rob portman, of course, the sna senator from that state. he hails from a place that i think is 59% of the vote he won in the 2010 senate campaign in that state. he's from the cincinnati area, an area that could be critical going forward. and, as it's been described, if you're looking for sort of the exact opposite of sarah palin four years ago, it might be rob portman, a former congressman, u.s. trade representative. he played i believe barack obama in 2008, john edwards in 2004, as well as hillary clinton in 2000 2000. >> let's talk about the last few days on the campaign trail. you've been traveling with the romney camp for a while . he's been behind in the polls. >> reporter: veronica? >> yes. can you hear me? i was asking you, peerlter, abo the latest poll numbers for romney. he's fall cen some six to nine percentage points. what does the campaign have to say about that? it seems that we've lost peter alexander. peter alexander has been on the campaign trail with mitt romney and we've been speaking to him in northern virginia. peter, ar

now, having talked to rob portman quite a bit covering him on the hill, one of the things he has said is he'll work as hard for mitt romney in ohio whether he's on the ticket or not. believing that for any republican a win in ohio is a must-have in order to win the white house. you know the history there. and ohio is critical. portman was in part considered a likely choice because he has done so well in his cincinnati house district, now a statewide office holder, and has won by big margins. although not a big name all across the state. as you mentioned earlier, had he been selected, there would have been a home state boosterism that might have helped some say, maybe as much as three points. rob portman was also considered a favorite choice among many in congress who i would talk to who believed that paul ryan as a house member would be less likely simply because he was a member of the house and had not had the national kind of job responsibilities that portman had had. but the headline is that rob portman has been notified personally by mitt romney that he will not be the running mea

rob portman of ohio. and there is senator the of ohio also a good choice. >> and there is ohio the winner of every presidential election since 1960. other thing is that it's steady. and the bush administration he is considered the safest pick. and right. we talk about safety. rob portman, safe pick. and do you see it like that? >> well, you know look there is a lot of democrat say they're just licking their chops on paul ryan's budget but they were going to do that regardless. and the risk in ryan is this. is that he is a member of congress and a relatively little-known person, known inside political junkies he's wem known but someone going to have to be introduced to the whole country. and that -- that is a different kind of thing. and this is a real profile for his self. >> romney praised his budget describing this as marvelous. >> yes. that is the point is that no matter what he does, whether tomorrow morning at 8:45, it's, if he picks ryan or doesn't it doesn't matter he's going to have to own paul ry

this boom for paul ryan, as it leaked out what the short list was, and that short list, rob portman, tim pawlenty, and then as it was learned that paul ryan was indeed truly on the short list and there hadn't been -- it was never known for sure. i remember the first time we started tracking paul ryan, he told our producer, you should be in ohio. what are you doing here? but even he didn't know he was truly being looked at as closely as he was. there had been a chorus of support growing for ryan among a group of conservatives, that what would they have said had he gone with one of the other two blander choices? >> he was boxed in this that regard. he would have faced rebellion from conservatives in his own party. the very conservatives he had just finally been trying to win over after the contentious primary when he was not their first choice. so this could have become a big problem for him if he had not chosen ryan. that said, he's buying into some other problems. clearly they know this. they've gleaned this completely. they know this is a more controversial choice, but ultimately, t

we've heard several names, rob portman, tim pawlenty, marco rubio. it may be paul ryan generating that vice presidential buzz. again, msnbc is going to be carrying that live tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern. i'm in the msnbc newsroom. more live coverage right after a break. . >> everything is related to drugs. one way or another, it's related to drugs. one way or another, it has to deal with drugs. that's the downfall. >> drugs have always played a big huge factor in prison. that will never change. >> 10:30 appointment, please. how are you, dear? >> hanging in there. >> all right. it's nonstop from 7:30 to 2:00. we're processing family members, friends into the institution to see incarcerated inmates. interaction with the family and friends is vital to their release. good morning, dear. i respect them. for what they -- what they're doing. not just giving up on -- on the guy, you know. saying, you know what, he's made his bed, he's going to lay in it. i'm moving on to somebody else. because what can he do for me while he's locked up? nothing. so

