in june that was obama, 45% and romney, 41%. and in pennsylvania president obama has a commanding 11-point lead over mitt romney, 53% over 42%. the president's lead was just six points in june. and there's more bad news for mitt romney out of my state of michigan. the latest epic poll has him down six points to president obama, 48% to 42%. but look at what it was in june. romney was up by one point. very interesting. and here is another number for you. 97. that's how many days there are until the election. how much do all of these polls matter? what are the real reasons why we're still seeing a tilt towards the president? for insights and analysis we're going to turn to washington and pollster mark maelman, ceo of the melman group. mark, glad to see you inside "the war room"." >> the pleasure is mine as always. >> why oh why is this happening? why is romney not doing well? why is the president surging? >> you see this particularly in the swing states where there has been a lot of advertising attacking mitt romney. it has impact.

that is something that the romney campaign approved, that governor romney now owns. the ad that was put out by priorities usa is not an ad on behalf of the obama campaign. it wasn't put out by the obama campaign. it was not funded by the obama campaign, so there's a fundamental difference. but, you know, i find it somewhat ironic, to say the least, when you think about the fact that -- you think about the fact that newt gingrich is out there defending governor romney. what level of dante's political hell has newt gingrich and mitt romney entered? >> this is what i find so confusing, why in the world would newt gingrich go out there and talk about welfare when he knows he has to talk about an ad that admittedly isn't true, i mean how stupid is that? why would he do that, what's the up side of doing that? >> you know, this campaign, it is the most puzzling campaign, to me, the romney campaign. there's no message. we're now about what 90 days out, there's still no focus. you could literally walk down the street of any major city or any small town and no one can tell you

or, as she calls mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. his name is mitt romney! >> stephen: it's a pet name. it's a pet name. all couples have them. i'm sure behind closed doors mitt calls her "mrs. mitt romney." (laughter) now, right away ann addressed the myth that they lived a life of privilege. >> we got married and moved into a basement apartment, ate a lot of pasta and tuna fish. our desk was a door cropped up on saw horses. our dining room table was a fold down ironing board in the kitchen. >> stephen: can you imagine? it must have been so awkward when the maid interrupted their dinner to iron. (cheers and applause) and, hey, not easy. (cheers and applause) and, hey, unemployed people out there, we already know that there were years when the romneys didn't work-- because they didn't need to. (laughter) as ann told the "boston globe" "neither one of us had a job because mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time." so hard. (laughter) they were living hand-to-phone-to-stockbroker-to- mouth. (laughter) and after... h

romney of being a felon. looks like president obama may have forgotten what happened just last month. comments made by stephanie cutter, his deputy campaign manager in a conference call with report zbleers. >> either mitt romney through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the sec, which is a felony, or he was misrepresenting his position at bain to the american people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequencesof his investments. >> miss cutter, that was just a few weeks ago, was discussing questions about how mitt romney handed over power at the investment firm bain capital. securities and exchange commission documents showing romney was still on the corporate book at bain till 2002. the romney camp insists the governor left the company in 1999 to run the winter olympics in salt lake city. also asked about a ad being run by a super pac supporting him. he did not think where rmr. rom responsible for the death of a steelworker's wife. the president said he d

not mitt romney. and that's what he's done in congress as well. >> jonathan, you've done what i deem a national service in terms of outlining some specifics of ryan's plan. there are going to be two tax rates. the top level will go down to 25%. unspecified tax deductions. we know that a lot of that stuff is going to be balanced on programs for the poor and middle class. medicare is unchanged for those 55 and older. he's going to repeal obama care, uninsuring up to 30 million americans in total. it could be as much as 50 million americans. this is a fairly draconian prescription for the country, is it not? >> it is draconian, but the thing you have to keep in mind is that paul ryan is an extremely good politician. and i think you shouldn't underestimate his skills in that regard. his district in wisconsin is not a republican district. it's right in the middle. and he's won it strongly. he's also very successfully managed to craft this image of himself, who he is, what he believes, and where he comes fr

romney for a long time. david bernstein, political reporter he recently wrote about romney's efforts to get voters to like him. and ana marie cox, washington correspondent for the guardian. thank you both for joining me. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> david, is it too late for romney to try to fill in the blanks on his biography? >> i don't think it's too late to fill in the blanks. he needs to talk to a lot of people who don't know a lot of the details because as you mentioned, he doesn't talk about a lot of the details on the campaign trail. there are a lot of people just tuning in now. what i think is it's a tough call for him to try to make himself likable out of those details. that's been a problem for him going back years and years. it's something he and his pollsters and focus groups and advisers all know. it sounds like they're going to try to do that tonight rather than just strictly try to make him mr. confident, mr. power point which is usually what he's more successful at portraying himself as. >> s

