bridges. "starting point" begins right now. welcome, our team this morning, we're heavy on the women. i like that, dana bash, the cnn senior congressional correspondent and mayor nutter and former white house appointee in the bush administration and charles, a "new york times" columnist. great to have you. our "starting point," it's show time in charlotte, the democratic national convention will gavel to order this afternoon. we'll hear from julian castro, the mayor of san antonio and also a twin. his brother is in politics as well. michelle obama has a speech in prime time and her job will be very similar to ann romney's job, which is accent wait the personal and highlighting president obama as a father and

family man. dana bash, what do you expect her to say? >> looking back four years ago, she was kind of seen as a potential liability. she was kind of harsh and the goal was to soften her. >> now she's so much more popular -- >> he wishes he had her approval numbers. >> which tends to happen with first ladies. kind of val dater for her husband. and her speech will talk about her own accomplishments and some of the things she's done in the white house with children and with -- >> the whole health. >> nutrition and things like that. those are some of the things i'm told she'll talk about. >> the big event will be julian castro's speech. i didn't realize that's the first time a latino -- that stuns me for democrats and republicans. i find it shocking. >> it is given how important that section of the electorate

is. he's 37 years old. he's an identical twin. >> his brother likes to say he's the better looking one. >> and people will be able to judge that because he's going to introduce julian tonight. they have an amazing story. and as you said, not unlike the story that we heard from then kind of unknown barack obama in 2004 when he gave the keynote, he's going to talk about his personal history and mexican-american roots and grandmother who came to the country and about how he kind of understood and got to know about politics at a very young age with his twin brother by going around with his mother. >> both of them are very well educated, i think they were both 37 years old. >> 37. i think they are going to be 38 later this month. >> september 13th, a couple of days from mine.

everybody take note of that. there's 74,000 person outdoor stadium right around here, which means that the outdoor stadium part could be problematic because the weather is not -- yesterday that was no joke for a downpour. >> wow. it sure was. we were worried about the weather in tampa, nothing compared to here. they are going to make a decision i'm told as early as this morning whether or not they are going to have to bail on that huge outdoor speech. >> where would they move everybody? >> back into the convention center. >> do they seat 74,000 people? >> that's the problem. i think it seats maybe half that. and the issue is that they have obviously a potential for rain but also, the whole concept of this outdoor speech is fitting all these people in but doing a big grass roots operation. they were very successful at it four years ago ad signed people up and got information about

their voting record and how they can help volunteer where they are from. >> the visual is bad if they are soaked by rain clearly. >> the visual is also bad if you have a 74,000 person stadium not full. one of the things we know about the campaign this time around, enthusiasm is dragging compared to '08 numbers. so the visual of having a partially empty stadium -- >> what does that mean, 61% say they are enthusiastic? >> say they are enthusiastic about voting for barack obama in 2008 versus 31% now. so there's a 22% differential in enthusiasm rating amongst democrats. all of this to say it might be safer to go ahead and move it inside. it will be full and dry and won't have the problem of potentially damaging optics. >> i asked the exact question of somebody organizing last night. >> the numbers game. >> and the answer was, they feel that they would be confident that they could figure it. they've got lots of buses bringing people in.

>> absolutely. notwithstanding what any poll may say, the president of the united states is making this address thursday night we feel very confident that the stadium will be full. and so it's really more about the weather than it is about whether you're going to fill a stadium or not. he is the president, making one of the most important speeches given where we are right now at this time. no doubt that the stadium will be full. certainly you don't want people rained on. >> can i ask about the enthusiasm number. you're my numbers guy. so you're prepared for the whole morning. i'll throw it your way. >> what does that really mean? if you look at the enthusiasm numbers the number foreenthusiasm for mitt romney i think is 51% when they asked republicans and when i do anecdotal questioning, everybody seems to be like -- on this election overall. is it a measure of incumbent

that people are less enthusiastic or overall? >> i think it's right that it is a measure of overall. this is not a history-making election in the way that 2008 was history-making election. you knew that there was going to be a new guy regardless. there was not an incumbent who had a chance running. also, barack obama was a singular kind of figure. if he were to win and he did, it would make history. that created its own sort of energy. and towards the end of the election and this is why i've started to chaf yesterday about the four years later question, because you have to have absolute amnesia to not realize that we thought the economy was falling apart. and we -- and people started to say, we actually need a person to save the country.

that was the last two months of that election, the country literally may be in danger. >> i stopped going to the gym in september of '08 because i remember being so stressed watching the monitors, it was freaking me out. >> it was an incredible thing. the dow -- if you were an individual investor in 2008, the dow towards the beginning of 2008 in january was approaching 12,000. by november of 2008, the dow was about 7500. if you're an individual investor or you are close to retirement, had a 401(k), you were freaking out. and we had dk mccain suspended his campaign, it was a real part of what was happening in the country. so people were very much engaged not simply because of the election and that we had to go out and vote in november, but because your money was evapor e evaporating in front of you. >> we're going to talk more about that. we want to get first to

christine romans with the other stories making news today. >> good morning. hollywood remembering michael clarke duncan this morning. he was a mountain of a man but fellow actors say he was truly a gentle giant. clarke appeared in dozens of movies but his signature role as a death row inmate in "the green mile" that earned him a supporting actor nomination. he never recovered from a heart attack he suffered in july. michael clarke duncan was 54 years old. jurors in the drew peterson murder trial will hear closing arguments after listening to five weeks of evidence now. the former police sergeant from chicago is charged with drowning his third wife, kathleen savio in 2004. the case was considered an accident until his fourth wife, stacy, disappeared three years later. it's been a week since hurricane isaac hit southeast louisiana. many homeowners are just realizing the extent of the devastation, not in new orleans

where the levees held but west of the city in places like laplace where it took days for the water to recede. >> it would be nice if they would have put levee protection around our area as well as new orleans. all they did was protect new orleans and didn't protect the outer lying areas so the water had nowhere to go. it had to come this way. we have over 10,000 homes out here in laplace affected like this. it's a major disaster here. >> president obama toured the area assuring victims help and answers are on the way. >> we are getting on the case very quickly about figuring out what exactly happened here. what can we do to make sure it doesn't happen again. and expediting decisions that need to be made. >> 125,000 people are still without power. later we'll talk with mitch landrieu. the detroit police looking

for the man in this surveillance photo, considered a person of interest in connection with the theft of vice president joe biden's uhaul. it was stolen sunday near a detroit hotel and since been recovered. it contained portable metal detectors for biden's labor day speech yesterday. today is the day despite warnings from the pentagon, the book "no easy day." a s.e.a.l.'s act of the raid of osama bin laden will hit store shelves. release date was moved up from september 11th and the pentagon already worried about loose lips threatened legal action against the author. they say he violated an agreement not to divulge military secret. to say nothing of the code of the s.e.a.l.s to keep their mission secret. >> but it's the violation part that's going to get him in serious legal trouble i'm sure. this year many of the rising stars in the democratic side aren'tn capitol hill, they are

