gulf and regains strength and makes a second track toward landfall from the coast. >> thank you, bonnie. thank you for watching today and you can always continue the conversation on twitter @ran @randikayecnn. your sunday continues right now with candy crowley. suppose they threw a party and a hurricane came? just the fear of that has already postponed this party for a day. i'm candy crowley on the floor of the republican convention in of the republican convention in tampa. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com today a preview of the three-day romneyfest on the floor to answer one question, who is this guy? >> it is time to unite the american people and not divide the american people. >> reporter: today we will talk about the party with party chairman reince

priebus and we will be joined by scott walkerer and al cardenas and kay bailey hutchinson and martin o'malley and ron brownstein and karen tumulty. as tropical storm isaac is headed for the keys, we are joined by mayor craig kates. and tell us what you are expecting? >> strong winds this afternoon and strong tropical storms and we are having the first meeting this morning at the emergency management operations center with a conference call of all of

the local agencies to get updates and make sure that everyone is prepared. >> so there is no evacuation that you are expecting and this is something that key west can weather? >> yes, we have asked the visitors to leave yesterday, and the ones who wanted to, and they have left. a lot of people have left. a lot has stayed, and we asked them to stay in the hotels inside until the storm passes. >> mayor, i have to tell you that you are sounding pretty laid back about this. this must not be the biggest thing that you have ever seen coming. >> oh, no, i'm a fourth generation here at key west, so i have seen quite a few storms come through, but we have seen so many, we are prepared, and the city is prepared and the businesses and the locals. so, this is not a real bad storm, but it is just going to be a bad weather for several hours, and we will be prepared for it. >> well, mayor cates, we will be

watching you and get back in touch with you. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me, candy. isaac is forcing changes at the republican convention and joining me is the national republican committee chairman reince priebus. so now four days to three, and it was not a direct hit you were worried about? >> no, not a direct hit and we don't believe it is tracking even our direction, because it is tracking the opposite direction, but the problem we had, candy, is the driving winds and the sustained winds and the unpredictability was a problem and the reason we ultimately came up with this decision is the safety of the delegates and the guests. we could not be assured of the total safety of the buses traveling over long bridges, over open water with sustained winds, and the secret service decided to take all of the tenting outside down, understandably so, but what that meant is that there were fewer entrances in the building and people standing outside for a long time in a driving rain and wind. and the last piece is that if

you get the arena behind us here full and things end up deteriorating on monday, and you can't get people back, that is a problem. obviously, we just had to -- it is the right thing the do. >> so you are not worried about having to cancel any part of tuesday, and you will be free and clear of that? >> no, 100% full steam ahead on tuesday. >> now, you had a schedule on monday and do you have to drop anything, or are you just putting everything else into the cramming of it into the three days? >> well, we will be meeting with the producers later today, but so far the word is that almost all of it is going to be accommodated into the tuesday/wednesday programming and everything is going to move ahead. the business will start early afternoon tuesday and we get an exact start time later today out there for you, and everything is going to be back to normal on tuesday. >> monday was the roll call vote. >> yes. >> when will that now take

place? tuesday? >> yes, everything that we were going to do on monday as far as the business is concerned will be on tuesday. >> tuesday. but you had some big speakers as well, and jeb bush among them, and where do they go? >> well, most of the speakers are going to be accommodate d during the week, but i don't have any announcems for you now and a new schedule will be coming out today, but i think that you will see that there might be some shortening of the speeches, but most of the guests will be accommodated. >> worried at all that a hurricane will outshout you for the next four days? >> well, it is what it is. we will tell the mitt romney story and prosecute the president on what he promised and deliver and why we think that we need to save the country and put mitt romney in the white house. >> okay. i want to talk more politics with you after the break. and a little bit more about what kind of message you want to come out of here. stick with us, and we will be right back.

