i sat down with beth myers. she would only let me get in a couple of questions about the vice presidential selection because she knew presumably who the choice would be, but we did not. i asked her general questions about what this tells us about the way mitt romney makes decisions. let's take a look. >> you've been very involved in the vetting and the process of choosing a vice presidential running mate which is very, very important. it's the first chance people get to look at how a president makes decisions. so what is it about the process of choosing a vice president, what does that tell us about how mitt romney makes decisions? >> well, that's something i learned working with him as chief of staff in the -- at the governor's office for four years. there is a way -- he's very methodical in making his decisions and what he wants is a couple things. first of all, he wants all the information. and we went -- we went about a thorough process in making we have a lot of information about a broad group. he doesn't l

so you have beth myers going to wisconsin with her daughter early next week. you have the "uss wisconsin" as a backdrop tomorrow. having traveled with this campaign, chuck, and having seen this sort of one after another, this sort of testing ground, the candidates were brought with are mitt romney on the road, it was really clear that romney fed off of paul ryan. our producer at the time really shared the stage with ryan more comfortably than he had with any of the others as they passed the mike back and forth. that personal chemistry played a significant role in the decision that romney has made. another note to consider is we have the conversation about tag romney being the one who indicated that they would not be the choice. tag ryan is the same age as paul ryan. >> i've had people say to me that paul ryan has turned into the sixth son as far as mitt romney was concerned but the policy walk son that he's always wanted. but peter, how's the campaign -- they are not sleeping, i'm guessing right now. they know all of this buzz is out there. do they like all of

beth myers led the search committee. she's cut her teeth in american politics years ago in texas alongside karl rove. the romney campaign said that they would conduct a very long, very intense vet prog ses that would be unprecedented in the depth it would go to ensure they'd pick the right person for the job. and there is a lot of unthese yachl. because the buzz has gotten so pronounced there is a possibility that any selection other than him might disappoint some conservatives concerned that rob portman, tim pawlenty, capable wex peer yens in government may not bring the type of chemistry that the romney ticket might need. there is marco rubio, florida u.s. senator who could help with hispanics across the country, coming from the important swing state of florida. ruby yoe would be exactly the type of spark romney might need in order to not only court latinos maiblging up a key, growing coalition but also to win a very important state and to inject a new set of enthusiasm and begin to change the face of the republican pa

ryan, we have now learned from beth myers who is in charge, flew from chicago, not to boston, the direct route, instead went to hartford, connecticut, nearly two hours away, where he was picked up by beth myers' 19-year-old son in a rented suv. ryan was not detected, david, because he was wearing jeans, a ball cap, and sunglasses. and then yesterday, or friday, as reporters were staking out his home before the announcement was made, paul ryan came home for memorial service for the victims of the shooting at the sikh temple, went in where reporters saw him and went out a back door in his own neighborhood, going through some densely packed woods where he was picked up by an aide, taken to a nearby airport, flown to the virginia area where he stayed in a nondescript hotel, eating take-out food with his family. he didn't even tell his own mom that he had been selected as the vice president's pick, david, until after midnight saturday morning. >> good stuff. peter alexander on the campaign trail for us in north carolina. great piece about all of this, too, on our nbc politics website, as well

instead went to hartford, connecticut, nearly two hours away, where he was picked up by beth myers' 19-year-old son in a rented suv. ryan was not detected, david, because he was wearing jeans, a ball cap, and sunglasses. and then yesterday, or friday, as reporters were staking out his home before the announcement was made, paul ryan came home for the memorial service for the victims of the shooting at the sikh temple, went in where reporters saw him and left out a back door in his own neighborhood, going through some densely packed woods where he was picked up by an aide, taken to a nearby airport, flown to the virginia area where he stayed in a nondescript hotel, eating take-out food with his family. he didn't even tell his own mom that he had been selected as the vice presidential pick, david, until after midnight saturday morning. >> good stuff. peter alexander on the campaign trail for us in north carolina. great piece about all of this, too, on our nbc politics website as well. let me turn now to the chair of the republican national committee, reince priebus. welcome, chairman. a

