for romney here? he's held hostage by a lot of people. he owes a lot of people favors. again, his unwillingness to put himself out there and take any political risk speaks poorly for him as a governor, i don't mean as the governor of massachusetts, but as someone who wants to push ideas forward. he seems to have no ideas of his own. the idea that he's resisted adelson so far, i mean, the devil gets to play the fiddle for as long as he can. he's only going to be able to resist him until he gets into office and has to do something. and we don't know what that will be. >> and jonathan, isn't it sort of humiliating to be, i won't say bullied, but pummeled around by sheldon adelson? >> yes, especially when you're dependent on his deep pockets to help make up the fund-raising gap between you and the president. if it weren't for sheldon adelson and a bunch of other independent folks, these 527s, throwing money to help him, he'd be at a disadvantage. but i want to say something about mitt romney's supposed re

romney fashion. so when will mitt romney pick his vice presidential nominee? here's what we know about romney's schedule this week. on tuesday, romney holds a campaign event in illinois. on wednesday, he holds an event in iowa. on thursday morning, romney attends a fund-raiser in new york city. jump ahead to saturday when mitt romney will launch a bus tour in virginia, where he will be joined by virginia governor, vp contender, and transvaginal ultrasound enthusiast, bob mcdonnell. on sunday, the romney bus tour heads to north carolina. on monday, romney is in florida, home of senator and vp contender, marco rubio. in florida, the romney bus will make a very curious u-turn and head over 700 miles north to ohio, where romney will be joined by senator and vp contender, rob portman. and, no, mitt romney will not sit on the bus for those 700-plus miles. like his last multi-state bus tour, romney will fly from state to state, then step off his comfy jet and on to his campaign bus, which for some reason te

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

mark marcus wa romney's girlfriend. a lot of guys came from college and had high school girlfriends. you could tell it was different. he could not stop talking about ann. >> we were so much in love. i went off to college and got a job there to earn a little money so i could pay for an airplane ticket to go home and see her. >> this was at stanford. >> while i was at stanford. we didn't tell my parents about this. >> you snuck home? >> i flew home, snuck home, would take her on a date. her parents knew about it. they were on the inside. my parents, i knew they'd never go along with it so i didn't tell them. >> did they catch you? >> oh, no. they never caught us. >> as thyear wore on, the politics on campus became inescapable. ♪ >> he's very affected by this world he sees an anti-establishment strain growing. >> as the protest at stanford grew, romney stood with the establishment and for the war. >> his father at that time was for the vietnam war. he was finding his political footing, really, the first time we see mitt

mitt romney was knee-deep in it. a rising star at a boston consulting group, ba bain & company, which had a great pitch, help businesses make money by cutting costs. >> by all accounts, mitt romney was very successful in advising companies how to improve their business operations. >> but soon romney's boss had a better idea, instead of just advising companies, why not buy them with investor money to generate huge profits. and bain capital was born. early partner, jeffrey ren nart. >> it was a lot of long hours and a lot of learning and a lot of success? what kind of leader was mitt romney during those early years? >> i would say in the early years, mitt was a lead by example kind of leader. he -- you know, he dug in, did, you know, did analysis side by side with us. >> and it paid off. bain capital invested in more than 100 companies, nearly doubling its returns for clients annuall annually. >> how you doing? >> romney made a lot of money. he would later claim, created a lot of jobs. but a former bank colleague, who

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/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

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

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

mitt romney. >> fla., 50, romney. georgia, 76 votes. >> madame secretary, on behalf of the georgia republican voters and the empire state. i stand here with the speaker of the house. we, along with the governor probably give 72 of our delegate votes to the next president of the united states, mitt romney and paul ryan. >> could i please have the state of georgia repeat your account? >> 72 votes for mitt romney. we have 34 ron -- 3 for ron paul and one and decided. >> georgia, 72, rumomney. guam, 9 votes. >> i am the governor of warm and it spread republicans. we are where america's day begins. i have my purpleheart commemoration to. we have a simple count, it is 9 delegates unanimously for the next president of united states, mitt romney. >> bomb, 9, mitt romney. -- guam, 9, romney. >> hawaii. >> i'm the vice chair of the hawaii delegation. why is proud to cast 3 votes for congressman ron paul and 17 votes for mitt romney including 5 released santorum delegates. we are proud to be here and we are described as the love