has been informed and rob portman has been officially informed. it also confirms what we've been reporting, the short list for the last week. not any other phone calls, that the short list had narrowed to three and perhaps it was that short for even longer and maybe that's something we'll find out. but to the point of rob portman and tim pawlenty going through this process and not being picked, you've seen others that have not gone through this process. what does it still do for their careers? >> it's very painful. i think when you get passed over once, let's try to think whether someone has been passed over once and then been chosen. perhaps john edwards was in the mix earlier on, one time prior, but i think once you get passed over, it's very, very difficult. the exposure, the -- what you've been through, the fact that all of us, all the networks have been staked out outside of their homes, and we've been trying not to bother them and their families and be very low key about it, but they've been through a pretty torturous process, plus, turning

less flamboyant and the tim pawlenty or rob portman. he is very, very liked by the conservative base and feel he would generate a lot of momentum to get out the vote for the republican votes come november. we are 87 days away from the actual election. who knows what it will be. a lot of the indication are that it will be paul ryan. we don't know for sure. >> remind us and walk us through the list here. we have senator marco rubio and we haven't talked much about him. we mentioned rob portman from ohio, a hugely important state, the former governor tim pawlenty that you raised as well. >> they called in about the vp stuff. >> go ahead there, wolf. >> can you hear us still? >> i think we lost wolf there. >> i'm here. >> we will bring him back in. >> if you can hear me, go ahead. >> somebody else was interrupting. >> we had an interrupt, but no problem. we are going as we go. walk us through the others as well. >> tim pawlenty with the other runner up and john mccain selected sarah palin, the two-term governor of minnesota, he is very clos

less flamboyant and the tim pawlenty or rob portman. he is very, very liked by the conservative base and feel he would generate a lot of momentum to get out the vote for the republican votes come november. we are 87 days away from the actual election. who knows what it will be. a lot of the indication are that it will be paul ryan. we don't know for sure. >> remind us and walk us through the list here. we have senator marco rubio and we haven't talked much about him. we mentioned rob portman from ohio, a hugely important state, the former governor tim pawlenty that you raised as well. >> they called in about the vp stuff. >> go ahead there, wolf. >> can you hear us still? >> i think we lost wolf there. >> i'm here. >> we will bring him back in. >> if you can hear me, go aad. >> somebody else was interrupting. >> we had an interrupt, but no problem. we are going as we go. walk us through the others as well. >> tim pawlenty with the other runner up and john mccain selected sarah palin, the two-term governor of minnesota, he is very close

rob portman has never lost an election. the senator from ohio has done that with a publish image that is short on drama. tonight whether that makes him the right choice to be running with romney this fall. >>> thank you for helping me to ensure mitt romney is in a position to lead mitt romnthis country. >> he has been on the campaign a lot lately. >> thank you for being here. >> political watchers think portman may be there at the end of romney's vp selection. >> i landed portman on the theory i think there's an appetite for confidence and solidity. >> i go with him he's serious he's not a gimmick. he might help with ohio. >> in ohio obama has a light le slight lead. >> when you are looking for a vp you are looking for someone to make a 2 point or 3 point difference. >> ohio is close enough picking him could make a difference. could make a difference in wisconsin and the midwest. >> ohio aside the one thing that is most mentioned about rob portman. >> rob is one of the nicest people you will meet in public life but not a fl

i would go with rob portman. it's not night and day, but you can often get an extra point or two or three in an important swing state if your vp is from that state. and right now in ohio, or a slightly republican leaning state, instead obama's ahead by three, four points in the polls. if you can cut that down to one or two points to zero points, it's a big gain. >> nate sliver says to mitt romney, go boring. you get the last word, nate silver. you can follow me on twitter @alexwagner, and tune into my show "now" on msnbc at noon. we're back august 13th after the olympics. "the ed show" is next. 91 days before the 2012 election. a new report explains why mitt romney might owe senator harry reid an apology. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> the word is out he hasn't paid any taxes for ten years. >> a shocking new report outlines how mitt romney may have legally dodged taxes. >> let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn't. >> david k. johnson will give us the details and eugene robinson is here