our chief political analyst, gloria borger, spoke with beth myers, who headed romney's search for a running mate. >> you've been very involved in the vetting and the process of choosing a vice presidential running mate, which is very, very important. it's the first chance people get to look at how a president makes decisions. so what is it about the process of choosing a vice president, what does that tell us about how mitt romney makes decisions? >> well, that's something i learned, working with him, as chief of staff in the governor's office for four years, that there is a way -- he's very methodical in making his decisions. and what he wants is a couple things. first of all, he want always the information. and we went about a very thorough process in making sure we had a lot of information, about a broad group. he also doesn't like to rule anything out, until he has to. so, you know, the first swath was broad. and we got a good cut of information about a lot of people. he then narrowed it down, and we got even more information. we got personal information from each of the potential candi

as you heard beth myers talk about. in many ways you used the phrase "junior partner." some republicans have said that in fact paul ryan is kind of like a guy that mitt romney might have hired at bain capital. he thinks he's innovative. he thinks he's smart. and so he is in a sense the perfect junior partner. but aside from the personal side of it, and these two do get along very well, and they clearly click and their families click, there's also the presidential campaign side of it which is not to be under estimated. and that is i think the romney campaign took a look at where they are. and they probably said to themselves, you know what? just running against president obama and the lousy economy wasn't getting them a presidential lead. so what they decided to do and the choice of paul ryan, what that does is it focuses the presidential race, sharpens it to the fiscal issues, to the deficit issues, to entitlement reform, and allows mitt romney to take a message of what he will do in the future to help salvage the economy to the american people because when you run for

our chief political analyst, gloria borger, spoke with beth myers who headed romney's search for a running mate. >> reporter: you've been very involved. >> yep. >> reporter: in the vetting and the process of choosing a vice presidential running mate which is very, very important. it's the first chance people get to look at how a president makes decisions. so what is it about the process of choosing a vice president, what does that tell us about how mitt romney makes decisions? >> well, that's something i've learned working with him as chief of staff in the governor's office for four years. there is a way, because he's very methodical in making his decisions. and what he wants is a couple things. first of all, he wants all the information. and we went about a very thorough process in making sure we had a lot of information about a broad group. he also doesn't like to rule anything out until he has to. you know, the first swath was brought. we got a good cut of information about a lot of people. he then narrowed it down. and we got even more information. we got personal information from each

our chief political analyst, gloria borger, spoke with beth myers, who headed romney's search for a running mate. >> you've been very involved in the vetting and the process of choosing a vice presidential running mate, which is very, very important. it's the first chance people get to look at how a president makes decisions. so what is it about the process of choosing a vice president, what does that tell us about how mitt romney makes decisions? >> well, that's something i leard, working with him, as chief of staff in the governor's office for four years, that there is a way -- he's very methodical in making his decisions. and what he wants is a couple things. first of all, he want always the information. and we went about a very thorough process in making sure we had a lot of information, about a broad group. he also doesn't like to rule anything out, until he has to. so, you know, the first swath was broad. and we got a good cut of information about a lot of people. he then narrowed it down, and we got even more information. we got personal information from each of the potential candida

our chief political analyst gloria borger spoke with beth myers, who headed romney's search for a running mate. >> you've been very involved in the vetting and the process of choosing a vice presidential running mate, which is very, very important. it's the first chance people get to look at how a president makes decisions. so what is it about the process of choosing a vice president, what does that tell us about how mitt romney makes decisions? >> well, that's something i learned, working with him, as chief of staff in the governor's office for four years, that there is a way -- he's very methodical in making his decisions. and what he wants is a couple of things. first of all, he want always the information. and we went about a very thorough process in making sure we had a lot of information about a broad group. he also doesn't like to rule anything out, until he has to. so, you know, the first swath was broad. and we got a good cut of information about a lot of people. he then narrowed it down, and we got even more information. we got personal information from each of the potential can