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in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger. on the eve of the republican conventional, our brand new cnn/orc poll shows a dead heat in the presidential race. breaking down the numbers and you will see the sputtering economy drag on the president while mitt romney's problem is the perception of mitt romney. consider the question, who is more in touch with the middle class? 39% of likely voter es said romney. 53%, obama. who is more in touch with women, and just as vital a voting

demographic as it gets, obama, 60%, and romney, 31%. who cares more about people, 53%, obama, and 39%, romney. we are back now with rnc chairman reince priebus, and cle clearly a connection problem here that people are looking at the candidate and saying he does not care about people, and he does not care about the middle-class and he does not care about women. he scores high on competence, low on compassion. what about this event changes that? >> well, i wouldn't make that conclusion just based on, you know, a single poll. >> well, a lot of polls show this, and it is not an outliar or anything. >> it shows that obama has an advantage on those issues, but it does not say that people think that mitt romney doesn't care about the middle-class and doesn't care about women. it just says that in those polls there is an advantage, but let me get to the question. we have to tell the mitt romney story here next week. people are just getting to know

mitt romney. obama has been president for four years, and i think that it is incumbent on us to do two things. one, we have to prosecute the president as far as whether he fulfill fulfilled the mission that he laid out in '08, and he didn't, but the second piece is telling the story about a man that is decent, honorable and gave away his father's inheritance and started something from nothing and created a great business and five great boys and saved the olympics and governed in a difficult state as a republican and very successful. we need somebody to fix the economy and mitt romney is the one who can do it, but it is part of what a convention is all about. >> it is something that he's talked about a little and others around him have talked about and certainly, they haven't shyed away from the, this is a man who is generous, et cetera, et cete cetera, and has not take anne hold. at the end of these four days, after he gives his acceptance speech, what is anybody going to know that is different about mitt romney than they know now? >> well, they are going to learn about who he is as a person, who he is as a father and husband,

who he is and why he believes that the american dream is alive and well. i think that we have to really optimistic message for america and we are coming out of this as the party that believes in the american dream, and we believe that every child and every parent, republican or democrat, wants their child to be successful. we are the party who embraces success, and i have to tell you that the miserable glass half full america that barack obama is selling out there is not the america people want for their kids. we can take the message of the american dream and embracing success, and we can win on that message. >> let me play you something that the president, the president, the governor and his running mate were in michigan on friday and this is something that mitt romney said. why don't you take a listen. >> i love being home in this place where ann and i were raised, where both of us were born, and ann was born in henry ford hospital and i was born in

harper hospital. t no one has ever asked to see my birth secertificate, because th know this is the place that we were born and raised. >> this blew up twitter and blew up the internet. people criticizing mitt romney saying that he is putting that out there, because that, you know, is something that's like catnip to those who still don't believe that a president who has produced a legitimate birth certificate is really a citizen of the u.s. is that helpful? >> well, you know what, i think it is a nothing. the fact is that mitt romney, myself, and from the moment that i became chairman and con s consistently governor romney has said that this is a non-starter, barack obama is born in hawaii. >> why bring it up? that is the problem, because when you bring it up you put it out there and you are a high profile guy and about to be the republican nominee, and people think, this is playing to the group. >> is well, first of all that is not what he is doing. he is a michigander and making

the point that we are ahead in michigan and doing well in the battleground points and i'm from michigan and i was born here sh, and you know what, have we really gotten to the point where we can't have any levity at all in politics? i mean, we have gotten to a place in politics that is ridiculous and know one can say anything that is remotely humorous and, you know, the president makes jokes about this all of the time. he plays the, you know, he came out to correspondents dinner a year ago and i mean, come on. >> the joke is on him, and that is a little different than someone else and it is a political year and you know how it is going to be taken. but let me move you on to one other subject and that is todd akin who has decided to stay in the race in the senate despite a lot of the mainstream republicans saying he should get out and this is the man who spoke about, quote, legitimate rate, and women could shut down and not be raped, and some basically nutty stuff. >> yes, it is biologically stupid. >> how difficult does his

