national convention and security is extremely tight. everybody needs a special color coded credential to get inside the convention center. but come with me and i'll take you for a tour. here's the perspective on the convention floor. up there you have sky boxes f l filled with media. these seats would be filled with tlegts and media as well right here on the convention floor. and right up there is the podium where the speaker takes center stage. a convention is carefully choreographed. every primetime speaker gets a chance to do a run-through on stage and get a feel for how it's going to be before the night they actually make their speech. this is the perspective speaker's seat. when they're up on stage, these seats would be filled with people and over there is what they're reading on the teleprompter. to get this show on tv, online, and on the radio, engineers spent weeks laying down thousands of feet of cable to get this convention plugged in. with the production value this high, the stakes are even higher

for the political party. in charlotte, i'm sandra endo. and "cnn newsroom" with suzanne malveaux starts right now. >> democrats get ready to make their opening arguments in the case for re-electing president barack obama. i'm suzanne malveaux live from the site of the democratic national convention here in charlotte, north carolina. it was just a week ago we heard ann romney's speech on the personal side of her husband, well, tonight is michelle obama's turn. she's not going to have to work as hard to convince folks that president obama is likable. take a look at this recent poll. this is a "washington post" poll. 61% of registered voters say that the president seems more friendly and likable compared to 27% for romney. we're going to have more ahead, what we can expect from the first lady. also coming up, the spotlight tonight on a rising star in the democratic party. we're talking about san antonio

julian castro following in the footsteps of bill clinton and barack obama, hoping he'll appeal to the growing latino population. here's a look at the man and the mission that he's facing. >> it's been my pleasure to serve as mayor. >> reporter: meet julian castro, popular latino mayor of san antonio, texas, and a darling of the democratic base who will deliver the keynote speech at the national convention in charlotte. democrats have a long tradition of rolling out the party's rising stars for such an honor. >> the keynote speech is to set the tone for the entire convention. >> we will have a new president of the united states. a democrat born not to the blood of kings but to the blood of pioneers and immigrants. >> bill clinton gave the keynote speech. barack obama has given a keynote speech. i'm julian castro. >> reporter: castro knows the burden is on him to appeal to latinos as well as inspire a broader audience of voters. >> the choice that we have to make in this election is whether to continue to invest so that everyone can reach the american dream or whether we're going to

scale back from that. >> reporter: with an estimated 12 million latino voters expected to cast ballots in november, both campaigns are fighting hard for their attention. >> can't just trot out a brown face and spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate. >> reporter: that's why delagara, a professor at columbia university, says the choice of julian castro to deliver the keynote was smart. >> castro brings, as a speaker, a number of important characteristics. he is smart. he's well educated. he is politically literate. he has a vision and he has ambition. he raised in a highly political family in san antonio. he understands the limit of ethnic politics. >> there's a good story to tell.

>> reporter: now he'll have to add persuasive speaker to his resume. >> speeches tonight by julian castro and the first lady michelle obama are going to set the tone for the convention. democrats are going to highlight the president's accomplishments, making the case for giving him another four years in office. so what do they actually need to say? i want to bring in cnn contributor democratic strategist donna brazile. nice to see you, donna. i know you're tweeting already. you have a special pass on the floor, is that right? >> yeah. i'm an officer of the convent n convention. you know the other pass i was given the first day i arrived. you know what it says? i'm a volunteer, a volunteer for the democratic party. i'm honored to be here. this is my eighth democratic convention. i've been to three republican convention. at this convention i get to cast my vote for barack obama as the next president of the united states of america. >> i know you're very excited. i want to talk about two people. obviously we're talking about san antonio's mayor. we'll get to that. let's talk about michelle obama. we were here four years ago. the country was getting a chance to know her, getting to know the

president. it was a tough time, i think, for her. i think that the nation was trying to figure out who she was, there was a lot of criticism from republicans about whether or not she was patriotic. there was a lot of defenses from the campaign. and she has since emerged and changed this image. i want you to listen to, this is an exchange with michelle obama from four years ago and how she tried to portray them. >> at first i thought, what kind of name is barack obama? and i found out that he grew up in hawaii. and i found that strange as a girl who grew up on the south side of chicago. i had never met anybody who lived in hawaii. that was always where you vacationed. it wasn't where you were from. and i find out that he was biracial. so my assumption was this guy's got to be kind of weird. all right? prably a little nerdy. i'd already sort of created an image of this very intellectual nerd. and i was prepared to be polite and all that and then he walked into my office on that first day and he was cuter than i thought