our chief political analyst, gloria borger, spoke with beth myers, who headed romney's search for a running mate. >> you've been very involved in the vetting and the process of choosing a vice presidential running mate, which is very, very important. it's the first chance people get to look at how a president makes decisions. so what is it about the process of choosing a vice president, what does that tell us about how mitt romney makes decisions? >> well, that's something i learned, working with him, as chief of staff in the governor's office for four years, that there is a way -- he's very methodical in making his decisions. and what he wants is a couple things. first of all, he want always the information. and we went about a very thorough process in making sure we had a lot of information, about a broad group. he also doesn't like to rule anything out, until he has to. so, you know, the first swath was broad. and we got a good cut of information about a lot of people. he then narrowed it down, and we got even more information. we got personal information from each of the potential candi

beth myers remembers getting a call from romney in january. >> i'm thinking about running for governor and would you have any interest in helping me run my campaign? >> massachusetts had a republican governor, jane swift, but party leaders saw her as weak, so they came to romney in a panic. >> jane swift gets wind of this and two days later she bows out. she's out and mitt romney is in. he flies back to belmont with his wife, ann, they're both wearing olympic jackets and give a press conference and the campaign's begun. >> romney's spokesman. >> it was like being launched out of a rocket. >> how you doing? >> as you know, this is a very democratic state. the legislature is 85% democrat, very few republicans make it into statewide office. so we had a fight on our hands. >> he ran as a moderate on social issues, vowing to clean up state government. >> would you raise your right hand, please? >> it worked. >> congratulations, governor. >> thank you. >> from the beginning, romney relied on a small set of advisors, beth myers, who has never spoken on camera before, was chief of staff. >> pe

myers. last night, myers described the painstaking process where several years of tax returns were locked in a safe inside romney's boston headquarters each night. myers says romney made the decision august 1st and wanted to offer paul ryan the job in person. but how to get them together? instead of flying directly in to boston sure to raise reporter's eyebrows, the campaign booked ryan to hartford two hours away where the wisconsin congressman was picked up at a rented suv by myers' 19-year-old son. dressed in a ball cap, sunglasses and jeans, ryan went undetected the entire way. why was it so important to keep this new republican ticket secret until the very last minute? the maximize fund raising and crowds. and the last two days with paul ryan by his side, mitt romney's had the most enthusiastic crowds in his entire campaign. the campaign said it raised roughly $3.5 million online, about the same amount it reported on an average day last month. just one day before the announcement, ryan s

beth myers, the woman who helped mitt romney put this ticket together. she speaks to our open gloria borjer. hnology on the biggest networks. i mean look at these smartphones. whoah! will you show them? absolutely. we've got great 4g lte smartphones like this droid razr by motorola from verizon. wow verizon? you bet. you love the price. he loves the phone. let's dance! get unlimited talk, unlimited text and shareable data with verizon's new share everything plan. and now get the droid razr by motorola from verizon for only $89.88 on america's fastest 4g network. now at walmart. on america's fastest 4g network. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. but they haven't experi

the four-month vp vetting process involved only a landful of top aides and supervised by beth myers. myers explained a pain staking process where tax returns were locked in a safe each night. myers says romney made his decision august 1st. how to get them together instead of flying directly into boston the campaign booked ryan on a flight to hartford two hours away where the wisconsin congressman was picked up in a rented suv by myers 19-year-old son. ryan went undetected the entire way. >> why is it so important to keep this republican secret until the last minute? to maximize fundraising and crowds. mitt romney has had enthusiastic audiences. the campaign says it raised roughly $3.5 million online. just one day before the announcement ryan snuck out the back door of his home marching through these woods to a nearby street where he was picked up by an aid and wisked off on a private jet to north carolina. the ryan family hid out in a hotel eating takeout. that night ryan did let one other person in on his secret calling his mom hours before stepping out on to the national stage. pet

beth myers, the woman who helped mitt romney put this ticket together. she speaks to our open gloria borjer. hnology on the biggest networks. i mean look at these smartphones. whoah! will you show them? absolutely. we've got great 4g lte smartphones like this droid razr by motorola from verizon. wow verizon? you bet. you love the price. he loves the phone. let's dance! get unlimited talk, unlimited text and shareable data with verizon's new share everything plan. and now get the droid razr by motorola from verizon for only $89.88 on america's fastest 4g network. now at walmart. on america's fastest 4g network. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abunda natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. but they haven't experien

