country to spread his religion -- or their religion as missionaries but neither mitt romney, his father, or any of his sons have been in the military. i think it is astounding that he would say he wants to strip the entitlement programs for the lower working poor, and they have never served in the military. he is willing to send our young people on a two-front war. caller: a democratic caller from cleveland, good morning. caller: i would really like to hear from paul ryan on his viewes. i would really like to ask him -- his wife looks to be at a child-bearing age. what did she do for birth control? they are always telling the government to get out of our lives. what could be more personal than men dictating to women what they should do with their bodies? people have no income. that is the best thing they can do, to provide for their families with what they have been bank women have to go to work. paul ryan is using no common sense been be. he is lying about why he has his money overseas. host: let's go to an independent caller in florida. caller: how are you doing? i am interested in hearing paul ryan and mitt romney. i went to echo that other caller. mitt romney has never been in the military. i am a veteran. i have not heard paul ryan or mitt romney say anything about veterans, benefit, and how they are going to help veterans out. they want to send people overseas to fight. when a veteran comes back, he has to fight and scratch for every benefit he needs. i want to hear and the republicans say something about -- host: we will look at one story of a veteran who will be speaking at the republican convention this week. some comments are coming in on facebook. ron paul will be doing a video tribute. tom on facebook says -- we will be hearing him speak this evening. he is a part of the lineup tonight during the 9:00 hour. also, artur davis and gov. nikki haley. i mentioned a story about one of the veterans who plans to speak this week at the republican convention, and that is senator john mccain. the story and "usa today" says -- he also plans to campaign enthusiastically this fall for mitt romney. the story says -- an independent from louisiana, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i am a combat veteran also and i would just like to remind all of us veterans -- i cannot speak for all of us, but i was unable to receive my benefits until obama came into office. i first applied for them during bush could go second term and was denied twice. just in case you veterans who are thinking about doing something that is not in your best interest, just remind you who took care of you when the chips were down. also, i would like to know why don't people ever call -- people say they would like to see ann romney speak. to me, she looks like the angry white woman. no one can sit down and have a decent conversation with her without her getting upset. i guess that is what rich people do. anyway, thank you, c-span, and have a great day. host: and republican from philadelphia. caller: i am also a veteran. ron paul, rand paul, chris christie -- i want to hear them. i want to hear all of them speak. i believe mitt romney should not release any more attacks statements. i think it is putting more party's. people forgot about president bush's 2004 state of the union address. i will continue to tell people that this president who we have right now is nothing more than a wall street-loving, prison, war version of president cleveland. thank you. host: let's look at the track of tropical storm isaac. here is a image from "the new york times." you can see the path of hurricane katrina seven years ago. this is how things are looking right now for a tropical storm isaac. its growth has been slowed by wind shear on its southwest side. isaac is expected to slow down which would mean less wind damage. here is a story from "the washington post." reporting from new orleans, the tropical storm churned through the gulf near mexico on monday, casting a shadow over this week's republican national convention in tampa. the story says -- wondering what the media is doing and whether they are moving track? we will take a look at "the new york times." only a few reporters have been diverted to louisiana to cover the storm. the country's major tv news divisions find themselves torn between two rapidly unfolding story. in most cases, they were opting not to turn their anchors into storm chasers. we are talking about the republican convention getting underway this week. the action really starts today. you can see a live shot of the inside of the tampa bay forum. arlington, va., pat is on the part democrats lined. who are you looking forward to hearing? you are on the program. caller: good morning. i just wanted to let you know that i am looking forward to hearing ann romney speaking. i truly want to hear what she has to say about planned parenthood birth control. i went to hear how she is going to speak up for the women. i went to hear how she pretends with the mask she's wearing. all the makeup is a mask she's wearing, and agreeing with such things and not allowing women to have the freedom of birth control, planned parenthood. what is ann romney thinking? host: there will be a lot of women speaking this week. are you going to be listening to any of their messages? caller: you know what? the republicans are liars. host: other women speaking tonight include a senator from new hampshire. she will be on c-span which is carrying everything live this evening. marsh shot is a republican. welcome. -- marsha is a republican. caller: one thing he will never hear her say is -- i also want to hear jeff speak. he was obama's job czar. he recently resigned. he is not going to vote for obama at this time. last night, you had debbie on and she said we were not taking big donations that mitt romney is taking. does she think we are so stupid that we do not remember all of the hollywood dinners she had at $60,000 of plate? bill maher gave her an million dollars. host: what do you want to hear from ann romney tonight? is there a message that you want to hear or do you want to hear a familiar refrain -- caller: how important family is to her and how she admirers her husband and the things he has done for his church and his country. the bible says that a man who does not support his own has [unintelligible] romney has supported everybody who has needed help. obama has a brother he will not help. he has an aunt who had been ordered deported twice. who is the infidel? host: a lot of governors are speaking this week and a handful of senators as well. here is a story about a former u.s. senator battling illness. the story says -- he announced in 2005 he had hodgkin's disease for which he underwent chemotherapy. friends declined yesterday to comment on the nature of his own this. he was scheduled to appear as a surprise guest at last wednesday's candidate, the night, but his secretary canceled his appointment citing personal reasons. his son declined to comment for this story. senator arlen specter republican for many years to eventually switched his allegiance. he was voted out of the senate'. from go to our next call, leesburg, va., on our independent line. caller: how are you? i am not watching any of these conventions. i am an independent and i am just going to wait for the debate been bee. i went to an obama rally and a mitt romney rally. all this is a platform to tell me what i want to hear. for the last two callers, all politicians are liars. i am waiting for the debates to see who is going to do what they say they do or at least attempt to. i will tell you this. when i went to the -- both rallies or nothing but noise. the differences between the two -- i have a problem when i went to the mitt romney rally and it was predominantly middle age, all caucasian painting not a single asian, hispanic, mexican, no one. at the obama rally, it was very diverse. campaignt the romney -- when i went to an obama rally, it was predominantly white, but a lot of hispanics, mexicans, and other racist. i have a problem with somebody who says i am for america but i cannot rally america. watch out for false profits because they come in sheep's clothing. we have to be careful about who we talk about and who we want as the president of the united states. anyone who says they are going to change the world, i do not believe that. i think we need to stop and pay attention to what that person is conventio.tin at the host: lisa brings up the question of watching the conventions this week, the contents versus the drama. here is a study that was released, saying there is more interest in the gop platform itself than mitt romney's speech. more americans expressing interest about what is in the gop platform. about half of the public is interested in learning about the republican party's platform. 44% are interested in mitt romney's acceptance speech. this is the latest survey and we can see the numbers of interest in the democratic convention and interest in the republican convention. you can see there are more people interested in the republican party platform rather than those speeches. the same thing for the democrats. 55 percent and are more interested in hearing about the platform than they are in hearing bill clinton's speech or president obama's speech. you can see how it is breaking down in terms of republicans and democrats. 80% of democrats want to hear their party's platform. let's go to florida and hear what anne has to say. good morning. caller: good morning. i will actually be attending the rnc as a guest. i am certainly interested in hearing all of the group's. in particular i would like to hear paul ryan because i feel his budget is the only one taking a serious attempt at scaling back government. i do not feel it is strong enough. i also wanted to bring up the fact that i would like to hear ron paul and rnad paul. i attempted to be a delegate for ron paul, but because of local shenanigans, the local gop did a fantastic job pushing us out. he is obligated to vote for mitt romney but reluctantly. i think it will be interesting for us to see how this plays out and if anybody is going to go against the pledge and vote for ron paul. that is the unspoken fear. from ant's hear independent caller in baltimore. caller: good morning. i served in the military for 20 years. as far as the president being in the military, it does not really matter. the current president never served. that has nothing to do with it. high and probably apolitical as anybody. i do want to hear chris christie speak because he is a nonsensno nonsense guy who doesn't take any crap. ron paul would be who i would vote for because of his stand on liberty, the fed, and the constitution in general. that is what i signed up to represent when i served my country. host: here is a story from reuters and "the baltimore sun." "the baltimore sun" also looks at ann romney and he3r role in speaking tonight. chris christie will be speaking the keynote address. c-span will bring that to you live. here is a story in "the baltimore sun." ann romney speaking tonight at 10:00 right before governor chris christie gives the keynote address this evening. it is the first night of speeches for the republican national convention. speaking of women who desired to be first ladies who are working to get their team of husband and wife to the white house, c-span is announcing a two-year series looking at first lady's. it looks at their private lives and the public role that they played. this is produced in collaboration with the white house historical association. each week will feature the women who have watched from afar. let's learn more about that. [video clip] ♪ >> if we turned away from the needs of others, we deny ourselves -- align ourselves with those forces that are bringing about this suffering. >> obesity in this country is nothing short of a public health crisis. >> told me when somebody had their own agenda. >> i think they serve as a window on the past to what was going on with american women. >> she is the only one in the world you can trust. >> many of the women were writers, journalists. they wrote books. >> they are more interesting as human beings than their husbands if only because they are not first and foremost defined or limited by political envision. >> socially adept and political savvy. >> dolly madison loved every minute of it. mrs. monroe absolutely hated 8. >> you cannot rule without including what women want and what they have to contribute. >> there was too much looking down and i think it was a little too fast. >> yes, ma'am. never should haveey married. >> she later wrote in her memoir that i never made any decision. i only decided what was important