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

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

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

romney. he says who cares if romney's a jerk. after all, your brain surgeon can be a jerk, but it doesn't matter as long as he get it is the job done, right? >> yeah, well, that sentiment has been expressed throughout the campaign by people as they fell into line behind romney. no one's ever said it quite as inelegantly as that, as disrespectfully as that, within the party, but we saw them all do it. saw them all get in line. we saw santorum get in line after saying this was the worst possible guy you could nominate for the republicans. and so, i'm glad, actually, that huckabee is allowing himself that much honesty at this stage of this game. he didn't you know, say anything like that obviously on the stage last night, but i'm glad he still lets lines like that seep out because that is the truth. that is the way people feel about romney here and they're not good at faking some other way of feeling about him. >> lawrence, what is he going to say about his religion? because as you know, he doesn't mention it that much on the campai

and mitt romney is mormon. the things that they share, that was interesting that he combined as you say the prosecutor role and helping us understand more about who he -- >> gave the best testimony to mitt romney that's been given at that time the convention i thought. >> ifill: and mike huckabee talked about that. they got a catholic and evangelical to vouch for mitt romney. >> good point. >> woodruff: i don't think people expected that. these two men have not known each other very long but they did meet several months ago before ryan was even in consideration to be vice president. mitt romney i guess had his eye was impressed by him. but tonight you can tell that there is good chemistry between the two. >> ifill: seems like both is making the choice, no longer referendum, moved away from that. a choice between the future and past and painting the fading promise of barack obama versus brightness -- >> i've known paul ryan a long time had many arguments about him and the nature of barack obama. he really thinks

first and foremost, a romney. the romney name has been in the public eye the last half century, a family of great wealth and business achievement. political success as well as failures. mitt was the fourth and last child for george and lenore romney, born march 12th, 1947. some recall him as the favorite. george wrote to the family in september, 1956, mitt is growing like a weed, is full of ideas and energy as ever. tom mccaffrey grew up with romney. >> mitt as a child was extremely energetic, a kid that could never sit down. his mind was going 100 miles an hour. >> george was much the same way. he's just -- he's got that energy. >> phillip maxwell lived down the street from the romneys in a wealthy detroit suburb. >> george would go out on the golf course. he had fluorescent golf balls and he would hit the ball and he would run after the ball jogging, hit the ball again, and that was his exercise. >> young mitt not only had his father's energy -- >> there seems to be a special bond between george and mitt. >> mic

mitt romney's middle class tax increase, he pays less, you pay more. >> the romney campaign has been caught completely flat footed. on a conference call this morning, romney advisers struggled to combat the truth about their tax plan. eric fehrnstrom called the independent analysis a joke. another adviser said the romney plan would create 5 to 10 million jobs. but couldn't explain. it's important to understand what they're saying here. after an independent analysis says romney's plan would raise tacks on 95% of americans, romney's advisers call that report a joke. yet won't provide details to dispute the report. then those same advisers claim the romney tax plan will explode job growth. today governor romney tried a similar strategy saying he'd put out a tax plan that can't even be analyzed not by any group ever. so the romney campaign made a tax plan that can't be analyzed yet the tax policy center scored it. 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

>> be mitt romney. he is an extraordinary person and at the end, that will be clear to the american people. this is a person that is a father and a husband and a grandfather and a member of the church and the community. he has done special things. i said the man and the way he lived his life as a role model for men like myself with responsibilities at home and on the job, no matter how you feel about him on the issues, i think it's primportant for people to understand the choices. when the economy gross, they spend money. mitt romney said when people take their own money and have the confidence and invest it and growing existing businesses. when that is clear to the american people, the numbers will look very different on election day. >> your former governor charlie crist not only endorsed president obama and is a former republican, but won't speak at the democratic convention. how do you feel? >> he has his right to change parties d do anything he wants to do. he is running out of parties to run under