a long time romney aide beth myers was the manager. the team created a short list on may 1st. romney made the decision to select ryan on august 1st. they were originally going to announce the pick on friday. but ryan attended a memorial service for those killed in the sikh item le pl massacre. mitt romney and paul ryan added a visit to ryan's home state team kicked off the tour in the swing state of virginia. we have that along with response from democrats. >> reporter: thousands waved romney/ryan signs as the team arrived at ma tamas sas. paul ryan drew a crowd that overflowed the pavilion. >> this is a terrific welcome and a pretty clear indication that come november 6th, america virginia is going to vote for romney/ryan. >> reporter: they chose the backdrop of uss wisconsin to introduce a running mate that's chair of the house budget committee, known for his plan to deeply slash government spending. but ryan kept his focus on opponent barack obama. >> the president has shown us, his aspirations for a government-centered society with a government-run economy. it's not workin

>> that is a difficult question to answer without having beth myers in the room to get i think that marco rubio would have represented a lot of sense to the national ticket and that republicans are aware of that. there was energy, popularity, through his appeal in florida through his appeal to certain religious groups through the possibility that he could media during some latino votes thing. at the same time he was battling against some perceived or real liabilities. one of them is an experienced ? i'm not sure is a completely legitimate question since or concern because she had such long experience in the florida legislature and was speaker of the house but much more governing experience than president obama had when he ran. then there were vetting issues. the story about his family migration being one. he also had an issue with a republican party of florida credit card he was using for personal expenses and had to repay those, say was a mistake that it undercuts his narrative as a small government conservative. then his friendship with congressman david rivera who has been controversy

that happened at beth myers' dining room table about a week ago. romney made the offer. of course, ryan accepted. culminating friday with the press tracking paul ryan's every move and the other candidates' every move. what ryan did, he went out his back door and snuck through a wooden ravine. at the other end of the woods he was met by a car, drove to the airport, flew to north carolina and drove completely unnoticed to virginia. >> paul ryan did seem to energize mitt romney yesterday? >> there's no question that he has brought energy into the campaign at least now and had an impact on romney himself. >> the next vmt of the united states and i are going to lay out for america of hope and opportunity and progress and achievement and individual accomplishments. we're going to stand for america and we're going to win! >> and so president obama isn't going to be able to run for re-election on his record because it's a terrible record. he's going to divide the country to distract the country to win this election by default. >> late last night, romney told us that it's now ins

he has beth myers, someone he really trusts and has a lot of confidence in, who is a lawyer herself, very carefully going through some of the potential candidates. >> sean: ltoday, we heard the name general patreas. apparently, according to what i read, petraeus said that that is who governor romney wanted to choose. what do you think of that choice? >> well, look, i am a gig fan of general petraeus. i think of what he did in terms of the surge in iscprak in -- iraq and afghanistan, he was the architect of some of our most successful military operations in recent history. i think that one reason the obama administration put him in the cia was to put him out of command. i don't think they wanted to listen to his advice, which in many instances, asked for more troops than he was willing to give in order to secure victory. i have a lot of respect for him. i see that general petraeus came out and said, absolutely not. he is not going to run for elective office. but, look, i think we have many, many young people on the republican side. you know, we have a really deep edge. i think it's a

the process of picking ryan was a top secret one led by one of romney's long-time aides beth myers. she spoke to glorj ya about how mitt romney vetted his picks. >> the first swath was brought. we got a good cut of information about people. he then narrowed it down and we got more information. personal information from each of the potential candidates. and then mitt took these candidate dossiers and he thought about them. he read all of them word for word. we narrowed it down once again and we did, you know, an even more deep dive on them and then gave them the final product. >> so what was romney's number one criteria? myers said that his running mate would be qualified to be president. for more let's bring in republican strategist ron bonjean. good morning, ron. >> good morning to you. >> one of the things you notice about this team is a general asian difference. romney is seasoned while ryan is the rising star, just 42 years old. is this the jolt that the romney campaign needed, do you think, not just with the base but with the broader electorate? >> i think absolutely, you know.