decision to stay in the race make it for republicans to seize control of the u.s. senate? >> well, i think that it is more difficult. i think that is very clear. i think that he should get out of the race. he has time to get out of the race and he ought to put the mission of liberty and freedom ahead of himself. and right now -- there. >> he says he is not going to. >> well, he has time and i think that he should get out and so do others. >> you think he could cost the republicans a seat? >> sure. >> reince priebus, thanks for coming by. i think that we will see you in the next few days. >> a little bit. >> stay dry. mitt romney's dad, george, was considered a moderate republican when he was governor of mish garn and hhas the gop s tent since? >> this is not your father's republican party and this is not even mitt romney's father's republican party. ♪

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governor scott walker and al cardenas. and bob dole and former presidential candidate and a telegraph thursday and what he had to say about the party. we have to be open and we can't be a single-ish shoe or single-philosophy party and there is a big split in the party and a undercurrent of rigid conservatism where you dare not toe the line. and i want you to take that comment by bob dole and combine it with senator scott brown of massachusetts who wrote a letter to reince priebus and said, you need to open up the party more with some language in the abortion plank of the party platform that leaves room for people with different views and what is so wrong with that? >> well, i think that we do need to realize that people come are the different states a, and tha

requires maybe a different type of representation. mothers and daughters can disagree on abortion, and we shouldn't put a party around an issue that is so personal and religious-based. i think that we need to say, here are our principles and we welcome you as a republican. we can disag grree on any numbef issues, but if you want to be a republican, we welcome you, and i think that we do. i really think that we do. i think that a lot of the people think that the party platform is something that is rigid. it is not really. people -- there's a normalcy about the party and the candidates. >> and candy, the best way we appeal to people across the spectrum is by talking about the issues they care about. when i talk to the voters in my state which is a swing state where i won by a bigger margin just a few months ago than two years prior, it was not the republicans and the conservatives, but independents

and even discerning democrats who voted for me and what they care about is the economic and fiscal crisis that the states and the country faces and it is why paul ryan was elected many years ago, and almost evenly divided and won by 60%, and voters want to know what you are going to do to take on the economic and the fiscal issues of the country and that is what mitt romney and paul ryan bring to the table. >> and i want to get to you, al, but first, i want the show some figures to the audience and this is under choice for president among hispanic registered voters, and mitt romney and paul ryan, 28%. barack obama and joe biden, 63%. can the republican party survive in a nation that is quickly becoming minority majority if they do not do something to kind of soften what may be a perception, but at least soften the edges of what is seen as a rigid party. >> well, i think that the party is getting to know us bet ter, can dichlt there are two candidates who did well, ronald

r reagan and george bush. they had a common denominator and one was from texas and the other from california. hispanics in the states knew them well and hispanics at large got to know them better. mitt is still at the first stages of getting to be known by the community. i nknow the mitt romney i know, great family guy and great human being and one of the most generous men i have met. once the communities know his qualities, they will warm up to him, and can we get it done in 75 days? i think enough to win the election and then a long-term project to get to do better i.n.s. tus alnstitutionally as >> i rep the governor of virginia and sitting down to talking to him and he said we have to get into the neighborhoods and talk to the people at the ground level and we can't do it in the last three months of the election and yet here we are many years since he was the chairman of the republican party and you are still talking about the same thing. is there something wrong with the way that this party presents that causes these kinds of

numbers? >> well, look at it on the positive side, we did so much better amongst the hispanics than the democrats did in 2010 and we elected three hispanic governors in new mexico and nevada and puerto rico and people appealing not only to the hispanic world but mainstream america in those states as well. and we elected marco rubio and texas selected in the primary ted cruz and i think when it comes to the state wooidz elections we are doing better with hispanics and only a short period of time before people in the party will get to know us. and i think that you can stick to the convictions as a true republican and stick to the electorate if you are a hispanic. >> let me pick up on another demographic, female. when you look at the latest cnn/orc poll, and obama/biden 54% and romney/ryan 42%.