mit or ann romney? >> mit mitt. >> i don't think you mean that. >> she was wonderful. >> it's a good night for you and the romney campaign. nice to see you. we'll be back right after this break. >> a lot of conservative people have been in hollywood. in fact, some of them are around town. i saw jon voight. there's a lot of people around town. john zeer, academy award winner, terrific guy. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start

romney has him on the ticket now i think the fact that mitt romney -- mitt romney chose a vice presidential candidate who believes that even the case of rape and incest, a woman should not have access to abortion, you know, which i think is a relatively extreme position, far more extreme than even george bush's positions on abortion, is disconcerting. and the fact that it seems to me he was cowed into this selection by conservatives. this isn't a pick that will reach out to moderate voters. i think says a lot more about mitt romney than it does about paul ryan. >> i there is a lot more to this people will be learning like the personhood belief he has. thank you. >>> up next, the always funny bill maher on the difference between paul ryan and sarah palin. that's next in the sideshow. you know that's going to be great. this is "hardball," the place for politics. >> now that they added paul ryan to the ticket he seems energized and just gone -- here, take a look at how exciting. this is mitt right here. ♪ [ theme from "rocky" playing ] >> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> as i s

mitt romney has a tell. but you have to be willing to look back to the earlier part of his time in public life to see it. hold on, wait, there's more. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] >>> there's. more from the previous public life of mitt romney ahead right after this. >> and we have big news from the great state of michigan. a while since those words have been uttered, but tonight, it's true. big news, stay tuned. organic artichokes, organic lettuce, organic kale... does your cauliflower have a big carbon footprint? not at all. that's great. melons!!! yeah! well that was uncalled for. uhh... mr. gallagher. incoming!!! hahaha! it's wasteful. you know jimmy. folks who save hundreds of dollars switchg to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny? happier than gallagher at a get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. with tums freshers! concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums!

in other words, romney's ad is a blatant lie. but romney is not backing down. he claims bill clinton is on his side. >> i think president clinton would be surprised to see that the legislation that he and republicans agreed upon to put work into welfare is now going to be waived, that work requirement, by virtue of a president who has a very different view about welfare than i think bill clinton and republicans did some years ago. >> romney is either lying or he's misinformed. former president bill clinton is not surprised at all. in fact, a clinton spokesman said president obama's new policy is consistent with policies enacted in the 1990s. the former president is giving the plan his blessing. looks like mitt romney got it all wrong again. joining me tonight is jonathan alter, msnbc political analyst and columnist for bloomberg view. great to have you with us. why is the romney campaign telling one lie after another? i mean, we just ran a story last night and also tonight on the ohio voting and now this. what's going on here? >> well, they are starting to real

bill: we are tracking the romneys there in massachusetts, and moment ago, governor romney and ann romney left a building heading back to their home and he was asked how the meeting went. he said quote i like my speech, i really like ann's speech. our sons are already in tampa. they say it's terrific there, a lot of great friends. that coming across the wire there on the romneys today. security also a major concern as you can imagine at the rnc. police arrested a knife-wielding protester believed to be part of a group occupy tampa. he was seen walking around with a group of other protesters inside the eventone. police say he was spotted with an 8-inch machete strapped to his leg. he faces charges of carrying a prohibited item and resisting arrest. martha: the rnc's keynote speaker may be helping out in tampa as well. speaking to delegates on sunday morning he referred to one of his more well-known statement that got a lot of attention as a possible inspiration for them meeting him around here. >> i think we'll enjoy the next few days down here in florida. the weather will come and go. the

lead on mitt romney as the romney campaign uses a new television ad to try to make nice with republicans. but first, we have new details, i suppose about the famous unnamed source that allegedly told senator harry reid that mitt romney paid no federal income taxes for ten years. here is reid's deputy communications director jose parra. >> all we can say is that we're comfortable with this person. this person is an investor in bain capital. a republican also, and somebody who, you know, who has been dealing with mr. romney's company for a long, long time. and he had direct knowledge of this. >> after that sound bite fopped up on the huffington post, he released a retraction saying i do not know the affiliate of the source or how long he invested with bain. democrats and the obama campaign are intent on making him pay the full cost of this secrecy. mitt romney's secret tax returns are the subject of a just released tell advice ad from president obama's reelection campaign. >> did romney pay 10% in taxes? 5%? zero. we don't know. but we do know that romney personally approved $76 million of