and when to present it to my husband. stop and think about how much power that is. it is a lot of power. >> part of the battle against cancer is to fight the fear that accompanies the disease. >> she transformed the way we look at these bugaboos and made it possible for countless people tourvive and to flourish as a result. i don't know how many presidents have that impact on the way we live our lives. >> walking around the white house grounds, i am reminded about all the people who have lived there before and particularly all the women. >> first lady's influence and image, a new series on c-span produced in cooperation with the white house historical assoation, coming in february 2013. host: ann romney, a woman who would like to be first lady, will be speaking tonight at the republican national convention at 10:00 this evening. you can find out more about the lineup, who is speaking, archival video on our website at c-span.org. we are asking you this morning which speaker you are looking forward to hearing at the republican convention this week and why. someone that you find to be particularly interesting. kathleen joins us from florida, the republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i am looking forward to hearing ann romney speak tonight. i think she is a wonderful example. a lot of people do not realize what it was like going through that mess. therapy is available at many, many places. i was at the mitt romney rally and i was one of the volunteers. st. augustine is different from everywhere else because that rally was like a patchwork quilt. everybody was there. young and old, black and white, asians and hispanics. the other thing i noticed is there are always lots of children painting that is a great thing to see. the other thing i would like to comment on is i for one am tired of hearing about this contraception and planning. i think those are highly personal decisions that a woman or a couple make together. i do not think it should be up for public debate. those are decisions that you make like a tanning bed or having your nails done. you have to pay for them. i don't think any personal, private decisions that anyone makes should be paid with public monies. i don't know why women are complaining about the availability of contraception information or devices. i have nursed since the late 1950's. that has always been available. i don't know anywhere in the country where any woman would have trouble finding or getting information to buy those devices. the last comment is -- i did not hear anything about money, franklin roosevelt, rockefeller, nancy pelosi, any of these people who are multimillionaires. but with mitt romney, it is a problem. host: let's learn more about ann romney. "the washington times" shows some details about her. 63, born in michigan. her religion is the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. it talks about some of her experience, her jobs, and her family. she has five sons and 18 grandchildren. it shows a photo from 1965 of mitt romney and his future wife. it shows when they were teenagers. alabama, norma is a democratic caller joining us now. good morning. caller: good morning. is there nothing that can be done about the ads that the romney campaign are running that have been pulled over and over by fact checkers that are out right lies about obama taking $716 million away from medicare? that money was taken in savings from hospitals and drug companies. it was put back into medicare to close the doughnut hole. host: are there issues or people that you are listening to hear what content they have to say? caller: i want to hear chris christie speak because i know he will tell it like it is. he is going to say whatever he is thinking. host: let's go to an independent caller in louisiana. caller: well, if there is anybody i want to listen to it is ron paul. between the democrats and republicans, he is the only one who speaks the truth. he has been talking about it the last 30 years. in 2008 after everything collapsed, after obama got in, they went and talked to him. he is the only one who speaks the truth. get out there in front of the tv camera, jump up and down screaming at these jokers. when the cameras are off, they are at these high priced parties that we are paying for i am sure and patting each other on the back. i am talking about the congress on both sides. these people are paid for by the corporate elites. they are afraid of ron paul because he speaks the truth. this man knows what he is talking about. you have a bunch of sheep on the democrat and republican side. when all this is over with, they deserve what they get. host: how are you looking at tropical storm isaac? caller: we are just going to get a bunch of wind and rain. we are in the northwest part of the state. we will catch a lot of rain but the rest of it is fine. my man's ron paul. ya'll have a good day. host: let's take a look at the lineup at the republican convention. chairman reince priebus opens things up for the afternoon session. we will get more information about the platform. then there will be the roll call of states. some other events happening today. at 7:00, house speaker john boehner. we will also hear from rick santorum. also, congresswoman cathy rodgers of washington state. rick santorum has an op-ed peace today in "the wall street journal." "the return of welfare as we used to know it." he says -- host: that is in the local the wall street journal" today, written by rick santorum, will be speaking at the republican national convention today. independent line. good morning. caller: the person i am looking forward to hearing talk is in jet bullish. he is the only one that stands up to his own party and tells it like it is. host: what message do you want to hear from him? caller: um, i am not really sure what message i want to hear from him, but i want to say something about mitt romney if i can, or ann romney. mitt romney has polygamous ties in mexico and utah and he has polygamous-style homes that are really huge. host: i do not think anyone has verified that. . he has talked about his mormon -- verified that at all. he has talked about his mormon faith. bill, louisville, ky. caller: i have been calling this program cents ronald reagan and del monte dell debated. you are a big improvement over brian lamb. i'm a libertarian. i am not a republican or a democrat. i like ron paul better than anybody, but i want to hear somebody address the fact that dan jones was placed in this administration and he is a self- avowed communist. he was placed in charge of the green jobs. how did he get in to the administration? mr. obama must have known he was a communist, but you do not hear anyone speak to it. host: since you have witnessed a lot of conventions and have been turning in four years, is there something you hope to see, a particular speaker you care the most about? caller: i want to hear mitt romney, chris christie. i have been voting for president since jack kennedy. libertarian or not, i was sucked in and voted for mr. obama the last time around. that was a huge mistake in my opinion. we have to hear somebody address the issues, and the issues are who you placed in positions of power. you do not put a communist in to your administration without knowing about it. host: let's look at the lineup of speakers, who will be addressing the republicans gathered. we will hear from quite a few governors, but also from senator kelly ayotte, and governor john kasich of ohio, also governor mary fallin, governor bob mcdonnell of virginia, and governor scott walker of wisconsin. also, tonight, devon and nikki haley of south carolina -- governor nicky haley of south carolina. here is a piece in "the wall street journal." it shows some images of governors including chris christie, governor mickey levy, ohio governor john kasich, mary fallin and bobby jindal. democrats line. good morning. caller: i am looking forward to mitt romney and ann romney, really. i would like to hear what they have to say for the country. i know they have plenty for themselves. the bible kai reed says if you have much, you are to give -- that i read says that if you have much, you are to give much. host: could they change your opinion, if they appeal to generosity and the things you're talking about? caller: know, because i feel they are not generous, and i feel that he is hiding something on his tax returns. host: here is a tweet, come under mitt romney and paul ryan, process two who will say anything to get elected. you can't share -- you can share your thoughts on twitter, and we have a special hash tag, and you can join the conversation. new jersey. republican. caller: i would like to hear from mitt romney and his wife, and chris christie. i am sick and tired of these demented seniors calling about medicare. i knew about -- three years before i turned 65 that obama was the in medicare. i was stressing out about it, and i knew it was coming. these people do not know what they are talking about. i live in a long-term health facility. one person had a stroke, and i was told by his wife that the therapist told him he was only limited to two or three treatments. it is already being gutted the people do not know what is going on. host: nancy, a democrat in baltimore. caller: how're you doing? host: good, how are you? caller: not bad, i cannot complain. the speakers i am going to listen i am going to listen to to see if they play the same old race card or if they're going to be genuine. this is why we need more diversity. host: nancy, will you be watching? we will hear from arthur davis, who is african-american. caller: i do not want you pointing out one african- american or two. it is about real diversity. they cannot speak up for other blacks. to not point out one. whinnied diversity, ok? -- we need diversity, ok? host: we will continue talking about the republican convention, but soon we will go to with senator kirk right -- with senator roy blunt. as soon as that wraps up, we will have steve bousquet of "tampa bay times." we are also been to bring you "and national journal" in florida, and check in with the mayor of tampa, and asking how things are going as the convention takes place. we mentioned tropical storm is it is headed to the gulf. we will watch how that transpires today. -- tropical storm isaac is headed to the gulf. we will watch how that transpires. another front page story from "the wall street journal" here is about congressman paul ryan. all of that and more on "washington journal" later this morning, and we will look to some of the speakers. let's go now to "politico." ♪ >> white house correspondent, mike allen. >> this morning, we are going to have some great conversation to get behind the scenes of the mitt romney campaign as they go to this date night -- big night as we have chris christie. it is predicted that the governor of new jersey will steal the show. the mitt romney campaign picked him over senator marco rubio for a good reason, he is a great speaker, also, ann romney, and we reported that there just might be a surprise where governor mitt romney will stroll on to the stage after the ann romney speech. it is a great day. we will start with senator roy blunt of missouri, then we will hear from a mitt romney campaign senior adviser who have seen it all, over several republican presidents, then from henry barber, part of the republican national committee, who can talk about the convention and how we got here. all day today we will have live shows. we will have 70 hours of programming between our event and the television over here, and then tonight, the bar opens. before we start, we would like to say thank you to bank of america for supporting this event. it makes it possible to discuss these important public policy issues. now, i would like to introduce the director of public policy for bank of america. thank you. >> good morning, everyone. one thing we have found out is that in the course of the convention, socializing and so forth, mike allen is the only one that thinks breakfast is a good idea. i am here with a group of colleagues from bank of america, and we are part of a team from 200065 people that each day work to help people raise finances, pay their bills, conduct transactions, can make loans to large businesses and corporations. if you look through recent history, one thing has become clear, you need a strong financial system to have a strong economy, and in order to have that we needed vibrant, active, political dialogue, and that is why bank of america is sponsoring this this morning, bringing the leading political figures in our country before the american people to the "political -- politico " streamlined. mike has done a