president of the united states! >> that was mitt romney's first speech as republican presidential nominee going after voters who are souring on president obama. and dirty harry makes a surprise appearance, not really a surprise, although what he did was a surprise to some people. >> i'll start it, you finish it. go ahead -- >> make my day. >> all right. >> clint eastwood grabbing some laughs and raising some eyebrows too. he had an unscripted endorsements of mitt romney. we'll talk about that this morning. isaac is still a deadly danger working up the mississippi river. we'll update you on what's happening there. ann romney will join us and senator ron johnson and debbie wasserman shultz and joel stein. "starting point" begins right

now. >> good morning, let me introduce you to our time, jason chaffetz, friend of the show, romney supporter, we always love having him and cathy, a democrat from right here, the state of florida, a ryan lizza, washington correspondent for the new yorker. nice to have you all. our starting point is going to be mitt romney's shining moment at the republican national convention in the biggest speech of his political career. and some people said the best speech of his political career. he attacked president obama's record saying his failed promises and time to turn the page. here's what he said. >> how many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in america? many of you felt that way in election day four years ago, hope and change had a powerful appeal. if you felt that excitement when you voted for barack obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's president obama?

>> mr. romney also got very personal, opened up about his family, his mormon faith and trying to connect to voters who still may feel they don't know much about him. a guest pitched as a mystery guest but we knew who it was, clint eastwood. what he said was mysterious. brian na, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad, from historic plant hall at the university of tampa, not far from the convention center here, mitt romney last night attacking president obama on his economic record, standing up for his own business record and trying to target persuadable voters saying you may have voted for president obama four years ago but it's okay to change course. >> this president can ask us to be patient. this president can tell us it was someone else's fault. this president can tell us that the next four years will get it

right but this president cannot tell us you're better off than when he took office. >> reporter: the center piece, an attack on president obama's economic record. >> does the america we want borrow a trillion dollars from china? >> no. >> does it fail to find the jobs needed for 23 million people and for half the kids graduating from college? >> no. >> reporter: romney laid unite a five-point plan to create 12 million jobs and become energy independent by 2020 and cut deficits but fell short on details. he did not shy from his business experience at bain capital. >> that business weigh started with ten people have grown into a great american success story. some of the companies we helped start, names you know and heard from tonight, an office company called staples where i'm pleased to see the obama campaign has

been shopping. he had almost no experience working in a business. jobs to him are about government. >> reporter: for a candidate who tried to downplay his mormon faith, sometimes avoiding saying the word mormon. he had personal anecdotes. >> we were mormonsxts and growing up in michigan that may have seemed out of place, but my friends cared more about what sports teams we followed than what church we go to. >> reporter: romney declared the time has come to turn the page. >> president obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans. and to heal the planet. my promise is to help you and

your family. >> romney recast ronald reagan's classic election year question. are you better off than you were four years ago? >> telling voters -- >> you know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president, when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him. >> rorter: as you noted soledad, mitt romney was also a little bit upstaged by one of the surprise speakers last night, clint eastwood, he spoke before marco rubio, who introduced mitt romney and it was pretty interesting. it made for a bit of a strange and uncomfortable moment when he kept talking to a chair as if it were president obama. here's a bit of that. >> but what do you want me to tell romney? i can't tell him to do that. can't do that to himself.

you're crazy. you're absolutely crazy. you're getting as bad as biden. >> reporter: soledad, the romney campaign said that this was not a blunder but certainly a lot of observers thought it was strange and wondered if it was. they are trying to target white male voters no doubt, a constituency that doesn't really go towards president obama that he's lost ground with that is very important to mitt romney in this election. we'll see exactly what the effect is of that, if any. >> he was pitched as a secret but it wasn't such a secret. thanks brianna keilar for that report. we're going to talk about mitt romney's not so secret weapon, his wife, ann romney. ron johnson is our guest and from the obama camp we'll talk to debbie wasserman-shultz. first let's get right to

christine romans with an update on other stories making news today. two bodies have been recovered from a flooded plaquemines parish home. isaac is now a weakening tropical depression slowly moving north but in its wake, entire neighborhoods are under water and hundreds of thousands of people without power still this hour. rob marciano live from new orleans where they are making a difficult transition into recovery mode this morning, aren't they? >> reporter: they are, especially outside the city, they are doing it amongst a lot of water. yesterday i had the opportunity to do a fly-over with the coast guard. they have a ton of barges and tankers that have run aground in many cases. also on the that flight, a colonel from the army corps of engineers assessing the levee system to see how that held up and here in the city did very well. outside of the city, north of town, they had rescues ongoing

there. on the west side of lake pontchartrain, thousands displaced there. they are still flooded out. the story is ongoing. where is it going now? it is in arkansas, slowing moving north and east into places where they could use the rain across the heartland, the corn belt. for the corn crop it's too little too late but other crops it may help a little bit. 4 to 6 inches of rain expected in those areas. in new orleans, many in the dark still but power expected to slowly be turned on throughout next couple of days. but outside of the city they are slowly recovering. >> be careful today again. to find out how to help, visit our impact your world page at cnn.com/impact. new details in the colorado movie theater massacre, james holmes called a university of colorado switchboard nine minutes before he allegedly open fire in the theater. that number he called can be used to get in contact with

faculty during off hours. those revelations komging during a hearing yesterday. holmes' psychiatrist testified she called campus police after their last session. that was about a month before the shooting. he's accused of killing 12 people and injuring 58 others during a midnight screening of the "dark knight rises." the pentagon threatening legal action against the navy s.e.a.l. who wrote a book about the osama bin laden raid. the pentagon's top lawyer wrote aletter addressed to mark owen saying he violated secrecy agreement. the officers said he and another s.e.a.l. finished off bin lad enand identified him as the leader of al qaeda. the release has been moved up a bit. >> no question, that is going to go into serious litigation. we return to our "starting point" in tampa, reaction to governor mitt romney's acceptance speech on the

national stage last night. ron johnson is from the vp pick ryan's home state. i'm not standing in a foot of water, which is an improvement. let's talk about the highlights and low lights of governor romney's speech. >> i certainly enjoyed the part when he talked about how president obama kind of guaranteed that in his administration we'd see the rise of the oceans slow and earth heal and what governor romney would do, would concentrate on you and your family. >> jobs, jobs, jobs. >> jobs, jobs, jobs. i think when you take away the totality of the convention, what you saw as a republican party, you saw nominees convey to the american people that republicans care about every american, that we want to see every american have an opportunity to build a good life and the way we do that is not the way president obama has done it by growing

government but by really understanding what made this country great. >> so talk to me about where you thought were the weakest moments in his speech. >> there were no weak moments. >> come on, you have to pick one. >> some people may see he may not be as stylish as president obama. tell you what, if i had to choose style over substance in terms of president of the united states, i'll take substance every time and that's what you see in paul ryan and mitt romney. we have men of real substance, people not running to be president or vice president because they want to have the title, but because they care deeply about what's happened to the country. they realize our nation is in financial peril and they are going to step up to the flat and provide what is missing in washington today which is leadership. we need leadership. >> there are lots of messages about immigration, right? senator rubio's entire speech was a remarkable speech coming from an immigrant family and the dream america has offered to people outside of the united states. you also had lots of conversations about women, women