but women vote in bigger numbers and larger portion of the vote than men and what is the republican party with women? >> we don't have a problem with women. i think that -- >> well, you have a big gap. >> well shgs, i think that wome looking at the issues they care about which are jobs and economic prosperity. and i believe when we show the differences between what president obama has done and the overwhelming debt that he has put forward, the obama care which is going to essentially breakdown our health care system, i think that women when we focus on the election, which people haven't done yet, i think that the women are going to say, we need a change and we need a better economy and it is not going to be four more years of what we hahave seen in presiden phenomenon that they do better

than men, but it is very difficult to win elections without the women vote, so there is a longstanding problem here of some sort would you agree? >> well, it is perception and the senator is right. nationally in the media, there is an idea that there are sils s and women only care about these issues and hispanics care about these issues, but what i find talking to the voters there is a cross section and a lot of the hispanic voters who care about the economy and women and particularly moms i meet at the factories and the farms and the small businesses who care about their kids and their kids' economic future. >> maybe they don't like your economic -- >> well sh, sometimes with the polls there is a perception that certain blocs of voters only care about certain issues, but we need to stop silo iing the voters and say, what are the issues that you care about in your home and not next door, but if your home and address those issue issues and talked about ronald reagan before and president reagan three decades ago brought the party and the country together talking about economic and fiscal sustainability and that is what mitt romney has to do and an area of great concern

for most americans when you think of 12 million americans out of work and 42 consecutive months of unemployment at or above 8% and you think of any bloc out there, those are numbers that should concern you. >> al, if you will jump in on this, and what i am trying to get to is that i agree that women are not one-ish shoe voters largely, so if women are interested in the economy, which they r and they are obviously interested in the family life and child care and all of those things, there is something about the republican party that makes them feel as though that's not where they find a comfortable home. they find it inside of the democratic party. why do you think that is? >> well, let me give some credit to the democrats for all of the wrong reasons. we run campaigns integrating american americans. if you see our posters and if you see the brochures and they are destined to reach americans at large. what is good for one american is good for all. they run segregated campaigns, and you go to the obama

headquarters, it is women for obama, hispanics for obama, and blacks for obama, and lesbians and gays for obama, and it is all about segregating communities and dividing them. we believe it is effective, but we don't believe it is the way to go, and frankly, i'd rather, you know, go upstream and swim upstream and make it harder, but do it the right way. i think that dividing americans for the sake of political gain is a horrible way to go. and they are doing it effectively, but who wants that? >> between now and november, what does the governor need to do to attract enough latinos to at least give him a victory and enough of the female vote, give him a victory, and what does he have to emphasize? >> i think that relating to the middle-class just as you said earlier in the polls, this is a family who has raised five boys. now, they relate to what moms are facing all over this

country, and that is a hard job. relating to the people and i think that they are going to show that now that people are focused, and i think that ann and mitt romney are exactly the kind of first family we need. >> has not come across yet, governor. >> no, and this week is going to be a good example of that. and mitt romney has all of the experience you need to be a president, but i think that when he picked paul ryan a week ago, he has not only the skill and the experience but the passion and the courage and the swing voters in my state in michigan and iowa and other swing states across america wants somebody who has the courage to take into tough issues and mitt romney can show it again and again and again and he is going to do it again this week. >> last word from you al cardenas and that is the romney and the ryan ticket got a stiff letter from an anchor at a latino network and said you will not get the latino vote until you change the anti-immigrant policies. would you agree with that? >> well, the only one who made a responsible comment about immigration this this presidential race is mitt

romney. when he said he would work on a b bipartisan basis for immigration reform, and the president said my way or the highway is divisive and nothing has been done, but mitt will get that message across, and something will be done. >> and scott walker and kay bailey hutchinson, not your last con vepgs, but the last as an elected officer. >> yes, and i'm going to have fun and they are doing a great job here in tampa trying to deal with what is thrown at them. >> yes. appreciate it. president obama and the democrats are not laying low during the convention. their countermessage with martin o'malley next. why not take a day to explore your own backyard? with two times the points on travel, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot.

