elves. >> it's time for democrats to grow a backbone and stand up for what we believe. >> when it comes to respecting women's rights, mitt romney says no. >> i have seen firsthand that being president doesn't change who you are, no, it reveals who you are. >> the night was capped off with a very personal speech for michelle obama. big show for you this morning. we're going to be talking to chicago's mayor and former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel. robert gibbs, the former white house spokesman turned campaign adviser is with us. san antonio mayor julian castro and along with his twin brother,

texas state rep joaquin castro and the actor john leguizamo is with us. "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody, our team with us this morning, dana bash, senior congressional correspondent and danle malloy and ryan liz za, the washington correspondent for the new yorker. how are you holding up, ryan? yeah, both of us, holding up. our "starting point" this morning is hail to the mom in chief as we heard michelle obama say. first lady firing up the delegates on the first night of the democratic national convention, rousing speech that was political and also very personal. another headliner was the san antonio mayor julian castro, one of the party's rising stars. he's the first latino to ever deliver a democratic keynote

address. you see him hugging his twin brother. they look exactly the same. tonight the convention spotlight will shine on former president, bill clinton, he'll be nominating barack obama for a second term. and also it will be important for him to bolster the theme of stay the economic course. d dana, hoping for a strong day yesterday and today? >> they are. if you look and listen to what happened on first day, it's obvious that the democrats realize that there are very few undecided voters. this is about getting the base out and riled up and talking about the middle class. talking about how bad mitt romney is and when it came to the first lady, talking about the fact that people should remember why they liked her husband. >> who better to convince voters that the barack obama they were to excited about four years ago is still that same guy? >> whether it comes to his character and his convictions

and his heart, barack obama is still the same man i fell in love with all of those years ago. >> by now, most americans are familiar with the president's biography. her job was to underscore their shared middle class philosophy. >> he believes that when you have worked hard and done well and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. no, you reach back and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed. >> she called herself the mom in chief but showed she is also a savvy politician who didn't have to say mitt romney's name to get her digs in. >> because for barack, success isn't about how much money you make, it's about the difference you make in people's lives. >> the evening's other headliner, the 37-year-old mayor of san antonio of texas, julian castro, the first latino keynote speaker at the democratic convention.

he told the american dream story of his self-taught mexican born grandmother. >> and i can still remember her every morning as joaquin and i walked out the front door, making the sign of the cross behind us saying may god bless you. >> still in true keynote tradition, he threw the eager democratic crowd plenty of red meat. >> when it comes to letting people love who they love and marry who they want to marry? mitt romney says -- no. >> no. >> when it comes to expanding access to good health care, mitt romney -- >> says no! >> actually. mitt romney said yes and now he says -- >> no. >> a series of other speakers also lit up the room delivering on some very specific tasks. former ohio governor ted strickland seized on romney's

so-called vulture capitalism. >>f mitt was santa claus, he would fire the reindeer and outsource the elves. former obama chief of staff rahm emanuel refreshed collective memories about how bad things were four years ago. >> i said, mr. president, which crisis do you want to tackle first? he looked me in the eye with that look he usually reserved just for his chief of staff, rahm, we were sent here to tackle all of them not choose between them. >> newark new jersey mayor cory booker stirred the party's base. >> no matter who you are, no matter what color or creed, how you choose to pray or who you choose to love -- >> there was also a bit of a finger wagging from the governor of massachusetts saying the democrats need to get over

themselves -- and get out and vote. that is exactly one of the main reasons why they are having bill clinton give the big speech tonight. that is definitely the most anticipated speech. and the obama campaign is certainly waiting with baited breath for the text of that speech which they don't have. >> when clinton gave his speech, they were literally making changes to the teleprompter right up until the very last minute. >> that must be relaxing for everyone involved. tweaking the speech. we're going to talk about that straight ahead. first let's get an update on other stories with zoraida sambolin. hey, z. >> >> a political victory speech turns deadly. it was interrupted by governor. she was not hurt but one person was killed and another one was critically injured as the suspect was dragged to a police cruiser, he shouted in french, the english are waking up. that's apparently a reference to

tensions between the french and english speaking communities there. and the fbi denying claims that the hackers group that they accessed personal information about millions of apple users from a government computer, including president obama's ipad. the group posted online when it claims are the i.d.s of more than a million i phones and ipads. they say in all, 12 million apple i.d.s were obtained from an fbi agent's laptop. florida a and m dealing with another hazing incident. the school has suspended an all female student dance team after receiving an anonymous tip from a parent about hazing in an off off campus event. a spokeswoman would say the alleged hazing included alcohol consumption and running uphills. last year you'll recall robert champion died during a post-game hazing ritual. state officials have closed

12 miles of beaches along the louisiana coast, tar balls and oil are washing up on shore from hurricane isaac. bp insists it is too early to tell if the oil came from the deep water whorizon accident. ten parishes suffered serious flooding with more than 13,000 homes damaged. that number is expected to go up. 38,000 customers are still without power there as well. and take a look, folks, this incredible video out of lake of the ozarks, this is in missouri and hits a large wake and look what happens. this was as they were passing another boat. the impact is so intense, they all violently fall in the boat. the driver and six passengers were injured. this was friday accident. five of them had to go to the hospital with what is described as minor to moderate injuries. tough to watch there. >> the nfl regular season kicks

off tonight. t replacement refs will be on the field as they are still locked in a contract dispute. some are worried saying it could put their safety at risk. soledad? >> all right, zoraida, thank you. as you have heard the tone of the speeches here at the dnc went from brazen attacks on the romney campaign to inspirational speeches from first lady. one of tonight's speakers is on the starting point team, connecticut governor malloy. that the entire -- someone will come out like governor strickland, he warned us that's what he was going to do and he came out on the attack, sort of moderated by high inspiration. >> if you can't stand the heat you should stay out of the kitchen. mitt romney has a record and we can talk about it. it's fair game to talk about. speakers are going to do that. we're going to also talk about what the president has

accomplished. and he's accomplished a great deal and actually much more than he gets credit for. >> whose fault is that? >> i wish you would tell a story about the president a little more. the fact that we've created 4.5 million private sector jobs. >> that number was thrown out there a lot and you know when the fact checkers look at that, they say, true, but you have to realize you need another 300,000 before you're back up to the number to what we lost, correct? >> you would immediately repeat when the president was elected we were losing 700,000 jobs a month. that's where we were. that what bush had done to us. we had to find a bottom before we could build off the bottom but we've done that and done a lot of others things. i was listening earlier, the federal government is smaller now as a percentage of our total spending than it's been in decades. the fact is that we're spending lesson domestic side spending than in any time since as a percentage as any time since eisenhower was president. >> congressman chaffetz is

sitting next to you going -- you disagree? >> with all due respect spending has been north of 24% where historically it's been 18 to 20%. that's what the romney/ryan plan says we have to get that domestic spending as a percentage of gdp to less than 20% in order to eventually achieve some sort of balance. >> well, when the president of the united states offered a $4 trillion cut to spending, republicans pushed it away. now the president did sign into law a $2 trillion cut, that's reality. doesn't get credit for it but the president did offer a grand bargain and republicans refused to accept it. >> so then we head into the conversations about jobs, sort of this number that you talk about but i think there's a measurement that is how people feel. you can talk about bottoming out and 4.5 million jobs and the number was much bigger, et cetera, if people don't feel job secure, that's a huge problem. >> you're absolutely right.