from city hall. more than a half dozen mayors scheduled to speak in charlotte. and one is philadelphia mayor, michael nutter. nice to see you, sir. thanks for talking with us. >> good morning. >> you're going to give a speech. are you talking -- >> wednesday night. >> wednesday night which will be a big night. what's your message? we've gotten word that people will come out as apit bulls and attack dogs. what's your strategy? >> i'm just a really nice guy, soledad. >> really? okay. >> i'm going to talk about real facts about the real president, barack obama, the things he's done that i've experienced certainly in philadelphia, particularly focused on education, investment in infrastructu infrastructure, support for cities, more than 80% of the country's population lives in cities. whether you're a democrat or republican, our job is to get things done and make things happen and support the public that we serve. we don't really have a lot of

time for gridlock and talks and resolutions ad you can't continue doing as we see sometimes in congress, just kind of kick the can down the road. mayors much like the president, we have to serve people and the president has done that. and the commentary from earlier, people seem to for get where we were. >> charles called it amnesia. >> before the president had really taken his hand down from taking the oath of office, 700,000 jobs lost. we have 29 straight months of job growth, 4.4 pl jobs created. the president's initiatives on education and support for infrastructure, all of those are facts and made a difference. >> some of the issue is how people feel. if you look at the unemployment numbers in your city, for example, they've gone up. so when you're asking people -- >> gone up and come down. >> and come down. but still higher than they were in 2009. so that's sort of the problematic part of this, right? >> if you're unemployed or lost

your home or lost your health care or pension, you're still upset and the president gets that. a little more support and cooperation in the congress. president doesn't rule by fee at, many of the initiatives have been blocked by house republicans who do not want this president to be successful. nonetheless, there has been progress and things would have been that much worse but for 787 billion economic recovery package, the largest in the history of the country. reforms on wall street, a lot of people talked about making health care affordable, president barack obama actually did it. said he would end the two wars, did that. killed bin laden and gm is back and auto industry is saved when mitt romney said let it die. he has a record. >> when you look at polling, whether or not the rnc, republican national convention, gave a bump to mitt romney, it

really did not. some individual places it did but overall nationally it did not. what do the democrats have to do to get a bump out of this? >> we have to continue to actually talk about the president's record. part of the reason why i think the other guy didn't get much of a bump because he didn't talk about anything or put out anything of any substance. >> margaret has rolled her eyes massively. >> smiled. >> i think it was like an oh, please. >> what's really interesting about that, looking back over the last three election cycles, no candidate, democrat or republican, has gotten a bump. john kerry went down after two points after his convention. that speaks to a potential problem for both candidates in that by the time we're here where we are in the calendar, that a lot of people's positions are already hardened. so it is going to be a real struggle to get -- find those undecided voters and convince them. >> or is the nation so divided?

>> you're divided but it's also about rallying troops. i think conventions these days are really about rallying the base. can you energize people to get them out to knock on doors because the numbers may not move in terms of percentages of people who say that they are for one candidate or the other. you can get a few more people excited about the candidacy. >> and if you can turn out your base -- >> that's correct. mayor nutter -- >> did you really roll your eyes? >> it was more like this. we can go back and look at the tape. seriously -- >> she's calling for a replay. >> you talk about the president's record and talked specifically about the stimulus dollars which you made good use of. i wonder if you can talk about how that was relevant to philadelphia and what it did to philadelphia? >> as soledad talked about, many cities across america, unemployment did go up, national unemployment went up then it started to come down. it helped to stabilize the

economy in philadelphia. whether it's over in education and medicine which are big and for in schools, bridges, roads. >> did it go to shovel ready projects in your city? in some indications cases mayors used to fill budget gaps. >> for us it was pretty much shovel ready projects and as the president said, at times there aren't projects that aren't i'm wait for the next dollar to come through the door. we did put people to work and we're helping to close the digital divide, 77 new computer centers putting people to work and gave people access to the internet, one of many things. >> i think that's an important thing that people drk it's a very hard thing to sell. the idea that stimulus saved jobs. things would have been much worse had there not -- >> this will be -- >> layoffs particularly in a public sector jobs. >> this will be the message that the democrats or whoever hopes to win has to get out. we have to take a commercial

break. we can keep discussing this. i want to remind folks, cnn's prime time coverage of the democratic national convention kicks off tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern with wolf blitzer and anderson cooper. at the 7:00 p.m. hour -- is that right -- michelle obama -- no, 10:00 p.m. hour. and at midnight piers morgan will wrap p from the cnn grill. look who's coming up to talk to us this morning. governor bev perdue will talk about the big challenge for mitt romney who's leading in a poll here in north carolina. we're going to ask you why is that? was it a mistake for the dnc to hold their event here in your state. >> it's not a mistake. >> i was sure you were going to say that. >> we'll discuss that right after this commercial break. stay with us. >> welcome. capella university understands rough economic times have led to an increase in clinical depression. drug and alcohol abuse is up.

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and welcome back to "starting point," we're coming to you live from charlotte, north carolina, the democratic national convention kicking off today. back in 2008, president obama won north carolina but only by 14,000 votes. this year it could be another tight race. the most recent cnn poll has president obama and mitt romney in a statistical dead heat. the newest state poll taken during the republican convention shows mitt romney has the lead at 47% over president obama's 43%. joining us this morning, north carolina governor and democrat bev perdue. nice to have you with us. >> i like the digs here in charlotte. looks good. >> we like them very much as well. they are not outside with the

rain yesterday. >> it doesn't rain in north carolina. >> really? >> i have a hairdo from yesterday that would say that's not true. >> we do have humidity. >> you do. >> let's talk about the bump i was talking about out of the rnc, across the board you didn't see a bump for mitt romney but did see it here in north carolina. >> i think the people in north carolina are beginning to get engaged in the race. everybody in the state has heard about the democratic convention coming to charlotte for more than a year. quite naturally they've begin thinking about the republican convention. he who bumps last, bumps best. we'll justsee. we think we've got a great message to deliver to the people of america. we feel like as people begin to focus for the fall election, this is a huge choice and america and north carolinans want to go forward. our races are always close, it's an equally divided state.

i believe the message will win the day for the president. >> the amendment about marriage passed in may and that made having the location here sort of controversial. there's some people who say if you look at that and the bump, maybe what you could read into that, this state is going to go for mitt romney and not going to go for president obama. he won by a sliver last time around. >> i do think the state will go for barack obama and he'll win america again and re-elected and win north carolina. there's a cheer choice in the race and the folks in north carolina are focusing on that choice, do you want to go backwards that caused the economy to implode or go forward? the president has made tremendous progress. we all understand folks are struggling ut we at the end of the day we're focusing on things that have gotten us thus far in the last 29 months of job growth. >> unemployment is 9.6%. is that going to be an impossible sell? >> our unemployment is higher

than average because the manufacturing base is higher than average. during the economy we imported unemployment more than 300,000 people moved to north carolina. the bottom line is north carolina is a great state, one of eight states triple a bond rated and red hot, more and more people come here, poised to be the seventh largest state in america. we have created during my administration more than 100,000 jobs, $23 billion, our biotech industry run to $66 billion industry with more than 400,000 jobs. >> how come president obama isn't running away with the state with numbers like that? why are the polls not saying, oh, my goodness, in the x number of years this state has done so well? >> it is equally divided. remember in 2008, people in this community woke up to wachovia, imploding overnight, our world changed in north carolina. we didn't just lose hundreds and thousands of regular jobs. we lost financial services.

one of our big, big brands. we've struggled and bounced back. i believe the attitude in north carolina is one of optimism. we look forward to the future and feel great about what we're doing, although we know there are lots of people in our state who are displaced and that's why we continue to focus on education and workforce training to help folks out of work get job skills for the 2 1st certifica century. >> is it going to rain on thursday? >> i can do a lot of things but not the weather. >> thanks for being here. >> thank you, welcome to north carolina. >> we appreciate it. still ahead, the dnc chair debbie wasserman-shultz will be back. she'll talk about how testimonies can sway the undecided voters. what is the most important requirement for being middle class? we'll tell you coming up next.