rob port lan, rob portman, rob portman. >> so that is why rob portman said today, distancing himself from the bush budgets. he said when he was the budget director for george w. bush and the deficit went through the roof, he said, i was frustrated when i was there about some spending issues. specifically, as you know, i wanted to offer a balanced budget over five years. and a lot of people didn't. i wanted to offer a five-year balanced budget. but it was a fight internally. >> yeah. if you think about rob portman's strengths and weaknesses politically speaking there's a long list of them on the strength side. both substantive and political. ohio won 55 out of 58 counties when he ran for senate two years ago. kind of amplifies romney's message of fiscal strength, management savvy and getting things done in washington. he's been a pretty bipartisan senator. he's boring, like romney is boring. as you know, doubling down on what you're selling isn't always the worst thing, even if it's boring. competence. really the only thing that is his weakness politically is that he was tied to georg

i would go with rob portman. it's not night and day, but you can often get an extra point or two or three in an important swing state if your vp is from that state. and right now in ohio, or a slightly republican leaning state, instead obama's ahead by three, four points in the polls. if you can cut that down to one or two points to zero points, it's a big gain. >> nate sliver says to mitt romney, go boring. you get the last word, nate silver. you can follow me on twitter @alexwagner, and tune into my show "now" on msnbc at noon. we're back august 13th after the olympics. "hardball" is up next. >>> trouble in sherwood forest. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. romney hood. according to obama, he's the guy that raises the taxes of the middle class, cuts the taxes of the rich. and this is how obama wants to you see this coming election. it isn't about how are things going for you. it is about who are you going to trust? who is going to look out

i would go with rob portman. it's not night and day, but you can often get an extra point or two or three in an important swing state if your vp is from that state. and right now in ohio, or a slightly republican leaning state, instead obama's ahead by three, four points in the ll

tim pawlenty and rob portman. >> it's an honor to be considered. it's -- it certainly would be an honor for anybody to be considered. >> reporter: widely considered the safest choices of the bunch, the two ps are saying all the right things. >> i'm in the senate. i just got elected two years ago. >> reporter: as a new cnn/orc poll, republicans want a flashier pick like the gop's rising star marco rubio, the bombastic chris christie or conservative heartthrob paul ryan. all at the head of the pack. why? likability. >> in the end nobody votes for vice president. >> reporter: among all americans the new jersey governor has the highest favorability numbers of the seven men in the poll followed closely by the florida senator. name recognition is also a factor. the public still doesn't know much about pawlenty and even less about portman. >> governor mitt romney! >> reporter: it could be a warning sign for romney, who's about to embark on a bus tour that his campaign has hinted could be a running mate debut. the nominee could use some pi sdaz, his number

craig, tell us failure prediction. >> rob portman. a day or two after the olympics. mitt romney is not a risktaker. this is not a man who is going to take a risk. i just can't believe it. and you look at history the risky running mate choices very seldom work in the end. it's usually the safe choices. >> jennifer: wait a minute craig, you say portman a day or two after next monday, tuesday a week from today? i'll put your name on my calendar. >> all right. i think he does it before the convention. i think they need to get--they need to get it out. i mean, these conventions are coming so late this year, they need that couple of weeks of vetting over with by the time they get to convention. think it would be unusual to do it that early. >> i think they'll go back and pick the candidate. i agree with craig. >> jennifer: give me a day. >> i'll pick the same day the 13th. >> jennifer: monday the 13th. who is it? >> portman. >> jennifer: you both agree. >> as soon as the volleyball finals are over. that's when he does it. >> jennifer: i totally disagree with you. this is w