were very high profile. but there seemed to also be this conflict at the same time, after senator rubio's speech, governor romney kind of walked out shaking hands. one of the last people he hugged was jan brewer. you just talked for 15 to 20 minutes before the love of immigrants in the country ajan brewer is kind of face of that. women high profile, a lot of question last week was about women's rights and contraception and abortion rights. it seemed to me to be very conflict between what wrerp seeing and the conversation we have been having. is that a problem? >> you're reading too many into some of those other symbols. the totality, we did see so many women involved in our party. we are nation of immigrants, we have immigrants in powerful positions now in our party. governor romney himself, i think marco did a really good job of pointing out the fact that governor romney, as almost every

american is, a product of immigra immigrants. it was his grandfather that came here from mexico. >> i thought that might have also underscored a bit of a challenge. i think we have the sound bite from senator rubio where he the last line before the introduction -- let's play that where he talks about not just my story, he said, it's all of your stories as well and said it's also the story of the father of mitt romney, right? i thought, well, that seems to underscore that that's a challenge. it's not his story, it's his father's story. isn't that a problem? >> then you look at what happened in terms of ann romney describing how their marriage began. i thought it was beautiful the way they didn't are a storybook marriage but a real marriage. >> a struggle of immigrants coming from cuba is a challenge. >> what americans saw and what finally was conveyed to americans, dispelled the myths and governor romney and ann

started from humble beginnings and had a small little apartment and ate off an ironing board. we also heard about their quiet charitable giving and how they are involved in their community and how they have helped people. i really respect an individual who doesn't toot his own horn and goes about being generous and caring and kind and that's who governor romney is. he won't talk about it. i respect that. i think it's up to us. we need to point that out so the american people can see it. from my standpoint what the conventions are about -- >> what about the democratic convention? what do you worry about coming out of that? because there's going to obviously be an effort to paint governor romney as out of touch, all the of the things we've talked about over the last weeks and months. what are you most concerned about? >> i'm sure the democratic convention will be as -- same thing as president obama's campaign has been, nothing other than distracting the american public away from president obama's record.

it should be all about president obama's record of success but his record is one of failure. if you want a metric that proves that, median household income declined more than $4,000 during this administration. i can continue to tick things off, $5.3 trillion worth of debt. >> moody's anl littics say it's going to happen anyway, what he announced in his speech -- >> that's exactly right. it should have happened under -- with president obama had he not undertaken an assault on job creators and spent this country into ever increasing levels of debt and not increased regulations -- >> there point is it's going to happen no matter what, president obama or governor romney, it's on track to happen. >> the point being, it should have been on track to happen had not presidentbama pursued policies that prevented the american economy from recovering the way it normally would. the more severe the recession,

the faster the economy generally recovers because the american economy is a real marvel because of the free enterprise system, not a marvel because we relied on the growth of government. president obama believes in his heart all solutions flow through government there's an elite group of people that can control everything. we believe as conservatives and governor romney believes, no, the reason we've been successful because of freedom and individuals striving and aspiring to build things. that's what made america great. >> you see that as the difference -- the democrats will say that's completely wrong and misstatement of the differences between the two parties and we'll have an opportunity to hear from them today. senator ron johnson, have a great morning. >> thank you. likewise. >> listen. >> i wish president obama had succeeded because i want america

to succeed. but his promises gave way to disappoint and division. >> governor romney's night is over. now the democrats are ready to fire back. coming up next, dnc chair, debbie wasserman-shultz will be our guest with her reaction to senator johnson and mitt romney's speech. we're back in just a moment. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

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speech of mitt romney's political career. it happened right here in tampa, florida. he accepted the republican nomination for president and accused president obama of squandering the optimism that helped him win the oval office. here's a little bit of what he said. >> how many days have you woken up feeling something special was happening in america? many of you felt that way on election day four years ago. hope and change had a powerful appeal. but tonight i'd ask a simple question, if you felt that excitement when you voted for barack obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's president obama? >> florida congresswoman debbie wasserman-shultz, the chair woman for the democratic national committee. in that speech, what did you take away that most worries you as a democrat as you head into charlotte? >> well, actually, what is deeply concerning to me is as an

american is that mitt romney had the audacity to not layout specifics but nice platte tuds you about hout he would create job, 12 million of people, get a handle on the economy and apply his economic wizardry to the nation's problems and did it in a way that didn't give us any specifics and that's easy to do but governing -- >> when he teared up to talk about his family and parents married for 64 years. that was emotional or talking about five kids. >> the biostuff was very nice, the first moments anyone really saw that from mitt romney, i think he had to do that. if he didn't, i don't think anyone would be saying that he did what he needed to do. i don't think he did what he needed to do. i don't think most americans watching the speech, particularly if they are undecided got to the end, said

yep, that's the guy. he really didn't give us any sense of how is he going to increase defense spending, cut taxes for wealthy and create 12 million jobs, and do it in a way that cuts spending? it makes no sense. >> you felt it was low on specifics. >> didn't deliver it about being low on specifics. his advisers have said that, if he gets specific he gets in trouble. >> he had to introduce himself. >> re-introduce himself. >> whatever you want to call it and connect emotionally. i'll play a little clip about what he said about his parents. my mom and dad were true partners, a life lesson that shaped me by every day example. when my mom ran for the senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. i can still see her saying if her beautiful voice, why should women have any less say than men

about the great decisions facing our nation? >> he was choking up in the speech and i think that reson e resonated. people loved watching that. >> it was warm and wonderful. i think it was a missed opportunity for him to say he believes women deserve equal pay for equal work. he has not even said he would be willing to sign the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. he warm d himself and talked about his familiar and wife the other night said how much she loves him. this was an -- my sense of this convention this week more about tearing down barack obama than leaving the american people with the impression of what mitt romney's presidency would be without any specifics. >> they spoke about jobs, jobs, jobs. isn't that going to be a huge challenge for democrats if you look at job growth over time? last month's jobs numbers were

amazing, no one will say that. >> hemorrhaging $750,000 jobs a work and thanks to his policy u.s., 29 straight months of job growth. >> slow job growth. >> we have a long way to go and president obama has said that. simply saying the word jobs a whole bunch of times during the republican national convention doesn't give americans any understanding of how they would do that. and that's what's important. there are two paths and visions in front of voters. >> what do the dems do next week? >> next week we're going to have -- very different from this week, invitation only special interest funded kofrpt enenthused affair. our will start with a community festival celebrating the carolinas and virginia and close with president obama accepting the party's nomination for a second term, also with an open to the public event in front of

tens of thousands. because we believe that the people that should be celebrated are the working families of america and middle class and folks who really mitt romney and his party leadership think we should let the krums that trickle down eventually help them. >> they would completely disagree. i can see congressman chaffetz saying we'll discuss that straight ahead. still ahead on quts starting point, mitt romney's not to see kret weapon. and going next into the presidential election, you're watching "starting point." we're back in just a moment. [ female announcer ] the coffee house.