if you didn't get one of those 4.5 million jobs, you can't be happy. the economy is growing and we've added jobs. that's a reality and there are some amazing things going on in the united states. things that we should be very proud of. one of which is the creation of 4.5 million jobs but many other things, support for education going up. now the republicans want to roll that back. they want to attack pel grants. we have to tell both sides of the story and that's what a convention is about. >> bill clinton is speaking tonight. you probably remember back in 1992 when he won, the incumbent, george w. bush -- george h.w. bush was arguing the economy was getting better and clinton was saying it's not. and it turned out the economy was getting better. are you concerned now it is turned on its head that -- >> the president has created more jobs on the net basis than his predecessor did in eight years, that's the reality. we have to start telling that. but we also -- there's lots of other things we can do. a president ended one war and in

the process of ending another. you want to ask whether things are better than they were, ask osama bin laden. we did amazing things -- >> when people go to the polls i just think don't they -- they vote on how they feel about the unemployment number, right? there's no way to argue that that number is better. >> it is better than when this president took office. you want to measure this president by the -- by some year prior to his being ee leked, the reality is we created 4.5 million jobs. the economy is moving again. we can be proud of what we've accomplished internationally and what we've accomplished in this country, particularly when it comes to support for education. we can be proud of many things and i think employment will be one of those. >> go ahead, ryan. >> well, i would just disagree with unemployment when the president took office it was 7.8%. they argued they needed this 800 plus billion dollar stimulus and unemployment has been north of

8% for 42 months. you add to that the 23 million people unemployed or underemployed at this point. you look at the household income which is less than $4,000. i think both sides want the economy to go forward. we want the jobs numbers coming out on friday to be better. there is a fundamental difference on how you approach that and how you do it. we would just argue that with all due respect, despite having the house and senate and presidency and democrats able to do everything they want, jobs and the economy have not been priority one and have not achieved what we need to achieve in the country. >> priority one is the stimulus. we heard that consistently -- >> they got that and did it but it didn't work. >> how do you say that's not a priority? >> because unemployment, unemployment went up. >> every independent assessment says the stimulus shaved 1.5 to 2.5 points off unemployment -- >> you're talking $500,000 per job. one hearing we were at it was very difficult for this

administration -- remember they were going to talk about jobs created and jobs saved then they could never define what jobs saved meant. >> let's stop for a second. which president saved the automobile industry? your candidate wanted the automobile industry to go bankrupt. that's what he said. he wrote an editorial in the paper. that would have cost another million jobs. in fact it would have taken the great recession into the great depression and by the way, when you talk about your desire to create jobs, where have you been on a jobs bill? >> we have passed -- the house -- >> the president's job bill -- >> absolutely i did. yes, i did. >> more teachers in schools right now if you would paszed it? >> yes. >> we have passed out of the house 32 jobs bills sitting in the united states senate. the reality is we have passed a budget for two years in a row. the president in his plan, which is exemplified in a budget never had a single democrat support it. think about how stunning it is, the president's budget this year had 99-0 defeated and the house

had 414-0. the president may say he has a plan but nobody supports it. >> now difficult is it to prove that things really really would be worse if we didn't do these -- take these steps? >> proving a negative. >> to convince people something they can't necessarily imagine? >> i have to go back to this. 4.5 million jobs. you folks -- you want -- >> i think i found the theme of the dnc tonight. >> you want to refuse or deny -- >> i'm not denying anything i'm saying 300,000 more and you'll break even. >> break even to what. >> to what the president came into office. >> the prior administration was losing 700,000 jobs a month. that's reality. now we've had job growth going on 30 months in a row. that's reality. and people are getting back to work. if you're not back to work, or if you're underemployed you're absolutely hurting. we understand that and that's why we want to do a whole bunch of other things to get the

economy going, including the americans job bill which has not gotten a vote in the congress. >> we're going to talk about all of that as i go to commercial break. still ahead, cnn's prime time coverage kicks off this evening at 7:00 p.m. eastern with wolf blitzer and the entire team. former president bill clinton will address delegates with midnight and that's all tonight here on cnn. ahead this morning on "starting point," worked in both the clinton and obama administration, rahm emanuel with insight into what president clinton will say tonight. apple's new product one week away from what could be the iphone 5. i definitely need one of those. details up next as "starting point" continues from charlotte, north carolina. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last.

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the iphone 5, i just got an iphone 4. one week away. apple sent out invitations to a special event on september 12th, expected to be the unveiling of the new iphone. you can see the number five in the shadow of the 12 date. it's so secretive. so subtle, that big massive dark 5 right there. the anticipation of course has helped push apple stock price up to $675 a share. shares are up more than 60% just this year alone. let's talk about facebook. not so hopeful for them on that front. facebook early investors sold off the stock first chance they got but mark zuckerberg says he will hang on to his shares for the next year. he owns 444 million shares plus an option for another 60 million. facebook shares are down nearly 54%. let's go back to apple. the stock hit a new record low

during trading yesterday but since he announced he's going to hang on to his stock, facebook shares rebounded 2% in afterhours trading nch the commander of the u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s is disappointed and concerned about the fact of loose lips. the book is written by an retired navy s.e.a.l. that gives a firsthand account of the killing of osama bin laden. the head of naval special war fare says it could give enemies dangerous insight into how s.e.a.l.s are trained and how they operate. >> president clinton could become the key weapon in the speech tonight. we'll talk to the one man who knows him well and also knows the current president very well. we're talking to which can chicago mayor rahm emanuel. at usaa, we believe honor is not

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welcome back, you're watching "starting point," we're coming to you live from charlotte, north carolina, tonight former president clinton is headlining the democratic national convention. his highly anticipated speech could show he is the democratic party's best weapon in november. last night we heard from a man who worked in the clinton administration and served as president obama's chief of staff. rahm emanuel. >> on that first day, i said, mr. president, which crisis do you want to tackle first? he looked me in the eye, with that look he usually reserved just for his chief of staff, rahm, we were sent here to tackle all of them, not choose

between them. >> mayor rahm emanuel is with us and co-chair of the obama re-election campaign. we appreciate it. a lot of your job i notice from your speech last night was to sort reinsert hope and change. for those who said where's the hope and change. part of your speech was here was the hope and change. >> i saw the president make the tough calls in the situation room. and today our troops in iraq have finally come home so america can do some nation building here at home. that was a change we believed in. that was a change we fought for. that was a change president obama delivered. >> you did that three or four more times in that speech where you talked about the jobs are back and banks are lending again and taxpayers aren't footing the ball, wall street has been bailed out. >> thanks for that beautiful rendition and summary -- i don't know why i used all six minutes