i don't think mitt romney is a poet. i thought it was a competent oration and the message was there and i think mitt romney helped himself. if we're going to have a pure oratory contest, that's what president obama is a genius is at. i think the country had that experience last time and as mitt's speech indicated it's time to size up the results and that's where the mitt romney will have the edge. i thought it was a very competent job by somebody who is not a natural speech giver. but i think it was definitely enough to get the strategy of the campaign across. >> rose: were there omissions from this speech that you wish he had made. >> look, i'm an armchair quarterback sitting up here in new hampshire. i've got a lot of opinions about it but their strategy was to break the character attacks down by the obama guys by showing the old mitt romney who is an old school quiet guy about breaking that through. there were moments in the speech i thought that were quite moving by mitt, about being a young father and watching his k

romney. what is his budget? where are his tax returns? there's still this giant question mark that hangs over all of these questions, where he says, oh, it's not my -- it's not his budget and i'm not going to tell you what the answer is. you're just going to have to figure it out. that's just not good enough. >> let's listen to the way that joe biden handled the day after this thing he said yesterday, where he used the notion that the romney people wanted to put you back in chains. he went off-script, ad libbed a little something. everyone said, hey, wait, that rhetoric's going way too far. a lot of crazy, fake outrage about it. let's see how biden handled it today. >> i know i am sometimes criticicriti criticized for saying exactly what i mean. it's not going to change. but let me tell you something. barack obama does exactly what he says he's going to do. you don't have to worry about barack obama changing positions midstream. >> joy, as much as biden may have misspoke when he used that phr

mitt romney is going to cut. that's all he talks about, if he gets elected, while he'll cut out the first day and from then on. everything is cut pl and all the programs he's cutting belong to the middle class and lower americans. and this is not right. they're wanting to cut school funding, women's rights and the president is exactly right. they're taking women back to the '50s, because i go back and remember how it was. >> lily's point is crucial. we frame these as women's issue, but fair pay for women in the work place is, as she says, is a family issue. when you have two-earner couples, male and female, the man is as interested in the female's earning power as the female is. he would love to see her come home with a stronger paycheck. >> i think the same goes for reproductive rights as well. men and women have the autonomy to make decisions about their lives. children being raised in single parent households, many headed by women. these aren't just women's issues. they're of personal autonomy and freedom. it'

mitt romney does. this campaign is new information about mitt romney. romney versus obama, if romney does it right, he is now liberated, the primaries are over, he can be mitt romney. >> so the ball is in his court to win the election. >> he has his hand on the control and make it about obama and the right way get him self out of the way and win. >> with an election this close i think that is a good place to be as a challenger, dead even and the ball is in his court. >> the problem is demographics and the way the votes are distributed in the states. >> and does he have an virus he doesn't have an antidote for. >> rose: what virus might he have. >> his authenticity is so badly damaged. >> rose: he can't fix the problem. >> times, cbs poll 32 percent don't have a view about mitt romney, 14 percent zero don't have a view about the president, the president is locked in and people can't get new information to help him but 32 percent you know the remaining person percent of in election is about, the 32 percent, is it mitt romney who can fix things and not sca

>> let's end with a romney ad. why not? >> they don't have any. >> we don't have lycra. >> can i get wide shot, please? >> you just got a wide shot. >> that is not nice! >> from a bold pick to an electoral death wish, a wide variety of reaction to mitt romney's choice of paul ryan for the number two spot on the gop ticket. this is "special report". good evening. i'm brett brett coming to you tonight from miami. if mitt romney wanted a running mate who would bring out extreme emotions, his pick of wisconsin congressman paul ryan did the trick. conservative republicans are loving it. democrats are licking their chops and gnashing their teeth. the new ticket kicked off a four-day bus tour this morning. it will include several stops in virginia today, north carolina, and ryan's home state of wisconsin sunday. they'll come here to florida on monday and head to the swing state of ohio tuesday. ryan was first elected to congress in 1998. he's in his 7th term now. the 42-year-old native of jaynesville, wisconsin, is the chairman of

and romney better know it. but the point i'm making before break sthai did a she today with bob beckel. the host of "the five" one of the great democrat strategists and he said to me you could never put this guy on. he said we'll kill him. he said well, you know you never know. so we have to understand that. think he's skmart can fill a lot of voids in this are many knee environment. you have to understand they're going come back at us. have to be prepared for that. >> "wall street journal" thinks ryan is the choice. >> and you know they have promoted him and admire him as weekly standard and other elements of our party. that is important. he's one of the big thinkers of our party. what he did when laying out the budget the obama budget has been dead on arrival budget has been passed by the congress and will be a great enthusiasm. that is the base if romney gets elected it's going to have to be with republican support in the house and no one better than ryan to do that element. and there is a campaign trail wil