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only from the postal service. minding your business this morning, the ratings agency moody's put the european union on notice for a downgrade, eu companies are more concerned about the individual debt problems than the eu as a whole. european stocks are down this morning. markets reopened after the labor day holiday and u.s. stock futures are lower. september is a historically bad month for stocks but been a great year so far, the s&p 500 is up 12% so far this year. 86% of americans think having a secure job is what you

need to be considered part of the middle class. that's according to a new poll from pugh research center. it's a very different picture from 20 years ago. back in 1991, owning a home was what put you in the middle class over anything else and having two or more cars was also seen as an important key to the middle class life. bang then only 33% said a white collar job made you part of the middle class. soledad, it used to be you just assumed you had a chance of getting a job in the economy. now that's the big concern. >> it's a big assumption too. christine romans, thank you. still ahead on "starting point," making the case for four more years, president obama and the democrats unveil the party's platform as the convention kicks off, we'll talk to debbie wasserman schultz talking about this week's critical goal from the cnn grill in charlotte, north carolina. hi. >> hi. >> nice to have you with us. >> we're going to put you here next to me. we're back in a moment, everybody. at usaa, we believe honor is not

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welcome back, we're coming to you live this morning from the cnn grill in charlotte, north carolina, at 5:00 eastern this evening the 2012 democratic convention will officially be called to order. there are a series of speakers, michelle obama tonight and key note speaker julian castro. throughout the week democrats will try to convince voters they are better off now than before president obama took office. joining us this morning, florida congressman debbie wasserman

schultz. she'll be gaveling in the convention. what happens? >> i calm the convention to order and deal with procedural business, layout the beginning and the theme of us having the most open inclusive participate tri convention in history and turn gavel over to the permanent convention chair and we move forward with an exciting convention. >> how much is tone going to be critical? if you're kicking it off and sorts of reaching the crescendo of the first lady speaking. what's the tone? i heard pit bull, attack, mayor nutter said he's a kind and gentleman and friendly. not going to attack anybody. >> over the course of the week, you'll hear a very different tone than the one that you heard last week in tampa, which was really essentially one nonstop series of attacks on president obama.

we're going to layout the case for moving the economy forward. president obama and speakers throughout the week will talk about and have an honest conversation about where we were when he first took office and where we are now after four years of his policies and 29 straight months of job growth in the private sector. we need to continue to move forward and we've got a ways to go. we're moving in the right direction and need to focus on rebuilding our economy from the middle class out and bottom up and not go back to the failed policies of the past. >> i don't think mitt romney attacked the president in his speech. he's an extremely nice man, we need to find another option. i know you know attacks. >> i do have familiarity with attacks but leading up to the speech, i'm not sure there was a single positive thing that was said about what the republicans had to offer. mitt romney, i was pretdy disappointed he was as disingenuous that he was rooting for president obama to succeed.

in my home state, the night mitt romney won the primary, he said you have to remember what this election is really about, to his supporters and his answer was not creating jobs or getting the economy turned around, it was defeating barack obama. so spare me if i don't really trust that mitt romney has been rooting for president obama to succeed. we need to talk about how to move forward together and make sure that everyone in america has an opportunity to be successful, not just people who already are. >> ryan has liked to invoke the name jimmy carter. >> the president can say a lot of things and he will, but he can't tell you you're better off. simply put, the jimmy carter years looked like the good old days compared to where we are right now. >> you want to know whether we're better off, i've got a little bumper sticker for you,

osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive. >> this is going to be the are you better off question is going to be, i think, sort of the strategy from both sides moving forward? >> we're absolutely better off. there's no question when president obama took office, he inherited the largest set of problems of any president since fdr. the economy under president bush and the previous six months had lost 3.5 million jobs and we were hemorrhaging 750,000 jobs a month. now after four years of president obama's policies, not only do we stop the hemorrhaging but turned things around. besides the 29 straight months of job growth and more than 4.5 million jobs created and counting, resurgence in the manufacturing sector for the first time since the 1990s and americans are beginning to in the housing crisis know they can remain in their homes although we need more confidence in that

market, unlike mitt romney's proposal, just let it hit rock bottom and have investors sell the properties for a property and let detroit go bankrupt after president obama -- >> what he said was a managed bankruptcy, would not have done that but as you know -- >> he should we should not rescue the automobile industry and the managed bankruptcy was preposterous if you ask any economist or automobile expert at the time, a managed bankruptcy, without government assistance was not going to be possible. the economy was about to go over a cliff. now we've stabilized things and begun to turn things around and need to work together so everyone who wants to succeed has an opportunity to succeed. we have to continue to invest as president obama has said in an education and innovation. and make sure that america can out educate and out compete and out innovate the rest of the

world. >> nice to see you. we look forward to seeing you at 5:00. if you want to know what it's like to experience the democratic national convention from the inside, you can join the cnn election roundtable with wolf blitzer and political team in this live virtual chat. at 12:00 noon eastern. go to cnn.com/roundstable. let's get to christine romans. >> good morning, investigators say they believe a suspected sniper who terrorized northwestern washington state acted alone. he was killed after a standoff with sheriff's deputies today. they are trying to fig out why this unidentified 60-year-old fired on neighbors and armored police vehicles. the seatal times reports one man was treated for a gunshot wound to the calf and later released. this morning the red cross met with bashar al assad to discuss humanitarian operations. this comes after a camera man in

syria caught the moment the fighter jet dropped a bomb on the rebel strong hold. the syrian opposition says air strikes destroyed a building killing an entire family and others. in total opposition groups say 2448 people were killed yesterday. august was the bloodiest month of the crackdown, 5,000 people killed. still a syrian government official is calling on citizens who have fled the country to come home. he says they have nothing to fear. secretary of state hillary clinton is taking a strong message of cooperation and partnership to beijing today. she'll call on china and southeast asian countries to agree to a code of conduct to dissolve of the dispute in the south china seas and address beijing's concerns over u.s. efforts to increase its presence in the pacific. out of the shadow and back into the royal spotlight. prince harry was surrounded by kids in london attending an awards dinner for a sick

children's charity. the prince has been laying low since naked photos of him partying in las vegas were leaked. should you buy organic? a new study says it depends. organic produce has the same number of vitamins and minerals but organics are 30% less likely to have pesticide residue contamination. the study also found a 33% higher risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria in nonorganic pork and chicken. soledad? >> christine, thank you very much. oscar-winning actor and musician jeff bridges will stop by the cnn grill. he's already gotten the party started here in charlotte. he's got a serious issue he wants to talk about. democrats calling for betty white to make their day at the dnc. how would the golden girl do compared to clint eastwood. that would be an interesting match-up when you think about it. you're watching "starting point"

live in charlotte. we're back in just a moment. at usaa, we believe honor is not

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welcome back to "starting point" -- almost said the starting point grill. what a good idea. new online petition is calling for betty white to speak at the democratic convention. 5500 people have signed on change.org. says clint eastwood the mystery guest gave a bad name is what the petition said, to older americans everywhere with his