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one of many democrats will be following the republican convention is maryland governor martin o'malley in washington. governor, thank you for being here. i think that you heard the previous panel talk about the need for them to expand the party, but they believe that in the next 75, 76 days they can do that, and , in fact, that is kid of what this convention is about, kind of opening up the

party and letting voters see what republicans are about. your reaction? >> well, i think they it is going to be very lard. though they will try to reinvent mitt romney and paper over some of the more extreme comments he has made about immigration or women's rights, but it will be very difficult. candy, what people are going to see very clearly, simply in the pictures, that come into their living rooms of the two conventions is a party of exclusion and a party of inclusion. the republicans have kind of painted themselves into a kind of a real demographic corner, if you will, and you hear people like jeb bush even saying that they have the change for the long-term, because the view of white anglo-saxon american, and i'm a true american and nobody questions where i was born sort of thing is really off putting to those of us who believe that the diversity is the strength and we are nation of diversity. >> well, governor, it is absolutely true that the president has joked i think over the past two couple of white

house correspondents dinners that i have been to, he has joked about the birth certificate thing, and can't you take this mitt romney at his word, he was joking and in his hometown of michigan and what is so wrong with that? have we lost, quote, our sense of humor as one of the previous guests suggested? >> well, i think that what it shows is a loss of and a lack of perspective and an appreciation when you have policies and advance positions that are bashing of new americans and new immigrants, and when you have policies that want to take us back in terms of women's rights and freedom of women to choose, i think that it becomes a very exclusive party and that birther comment is simply more, more icing on that cake. i do think though that the real issue of this campaign is going to be about -- >> what do you mean more icing on what cake? what did you think that the birther comment was about? >> i think that birther comment when you combine it with mitt

romney's other comments, the comments he made abroad about the president not truly appreciating when he was in england the anglo-saxon perspective in the world, and when you put it together with his anti-immigrant policies and the things that he has said, i think that what it reveals is a sort of perspective on america that would take us back to the days of ozzie and harriet rather than recognizing that we are in fact a strong people, because we are a diverse people. we are people who believe that every individual has and should have the opportunity to succeed, and that opportunity expands in our country when each of us has the ability to make it in america. >> is that code for you think he is appealing to the white vote? >> i think that he -- well, i think they their party in fact is a party that has a problem as jeb bush has said with being an

exclusive party. party that makes comments about women's rights, about immigration, about even basic voting rights. look at the number of the republican governors who have signed bills who make it harder to vote. when you have a party that says coded things that makes s total false adds up about falsely saying that the president is trying to undo welfare reform, i think that you are going to see a lot of pretty heavily and not so subtly coded messages from the romney/ryan campaign not in keeping with an america that is going forward and becoming more diverse with fuller freedom for every individual. >> democratic governor martin o'malley, and we will see you in charlotte a week after this. thank you very much. >> thank you, candy. tropical storm isaac has forced a state of emergency in florida. the state's governor rick scott is next.

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i'm joined now by florida governor rick scott and a republican but at this moment, a floridian governor and i want to ask you when you look at this hurricane approaching florida

from the south, what do are you most worried about in the state? >> well, two landfalls. it is hitting the keys right now and the problem down there is going to be the wind. and then we're going to have the panhandle which is going to be rain. the panhandle is already saturated and the potential as much as 20 inches of rain. so that going to cause a lot of flooding which we have had a month ago with tropical storm debby. so the first thing i'm worried about the citizens and the residents down in the keys and we will start getting information about that. but, we are ready. we are a state that knows how to do hurricanes. we don't like them, but we do them. we do hurricanes well and hospitality well. >> and you have to do both this week. >> yes, this week, we have to show both sides. but what i am doing is to gathering information and making sure that everybody has the resources they need, and keeping everybody informed to make good decisions, and so it is going to -- we are going to get through this and i want to make sure that everybody is safe. >> let me ask you to put your