that's why everybody's going back to rob portman and tim pawlenty. they don't want another sarah palin situation. but our polling finds that if they want to spice things up out there, there are certainly other picks out there that the party, their own party, would like to see on that ticket. >> originally there was a push to get this announcement before the start of this bus tour. that could be delayed, right? >> well, we were thinking it could happen any time during this bus tour. it doesn't make much sense to do it while the olympics are going on because the olympics are taking up so much of the public's attention right now. that's why folks are focusing on the last two legs of this bus tour, florida and ohio on monday and tuesday going through marco rubio's territory. there's plenty of time between the end of the bus tour and that convention. >> we'll see what happens. good work. thanks very much, jim acosta. let's dig a bit deeper now. let's bring in cnn senior political analyst ron bronsteen. ron, you're an expert on this subject. registered vot

i didn't know there were 103 facts worth knowing about rob portman. >> i don't know if rob portman knew there were 103 facts worth knowing. but in terms of the wisdom of the crowd, i mean, there are various conspiracy theories about how involved the romney campaign is in throwing people off the scent. there's this mysterious bus tour he's embarking on, some people that's just to confuse matters. the candidate himself said, you know, do you think we'd be so silly as to not sort of throw you guys off the scent? when it comes to this stuff, intrade is another area where folks go to sort of read tee leaves. and intrade is ranking the republican vp nominees. rob portman is at the top with a 30% chance. tim pawlenty's at a 20% chance. marco rubio, 11.9. paul ryan, 9.6. condi ryce is still there at 2.3. chris christie, 4.6. where do you put intrade as a predictor of this sort of stuff? >>> those numbers look pretty reasonable to me. i think rob portman might make a lot of sense. but in general, this is just kind of people betting on their conventional wisdom. there's not a lot of information h

craig, tell us failure prediction. >> rob portman. a day or two after the olympics. mitt romney is not a risktaker. this is not a man who is going to take a risk. i just can't believe it. and you look at history the risky running mate choices very seldom work in the end. it's usually the safe choices. >> jennifer: wait a minute craig, you say portman a day or two after next monday tuesday a week from today? i'll put your name on my calendar. >> all right. i think he does it before the convention. i think they need to get--they need to get it out. i mean, these conventions are coming so late this year, they need that couple of weeks of vetting over with by the time they get to convention. think it would be unusual to do it that early. >> i think they'll go back and pick the candidate. i agree with craig. >> jennifer: give me a day. >> i'll pick the same day the 13th. >> jennifer: monday the 13th. who is it? >> portman. >> jennifer: you both agree. >> as soon as the volleyball finals are over. that's when he does it. >> jennifer: i totally disagree with you. this is wh

you can learn more about rob portman on "the situation room" at 4:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. . >>> the u.n.'s monthly food price index shows a 6% jump in juliment corn prices exploded 23%. not coincidentally we learned today that 46%, almost half of the contiguous united states is in severe extreme or exceptional drought. cnn's allison kosack is crunching the numbers. as someone born and raised in the great state of indiana, i've been paying attention to this. tell us why corn problems have such an oversized effect on food prices across the world. >> corn makes such an impact because corn is in everything. i mean it's in animal feed. it's in corn syrup, in cereal, soda, baking powder. the list goes on and on. bo because corn is so expensive, you're seeing food prices jump 6% last month. the biggest jump, you probably noticed this in the cereal aisle, cereal serves 17% in july. cereal prices, they're near record highs. sugar is up 12% because there are heavy rains in brazil. brazil is the world's biggest sugar supplier. even the prois priice of oil an

rob portman held five counter events as a romney sir gait. he may deliver the home state of ohio which no republican ever lost and then gone on to win the white house. >> tim pawlenty hit the trail in michigan. paul ryan of wisconsin have buzz and chemistry with romney but no, ma'am worry it could become referendum on the ryan house budget and medicare reforms. then there is florida u.s. senator marco rubio who is latino and could help romney with hispanics across the country and in florida, a key swing state. tonight and tomorrow, romney is raising money in new jersey. friday he goes to boston to reunite with his wife ann who has been at the olympics for the last week. saturday, romney kicks off a big bus tour sure to be filled with at least speculation if not an actual announcement to who his runningmate will be. bret? >> bret: all right, carl. we're waiting. thank you. we are expecting any day now a choice from governor romney on the running mate. this week, we are taking another look at four of the top contenders in the running with romne