great job. >> thank you, jim. if you are watching on the c- span and "politico" live, we could bring you in for questions, and now i would like to introduce senator roy blunt. thank you for being here. we have a special guest in the audience. >> well, my best friend abbey blunt is here. >> when he asks a tough question, just raise your hand, so i can recognize a need to be cautious. >> you were the congressional liaison for then-governor and george w. bush in 2000. if you are playing that role for mitt romney now. you have a dual function. you are a bit of a listening post for the campaign. >> i think that is right. i did this in 2000, and when difference that i could tell in the 12 years -- one difference that i could tell you the 12 years is the members of the house and the senate do not instinctively feel like they are quite as valuable as they did in 2000. i do not think i have a single member tell me in 2000 tell me that i do not know if i would be helpful or not, but a lot of people in 2012 said i am definitely for the governor, but i just do not know that my endorsement makes a difference. so, in that decade, that 12 years, there is a sense that the elected official maybe it does not have the clout that they thought they did at one time. >> an endorsement could hurt, right? >> there is a theory that you cannot transfer enemies quicker than friends, and i think there was a sensitivity to that in 2011 that i did not see in 1999, when i basically did the same thing for governor bush that governor romney asked me to do 10 years later. >> even during the primaries, governor mitt romney was strong in the capital. tell me what that was like his you built that relationship with your colleagues? >> i think they did the same thing that i did, knowing governor romney in various ways over the years, but believing that he was the best person that we were offering to actually do the job at a time when the focus was on the economy, private- sector job creation, the kinds of things that solved the problems that we face today -- cost-control, getting the spending under control -- and i also thought he was the most likely of those candidates to get elected. with a couple of exceptions, i knew them all, and let them all, so it was not a matter of taking the one person that i know here, but trying to pick the one person that would be elected and could do the job. often, when you are helping someone in politics, you think that is a great candidate, i am not sure about the job, but in governor romney's case, all of us believe he will be a great president, and if he can combine that with the skills to be a great candidate, he will be elected president. >> you have worked closely with candidates. how will mitt romney govern? what will his west wing be like? >> he is a guy that is a natural executive. i thought the paul ryan take was an interesting picked because it says a lot about getting something done, and if mitt romney was hiring someone to be vice president, he would hire paul ryan. >> there is skepticism among your colleagues about that. >> there is always skepticism among my colleagues about any decision anyone makes, that way if it turns of not to produce the best result, you could say i told you so and that is what i told the press. it does not necessarily mean anything, frankly. [laughter] >> does this seem to be working out, or the people have qualms about elevating a tough issue for republicans? >> i think it is working out. paul ryan was in my home town the other day. he brings an element to this ticket of optimism, understanding the issue, being the next generation of leaders, but plenty of experience. this is a 42-year-old guy with one dozen years of experience in the congress and is willing to lead the 90th. i think the more republicans think about this -- lien on ideas. i think the more republicans think about this, the more they like to be the party of solutions and ideas. it is easy to criticize whatever ideas anyone else has, but this is a time when people want to solve problems. the problems are big, but they are not necessarily that complicated. there is a difference. interestingly, most people understand the fundamental things that we have to do to be sure that social security and medicare last, to be sure that medicaid works better, to be sure that we continue to defend the country -- the jobs the the federal government has either always had, or in the last 50- to-75 years has assumed. >> when you come back to working in november, you'll be facing the fiscal cliff. you will be at ground zero. do you think said congress will be -- think that congress will be able to miraculously changed in find a way to do that? >> from an appropriations process, it does appear that the speaker and senator harry reid, the majority leader, have made a decision that they will continue to extend the spending for six months to >> as a signal to the markets? we will -- we will not do something crazy? >> i think it is a signal to the markets, and that we do not get caught in some kind of showdown that the economy struggles with, and frankly, it is a realization that the current congress has not been good at getting its work done. >> how much time does that by you? >> that will get you from october 1 until the end of march, which means whoever is president january 20, should begin on the day after the election doing the work that it takes so that we quickly get the package together. we have to have the budget. the senate has not had a budget for three years, even though law requires it, and certainly, if republicans take control of the senate, we will not have 60 senators. there have not ever been 60 pocket money-elected senators. -- popularly elected senators. we will not -- we will not have 60. 53 democrats couldn't pass the budget. they could have put markers out there. we do not know how that would have worked. the idea that the house has passed a budget, we do not agree with that, so we're not going to have one, it is just not acceptable. groupon -- >> what do you think is the most in the least that could happen during a lame duck? >> it all depends on election day. >> let's assume there is a president romney. >> i think nothing happens in a lame duck. >> they will be waiting until they have more cards in january? >> i do not know they will be, but if there is a president romney, you would have to assume that the outgoing president would be willing in the last three months of his term to solve problems that have not been dealt with up until now, and also solve the problem rather than leave it for a new president. i do not see that happening. i do not see president obama stepping up and saying i want to make the world easier for mitt romney, and here is what i know he would like to do. i just do not think that is going to happen. i have consistently been of the view that this idea that a lame duck will be unbelievably busy is just wrong, unless it is an absolute status quo election. then, it will still be difficult. if the president is coming back, republicans are still the minority in the senate -- neither result is the result of a working for -- if that happens, maybe we did a few things done. i do not think the house will change. i think the majority in the house will still be republican. i think it is likely the majority in the senate will be republican, and combine that with a republican president >> you think it is likely? -- republican president >> you think it is likely? >> i think it is slightly more likely than not. >> what gives you that confidence? >> you have to look the seats that are open. we have three republican seats that we need to be concerned about in the state of maine, massachusetts, and nevada. they have as many as 10 seats, certainly half of one dozen seats that are more likely to become republican than those three seats are likely to become a democrat. >> there has been a wind shear in the seat in missouri. what is the outlook on that? >> todd akin, who has served in the house for one dozen years, has managed to get into a situation where he has become an issue, so the four former republican senators all encouraged todd akin to step aside, and i hope he continues to look at that option. the national issues are as important as they have ever done. every generation we have an election that is bigger than others, and every 25 or 30 years we have that moment that is so big that it will define what we're going to be for a long ton, ended at -- long time. it happened in 1980, and i think it is happening again in 2012. the long-term interest, i believe, for congressman todd akin is to look at what the likely result is. interestingly, senator harry reid, and senator barbara mechanical, my colleague in missouri, spent a little over $2 million to get him as the opponent. senator harry reid spent $2 million attacking the front runner, and senator mechanical -- mechanical said in glowing terms that todd akin is the most conservative. >> did you talk to him personally to tell him to get out? >> i did. >> what did he say? >> he thought about it, and said he thought he was still the best candidate. we will seek her >> -- we will see. >> how much hope you have that he will reconsider? >> if i had indications, i probably should not say what they are, but todd akin is an engineer by training. he understands them burns, polling numbers and contributors -- it understands numbers, polling numbers and contributors numbers, people that are lining up to volunteer, people that are writing checks, the things you need in politics. he has to consider that, and i am hopeful he continues to do that >> -- do that. you talked about what happens if he stays in. if he gets out, is there still hope for the sea? >> i think if he gets out, we win the seat. >> how quickly does it have to happen? >> in the next three were four week by our state law, but -- or cointreau weeks by our state law, but the sooner the better. i wish his family block as they went through this, but it is a moment where you have to realize is the natural -- national interest benefited by staying in the race. >> the fiscal super bowl but we have coming up this tax reform, and there seems to be agreement by both republicans and democrats that there needs to be comprehensive tax reform, personal and corporate, and there seems to be some agreement about how to do that, even. how optimistic are you the tax reform will get done, and how long will it take? one-year, two years? >> i think the country is ready for tax reform, how we compete internationally, and how the corporate structure impacts of that. they won a corporate structure that also has a greater sense of -- want a corporate structure that once -- that has a greater sense of fairness. whether you are the smallest corp. were the biggest, you will wind up paying the same percentage in that structure, and i think people are ready for a personal system that is more flat and more fair, and if you do that right it will encourage growth, produce more revenue, even though it might not in a static basis produce more revenue. the way to produce more revenue is more taxpayers and more people at work. a tax code and the right energy and regulatory policies are three of the key elements in putting people to work, and we should take advantage of the fact that people are ready, and as ready for a significant change that we have seen in the region long time. -- long time. the first six months of the new term are crucial, and i think this will be one of the things that you want to have done between the inauguration and the end of july. >> you think it is possible to get it done in that window? >> if you do not get it done in that window, you do not get it done at all. the more things you get done in that first 100 days, the first six months, you could buy more time, but if you do not get things done, you just do not have the opportunity that i hope president romney as to get things turned around. there is also an incredible pent-up desire out there to do things, and i think if mitt romney is elected president on election day in november, that the next day people start buying two-by-fours, and doing the things they need to do given the assurance that we will do the right thing. the former prime minister of australia said recently something like the united states of america is one responsible budget away from asserting itself as the dominant economic power in the world again, and not only do americans want to do the right thing, but people all over the world wanted us to do the right thing, and i believe we can do that. >> your son matt, a former governor, is a senior adviser the firm. do you know anything about that firm? >> i do not know much at all. >> do you know