political hat on now, and in particular the addition of paul ryan to the ticket right now, and as you know, he has a proposal out there about reforming medicare. tell me how this has played in florida with understanding that you think that he's got a great plan, and et cetera, et cetera, and you know that this is the sort of thing that can scare in particular seniors. >> ght. and you know, i think that this race in florida is the same as mine in 2010. a lot of issues are important, but everybody is worried about jobs. everybody is worried about their jobs. >> what about the seniors? are they worried about jobs or medicare? >> well, a lot of them are worried about their kids and they have lost their retirement in the recession, and so they have jobs. the big issue is about jobs and for themselves and their children, and as long as governor romney and congressman ryan talk about how they are going to get the state back to work, they will win florida, but

that is the whole key. >> at this moment in the latest polling, florida showing president obama six points up, which is outside of the margin offer erro er roror, and he is . why is that? >> i don't know much about pos. >> but you know about florida. why is he leading in florida? >> well, i believe it is still early, but the issue is going to be when you go to polls in november, they are going to say, who is going to help me keep my job or get a job? whether it is for you or your children or for the future, that is going to be the entire decision. >> we have also new polling out that we talked a nbt the show that basically shows that folks think that president obama cares more about the middle-class and cares more about people in general and cares more about women. why is that do you think? why has according to people who know him, why has the real mitt romney not been out there, according to the people who know him? >> well, the real mitt romney is

getting out there. anyone who has sat down with him knows he is a caring person. i spoke with him twice yesterday and he wanted to know how the are citizens of florida doing? and it is not about the convention or the issue there, but it is tell me about the storm, and tell me about the citizens of the keys and what is going to happen in the panhandle. that is the type of person he is. as he gets out, people will know that. he is a great person. he cares about people. >> running out of time though, isn't he? we are down to the crunch time now in september. >> well sh, he'll get the messa out. he cares about people, and it is all going to be about jobs. >> governor rick scott, thank you for stopping by. you have a busy week ahead no matter what happens. >> appreciate it. >> nice seeing you. and coming back the re-selling of mitt romney and where the political stage stands with our political panel. who dr. like others who braved the sky before her, it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪

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joining me is karen toumult from the washington post and also ron brownstein. >> and we are here in the cavs.s >> h yes, the calm before the storm. >> let me talk to you about wisconsin, because the polling has been put into the toss-up state by cnn. i want to talk to you, because an obama campaign said that the numbers could be a sugar high are the the ryan announcement and the state has gone democratic for years. >> well, it has for six straight

presidential elections, but many of them close and 2008 was the anomaly where president obama won big. they have to win a bigger percentage of the white upper class voters than other states. i believe it is going to be close, but the fact that the democrats were still ahead in the immediate after aftermath of the ryan announcement, it shows there is an uphill climb for the romney campaign. >> and also, there is an interesting senate race. the republicans did themselves a big favor by nominating tommy thompson who has a lot of crossover appeal in wisconsin and a lot of fondness and fondness for him. >> and while we are on the senate race, let me talk to you, because i talked to reince priebus and i said, does the fact that akin won't get out in missouri make it more difficult for the republicans to take the

senate, and he said, yeah, and we still want him to get out. he has time. >> well, it is a conservative state with a lot of the evangelical christians, but the "st. louis dispatch" did a poll and mccaskill is still up, and there is a spillover up. and there's a spillover effect. one of the things holding up obama nationally to his lead over mitt romney is that he's running well with white collar, white women, the biggest part of the electorate. he won 53% last time, he's polling at 53% or above in everything including your poll last week. the more the focus is on social issues rather than the economy, the easier it is for him to get the socially liberated women. >> is there any -- i was struck by preibis saying he can get out. >> i think the party almost overplayed the hand. they got the guy in the corner where he couldn't get out right away. i do think that there is still time. you know, when -- a few of these polls that show him running