he'd be. so that was a first positive impression. but i had to take him out to lunch on that first day and we got to -- we had to talk. and he told me more about his background and he fleshed it out a bit more. i found out that his father was from kenya, his mother was a white woman from kansas and he had spent part of his life in indonesia. and i just found him intriguing. >> all right, donna. you don't have to laugh about my hairdo from four years ago. >> don't laugh about my gray hairs. you look good. >> everybody's a little bit grayer four years later. tell us, what does michelle obama need to say tonight? what does she need to emphasize and focus when it comes to her husband? >> she's in a unique position. as first lady of the united states, she can talk to us about president obama as the hband, the man, the leader he is. i mean, she knows the trials, the tribulations of being in the white house. being there each and every evening, afternoon, when he comes home. hearing, i'm sure, some of the

things that he's going through. she's his confidant. she's also in her own way a remarkable woman. a woman of tremendous grace. she is someone that has gotten us all to move a little bit quicker, whether it's exercising, planting vegetable gardens at home, although i still want to talk to her about the arugula thing. i would prefer okra at the white house. her dedication and devotion to military families. you know, mrs. obama, dr. biden, jill biden, they take their word very seriously. in going out there, reaching out to military families, husbands and wives whose spouses are serving our country overseas. tonight she's going to do what she did four years ago. she's going to say, you know, this man like mrs. romney, i fell in love with, he's a great leader, he's a wonderful and remarkable human being. more importantly, i think she's going to help us see the way forward. forward. >> and she has the goal, and the task, i know a lot of people are looking at this, at humanizing

him. people see mitt romney and ann romney was clearly trying to do that during their convention. they're going to look to her to do the same. i want to play a quick clip on how she tried four years ago. take a listen. >> barack still has the same pants and shirts that he had when we got married which is why i crack up when people say he's one of the best dressed men. i think maybe that means he looks good in his clothes because he's tall and thin. trust me, if you look up close, those pants have a hole in the back and the shoes -- i was looking at his shoes the other day. i was like, you need new shoes. >> it's been a while since, i mean, he's gotten new shoes and everything seems to be going well in that direction. but what more do we need to learn or know an this president? about the family? because i think we've gotten a pretty good sense of who they are over the last four years. >> we've seen them out at sporting events. i live in washington, d.c., so, of course. we know the president takes his wife to the movies. they go to restaurants. it's always amazing when you

live in washington, d.c., and have the first couple there. when you go to a restaurant, they say, you know, president obama, mrs. obama was here. he takes his wife out. he takes his two girls out. they go and watch the basketball games, baseball games. he's a, i think, like most family men, he cares very deeply about his two daughters. he's, of course, protective, but at times i think he's been a little nervous because, of course, one of his young girls is now a teen. she's a young woman. and so this is a man who cared deeply about all families. our nation's children. and i think tonight we'll also see president obama as dad in chief as well. >> i want to play a clip here, this is of ann romney. obviously during the rnc. she had the same kind of tone, if you will, in her speech in introducing mitt romney, humanizing him. then the last couple days we've seen a change here. i want you to listen to this. >> 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, that's going to take this very seriously and take the future of our children very, very seriously. and i very much believe, candy, that it is going to be an economic election and i think a lot of women may be voting this cycle around in a different way than they usually are. >> a lot of people are a little surprised. she's not saying it, herself, but she's quoting somebody else saying it's time for the grown-ups to take over here. usually it's not the first lady who's in that attack dog position. is that something you think michelle obama can get away with? >> i don't think mrs. obama will even try to go in that direction. look, we have a very pro-woman platform. we have a pro-woman health care platform. we have a pro-family and children platform. so i think mrs. obama is really going to talk about our nation's children. one of the first things the president did was sign the lilly ledbetter act. that matters to working women in this country that they're paid the same amount of money as men