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welcome back. the remnants of tropical storm isaac still bringing heavy rain and the threat of flash flooding. it's now a tropical depression and on the move. let's get right to bonnie schneider in the cnn hurricane headquarters. good morning, bonnie. >> and some very strong thunderstorms to places like alexandria, louisiana we're watching for a lot of lightning associated with the system as well. it's more of a heavy rain maker for parts of little rock arkansas and port smith and so heavy rain working through which is beneficial because we're under severe drought this this part of the country. in terms of a rain maker, we're looking for very heavy rain. for the next few days, 2, 4, 6 inches of rain across the midwest including st. louis. once again this rain is

beneficial for the region so that's good news. unfortunately we still run the risk of areases with more rain that's flooded. a lot has to do with the fact it will take a while for a water to reseed. we will have flood warnings in effect and flash flood warnings in effect. >> new details in the colorado movie theater massacre. james holmes called the university of colorado switch board nine minutes before he opened fire at the aurora movie theater. the switch board can be used to get a hold of faculty during off hours. jim spellman has been on the story from the very beginning and he joins us from denver. break this down for us. >> reporter: good morning. this was all about a notebook. thgs a notebook that james holmes sent to his psychiatrist, dr. lynn fenton hours before the

shooting. the prosecutors want it and defense want to give it up. two things have really arisen here that are very interesting. on the 11th of june, five weeks before the shooting, we know james holmes saw dr. lynn fenton. you about she says they severed their relationship and she never saw him again. the defense is saying, he mailed her a package and made this phone call nine minutes before the shooting to a main switch board number where she could potentially be reached after hours. the defense is saying, regardless of what the doctor thought, he is still considered to have a relationship with her. the judge still hasn't ruled on this yet. they'll have more on this coming down the road in september. the reason this is so important is because it could be central to an insanity defense. the defense says it's him reaching out for help. the prosecutors want this because it may show he was planning this ahead of time, being methodical and not in fact insane. this was a very important part of how they can put together

their defense and the prosecution. >> jim spellman in denver, thanks, jim. >> a new judge has been assigned to the murder trial of judge zimmerman. on wednesday a florida appeals court granted zimmerman's request for a new judge. zimerman's attorneys argue that comments the judge made to their client put his ability to have a fair trial at risk. they agreed and it will be before judge nelson. andy roddick is retiring from tennis after the u.s. top. making that announcement on his 30th birthday. his ranking has tumbled in recent years, he is the last american to win a grand slam men's single title. he's scheduled to play his second round match at this year's open tonight. soledad? >> christine, thank you very much. suddenly got very, very noisy in the diner this morning.

still ahead on "starting point," ann romney, talking to her, she's been faithfully by her husband's side. she'll sit down with candy crowley for an interview about his big movement last night and her own role in the campaign. we're back in a moment. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

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and a top speed of 53 miles per hour. it's a whole new species of gator. see just how much the gator has evolved at johndeere.com/gator. welcome back, team romney heads to virginia to begin the final phase of the campaign. last night mr. romney closed out the convention with the biggest speech of his political career. it included a reaganesque attack on president obama's performance. here's what he said. >> this president can ask us to be patient. this president can tell us it was someone else's fault. this president can tell us that the next four years he'll get it right. but this president cannot tell us that you're better off today than when he took office.

>> so how does he feel about his performance last night? candy crowley is speaking to the person who knows mitt romney the best, his wife. >> good morning. let me ask you after all of the grandchildren had goen away and kids were gone and it was the two of you, what was mr. romney's assessment of how he did last night? >> you know, it's interesting, candy. we shared more about the fact of the journey and shared more about the feelings that we had for our parents that had passed on and how we wish they could have been there and it was more of a reflective thing. i mean, i knew he had done a great job and i think mitt was confident that he felt very good about his speech and very excited to deliver it. it was very reflective last night because a lot of people

came into our lives through testimonials and different things that stood up and told a different side of mitt we've been hearing about from the attacks coming our way. and for me, i think that was the feeling that we had is just this gratitude that we had for the life we've lived and for the lives of people that we've touched. that stood up and said, this is making us mad hearing about the attacks on this guy and we know who he is. you know, we actually had pam -- my son ran into her in the lobby, we were able to have her come in and shape and give lots of hugs and share those memories. it really was a reflective moment for us on looking back on our life. >> now, in his speech as well as in your speech, there were certainly a lot of words sort of

extended reaching out towards women. we've talked a lot in the media. i'm sure you've seen in the polls about the so-called gender gap and also the difference between the women who support president obama and the women who support the governor. what do you -- when you look at it, what do you think the problem has been there? >> well, i don't look at it as a problem. i look at it as an opportunity. that's why i was grateful for our ability to let people see mitt in a different light and to see how he's lived his life. to see the stories about his mother and about the feelings she would have had last night seeing all of these elected women and the chance that we had from other women to stand up and say, you know, i've worked with this guy to have his lieutenant governor, chief of staff, someone that's worked in his cabinet, all of these women that

have lived and had experience real life working experience with mitt and saying, let's look at a different lens with this guy because this is how i know him. and he cares about women's issue and cares about women. for me it was just a great opportunity to be able to tell our side of the story. >> the truth is that the gender gap as we've come to know it in modern political times has been there for republicans for almost three decades. it's not a problem actually peculiar to your husband's campaign. do you think there's something about the republican party that tends to turn off some women voters at least in sort of double digit numbers when you look at the gender gap? we've had some republicans say, some of it is the receipt tihet some is the policy. what do you think it is? >> i'm not a political pundit, i'm not going to be able to really answer that. i will tell you what i'm hearing from women across the country

right now and they are -- those that may not have voted for a republican in the past are coming up and telling me this, enough is enough. that they care not about their own job and their children's job and husband's job, which they do care about because they are worried about those, they are caring about the legacy of death we're leaving their children. i think they recognize it's time for someone that understands the economy and understands job creation and understands how responsible he's going to be in making sure their children are not going to be burdened with the debts. i'm hearing from so many women that may not have considered voting for a republican before that said, it's time for the grown-up to come, the man that's going to have -- take this very seriously and take the future of our children very seriously. and i very much believe, candy, it is going to be an economic

election and a lot of women may be voting this cycle around in a different way than they usually are. and that is thinking about the economy and thinking about their own jobs and their husband's jobs but also thinking about the future. >> mrs. romney, i sure wish we had more time. come back when you stay with us a little longer. we appreciate it this morning. >> thank you, candy. >> and that's sort -- $64,000 question, i would imagine, is it going to be people voting on jobs or will there be other issues that frame what the electorate -- polling shows it's jobs but that could change in the 60-some odd days that remain. >> it's been there for an awfully long time. it's the economy. but she gives the answers most republicans give when you say what's the problem with hispanics and women here? they say, well, they are really -- it's a longstanding