how that came about? >> in governor romney were good friends when they were governors together. governor romney was the chairman of the republican governors association, and my son was the vice-chairman. he has the highest regard for governor romney, and one of the reasons i was involved in the campaign is knowing governor run me through the as those -- association he had with governor blunt. >> we are about to get the hook, but you are a former teacher, tell us what we should be reading karen >> i a been reading a lot of post -- reading? >> i have been reading a lot of post-world war two, and there is a great eisenhower book by jean smith. i was looking at that. i also think from a history perspective, as i told you earlier, about once every generation, starting with jefferson in 1800, jackson in 1828, lincoln in 1860, and theodore roosevelt,, lyndon johnson, and then ronald reagan, these are the point where we define who we are going to be, and in all of those cases the government almost ceases to function, and the federal government is as dysfunctional as i have seen it in a long time, probably as dysfunctional since 1980. the things we have heard in 1980 -- the presidency is too big for one man, the system does not work, we will never be as big as we were once, it just does not work -- we hear that now, and if we make the decision, we will have the same resurgence that we had in 1981 with ronald reagan. >> do you read on a kindle? >> i read books with pages and covers, but i read a lot on the ipad. >> senator roy blunt, thank you for the conversation. >> good to see you. [applause] >> thank you for joining us. host: "politico" playbook breakfast. we will bring you this brought the week as "politico" talks with leaders in tampa. we will also bring you "national journal" daily events in about one hour this morning. for now, let's get back to "washington journal." qc the tampa bay times forum, site of the republican convention. the action gets underway at 2:00 this afternoon. it is the first time the convention is held in florida since 1972, and that year, both republicans and democrats held their conventions in miami beach. we see a lot of people descend on tampa. 500 private vehicles will be used during this convention week, and over 7500 volunteers are on site, helping out to get things rolling smoothly. we will talk with the mayor of tampa, bob buckhorn, a democrat, to hear about how the city of tampa is dealing with the convention, from everything from the storm-prepared this, and dedication, to the people in their city this week. joining us now is steve bousquet, "tampa bay times" state capital bureau chief. tell us how things are in tampa. is there a sense of normalcy, following the changes in the schedule that happened with the republican convention and the fear of the storm? guest: i think things are starting to get back to normal. i find the end of enthusiasm by the democrats -- delegates. they are eager to hear by people like chris christie and governor romney later in the week. everybody has one eye on the weather map and the storm in the gulf, but having compressed the schedules i think they are eager to get things going this afternoon. host: we see some news, a report from "the new york times" with the gop taking up pensions, frustration bubbling up, and the story says with the vacuum created by the postponement everyone with a reason to be upset has time to talk about it. a new hearing more conversations about different factions of the party? our people disappointed things did not get started yesterday as planned? guest: yes. there will be some noise on the floor on tuesday afternoon because you have a lot of ron paul supporters better still concerned and not happy -- that are still concerned and not happy about the way things are going, and i spoke yesterday with some folks from the state of maine where ron paul did well, but they said the mitt romney forces on seeded the ron paul delegates and replace them with mitt romney people. yesterday, a lot of delegates, they were basically land-locked and stock in their hotel. there was nothing for them to do. they shot pool, watched television, followed the storm. i think a lot of people want to get things going. they are here for a reason, to coronate mitt romney, and to celebrate the republican platform, the republican agenda. host: steve bousquet is with the "tampa bay times." he has worked there since 2001. if you would like to join the conversation, here are the numbers to call -- what are you watching for today, steve bousquet? you mentioned some of the tensions, but what else are you watching for in terms of the big speakers and big event of the afternoon? guest: well, i think this evening, near the end of the program today what is paramount is the appearances of ann romney and governor chris christie. chris christie is the republican governor of a democratic state. he is very feisty. he can be bombastic at times. he will have a forceful speech. when i am interested hearing is this is a difficult territory for them to be aggressive in their criticism of the president, to articulate how they want to change the country, yet be a respectable -- respectful of what is happening on the gulf coast with what is happening to -- in respect to the hurricane. you do not want to be tone deaf or insensitive to the people that risk losing power and being flooded out of their homes. i may for incurred i experience a lot of hurricanes. they -- i may floridians. i experience a lot of hurricanes. hi there not to be taken lightly. host: we encourage you -- they are not to be taken lightly. host: we encourage you to participate on twitter. here is what tanner has to say -- i am looking forward to chris christie the most. he speaks well to the public and can recognize real issues other than medicare. monroe, louisiana, we have a caller. james, democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was concerned that republicans say they want smaller government and less regulation on businesses and banks and big companies, but they do not have any problem with regulating women's reproductive rights, or if they want to have a baby or not have a baby, or if they have been violated, or if a law is broken against them like rape or incest. it does not make sense. they want to regulate humans but not government. issuesow are women's playing out, steve bosky, in tampa this week? guest: there is concern with no exception part of the platform in the case of rape or incest. this is supposed to be an opportunity for mitt romney to find a way to expand the political base, not contract it or tread water. he has been criticized a lot in the mainstream media for playing to the days to much, for appearing to run a primary campaign. the primaries are open -- over. the republicans need to find a way to expand the base. i will use round numbers off. this has been true in statewide races in florida, and we know florida is the biggest battleground state in the country. these are the numbers that are mathematically scientific, but 40% of the electorate is strongly committed to mitt romney. 40% is strongly committed to barack obama. that leaves 20%, maybe less than that, as i saw a poll the other day that 87% of people have already made a fair mind. mitt romney and barack obama are fighting over a small patch of political. , -- turf, which means the message needs to be aimed squarely at undecided voters, a lot of them are independent, or republicans and democrats not tethered to one party or the other. so, on issues like abortion and medicare, as we have seen a big debate on, that message needs to be sharply attuned to those people, those voters. host: "the washington post co-, has -- post" has a story on congressman todd akin with missouri women supporting his pro-life used to the point where they are not bothered. this is making generalizations, but i am citing this "washington post" article. how do you youth balanced playing to the base, and then appealing to those independent voters that are still on the fence? guest: that is the dilemma, and that is what paul ryan is here for. he can use his running mate to really enforce the strong conservative message and ideas that paul ryan has. we know that mitt romney himself supports the exception for cases of rape and incest on abortion, and the other thing is that is why i think you see the republicans wanting to turn this message and the campaign to the economy and jobs. when you get into social issues of any serious begin a serious way, the factions in the republican -- in a serious way, the factions in the republican party quickly appear, with pro- life-sections that do not want -- pro-life factions. it is a tight rope they are walking. if i had to say, i bet mitt romney does not bring that subject up at all in his nominating speech. it will be about the obama record, the way he perceives the obama record, jobs, the economy, and getting the country back to work. we have an interesting is connected the state of florida with the republican governor rick scott who tells people whenever he has the chance that things are getting better, the economy is turning the corner, the unemployment rate has dropped two percentage points in the last 18 months or so. that is accurate, but it is at odds with the mitt romney message that the country is in a terrible fix economically. republicans are being told one thing by the governor, and another thing by their presidential candidate. host: marks, philadelphia, pennsylvania. republican line. caller: it just so happens that i'm from springfield. the issue is the integrity. i do not agree with todd akin about what he said, but he was chosen by the republican partisans there in missouri, and they should stand with that. the same thing with the delegates. what is up with taking delegates and saying we are declaring the you're not the ones we want, so we will replace you with someone else. does this not set a precedent and show a lack of integrity and a gaming of the system? [inaudible] host: steve bousquet, what do you have to say to the caller about that? guest: sorry about that. that is on the minds of some republicans. historically, i think the democrats have been embracing be sent, and republicans are known for discipline, and trying to speak with one voice. they talk about a big tent, but we will see a test of that in the next couple of days, particularly with the issue this afternoon on the floor. you will see it on some cable channels. you will see a give and take one the credentials committee gives their report over what they will do about some of these dissident ron paul supporters. but me say one more thing about that. the weather has dampened a lot of the protests here. the size of the protests have not been anywhere near the size protest organizers had predicted. they should let the ron paul forces have their say, and hear that out at this convention -- at this convention. host: columbia falls, montana. independent caller. caller: thank you for c-span. i've been watching since earlier this morning and finally got through. when i have to say is i am watching the voter suppression in all of these different states, including florida, and i do not understand why the republican party is doing this, and they are even throwing people out that disagree with them better in their own party, on these boards and committees for the voting. i feel like if mitt romney gets in there, he will run the country just like he ran bain capital. he will take away medicare. he will privatize social security. he will take away medicaid. he is going to gut every single thing we had just like he did at bain, when he goes into these companies and takes their pensions, health care, and fires them all. host: steve bousquet has experience on the voter suppression and voter problems in general. give us a sense of how that is taking place in florida this year, and what kind of conversations are at the convention? guest: i do not hear much about this at the convention, but it is a real issue in the state of florida and has banned for seven years. if the legislature, which is controlled by republicans strongly, has reduced the number of days of early voting, which was initiated in the state after the 2000 recount, when we changed from punch voting, to screens, and now we switch back to paper ballots. early voting has proven popular. it is particularly popular among african-american voters. . the legislature decided that 14 days -- african-american voters. the legislature decided that 14 days was too much. there have been a number of lawsuits filed. the federal government, a three- judge panel in washington, d.c., about two weeks ago, has this change in's voting because