quote absurd and awkward to watch skit. betty white is eight years older than clint eastwood and endorsed barack obama in may. do you think they have to do an answer? >> bad name to mystery guest. scratch the whole thing off. we're done. >> not vetting speeches ahead of time. >> online petitions work. betty white was on "saturday night live" because of that facebook campaign to get her on. and by the way, she also followed scripts when she was there. if they do decide -- >> she could be strong. >> she should be comfortable with it. >> 5500 is aneemic in terms of support. >> it shows that this is keeping this issue alive. by president obama even piping in and saying this chair is taken, responding to the fact -- >> the most tweeted tweet on the

entire convention. yeah. >> it shows there is engagement, back and forth rather than letting it die. >> it was so weird, i don't know you can let it die. >> took advantage of it. it's the night of romney's speech so you take -- distract. >> real quick, that it wasn't as weird in the hall. it was like a clint eastwood performance. on tv i saw it. >> it was awkward watching it in a hotel room and thinking, wow, reminded me of my crazy uncle at my wedding. where are we going with the speech, uncle? >> still ahead, jeff bridges will join us, kicked off the convention with a concert in downtown charlotte. not the only reason he's in town. he'll join us up next. you're watching "starting point" live in the cnn grill in charlotte. good morning, nice to see you.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point" live from charlotte, north carolina. the dude himself, oscar-winning

actor and musician jeff bridges is lending his talents to this year's democratic convention. bridges and his band, the abiders, performed last night at the carolina fest. it's a music festival here in town. he is also in town to promote his other passion project, which sending childhood hunger with a screening of a documentary called "hunger hits home." he is an advocate for the no kid hungry campaign, which educates low income families about staying fit and healthy. he is here with bill shore. let's talk about the concert first before we get to that terrible issue of child hunger, which breaks my heart. >> we got about halfway through, and then here comes the rain. i saw my brother in the audience. i invited him. >> the rain dance. >> doing the reverse rain dance. it didn't seem to work. >> it wasn't his strength, i didn't think. you guys are here to talk about -- and you were in tampa too talking about childhood hunger. it's been interesting to me from both campaigns, you don't hear

much about poverty or hunger on the romney or obama side. it's sort of like not discussed. >> and it's precisely the time when the problem is bigger than it's ever been. 46 million americans living below the poverty line. and it's a solvable problem, which is what i think the point that jeff has been trying to make with the no kid hungry campaign, getting bipartisan support to say we have the food resources. if we can get these kids connected to them, we can solve hunger. >> what did you do in tampa and what will you be doing here? >> the upside is we do have bipartisan support. governor mcdonnell of virginia, who is the chairman of the republican governors association, is onboard. his state of virginia is a no kid hungry state. and we have governor dion and governor snyder who are also republicans. so that was heartening. and wanted to go there and support them and encourage more republican governors to come onboard, because talk about patriotism, you know, if we're not taking care of our kids,

we're not taking care of our country. if another country was doing this to our kids, we'd be at war, right? 16 million kids. one in five. >> who's anti-kid? >> the real issue is that these kids are not only vulnerable but voiceless. they don't make political action committee contributions. they don't have lobbyists. when you go into a governor's office and tell them that these programs are in place, like school breakfast and summer meals and the snack food stamp program, but not as many kids are enrolled, they're shocked and only because these kids haven't had an opportunity to have a voice in their office. and most of them, democrats and republicans, want to do the right thing if they understand what it is. >> what's the biggest, most -- i know you focus on innovative solutions. what's the most innovative solution you've seen that can keep the millions of children from going to bed hungry? >> the school breakfast is right up there. in the classroom, you know. that's the big thing. >> rather than the cafeteria. >> and summer meals. a lot of kids depend on school for their nutrition.

when school is out, you know, they don't get that food they need. >> when you say school breakfast in the classroom, not in the cafeteria, i don't get it. >> less than half the kids that get lunch, less than half get breakfast even though they are eligible. and the obstacle is getting to school early to do it. most of us can barely get the kids to school on time. so to get there early and have the stigma attached to going to school early. in some places like in los angeles, mayor villaraigosa just announced to us they are moving breakfast from the cafeteria to the first 10 minutes of first period. and every kid is in every seat on time. the teachers love it because everyone shows up. you get a guaranteed breakfast. >> it doesn't indicate which kid is getting breakfast for free. >> as a kid, it's embarrassing to be saying, you're the poor kid who can't afford to eat. >> we were talking about clint eastwood a moment ago. and you were in a film with him. >> absolutely.

>> first of all what, did you think of that, as an actor? >> i thought it was an interesting hair choice, for one thing. >> that's the first thing i noticed. no gel. >> but it was an interesting choice. his acting was pretty good. you know, i thought he really seemed like there was somebody in the chair. it was a little, you know, hard hearted. i don't agree with his politics. but he is a splendid actor. great director. >> do you think the dnc should do a similar -- >> i had a flash of obama doing like a little puppet, you know -- >> the president doing a puppet? >> a ventriloquist thing. but, no, i thought obama handled it very well. >> i'm going to guess there will be no skit with a puppet. >> he sat in his chair and he said, this seat is taken. i liked that. >> you would like to see betty white? >> oh, there you go. >> see, there's a poll online

for that. >> but i think it will open a whole new thing, you know? >> it could happen. so nice to have you talk to us about this project. >> great to be here, soledad. >> child hunger. it's heartbreaking. >> and one of the things folks can do to get more involved is to text hungry 877877 or go to www.nokidhungry.org and take the no kid hungry pledge. and let me give it to you real quick. it is, i believe that no child in america should go hungry. and by taking this pledge, i'm adding my voice to the national movement of people who are committed to end childhood hunger in america. and we can do it, but we need you guys. >> it's a great passion. thank you for talking with us. we appreciate it. coming up, first lady michelle obama will be in the spotlight tonight. will she show the president's softer side in her speech this evening? plus, former ohio governor ted strickland is also getting ready for his speech on the

convention floor. and sources are telling us he's getting ready to be tough. he'll stop by our cnn grill live, coming up next. you're watching "starting point" live from charlotte, north carolina. see you just the other side of this break.

welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, first up, the first lady. how michelle obama plans to make the case that her husband deserves a second term. and help is on the way. president barack obama consoles victims of hurricane isaac as dangerous heat, blackouts, and flooding persists on the east coast. no easia day, the highly anticipated memoir of that navy s.e.a.l. who helped kill osama bin laden, is in stores today. already it's number one, even beating out fir"grey's anatomy."