are paid. the president also has been a champion for child health care and that matters in a country when we have so many children, through no fault of their own, fall into poverty. so i think mrs. obama's tone tonight is one of welcoming, one to renew america's promise, one to keep our families strong, safe and secure, and, again, this is an effort to tell president obama'story, the things he's been up to and hopefully she'll make us laugh. mrs. romney promised that we would laugh. i didn't laugh a lot last week. i want to laugh. wro on wh you know what, when i leave the convention, i want to dance. i want to feel good about where we're taking the country over the next four years because president obama will be rehired. >> we'll see if people are laughing and dancing tonight. it's a big kickoff tonight. good to see you as always. cnn's primetime coverage of the democratic national convention kicking off at 7:00 eastern tonight with colleagues wolf

blitzer, anderson cooper and the rest of the cnn political team. and michelle obama is addressing the delegates. midnight, piers morgan is wrapping up the first night of the democratic national convention all tonight on cnn. health care, gay marriage, abortion rights, well, they're big controversial issues on the dnc platform this year. i'm going to tell you where the party stands, what it means to kick off the convention. evil pe bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover.

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capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. democrats have a lot to talk about during their convention. they just released the party platform. it puts the economy and social issues, of course, at the top of the list. for the first time ever. now, the platform contains language endorsing same-sex marriage saying, we're quoting here, we support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. democrats also come out strongly in support of a woman's right to choose. that part of the platform reads, "abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor and her clergy. there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way." of course, health care, big, big focus here. we are talking about the platforms. again, "we believe accessible, affordable, high quality health care is part of the american

promise, that americans should have the security that comes with good health care, that no one should go broke because they get sick." the spotlight shining nationally today on the democratic party and the spotlight, of course, also shining on the city of charlotte. since february of last year, that is when the city was chosen to host the convention. anthony fox was barely into a year in his first term as mayor when first lady michelle obama made the announcement. the mayor joins us here. it's nice to be in your city. >> glad to be here. >> how are you doing, how are you accommodating everybody? >> great. i want to be a good host. do you want something to drink? >> i have my coke here. coke and coffee. double fisted here. give us a sense of how much money does something like this bring to the city in revenue? >> we estimated early on it would bring $150 million to $200 million, suzanne. we believe there are investments that happened before convention that have nothing to do with how those numbers get scored. at&t put in 4g network to be

prepared. millions of dollars of investment and cities finished around the city by developers who wouldn't have gotten done without it. >> people, critics are saying, you know, this is a tough, tough time for a lot of people. this convention expected to cost $53 million. you got federal funds obviously for security and some funds, private funds, from the party, itself. but we know who the nominee is. why not save that money? why not just like say, you know what, we're going to wrap it up, we know who it is, and we'll move on and use that money to help people out who are struggling? >> well, i understand the question. i think that will be a good debate to have over the next few years. let's not have the debate right now. we need the money right now. while we're here, i think -- i think this is an important time for this country to see the contrasting narratives of the parties and to see what the real differences are. and for people to be able to assess themselves. you know, i'm a lawyer by training. sometimes the jury wants to see the witness. and so i think that's what the

conventions conventions allow people to do, see both sides, get a sense of who they really believe will help the country move forward. >> we were reading the party's platform. you and i actually attended an event, billed as a unity event. it was gay activists and many people celebrating the president's agenda, the obama agenda. i talked to several people. they said they thought it was a bold move by the president to include his support for same-sex marria which is on the platform. they said they thought it would be at the expense of evangelicals and others in north carolina that he might actually lose north carolina because of that stand. do you think that's real? do you think that's true ? >> i don't think so. the way people address social issues does not address everything the president has to do with. i do think there may have been some marginal mobilization behind romney from some evangelicals who may have been a little skeptical of him around that issue. but i think the president by in large has his support pretty much unabated since that decision. >> take a look at the unemployment in this city. i mean, in the state, rather.