romney leads by 45%. more bad news, his unfavorable numbers went up 6 percentage.slast month with registered voters. those numbers may have something to do with negative ads from the obama campaign. in may, only 47 pacers said they were strongly behind him. that's now jumped to 56%. >>> will paul ryan help boost romney's approval rating. 54% of voters don't have a favorable or unfavorable opinion about ryan. the majority of americans don't know enough about him. 45% of republicans said they were unsure about ryan. if they were to choose. they told us they would prefer to see marco rubio, ahead of chris christie or paul ryan. congressman paul ryan is likely to be a lightning rod for republicans and democrats. our chief national correspondent, john king has more on that. >>. >> reporter: for paul ryan, debating joe biden might feel like a donation. >> would you support a line item veto in helping us get a vote on it in the house. >> let me respond to the two specific questions, but i want to push back a lit

gwen:-- >> one of romney's top advisers told me this week, people don't have to like mitt romney, they just need to think he shares their values, was the way he put it so i think you'll see a lot of that family values, religious values. you're going to come away from the convention, they hope, with a much warmer feeling about mitt romney. you'll see his wife, his kids, probably all of his grandkids. you'll have a lot of heartfelt testimonials and that could go a long way in filling that void. gwen: that said, is there a risk in vice president biden coming here to campaign in the midst of republicans' big victory lap? it just seems like kind of unnecessary? >> well, it's unprecedented, but -- [laughter] >> -- to say the least but it strikes me that it is a reminder that conventions today are not what we think of conventions as. we used to describe it as a four-day infomercial in which the party had free run to do whatever it wanted and the partying stood back. that's not the case. the vice president will be here, president obama is on the campaign trail, the networks not covering this w

romney/ryan. sounds right. very alliterative. better than romney/portman. romney/rubio has real cache. here's the problem, and it's showing up already. romney picked a conviction politician, and that, ladies and gentlemen, romney is not. he is a real individualist, and his budget shows it. pull-backs on spending on people in need. more incentives for people on the make, corporate tax cuts on top of bush tax cuts and a squeeze on the old and poor to pay for it. here's the problem, belief is not something romney is known for. conviction is alien to him. romney is a data miner. he doesn't start with the truth. he digs and digs and tries to find what to do based on the data he can mine. not exactly a leader, not close to being a ryan or an obama. ryan believes the government should stay out of our lives. obama believes it has a vital role in the society that would be driven by the market, by profit seeking alone. what does romney believe? we thought for almost two days he believed in ryan and what he stands for. now, we know he likes the sound

>> well, we know ann romney loves mitt romney. that part surely worked. i think she did what she had to do. she talked about her husband, the father of her children, the man she knows personally. she talked about their love affair. and i think it worked for the people that liked mitt romney and like ann romney. i happen to like ann romney very much. i think it didn't work for the people that don't. but i think she did what she had to do. you know, was it subtle? no. but do we have time for subtlety? no. we have to talk to women. we have to talk about mitt romney, personalize him, and eave got two months left. she did what she had to do, and i think she did it well. she got a rousing applause, and a great response from within the party. >> i will say this, ana. i learned more about mitt romney from gloria borger's interview than i did from this speech. most of what ann romney said kind of already knew. didn't she need, roland, to say something different about her husband? >> no. because first of all, the documentary by gloria borger was an hour long, and t

romney or me another tax break? >> you know the romney campaign hit back. a spokesman saying, president obama continues to tout liberal studies calling for more tax hikes and more government spending. funny thing, though, when governor rick perry was still in the race, the romney campaign was more than happy to cite the analysis of the tax policy center and they didn't say anything about it being a liberal study then. in a press release from november, objective third party analysis showed governor perry's plan would raise taxes on millions of american families buzz he doesn't seem interested in the discussion. this time around, it looks like mitt romney isn't interested in the discussion himself. meanwhile, still no republican love for a middle class tax cut in congress. today, house republicans defeated a one-year extension of middle class tax cuts. this is the same bill that democrats passed in the senate and that president obama would gladly sign into law. you can bet president obama will highlight republican intransigence all the way to election day. th