carl we've got to talk about there is so much focus on rob portman from ohio. and there is a ohio, crucial as well you cut out there a little bit. can you repeat the question? >> i know you've got to get on a flight to get to virginia in the morning. we're talking to carl cameron here, just asking you there is rob portman of ohio a critical, must win state. >> there is ohio state no republican ever lost that has been able to win the presidency. it's suggested you need to win the buck eye state f paul ryan were the nominee he would presumably help court conservative voters and moderate swing voters who want to see the budget and size of government slung. paul would all of the blames scrutinized and researched by the campaign. mitt are many knee's decision is one he spent tremendous amounts of time contestimony mating. the process unfolding between himself and search committee head beth myers involved his wife ann romney. both said to me time and time again they talked about this daily and to the extent he had the best interests of her husband. we know mitt romne

carl we've got to talk about there is so much focus on rob portman from ohio. and there is a ohio, crucial as well you cut out there a little bit. can you repeat the question? >> i know you've got to get on a flight to get to virginia in the morning. we're talking to carl cameron here, just asking you there is rob portman of ohio a critical, must win state. >> there is ohio state no republican ever lost that has been able to win the presidency. it's suggested you need to win the buck eye state f paul ryan were the nominee he would presumably help court conservative voters and moderate swing voters who want to see the budget and size of government slung. paul would all of the blames scrutinized and researched by the campaign. mitt are many knee's decision is one he spt tremendous amounts of time contestimony mating. the process unfolding between himself and search committee head beth myers involved his wife ann romney. both said to me time and time again they talked about this daily and to the extent he had the best interests of her husband. we know mitt romney

you're inside these campaigns. >> rob portman. >> okay, thank you. >> rob portman. >> so that is why rob portman said today, distancing himself from the bush budgets. he said when he was the budget director for george w. bush and the deficit went through the roof. he said i wanted to offer a be five-year balanced budget. but it was a fight internally. >> yeah. if you think about rob portman's strengths and weaknesses politically speaking there's a long list of them on the strength side. both substantive and political. ohio won 55 out of 58 counties when he ran for senate. kind of amply fies rom niece's message of fiscal strength, management savvy and getting things done. the bipartisan senator. he's boring. like romney is boring. as you know, doubling down on what you're selling isn't always the worst thing, even if it's boring. his only weakness politically is he was tied to george bush for about a year and a half. you see him there trying to address the one liability that he has, there's no perfect candidate. that that's portman's weakness and he's trying to deal with it. >> it's a

you can learn more about rob portman on "the situation room" at 4:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. . >>> the u.n.'s monthly food price index shows a 6% jump in juliment corn prices exploded 23%. not coincidentally we learn today that 46%, almost half of the contiguous united states is in severe extreme or exceptional drought. cnn's allison kosack is crunching the numbers. as someone born and raised in the great state of indiana, i've been payingttention to this. tell us why corn problems have such an oversized effect on food prices across the world. >> corn makes such an impact because corn is in everything. i mean it's in animal feed. it's in corn syrup, in cereal, soda, baking powder. the list goes on and on. bo because corn is so expensive, you're seeing food prices jump 6% last month. the biggest jump, you probably noticed this in the cereal aisle, cereal serves 17% in july. cereal prices, they're near record highs. sugar is up 12% because there are heavy rains in brazil. brazil is the world's biggest sugar supplier. even the prois priice of oil an are