i could have done zblsh. >> see, 35 seconds. >> i could have talked about my childhood for the last five minutes. >> hope and change -- >> thank god for that universal health care coverage with mental health benefits. >> back on track, hope and change. >> we're on track. doing fine here. >> on my track, this is a dictatorship here at this table. the hope and change has been a lot of the theme. how vulnerable do you think the president is? >> let me roll back a little and i'll answer that. my goal last night was to give people i thought i had a unique perk as chief of staff worked for two presidents and give a front row seat in the oval office. when the country faced three years ago the worst economic recession since the great depression, losing 800,000 jobs a month and contracting at 9% the economy was collapsing, an auto industry that had a two-week runway before its

collapse and two wars. we're not out of it. how he went after those issues with doggedness, the auto industry, never gave it a better than 1 in 4 shot. today the auto industry is adding jobs. we just had a report out yesterday about in fact august sales are dramatically up. had we followed mitt romney's strate strategy would have gone bankrupt. and this election is about choices and they have different perspectives on housing and ought trauto industry -- >> the polls don't reflect people feel good about it. how are things going in the country today, look at august, well, 36%, poorly 63%. that poorly number has gone up. >> you may have not looked at the polls i saw in january of

2009. they were -- we would have begged for those numbers for one simple reason. people thoht this country was heading towards a depression. and the industry that -- the car that was invented here entire industry, the three companies were about to collapse. ed we have a long way to go on this journey and he's going to lay down the vision on how we get there as one country together. >> aren't the polls a measure of how people feel about the rebound, right? >> there's one piece of that. yes it is a measure and thers something deeper about that. i'm not saying that -- i don't think the president would argue about this, until the middle class feel comfortable that they can own a home and save for retirement and send kids to college and pay for hegtd health care, the basic pillars of middle class, our work is not done. there are different choices that president obama and governor mitt romney would make -- >> almost sounded like you

forgot his name. >> i was trying to decide put governor first since he's forgotten he's governor. that said, they made different choices on homeownership, in vegas, mitt romney said let it hit rock bottom. president obama said nope. different choices, auto industry, different choices, on going after osama bin laden, different choices. they have consequences in our life and consequences we as a nation and they'll have consequence as to what the future will be like. >> when you look at the polling, we had a conversation with joe klein. >> i like politics. i do politics. i'm going to say this, i love politics, i don't mind looking at polling but that's not all i look at. >> i realize that i like framing questions on what i think the direction a poll was going. joe klein said the electorate is 70% white and a problem maybe the big tent that is diverse. if you look in the convention hall, very diverse -- >> the one in tampa -- >> not so diverse, everybody

would agree on that. white voters who are leaning obama, 39%, white voters leaning romney, 57%. how do you get them back? >> first of all, as somebody who again spent time with polling and also the goal doesn't say how to get the white voters back. i think the president has very clear responsibility, to layout a vision for the future and make clear the choices. there are choices in this election. elections have consequences. you have have in my view after this election an agreement between the parties about the shape and role of government. mitt romney in my view has made a choice and paul ryan. i don't think and i will tell you this, you can get there by slashing investments in education and research and development and health care and research and slashing in infrastructure. the economy cannot grow at the pace it needs to grow making those type of cuts. you have to make major cuts to government but not on key

investments with long-term immediate job impact for this country. >> reince priebus said -- >> who's that? >> reince priebus said i think bill clinton will help us, the gop, because he'll illustrate that barack obama is not bill clinton. >> it was interesting. i was in the clinton white house. republican congress voted against his entire budget in '93, to start the lay the groundwork for a balanced budget and voted against the health care plan that president obama finished. when he was sending troops to kos voluntary and europe to bring peace the first time in american history the congress did not support a war even while the troops were in the air. they were not exactly partners in bringing back 22 million jobs created in the private sector and balanced budget in the efforts of what happened there. people may remember a period of time of bipartisanship. he was in the clinton white house, that's not how it happened. it was the same type of battles

we have against a party that put ideology over progress. >> that's the message bill clinton will bring tonight. >> i think he will talk about the parallel investments and strategies, investing in education and health care and american people that allows you to have a productive economy that everybody has a shot at the middle class dream. >> we appreciate it. we have to take a short break. still ahead on "starting point," jendser politics hits prime time. nancy pelosi reminds the crowd where she stands. listen. >> the democratic women of the house are ready to join president barack obama to move america forward! coming up next, a law student who testified in congress in favor of birth control being covered by health care plans. we'll tell you what she'll say tonight at the dnc. nice to have you. [ owner ] i need to expand

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welcome back to "starting point," we're coming to you live in charlotte, north carolina, preparing for the second night of the democratic national convention. tonight the former president bill clinton will formally put barack obama's name into nomination. and this week democrats are trying to win over women voters with several female leaders addressing the crowd. later tonight we'll hear from activist sandra fluke when she addressed a congressional panel about contraception insurance issues. her speech drew outrage and serious insults most notably from rush limbaugh. >> i want to try to draw the distinction and talk about what kinds of policies for women mr. romney and mr. ryan have stood for and what the president has stood for on issues like fair pray, violence against women. >> do you think there is a war on woman. it's been framed that way and

you've been under a lot of attack. there's a war on you for sure from some people. >> that's probably fair. >> is there a war on women or a disagreement in how government should underwrite contraceptives? >> i don't think it's just a disagreement. the frame is less importa than what policies we're seeing. i do think a lot of women feel like they are under attack. when we look at the facts, the last two years, quantityively have seen records numbers of bills in the house and legislatures across the country trying to limit access to reproductive health care and attacking fair pay the way it was in wisconsin. and you know, the violence against women act being controversial for the first time and that women feel that. i've talked to a lot of them across the country and they do feel like this is the shift and not in their favor. >> in the wake of the republican national convention, they did a poll and asked women their choice for president. leaning obama, 54%, leaning

romney, 42%. that was a little bit of erosion for president obama and little bit of gain for mitt romney. that would sort of contradict the issue, the message that you're trying to get out. >> that's what, a 12-point gap, a really significant gap. i think it's natural that we would see after one party's convention they would move up in the polls, that's pretty typical. but there's still a sizable gap. president obama has always been ahead with women throughout the campaign. and i'm sure he'll be ahead with them on election day. >> you cents an e-mail on august 23rd and said republicans are dangerous for woman. it is not an accident or mistake or is lated incident but reflection of a party whose policies are dangerous for women and went on to say that mitt romney and paul ryan are in lock step with akin. and critics have said not in lock step. governor romney supports to have a provision to have allow women to have abortions for rape and incest and if the health of the mother was at risk.