problem. it's a three decade gap. particularly with women. >> congressman chaffetz, how do you answer that. i would agree when you ask that question, we don't have a problem. sort of a conflict in what we would see and the conversations we've been having over the last months or so about immigration or women's issues. that had to be a challenge for the party. how do you answer that? >> over the course of the last three days, you saw very strong, accomplished women take the center stage. the governor of new mexico, i thought she was absolutely fabulous. she talked about how she thought she was a democrat but when she sat down and what she believed in, i'm actually a republican. and she wanted to great success. ann romney's presentation. the jobs, the economy, but it is

bigger and brooder than that. when people look at the things the republican party stands for, we have women that we can point to that will be great role models for people moving forward. >> you've been moving your head like, no, no, no. >> women's issues are economic issues. democrats support ee quail pay for equal work and republicans in the house voted against it. the first bill president obama signed was the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. on women's health he has made significant progress while republicans have been obstacles on birth control and improving services to women and medicare. women live longer than men. when the republicans propose to voucherize medicare, undermine that economic security in the retirement years, that has a greater impact on women and sure gets our attention. >> by seeing how vigorously congressman chaffetz is moving

my table when you bring up medicare, it is a question about who's going to own that part of the debate. whoever owns the we're going to fix medicare, change medicare, whoever can sort of win on that front will win. we'll continue this conversation. i'm going to bring ryan in to talk about that in a moment. still ahead, the moment everybody was talking about and a moment that had nothing to do with governor mitt romney. clint eastwood on the stage. what do you think about the empty chair and the conversation he had with it? some people loved it, other people thought it was bizarre. we'll talk with joel stein and get his take on it ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ with a subaru you can always find a way. announcer: love.

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welcome back, the republican national convention is over here in tampa. this morning everybody will start clearing out. mitt roey fresh off his acceptance speech will hold his fairwell victory rally. but the moment everybody is talking about is clint eastwood's speech and joel stein, a humor columnist for "time." the last time we spoke i was getting drench and you were making fun about me in the rain.

>> i apologize. >> apology accepted. >> you looked great wet. i remember thinking wow, this is going to be interesting. what did you think of that? >> that is the best moment i've been to at a convention. it was insane. how did the romney camp allow that to happen? they are such a scripted group. they must have known he was going to talk to an empty chair, right? at some point, they thought that was a good idea. >> here is a clip where he is discussing with the empty chair, and the empty chair is responding back to him. listen. >> well, what do you want me to tell romney? i can't tell him to do that. he can't do that to himself. you're crazy. you're absolutely crazy. you're getting as bad as biden.

>> so the crowd was going wild. you were there. >> well, he finally started making sense at that moment. so people were relieved. but before that, you didn't know what he was talking about. he was just talking to an empty chair. yeah. i loved to hear the pitch he made where everyone said, yes, let's do that. >> it came out of this really nice video montage that it was all about sort of the family values, if you will, of the romneys. and then it kind of cut to awkward, i think is fair to say, weird at times, uncomfortable at times, funny at times. did that work? >> it's a bit of a comical interlude. people take a deep breath. they were excited to see clint eastwood there. i thought he was going to bring nancy reagan out on his shoulders and run around the stadium. i thought that made it work. but it was just fun. >> had he had nancy reagan on his shoulders, that would have been the most normal thing. >> but does it play well? ultimately it's about how people take it. not how we feel about it. >> you only have a few opportunities to get your message out.

you have your vice presidential selection, your convention speech, and the debates. and we're all sitting here talking about a somewhat crazy moment by clint eastwood, rather than what was in mitt romney's speech. and i don't know from your perspective, but that's not successful, is it? >> he talked some very poignant points. when he was talking about maybe we should try a businessperson. i thought it was pretty good. >> he basically said, you know, that president obama was an attorney. listen. >> i never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to be president anyway, because it -- [ cheers and applause ] >> yeah. i think it's maybe time, what do you think, for maybe a businessman, how about that? [ cheers and applause ] >> i was thinking, well, mitt romney is an attorney, right? he said who thought it was a good idea for people to have an attorney? >> well, he has a law degree.

but he clearly is a businessman. he didn't go out and practice law and hang up a shingle and represent people in court. he is a businessman. and that was the point he was trying to make. >> two other issues he touched on which i thought was strange from a republican messaging point was guantanamo bay, sort of criticizing obama for not closing guantanamo bay. and the war in afghanistan. he made a libertarian argument that we shouldn't have gone into afghanistan. and that's not the republican message, is it? >> and frankly it reminded me of a neighbor when i was a young girl who would yell get off my lawn. i'm not really sure it spoeblg spoke to the critical issues. it was a light moment. and everyone loves clint eastwood and his movies. >> the invisible obama chair now has its own facebook page. >> and rising every minute. >> nice to see you. thank you for joining us. we have to take a short break. when we come back, we'll continue live here from tampa, florida. we'll be talking about last night's big event.

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still ahead on "starting point" this morning, the upon republican national convention isn't the only show in town. tea party favorite christine o'donnell is here as well. we'll check in with her. and also find out how her trouble maker festival went. also the very latest on what is now tropical depression isaac. we'll tell you which states are getting hit now and which states to watch out for. plus the switch to recovery mode in new orleans. we'll take you there live. and new details about the colorado theater massacre. did james holmes call his therapist from the theater right before he started shooting?

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good morning. welcome to "starting point." we're coming to you live this morning from a diner in tampa, florida. our "starting point" this morning, governor mitt romney is in. >> mr. chairman, and delegates, i accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> mitt romney's first speech as republican presidential nominee going after voters who are souring on president obama. dirty harry made a surprise appearance. and it was certainly a surprise. listen. >> all right. i'll start it. you finish it. go ahead. >> make my day! >> all right! >> clint eastwood getting some laughs and raising some eyebrows

in an unscripted endorsement of mitt romney. also, isaac is now working its way up the mississippi river. it is friday, august 31. and "starting point" begins right now. our team this morning, jason chaffetz is with us. romney supporter and frequent guest on "starting point." congresswoman kathy caster is a democrat from florida. nice to have you with us. ryan lizza, a washington correspondent for the new yorker. ryan, nice to see you. kind of shouting down the table. >> safe to say eastwood did make all of our day, no? >> yes. in some ways, a wacky highlight of last night. john berman, cnn anchor of "starting point." nice to have you with us as well. our "starting point" is mitt romney and his shining moment at the republican national convention. certainly the biggest speech of his political career so far. he attacked president obama's record, saying that his promises

have failed, and it's time to turn the page >> how many days have you woken up feeling that something really special is happening in america? many of you felt that way on election day four years ago, hope and change had a powerful appeal. but tonight, i'd ask a simple question. if you felt that excitement when you voted for barack obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's president obama? >> there are many people who said that the former governor was going to also have to get personal, so he opened up last night about his family and a little bit about his faith. trying to connect to voters who still say that they don't know that much about him. brianna keel ar is joining us with more from last night. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. we are here at historic plant hall at the university of tampa not far from where mitt romney last night knocked president obama's economic record, stood up for his own business record, and said essentially to persuadable voters you may have voted for barack obama four years ago, but it's ok now to

change course. >> this president can ask us to be patient. this president can tell us it was someone else's fault. this president can tell us that the next four years he'll get it right. but this president cannot tell us that you're better off today than when he took office. >> the center piece of mitt romney's nomination acceptance speech, an attack on president obama's economic record. >> does the america we want borrow a trillion dollars from china? >> no! >> does it fail to find the jobs that are needed for 23 million people, and for half the kids graduating from college? >> no! >> reporter: romney laid out a five-point plan to create 12 million jobs, become energy independent by 2020, and cut deficits. but he fell short on details. the republican nominee did not shy away from his business experience at bain capital. >> that business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great american success story.

