chris: the polls are pretty clear at this point that the horse race between obama and romney is very close but they are also pretty clear that maybe perhaps because of the primary process and positions he took during the primaries that romney trails the president by significant margins among women, among hispanics, among lower income workers. how does he reach out to them? again, i think simply by identifying with the very real problems they are facing. i don t think he would want to trade problems with the president this fall. this economy is in a lousy shape. everyone knows it. the only surprise to me is that any one is surprised that it is still sputtering. i don t see it. i hope i m wrong but i don t see it much better just a few months from now. so governor romney i believe is already getting good marks for his superior point of view on the thing that bothers americans most. it bothers everyone all those groups you just mentioned as
yes, fill in the blanks. let s describe exactly where or at least the extent to which the tax loophole should be closed but the president apparently nothing in his life has acquainted h him with where jobs and wealth come from. he has no at all for the small businesses of this country. they are the ones on the receiving end of all of the new you taxes and frankly i guess he never is going to get it. chris: finally, barack obama won indiana four years ago. the first time that any democrat had won your state since linden johnson in 1964. what are the chances that barack obama can win, indiana, again this november? slim and none. i would want to give credit to a a savvy strategy in 08. they were in a competitive primary here and spent a lot of time and money and had a running head start and saw an opportunity and capitalized on it. it will take a massive change i believe in the view of hoosiers
chris: and now a different subject. you had an editorial in the new issue, you have an editorial on the new issue. of the weekly standard, you say that president romney as you put it should largely ignore president obama during the campaign. what do you mean? and let karl and his pals attack president obama and call attention to the deficiencies but, president obama has been 3 1/2 years and the approval rate is 46 percent or 47 percent not 50 percent. voter do not like the stimulus or obamacare or the notion of $1.3 trillion deficit forever and president romney, governor romney, candidate romney, needs to make the case he can be president romney. i don t think he needs to disqualify obama at this point. president obama has the 45 percent support, not that much more, and romney, everyone wants governor romney to hammer
talks about the issues that unite us all, the threats that menace us all and try to bring americans together. the quote you put up, chris, the most important point to me is the notion of campaigning to govern. meaning trying to assemble people who may disagree about other things about the largest national challenges and objectives we have. chris: let s deal and i know you are not going to particularly enjoy this but let s deal with the question of you as a possible running mate for romney. during the run up to the primary campaign you made it clear that your wife and your daughters were not especially enthused at the idea of you running for president. would they feel differently about your running for vice president which is a shorter and less in trucive campaign? we haven t had conversation and i don t expect to have it. a lot went into the decision not to run very specifically that i promised the people of
president apparently will ever be. he has been out there and roughed up in the primaries and been face to face with the serious lingering economic difficulties america faces. if anybody is detached from the lives of real americans if anybody is disconnected from where jobs and wealth come from, it is our president. so. chris: whaif i may, though, sir,, what did you mean when you said romney doesn t talk that way? i m saying that he has the right prescription for america. he is meeting the objective that i hoped our party would need of offering specific positive constructive remedies for our debt problem and our slow growth problem. as things go alock i want to encourage him to express the same principles more often from the standpoint of the young, the poor, those who have yet to start up th ladder of life, the same principles but aimed in a slightly different way and i know he will do that.