>> what i find disturbing is he's taken so many different ones on the issue of access to abortion. this is the kind of fundamental issue that is a moral question and i don't expect to see a leader quifring with the political times. while that's what he's saying right now, he's also said he would be delighted to sign a bill that would ban all abortions and he welcomed as a surrogate for him and called and important spokesperson for his pro-life agenda, dr. willky, who put forward these controversial and scientifically untrue theories about women's bodies being able to prevent pregnancy in acase of a rape and that's what mr. akin was referencing. as for mr. ryan, he and mr. akin have co-sponsored several bills -- >> i think they are much more ideologually the same as mitt

romney's position now is. good luck tonight. we'll look forward to hearing what you have to say. >> not looking forward to going after michelle obama last night. >> >> it will be a few hours. >> everyone forget. >> thanks for talking with us. still ahead on "starting point," he voued to go to every single caucus here at the dnc. we're going to talk to joel stein. he worked so hard that man. we'll talk to him in a moment. i think we need to farm the oceans like we farm the land. on land we don't farm our crops in the cities in dense areas. coastal waters are the dense areas where there's a lot of xpeeting uses for that environment. the farm crops on the land in vast open fields which is really the open ocean. not only are we getting a

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president obama is working very hard to recapture the youth vote. it was so key to his victory four years ago, that's going to be a big focus much this week. young voters haven't been quite as enthusiastic this time around. so yesterday obama gave an interview where i think he was trying a little too hard to

connect with kids. >> a lot of people describe you as cool. that cuts both ways. fair description? >> people who know me well and people on the campaign trail, i don't think they describe me that way. >> welcome back to "starting point," we're live in week in charlotte. joel stein is back with us this morning. yesterday we sent joel on an assignment to go and be part and take part and experience every single caucus that makes up the dnc. there are 14. >> it's a big tent, 14 official ones but lots of other ones. i tried to meet with every group in the democratic party. and it wasexhausting. >> how did it go? who did you meet with? >> you checked off some. >> ones weren't even on your list, i got the african-americans because they were meeting with the jews.

>> a two-for. >> that's the only way to do it. >> is it food, party meeting? >> it depends. i started with the asians and pacific islander communities and they had a breakfast with muffins and coffee and no tea. it didn't feel asian. then i went to a latino event and first speech was half in english and half in spanish. >> that's latino. >> they overpronounced a word. >> very latino. >> by the way, my name is soledad. >> you should have been there. >> i go to those all the time. >> what caucus would you join? >> that's an excellent question. >> youth? >> the youth -- i'm too old for youth. >> i felt to be honest, the hardest group to find was the white males. i went searching for those guys and got to the rural caucus, where there were -- it was sparsely attended.

>> labor, faith? >> there was a new group that met for the first time which was the lds for obama, democratic mormon s and that was kind of amazing. >> why? >> the food is great, macaroni and cheese and prime rib on white rolls and prayer and than sang a mormon song. >> how do you get this job? all you do, every single time we've had a conversation, you go to parties and scam your ways into parties and come back and tell us about it. >> i'm sure that's all going on at the conventions, no? is there other stuff going on? >> were the mormons for obama feeling conflicted. >> there was crying and they felt they were coming out as democrats the first time they organized. it was like harry reid spoke. mormons spoke very quietly. >> i've been yelled at by congressman chaffesz, i'm not sure i agree with you.

>> there was just three of them there. >> joel stein, what's your rest of the week? >> i'm happy to go. >> go cover the parties and tell us where we should be drinking. >> find for me the oldest delegate and youngest -- >> that's so cnn. everyone is is doing that, righ? >> so cnn? >> it's so cnn. >> you just lost your job. >> every time you're on my show, you insult me. and by the way, this is cnn. >> off camera, joel was confessing -- >> should we go to commercial now? >> what? what? >> no, no. >> he's got a crush. >> longtime soledad o'brien crush. >> well, like the boy in fourth grade who used to pull my hair and had a crush on me, same problem. don't be mean, if you have a crush on me. [ laughter ] still ahead this morning, lots to talk about. >> that did not go well for me. >> no, no, no.

oldest, youngest. >> i'll pull your hair right now. >> we're back in a moment. stay with us.

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still ahead this morning on "starting point," you're not seeing double. these are rising stars and twins julian and joaquin castro. they are live with us next hour. tonight at the dnc, bill clinton will take the stage. we're bringing in the big guns this morning. we'll talk to robert gibbs. he'll stop by to talk to us. and much more. "starting point" live from charlotte, north carolina. two california democratic delegates have been kicked out of the convention for getting

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td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. welcome back, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, shark attacks. >> if mitt was santa claus, he would fire the reindeer and outsource the elves. >> when it comes to respecting women's rights, mitt romney says no. >> and so this november, with the re-election of president barack obama, this generation of

americans will expand upon the hope, the dream, the truth, and the promise of america. >> i have seen first-hand that being president doesn't change who you are. no. it reveals who you are. >> and tonight, there are more big names on the docket, including president bill clinton. a packed show ahead this morning on "starting point." we'll talk to robert gibbs, former white house spokesperson turned obama campaign adviser. san antonio mayor julian castro and his twin brother joaquin will be joining us. and john leg zam oh is our guest. "starting point" begins right now. morning. welcome, everybody. our team this morning, dana bash is back with us. nice to have you with us.

>> thank you. >> we had a chance to catch up. we never get to talk in person. >> i know. it's terrific. jason chaffetz is with us. bill burton, senior strategist at priorities usa action, a democratic super pac backing president obama. ron brownstein at the very end there, the editorial director of "national journal." nice to have you all with us. our "starting point" this morning is hail to the mom in chief, that would be michelle obama, leading the charge on the first night of the democratic convention. rousing speech. people loved that speech. it was amazing to watch her deliver it as well. very personal speech. also one of the democratic party's rising stars, san antonio mayor julian castro delivered the keynote address. also i thought a terrific speech. the first latino democrat ever to do so. and tonight's closer, the former president bill clinton. he'll place president obama's name in nomination for a second term, and tell the nation that giving him four more years could recreate his, meaning clinton's,

economic success story. if he's able to make that connection, and that can be a very big if. but if president clinton is able to make that connection, he could do a big favor to president obama on the economy. >> absolutely. and if there's anybody who knows how to make a connection, it is bill clinton. but looking at this convention the way it started last night, big picture, it is very clear they are just trying to hit as many of the key democratic constituencies as they can. the latinos, the mothers, the moms, the women, so to speak. across the board, they are trying to get out every single possible voter they can. and had a lot of important speakers. but as you said, one of the most important ones was the president's wife. >> who better to convince voters that the barack obama they were so excited about four years ago is still that same guy? >> when it comes to his character, and his convictions,

and his heart, barack obama is still the same man i fell in love with all those years ago. >> reporter: by now, most americans are familiar with the president's biography. her job was to underscore their shared middle class philosophy. >> he believes that when you have worked hard and done well and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. no, you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed. >> reporter: she called herself the mom in chief, but showed she is also a savvy politician who didn't have to say mitt romney's name to get her digs in. >> because for barack, success isn't about how much money you make. it's about the difference you make in people's lives. >> reporter: the evening's othe headliner, the 37-year-old mayor of san antonio, texas, julian castro. the first latino keynote speaker at the democratic convention. he told the american dream story