what do you think about the speculation that it all ends with fireworks and a rob portman announcement? >> i think maybe and maybe not. i think they are interested in keeping as much speculation going as possible. and they know that doing the bus tour this way does that. the thing that is very important to remember about the romney campaign right now is they are losing a series of news cycles, one after the other after the other. and dan balz had a very sobering piece in "the washington post" yesterday about how mitt romney has not been ahead in many of these swing state polls, most of them, obama has maintained a slight lead. slight but still a lead. so i think they are doing anything they can to try to win as many headlines as they can. they need to switch the narrative. they know the vp pick is their best chance for doing that. so i think this is all about just sort of fulminating interest than anything. >> i think in that same dan balz piece, he mentions the president has been ahead almost twice as much as mitt romney has. but, jim, the question is, can rob portman or any of these

what do you think about the speculation that it all ends with fireworks and a rob portman announcement? >> i think maybe and maybe not. i think they are interested in keeping as much speculation going as possible. and they know that doing the bus tour this way does that. the thing that is very important to remember about the romney campaign right now is they are losing a series of news cycles, one after the other after the other. and dan balz had a very sobering piece in "the washington post" yesterday about how mitt romney has not been ahead in many of these swing state polls, most of them, obama has maintained a slight lead. so i think they are doing anything they can to try to win as many headlines as they can. they need to switch the narrative. they know the vp pick is their best chance for doing that. so i think this is all about just sort of fulminating interest than anything. >> i think in that same dan balz piece, he mentions the president has been ahead almost twice as much as mitt romney has. but, jim, the question is, can rob portman or any of these picks, the feasible picks

do it. >> mitt romney's oldest stone was the person to give the news to rob portman and tim pawlenty that they were not the pick. >> stephen: they should be honored. crist cristie got a call from rafalca. i believe-- (laughter) i believe we have a recording. >> hello z i get the job. >> ney! (cheers and applause) >> stephen: and governor bobby jindal found out just now from me. i'm so sorry, governor. we'll be right back. >> welcome back, everybody. my guests tonight have the song of the summer which mines will forever be associated with historic drought. please welcome aboard fun. hey, how are you guys. >> stephen: hey, i'm so sorry i was late it was much further than i thought it would be. >> no problem. >> dow mind if i-- thank you. >> sorry. >> thank you. >> you good. >> i'm good. >> stephen: thank you so much for being here you guy, we're social sighted are you here. >> thank you for having us. >> stephen: you guys are blowing up this summer. you're it on a stick. you know that, right. >> yeah, that's what we heard. we heard you weren't going have us because we were too boring.

do it. >> mitt romney's oldest stone was the person to give the news to rob portman and tim pawlenty that they were not the pick. >> stephen: they should be honored. crist cristie got a call from rafalca. i believe-- (laughter) i believe we have a recording. >> hello z i get the job. >> ney! (cheers and applause) >> stephen: and governor bobby jindal found out just now from me. i'm so sorry, governor. we'll be right back. we asked over 3,000 doctors to review 5-hour energy and what they said is amazing. over 73 percent who reviewed 5-hour energy said they would recommend a low calorie energy supplement to their healthy patients who use energy supplements. seventy-three percent. 5-hour energy has four calories and it's used over nine million times a week. is 5-hour energy right for you? ask yodoctor. we already asked 3,000. >> welcome back, everybody. my guests tonight have the song of the summer which mines will forever be associated with historic drought. please welcome aboard fun. hey, how are you guys. >> stephen: hey, i'm so sorry i was late it was much further than i thought it

do it. >> mitt romney's oldest stone was the person to give the news to rob portman and tim pawlenty that they were not the pick. >> stephen: they should be honored. crist cristie got a call from rafalca. i believe-- (laughter) i believe we have a recording. >> hello z i get the job. >> ney! (cheers and applause) >> stephen: and governor bobby jindal found out just now from me. i'm so sorry, governor. we'll be right back. ♪ intel bong i've still got hours of battery life. it's an ultrabook. i'm good. with an ultrabook, everything else seems old fashioned. introducing the ultra sleek, ultra long-lasting ultrabook. a whole new class of computers powered by intel. >> welcome back, everybody. my guests tonight have the song of the summer which mines will forever be associated with historic drought. please welcome aboard fun. hey, how are you guys. >> stephen: hey, i'm so sorry i was late it was much further than i thought it would be. >> no problem. >> dow mind if i-- thank you. >> sorry. >> thank you. >> you good. >> i'm good. >> stephen: thank you so much for being here you guy, we'r