behind by the double digits will be enough. >> if it's done that way, solely in response to polls, i think it's going to be shadowed. it's going to -- there's an argument to be made, the party bosses pulling out the guy at the last minute because the polls look bad. it's not as clean as if they would have gotten out earlier. there will be issues for whoever succeeds eliminate that happens. >> looking at the swing states in general, of which missouri is one, when you look at them in toto, the ones we consider to be spring swats, president obama is winning -- swing states, president obama is winning in six, mitt romney in one, iowa is tied. when you look at this, what does it tell you about the road ahead for mitt romney? we keep talking about how the horse race is tied. but -- the rubber hits the road if you will in the swing states. >> right. look, you now have two sets of swing states. when karen and i started covering politics, races seemed to be decided always in the

monsters of the midway, the big midwestern rust belt behemoths of michigan, iowa, wisconsin, ohio, pennsylvania. now there's a sunbelt track. north carolina, virginia, florida, colorado, nevada, new mexico, very different in the midwestern states. older, white, slow growth or decline in population. the sunbelt states much more diverse, younger populations. very different kind of alignments there. you would think that given the way voters are responding overall that romney would have a better chance in the midwestern states and ryan -- suggests that. the southwest crescent. the reality is that the president is holding on pretty well in ohio, certainly ahead in michigan. ohio is the one. i mean, ohio is kind of the anomaly here. the president's strength in ohio is a little bit better than it should be given the kind of national demographics of this race. and it has seemed like that last line of defense in this race. >> isn't it because, karen, when you look at our poll, a lot of other polls, it's competence versus compassion. people really don't like what

the economy looks like. they do blame barack obama for that. but they haven't warmed up to mitt romney in any way. the numbers between who cares about -- who cares more about the middle class and more about women, more about people in general, can he -- is there time enough for mitt romney at this convention and in the debates and on the road to turn around the kind of huge gaps there are, the compassion gaps? >> i think that it's -- it's going to be a different sort of dynamic. it's going to be nastiness. it's going to be absolutely unrelenting slinging of mud between now and then. >> but it's job one, i think, job one for romney at this convention is to close that gap. not to terar down obama further. he wants people to like him and believe he cares about them. >> thank you. have a good convention. >> thank you. the road to tampa and the massive effort to get ready for the big bash. that's next. ♪

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finally, in the past year and a half, no fewer than six republicans led the race for the republican nomination at one point or another. they were all led by the same north star, all headed right here. >> we are going to win this nomination in tampa. >> i'm going to get the republican nomination and become president of the united states. >> we're going to go on to tampa and win the nomination. >> we're doing some counting. we're counting up the delegates for the convention, and it looks good. >> mitt romney will accept the republican nomination thursday. and despite the primary season ups and downs, the 20 debates, the breathless field, the horse race, there was always some part of us that knew it would end here with him.

a cnn/orc poll taken in june showed 42% of republicans thought romney would be at the top of the ticket. only two other republicans hit double digits and didn't enchiup running. here we are inside the "tampa bay times" forum on the eve of the republican national convention. at the end the presumptive nominee can drop the "presumptive" part. the signs are hung, the backdrop is in place. sneb has been cnn has been planning coverage for months. crews have been working nonstop in tampa since early this week so we can bring you today's show and all the other you will see as part of our in-depth coverage in the coming days. we don't publicly thank the people who do the heavy lifts often enough, but we'd like to do so now. when you watch our programming, you are watching the work of a dedicated, hard-working, sleep-deprived team of cnn producers, technical crews, and engineer. we thank them for making it happen. and thank you for