the process of picking ryan was a top secret one led by one of romney's long-time aides beth myers. she spoke to glorj ya about how mitt romney vetted his picks. >> the first swath was brought. we got a good cut of information about people. he then narrowed it down and we got more information. personal information from each of the potential candidates. and then mitt took these candidate dossiers and he thought about them. he read all of them word for word. we narrowed it down once again and we did, you know, an even more deep dive on them and then gave them the final product. >> so what was romney's number one criteria? myers said that his running mate would be qualified to be president. for more let's bring in republican strategist ron bonjean. good morning, ron. >> good morning to you. >> one of the things you notice about this team is a general asian difference. romney is seasoned while ryan is the rising sta just 42 years old. is this the jolt that the romney campaign needed, do you think, not just with the base but with the broader electorate? >> i think absolutely, you know. t

myers, his long time aide who's heading up the vice presidential search. some people went so far to tell me he still hadn't made up his mind. i have to believe that he has made the decision now, but this is like trying to get into fort knox to find out who he has picked. we are on high alert. we'll have reporters on that bus as he starts out in virginia on saturday. then goes to north carolina on sunday. and he'll be staying on the bus all next week. i'm beginning to think that sometime next week he's going to make this decision. hope we can find out before anybody else does, but we're ready for it. newt gingrich is going to be with us on sunday. you know, whatever else wasn't to say about newt gingrich, he's always good for a quote or two. so i think at this point in the campaign, it will be kind of fun to talk to him and see where he thinks all this is and where it goes from here. >> i'm sure he'll have a lot to say. bob, let me just ask you about this ad that came out this week that the romney camp released sort of attacking president obama saying that

that happened at beth myers' dining room table in michigan about a week ago. romney made the offer. of course, ryan accepted. culminating friday with the press tracking paul ryan's every move and the other candidates' every move. what ryan did, he went out his back door and snuck through a wooden ravine. at the other end of the woods he was met by a car, that drove him to an airport in illinois, flew to north carolina and drove completely unnoticed to norfolk, virginia, for the announcement. >> and paul ryan did seem to energize mitt romney yesterday? >> there's no question that he has brought energy into the campaign at least now and had an impact on romney himself. >> the next vice president of the united states and i are going to lay out a vision for america of hope and opportunity and progress and achievement and individual accomplishments. we're going to stand for america and we're going to win! >> and so president obama isn't going to be able to run for re-election on his record because it's a terrible record. he's going to divide the country to distract the country, to try an

how difficult was it for you to provide all the information they wanted apparently beth myers conducted a very intense review of all of the possibilities. >> well, i thought governor romney made a great choice. he had a lot of options. i think we have a very talented bench and team and just to be mentioned in those -- with those other great leaders was an honor for me. but i'm thrilled with this pick. this now laser focuses the issues on the economy and jobs and debt and deficit, the things that president obama has been trying to avoid. he wants to talk about everything from tax returns to bain capital to contraception but the people of america are concerned about getting the great country out of debt and back to work. i think this was the right choice. nobody knows more about the federal budget than paul ryan. he'll be a great asset to mitt. >> can we just, before we leave the subject of the vet, can you tell us how many years of tax returns you submitted? >> no. but thanks for asking. i can only tell you they had everything that they needed from me and everybody else to make a very go

>> beth myers called. >> greta: and i suppose you said yes right away? >> yes, of course. i would be honored to speak at the convention. listen, i've been a strong believer and support are of governor romney since 2008. the past, you know, 3 1/2 years we've watched under president obama proves even more how great president romney will be for this country. i'm honored to be there. i'm honored to represent the state of south carolina. i'm honored to represent a good group of governors who understand that we've got to get washington turned around. >> greta: i actually remember coming down to south carolina during the primary, and interviewed both you and governor romney. you were an early supporter of governor romney. all right, so you got a message. what's your message for your speech? or have you got it started yet? >> yeah. we're just now starting to work that out. this is going to be easy, because, you know, i heard you talking with reince about the whole harry reid situation. president obama has a lapdog for everything single day. his job is to make sure that they can pu