of a self-taught mexican grandmother. >> and i can still remember her every morning, as joaquin and i walked out the front door to school, making the sign of the cross behind us, saying. [ speaking spanish ] may god bless you. >> reporter: he threw the eager democratic crowd plenty of red meat. >> when it comes to letting people love who they love and marry who they want to marry, mitt romney says no. when it comes to expanding access to good health care, mitt romney says -- >> says no! >> actually, mitt romney said yes. and now he says no. >> reporter: a series of other speakers also lit up the room, delivering on some very specific tasks. former ohio governor ted strickland seized on romney's so-called vulture capitalism. >> if mitt was santa claus, he

would fire the reindeer and outsource the elves. >> reporter: former obama chief of staff rahm emanuel refreshed collective memories about how bad things were four years ago. >> that first day, i said, mr. president, which crisis do you want to tackle first? he looked me in the eye with that look he usually reserved just for his chief of staff, rahm, we were sent here to tackle all of them. not choose between them. >> reporter: newark, new jersey, mayor cory booker stirred many parts of the party's base. >> that no matter who you are, no matter what color or creed, how you choose to pray, or who you choose to love. >> and one of the speakers, deval patrick, governor of massachusetts, was almost chastising democrats there. >> he was saying grow a

backbone. >> saying democrats shouldn't be -- you know, forgive me, democrats that don't necessarily traditionally stand up for themselves, which i think over this campaign maybe they have been doing more than ever. and that is precisely the message they want to hear. >> that is critical, right? it's going to be a message in who gets out their constituents. so you have to say, don't just sit there. grow a backbone and go out and vote. whether it's the gop message or the dnc message. >> overall, it was a sp night for democrats. i have been to every convention since '84. as good a night as i have ever seen. each speech had one really powerful image. mayor castro, the american dream. not a sprint or even a marathon but a relay between generations. a very powerful idea. michelle obama's core idea of the presidency doesn't change character. it reveals character. also powerful. but, the but here, is the big hole that the president faces coming into this convention is still, what is his agenda to make americans' lives better in

the second term? >> details, details. >> this is more about empathy even than results. even michelle obama was talking about he identifies with the middle class. she couldn't go as far as to say he has delivered for the middle class. we'll talk to robert gibbs about that very topic. he'll stop by to chat with us. first, though, we want to check in with ashleigh banfield for a look at the other stories making news this morning. >> we have some other politics to tell you about. really strange. a political victory speech that turned deadly. in fact, it was interrupted by gunfire in canada. this is quebec's premiere elect pauline ren or. she was rushed off the stage when someone opened fire. one person was critically injured and the gunman was killed as well. he shouted in french, the english are waking up.

apparently a result of the long-standing friction between the french speaking and english speaking cultures in that country. millions of apple users from a government computer, including president obama's ipad, has been hacked. the group posted online what it claims are the i.d.s of a million iphones and ipads. the hackers say in all 12 million apple i.d.s were obtained from fbi agents' laptops. officials have been forced to close 12 miles of beaches in louisiana all because of tar balls and oil washing up onshore in the wake of hurricane isaac. bp is claiming this is far too early to tell if the oil came from the 2010 deep horizon accident, but it's there and state officials are getting a handle on something else too. the extent of the damage from isaac. 10 parishes suffered serious flooding with over 13,000 homes

damaged. but good news here, electricity has now been restored to all but 38,000 customers. of course, good news if you're not one of those 38,000. pay no attention to the man in the striped pajamas. that's kind of what the nfl is hoping as they kick off the season tonight with replacement refs. all this as the new york giants play host to the dallas cowboys. those replacements have been heavily criticized during the preseason mostly because they not so seasoned. and all of this as contract talks between regular officials are dead in the water. some of the players are saying that having the replacements that don't recognize the medical condition of head injuries during the preseason games could put them at medical risk. amazing video moment. watch. this is unbelievable. lake of the ozarks in missouri. this boat hitting a huge wave, bang, bang, passing another boat and the impact so intense they are thrown violently around in this boat. if you were wondering whether

what you're seeing led to some injuries, it did. the driver and six passengers were all injured in this friday accident. five of them had to go to the hospital. they are saying that the injuries were described as minor to moderate. but what video. it's just remarkable. when you see that, you wonder -- >> oh, my goodness. that girl -- that girl in the pink bikini. she had to have broken her nose. i see her face slam into the boat at least three times. >> and the green bikini on the left gets a wave that could have led to what is called dry water drowning. it is really violent. >> that's hard to watch. >> it really speaks to the speed of boating. there are a lot of boaters who don't think that the speed necessarily can cause something like that. and you hit one wake, and no one is wearing seat belts in a boat, and that's what can happen. it's dangerous. >> glad they are all ok. thank you, ashleigh. time to speak with robert

gibbs, former white house press secretary under president obama. >> seems like a perfect segue. >> slamming your head into the side of the boat? really? >> violent boating accident. and here's robert gibbs. >> it seems like the first day of the dnc is going well. >> honestly, i think we had a terrific night last night. throughout the spectrum, a host of speakers, but obviously, mayor castro and the first lady did a remarkably great job. i think in setting the tone, talking about the president. >> julian castro's point was sort of the refrain about romney says no. the first lady, i thought her messaging was, we get people who struggle. and certainly rahm emanuel, who basically said there is still hope and change. that was his messaging. so what does president clinton have to say to continue that messaging? >> well, i think the unique position that president clinton brings to the stage tonight is as a president who came in in

challenging economic times at a point in which the stewardship and leadership of our economy had been neglected. 1992 and 1993, we needed to reinvest in research and innovation and education and really give the middle class a genuine sense of security in this country. and i think that's the same situation that president obama has come into, and i think you'll hear a very analogous situation, and i think president clinton obviously a unique perspective as a former president and somebody who lived through the economic times that he did. i think he's going to be -- i think he's going to be terrific. >> rience priebus was on the show, and he basically said, we welcomed seeing president clinton, because what it's going to do is provide a stark contrast to what a president obama is not and has not done. i will play a little bit of what he told me earlier in the week. >> i think bill clinton will help us because he's going to illustrate to the american people that barack obama is not bill clinton. >> does he have a point? >> no.

i mean, certainly barack obama is not bill clinton. but the theory of the case that bill clinton and barack obama had were everybody needs to pay their fair share, and we need to invest in middle class security. look, here's the bad news for chairman priebus. he is selling a series of tired ideas and tired slogans, right? let's give more tax cuts to the rich. let's let wall street write the rules. we know it didn't work for eight years. we know our economy was bad. we know at the end, our economy was wrecked. but let's try it one more time and see if the outcome is different. i think the american people are start enough to understand that the outcome frankly is not going to be different. >> let me bring in our congressman who is shaking his head so violently it might snap off. >> to suggest that -- >> that's really disappointing. >> wall street write the rules is ridiculous. there's more systemic risk now

with what president obama has done. we have less big players out there. that is not fair to categorize it like that at all. >> can i ask a question? do you want to repeal dodd frank? >> absolutely, i do. there needs to be -- >> and sarbanes-oxley. >> and sarbanes-oxley. >> the two major pieces of legislation that put regulators back in charge of overseeing big banks are those two pieces of legislation. so you may not agree -- you may not like the slogan that i gave to you which is wall street gets to write the rules. but the practical impact of removing both of those pieces of legislation is to do exactly that. >> i totally disagree. creating the consumer financial protection agency, giving it a budget that's bigger than the securities and exchange commission, did not solve the problem. fundamentally when you look at it in analysis there, is more systemic risk today than in the past. that did not solve the problem. and i would argue that bill clinton -- or barack obama is not bill clinton.