i don't know how i feel about that. also, ted strickland will join us, co-chair of the president's re-election campaign. new orleans mayor mitch landrieu will check in with us. and "time" magazine writer joel stein is our guest. it's tuesday, september 4. and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody. our team this morning, dana bash is with us. cnn's senior congressional correspondent. mayor michael nutter joining us, the democratic mayor of philadelphia. amy kramer is with us, the chair of the tea party express. thank you for being with us. ryan lizza, washington correspondent for the new yorker. welcome. our "starting point" this morning, the nation about to be reintroduced to president barack obama, and that job will fall to the first lady as she takes the stage tonight at the dnc. she'll follow san antonio mayor julian castro who is giving the

keynote address. i said earlier he was the first latino. but only on the dnc side. the first lady's speech will set the tone for the convention. she's got to make the case for why americans should trust the president to lead the country for another four years. dana, that could be a lot of pressure on the first lady. of course, first lady has a high approval rating. that will make things a little easy. what will she have to say? >> she'll have to do something similar to what ann romney did for mitt romney, but it's not as critical. what ann romney had to do was try to bridge the gender gap and make somebody who seems distant a little bit more human. what michelle obama has to do is to try to kind of lend her husband some of her popularity right now, because she is incredibly popular. but she also is somebody who over the past four years has had her own agenda inside the white house. not controversial things. actually, maybe i shouldn't say

that. maybe some things are controversial. childhood obesity, nutrition, things like that. but she is somebody who can be a great validator for the president and for his agenda. >> julian castro. what is he going to say? >> he is 37 years old. he is an identical twin. i think we saw a picture up there of his brother, who is actually also running for the house of representatives. >> joaquin. >> absolutely. they are both politicians. he is i'm told going to give an inspirational speech. it is already being compared to the speech that barack obama gave in 2004 before he was even senator. >> before he has delivered it. >> but if i'm the mayor, i would not love that. the expectations are incredibly high. but he does have a personal story to tell about his grandmother, who came from mexico. and he also i'm told is going to give kind of a biting dissertation of the differences between mitt romney and barack obama, but do it in a soaring

way. not do it in a pit bull way. >> a lot of pressure on him. in a couple of minutes, we'll be talking about democrat ted strickland. he'll be speaking tonight as well. believe it or not, there are other stories outside of politics. christine romans has those for us. good morning. friends, family, and hollywood this morning remembering actor michael clark duncan. he died yesterday. clarke appeared in dozens of movies, but his signature role was in "the green mile" that earned him a supporting actor nomination. he never recovered from a heart attack he suffered in july. he was 54 years old. jurors in the drew peterson murder trial will hear closing arguments this morning after five weeks of testimony, endured three near mistrials and even coordinated their wardrobes. the former police officer is charged with drowning his third wife, kathleen savio, in 2004.

the case was considered an accident until his fourth wife, stacey, disappeared four years later. it's just 5% contained. flames are burning through angeles national forest. firefighters are hoping to gain ground today. thousands of visitors had to evacuate the popular camp ground over the weekend. for now, the fire is burning in a wilderness area away from homes. louisiana residents are trying to rebuild today in blistering heat with no air conditioning. this as president obama promised health and answers for thousands who lost everything in the flooding caused by hurricane isaac. yesterday, the president toured laplace, about 30 miles west of new orleans. he praised rescuers and volunteers helping in the recovery effort. in less than 10 minutes, we'll talk with new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. joe biden's uhaul has been found. now police are looking for a person of interest wh might have stolen it. see that man in a green shirt, dark shorts? the feds are asking for public help to identify him. he was seen near the uhaul when

it was stolen sunday morning near a detroit hotel. a detroit tv station reports it contained portable metal detectors for biden's labor day speech there yesterday. despite warnings from the pentagon, a navy s.e.a.l.'s account of the killing of osama bin laden will be on shelves today. the pentagon already worried about loose lips has threatened legal action against the author, whose pen name is mark owen, telling him he violated an agreement not to divulge military secrets. soledad? >> christine, thank you for that update. so before arriving here in charlotte to accept the party nomination on thursday, president obama is campaigning in virginia today, fresh off a visit to ohio. a key swing state where mitt romney was also stomping this weekend. that is no coincidence, of course. the most recent polling there has the president and mitt romney in a tie at 45%. the former governor of ohio, democrat ted strickland, is one of tonight's speakers and also the national co-chair of the obama campaign. nice to have you with us.

>> great to be here. >> i've heard rumors that you're going to come out on the attack when you deliver your speech. is that true? >> well, i'm going to speak the truth and talk about the president. and what he's done. and i'm going to talk about ohio. >> yes. you' going to come out and be hard. >> well, i don't know if i'll be hard. but, yes, i'll be hard. >> ok. so give us a little preview of what the speech is. give me the heart of it. >> it's a fairly short speech, as you know. time is precious. but i'm going to talk about what's happened in ohio and he's responsible for ohio's economic rebound. it wasn't former governor ted strickland or current governor john kasich. it was barack obama who saved the ougauto industry. and that's responsible we believe for at least in a related way one out of every eight jobs in ohio in the auto industry is doing really well. investments are being made. thousands of people are working as a result. and the president is responsible for that. >> there are many people who

wanted this event held in ohio. and some who said having it here is a mistake. >> well, charlotte is a great city. we're having a good time. we would like to have a national convention in ohio at some point. but, you know, this is a nice city. and we're all getting along well. and i think we're a unified party. and so -- >> pop-up video. >> it's a nice city. >> well, deliver ohio, you know, and i think you have a really good chance, right? >> well, ohio is in great shape. great ground game for the obama campaign in ohio. we have over 140 some offices open throughout ohio. i have never seen a ground game like we have going in ohio right now. and i think that will make the difference. it will be very close. but i think the president's going to win ohio, and consequently he will win the presidency once again. >> when you look at the ratings for mitt romney's speech, i thought the numbers were interesting. 20% said they thought it was excellent. 18% said good.

21% said ok. if you look at the ones that said poor and terrible and no opinion, you know, that was roughly 42%, if you add those all together. how important is the speech? when you look overall, there was no national bump to mitt romney's speech. are we past that day where you're going to bump out of the convention? >> i can understand why there wasn't a national bump. i think it was an ok speech but it wasn't an outstanding speech. i think the president will give an outstanding speech. i think he will talk candidly and directly to the american people about what's at stake. and i would hope certainly that we come out of this convention with a slight bump. but the undecided vote is so small. people have largely made up their minds. >> so do you agree that this is a base election? at this point, you talked about the ground game in ohio, just making sure that every single democrat or democratic leaning voter votes? >> that's right. that's right. i think that's where we are. because the country is polarized. and so each side has got, you know, their supporters locked

in. i don't know what percentage of voters are really open to being convinced. but that ground game, going door-to-door, talking neighbor to neighbor, really getting people out to vote, i think will make the difference in ohio. and i'm confident. i'm very confident that we're going to pull this off in ohio. >> governor, there's a lot of talk today about obama in his second term and what specifically he'll do. we haven't heard that. what are three things very specifically that president obama will do if he's re-elected? >> well, he's going to emphasize tax fairness. and that means no longer giving large tax breaks to the wealthiest among us, but looking out for the working middle class. and i think that's something that he will focus on. tax reform in his second term. certainly jobs and continuing the effort. now, people say are we better off than we were four years ago. america is better off than we were four years ago. four years ago, we were loses

750,000 to 800,000 jobs a month. we've had 29 consecutive months of private sector job growth. that means we're better off. more people are working. and in ohio, there's more optimism and a sense of hopefulness. >> anything besides tax reform? >> yes. you know, continued efforts towards job creation. and that means the right kind of investments in transportation and infrastructure. funding education. making sure we have the ability of our young people to get a college education. that means supporting things like pell grants and so forth. and the whole energy sector. that's hugely important. and i believe in a second obama term, this country will move toward energy independence. and, you know, i know the other side is talking about that. but the president has an all of the above energy program. he is willing to invest in all forms of energy. we use a lot of energy.