i think it's at 9.8%. much higher than the national average. there are a lot of people who are struggling. we saw some protesters, occupy charlotte, who are very frustrated with the situation. the banks being bailed out and a lot of people still don't have jobs. how do you square that with the republicans who are essentially saying, you know what, you're not all that better off four years ago? >> it's interesting that the folks who dug the ditch are complaining about the guy who's trying to get it filled up. we have a president who's been working in the trenches trying to help this country move forward, taking us from three quarters of a million jobs lost on a monthly basis now to 29 successive months of job growth. i think when the story is told this week, people will see what the president's done, how it scores and they'll be able to say to themselves, this guy's been working for us. they're going to pick him. >> last quick question. do you think north carolina is going to go to obama or romney? so far we have romney ahead in the polls. >> i think it's going to be tight all the way but obama is

going to carry it and be on the ground. >> mayor, thanks. appreciate it. all this week we'll be talking more to the big stars of the dnc as well. in about 20 minutes we're going to talk to a 31-year-old woman who already served her country in iraq. now she wants a shot of doing it in washington as a congresswoman. next hours, democrats called him the last lie whereon of the hou. former congressman barney frank about what he thinks of the party's new stance on gay marriage. and it is the kind of stage that can just vault a young politician into superstardom. we're going to take a look at the latest details. the keynote address from the fresh faced mayor from san antonio. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

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you're looking at republican rally under way. this is west lake, ohio, near cleveland. republican vice presidential nominee paul ryan addressing the crowd. let's listen in. >> we want to earn your support. we want to deserve this victory so that we have the mandate and the moral authority to fix this mess in washington. look, let's be very candid. president obama inherited a difficult situation when he came into office. here's the problem.

he made things worse. he's run out of ideas. he can't run on his record. he's run out of ideas. and that's why his campaign is now sadly based upon the politics of envy and division. you know, they are in charlotte this week. they have their convention. we're going to hear the president say lots of things, but what we probably will not hear him say is something he said four years ago. let me quote. "if you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from." friends, that is exactly what he is doing right now. i remember a convention speech, i was a pretty young guy at the time, but i remember a

convention speech. remember ronald reagan talking about jimmy carter? are you better off now than you were four years ago? well, you know what? we knew it then, we know it now. they fired carter and they hired reagan. we're going to do the same thing this time. i think it's an interesting comparison. because you really can't look at the data. you can't look at the suffering families or the jobs lost or the debt crisis that's hanging over our economy and honestly say we're better off than we were four years ago. as a matter of fact, president obama's record is worse than jimmy carter's record. look at unemployment. in the carter presidency, in july of 1980, the unemployment rate was 7.8%. for the last 42 months under

president obama it's been above 8% the entire time. look at the number of seriously delinquent mortgages. at the end of 1980, 77,000. last quarter, 3.1 million. in 1980, total bankruptcy filings, that's personal and business bankruptcies, that's paychecks, that's family livelihoods, that's jobs. in 1980, 331,000 total bankruptcies. last year, 1.4 million. when it comes to jobs, president obama makes the jimmy carter years look like good old days. if we fired jimmy carter then, why would we rehire barack obama now?

president obama can tell you a lot and he's good at doing that, but he cannot tell you that you're better off. after four years -- >> paul ryan saying this is comparing, making the comparisons to the swrjimmy car days. tonight's keynote address at the convention is going to an up and coming star in the democratic party, san antonio mayor julian castro. dana bash is joining us to talk about this. only you, dana, would actually run into the man. run into the man and his twin brother. >> as an identical twin, you can appreciate this. i saw them both. they do look a little bit different. i wasn't exactly sure. so i went up to julian castro and said, i don't want to mess this up, you are the mayor of san antonio, right? he said yes. i asked about his speech. he said it's 15 minutes long and only as an identical twin brother can do, he chimed in and

said, that's without my introduction. he is introducing them. they'll appear together. his brother is actually running for congress. they're both politicians. what he said, we kind of heard this theme before. it was interesting hearing from him. he's going to talk about his theory of the american dream which is that it is intergenerational. his grandmother came from mexico alone. she was self-taught. she then passed that kind of fortitude down to her daughter, their mother, and so forth. so it's going to be, he hopes, clearly an inspirational story about immigrants made good, but he's also the mayor of san antonio. he knows what it's like to run a key city and he is going to, of course, make the contrast between barack obama and mitt romney like any good keynote speaker will do. >> and one of the things that's interesting if you look at their background, both of them are graduates of harvard law school. raised by a single mom. there have been so many comparisons made to barack obama. do you think people in the audience are going to be looking to him and saying, look, this