and that is one of the fundamental changes. when we got to that mid term election, america, across the country, said we do not like the direction of this country. we elected like a record number of republicans. and you still don't have barack obama reaching out trying to work with people. that is the fundamental difference between what he campaigned on and the reality today. he does not work across the aisle. >> speaking of barack obama and bill clinton, i, soledad, just cannot help but sit here next to robert gibbs thinking about what it must be like to be the guy who ran such a tough campaign against the clintons four years ago. and all of a sudden, relying on him big time. >> but this is sort of alice in wonderland story. we got over that a long, long time ago. >> but you lived it and breathed it. >> oh, sure. and you would not have expected me to work any less hard than i did or bill clinton to work any less hard than he did. let me finish this point. but, you know, bill clinton and hillary clinton spoke in 2008. bill clinton did a big piece of

business for us four years ago at this convention. he's going to play an even bigger role now. and hillary clinton has been as good a secretary of state as we have ever had. >> in 2008, then candidate obama said his goal was to be a transformational president like ronald reagan, not like bill clinton, who he said did not have the same impact on the direction of the country. has he changed retrospectively his view about the impact of the clinton presidency on america? >> i haven't talked to him specifically about the clinton presidency in a long time. again, look, i don't doubt there's a lot of things that were said in the middle of the primaries because, you know, at that point the sticker on my lapel said obama and the sticker on president clinton's lapel said hillary clinton. >> it's not a partisan chat. it was too triageulating, that he wanted to change america more fundamentally than he thought clinton set out to do. it was a way of saying i'm going

to be a bigger president than president clinton or hillary clinton would be. >> i haven't talked to him about that since january of 2008. >> who can remember? >> no. i have a decent memory. but, look, i think that the challenges that barack obama had, the very first day and the challenges quite frankly that had been neglected for eight years, needed to be addressed and needed to be addressed in a way that transformed the country and moved it to a different place. and, look, this race is about whether or not we're going to stay on that path moving forward or go back to what we tried for eight years that never worked. >> it will be interesting to hear that speech tonight because we have all been guessing. >> i didn't work for the clinton administration, but i do remember hearing all of those great stories, and i can imagine the panic of people like me sitting in the back of the limousine as he has a marker

like marking it up as we go. >> when the speech doesn't come up on the teleprompter and he spoke for 20 minutes off the top of his head. >> we have seen all this stuff about, aren't you so worried about what he's going to say? we invited him. we think he'll be a fabulous spokesperson for barack obama. and if the teleprompter doesn't work and he goes for 40 minutes all by himself, it will be a terrific speech. >> looking forward to it. cnn's coverage of the democratic national convention will kick off this evening at 7:00 p.m. at 10:00 p.m., former president bill clinton will address the delegates. at midnight, piers morgan will wrap it all up. no enthusiasm gap here. new rising stars of the democratic party, julian and joaquin castro, will join us. who are these guys? meet the political stars of the future coming up next. you're watching "starting point" live at the grill. hey, guys.

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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. mitt romney quite simply doesn't get it. a few months ago, he visited a university in ohio and gave students there a little entrepreneurial advice. start a business, he said. but how? borrow money, if you have to, from your parents, he told them. gee, why didn't i think of that? >> welcome back to "starting point." we're coming to you live this morning from charlotte, north carolina. we are at the democratic national convention. the man you just heard is san antonio mayor julian castro, a rising star in the democratic party. he gave last night's keynote address.

the first latino to do so. and his speech hit mitt romney as hard as a man of privilege who doesn't understand the struggles of average americans. he was introduced by his identical twin brother, texas state representative and u.s. congressional candidate joaquin castro. julian is next to me. joaquin is further from me. >> it's the wedding ring. >> that's right. you're married. you're still searching for the perfect person. i was surprised you're the first latino to be the keynote at the dnc. that was stunning to me. >> a bit surprising. i was honored to do it. excited to do it. wanted to make sure i delivered a good message. and much more relieved now that it's over. >> you looked for comfortable. was it fun or were you nervous going into it? >> going into it, of course, i was a little bit nervous. but once you get up there, sort of the atmosphere takes over. and, you know, it helped that my daughter gave me an assist toward the end of the speech. >> she is very tv ready. we have a clip of your daughter.

every time the cameras go to her, she'd flip her hair. at 3. >> she's been watching a lot of disney princess clips. >> there she is. flipping her hair. >> yeah. that's right. >> well, what do you think the -- how important is it that a latino address the delegates in sort of a highly publicized and very, you know, big platform in a keynote address? what's the impact of that? >> it's significant, because there's no question that the latino community is absolutely important to the election. and more importantly than that, the destiny of the latino community is interwoven with the destiny of the united states. as you know, it's the fastest-growing community. it's a young community. when we think about the talent and the brain power that we need to keep america competitive in the 21st century global economy, the latino community is a great reservoir for that. so my keynote speech, i think, was one more signifier of how

significant and important the latino community is to the future of the united states. >> joaquin and i have had conversations about this in the past. voterwise, only 9% of the elector giantaat electorate. and high, high, unemployment numbers. >> you have a younger population overall, at least by a few years on average. also a lot of folks who are legal residents. some that aren't citizens. and so that tends to knock down the participation numbers. but what we have seen over the years is an increase in latino participation. >> is it a tough message looking at high unemployment messages, saying stick it out with this president for four more years, you the group that has been decimated by this economy? >> i don't think it is a tough message for president obama. when they look at the progress that has been made, the latino unemployment rate has dropped by about 2% under this president's watch.

education, more than 150,000 latinos can get pell grants because of investments that the president pushed. 9 million latinos will be able to avail themselves of good health care under the affordable care act. for many latinos, the emergency room literally is their primary care physician. so that's a huge deal. on immigration policy, that's been talked about tremendously. but the president is the only one in washington trying to do anything positive with his administrative decision on the dreamers and prioritizing deportations for criminals. and then on tax policy. you have mitt romney, whose tax policy is aimed to help folks who make over $1 million, whereas the -- >> this is kind of your speech in a nutshell from last night. i get where you're going on this. is it the competing latinos? it was marco rubio for the rnc and you're the keynoter at the dnc. >> folks have asked me about that. and i celebrate the folks, the personalities, that they have on that side. i wish all of them well. the problem for the republicans and the reason that latinos are

showing up in polls at 70 to 25 for president obama is not the personalities. it's the substance of the policies on all of those things. health care, immigration, tax policy. the economy. >> if you look at the poll numbers, you got a bump in latinos after the rnc. the president before the rnc was 65% of latinos. down one, now it's 64%. before the rnc for mitt romney, 26%, grew by four points to 30%. >> john mccain got 38%. so he is still way under. >> you're laughing, so you think it's laughable? >> i think some of it is exposure. a lot of people didn't know who mitt romney is. but also because they put their best face forward at that convention. and didn't talk about a lot of the very extreme policies that many in the republican party are taking towards the latino community. >> well, gentlemen, nice to see you both. >> great to be here. >> is it fun to be rising star? everybody introducing you as rising star.