some of the companies we helped start are names you know and you've heard from tonight. an office company called staples, where i'm pleased to see the obama campaign has been shopping. [ laughter ] >> he had almost no experience working at a business. jobs to him are about government. >> reporter: for a candidate who has tried to down play his mormon faith, sometimes even avoiding saying the word "mormon" he pivoted with personal anecdotes. >> we remember mormons, and growing up in michigan that might have seemed unusual or out of place. but i don't remember it that way. my friends cared more about what sports teams we followed than what church we went to. >> reporter: his polls show that president obama is much more likely to understand their problems, romney declared it is time to turn the page. >> president obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans.

[ laughter ] >> and to heal the planet. my promise is to help you and your family. [ applause ] >> romney recast ronald reagan's classic election year question. >> are you better off than you were four years ago? >> reporter: telling voters -- >> you know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him. [ cheers and applause ] >> brianna, they had announced a mystery guest. and of course we kind of knew before the mystery was officially revealed that it was going to be clint eastwood. but what he said, i thought it was kind of weird. it certainly funny in parts but it was a little bizarre. tell me a little bit about that. >> reporter: yeah. i think weird is a very good

word to describe it. when he first took the stage, soledad, and he spoke right before senator marco rubio of florida who was discussed as a potential veep pick for mitt romney, and rubio introduced romney. when he first started speaking, i thought maybe there's some kind of off the cuff appeal here, but it quickly turned strange and at times uncomfortable as he repeatedly talked to a chair as if it were president obama. take a listen. >> i know you were against the war in iraq. and that's okay but you thought the war in afghanistan was ok. you know, you thought that was something that was worth doing. we didn't check with the russians to see how they did there for the 10 years. but we did it. >> now a romney campaign spokeswoman told cnn that you can't really judge clint eastwood by the same -- through the same lens, political lens, that you would judge some of the other speakers.

but certainly, soledad, this was not the tone of mitt romney's speech, which was targeting more persuadable voters. and another thing that was interesting, you heard clint eastwood there talk about afghanistan. mitt romney did not talk about afghanistan at all. >> yeah. i thought it was really kind of off, some of the talking points as well. we'll talk more about that. brianna keilar for us this morning. appreciate it. thank you. so what was the tea party's take on the convention? the tea party was hosting a trouble maker fest right across the street. christine o'donnell will join us live to talk about that in just a few moments. but first, right to christine romans for a look at the rest of the day's top stories. sad news out of louisiana. two bodies have been recovered from a flooded plaquemines parish home. the first casualties of hurricane isaac in the state of louisiana. another person was killed by a falling tree in mississippi. isaac is now a weakening tropical depression, slowly moving north toward missouri. entire neighborhoods are

submerged. more are threatened by floodwaters, and hundreds of thousands of people are still without power. meteorologist rob marciano is live from new orleans where they are starting the recovery process this morning. good morning, rob. >> reporter: good morning, christine. it's a slow one, especially in the areas outside the city where the floodwaters still remain very, very high. we went up yesterday with flyover with the u.s. coast guard and the army corps of engineers. twofold mission, one to check out the levees and the system that has been in place since katrina. also to check on the mississippi river itself. a number of bathrorges and tanr broke away and ran aground. so they have to clear those. other issues around the lake, north and west of town where they are not as protected. in slidell yesterday, heavy flooding there, rescuing folks as well. and in laplace, north and west of the city by about 30 miles, tough to get to because it's pretty much flooded in, thousands of people displaced from flooding in that community.

they don't expect that water to drain for a week and a half. where is this going and how much rain have we seen? surprisingly, mississippi and florida lead the way as far as how much rain has fallen from this thing. 17 inches in kiln, mississippi. here in new orleans, over 10 inches. little rock, arkansas, where the center of the storm is, and the radar shows a good rain shield across the mississippi into areas that could use it. drought stricken areas. they will take that rain for sure. no rain expected here in new orleans. hundreds of power crews are lined up on canal street ready to go to work to try to restore power to the hundreds of thousands still in the dark today. back to you. >> thanks, rob. we're learning that colorado movie theater shooting suspect james holmes called the university of colorado switch board just nine minutes before he allegedly opened fire. that number can be used to get in contact with faculty during off hours. that coming from a hearing yesterday. holmes' psychiatrist testified she called campus police after

their last session, about a month before the shooting. holmes is accused of killing 12 people and injuring 58 others last month. the pentagon now threatening legal action against the retired navy s.e.a.l. who wrote a book about the raid that killed osama bin laden. that book is called "no easy day." the pentagon's top lawyer wrote a letter to the author saying he violated agreements to not divulge military secrets. the author said he and another s.e.a.l., quote, finished off bin laden and then identified him as the leader of al qaeda. soledad? >> christine romans, thank you for that update. back to our "starting point" this morning, we've been talking about mitt romney's big night in tampa. officially he's become the republican presidential nominee. in a speech he really was appealing to voters who are unhappy with the last four years. here is a little clip. >> now is the moment when we can stand up and say, i'm an american. i make my destiny. we deserve better.

my children deserve better. my family deserves better. my country deserves better. [ cheers and applause ] >> congressman jason chaffetz is with us all morning joining us on the panel. a republican from utah. let's talk a little bit about the big take aways. obviously, for governor romney, certain things he had to do, and he was getting a lot of advice from editorials like, you need to be approachable, lay out a plan, you need to be likeable, you need to attack president obama, don't attack president obama. what do you think first and foremost he needed to do? >> well, this was his opportunity to introduce himself to the nation. i think people needed to look at him and say, could this person be my president. and to that extent, i think he absolutely succeeded. i think he was very presidential. i think he was very commanding. and i thought he was very personable. and that's the mitt romney that i know, that i wanted the country to see. >> likeable. >> yes, he is a very reasonable, decent human being. that started with ann romney's

speech, which i thought was phenomenal. and paul ryan hit it out of the park. and mitt romney delivered too. so maybe a little bit of a distraction with the clint eastwood thing. but the success of the night was mitt romney showing that he can be the president of the united states. >> low on specifics. >> it was low on specifics. i thought overall what he was trying to do was give permission to voters who are a little unsure about the president but like him personally. give them permission to sort of break up with obama. you know, it was a lot of the attacks on obama that we heard earlier in the week that really got the crowd going. romney didn't do that. he sort of eased back a little bit from that. he wanted to say this guy -- it wasn't an angry criticism of obama. it was, we gave this guy a shot, but it just didn't work out. let me try. >> so, you know, i look at some of the conflicts within the party, though. we have spoken about this. i thought marco rubio gave what i thought was a great speech. and he is a good speaker anyway.