>> beth myers called. >> greta: and i suppose you said yes right away? >> yes, of course. i would be honored to speak at the convention. listen, i've been a strong believer and support are of governor romney since 2008. the past, you know, 3 1/2 years we've watched under president obama proves even more how great president romney will be for this country. i'm honored to be there. i'm honored to represent the state of south carolina. i'm honored to represent a good group of governors who understand that we've got to get washington turned around. >> greta: i actually remember coming down to south carolina duringhe primary, and interviewed both you and governor romney. you were an early supporter of governor romney. all right, so you got a message. what's your message for your speech? or have you got it started yet? >> yeah. we're just now starting to work that out. this is going to be easy, because, you know, i heard you talking with reince about the whole harry reid situation. president obama has a lapdog for everything single day. his job is to make sure that they can put

he has beth myers, someone he really trusts and has a lot of confidence in, who is a lawyer herself, very carefully going through some of the potential candidates. >> sean: ltoday, we heard the name general patreas. apparently, according to what i read, petraeus said that that is who governor romney wanted to choose. what do you think of that choice? >> well, look, i am a gig fan of general petraeus. i think of what he did in terms of the surge in iscprak in -- iraq and afghanistan, he was the architect of some of our most successful military operations in recent history. i think that one reason the obama administration put him in the cia was to put him out of command. i don't think they wanted to listen to his advice, which in many instances, asked for more troops than he was willing to give in order to secure victory. i have a lot of respect for him. i see that generalout and said,. he is not going to run for elective office. but, look, i think we have many, many young people on the republican side. you know, we have a really deep edge. i think it's a terrific time to be eye republ

mitt romney himself and the head of his vice presidential search effort beth myers. they kept it close to the vest. even talk there was a plan perhaps to have done the announcement not today but even yesterday but pushed it back because of the sikh temple shooting in order to allow for ma memorial and tragedy to get a day behind them. an opportunity for the candidate to liven his campaign. we saw it it today. a new bounce in mitt romney's step and paul ryan and mitt romney complement one another on the stage and there was a moment in fact when paul ryan himself showed a little bit of h his ability to criticize the president as well as compliment the man at top of the ticket. here is paul ryan. >> now, we need leadership. we don't need attack. we don't need blame. we need leadership. we need someone of principle. someone of achievement. someone of integrity. that man is standing next to me he. his name is mitt romney and he is going to be the next president of the united states! >> reporter: paul ryan endorsed mitt romney in the republican primaries early on. mr. romn

>> beth myers called. >> greta: and i suppose you said yes right away? >> yes, of course. i would be honored to speak at the convention. listen, i've been a strong believer and support are of governor romney since 2008. the past, you know, 3 1/2 years we've watched under president obama proves even more how great president romney will be for this country. i'm honored to be there. i'm honored to represent the state of south carolina. i'm honored to represent a good group of governors who understand that we've got to get washington turned around. >> greta: i actually remember coming down to south carolina and tonef the skin, it's important that you have si. president obama has a lapdog for everything single day. his job is to make sure that they can put out distractions every day until the election. governor romney has credits and proven results for every single day, whether it was making sure that he brought jobs into his state, whether it was making sure he turned the olympics around and made it's a source of pride. you know, whether we look at everything that he's done in

myers said it's ryan and offered it to ryan in person on august 5th. now, it's interesting they put that out there just as there was sort of this perk -- this story bubbling up that hey, remember all last week after august 1st if you will there was this churn of "the wallurnal" editorial page bill kristol, rich lowery of "national review," pushing ryan and so they certainly don't like this idea they don't want to make it look as if romney was responding to the -- to the base, if you will or to the conservative elites that this is what he had to do. >> there's no way to check that story, is there? >> no way to check it. and my sense is it's my understanding that he and ryan really bonded a lot. there were some folks on the campaign that never thought the ryan idea was going to fly. that it was more nervous about it, seen too risky, say, two months ago, but it's my understanding romney just developed a bond with this guy and that never was shaken. if you were to ask me all the reporting we've done and then you throw in some of the gut of what you think y