ladies and gentlemen, mitt romney. >> romney: good morning. this is a nice spot. i know there is an effort by some people to try to bring as muchch confusion to the topic of medicare as possible. >> jennifer: oh, mitt, you're just being humble. seriously, take a bough. no one deserves credit for muddying the medicare waters more than you do. it's not just the lies but the conviction with which you tell them. and then today the white board. it was like a magic show and ineligible and stupifyingly and the flip flop performed by romney the ridiculous. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> jennifer: medicare has been in the news all week. but if you're not a political junkie, or if you're not actually getting medicare, the subject of medicare is probably a bit confusing. that is, you know, what exactly what the romney campaign wants. they want to make his position on medicare confusing to you. so today he claimed to simplify things with a little white board routine. but he failed miserably. inspired political shows around the world to break out their own white boards in mock t w

the death of one of romney's -- the wife of one of romney's former employees. that's what some people have taken issue with and the concern for president obama is that his likability ratings are quite high right now. if the negative tone of this campaign continues, some say that's what could be at risk here. >> the other thing that has been buzzing around, john mccain and sarah palin agree on something. whether or not biden is going to be taken off the ticket. >> reporter: talk about swagger, i think carney tried to put that issue to bed. he basically said that vice president biden will be on the ticket, case closed. he also took a bit of a swipe at john mccain saying that he wouldn't take advice from john mccain about picking a vice presidential nominee. this is of course, yes, this is questions that have been swirling around this campaign for the past year, really. will joe biden be on the ticket. today, carney pretty definitively said yes. >> thanks very much and stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. [ female announcer ] did you know the average p

you can't see mitt romney in there. all you see is the republican party. >> he's a generic r. >> exactly. part of what tonight is about is asserting leadership over the party. it is striking. we have been talking about the yufl energy of the party. the physical conservativism that paul ryan represents. >> diverse leadership wise. they have an issue of the support groups but visually a diverse group. >> he has to connect to it and be the leader of it who can translate that into actual governing. that's much more about the poetry and above all else i say coming into the convention it's all about biography. that's what he's got to emphasize tonight. >> quickly, paul ryan, he accomplished the goals of the campaign. >> it's firing up the hall. that was a speech for the base of the -- >> not the swing voters. >> not in message but to the extent he's seen as a serious guy who wants to solve some big problem that's a down payment on reaching independent voter. >> david gregory, see you tonight. thank you, sir. we are just getti

it has sort of generically hurt romney. the romneys don't want to do this. you get the feeling his aides would love to release it and get it out of the way? >> the one thing the obama people keep saying is there has to be a reason why he hasn't released the tax returns and that's starting to resonate with voters, as well. the longer this goes on and as far as the obama campaign is concerned, they'd love for it to go on until election day. >> do you feel it's getting to an expiration date? >> i think so, don't you? >> the cayman islands, bermuda. >> that's one year of tax returns. democrats look at 10 years. >> the romney folks think, i get to the convention, they'll move on. >> and he really opened himself up. this is why candidates don't like taking questions in some circumstances because he had in a previous interview said, i'll go back and look and someone followed up and said, did you look and he didn't -- he gave us a number. no less than 13% and he will have to provide another full report of what he paid for 2011. they've only does the estimate so far.

the old romney. here's a quote about this. ever since splitting up the campaign duties with ryan this weekend, mitt romney seems to have lost the energy he had on the trail with his vp pick. take a look at this afternoon with coal miners. here's not exactly mr. excitement. something about, keep this team together, i would argue, but they aren't and you saw what happened this morning. let's watch. >> that's an impressive scene. you know that right here and right behind me p.m. i'm impressed with men and women who come here and work hard for themselves and their families. your success and hard work helps you and your family, but also, america. i salute you, i appreciate the work you're doing and if i'm president of the united states, i will do everything in my power to make sure you keep jobs and good wages. >> you mean, shrum, this is an opportunity for sheer carcass sarcasm and i'm going to exploit it. he's thanking the coal miners, the most dangerous job, then you go another couple of miles and then

mitt romney, they lose. with republicans like these, who needs democrats? friends, this issue is not going away. this issue is not going away. i'm posing that as a question. i don't think this issue is going away. richard, we know that october 15th is the deadline by which mitt romney needs to release his 2011 tax returns, or at least need to be complete. is that going to be enough? how much longer can they stall on this? >> let's just say that his taxes are really complicated, his accounts need lots of time. >> there are hundreds of thousands of pages, yes. >> the client happens to be running for president, and the election will be just a few weeks after october 15th. i just don't understand why even mitt romney, ann romney, or their heavily paid advisers could not have said, guys, do we think we could release this a little bit before voters are paying all the attention in the world? get it out of the way early. never mind about the previous years and all the rest of it, just release that year's tax returns