they say it could disenfranchise african- american voters on us every county allow the maximum hours, 96 hours, 12 hours a day, for eight days. that is still being debated and talked about, but the point is early voting was considered an important factor in florida in barack obama winning in 2008. charlie crist, the former republican governor who just endorsed barack obama, he was a republican then. he extended the hours of early voting because the lines were so long. republicans were infuriated by that, and obama won florida by about three percentage points. early voting remains a huge issue in this state, and we have had african-americans, voter advocacy groups, all accusing rick scott and the legislature of try to suppress voting. host: fort myers. barbara is a democrat. caller: what i would like to know is if your party will publish the entire approved republican and democratic platforms, and the second question is will you have an opportunity to interview mr. romney at this convention to explore his ideas on war? guest: in answer to the first question, i do not know if the decision has been made about publishing the entire platform, and secondly, we have been trying or are trying to get interviews with mitt romney, and ann romney, who we have interviewed on several occasions, but if you notice something, governor romney has mostly been given -- giving television interviews. this is something that happens in every presidential campaign. you saw on fox news a long piece where mitt romney and his wife for making pancakes in new hampshire. this is a give and take between the media and the candidate in which the media gets access to the candidate, the candidate gets to shape the message a little bit. we know that the ground because the difficulty has been connecting with people. people get the business executive, the capitalist, the fact that he has been a success in the business world and with the olympics, but the campaign has reached the point -- and that is what this convention is about to a large degree -- he has to make a strong, personal connection with voters, especially those not committed to him. voters need to go through a process where they look at this guy and think can i picture him in the oval office making decisions about war, the economy, hurricanes, things like that. that is the point we are with mitt romney. host: we will learn more about the platform this afternoon with reince priebus opening the session at 2:00, then the convention platform, voting on presidential and vice president nominations, and the roll call of states. you can find that on c-span live. steve bousquet, you were talking about a candidate romney working to humanize himself and connect with voters. we have a tweet from right wing radical. tonight, the always lively ann romney will address america and give us hope for recovery from a plan of debt and despair. tell us more about the mission that ann romney goes into tonight's speech with, and if we have a sense of what she will be sharing with the audience? guest: you know, i think that she is one of mitt romney called the great assets. i talk to people, voters in florida, and daylight ann romney a lot -- they like ann romney a lot. she is very articulate, knowledgeable, vivacious -- she is all of those things. she is going to talk about her husband and what you do not know about my husband, mitt romney. hyoscine some tweet -- i have seen some tweets that mitt romney who is already in florida will make some surprise appearance right after her speech. she plays an important role in getting people to feel more comfortable with mitt romney as a presidential candidate. i mean, michele obama, i think, you see it in poll-after-poll, she is one of the most admired women in the united states. you can not over-state value a potential first lady brings to a campaign like this. host: antoinette, columbus, ohio. republican line. caller: hello. i'm looking forward to the speeches and things at the convention, especially chris christie, and, also, i would just like to say that people call in talking abo romney, he is so wealthy and this -- i would rather see somebody who has been a success in life, a successful businessman who knows how to run things. obama never ran so much as a lemonade stand. so, i do not know why -- look at the mess we're in today. host: so, the business experience as one of the pitch points for mitt romney. how much will we see that argument made this week, steve bousquet? guest: quite a bit. i respect the callers viewpoint, but success in business does not translate to success in governing. hyoscine it succeed and i have seen it failed -- i have seen it succeed and fail in florida and the national level. our current governor rick scott was a successful hospital executive, but he has found serious problems and hazards as a governor because governing is a completely different situation. governing is about communicating, leading, been consistent, setting an example, surrounding yourself with good, quality people. just because you ran a successful company and made a lot of money does not mean you will be a successful president of the united states, in my view. that is why, again, the message should be expanded, and we should be hearing more about mitt romney's success as governor of massachusetts. he was a one-term governor of massachusetts, dealing with an overwhelmingly liberal legislature, but when you get into the conversation you have to bring up the run the health care plan, which has been so controversial in the campaign because it was the model for obama-care, to some degree. so, mitt romney is going to talk, i think, about his wife, his father, a lot of the things we've seen in these recent days in interviews. it is an interesting story. you cannot turn on a television set in the last five days without seeing his five sons. hickel we are talking with steve bousquet, host: we are talking with steve bousquet, "tampa bay times" capital bureau chief. is also a television reporter with the abc affiliate in miami in the early-1980's. he is covered the dnc convention in 2004 when senator john kerry was nominated and he has covered many governors and other issues that florida has been grappling with for years. he is giving us insight into the convention which he is attending an covering for the "tampa bay times." kenneth, independent college in south carolina. caller: how're you doing? host: great. caller: i want to make a couple of comments. to me, it is not surprising, given the voters' suppression loss coming up throughout the state, that the republican party is turning in. by not allowing ron paul to voice his opinion, and except his delegates and pushed them to the back of the room, that is another form of voter suppression. guest: is an issue the republican party has been dealing with. ron paul had a very impressive showing with -- at one of the fair grounds here. i think the mitt romney people would say that ron paul made a valiant effort. he will not be the nominee of this party, it will be mitt romney, and they have to go forward from here. so, that is what they are seeing. as i mentioned early on, i think a lot of the republican delegates are eager to celebrate and get moving forward, in all mindful this of the hurricane and the gulf. they have -- mindfulhost: in "te saw charlie crist and his own words as saying why he is backing president barack obama. this is a former governor of florida who served as a republican. he talks about what he sees in the president. he says i am confident president barack obama is the right leader for our state and our nation. steve bousquet, how significant is it that the former governor is supporting barack obama? we are not going to be seeing him at the republican convention this week. guest: no, you are not. if they could, they would hang charlie crist in effigy in tampa. he is extremely unpopular with the republican base. i have covered him a long time. how significant is it? it is really too early to tell. a lot hinges as to whether barack obama gets reelected. charlie crist has gone from being a ronald reagan and jeb bush republican, which is what he called himself carolinians career. he became an independent candidate when the tea party became really strong, he became an independent and ran against marco rubio for the u.s. senate and lost the election. he has always been pretty much a moderate republican with a couple of exceptions. he is a strong second and and and die on guns. he has been viscerally opposed to any new taxes of any kind an enormously popular figure personally in the state. people like charlie crist as a human being. it is his policies and shifting positions that has caused a problem for him. the democrats have no bench strength in florida. democrats in florida have one statewide officeholder in a huge battleground state. the only democrat to hold statewide office in bill nelson, a u.s. senator, facing a surprisingly strong challenge from congressman connie mack here in november. the democrats are desperate to get back into the swing of things and become relevant. a lot of democrats think they should consider all running charlie crist as a democrat for governor against rick scott in 2014, when the next governor's race is. i think if barack obama wins reelection, charlie crist has an extremely important ally in washington who can make a few well chosen phone calls to keep florida democrats and say, you know what, charlie crist is your guy. teachers like charlie crist. african american voters really like charlie crist. and moderates like charlie crist. we will see how it plays out. host: politico has a story this morning. who is on the inside track for the romney cabinet? who is part of his team that the transition into the why house? it also mentions names of other leaders throughout the nation he could pick to observe him. the story mentions governor bobby jindal of louisiana as someone who could be potentially considered the health and human services secretary. it also talks about some senior advisers could lead position in the why house and senator robert portman, republican from ohio, could have a top job in the cabinet. not actually seeing governor bobby jindal attend the convention because of what is happening in his home state with tropical storm isaac. but we are seeing a lot of governors. there is a piece today in "the wall street journal" that says a reform governors who led the way and it picks out these men and women speaking this week, showing that they are helping bring a strong voice to the republican party. give us a sense of the influence of the governors this week, steve bousquet? guest: absolutely. mr. romney is an executive. being governor is an executive decision where you have to make decisions every day and deal with all kinds of problems and lead. you will see, for example, governor john kasich of ohio, mary fallon, the new governor of oklahoma -- mary fallin, scott walker reece survived a recall, and nikki haley in south carolina and of course, chris christie. that is an important part of this whole package of this convention is to showcase these governors. my newspaper, "tampa bay times," has a story about how you are going to see a lot of hispanic candidates and officeholders on stage. but that contradicts the fact that the republicans have a very significant problem with hispanic voters over immigration and other things. it has become a major concern among republicans. barack obama has a decided advantage with hispanic voters in this election, and florida is a state with a huge number of hispanic voters. they don't all vote republican. we have a growing population of puerto rican voters in the area of tampa bay and they tend to vote democratic. an important element is the extent to which the obama forces can motivate these folks to make sure they vote in november. host: jim, democratic caller from el paso, texas. caller: just three real short questions, and then i will get out of the way. president obama will be here in el pass so on friday. we are all looking forward to that. the first question is -- it has been outlined what battleground states are, and i would know if you have any thoughts about whether there will be any surprises. i would love to be texas go for president obama. the second question is -- you mentioned earlier that 87% have made up their minds. i am wondering what it the split. and my last question is, there are factions of course in every party. i think, as a democrat outside of the republican party, the tea party and evangelicals of the republican party, it is hard for me to imagine an evangelical christian lining up behind a mormon president. just when your thoughts on those things. guest: sure. the biggest battleground state is where i am, florida. 