i want to be honest i'm not going to get lectured by mitt romney or anybody on the romney campaign about the tone of this campaign. this is a guy who has flown all over the country saying he is not sure whether the president believes in america. we are auctioning off dinners with the birther in chief right wing nut job donald trump who still questions whether or not the president was born in the united states of america. i'm happen to listen to charges and counter charges but the notion that we will get lectured by mitt romney and his campaign about running a positive campaign that is a pill far too big to swallow. >> chris: thanks for coming in. always good to talk with you, sir. >> thank you. >> chris: up next, the romney campaign responds. we will sit down with senior advisor ed gillespie, next. well >> chris: now, we want to get the romney campaign perspective on where things stand. we are joined by ed gillespie. you just heard my conversation with robert gibbs and i want to follow up on the points he made. under their planned about the obama care and the $716 billion medicare part a

they have to see romney as romney sees romney. because they've really been seeing him as president obama and his team see him. >> has to be praying there is no disruption from the storm that would cause that speech to be delayed, put off, not happen. >> who knows what's going to happen -- what we do know, something huge is going to happen right after we say good-bye. gloria borger has done an outstanding documentary -- >> thank you, wolf. >> on mitt romney. that's about to begin, isn't it? >> it's about to begin. we'll be back at 9:30 as soon as this documentary again. up next, "romney revealed" with gloria borger. >>> a man important to wealth, privilege and politics. >> i'm mitt romney and i'm running for president of the united states. >> i think my dad has always felt like he wanted to be true to his dad's name and legacy. >> a savvy business man who made a fortune at bain capital and turned around the 2002 winter olympics. >> he has two speeches, asleep or wide awake and fixing things. he is a mr. fix it. >> a man driven by h

if romney's elected, 45%. that's down from may, which means he's moving if the wrong direction on the key metric. >> the problem is that i think that sam kind of hit on it. the romney campaign has been preparing for like two years, right? to run just on the economy. the economy is bad, elect me. they really didn't have a second act. so now that they're not winning on that argument because americans seem to have discounted the idea of the economy, they seem to be sort of even. that is within the margin of error. he this seem to be thinking one guy, the other guy, we don't think either of these guys controls the economy. i don't think the economy is any more what the electorate is looking at. they're evaluating these two people. and and mitt romney can't win that argument. so he's doing this backwards thing where he's going back and rung the primary again. which doesn't make sense. he's going back to rewin the primary. >> that's what strikes me as so strange. again, i'm not a political strategist. i've never got

another ad about mitt romney. this is a liberal advocacy group and they'll kick his ass in this direction. >> mitt romney, get your hand out of my pocket. >> mitt romney's plan will take money out of your pocket. >> mitt romney, get your hand out of my pockets. >> to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. >> don't even think about it. >> keep mitt's hands out your pocket. he's not running as president of the united states. he's running for president of the 1%. >> i think he stole my birth control, too. >> cenk: oh, that's awesome. >> another zinger. but the guy at the gas station mitt romney, not again mitt romney. >> cenk: michael, last thing. i had going in i thought it was the most 50/50 election i've ever seen. so far mitt romney has been a disaster, and obama has been brilliant. i'm moving up 50% for obama, and now i'm moving it up 60%. >> you have every reason to think that way. be a little careful. there is a lot of money and weaponry and after the convection they're going to be hitting with the art till hear