and the president is sacking mitt romney on his education plan. >> governor romney says we've got enough teachers. we don't need anymore. >> tonight, super bowl champion warren sap on the president, republicans, and how public education helped make him an nfl legend. >>> good to have you with us tonight, fks. thanks for watching. congressman paul ryan was supposed to bolster the romney campaign's standing with social conservatives, but with congressman todd akin, todd akin in the news, suddenly paul ryan is running away from his core beliefs. here's the vice presidential candidate being interviewed in pittsburgh. >> his statements were outrageous, over the pail. i don't know anybody who wouldn't agree with that. rape is rape, period, end of story. >> really?! the interviewer was quick to spot paul ryan's inconsistent definition of rape. >> you sponsored legislation that has the language "forcible rape." what is forcible rape as opposed to -- >> rape is rape, period. end of story. >> so that "forcible rape" language meant nothing to you at the time? >> rape is rape. and there's no splitti

will the romney/ryan rule -- will the romney/ryan lie about medicare work? 18% of you said yes. 82% of you said no. >>> up next, joe biden and the so-called racist code word. find out why republicans claim the vice president has gone too far, and they want an apology. we're coming right back. >>> in tonight's big finish, republicans must be desperate. they're now accusing vice president joe biden of using racist code to attack mitt romney today. >> unchain wall street. they're going to put you back in chains. >> the romney campaign is actually calling biden's comment a new low in the campaign. and romney surrogate john sununu told andrea mitchell he's outraged. >> going to be folks across the country who are going to try to take that as some kind of code word that is going to suggest that the republicans are trying to be racial in their programs. that's ridiculous. >> but hold the phone. there was no republican outrage when former presidential candidate rick santorum used the same code almost one year ago today. >> because they will put you in chains called

frankly, romney's against it. i mean, romney will say he likes the concept of it, but when you get into the details, obama will say he likes the concept when you get into the details. the problem with simpson/bowles, everyone thinks in concept it's good. if there was an up or down vote today and people read it, not just a sin ynopsis, but the who thing, there are too many things that offend people on both sides. >> northeast of the apprehension is because god forbid a republican should sign off on something that raises taxes. >> i think that's part of it. god forbid, a democrat would argue you're killing medicare, medicaid, what have you. but that's the point of it. which is that it only works because everybody loses in some respects and that's the win. >> right. but paul ryan's objection to it seems to be beyond just partisan politics and third-rail issues. it's, i don't think it's severe enough. i don't think it -- >> two things from what i understand. he thinks it's not severe enough on the health care side and

that wasn't ann romney's job. sdwhat mitt romney say on thursday night? that's the beginning and end. he has to outline something and offer it. >> i hope he takes some maalox because he didn't look too comfortable. >> great having you on set. >>> a navigation app for shoppers. cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. a lot of stores are having these apps. you go in and put in what you want and it shows you where to go. >> absolutely. you don't need to like go around and around sfercearching for th ketchup because you only need your phone. walmart recently added a feature that displays the aisle number of its entire inventory. and later on this year, you'll be able to see floor maps as well. walmart isn't the only one doing this. others like target, home depot, walgreens. they've all got various helpful features such as floor layout plans and those aisle numbers in those apps. retailers traditionally have been reluctant to release detailed merchandising data, but it's kind of become a reality. and mobile apps have become such a huge sales

tax expert rush limbaugh whose tax returns are about as big and complex as romney's rushed to romney's defense, echoing what both mitt and ann romney have said about why they are not releasing the tax returns and doing so in a way that makes it much more clearly an insult to the intelligence of what ann romney would call "you people." >> once they get ten years of tax records, they'll be able to point to something in there that will make the uninformed class think, well, that's outrageous. how in the world did he write that off? he's a tax cheat myrtle. how in the world can we vote for a guy like that? something like that is their objective. doesn't have to be true. all it has to be is complicated. all it has to do is be unusual. all it has to have is something in there that is not quite common. >> harry reid has just issued a statement in response to mitt romney's put up or shut up challenge. it is a long statement. i will read it quickly in part. harry reid says, there is a controversy because the republican presidential nominee governor mitt romney refuses to release his tax returns

romney and mr. ryan will become officially the republic ticket it in just a little bit under a couple hours. this has been a long long process for mitt romney. he started with, at one point, at many as a dozen names being threated around the country. the mentionables. brought it down to a list of three or four in the last several days there was a real emphasis that maybe it was rob portman and maybe tim pawlenty and a buzz began at the beginning of last week that paul ryan height be the pick. in norfolk, virginia but the uss wisconsin obviously kind of hard to overlook as an irony or intentional coincidence for the ticket. insofar as mr. ryan is the congressman from wisconsin and as we have been talking about. the house budget committee chairman with the ryan budget in his portfolio which now becomes a big part of the romney agenda. he was early supporter of the ryan budget when the likes of newt gingrich and other republicans criticized. gingrich called it right wing social engineering and got roun