we ought to produce a lot of energy. and it's happening in america and certainly happening in ohio. >> governor, with all due respect, how can you not give any credit to the republican governor kasich for what's going on in ohio? and just recently, the conservative movement is strong there and they passed the initiative to health care freedom initiative where they don't want obama care in ohio. >> that was on the ballot at the same time that senate bill five. all of our efforts went into repealing senate bill five by a huge margin. and ohions are benefitting from obama care. seniors are getting that doughnut hole closed. children are not being denied coverage because of preconditions. young people can stay on their parents' insurance as a result of obama care. medicare is being strengthened. the life of medicare will be extended by eight years as a result of the president's plan. now i'm not saying i'm not giving the republicans any

credit. but in ohio, i can speak for ohio. ohio's economy is coming back. we have an unemployment rate less than the national average. john kasich went on tv and said that ohio was 38th when he became governor. that's not true. ohio was 6th in the nation. first in the midwest. the recovery in ohio started in 2010 as a result of the auto rescue. and as a result of the recovery act and the investments that we were able to make with that. >> we have to get to commercial break. we'll continue this conversation. and i think it's getting that message out. this debate is the debate, i would imagine. >> she fell off her chair when she heard the word "investment." >> we'll take a short break. don't raise any new issues for me, dana. the democratic national convention will kick off tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern time with wolf blitzer, anderson cooper, and the rest of the team. then michelle obama will address

the convention, and then piers morgan will wrap it up at midnight right here on cnn. still ahead on "starting point," president obama tells the victims of hurricane isaac along the gulf coast that help is on the way. we'll take you live to new orleans to speak with mitch landrieu straight ahead. did the levees pass the test? and what about outside of the levees? you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank.

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or do you want to dive right in? with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu welcome back to "starting point." president obama continues his road to charlotte tour today with a campaign stop in virginia. yesterday, he visited the new orleans area to see some of the damage that was done by hurricane isaac. >> obviously, right now we're still in recovery mode. and that means that our biggest priority is helping the house people who have been displaced.

making sure that they have the resources they need to reenroll their kids in school. make sure that they're able to get to their jobs. make sure that they can have the kind of support that they need to get restarted. >> most of the city's residents have regained power since that category 1 storm hit last week. more than 2,000 people, though, are still in shelters because of flooding across coastal louisiana. new orleans mayor, mitch landrieu, met with the president and is joining us now from new orleans. good morning, mayor. >> good morning, soledad. >> i know you have lost power, and outside of new orleans i know there's been lots of flooding. i spent a lot of time in plaquemines parish. how is it doing as of right now? >> 97% of the power is restored, and we expect to get the other 3% up really soon. in new orleans proper, we're doing fine. i think the big story is, number one, president obama's team has really been fantastic. the white house has been involved from day one. secretary napolitano has been on

it. greg fugate. and the cooperation between the state and federal agencies has been really good. and the levees held. that is the big story. they held as they were designed. and that's been a good part of the story. but every one of these storms brings something that you didn't expect. plaquemines parish, as you know, which is a little ways south of new orleans, and st. john the baptist parish were hurt really hard. and one tight levee system outside of the city of orleans was hit here. so a cat 3 sometimes can be worse than a cat 4 or 5. >> the people in laplace says that the protection in new orleans ended up hurting laplace, because all the water was forced away from new orleans and right into them. is that accurate? >> well, you hear that theory. and of course i don't know that we know the answer to that. we talked to the president about this yesterday. the corps of engineers will do an after action report and surveys. that will be peer reviewed.

we'll begin to understand that. the bigger picture, though, is that new orleans is a coastal parish, just like plaquemines, st. john the baptist. it's important that all of us stay healthy. and the reason is that this part of the country is feeding the rest of the country with energy. we provide the energy security and national security. it's important this entire area be protected when the storms come so that we can continue to do that for the country. >> jay carney, a spokesperson for the white house, said this. when it comes to the kinds of choices politicians make in washington and what their priorities are, it is worth noting that last year there was an effort to underfund the money used to provide relief to americans when they have been hit by disasters. and that effort was led by congressman paul ryan, who is now running to be vice president of the united states. no surprise, a ryan spokesperson, came back with this. paul ryan believes providing aid to victims of natural disasters is a critical obligation and should be treated as a high priority within a fiscally

responsible budget. it's sad that the white house would stoop to using this heartbreaking event as an opportunity to distort his record and play politics. a romney-ryan administration will always ensure there is disaster funding for those in need. period. what is the source of the funding for these things that protected new orleans and other cities as well? >> well, first of all, we should never leave anybody behind in a storm. our any catastrophic event, no matter where it is in the country. so it's really important that emergency funding is there all of the time. and that you don't have to go back to congress to get appropriations during the middle of storms or catastrophic events. that's a bad idea. but the bigger point here is whether or not congress is going to spend the money necessary to build the infrastructure that protects these areas since you don't have an emergency. so, for example, one of the great stories of this, and you saw it, there's a wall that was built that's 1.8 miles long. it cost $1 billion to build. we actually -- this country built it in one year.

it's 26 feet high. and it provided 4,000 jobs. it's those kinds of major infrastructure investments and the $10 billion that was spent in the levees that protected new orleans and saved the 700,000 people that are in both of these parishes. and so it's really important, and i know mayor mike nutter is right next to you, that congress get about the business of rebuilding the infrastructure of the united states of america. the energy grid is another potential problem. and if we don't spend that money on infrastructure and make it robust and resilient, then we're all going to be coming in and rescuing people who should have never been in harm's way together. and our kind of request to congress is to get off the dime and to invest and make america strong again so that we can protect ourselves. >> mayor mitch landrieu joining us this morning from new orleans. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking to us. always appreciate that. >> thank you. we have to take a short break, and we'll talk more about what he said. that wall is amazing. i walked that two-mile stretch.

and it's that part of new orleans that is really incredible to see. not just the democrats, though. the tea party is in town too. that's why amy kramer is with us. could they be a liability, though, in courting independents to the gop? we'll talk with the tea party express woman, amy, about what she has in store this week for her folks. you're watching "starting point" live from the cnn grill in charlotte, north carolina. back in just a moment. for human resource management and its members know... how to harness that power, because we help develop it. from the next economy, to the next generation, we help get... the most out of business, by getting the be out of people. shrm. leading people, leading organizations.

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ahead this morning on "starting point," he is unknown to much of the country, but that could change tonight. coming up, an up close and personal look at rising star julian castro as he prepares to deliver the speech of his life. the keynote address here at the democratic national convention.

also, democrats aren't the only party in town. up next, tea party express chairwoman amy kramer explains why she is here in charlotte this week. and comedy at the convention. could golden girl betty white do better than clint eastwood here in charlotte? you're watching "starting point." back in a moment. the quiet snee. ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] zyrtec®. love the air. join zyrtec® rewards. save up to $7 on zyrtec® products.