, they're making assumptions about romney that romney doesn't make. >> even romney's own economists have said, that this isn't going to raise taxes on middle-class families. that's the core problem with the so-called ryan budget. problem with paul ryan, i think he's probably a very decent person, but he's well outside of the main stream of where most americans think we should go. raise taxes on rich people. they don't want to get rid of medicare. >> if he does say it with a smile on his face and i think that optimism does make a difference and i thought that the best line in his speech yesterday was about saying that this is not the new normal. >> that puts it back on president obama's record. >> well, that's true. again, we have a choice. it's no longer referendum. that was the decision, not only a tactical dix but a shift in the campaign. i think the tax thing is important. people need to be reminded we're not only extending the bush tax cuts they're going to double-down on additional tax cuts, ryan wanted to go to 30%. it's inconceivable to me in this day and age that we can ultimatel

romney of being a felon. keeping them honest, though, it 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 reporters. >> 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 consequences of 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. that's after several news outlets uncovered securities and exchange commission documents showing romney was still on the corporate book at bain until 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 mr. romney was r

romney. you're not going to be the candidate we choose. >> president obama rolled out a new surrogate. sandra fluke. the former law student at center of contraception flap earlier in year. a new poll suggesting in colorado he has an essential among female voters but republican mitt romney may be gaining. the president leads romney here among women 51 to 43%. the "new york times"/cbs poll found romney up among men by a wider margin. 56% to 3%. >> when it comes to a woman's right to make her healthcare choices they want to take us back to the policy suited to the 1950s. >> reporter: that pitch overshadowed by a story about another woman. the late wife of steelworker joe soptic featured in an ad by the superpac priorities usa. >> she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney realize what is he has done to anyone. >> the romney camp is furious the president allies are blaming the candidate for soptic's wife dying of cancer after bain capital closed the steel plant. >> launching personal

and this is mitt romney being mitt romney. they are down here praying and that is always my cue to send it back to you all, wolf. >> all right. candy, standby. i want to get back to you shortly, but back up to anderson cooper. >> yeah, let's check in with ari fleisher or roland martin and what did you think? >> well, he hit, anderson, and did everything he needed to do, and two levels. i talked to a senior romney aide and he said that the ish ssue t focused on was not likability but whether people could see that mitt romney connected with with them and understood their concerns and issues in their lives and he is very effective in the first half of the speech about that. the second part of the speech i thought was tremendously successful for mitt romney was the substance of it. when he said that talked about a election night in 2008 in chicago, and he said if you felt the excitement when you voted for barack obama, shouldn't you feel the same way now that he is president obama? that encapsulated the disappointment that the ame

governor romney gets it. mitt romney gets it. he believes parents, regardless of zip code or income, should be able to send their child to the school that fits them best. that has set him up since entrenched interests. there many people who say they support strong schools but draw the line at school choice. sorry, kid, giving you equal opportunity would be too risky. and it would upset powerful political forces that we need to win elections. i have a simple message for these masters of delay and deferral. choose. you can either help the politically powerful unions, or you can help the kids. now, for those that have been involved in this, you know it's hard to take on the unions. they fund campaigns. they're well organized. election day, they'll show up. meanwhile, the kids aren't old enough to vote, but you and i know who deserves a choice. governor romney knows it, too. let me introduce you to frans. because we gave him a choice, he got a great election. >> i grew up in the inner city of miami in a place where your zip code dete

now governor romney knows it. so let's take a listen to what he said in florida just this morning. >> i am delighted to have picked as my running mate paul ryan, a great leader. he looks to find ways to find common ground, to bring people together. he's come up with ideas that are very different than the president's. the president's idea for medicare was to cut it by $700 billion. >> now governor dean, that's not true, is it? >> no, it's not. the amount of lying that's going on in the ads of this campaign are spectacular. they have an ad out saying the opposite. it's just not quite usually this blatant. but the public -- you know, the romney folks have a problem here. first of all, the public wonders if romney has paid any taxes for the last ten years and that's a problem. and romney is going to have to satisfy that and if he doesn't that's going to be an issue all the way to election day. >> but, governor, i want to be correct on this medicare issue because it's my understanding that essentially while it's true t

red is romney. those are romney states. blue, obama. then pinkish is lean romney. light blue is lean obama. then yellow are the tossup states within the margin of error. this, of course, is all based on polls over the last 30 days. okay, karl. start from the left time we were together. what has changed? >> two changes in status. the most important of which is wisconsin moves from lean obama to what joe and i suggested it would be after ryan's appointment. the vice president running mate. that is tossup. so ten electoral college votes out of the obama column to tossup. five electoral in mexico from lean obama to obama. >> bret: american samoa is testing by the way, behind us just so you know. >> no electoral votes. >> bret: joe, most important of the changes? >> wisconsin moving to tossup, karl and i agree that would likely happen. it did. that is important. but the most important may be the polls that are coming out of ohio that show that it was a tossup but it is getting tighter, which is significant. obama had been widening up things there. and romney really need