. >> he's a very articulate spokesperson for governor romney's vision. the problem is it's the wrong vision for america. it's a vision that i fundamentally disagree with. >> and this was paul ryan campaigning today in virginia. >> you get to choose which path you want. do you want the opportunity society with the safety net, the land of the free of upward mobility or do you want more of the same? a debt crisis, a welfare state, a nation in debt, doubt and despair? really clear. gwen: it seems that the distinction is clear. >> the distinction came clear. i was with president obama and one of the things we heard a lot were some of the contrasts, the choices that the president has been talking about a lot, taxes, maybe the auto bailout. but we started to hear about the role of government and the idea of what the romney-ryan ticket would do. the obama campaign felt that it shifted into their direction and some people thought in the romney-ryan world that it shifted in a direction that romney has enjoyed very much in that it made it a bigger argument about th

romney. but republicans in the house have decided anyway they are going for it again. so that was yesterday. yesterday was expanded access to birth control is pearl harbor and 9/11 messaging and politics day. today's big messaging and politics move by republicans in congress who aren't working on real policy was english only. a hearing today on a bill to estaish an official language of the united states. english only. thus barring government employees from ever interacting with or helping nenive citizen with their language unless their native language is english. practically speaking, there is 0% chance this will become law. but the republicans decided to hold this public hearing on it anyway, as matter urgency before leaving town. sure the post office is imploding and it's their fault and we haven't done a farm bill, but we got to get to this important messaging here. we've got to get to this important english only thing. and presumably that means they like the politics in this. they like th

the romney campaign would like as much coverage of ann romney as possible. if they get broadcast coverage she'll stay monday. if they don't it's possible she would move to tuesday. at this hour in flux while they wait and see what kind of television situation they're going to have on monday night. >> they have a'proechd the broadcast networks and ask them to kofrp monday. >> an ongoing dialog and expressed unhappiness about it. in the old days gavel-to-gavel coverage on the broadcast networks and easy to program what you wanted and get coverage. there's been a transition. part is the cable networks do pretty well on those nights. no broadcast coverage you'll see a big audience on cable. don't know if it's the number of eyeballs, demographics, more undecided voters watching broadcast than cable or the symbolism of it. kind of an insult and, you know, not the symbolism you want to have ann romney's speech not be on broadcast television. my guess if they don't get one or two of the broadcast networks on monday based on what they're saying she will move to tuesd

romney's key people. be honest, when you were watching clint eastwood doing his thing, were you gulping for air, were you thinking what the hell is dirty harry? >> clint eastwood is clint eastwood. he did do some improving to make a serious point that 23 million americans are out of work and it is a very big deal and time for a change. >> you must have been a bit queasy. he was supposed to speak for five minutes. he ad libbed for another seven. at one point, you have dirty harry talking to an empty chair. >> he ad libbed but he was making a very serious point. the crowd loved it. you can't look at clint eastwood, an american icon. you can't look at him through the same political lens you would other politicians. he is clint eastwood. >> if you wake up tomorrow and the headlines are, clint eastwood goes bonkers. >> they won't be, because mitt romney had a killer speech. he did three things that were very important for him to do. he talked about his positive vision for the future and where he wants to take

, or is it mitt romney? >> don't worry. they were watching fox. everybody was watching fox. >> gretchen: a lot of people were. >> i think that's right. i'm not bragging. but i'll tell you this, i think people liked watching the speeches and liked watching what was happening at the convention despite the fact we are so bright, bushy eye tailed and all that. i thought mitt romney's best was speaking to people who may be on the fence and who still think, i was excited to vote for barak obama and last night i felt like he was speaking to those people very directly and not in the way that some other republicans have directly attacking president obama, but more with the sense of regret. you know, it just didn't work. this guy really isn't up to the job, et cetera. now, part for me of what i hoped he would do was to soften that image. i don't think he is interested f what i saw last night. he let those other folks that you were referring to, gretchen, do that job for him. and so what he's going to have to do is not