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my symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. if you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer, be brave, go to the doctor. ovarian and utere cancers are gynecologic cancers. symptoms are not the same for everyone. i got sick...and then i got better. welcome back. you're watching "starting point" live this morning from the cnn grill in charlotte, north carolina. we are covering the democratic national convention which begins tonight at 5:00 eastern time. vice president joe biden will arrive in town today. first lady michelle obama is tonight's headlined speaker. also we'll hear from the keynote speaker, san antonio mayor julian castro. he is the first latino to hold the coveted role at the dnc. an estimated 40,000 people are in charlotte for the event.

i believe it. the streets, you can't even get past the people sometimes. not just democrats but members of the tea party are here as well. one of them a team member this morning. chair of the tea party express, amy kramer. we were emailing when i was heading down to cover the storms and missed each other at the rnc. let's talk a little bit about why you're here as a tea party at the dnc. what's your strategy? >> well, we just want to get our message out there that we want fiscal responsibility. and believe it or not, we have democrats and independents that identify with the tea party movement as well. we're not focused on the social issues whatsoever. it is all about fiscal responsibility. and, look, republicans are just as responsible as the democrats for getting us into the position we're in right now. everybody says, where were you during the bush administration when the spending was out of control? well, there was no tea party per se, but there was definitely an undercurrent, and that's how had started bubbling up because people were frustrated with the spending. we need true fiscal reform here in this country, with medicare -- i mean, you can't

balance the united states budget dealing with just discretionary spending. we've got to deal with entitlement programs. and it's a real conversation that we need to have. >> people don't want to vote for anybody who's going to take away their entitlement program. at the end of the day, you can poll people and they'll say, yes, we need to deal with entitlement programs. and then you say we want to take part of your entitlement program, and inverably they do not want that. >> but, soledad, the thing is, i think that the american people are ready to have this conversation. look, people engage when it affects them personally. and we can say that, you know, that jobs are being created and so on and so forth. but the real thing is that the median income is down $4,000 from four years ago. people are out of work. they can't afford to put food on their table, gas in their cars. it's really affecting them. and the jobs that are being created are lower wage jobs. we cannot continue down this path. and that's why people are paying attention. and now people ever going out there to the internet and doing the research and getting information themselves.

it's all about educating people on these issues. and that's what we want to do. that's why we're here. and americans are ready for this because it's affecting them. >> but what could affect them as well, when you talk about entitlements, if you look at some of the proposals to medicare for example, i think it's a congressional budget office which says that you're looking at potentially $6,000 more out-of-pocket under the romney-ryan plan. i believe i'm quoting the right source on that. the numbers are correct. so those things are not not connected. how much money you'll put out and the fact that you're bringing home less is very much connected to cutting entitlement when it's your own entitlement that could be changed. >> but here is the thing. there was a report issued last may that said if medicare is not reformed by 2024, it will be bankrupt. i think it's irresponsible for both parties. and party politics got us into this mess. it's irresponsible for both parties to continue to kick this can down the road. look, i was a former flight attendant. >> never happen in an election year, right? >> but it's a conversation that we need to have.

and what i was going to say is i was a flight attendant. we had a great pension at the airline i worked for. and they came and said, we can't afford this anymore. we're going to convert it to a 401(k). of course the flight attendants were up in arms. we didn't have a union. but it was either that or the airline would go bankrupt and none of us would have jobs. it's not going to be easy. no one ever said it would be easy. but it has to be done. my parents just retired and i don't want them in 12 or 14 years to have nothing. i mean, it's not responsible. >> is that a bit of a flawed analogy to the airline industry? you're talking about other pots of money elsewhere. part of the conversation is, well, why are you cutting it from this? why don't you cut it from that? it's not analogous to the airline industry. maybe we should cut welfare. maybe we should cut military. maybe we should cut education. isn't that part of the challenge? >> well, the economy is very complex and complicated. and i'm not an economist or an analyst on the budget.

but i think that there are things we can do. we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. why don't we lower that corporate tax rate, give people incentive to come back here, reinvest in the companies and create jobs again. and then there will be more money coming into the system to cover some of these things. why don't we do that? there are answers. we can do this. but it's a conversation that we need to have. and the answer is not to continue to spend more. and that's all we're doing. spending more. it's spend more, spend more, spend more. at the end of the day, you can't spend your way into prosperity our spend your way out of debt. it doesn't happen. you can't do it in your household budget. businesses can't do it. how can the united states budget do it? >> can you invest your way out? if we invest in infrastructure, we can invest our way into more jobs. more jobs means people have money to put back into the economy, and that is -- i'm not an economist either. so obviously we have two noneconomists talking about the economy. >> but the thing is, what we're

hearing from this administration means more spending. there is no more money. are we going to continue to borrow money from china until china says no more money? i mean, it's coming to that point. >> let's talk about the $5 trillion that mr. romney is going to add on to the debt by giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. you must be against that. >> i think that -- i mean, at the end of the day, it's this class warfare that the administration and the left wants to play. it's pitting the rich against the middle class. >> it's not about the rich against the middle class. >> it is. that's all we hear. >> mr. romney says he wants to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires which will cost $5 trillion in debt. you must be against that, right? because you're against spending. >> i am against spending. >> so you must be against that policy. >> i am against increasing our debt and our deficit. and this president ran and said he would cut our deficit in half by the first term. and if not, it would be a

one-term proposition. and he hasn't done that. >> but the debt went up under the previous administration as well. >> not as much as it has under this. we're going to cross $16 trillion in debt this week. >> up is up. let's at least acknowledge that. it went up under the bush administration. >> and i just said a few minutes ago that republicans and democrats were responsible for it. >> and mr. romney wants $5 trillion more in debt to give millionaires and billionaires who don't need a tax cut more benefits. >> so can i ask you a question? you pointed out that under the bush years is really when the tea party started getting upset with republicans on spending, right? >> yes. there was an undercurrent, social media, blogging, that sort of thing. >> and got worse in your opinion under obama. but as someone that represents the tea party, why should tea party voters trust mitt romney to be any better than george w. bush on those issues? >> i'm not here to compare george w. bush and governor romney. but i know that the past four years are not working. we have increased our debt by $6

trillion, i believe, $5 trillion to $6 trillion. unemployment has gone up. the median household income is down $4,000. people are out of work. kids can't find jobs. the unemployment rate for the youth is 17.1% across the country. it's not working. >> we were in a recession before the president came into office. 700,000 jobs lost in january of 2009, almost before he finished -- he was sworn in. a lot has happened over the last four years. and you can't lay all of that just at his doorstep. >> and i want to get the answer to that. >> i have -- wait a second. we haven't even mentioned the fact that this president, under the first two years, he had a democrat controlled senate and house. he could have done anything he wanted. and instead, what he did, slammed obama care down our throats. and polling still shows that americans don't want it. they not it repealed. >> and 30 million more people will be covered under affordable care act.

and he actually did it. >> mayor nutter, you are just ignoring me. >> i'm sorry. >> you're not even slightly sorry. i know you're kicking him under the table. we are hitting a commercial break. but i think this will be the core of what is being discussed. we'll keep this conversation going and also answer ryan's question about, so what's the case for mitt romney here? we have to take a short break, though, first. if you want to know what it's really like to experience t the democratic national convention from the inside, go to cnn's roundtable. it's a live virtual chat. don't miss that. it's a cnn election roundtable starting at noon eastern. go to cnn.com/roundtable. still ahead, remember julian castro? don't forget that name. he is the first latino to land the coveted c keynote speaker spot. you're watching "starting point."

we'll keep our conversation going from here as well. it's the cnn grill from charlotte. we're back in a moment. [ owner ] i need to expand