i thought this was a really personal speech. and yet it was all about the immigrant story. and then when you think about the last two weeks we've been covering the republican party is with governor romney himself is immigration, problems with latinos. the polling confirms it for sure. and then also sort of these issues that the republican party, the gop, has with the latinos. >> i disagree a little bit. first of all, the republican party put up some of the superstars that happen to be of hispanic dissent. the governor of new mexico gave a great speech. marco rubio, obviously at the top of the pile. the reality for the democrats and president obama is the democrats have the house, the senate, and the presidency. they didn't do anything about immigration. i was on the subcommittee for two years when nancy pelosi was the speaker of the house. they only met 12 times. and never did we have a substantive immigration bill come before us. so the president cannot say we had any sort of success.

>> well, the polls don't support you on that. >> but that's the reality. and maybe we need to do a better job communicating it. but the president did not deliver to that group. they did not deliver the promise of fixing it. >> but your candidate has said, i would not sign the dream act. people should self deport. and those things have resonated very strongly among latinos who feel like this issue is sort of an -- even though they may first and foremost think economy, this is a personal issue. >> when you look in the hall, the audience in the hall really was not reflective of this diverse dynamic country that is america. and while marco rubio is a terrificora terrificorator, they can't just place him on the podium and make up all of the damage they have done with their harsh policies on immigration. mitt romney's very harsh discussion during the primary season that he was very anti-immigrant. we have got to realize that america in the 21st century is

diverse, dynamic, and the keys to economic growth are going to be international growth, what we do to support families of all kinds. >> and it's not just immigrants saying this. jeb bush was on this program yesterday. mel martinez. >> lindsey graham. >> says the town has to be different. >> lindsey graham, who said roughly we don't have enough angry white men. >> bush was -- when he was asked is the romney campaign doing a good enough job reaching out to hispanics, he said they were just doing ok. do you think they are doing better than ok? >> i think the message that we want to mix legal immigration is the one that needs to resonate more. i sponsored a bill in the house that passed. it's one of the first times we've ever passed something that's languishing over in the senate. but republicans i think can grab that memo because in large part the democrats have failed to deliver when they had the leverage to do so. >> but do you agree with bush that the campaign isn't doing a

great job of reaching out to the hispanics? >> i thought this convention was a great example of showing we are reaching out. we have one of the most dynamic governors in the governor of new mexico. she is a wonderful spokesman for the party. she got a primetime spot as she should, and we need to continue in that effort. did you know there was another event in town this week in tampa? the trouble maker fest hosted by tea party favorite christine o'donnell. did she make some trouble in tampa? we'll take a look straight ahead. ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism.

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welcome back, everybody. this morning, mitt romney is getting ready for his victory rally and a day of campaigning in virginia. coming off one of the biggest nights of his career when he made his gop nomination acceptance speech. tea party favorite marco rubio introduced mitt romney, setting the message it's time to unite and support the nominee.

>> we live in a troubled time, but the story of those who came before us reminds us that america has always been about new beginnings, and mitt romney is running for president because he knows that if we are willing to do for our children what our parents did for us, life in america can be better than it has ever been. [ applause ] >> christine o'donnell is a former republican senate candidate from delaware and also the producer of the trouble maker fest that took place here at the exact same time in tampa. nice to have you with us. >> thank you. >> highlights and lowlights of the speech last night. >> for me, the highlights were watching the family afterwards, watching the kids chase the balloons. there was such an innocence and an excitement. and at one point, mrs. romney was trying to corral the grandkids. and it was such an honest moment. and it was just beautiful to sit there and watch and absorb it. and i think at least for me, and hopefully the voters got the

same feeling, that grownups are in charge now. you know, the grownups are here. and it was just a wonderful moment. >> do you think that there was anything missing in that speech? what did not -- >> no. >> what did not deliver? >> i think that what was missing was actually a good thing. he wasn't -- or governor romney wasn't negative against obama. he talked about obama's mistakes, but he didn't attack president obama. and i thought that that was a very gentlemanly very diplomatic way to demonstrate the two contrasts of the two candidates. it's capitalism versus collectivism. and collectivism has failed. >> so you're saying that the republicans represent capitalism and the democrats represent collectivism or communism? >> no. the two different tracks that america is on. restoring a truly authentic, benevolent free market where the entrepreneur can flourish, and

the hard work is what creates the jobs that he promised. as opposed to the collective whole, where half your paycheck goes to the government, and they give you everything, and that kind of punitive tax code that snuffs out the individual entrepreneur spirit, that has made the american dream. >> congressman chaffetz, she is describing the democrats as communists. you're saying collectivism. that's communism. and you're saying -- do you believe that's true? >> well, i wouldn't word it like that. i think we have two different visions. i wouldn't phrase it exactly like that. but i do believe there are two divergent approaches. do we want to believe in bigger government, more government. barack obama has supported a budget that never balances. there are 143,000 additional workers on the federal payroll since president obama took office. i just think fundamentally he believes that government is more of the solution, where i think a candidate romney believes that

we're going to have to have -- there's a proper role for government but it's a limited role for government. >> and i do want to clarify. i didn't say the democrats are communists. i did not use that phrase. i don't want people to misunderstand what i'm saying. but if you look at the policies coming out of this administration, not all democrats, but this administration, we are definitely headed into the direction of more government control. president obama himself has said that he wants to nationalize more of the private sector. and that's not what america is all about. that is not the american dream. the american dream isn't to have a car and to have a house. the american dream is that if you work hard, and you save, and you prepare for the future, and you put the next generation ahead of yourself, you can earn a car and earn a house. >> i think democrats would say that's their message as well. >> absolutely. that's why i said -- >> it sounds like you're calling the administration, then, that collectivism is another word for communism, right? >> coming from president obama's

own mouth are some of these statements. when he says redistribute the wealth. this is what is turning off so many independent voters and so many common sense democrats. when they are taking a closer look at what the two candidates have to offer. and you don't need stats or professional economists to tell you that gas prices have doubled under this administration. grocery prices have risen. >> and at the same time, the administration has put a lot of money into the from i vat sector, right? so if you're heading towards communism, you would not be doing that. you would be taking over. my mother is cuban, so i can talk a lot about communism to you. i know a lot about it. so i would say if you're putting money into the private sector, which has been done -- >> you're putting government dollars into the private sector. >> so if it can flourish. >> it's nationalizing these private businesses. >> but that is not nationalizing. i spent this week while everybody was here walking along, you know, levees, right, that have been built with federal money.