29 and of toro votes in florida. you need 270 to win the nomination. it is more than 10% of the votes you need in the country are right here in the sunshine state. in terms of a state that might be a surprise battleground, you see a lot of talk about colorado, iowa ban -- but here a state that could be interesting. missouri. where todd akin made the comment about legitimate right and where he is still running for the united states senate. i have seen in the last few days the democratic incumbent has opened up a significant lead in what had been a tossup race. that is kind of a wild card issue that i think can affect the outcome of the presence of campaign in a particular state a little bit. -- outcome of the presidential campaign in a particular state in little bit. there has been talk about this oppose it enthusiasm gap for president obama. i covered the presidential campaign to some degree in 2008 and the state and it is amazing. it was amazing. i had never seen anything like it, the level of enthusiasm for barack obama, mainly among college students. a huge state with a lot of big universities and gigantic rallies. we haven't really seen that replicated in this campaign. every presidential campaign is different. the novelty -- if that is the right word -- the newness, historic aspect of barack obama's candidacy in 2008 obviously is not as fresh. so, the democrats faced the challenge of motivating their core voters to make sure they vote. the biggest base of democratic votes in florida is in southeast florida. miami-dade, brower, palm beach county -- especiallybroward -- especially broward, a land of transplants, both foreign and domestic. but there have been problems with democrats in the county not voting. they need tremendous motivation to get to the polls and it is the responsibility of the obama forces to make sure it happens. host: a follower on twitter left a comment -- how are those issues similar or different, steve bousquet? guest: great question. the state of florida, you will find some of the statistics interesting. is it a red or blue state? the answer is, the side of the purple. but the state governments, the people who make decisions at the state level, are overwhelmingly republican. the governor is republican, the legislature is controlled by republicans. if you follow florida politics, you know about the stand your ground law and the trayvon martin situation. it was enacted by a republican legislature. the democrats ran the state for well over 100 years until the mid-1990s, and little by the toe republican made gains through reapportionment, fielding better candidates. i frankly think the democrats in florida got lazy because they had so much power for so long, and republicans were starting to be relevant. and a little by the till they made gains and they had taken control and they are now firmly in control. democrats are in the position republicans were before. florida is a state that is up for grabs in every election because it is very close in terms of the registration. democrats right now have a need in voter registration and florida of about 400,000 voters. there are more than 11 million registered voters in the state. those of you who know florida know there are several floridas. panhandle, north florida, conservative, retired military. the center is up for grabs. it is trending slightly more democratic recently because of the growth porto rican boaters and young people. the southeastern part is heavily democratic and southwestern part is overwhelmingly republican. it makes for a tremendously dynamic political situation every time. republicans have outmaneuvered democrats many times. democrats know this and they know they have to feel better candidates in future years. host: a flurry of from kissimmee is on the line. -- floridian from kissimmee as on the line. republican. caller: i think the problem right now is the liberal media. they are so biased. they do not cover big news stories -- everything is based on sensationalism. the democratic party are always race baiting, dividing the country. obama is the biggest divider i have seen in my 30 years of voting in this country. i believe that florida, especially the seniors such as myself, will collect mitt romney as the next president. you all have a blessed day. guest: you have liberal voices in the media, but you also have strongly conservative voices in the media as well, and people can make up their own minds. florida has a multitude of editorial voices in print journalism. there are a big newspapers in big cities -- "times union" in jacksonville and "the tribune" in tampa are longstanding newspapers that generally speaking have a conservative or pro-business lean editorially. that is my take on that. i think the voters can make up their own minds. there is a multiplicity of voices, as we have seen develop in the internet and with cable. host: david, independent line. north carolina. caller: hi, how are you? i have a very important question. i heard that most of the people that came into florida by buses and so forth, that they were carrying a large amount of weapons because of the stand your ground portion in florida. have you heard anything of that nature? if so, put it out there so the people will know if it is true or if it is a lie. guest: sure. to the best of my knowledge, not true. you can't walk around on main street in downtown tampa with a loaded firearm. concealedesn't have a weapons permit -- does have a concealed weapons permit program. there are people who have taken a gun safety course and can legally carry a weapon. i am in tampa and st. produced for all the time in my line of work, this has to be far and away the safest city in the united states. there are police officers in many -- on every corner, in many cases, 4, 5, 6 -- again, because of concerns about protests and demonstrations. host: we will be talking more about the standard ground law a little while from now. at 11:00 this morning, we will have one of the original sponsors in in florida. representative dennis baxley, and he will talk about the original content of the law and act out -- and how it has been used. wayne, democrats' line. caller: good morning. what i want to ask is -- here is my question to you. the republican speak about smaller government, cutting programs. isn't there a cause and effect when you start cutting programs and things of that nature? doesn't it creates higher unemployment? republicans pass the president's jobs bill? if that will help, why are the stopping it? host: how much are you paying attention to the convention this week? how much are you watching the convention. will you be watching the republicans in tampa? caller: i will be watching. the reason i am watching is i have been listening to the different programs, and i have never seen in my lifetime -- and i am 58 -- so much -- i guess the term i would use is hate toward one person. host: let's get a response from steve bousquet. guest: i think what the caller identified is one of the fundamental things about this election and the two political parties, and that is this -- democrats generally speaking see government as a force for good in people's lives in helping people -- helping lift people up. republicans see government often times as an impediment to people of achieving what they want to achieve. there was an editorial from a woman in table who struck may certainly as being a strong democrat in her political views, but her point was, if you don't like government and you think government needs to be reduced and shrunken in size, look around -- if you look around tampa, you see the effects of government at every turn. police officers, marine patrol, protections, transportation and infrastructure improvements. of course done by government. like government until they need it, and then they wonder why government is not there. i think it is fashionable and easy to sort of bash government in an ephemeral general and specific way but never a time in your life when you did not need the help of government for some service or program at some point. host: steve bousquet, state capital bureau chief in tallahassee of "tampa bay times ." thank you so much for joining us this morning, giving us insight into the republican convention this week and the politics of florida, which is a swing state. here is the front page of "tampa bay times" brought to you courtesy of the newseum. looking at concerns people have about the tropical storm isaac. there is a man there in an evacuation center in louisiana getting ready in case the storm takes a turn for the worse. we will look at newspapers and the tampa area. here is one from "the temperature of human." -- "the tampa tribume." ec reince priebus gaveling in. moments later, following a modified plan, he called the session in to recess. a final image from "miami herald." it says the south florida is feeling the fallout of isaac. we will go now to a live shot of "tampa bay times f bayorum. c-span cameras bring it to you live -- the "tampa bay times" forum wh. we will keep taking your calls for the next few minutes before we go to an event national journal is bringing it to us live. judy, independent caller from south carolina. caller: good morning. i was hoping to address your former guest. he spoke of the fox news special on sunday covering the romneys, but cnn and msnbc had specials of the weekend, leaving the impression that romney only gives access to fox news. i would like to say i think his bias was showing a little. host: what did you think about the interview? we lost her. denise is a democrat. caller: can you hear me? i would like to know what you think about obama not planning to his base. it seems like nature is doing half of that job for him and all of the craziness happening with the shooting has done part of the job for him. why isn't he talking about these things? about global warming and extremism -- i voted for him for the first time of my life last time he ran, and his base is disappointed, but not for the same reasons the republicans are putting him down for. host: as you watch it the democrats gather next week, what kind of a message do you want to hear? caller: i would like to hear him doing something brave. not just trying to be in the middle, but doing something to appeal to his base. i think that is what he is going to have to do. people are not motivated like they were the first time he ran. why isn't he doing that? host: what specific issue you are specifically concerned about? caller: health care is a real big one. i don't know what i think about the obama plan. i will vote for him, mainly because i am afraid of mitt romney. a lot of people will vote for him because of that reason -- the big excuse is he has been blocked and all of these things, but he could have been brave enough to push these things through. national emergencies, some of them. i don't understand why he is not playing to the base like the republicans do. host: denise mentioned the environment is one of his concerns. let's look at a story from bloomberg news this morning. the ice cap of notes to a record low -- melts to a record low. lowest in three decades of measurements. i will scroll down into the story and we will get some content. och -- host: clearwater, florida. republicans line. caller: i am just worried about governor romney not showing all of his taxes. it makes me and the tone there is because it says, i don't care enough about you. and if he wants us to vote for him, i think he should show his taxes. and keeping his money all sure does not sound very american to me. how am i going to want to vote for a man who doesn't seem to trust our banks? maybe he has a reason for it. but it makes me nervous that he prefers the cayman islands and other places. i just think he is really not hitting the right message by doing these things and not showing his taxes. it is very important to me because i think he is trying to cover up something. host: is there another candidate you support more? caller: i liked some of ron paul's ideas, but i really have to go with the health care plan of president obama's. it seems that it -- i don't know, maybe we are not giving him enough credit for all that he has done. but it seems to me that romney is promising $12 million and -- is promising 14 million. how is he going to do with? host: here is "the washington post" reporting from tampa. small crowds attend republican convention protests. organizers claim isaac, police presence. -- blame isaac, police presence. host: atlanta, georgia. samuel, democrats' line. how are you doing? caller: i am doing pretty fair. i just have a question. i would like to know how