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welcome back to "starting

point." coming to you live from the cnn grill in charlotte, north carolina. julian castro will be delivering the keynote address today, and we can expect that his message will be -- i think he has the classic immigrant story. as we saw from senator marco rubio, that same, here's where i am from, i'm the face of america, i think you'll see a similar thing from julian castro. >> and he is somebody that is young. he is the grandson of an immigrant from mexico. and he is going to talk about how, you know, they did it by pulling up by their boot straps. but also he is going to help democrats or at least try and help democrats hold onto the vast majority of latino voters as they have right now. >> but, soledad, i'll also say that it's not just the story. he's a big city mayor. he is doing things. he's getting things done. he is representing the interest of his constituents as well. i have worked with mayor castro. again, one of the reasons at

least at our convention you are seeing more and more mayors playing a variety of roles, whether it's the mayor villaraigosa who is our chairperson. we are here in charlotte with mayor fox and the things he's been doing. >> we'll talk to him later this week too. >> part of the story is about this job, whether it's president, governor, mayor, is about getting things done. making things happen. and that's part of the message i'm sure that mayor castro is going to bring as well. >> amy, let me ask you a question. someone sent to me this tweet. i can't see anything anymore. that you sent out at the end of august, 10:55 p.m. huge difference between mitt romney and barack obama is that mitt loves america. we need a president that loves this country. i think that's from -- i missed this one, but someone forwarded it to me. do you tnk that president obama doesn't love this country? what does that mean? >> i think that he is more about a global -- being a global on -- oh, what's the word? being more one world, global,

you know, with other countries, and it's not about the shining city on the hill, the great business that has always been america. that our founding fathers were about. i do believe that. i absolutely believe it. i'm not going to run from that. look, president obama, and i know i'm going to take a lot of heat for this, but he's never run anything. mitt romney, you asked me what is the case for mitt romney, mitt romney time and time again has taken companies that are failing and turned them around to make them successful. he turned the salt lake city olympics around. he ran the state of massachusetts. because what i'm saying is we are failing. we are about to go off this fiscal cliff. and we need somebody that can turn it around. president obama has not turned it around. >> but the governor has also taken over companies and put people out of work. at the expense of losing jobs and making money for himself and for his investors. if you're going to tell one side of the story, tell the other side. >> and president obama's energy policy, if it's implemented, it's going to cost -- let me see.

i have the numbers right here because i'm not very good with numbers. but it's going to cost us 7.3 million jobs by 2020. and $1 trillion in compliance costs between 2020 and 2030. >> i just never understand what that has to do with loving the nation. honestly, i always feel like that's a code word for something else. >> i just don't feel like he is -- >> what is the basis for questioning the president's love for this country? how can you say that? >> i just don't believe that he loves america the way that we do. >> based on what? we who? >> he is more about one world. >> what does that mean? >> i just explained it to you. >> well, clearly, i'm not understanding. >> well, i don't know how else to explain it. >> his foreign policy, you look at it and say, obama wants america to be gone and he wants one world? >> i mean, we are not leading. we are waiting on others to tell us what to do. that's never been the american way. >> what specifically? >> i believe it was syria. was it syria or one of the conflicts where we -- the french told us we could go and do what

we needed to do. that's not the american way. we need to lead. >> well, maybe this is america now. >> it's not about foreign policy and we're never all going to agree on foreign policy. but why the tea party movement has been so successful is because of the fiscal responsibility. >> i think what you're saying is leading from behind. i was the journalist that reported that quote. so leading from behind is something that was told to me. and actually, what it refers to is the strategy in the u.n., the u.s. led a coalition in the u.n. to get military authorization to topple gadhafi. so the quote is actually the opposite of what you're saying. it actually refers to the strategy that obama used in the u.n. to get all of the nations to support the u.s.'s use of force resolution. because after the bush era, it was hard for the u.s. to go to the u.n. and get support because bush was really unpopular. >> but i guess my question is, when i hear somebody say that someone doesn't love the

country, and i'm very sensitive to the dog whistle issue. >> what? >> that there's a message in that. i just find that to be a very odd comment. >> i don't believe -- look, we're sitting -- we're sitting here, is our goal really in this administration to be the leader that we always have been, to be that shining city on the hill? >> what does that have to do with love for your country? mitt loves his country and president obama doesn't? >> if you love this country and you want to restore our heritage and that sort of thing, you go out there and you lead. you don't wait on others to tell you what to do. and you take those bold steps. i mean, i don't think that that's what the objective of this administration is. >> i'm going to stop you there. mr. mayor, stop. i have had so many people screaming in my ear that we have so gone over. i thank you for the conversation. we have to take a break. we're back on the other side. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." we are covering the democratic national convention live this week from charlotte, north carolina. joining us now, joel stein. we met at the rnc. you're dressed a little more casually. now you're like a southern gentleman. what's going on? >> there were comments online. i had to step up my game. >> you were looking sloppy? >> only when i'm in the south do i pull this out. >> so compare and contrast. rnc, dnc. >> it's the same people. if you dropped an alien in both, i don't think they could tell which one they were at. it's very uptight people. the people from college who did like college democrats, and college republicans, they always wore khakis. i can't tell them apart. the city is easier to navigate.

that's the main difference. >> it's a little easier than tampa? >> that's how i judge conventions. >> it's sort of less spread out too. maybe just because i'm in the hotel across the street for once. >> i've heard. you shouldn't tell everyone that. >> really? jealousy? >> yeah. >> i'm just bragging. because in tampa we drove for a day. >> they made you drive? >> a little bit, yeah. but then i went to cover the hurricane. >> i heard the fox news people were right across the street in tampa. >> what have you found to be the most engaging, exciting party here? >> i have only been to one party. it was the liquor lobby party. i always make sure to go to the liquor lobby party. >> you went to that at the rnc too. >> that's my primary commitment. i am in the pocket of the liquor lobby. >> does this count as work for you? >> i'm not sure what counts as work for me. we're at the grill. there's beer here. who is working? >> it's in the morning. always at the bar. >> i'm working.

the bar isn't open yet for us. >> there is so much money in politics i feel like i should get my share. if i have to drink the liquor lobby's liquor, as a taxpayer -- >> because you're working? >> yes, yeah. >> you're investigating. >> i'm investigating the lobbyist situation, yeah. >> what did you find out? >> cigars don't go too heavy on them early in the evening. the liquor lobby has important things to say to america. there are a lot of tax issues. >> and they are? >> there are a lot of tafr issues. i think they are the first people people turn to when they want to raise taxes. and it's wrong. i'm here to talk about that. >> i feel like all of the other stuff you said before you got to wrong was very unclear. and kind of -- tariff issues? >> they gave me some talking points but i was drinking and i have forgotten. >> you just want to come away with it's all wrong. they are good people. >> it's all wrong. >> that's the feeling i got. >> well, what are you looking forward to? what's your big -- >> well, today, i'm going to -- it's a big tent.

the democratic party. so i'm going to go try and go to every caucus for every ethnicity today. >> there are 14 caucuses. >> and yes. there are new ones. >> and you won't blend in at many of them. >> do they have a white guy from new york city caucus? >> they have a jewish caucus. i'm sure they are all white guys from new york city. >> there will be 13 others that might be harder to sneak into. let us know how that goes. >> i'm report back. that's the important thing i'm doing today. >> because it's work. >> it is. it's all work. >> we'll take a break.

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coming up tomorrow on "starting point," chicago mayor and former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel will join us. congressman jim cli clyburn. julian castro will join us. we'll talk to him about his big speech. birth control crusader and liberal activist sandra fluke will