to protect private companies, to protect companies in the gulf coast. >> there's a role for federal government. >> but that's not nationalizing. >> that's infrastructure. that's infrastructure. we're supposed to build infrastructure and take care of state-to-state transportation. there's a certain limited role. >> so health care you think is a path to communism? >> i didn't say that. when we talk about health care, we are missing the point. the problem with health care is we need to address the cost. >> which people would say the aca is doing. so when you talk about nationalizing something, and you're really sort of taking the words that they use in cuba, frankly, communism. really. >> i'm talking about -- you're saying that the words they use in cuba are coming from president obama. >> oh, certainly not. you're saying that. >> i'm saying these words, redistribute the wealth, economic equality, are buzz

words that our president, our own president, has used. and the problem is that there is history, there's quantifiable data, to prove that these buzz words, this economic philosophy that he's touting, does not work. they sound noble and they sound appealing. >> so your economic philosophy saying what? you sound like you're saying you think the president is a communist. >> that's not what i'm saying. >> what do you mean by that? >> when he says tax the wealthy, it's only fair, you have to look at -- >> he said get rid of tax cuts for the wealthy. when you look under other people's proposals, and mitt romney and other -- when we looked during the primary, there are plenty of people who would -- at the tax center, for example, who would say that the middle class is hurt more by what governor romney proposes. >> that's not true -- >> they do, absolutely. >> these principles of lower taxes, lower regulation, and cutting government spending. when those three are coupled together, they work, whether it's a democrat --

>> well, others would say no. >> whether it's a democrat such as kennedy and clinton who is implementing them, and they don't work when it's a -- even when it's a republican, such as nixon and bush, who are violating them. so there are basic economic principles on which the american economy was established and built. both parties have strayed from these. and it's going to take a radical ideological reawakening to get back and fix the american economy. >> is mitt romney the radical ideological reawakening? >> i'm not saying that governor romney is that. again, you're putting words in my mouth. >> i'm just asking questions. >> that's what it's going to take. drastic cuts. >> if mitt romney wins, would he -- >> i can't hear you. i'm sorry. >> if mitt romney wins, would you serve in his administration if asked, and what kind of job would you be interested in. >> i don't think that's an

appropriate question. we have to make sure it's when he wins. >> would you serve in his administration if he asks? >> are you in a position to offer jobs? >> i'm asking you as a republican who endorsed him -- i. >> well, who knows. that's asking what i'm going to do with my life in the next year. and it depends on what happens in this country. and i'm going to go where i'm best needed. and it might be to continue to play a pundit role. it might be in washington. who knows? >> would you serve in the romney administration if he asks? >> i don't know. i don't know. i want to go where i'm called to go. and who knows? >> christina o'donnell, nice to have you with us. >> thank you, soledad. >> we'll have to do it again. a short break, but still ahead this morning we're talking about what was hurricane isaac. i believe it's now a tropical depreson. still dangerous, though. we'll tell you which states are getting hit right now. also a projection of where that storm is going. we're live at the cnn hurricane headquarters. that's coming up next. at usaa, we believe honor is not

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welcome back to "starting point." tropical depression isaac is still bringing heavy rain and the threat of flash flooding. let's get right to meteorologist bonnie schneider in the cnn hurricane headquarters. >> it's hard to believe this much rain fell in new orleans. but when you look at isaac's overall rain totals, we're talking about 20 inches in one city, and that is new orleans. elsewhere, isaac made an impact in florida. a lot of people dealing with flooded roadways in south florida right now. but really the main threat continues to be arkansas into louisiana and as well as missouri, where definitely they are getting some heavy thunderstorms across much of missouri from springfield straight to st. louis. these are really heavy downpours of rain in a drought stricken area. so you'd think the rain would be beneficial. but when you have so much so

fast, it can cause flooding. look at the computer models. six to eight inches of rain on the high side just north of st. louis. so that's going to be very, very heavy rain. and that will be over the next few days. we're monitoring that as the track of tropical depression isaac slowly works its way across the heartlands. eventually working its way into illinois and indiana. of course, the intensity will die down in terms of the wind speeds, but we're still looking at a substantial storm and big rain maker for much of the midwest and even into areas south of chicago and indiana. as i mentioned, we'll see the precipitation spread there. just to let you know, the immediate threat is for flash flooding in arkansas just south of little rock. and we still have some flood advisories for louisiana, because it will take some time, christine, for that water to recede. when you're talking about 20 inches, that's not a quit drainout. it's really going to take some time to get things back to normal there. >> bonnie schneider, thank you. andy roddick says he's retiring from tennis after the u.s. open. roddick making the announcement yesterday on his 30th birthday. he was once the world's top player, but his ranking has

tumbled in recent years. roddick is the last american to win a grand slam men's singles title. that was in 2003, the u.s. open. he is scheduled to play a second round match at this year's open tonight. 17-year-old erin dimiglio making history as the first female varsity high school quarterback in the state of florida. she plays for south plantation senior high, a backup qb. her goal is to throw a touchdown pass this season. i certainly hope she does. we'll go back to tampa right after this break. oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones!

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welcome back, everybody. here in tampa, mitt romney is getting ready for his farewell before he heads to virginia. just a few hours ago, he told thousands of people in a packed arena and millions more at home why he should be president, or more specifically why president obama shouldn't have the job of president anymore. the theme is a variation on ronald reagan's famous question, are you better off today than you were four years ago? listen. >> how many days have you woken up feeling that something really and was happening in america? many of you felt that way on election day four years ago. hope and change had a powerful appeal. but tonight, i'd ask a simple question. if you felt that excitement when you voted for barack obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's president obama? >> congresswoman kathy castor has been joining us all morning, a democrat from tampa. also a supporter of president obama. nice to have you with us. >> thank you. >> tell me what you thought was the biggest problem from the democrats perspective. that was a very friendly speech.

it was a very personable speech. and he didn't attack president obama. he sort of said, listen, i understand if you're disappointed. maybe don't give him a chance. given me a chance. >> first of all, everyone in the tampa bay area has been thrilled to host the republican national convention. i think everyone had a different time, it went off without a hitch. >> says the congresswoman who represents tampa. >> law enforcement really did a fantastic job. i think it's clear after mitt romney's speech that republicans like democrats love america. we're allocused on economic opportunity for all. but the visions are very different. mitt romney and the republicans have a very narrow vision that's focused on a top down approach, rewarding those corporations that have those special interests, tax benefits, and the tax code. the very wealthiest among us. while the democrats and barack obama, and you'll hear this in charlotte next week, are focused on empowering the middle class. building those ladders of

opportunity, education. we're still the world leader. and people want to come from all over the globe to come to our colleges and universities. medical research. we've got to create these high wage jobs. we're doing that here in the tampa bay area at the university of south florida. large research university. innovation, a strong national defense. we're right down the street from mcdill air force base, special operations command, central command. >> so this is the message we'll get next week. but for the message from last night was a message about jobs, jobs, jobs, and also i thought a very personal message. they did this thing called dial testi testing. i have done this before. you give everybody a dial, and they dial parts of the speech and it went well. i'll play a little bit where he starts talking about his parents. listen. >> my mom and dad were true partners. a life lesson that shaped me by