could be a new leader, this could be someone who potentially makes history? and could even run for president or governor? >> that's already happening. you're absolutely right. first of all, he's the first latino to give the keynote address to the democratic convention. he is definitely following in the footsteps of people like barack obama, like bill clinton, who have given keynote addresses. but for barack obama, in particular, he came out of nowhere. he burst on the scene. you remember when he gave that keynote address in 2004. he wasn't even in the united states senate yet. and he did it because of his oratory. and i talked toa source who's familiar with the speech last night who set the bar pretty high. this is a little dangerous in politics but he said he read the speech and it was along those lines of, you know, soaring rhetoric but also biting when it comes to from their perspective, the indictment of the romney philosophy and point of view. >> all right. dana, i can hardly wait to see who else you run into. run into.

>> you and your twin sister next time. >> we'll bring you back. thanks again. appreciate it. both party promising to move mountains for the middle class. well, today's tough economy, what does it mean to be middle class in the first place? we're going to take a look. questions. when you're caring for a loved one

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and five-year special financing ends september 5th. visit tempurpedic.com now. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. welcome back. we're at the cnn grill, and we're at the dnc. we're covering, of course, all events taking place in charlotte, here, north carolina. now, one of the things about the cnn grill, you get a chance to run into folks, asking questions. what is hot on the topics that we are actually talking about and debating about? ran into reverend jesse jackson, and i asked him about the republican line here, the romney/ryan line about are you better off than you were four years ago? i pushed him on this because he is somebody who talks about poverty, the need to address poverty in a very aggressive way. he says he doesn't think that democrats or republicans necessarily are doing it adequa

adequately, but are we better off four years down the road? here's how he responded. do you see the point of view, however, that people look and they say, you know what, i'm not doing better off here. is there more this president, this administration could have done? he had a democratic majority for the house and nate the first two years in office. could he have done more? >> you know, two wars, budget, and cut taxes to pay for the war, we dug a very deep hole. you combine that with the banks, with their lack of oversight, drove us to the brink of global collapse. that was a very deep hole. we had to come out of a deep hole. the only one thing we did is misread how deep the hole was. >> democrats fired up ready to get the convention started, of course. they have a lot to talk about. and as do we. with our guests. "the new york times" op-ped

columnist charles blow. so we ran into reverend jackson. one of the things he said is we did not know how deep the hole was. essentially. whose fault is that? i mean, why didn't they know? take a stab at it, joe. >> first i think the asking are you better off than you were four years ago is pegging it to the wrong spot. if that were at the bottom of the dip, then great. did obama dig us out of the hole or not? but if you can recall four years ago, that's on the verge of that election. the economy was literally falling apart. people believed the economy was falling apart. in january of 2008, the dow was approaching 12,000. by november of 2008, it was at 7,500. wealth was evaporating like water. we didn't know where the bottom was. we were desperate to find someone to help us out of this

catastrophe. what obama was given was a catastrophe. what we have to say -- >> let me a ask you this. do you think it was wise, then, he's given an economic catastrophe, they don't know how bad it is and health care is the number one priority? i mean, should it not have been the other way? put health care off and try to work on the bottom out? >> i think if you try to divorce health care from people's economic interests particularly when you're on the low eer rung of the ladder, that's a fallacy. every time people try to do that, they say, health care is not an economic issue. you ask anyone who's running up against real health care issues, people who have, who are going into bankruptcies, the number one reason that people go into bankruptcy is because of health care costs. >> i think the fact that the president addressed health care in the midst of the economic catastrophe is like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. we need to address the economic issues first. jobs and the economy are number one. i agree with reverend jackson. the president had a hole but he's just made it deeper and

bigger and worse. >> he didn't say he made it deeper. that's not what the reverend said. he did say he underestimated the problem here. one of the things he also criticized is he didn't think republicans were doing a goods job either at actually addressing the issue of poverty and that's really one of the main things they're talking about here. i want to turn to ann romney, because she has been speaking and we saw her at the rnc. one of the things that we're going to see tonight is michelle obama addressing the dnc. ann romney has taken on a different tone now, an attack tone against the president. do you think that serves the republicans well? >> i think what we saw from ann romney was a very heartfelt speech. said, i'm speaking from my heart to yours. she talked about her husband. she talked about what a great husband and father he was. she gave us personal anecdotes about him as a person and talked about how he will not fail and succeeds at everything he does. >> the last few days she's taking on a more negative tone and said, look, we need grown-ups in the white house. do you think that's an