conservatives can say paul hi and is such a budget hawk -- ryan is such a budget hawk when he voted for every budget busting measures that came out in the last administration. host: sean, lincoln, nebraska. you are on the program. caller: the hurricane did not wash away the promise of mitt to release the tax return -- host: when did make a promise? caller: a while back. many and the promises. all we can hope for today is that the delicate did it all to ron paul -- delegates it all to -- give it all to ron paul. host: 1 viewer writes -- that is the way -- you are looking at a shot from inside the tampa bay times forum where the delegates start gathering. at 2:00 p.m., reince priebus gets things underway and we will look of the platform and look at the state nomination process. joseph is and tampa and he is a republican. hi, joseph. caller: how are you doing? host: are you from stiggelbout or their for the convention? caller: i am from tampa and living there since 1983. i am a republican. born-again christian, evangelical, but i have noticed over the years that the moral majority -- that is why i became a republican because my church with tell me you needed to vote for the guys who believed in the right things. but then over the years i've seen how -- and i have to mention, that it is hard to be an african-american republican because people think you are supposed to be a democrat because the rainbow coalition and all of that junk. over the years i have had problems -- i was there at one time also -- and i hope you will bear with me because i am a little nervous. i argued against republicanism that a certain point because i was brainwashed as a kid to think democratic, but then as i started investigating things, like for myself, instead of just listening to what other people were saying, i found that the republicans lie and try to divide people. i hear people saying that the president is apologizing for america. when has he ever apologized for america? i am sorry i am american -- that is the way they presented. and other lies. they are lobbying against charlie crist. the guy who was on before was talking about charlie crist being a flip-flop for and he changed his position to much. charlie crist got in trouble on two fronts. one, as a republican governor of florida, after president obama got elected in came to florida it was his duty as our governor to welcome in into the state. they jumped on this case because he shook the president's hand and welcome to and to florida. later when the president came he would not even meet the president, would not even greet him as the leader of our state, leader of our country. then when the republicans got into control of the house and senate's in -- house and senate, in florida, he pushed through stuff to devastate our educational system by firing teachers and repealing the classroom size amendments to make it so that teachers did not have some money kids and their classrooms, so that they did not have 30 kids in their classroom. class size amendment. they overturned that. charlie crist would not sign it because it would put thousands of teachers out of work and it would screw up our kids over. that was the nail in the coffin for him. he became person on a non grata -- persona non grata because he will not rubber-stamp what the tea party guys were doing. people say there is a liberal media bias, but there is a conservative media bias. they are just flat out lies. people let people, their shows and save lives and they would not even correct them. host: we will leave your common there and look at a tweet coming in to us -- this is in response to a tweet we read earlier. #cspanrnc is how you can join the conversation with your tweets this week. we are going in a few moments to "national journal" looking at the presidential election and polling. "the national journal", "the atlanta" and cbs. we will go to it now. >> good morning, everyone. how are you doing this money? did you have a good time last night? how about it? [applause] before starting, i want to point something out. i happen to be a jazz fan and for those of you who are jazz fans, you are at the chophouse in tampa, one of the workplaces and they are fleeing miles blue" in theof background. i and publisher at large of "the net -- "the national journal" and "the atlantic." welcome to our briefing -- we do it each time at this location. we are doing it with cbs news as well and "the atlantic." thank you for joining us. this is being covered by c-span so we will welcome the c-span audience as well. let me thank our underwriters and sponsors who are helping us put this on, to whom we are quite grateful. the credit unit and national association. pfizer. the property-casualty insurers association of america. united technologies. and vote for energy. thank you very much. [applause] each morning we have a different topic, and today we pulled together senior advisor to the romney campaign, ron kaufman, and three of the truly best pollsters in the country. for those of you are in the new social media world, and you want to send us -- twitters and such, it is #dailybreifing. let me introduce two of my partners. first of all, ron, to the far right, editor in chief of "the national journal." before joining us, he was with ap, was a bureau chief there for much of the last 10 years or so. >> 3 -- close. >> i just promoted you. ron is truly one of the best political reporters in washington. in the clinton administration, nothing went on and that administration that he was not first report. from cbs news is john dickerson, the top political analyst for cbs news. he is a well-known writer, havi written for "time magazine" and 4 "slate." with that, i will turn it over to you, ron. >> we have a real good panel with some of the best pollsters in the business. i want to start talking with ron kaufman, wanted to change those numbers. he is a longtime republican strategist and consultant who worked for many governors and presidents, including the political director for president h. w. bush and somebody who knows the republican porter rules perhaps better than anybody in the business. thank you for joining us. we want to have a little conversation about leadership and the traits you need as a candidate for president and the traits you need as a president leading the country and how they are not often the same. i thought first we would start with a little news, if we could very fast ball. this morning -- i had to look my blackberry 3 04 times because at first did not make sense -- that mitt romney is the tea party movement. how could a guy who was the governor of massachusetts and pass the health-care law? >> tea party candidate. it would shock hit -- most of the media to understand, it is a movement. if you spend time for folks and that movements -- in that movement and they ask what the resume you one for a president. they would describe mitt romney. somebody would never work in washington a day of his life. somebody who is understanding of the economic crisis that this president has given us. somebody who knows how to fix that crisis. somebody who has experience at the private sector level, for probable, nonprofit level, and for government, to actually take on tough problems and fix them. someone whose basic platform is smaller government that spends less, taxes less, and leaves more money in your pocket. they want somebody who is going to create jobs and someone who will turn this mess around and let our kids and our grandkids and have as good a country as we inherited. you put it all on paper, the resume would be mitt romney. i think he is the ideal candidate for those folks. which is why, by the way, -- as i am sure your polls would be verified, he got more tea party votes than anybody else. >> since you served in an administration, jumping off the tea party point. one of the things one adopted tea party voters that they dislike about washington and one reason why they may like mitt romney -- we send people to washington and they go we need. we have seen some of the tea party candidates who have won, say out loud, i am not going to washington to compromise. bipartisanship means democrats coming over to me. that is their view of a good politician. stand on principle, does not compromise. mitt romney made an argument that and massachusetts he knew how to work with the democrats, he had to because there are some of it. he worked out some things with the democrats. took a little from them and give a little. he said that is how i was able to -- i will work in washington. how can he be accommodating in a way -- in a system you have to compromise and be a tea party candidate that you did not compromise at all? >> the difference between compromising your principles and forging coalition is to get things done arts have a different things. when mitt was governor of massachusetts, he went in with about $2 billion to $3 billion in debt, 87% of the legislature were democrats. iran off the same platform then in 2002 as we -- is for president -- he ran off with the same platform. we change the way we implement policy. he did all of that. he cut taxes, he cut spending, he cut the deficit, he changed the way government is shaped. he changed the policy. he did all of that in four years and left with a $500 million surplus. not a bad deal for four years. he could do the same thing in washington. >> how do you do that? the country has changed dramatically since he was governor very much more polarized -- the electric -- electorate and certainly washington. how can any leader, million, and if you are a democrat, find it republicans to forge consensus and if you are republican, find consensus with democrats. >> in 1980 -- i was 12 then, the first campaign. [laughter] maybe it is time to having dual presidency -- that the president has gotten too big for one man? and ronald reagan came on without any washington experience. governing a state -- a little better than massachusetts, i agree. i have never heard one time since that we need a dual presidency. leadership matters. people have an ability to attract people to make it happen and forged a coalition as it takes. it can work. he did it and i am absolutely convinced that this critical time when our country is at the present his of going into deep bankruptcy and becoming spain or one of the european countries -- i am convinced he is the right person at the right time. he has done it all his life. he did it in private business. he did it in the olympics. he did it in massachusetts. i don't want to be too long winded, but i had a talk with tom stenberg , a co-founder tommitt on staples. he said the great thing about mr. romney, he makes everyone around and greater than they were. a woman at the olympics at the great thing about mitt romney is every person who worked for him drove to work every day and said, i have to be better than i was yesterday because mitt deserves it. you bring those qualities to washington, you can't change washington. >> you mentioned the governor does not have any washington experience. we will talk about attributes you need an office. what will surprise him the most, catch him up short having no experience in this world that is quite different from business and what you can tell people to do things and their remuneration is tied to whether they do it or not. in washington, you do not have the go along with the president of the time. >> believe me, the democrats in massachusetts the not go along with him all the time. that would not surprise him at all. i think that the plethora experience he had -- all of it comes together. i learned a long time again -- a long time ago when i was doing personnel, the truth is this -- you are going to have great ideas, great thought, but you -- if you can't implement them, it does not matter. the key to implement them is people. you have good people, you have a good policy. if you look back at what made mitt so successful and one of the reasons why i wanted to help him, is he is always attracted to unbelievably smart people. he can get in a room with 20 or 30 people -- those guys are so smart, it makes my teeth hurt. people in massachusetts -- some republicans and democrats, who knew where he wanted to go and change the shape of massachusetts governor. in the olympics -- it had this huge deficit. brought in new people who could make a difference. i honestly blame that is what it is going to take to try to fix this country. and he demonstrated time and time again, he's got the ability to have people sit down in a rational way to address the problems and solve them. that is exactly what the tea party ones. >> can we pull back a bit and answer a question that has nothing to do with mitt romney? if you