48% obama/biden, 47% romney/ryan. going into the dramatic back-to-back conventions, a dead heat in this race. you talk to anybody in the campaigns, they say both candidates have to be as good as can be during conventions. the debates i think will settle the race. >> we also have more numbers on abortion rights in the aftermath of the comments of todd akin. share with our viewers what we're learning in terms of shifts on abortion. >> it's fascinating. you have akin and the rape controversy, the abortion controversy and you have the republican platform which says it calls for outlawing all abortions, even in the cases of rape, incest and life of the mother. even a lot of republicans don't go that far. if you look at the poll numbers, 35% of our likely voters say it should be legal in all circumstances, 9% say most circumstances, 37% say a few circumstances. only 15% say no circumstances. the republican platform is out of touch, out of step with the american people. but look at this, do people think governor romney is go

but rather about mitt romney's finances, about mitt romney personally and mitt romney's policies the democrats could argue the country would like even less than what the president's done. i don't think they've knocked him out. i think they've laid down a solid foundation. if romney hits his marks, the convention speech debates. i think he probably would win. but i think the president and his allies and staff are doing and will continue to do a pretty aggressive job defining the election on their terms. >> same to you, gene. i wonder. can you knock the guy out even if you have a fantastic august blasting the guy? can you knock him out of the ring he can't come back no matter what he does? >> i think you can. i don't think the obama campaign has definitively knocked him out. he's not knocked out. i think he's been damaged. look, obama won the summer. he has won the summer. romney wants to win the fall. >> i love the way they do this. i didn't think you could do it in a presidential election this early. let's look at a gallup poll late last month on who was more likab likable. twice as

why couldn't mitt romney have picked him? why couldn't romney pick him? because bob mcdonnell blew his chances when he became governor ultrasound, right? forcing medically unnecessary ultra sounds on virginia women and forcing them to pay for it. yes, bob mcdonnell blew it, and so mitt romney instead went with the budget want guy, with none of that baggage. except paul ryan is not just the budget want guy. budget want guy.. in addition to his sponsoring the ban on all abortions and the most popular forms of birth control and most invitro fertilization in the country, he has also supported a federal version of bob mcdonnell's virginia forced ultrasound bill. he sponsored a federal bill to force women seeking an abortion to undergo a medical procedure regardless of whether or not they want it, regardless of whether or not their doctor thinks it's the right decision, but just because the government says you have to. the latest nbc/wall street journal poll has mitt romney losing women to president obama by 15 points. so i guess now is as good a time as any to

mitt romney's plan for a stronger middle class will put work back iwelfare. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. will put work back iwelfare. you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, ani am a phoenix. find the program that's right for you at phoenix.edu/beltway chris: welcome back. something a little different this week. a potential game-changing factor. a real game-changer that could upend things after p convention. don't count the debates. >> we blew out iran. well, israel blows out iran. that's a game-changer. rally around the president. but what position does he and what position does mitt romney take on that? chris: yeah, because he gets credit for it. >> he gets credit in helping israel. we're not going to say to israel, how dare you. chris: kelly? >> the game-changers would be that unforeseen events, whether it's overseas or domestic,

romney ryan 2012. he walker who fought off a recall effort in june successfully and has made that case a big issues matter. how does he factor into this campaign and how does he factor in moving forward? >> he factors in in a pretty significant way. the day after the recall election the day after on june 6th paul ryan came out and did a series of interviews that folths morning when he was asked about the meaning of the recall and what it means. rather than look backwards scott walker who ron the recall decided to look forward and urged mitt romney to make a bold bick to run on this reformed conservatism. no one urged him to do that. scott walker made the case. he helped the fact that he could win a recall election when he did level with people. we are going to make the hard decisions and make these difficult changes and it's going to work. you started to see that work. that is one of the reasons scott walker won the recall election. that is one of the reasons wall ryan was able to be picked. you talked

romney. i think that's the order of things. i think what you're seeing, i would agree with bob on this point. there has been sort of a disconnect or a disconcerted effort to try to bring all this together. quite frankly, if you're going to go and open up this election, which i think it should be, to a choice election, where you're going to bring ryan in, then you'd better have that script together. be on the same page from the first interview with cbs and 60 minutes where he started distancing himself saying i got my own plan, to what you just played last night where he goes well, our plans are pretty much the same. you cannot start this argument. again, i agree with bob, this national debate on substance where you're showing that well, maybe we haven't worked out exactly what the substance is. >> whatever your politics watching the show now, you want to know what these guys are going to do if they get in there. we know what obama's going to do. so the question is what is romney going to do.