appropriate role? do you think that's necessary coming from ann romney? >> what we're going to see, things are going to get tougher as we get closer to november. i think what we'll see tonight with the first lady is she will paint a nice picture of her husband. there's no dis-pe pedisputing t he's a good husband, father, good person, he's just a bad president. the first lady has done a tremendous job as first lady and shining a light on childhood obesity and issues like that are extremely important. i think what we'll see tonight is another nice layer of the president as a person but stay away from the policy. >> charles, how does the president, how does he get beyond what the republicans are now capitalizing off of this message from ryan saying, he's no better off than jimmy carter, we don't need to hire him again because we were in a bad economic situation then and we're in a bad economic situation now. >> this idea he made it worse is ridiculous, like, so there was nothing that could have been worse than what we were facing. and we are -- and the economy did not collapse. we know that that is true. we know that we are no longer

actively engaged in iraq. we know that osama bin laden is no longer plotting new terrorist attacks. there may be other people doing it, but osama bin laden is not alive and doing it. we know that the auto industry did not fall apart. we know that there are successes on his watch. so that you have to just take that piece and say, that's not -- that's not going to work. >> got to leave it there. i'm sorry to cut you off. got to leave it there. the president speaking live in norfolk, virginia. i want to listen in. let's listen in real quick. >> i had missouri going pretty deep, but i want you to know i've got no hard feelings. let's just say you owe me one. now, i know that whatever i say here today, it's going to be at

best a distant second to the speech you will hear tonight from the star of the obama family, michelle obama. you know, this is just like a relay and you start off with the fastest person. so i'm going to be at home. i'm going to be watching it with our girls. and i am going to try not to let them see their daddy cry. because when michelle starts talking, i -- i start getting all misty. but i'm looking forward to being in charlotte, myself. i'll go down there tomorrow and, you know, last week our friends in the other party had their convention. don't boo. vote.

vote. >> four more years! four more years! four more years! >> now, now, just in case some of you missed it, some of you didn't dvr the republican convention, let me give you a basic recap. basically they said, first of all, everything's bad and it's obama's fault. and governor romney knows the secret to creating jobs and growing the economy. the only problem was he kept it secret. there was a lot of talk about hard truths and bold choices,

but they never bothered to tell you what they were. and when my opponent had the chance to offer his secret sauce, he did not offer a single new idea. it was just the same old policies that have been sticking it to the middle class for years. they spent a lot of time talkin about me, but they didn't spend a lot of time talking about you. they didn't talk a lot about how we're going to move forward so that the middle class is strong. so that the economy is growing for everybody. they spent even less time talking about their plans. and that's not just because they know you won't like it, but it's because they know you saw what happened when we tried it. you've lived through it and you know we can't afford to repeat it.

i mean, think about it. a plan that says we're going to make middle class families pay for another budget busting $250,000 tax cut for people making $3 million a year or more, that's not really persuasive to most people. we don't think that will magically translate into jobs or prosperity for people. we know families won't be better off if we undo all the wall street reforms we put into place to prevent another financial crisis. or that we're going to be better off if we remove rules to protect our air and our water. or if we're going to take away protections we put in place to make sure that health care is there for you when you get sick. and we are certainly positive

that the best way to strengthen medicare isn't to turn it into a voucher that leaves seniors paying additional costs out of pocket. that's not a plan to create jobs, it's not a plan to lower the deficit, it's not a plan to strengthen the middle class. it's not a plan to strengthen this country. we believe in something better. an america that says -- >> president obama out of norfolk, virginia, saying don't boo to the crowd when he talks about mitt romney, go out and vote. that message from the president today as he campaigns and soon will make himself available heading to the democratic national convention. and, of course, talk about an amazing story. she's a 31-year-old iraq war veteran who is now running for congress and tonight she's going to stand on stage with some of the most powerful women in the democratic party. we're going to have a chance to introduce this rising star up next.

i was talking to my best friend. i told her i wasn't feeling like myself... i had pain in my pelvic area... and bleeding that wasn't normal for me. she said i had to go to the doctor. turned out i had uterine cancer, a type of gynecologic cancer. i received treatment and we're confident i'll be fine. please listen to your body. if something doesn't feel right for two weeks or longer, see your doctor. get the inside knowledge about gynecologic cancers. knowing can make all the difference in the world.