can list five important personal attributes for some to become president and some who has also been in the why house, five attributes for someone to lead the country. tell me which ones are not here, that we are not seeing with someone running for president -- may be missing when somebody comes up the campaign trail? >> it is request and. -- h burqa question. -- a trick question. [laughter] having a clear and concise picture of where you want to get -- how you want to get from point a to point b. to inspire people to serve. ability to lead those people. four, having a really big intellectual curiosity. i think americans instinctively want their president to be somebody who is intellectually curious. the best way to solve a problem is to understand it. people at the table, if they have a diverse opinion -- if we are discussing an issue, if everyone agrees, he will stop and bring in more people in. he is famous for arguing both sides so you do not know which way he is going to go. he loves the intellectual stimulation of that kind of meeting to make decisions. and the fifth one is the desire to make a decision. most people in washington actually don't like to make decisions. >> we will talk about that a little bit. president bush talked about being the decider, 43. that was his point, you have to know when to cut. talk about how the process can sometimes pushed against decisions being made. >> every issue in washington gets 5000 letters on both sides. when you set down at the table with your senior staff and you get 26 or 27 opinions, and use say -- how does it affect politics. treasury secretary, how does it affect the banks? labor -- how does it affect -- millennium everybody has legitimate points of view. it takes someone who knows where they want to go to listen carefully. then they have the courage to do it. >> can you give us an example from the campaign where you all came to him with a vast array of ideas and governor romney said, that is it, here is the decision going forward? >> the vp. a whole bunch of people had a whole bunch of good ideas. there were a plethora of great candidates to choose from. there was a great process. it did not leak to you guys. wise decision. he studied the past and understood the good and bad points of the process and made a really good decision, as everyone, i think, agrees. without hurting anybody. putting a list together of candidates, the losers can be treated poorly in the process. he made sure it did not happen. the whole process was really good. his process, carried forth by beth myers, was a great job. >> talking about the governor kept a tightly held, even after he had decided and getting all kinds of the device -- even after he decided there were still people high up in the campaign making guesses about who it was and they were wrong. it was pointed out as an example of how he was getting a wide variety of recommendations and how tightly he kept it. what do both of those say about him as a potential president? >> dexia me -- i am losing my voice. i worked for a guy who ran the cia, george bush, and he said the key to washington is in need to know. and if somebody does not need to know, they should not know. no matter how angry they get, tough. . mitt, it was need to know and we did not need to know. but the bottom line was, they held it well. the process was good. everybody was treated fairly and we had a great pick and the polls reflected we are doing well. >> when the governor announced his pick and a lot of you talk about it, he said one of the things paul ryan was going to bring was his ability to work with congress. the governor admits he does not know washington, so here will be a guy who will be the ambassador for the process. walk us through how it works in a day-to-today way? how does the conversation go? >> if you have not worked and congress, you do not know congress. -- worked in congress, denied the congress. the governor has not really dealt with congress much because he has not been in washington. but legislation -- in massachusetts, he has the new hampshire ability to understand the process. having somebody like paul ryan, whether people agree or disagree with them on an issue, nobody does not think he understands the problems. paul, part of his role as vice president will be an ambassador, to use your term, to congress. >> how do you reach out to -- or do you have to reach out to the other party question on george bush 43 when he came in had a constant stream of people coming through. he worked on no child left behind with the ted kennedy, had him over to watch a movie. disagreeing with my favorite over the question -- favorable recollection of their friendship. study after study shows that not only washington is polarize the country is, and once a president's associates with an idea, immediately there is a line against the. how does he break the ice? >> we look forward to having this problem to talk about. to not want to get too far ahead of ourselves. -- do not want to get too far ahead of ourselves. 12 things i worry about more than this. you talk to democratic leaders and the senate and house and ask them how many times they have spent to the why house, how many times the president picked up on and talked to them. end of story. mitt romney, like george w. bush, understands that. he is really good at building relationships based on intellectual honesty, talking through the problem. he is not a washington typical politician, backslapping -- not a gregarious guy on a personal level. he is -- "how do we solve this problem?" "how do we together make this better?" people say he is not comfortable and a good politician. i will give you a secret -- he is not a good politician in a traditional sense. which is why, again, he is a good tea party candidate. if you want an outgoing and gregarious person to be the president -- we tried this and it did not work well. >> you touched on an attitude of people find important as what, authenticity. somebody comfortable and their skin. that has been a big knock on the governor because of his many policy positions. some people wondering whether it has a real core. yesterday in an interview he said three times, i am who i am. i am wondering why a guy on the verge of possibly becoming president still have to be saying i am who i am. what is the message he is trying to get across? >> i did not see the interview so i cannot tell you about tt specific and heavy. people saying he is too stiff or to back or what ever. you should be what he is -- he is hooey is. my guess is, this of you a lot better than 35 years ago when you started in the business. you learn and grow. mitt romney always live has learned and has grown more than anybody i know. he has become a really good candidate for president. he is very comfortable with that. you all don't like that, perhaps. you want him to be what he is not. but i think, in all fairness, you all i getting better with him. you are getting to know him better. i think it will be a great 70 days after we leave tampa, for him and for you all to get to know him better. >> there is this question -- chasing around, people ask about the liability question and people in the campaign say likability is not that important but three or four sentences later date talk about ways they are trying to improve his likability. there seems to be a little bit of attention. the way it has been explained to me is this is a referendum on the economy and the present. that is where the election is. but there is still the last 10 feet voters need to go with mitt romney and that is where this question of knowing him, whether it is like a bullet or stiffness, that is the 10 ft. the governor has to go to make some kind of connection with the boulders, to explain whether you buy that and if so, put it in your own words about what you are supposed to be looking for. >> you hear it every day -- connection with voters. not sure what it means. but i will say this -- good campaigns are a narrative. you tell story. in the key states -- if you are not in a state with a contested republican primary, you don't know mitt romney. i think right now he is kind of a blank slate in many respects. over the last month or so, there are three things going -- three things that made a difference. the vp pick, the convention, and the debates. those things, like the 1984 ronald reagan, it defined ronald reagan. we are comfortable with that. last time we checked, he got more votes than george bush did in 2000. 92% of the republican base. he is doing pretty good. i think he is doing fine. he may not doing it in a way you all think is the way to do it, but he is doing it his way, comfortable with that. and that think the message will resonate. people want this country to turn around. they are scared to death. they are afraid of the economic mess in europe will be here, and they want somebody to fix it. it is a clear choice. you have a president who is a nice guy but who cannot fix it, does not have a clue how to fix it. mr. romney -- all of life, taking on tough problems, bringing good people and solving the problems. easy pick, in my mind. you did it over the next 70 days and he will be in great shape in november. >> if mitt romney becomes president, a big reason will be that so many white voters have turned away from barack obama. only a quarter of non-college graduate whys are voting for barack obama -- whites are voting for barack obama. one of them has got to be the fact that, i think, that he is a black man. one of those things have to be that race is a factor still got -- still, prejudice is a factor. how big of a factor is that in places in michigan and some of the swing states? >> i think both parties have traditional groups who support them for one reason or another, and i think those traditions have not changed. i think if you are in macomb county michigan, what you care about is if there are another -- and of jobs, whether employment in michigan. you hear about an african- american neighborhood in that county, it is double the national average. that is what you care about. going back to the narrative -- when people across this country who have not looked at mitt romney, look at him and look at the choice they have, i think traditional voting patterns will change. i think mitt will do a lot better with groups then he is doing in polls today. >> having been from macomb county, i can vouch for the fact that care about jobs but they are also folks who ran away from the city because of the riots, and a large percentage do look at somebody another color a different way. and one of the hot-button issues are things like welfare reform. and when there is an ad on the air that is technically inaccurate that says president obama is cutting back on the work for welfare rolls, that is pushing that button, that is playing to the racial prejudice and i am wondering if you guys are doing that on purpose and how much do you think the fact that he is a black man and the fact that there is still prejudiced in the country enters into a lecture on message. >> sadly, there is always prejudice in this country or any country. but with all due respect, i could not disagree with you more. the most important thing you can do for americans is give them a job. whether you are white, brown, black, green, or below -- i don't care. we had this fight in 1980 and won it and people agreed that a good job is the best social program. and with all due respect, that ad where president obama has a relaxed the work -- it is not a good thing for anybody, no matter where you live. and i think the ad is inaccurate. -- >> i think the ad is an accurate but we will set it aside. you really don't think that part of the reason why you are running the ad is because you're playing the race card -- >> what does it do about jobs? >> with all the respect, i think you are playing the race card here. we are not. and we never would. it has nothing to do with race. nothing to do with race. we are not the ones who eased the restrictions on welfare to work? the president did. it is a very important issue and should be talked about. it has nothing to do with race, and i am surprised that you raised that. >> i am sure your campaign has done focus groups. you are very familiar with the that part of the country and i know that you know that an ad like that touches the racial button. >> no, it doesn't. i do not agree at all. >> how -- a presence in that ad, i want a job and i want to know how mitt romney helps me get a job? how does he speak to that need? the welfare add. >> the point of the ad, john, is it that this administration is taking a program that has done really well and put

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