>> i'll let him have it. >> somebody was saying yesterday you could be governor of texas. >> i want to be just mayor of san antonio. >> now you sound like you're running for governor. oh, soledad, i love the job i have. we'll see about that. congratulations on your speech last night. >> thank you very much. still ahead this morning on "starting point," two parties, two contrasting visions. this morning the gop firing back at democrats. coming up, we'll talk with utah congressman jason chaffetz and congressman patrick mchenry who will join us live to push back on the dnc message last night. we're back in just a moment. stay with us.

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welcome back, everybody. much more ahead here on

"starting point" live from the cnn grill in charlotte, north carolina. democrats ridiculed republican mitt romney as a millionaire candidate who doesn't get it. that's aquote. republicans ready to fire back this morning. we'll talk to utah congressman jason chaffetz. he's been joining us all morning. also, congressman patrick mchenry, republican as well. and all about the money. we'll talk to bill burton who now heads a big super pac. and it's not just all politics. well, kind of it is, we'll tell you why actor and comedian john leguzamo is making his rounds at the democratic national convention. chris christie visits jimmy fallon and sings. here's how he sounded. ♪ come take my hand ♪ oh, oh, hope on the road ♪ hope on the road

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that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. welcome back, everybody. live to you this morning from charlotte at the cnn grill. of course we're covering the democratic national convention. tonight, president clinton will give a very highly anticipated speech. he will formally put president obama's name into nomination. last night, several speakers went after mitt romney's record, saying, quote, he doesn't get it. it was part of the dnc theme. and republicans now ready to defend their candidate. two of them with us this morning. jason chaffetz has been joining us all morning, which he often does. which we appreciate. congressman patrick mchenry is here as well. republican representative from

north carolina. let's talk a little bit about the speeches last night. where do you see vulnerabilities from the dnc? obviously, that's what you're looking at. i know this rapid response team from the gop is to exploit anything you see that has gone awry. and where do you see problems for the gop in those speeches last night? >> certainly, you heard no mention of the economy being strengthened under president obama. or a record of achievement in terms of getting people back to work. and i think that's their greatest weakness. when you go back home, and you talk to folks just a few miles away from where we are in my district, they're not talking about the issues that were brought up last night. they are talking about whether or not they have a job, whether or not they can keep their small, up and running and whether or not they can start a small business. one vulnerability obviously for us is that, you know, everyone loves the first lady. she's a fantastic speaker. i think -- but i think the combination of her and ann romney, i think that's a very

worthy choice set for first ladies. but i think the first lady did a very fine job with her speech last night. >> you heard the number, though, 4.5 million jobs. that was repeated and repeated. we spoke to rahm emanuel about it earlier, which as you know it's jobs that were created. of course, there are 300,000 jobs short of where they started when president obama came into office. but they were talking about job creation in that number. >> but last night, for six hours worth of speeches, nobody overtly said you are better off than you were four years ago. and when they came out of the blocks on sunday, three of their top people all bungled that question and became the driving story here. of course they are going to play to their base and they are going to get rousing applause in the bubble of that arena. but the reality is you have 23 americans either unemployed or underemployed. household income is down $4,000 a year. >> but the economy was in a freefall four years ago, right? i remember that because i would go to the gym and sometimes watch cnbc. and i literally would want to walk around and turn off all the

tvs, it was so depressing to watch the financial markets collapse in front of your eyes. >> there is no doubt it was a very -- >> so technically, you're better off. the economy is no longer in a freefall. >> no, no. >> i love the fact you just said this. i want to hear one speaker -- none of them said it last night, that you're better off now than you were four years ago. answer this question. >> can i ask you, given your district, you know, the forces that allowed obama to win north carolina were pretty typical of what allowed him to win a number of previously republican states like colorado and virginia. one was the growing minority population, but also was growing discontent. what is different this time? they are banking heavily on social issues like contracept n contraception, gay marriage, to hold those voters. is obama in position to hold the suburban voters he won in north carolina last night? >> that's why they are driving so hard on these social issues. but if you look at a single working woman, if you look at a

working mother, they are worse off than they were four years ago. they have a harder time getting employment, making ends meet. even purchasing health care, which the president is now touting. it's nice to see him coming around defending a policy that's pretty tough to defend. if you look at the suburbs of charlotte, you have a great example of one of my colleagues, one of our colleagues in the house, larry kissell. his district starts 10 miles from where we sit right here. he refused to come to the convention. he is one of the host congressmen. larry kissell is a vulnerable member of congress because of the suburban areas around charlotte, folks that have simply rejected the president's policies. personally like him but don't like the policies and don't like his record. >> what are those social issues a barrier for mitt romney to convert voters who might be dissatisfied with the economy but tend to move more to the left on some of those questions? >> obviously, ask bill burton. they are driving very hard on these issues. as a way to moor people back to

their party. the economic achievement is not there. not even on health care, getting people back to work, making sure that families can make ends meet. >> but the other thing i would add is that the very premise of the obama candidacy was that it was about hope and change. we weren't red or blue stes. we were the united states. that was inspirational even to guys like me. about you there is nothing you can point to to look at president obama and say, oh, my goodness, he did bridge places that were difficult. and what bill clinton did that a president obama has never done is bill clinton learned his lesson after two years and made some alterations, worked with republicans, and they actually made some progress. >> did he not make an alteration to make a deal with john boehner that ultimately collapsed because boehner could not sell it to his caucus? >> no, no. >> read "the new york times," read "the washington post." >> i read "the new york times." >> of course you do. but you can see this president walked away from any deal in order to fix our budget problems. but the real issue --