tulsi gabbard is going to be the one to watch tonight at the dnc. she's only 31 years old. she's not only a veteran of the iraq war, she has served on the honolulu city council. and she's also now congressional candidate for r state of hawaii. tulsi joined the house minority leader nancy pelosi, several other will on stage tonight, and she joins us now. it's so nice to meet you. >> thank you so much. >> i can't tell you mohow many people have mentioned your name and said, this is the one to look out for. tell us why. people see you as a rising star. >> this whole experience here has just really been incredible.

when i started my campaign for congress, i was one who people said, tulsi, you have a bright future but there's no way you can win. i came from a 45% deficit back in february behind the assumed front-runner and came back and won the primary with the 22% margin on august 11th. >> that's pretty impressive. >> it's been awesome. it really came about really through grassroots. through people, you know, organizing, getting out, getting the vote out and showing up on election day and that's what i credit all of this to. >> this is a very big night for you, and you represent two very important groups. voter groups. young people and also women. what is going to be your message tonight for those who, you know, the enthusiasm gap, they're not as uplifted as they were four years ago. >> yeah. absolutely. and people always ask me, how do we get the young people involved? it's by getting them involved, by showing them, hey, you have a role in the decision making and the future of our country. step up to the plate and take charge. and that's what i've seen throughout my campaign is we've

brought people from all ages who are feeling inspired again and motivated that we all have a stake in our future and we need to do our part to improve that. >> four years ago was really, it was kind of extraordinary because in covering the campaign, you really got a sense, once we're on the college camp campuses, that there was a ground swell of support and something very different was taking place. once president obama entered the white house, it seemed as if he kind of distanced himself from that group, from that young group of people and failed to leverage what seemed to be an amazing amount of power and energy from people in your age group and generation. do you regret that they didn't do that follow-up over the last four years, that they're just starting now? >> well, you know, i can speak from my own personal experience, through my own little campaign in hawaii that we also saw a ground swell of support from people of all generations, backgrounds, ethnicity, you know, education, everything. and i think the key to going forward and being successful is continuing those relationships

of people knowing that they have taken ownership of my candidacy, of our campaign and of this effort that it's about all of us working together going forward. i think that's really what we need to do as a nation. that there's so much divisiveness. we need to work together to move things forward. >> tulsi, we're going to watch out for you, look out for you tonight. it was good to see you and good luck. >> you have a lot of people in hawaii watching right now. i wanted to say aloha to everyone back home watching. >> thank you. huge names coming out for the democratic national convention tonight. of course, we're going to be taking a look at them. onpowerful party leader is skipping the event, however.

i was talking to my best friend. i told her i wasn't feeling like myself... i had pain in my pelvic area... and bleeding that wasn't normal for me. she said i had to go to the doctor. turned out i had uterine cancer, a type of gynecologic cancer. i received treatment and we're confident i'll be fine. please listen to your body. if something doesn't feel right for two weeks or longer, see your doctor. get the inside knowledge about gynecologic cancers. knowing can make all the difference in the world.

welcome back. we're live from charlotte. day one of the democratic national convention. you may have noticed hillary clinton's not going to be one of the speakers here. right now the secretary of state, she is in china. part of a six nation asian tour she made be president hu jintao tomorrow. this could be her last trip to china as secretary of state. mrs. clinton said she's going to step down after four years doing her job. more from the democratic national convention. we're going to bring you the highlights after this. people really love snapshot from progressive, but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers.

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michelle obama not the only first lady to use her platform at the national convention to boost support for presidential incumbents. eleanor roosevelt, she was the first in 1940. she made an impromptu speech at the democratic national convention in chicago that helped president franklin delano roosevelt with an unprecedented third term. and pat nixon, wife of president nixon, was the first to address the national convention. in 1992, barbara bush pioneered the so-called wifely testimony but wasn't enough to win george h.w. bush a second term. in 1996, hillary rodham clinton

had to split her time in the national spotlight while she talked up her husband, bill clinton, she also responded to criticism of her own remarks on "it takes the village in raise a child." ♪

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