that -- that guy next to romney's not already a romney? [ laughter ] >> you sure that's not like -- brick romney or chad or fudge romney? >> i don't really know him well because i've never been to the tomb. >> that's right. jokes from house minority leader nancy pelosi. one late night comic, though, was not laughing. >> paul ryan, like mitt romney and like president obama, and like joe biden, is a good family man. we have four good family men in this presidential race. [ applause ] >> what about me? i don't need family men. i need a monologue, more herman cains, more john edwards, that's what i need. let's get herman cain, john edwards back in this case. >> maybe donald trump? >> donald trump says he has a big surprise in store for everyone at the republican national convention this year. a surprise he says people will love. so apparently he's not going. >> senator john mccain said it would be wise for president obama to drop joe biden from the ticket. wait -- john mccain's giving advice about choosing a running mate? like donald trump giv

romney. that film, let's talk about the film. >> yeah. >> so moving. i love this guy. it was set up with a personal anecdotes, set up with a film, and my god, they're making the sell. and then it went a little off. he started talking to chairs. >> they put together a three-day convention as well done as it was, you have to give them more credit because they had to truncate it because of the storm and i thought the sequencing last night with the exception of eastwood was incredibly well done. film was great, some of the testimonials from people who knew governor romney. the strongest part of his speech when he talked about what happened with his relationship with his family, parents and with his sons. the eastwood thing was the exception. but it was a big exceptionp. it pushed governor's romney's speech later, broke the momentum from the film to senator rubio. clint eastwood endorsed romney somewhat out of blue in idaho. at that event people said he gave a great talk and their assumption was h

romney. but, first, we caught up with the governor on the campaign trail late this week in michigan. governor, welcome back to fox news sunday. good to be with you. >>chris: what do you hope to achieve over the next week? i like people to stand back and say, what are the big issues america faces? what are the answers that i have and that paul ryan has for the issues that we face? i believe that if people stand back and consider all that america has to deal with going forward, they will recognize we are the only team that has answers for the challenges. they are big and bold antis. america needs that kind of held when so many people are out of work or underemployed or having a hard time making end's meet. >>chris: if voters take away one thing from your big acceptance speech on thursday night, what do you want that to be? >>guest: that i believe in america and in the american people. that i believe this nation is unique and exceptional and we have everything we need to continue to lead the wor

romney? >> is mamie. for a blessed while we were ike and mamie. >> as a joke. >> chris: the governor served up the pa pancakes and that started the first don't veronica moser i of the day. >> a real maple sire run we can. >> sure he is. >> this is new hampshire maple syrup. >> well, is there any other kind? >> yes, there is. there is vermont. >> but vermont isn't a wing state. >> and new hampshire is. >> maple syrup was any state isn't what the governor wanted. >> are you putting peanut butter on my buttermilk pancakes. >> and i can put them on chris'. >> i decided to get that you sticky subject by quickly eating my pan kicks. >> that is good. >> yummy, isn't it? >> sensational. what else are you going to say? >> i know. >> that is their oldest son tad there with his wife jen and their kids. >> what are family meals like? >> a little bit of craziness. dad always goes to the line first because he doesn't want to wait for all of the grand children. it takes forever. the parents cutting the meat and serving

romney. it's still a choice, not just a referendum. so i think probably what they're counting on is the convention. when he can sort of present his case, when the entire country is sort of watching. that somehow romney can make this grand case. the problem is, he doesn't have the personality for that. i have yet to see the mitt romney who can get on a podium and move enough people, you know, saying it's okay. i don't think that's going to be enough. >> cal penn and joy reid, thank you very much. coming up, harry reid believes mitt romney is hiding something big in his secret tax returns. i suspect he might be hiding something even bigger. a felony. and in the rewrite tonight, a republican congressman says congress is an alcoholic on its way to hitting rock bottom. and grover norquist is its bartender. >> it's a weekend retreat. ays] ♪ ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp

romney. but this is not so much about mitt romney. this is more the grass roots paul supporters against what they view as a republican establishment who wants to keep their power in the halls of party in washington as opposed to out in the states. >> little tension here at this republican convention. john, thanks very much. let's get straight to cnn contributor and sirius xm rdio host keith dominic. he's at the cnn grill here in tampa as well getting some unsolicited advice from his panel. pete, what's going on? >> thank you very much, wolf blitzer. i'm here with a brilliant panel. we're going to have a great discussion about the future of the gop. we're here at the rnc in tampa. let's take a snapshot because rick santorum and chris christie are speaking tonight. whose party is this? let's take a look real quick. >> some republicans worry that the republican party will come off even more conservative. this is from dane quail "the philosophy you hear from time to time, which is unfortunate, is

if romney's -- is romney calling the majority of the people in this country small minded? i mean, this is the issue for american voters because it goes right to the concept of tax fairness. the question is, will romney's tax policies tilt the playing field in favor of the wealthiest americans even further? you better believe it will. let's turn to congressman john garamendi of california. he joins us tonight on "the ed show." john, great to have you with us, congressman. thank you. harry reid made his claim about romney's taxes over two weeks ago and the candidate is still bringing it up and talking about it. why has it taken romney this long to address the issue? >> well, i'm not at all sure he has addressed the issue. listen carefully to what he said. he said, i paid 13% in taxes. what kind of taxes? are we talking about fees on his five cadillacs, are we talking about payroll taxes? or are we talking about federal income taxes? that's not clear. but more important than all of this, ed, is where is his mind on tax policy? he's made it very clear, his tax policy that he's

the 2012 gop ticket is now romney/ryan. a critical moment of the campaign. >> with energy and vision, paul ryan has become an intellectual leader of the republican party. >> and a new phase in the fight against president obama. >> the commitment mitt romney and i make to you is this -- we he won't duck the tough issues. we will lead. >> we'll explore all the big questions. who is paul ryan? is he a game-changing choice politically? do his views on the budget and medicare make the pick higher risk than reward? we've got it covered from both sides. two top republicans who know him well. the chairman of the republican party reince priebus. and the governor of ryan's home state of wisconsin, scott walker. plus, the man whose job it is to help president obama defeat the romney/ryan ticket, chief strategist for the obama campaign, david axelrod. and finally, full analysis on what this all means for the remaining 86 days of the campaign. with us, editor of the national review, rich lowry. msnbc's rachel maddow. author and radio ta

romney even yet. as someone in step with the house republicans and especially the tea party element in house republicans is to find the brand at the moment and probably the most clear-cut way of people who connected the vice presidential pick the attacks on medicare and the whole business about abortion that takes you down a path that lots of americans the tea party are uncomfortable with. that's why mitt romney to pick up on advice he has to define himself and take who he is right now. is he the man that republicans have too much of a littling moderate from massachusetts or in fact is he now someone who says i am willing to break with my party on certain things and in other cases here's who i am. i am a conviction politician and i want you to know exactly what i stand for, america. >> mitt romney won't take that stage on thursday in a vacuum even if this convention gets condensed by one or more days now. we expect there will be a night at least thursday probably wednesday now where we have seen a con

gwen: and the president accusing romney of robbing the poor. >> it's romney hood. they have tried to sell us this trickle down tax cut fairy dust before and guess what, it does not work. gwen: the biggest open question is who will run with romney? the short list shrinks. covering the week, john harwood of cnbc and the "new york times." beth reinhard of "national journal," and jeff zeleny of "the new york times." >> award-winning reporting and analysis. covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week with l en ifill and natio journal". corporate funding for washington west virginia is provided by -- >> this rock has never stood still. since 1875 we've been there for our clients through good times and bad. when their needs changed we were there to meet them. through the years from insurance to investment 34g9, from real estate to requirement solutions, we've developed new ideas for the financial challenges ahead. this rock has never stood still and that's one thing that will never change. prudential. >> a line is a powerful th