everyday example. when my mom ran for the senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. i could still see her saying in her beautiful voice, why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation? [ cheers and applause ] >> he's choking up. he's very emotional. and when they dial tested that, men and women, they loved it. they loved him. that's a problem if you're a democrat, right? everyone's been saying we'd love to see the real personable mitt romney, and he delivered it last night. >> i think it was very important for mitt romney to have a warm performance. and i think he accomplished that. but now we're going to have a real debate over policy. and i think the best example is to go back and look at the republican congress and the policies, the fights and debates we've been having in the congress. i think the republicans have really kept us stuck in the mud when it comes to job creation. they have opposed president obama jobs bill, which was going to put teachers back in the classroom, help repair school buildings, fund innovation. >> chaffetz is giving me a look

like i need to jump in. >> and he is a good friend. we serve on the budget committee. we've had these debates. but the republicans really have been an obstacle to job creation. and kicking this economy into a higher gear. >> your good friend just called you an obstacle to job creation. and when you poll people, they point fingers at both parties. they say that congress, the two of you, aren't doing your jobs. >> she's an exceptional nice person. and you're right. tampa has been a fabulous convention. but the reality is that the democrats had the house, the senate, and the presidency. they had all -- >> for six months. >> no. for two years. they had all the levers of power. they could pass whatever they wanted. they didn't pass some of the things that i think this country does need. i think they overspent. they spent over $800 billion on a stimulus with a promise that unemployment would go under %. 42 months it's been above 8%. and as mitt romney said last night, you can't just keep

blaming the bush administration. you can't just keep blaming the house republicans. people want leadership. they want results. and what i think mitt romney successfully did last night is give permission to those people who are truly undecided, i know you've decided, i've decided, we know how we're going to vote, but the truly undecided people, i think they are thinking, you know, we gave that a shot. let's try something new. let's try mitt romney and paul ryan. >> i think when you talk to the construction worker that was put to work building the highway from the port of tampa, to the interstate, they are thankful for the president and the recovery act. when you talk to the nurse that was hired to work in the community health center built here in east tampa, with the recovery act, that was meaningful to them. when we repaved the runway at mcdill air force base because of the recovery act and that private contracting company had jobs to provide, money in the pockets of the workers, jobs meant business in the tampa bay area. and then we turned. we knew we had to kick it into another gear, and the republicans in congress said no.

and this will be the debate that we'll have. >> well, whoever can own this messaging of who has pushed for jobs, who's making changes to medicare, who is dismantling it, who is creating it and supporting it, whoever can own that messaging, true or not, is really going to have an advantage, i think. we'll take a short break and then we'll talk about mitt romney's speech and how it stacks up. we're asking david from to take a look at us. he used to be a speechwriter for george w. bush. he'll assess how the speech as a speech was. we're back in just a moment. ♪and you will be happy too.

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welcome back, everybody. in just about an hour, mitt romney will kick off a rally before leaving tampa for a campaign stop in virginia. just a few hours ago, of course, he accepted the republican nomination for president. delivered a speech that took aim at president obama's last four years in office and the promises he made to the american people. let's talk about the speech with david frum. he is a former speechwriter for george w. bush. nice to have you with us. >> thank you. >> how would you grade it as a speech? >> that speech is not one for the ages but one for right now. it did exactly what mitt romney needed to do. it told the studio audience, the

people watching, yes, i'm human, no, i'm not scary. that he compensated for the political vulnerabilities created by some of the more treme things that the congressional republican party has done over the three years. he had a message about i'm concerned about you, your economy. not just the economy. and he -- with the accumulation of personal details -- showed rather than told the man he is. >> it's not some of the pictures or the video, but the family movies were amazing. and it was sort of surprising you hadn't seen them before then. >> the son putting the icing on his cake with his spatula. >> it was very, very cute. >> he choked up as will talking about his had parents. i want to play a little clip of that. >> my mom and dad were true partners. a life lesson that shaped me by everyday example. when my mom ran for the senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. i could still see her saying, in her beautiful voice, why should women have any lesssay than men

about the great decisions facing our nation? [ applause ] >> you had a tweet last night that the republicans must have had data that said americans know nothing about mitt romney other than his wealth. how much does an impact does a night like that have? >> this is the man who is a son of a former candidate for president. a serious one. and a former governor. the idea that there's this much data that you have to tell people, look, i have a family. this is how i raised them. this is things that people just didn't know about him. and it was -- his feelings for his family, you would think that's the thing we all -- >> he's been running for a long time. >> and we all know this about him. but the base they went through so much basics. you have to think this is an introduction they must deeply feel they need. >> the democrats last week will come right back to the wealth message, talking about taxes and tax cuts for the wealthy, et cetera. >> well, that's going to be a potent message for them. that mitt romney has given himself a very difficult platform to overcome.

you know, he didn't talk about this big tax cut. he didn't talk about the ryan plan. but it's in the air. and his running mate did. and he's got the symbol of the radicalism of the congressional republicans at hand. his message is, i think, i'm going to control these people. don't worry. the country will be in safe hands. i am a safe choice. but there are a lot of unsafe choices over his shoulder. >> it will be interesting to see what the polling shows. i always love to watch an event and then see what the numbers are as well. david, thank you for joining us. a short break. we're back in just a moment. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system from beautyrest... it's you, fully charged. receive up to a $300 beautyrest visa prepaid card when you buy select beautyrest mattress sets.

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welcome back, everybody. we're getting word that the romney campaign and mitt romney himself will be traveling to

lafit, louisiana with governor jindal to meet with first responders there. the area obviously has been hit by lots of flooding in the aftermath of hurricane isaac. he'll meet with the first responders and thank them for their work. we'll be covering that as we continue to talk politics today. just a minute left for "end point." everybody gets a couple of seconds. what do you think? big take away. >> the big take away, romney's speech did what romney needed it to do. but too much of this convention was the party talking to itself, not enough the party talking to the country. >> what happens next? >> what happens next is this party had better start talking to the country. talk to that economically anxious woman, mother, and to reassure her that this party has an agenda that is beneficial for her, that will create jobs, and is not simply interested in taking away benefits. >> easy to get derailed or side tracked by the congressman akin thing. >> i thought ann romney was an absolute superstar, when she talked about this hasn't been

just a storybook marriage. we've had to deal with things like cancer and ms. i really think it was the first time the nation got to see the person i know and the romney family, which is just so sincere, and i just think everybody could see them as the president and first lady. and paul ryan was a great pick. gave a great speech. and marco rubio also knocked it out of park last night. >> congresswoman, 15 seconds. he went a little long. >> after 2 1/2 years of private sector job growth, manufacturing jobs coming back to make things in america, the stock market has come roaring back, we have to decide is the vision for further economic growth this narrow republican vision, where the top 1% and corporations get tax cuts to create jobs, or do we build on these ladders of opportunity. medical research, education, innovation, infrastructure. and that's what you'll hear in charlotte. >> ryan lizza, what you got? >> quickly, romney's speech last night reminded me that a danger of the democratic attacks on romney is that if they become too caricatured and