>> but some would say obstructionist republicans. i have heard that a lot on my show. when we come back, we'll talk to bill burton and continue this conversation. still ahead this morning, not just politicians but hollywood stars that we have been chatting with, including john leg juizam who will stop by the grill to chat with us as well. that's straight ahead. and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." superpac money changing this election in ways we've never seen it before. an obama super pac raised $10 million in the month of august, their biggest haul to date since they formed back in spring of 2011. i want to tell the people behind me to be quiet. i can't even hear myself think. bill burton was formerly the press secretary for president obama. nice to have you on the panel. >> nice to be here, soledad. >> let's talk money. when you compare dollars, the romney campaign is killing the obama campaign by a lot. >> no doubt the romney campaign is raising a great deal of money. if you look at how republicans raise money, no doubt they are

going to be able to have a huge financial advantage. if you go to wall street, to the oil companies, people who work in those places, they know that a president romney would deregulate those industries and they could make a lot more money at the expense of the middle class. i think they have a lot more avenues to raise money because they know exactly what they'll get from a romney administration. on the democratic side, i think the democrats are starting to wake up and see there's a real threat from karl rove, the koch brothers, and people will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to have a huge impact on this election to drivea very right-wing ideology. >> go ahead. >> i was just going to say, obviously, you all formed to try to compete with the karl roves of the world. and it's been difficult. challenging. >> we formed to answer what they were doing. we knew we would never be able to match them dollar for dollar, but we knew if we spent our money efficiently and wisely, strategically where we needed to, we could make a difference. this summer we spent $20 million just talking about mitt romney's business experience in swing

states around the country. there's no doubt from any polls independent and private that mitt romney's what he thought would be his greatest asset has turned into a liability. >> you worked on this in '08 and you are watching it from the outside this time. the conventions combined between the parties, the press, and the campaigns, the cities, probably cost over $200 million at this point. as best we can tell, mitt romney's bump was about one point. maybe small movements on favorable, unfavorable. if the old goal of the convention was to nominate, the new goal was to introduce the candidate. is the new goal obsolete as well? >> well, you know, unlike a lot of folks i think that the conventions are very important things. because there are so few places where voters can go to get long form information about what the parties stand for, where the candidates are, where they want to take the country, and the conventions offer that. i think that even though you may not get a huge bounce, and president obama remember in 2008 only got a bounce of about 1.5%, largely because sarah palin was

picked. again i still think it's an important thing to do so that voters have a really clear sense of who the candidates are. >> so if the romney campaign says, ok, the messaging on their behalf was a slow response, and now they are up $127 million to your super pac $35 million, does more money mean a sure victory? >> well, more money means they have a lot more cash to spend in these targeted states. but keep in mind that even though republicans will outraise democrats, they need a lot more money because having an impact on what voters think about someone like president obama who has lived in their living rooms for the last six years basically on their tvs costs a lot of money. whereas for mitt romney, he is really a blank slate. so talking about mitt romney, helping to educate people about his record, his background, what it would mean for the american people, is a much less expensive proposition. >> is this election fundamentally about convincing a small slice of voters who are disappointed in president obama, his approval rating is under 50,

that they would like mitt romney even less? is that ultimately the democratic challenge in this election? >> i think it is a challenge because we are in a tough economic time. the president inherited what was, you know, one of the toughest economic situations that any president has inherited since the great depression. and so talking to voters about the progress that we've made, and what progress we can make in the next four years, and how that contrasts with where mitt romney would take the country, is the challenge that democrats have. and that's what we've undertaken and need to accomplish. >> bill burton, nice to have you join us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead this morning, john leguizamo will join us. we'll chat with him next. ♪ ♪

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this isn't good, you guys. there are reports that nine of the hotels being used for politicians at the democratic national convention have bed bugs. yeah. when asked what it's like dealing with thousands of ruthless blood suckers, the bed bugs said, it's ok. we'll deal with it. they may not have clint eastwood on their side, but they do have star powers here at the democratic national convention. actor john leguizamo is in town as part of an a list delegation of stars. what is your role? what are you doing? >> we're here to -- you know, the programs at first get cut are the arts. it's always the first to go. and the arts is actually what keeps us cutting edge against china and india because all t technologists want creative thinkers. and they come from the arts. every dollar spent, you get seven dollars back that's

taxable from the arts. like the ipod was created for, what, for music. the second healthiest industry in this country is entertainment. movies, books, music. >> is it a bipartisan measure? are you here to talk to both sides? >> yeah. we went to the rnc and now we are at the dnc. obviously, whoever is in office is who we want to get their ear. >> did you go and spend time on the floor and watch the speeches? >> i watched the whole convention. it was electrifying. you know, i was moved to tears many times of the personal testimonies. i just feel like they hit every point with concrete personal stories. they made it real. they weren't just, you know, speeches and they weren't just ideas. they were actual experiences of how this country has changed and moved forward. >> i was surprised that the -- maybe you can explain this. i was surprised this is the first time at the dnc that a latino did the keynote. >> yeah. that was great. julian castro -- >> he was talking to us earlier. >> he's going to be our

president. that was how it felt. we're going to have our latin obama. >> the paradox is obviously that democrats win about 2/3 or more of their vote, but they have had trouble elevating people through the position to give them the platform in. some ways it's easier for latino republicans to win because it's easier for them to attract white votes, frankly. so there is a mismatch. castro is clearly a meteor and a rising star, the mayor of san antonio. marco rubio is a senator. suzanna martinez, a governor. and there is a mismatch. republicans have done a better job of elevating their latino talent into statewide office. >> because we have a better message. that's why. we're not ceding any ground to the democrats. you'll find out like suzanna martinez, you're really a republican. >> no, no, no. latin people for republicans is like roachs for raid. it doesn't make sense, man. you're not for us. you're not for my values. we're a working class people

mostly. and the blue collar. we're your cops, firemen, carpenters. we need to protect our unions. medicare. we need to protect the working class person. and the obama care and -- >> you haven't said anything that when i talk you through it that i can't tell you that you will find it's a better, smarter way. >> congressman, i doubt it. >> the republican platform says that any state that provides in state tuition to the children of illegal aliens should be denied any federal education money for anything. which means every anglo kid in texas would not be able to get a pell grant. do you agree with that policy? >> i have to read the whole statement. >> take a look. >> i will. but we have to fix legal immigration. >> republicans always say that hollywood is for them. but they are the ones that elect always an actor, they elected reagan. sonny bono. clint eastwood. democrats, we never elect an actor. we'd never put artists in

office. >> maybe that will change one day, john. >> no. we want people who are professionals. we don't need businessmen running the country. we need visionaries running the country. >> it's nice to have you talk to us. >> pleasure. >> pleasure, man. >> we're back in just a moment. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank, like no-fee atms, all over the world. free checkwriting and mobile deposits. now depositing a check is as easy as taking a picture. free online bill payments. a highly acclaimed credit card with 2% cash back into your fidelity account. open a fidelity cash management account today and discover another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. ♪ [ acou[ barks ]ar: slow ] ♪ [ upbeat ] [ barks ] beneful playful life is made with energy-packed wholesome grains... and real beef and egg. to help you put more play in your day. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers.

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time for "end point." we'll give it to ron brownstein today to wrap it up for us. >> the first night of the democratic national convention was clearly very powerful but focused on empathy and aspiration. the missing piece still out there is the one that was true before we arrived here. what is the plan to deliver on those goals? that's something the president will have to answer himself on thursday night. >> do you think he has to wait until thursday night? or is it something that bill clinton will tee up tonight? >> i think he'll provide direction. that's what we heard from mayor castro and the first lady. direction, goal, empathy. but ultimately he has to provide people more of a plan