rob portman will be in ohio. bob mcdonald will be in virginia. where are we on the choice? is it this week? steve? >> i don't think anybody nodes yet. but there is a window at the end of this week, thursday, friday time frame, for romney to make this announcement if he wants to. he has engagements this week, tomorrow. wednesday and thursday. fundraising breakfast in new york. there is an opening he could if he decided to make the announcement make it at the end of the week and go in the sunday show. it's fairly clear they spent a good bit of time in the last couple of weeks narrowing down the choice. he spent a few weeks with the top advisors. the top advisors traveled with him to california. it's clear we're at decision time now. if he hasn't already made it. he will in the next day or so. >> bret: all right. okay. a.b., quickly, we have paul ryan, marco rubio, tim pawlenty, rob portman and chris christie possibly back in the mix. >> i don't think we should be diverted by names to speak at the convention. other names can be added later. this is a way to pique everybody's i

do it. >> mitt romney's oldest stone was the person to give the news to rob portman and tim pawlenty that they were not the pick. >> stephen: they should be honored. crist cristie got a call from rafalca. i believe-- (laughter) i believe we have a recording. >> hello z i get the job. >> ney! (cheers and applause) >> stephen: and governor bobby jindal found out just now from me. i'm so sorry, governor. we'll be right back. what's that? swavory. swavory? use it in a sentence. uh, my new waffle breakfast sandwich is "swavory." it's got the savory goodness of my new country grilled sausage, plus a fried egg and melting cheese, and the sweetness of toasted maple waffles. so, triple word score...that's 96 points for me. "nonookie?" what's that supposed to... oh. right now, get a large fountain drink for only a buck. >> welcome back, everybody. my guests tonight have the song of the summer which mines will forever be associated with historic drought. please welcome aboard fun. hey, how are you guys. >> stephen: hey, i'm so sorry i was late it was much further than i thought it would be. >>

like rob portman from ohio. this is a pick that will absolutely energize the republican base, because of policies, not just politics. this is a pick that will also, i think help energize the youth vote. paul ryan is just 42 years old. so this is a really doubling down also, as kenny said on the economic element the romney team wants to have. they deserve a lot of credit for not playing it safe but going bold with the pick of paul ryan. >> wichl this turn into a debate about entitlement given the stance on medicare and tax reform and everything else paul ryan put forward? >> if it does. mitt romney will be pleased. let's look at what the conversation will be in the last six weeks. it's been about forces in the olympics. it's been very, very difficult for mitt romney to get an economic message out there. this makes it very obvious. there's so many people, economists, and folks on the hill that will tell you you can't actually talk about how to fix the economy unless you talk about the third rail issues, social sec

the third pick, rob portman can't lose the state of ohio. he has to win and rob portman is a house member and a senator who served in the bush administration. how is it the deepest resume of somebody who nobody can question and they have the experience to be president. he comes across as bland and boring. teat party doesn't love him because he enjoys working with democrats. that is a governing pick and get off on a good track. maybe he can do a point or two in ohio and senator portman is there and the state that romney has to win to win the white house. those are the top three. they will be made in the state of virginia. the virginia governor is on the list early on and he faded. the portions of the past several weeks and you never know what will be a surprise there. the freshman senator from florida and also a young man, but a darling of the tea party. that will be a statement from romney. we don't think he's the choice, but we will see if he get a surprise in the morning that is chris cristy and combustible and from the state of new jersey