and romney is going first. i remember leaving atlanta with michael dukasis and there were 17 points ahead. guess what? he lost 40 states. he would love to boost his number there. and more than a two or three point bounce, they go deeper in the polls. candy is right. the obama people have defined govern or romney in the ving and summer as a rich guy, but they've made the case he doesn't care about the middle class. that's when they have to move. does he care? does he understand? does he get your problems? and governor romney leads among seniors. he needs to boost that number. because when the democratic convention comes down a week later, they are going to hammer romney and ryan on medicare. so romney needs to boost his standing among all the voters and get to the perception that the obama people needs to paint, he doesn't care about every day americans. >> thank you. >>> an amazing story coming up. a texas county judge is facing calls to resign from his position after saying civil car with break out if obama is

they bent over backwards to analyze the romney plan in a very favorable fashion to mitt romney and it still didn't add up. president obama's new line of attack on romney's tax plan continued today on the campaign trail in orlando, florida. >> he's asking you to pay more so that people like him can pay less. so that people like me pay less. first they said there's a liberal organization. despite the fact it's headed by an economist who worked for george bush. then they said that the study failed to fully take into account the massive economic boom that would come from cutting taxes on the wealthiest americans and the biggest corporations. because we all know how well that worked out the last time we tried it. >> the obama campaign also revealed a digital tool to calculate the effect of the romney tax plan. >> just enter some simple information to see how much you'll save thanks to president obama and you'll also see how much extra you would pay under mitt romney. >> now, let me get this straight. in the course of 24 hours since the release of this independent analysis, president obama

2.0, romney from the primaries, romney, who has changed all these positions, that is a connective tissue with all the other ways that he is coming down to the right. >> speaking of mitt romney, the presumptive republican presidential nominee is now speaking at an ohio coal mine, there to highlight how his energy policy differs from that of the president. it's interesting because we are talking about the big issues which is fiscal policy, budget, social programs, the american social safety net, women's issues, social issues, and the two folks running for the highest office in the land are talking about wind energy, which certainly is not an unimportant thing, but if you talk about what's on the mind of voters, i don't think -- >> well, in iowa, it's a big deal. there's a lot of wind farms and jobs there. >> exactly. if you talk about winning iowa, that's a different story entirely. i think ari, to your point, patricia, to yours, too, on face value, i understand how conservative women or single working women may think paul ryan is trying to clean this up, he really cares about fiscal prior

here romney, you know, romney hasn't done that at all. if he had doubled down on who he is, if he had said, if he had picked rob portman and said this guy knows more about the federal budget and federal government than anybody i know, the two of us, that's our job. our job is to get this thing back on track and that's why i picked him that would have at least doubled down on the message that he's going to make things better. >> rose: would it have put ohio in play. >> yeah i thought before he made the pick that ryan would be a bad pick politically. after the first few days i thought this is work out better than i thought it would. >> rose: and today? >> today i think people did not talk about is ryan qualified to be vice president. i thought he is a young g and younger looking guyment that has not been much of the debate. if he gets to the fall he does well in dedebate people will say that say a good governing pick, a good pick for the right reasons, i think this could work out to be a net plus. >> did the romney team see this as a roll o

>> well, as governor romney has made clear, if the romney, sorry, if the ryan budget had come to his desk as budget, he would have signed it of course, and one of the reasons that he chose congressman ryan is his willingness to put forward innovative solutions in the budget. but it is the romney/ryan ticket, and as president romney will be putting forth his own budget, but in terms of the medicare proposal that senator wyden and congressman ryan have put together, and the ryan/wyden plan is something that governor romney agrees is an approach to take, and we need to save medicare for future generations, which ip collu which including giving people the option to stay in the current system if they choose or other options or reforms that could save it for future generation generations. >> you have heard the obama campaign argue that this just puts the costs on seniors, and it will leave them out there as the premium prices continue to rise. you look at a state like florida, but plenty of ther states where senior vote is very important, and you understand, ed, more than anyone, how this

candidate romney is not saying whether a president romney would keep this new policy or throw it out. leading republicans in congress are calling for him to throw it out, if he gets the chance. they know what they want from a president romney. as we hurdle toward the november election, it seems like faster and faster now, that mitt romney is on his way to losing latino voters, to going worse among latino voters than any republican nominee since before george bush. remember the primary when mitt romney was mr. 23%? he is still that guy, with latino voters. one poll in july showed mr. romney polling at only 22% among hispanic voters. another one from nbc showed mr. romney with 23% of the latino vote. this week a poll from politico showed mr. romney had bounced all the way to a horrible 26%. mitt romney is failing to win over latino voters, really badly. and it's not just for esoteric reasons. it's not for stylistic reasons. it's for substance. mr. romney called arizona's "papers, please" law, the anti-immigrant sb-1070 law, as a model for the nation. he helped the lawyer who helped writ