the third pick, rob portman can't lose the state of ohio. he has to win and rob portman is a house membernd a senator who served in the bush administration. how is it the deepest resume of somebody who nobody can question and they have the experience to be president. he comes across as bland and boring. teat party doesn't love him because heenjoys working with democrats. that is a governing pick and get off on a good track. maybe he can do a point or two in ohio and senator portman is there and the state that romney has to win to win the white house. those are the top three. they will be made in the state of virginia. the virginia governor is on the list early on and he faded. the portions of the past several weeks and you never know what will be a surprise there. the freshman senator from florida and also a young man, but a darling of the tea party. that will be a statement from romney. we don't think he's the choice, but we will see if he get a surprise in the morning that is chris cristy and combustible and from the state of new jersey th

we're awaiting awaiting rob portman. we're going to take a break. we're going to keep the guys here. maybe we have time for watters world. we don't know. but you'll know when we come right back. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ you want to make sure it goes up and stays up. [ chirp ] with android apps, you get better quality control. so our test flights are less stressful. i've got a lot of paperwork, and time is everything here. that's why i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. [ chirp ] and the fastest push-to-talk nationwide. [ male announcer ] upgrade to the new "done." [ chirp ] with access to the fastest push to talk, three times the co

we're awaiting awaiting rob portman. we're going to take a break. we're going to keep the guys here. maybe we have time for watters world. we don't know. but you'll know when we come right back. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ you want to make sure it goes up and stays up. [ chirp ] with android apps, you get better quality control. so our test flights are less stressful. i've got a lot of paperwork, and time is everything here. that's why i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. [ chirp ] and the fastest push-to-talk nationwide. [ male announcer ] upgrade to the new "done." [ chirp ] with access to the fastest push to talk, three times the coverage, and android productivity apps. now when

. >> rob portman. >> okay, thank you. >> rob portman. >> so that is why rob portman said today, distancing himself from the bush budgets. he said when he was the budget director for george w. bush and the deficit went through the roof. he said i wanted to offer a be five-year balanced budget. but it was a fight internally. >> yeah. if you think about rob portman's strengths and weaknesses politically speaking there's a long list of them on the strength side. both substantive and political. ohio won 55 out of 58 counties when he ran for senate. kind of amply fies rom niece's message of fiscal strength, management savvy and getting things done. the bipartisan senator. he's boring. like romney is boring. as you know, doubling down on what you're selling isn't always the worst thing, even if it's boring. his only weakness politically is he was tied to george bush for about a year and a half. you see him there trying to address the one liability that he has, there's no perfect candidate. that that's portman's weakness and he's trying to deal with it. >> it's at least portman versus pawlenty. >>

. >> rob portman is very smart. marco rubio was a great speaker of the house in florida. i've known marco for years. he has a tremendous future in my judgment. governor mcdonald of virginia, and virginia could be for this election what ohio was in 2004. you look at a number of these places. the thing compared to when i was young and you were young, there's a lot deeper bench than there was 20 years ago. >> but it's also to the right of where it was. let's go to ryan. he does demonstrate courage. he has a plan. he did however go tough on medicare which is a live wire for seniors and other people. do you think he can translate his guts as a committee chair to his necessary judgment as a candidate for v.p.? >> first of all, ryan came back, learned a lot from his first effort. produced a bill with ron widen, democrat of oregon. so you now have a bipartisan bill to save medicare that ron widen speaks well of and introduced in the senate. so i think -- >> i know what you're thinking. about something most people don't think about. that's where bill kristol is pushing him. a lot

i did have a funny conversation with rob portman's wife. she said, so you're doing all that work on my husband and what if he is not the selection? and i said, well, i guess i will just throw my notebook away. i mean, they are looking at this kind of all the press hovering around them going, boy, this could be all for naught. >> a lot of people throwing their notebooks away for everybody except paul ryan a lot of people gathering, as we speak, more information about the congressman from wisconsin. let me get a break. we will come back and talk about a little bit more detail about the coverage of ryan's policies, especially on the budget. it's , it's not for pain, it's just for sleep. because sleep is a beautiful thing. ♪ zzzquil, the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil. zzzquil, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling th