i'm candy crowley in tampa where tropical storm isaac has delayed the republican national convention at least for a day. right now we're waiting for the beginning of a poefing with florida governor rick scott. he, of course, is in charge of the state's storm preparations. a state of emergency has already w been declared here in florida. i'm joined by my colleagues, wolf blitzer, jim acosta. thanks for joining me in the noon hour. woe be to the governor who isn't ready for a national disaster that hits his state. so far as i can tell, he has been out there and out front in talking about it. >> that's right. i mean, if you're the governor of a state had a hurricane is onity way, it's probably a good idea to be at command central rather than at the republican convention. and i don't think it's too surprising that rick scott has done this, and i don't think it's too surprising that convention planners have decided to do this. obviously safety has to come first. >> you still hear in tampa, put he's monitoring what's going on. he's basically canceled his convention-related activities to

make sure this state is prepared for what could be a disaster. >> and you know, what we've found -- and here he is, rick scott. so let's hear what he has to say about the storm today. hurricane isaac. this is the governor of florida. >> all right. i guess it's afternoon now. good afternoon. we've got individuals here. we've got the tampa police chief, castor, we've got tampa fire and ems chief forward. we've got assistant commissioner, jim madden. we've got the chief -- deputy chief sheriff of hillsborough county. we've got general tesshow with the national guard, the tampa coordinator, chauncia willis. what wooe been doing all week is making sure that the state, federal and local level that we gather all the information so everybody is working with the exact same information so we can make the best decisions around the state. and i know there's different issues in tampa, but we've got to make sure we do this for the entire state of florida.

and we want to also make sure that we're coordinating all the state, federal and local resources. and that's what the effort has been all -- everybody involved has been doing all week. we've had -- we just finished our 11:15 briefing including federal, state and hole local rnc. we have a briefing with folks around the state. they are focused on make are sure they have moved forward resources that they need, and they have done that. they've been deployed. we have experienced minor outages down in the southern part of the state. as you know, the tropical storm is starting to hit the keys right now. the latest, it's still moving a little bit west as it comes up the coast. but the keys are clearly going to get hit with tropical storm-force winds. is and very heavy winds. the panhandle will be -- still looks like we'll have landfall somewhere in the panhandle. the issue in the panhandle,

especially because of tropical storm debbie, the land is still -- we're still saturated. so we have a big concern this about flooding. in tampa, the biggest issue now is the concern is going to be wind. but around the state, we've got rain. we've got wind. we've got storm surge. and then we've got the risk of tornadoes. i personal hi haly have -- i ca my activities for the rnc for today and tomorrow and tuesday. one thing locally in the tampa area is if you're someone staying chose to the beach, stay close to the beach. don't start venturing into the tampa side because you don't know what's going to happen as far as your ability to get home. we've also asked locals to minimize travel. but we are going to have -- i'm very hopeful that the rnc will have a great convention. now, for everybody in our state, if you're a resident, you

probably already know these things. three days of food, three days of water. have your medicines. fill up your car. be careful if there's standing water, don't go into it. if you see power lines down, call somebody. don't deal with it yourself. be very, very, very cautious. as now with regard to the convention, we made sure that the delegates that are coming, they have information about how they should act around here with regard, because some of them have never been around a hurricane. floridians, we deal with these things. now, as you've seen, the storm has been moving a little bit west. so we're not only worried about what's going to happen to >> narrator: bnow we might need to help other states. we're a state that's dealt with hurricanes. if it ends up going further west, when it's alabama, mississippi, louisiana, florida will be ready to be helpful. so at this point, any of us can take questions. i don't know if anybody wants to

add anything? >> [ inaudible ]. >> all i know is they move forward monday. you'd have to talk to the convention. >> [ inaudible ] safety, the resources that are necessary? >> what we try to do at the state and i think all of us is make sure the convention and anybody having activities around the convention has -- they have all the information. so they can make an informed decision about those events. but while we're, on monday, while we're getting the high winds here in the tampa-st. pete area, the people staying along the beach, we think it's beneficial they stay over this because of the risk of bridges closing and flooding and things like that and they're not going to be as knowledgeable. >> [ inaudible ].

>> what we've done is make sure they have all the information so they can make an informed decision. it's their decision. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i'm going to make -- i'll make my plans for tomorrow later today or first thing in the morning what i'ming if to do. >> [ inaudible ]. >> today. my plan is only today to be in tampa. >> [ inaudible ]. >> well, look. the convention was to show what a great place it is to live, work and may. what they're going to find out this week is we know how to deal with hurricanes. we're prepared. this is a state that know how to deal with things. on top of this, we're the best hospitality state around.

we have 87 million tourists a year. we know how to do big events, and we're going to do a great job. look, everybody likes to come to >> narrator:. florida. i'm sure that they're going to have a great convention. we're going to make sure -- our job and everybody up here has the same job, keep every resident and every visitor in our state safe. and we're going to make sure that happens. we'll do everything we can to make sure they have a great time. >> what research are you making available to the locals [ inaudible ]? >> sure. what we do is we go through as part of our briefings twice a day, we go through all the counties and say what do you need? right now as you know, we have some shelters opening around the state. we don't have a lot of people in our shelters yet. so as we go through, every county tells us what their needs are. we work with the red cross, salvation army because they're running a lot of these shelters.

so we coordinate activities. our utilities have moved individuals into the state. they've moved resources here. and we just make sure there's good coordination. >> south florida and the keys? >> yeah, south florida and the keysprimarily. but there's anticipation of outages. that's why utilities forward deploy individuals to make sure they don't last very long. but there's anticipation of outages. >> any type of damage [ inaudible ] in the keys? >> they're going through it right now. i think the highest winds are going to be around 6:00 p.m. also everybody always has to understand these storms, they change. you know, we watched andrew 20 years ago. in the last hour it changed direction. but right now, you know, there's no damage assessment. they'll be doing that once the winds come down. >> [ inaudible ]. >> well, you know, look.

this is a great state. people want to come to our state. we're going to make sure they have a great convention. i'm very comfortable that it will end up being a great convention. >> [ inaudible ]. >> sure. i spoke directly with governor romney twice yesterday and brought him up to speed. he was, first off, his biggest concern was what's happening to the citizens of our state. he wanted to make sure that the 19 million citizens and everybody that's visiting our state is safe. we talked about that. we talked eed you know, our emergency management efforts. we asked about that and what was happening in the tampa area. so i wept thrount through the s of briefing we're doing with the rnc as far as the anticipated storm surge, the wind, the issues with regard to what the wind -- what impact that would have on our bridges, on the use of buses, things hilike that. >> governor, can you talk about the temporary structures?

>> yes, those are things that we have talked about with the rnc. and some of the canvas has been taken off of the smaller tents, but the structures have been secured with sand barrels. and the larger tents are able to sustain winds higher than 40 miles an hour. so those tents, the larger ones, are going to stay up unless the forecast changes. and then the smaller tents have been -- some of those have been taken down. >> what kind of chal hedlenges that create? >> that doesn't create a challenge for us. the weather overall or the tent issue? >> the tent issue and the high winds. >> no, the high winds -- you know, we are going to do exactly what the governor said, ensure that everyone is safe. now, this is something that everyone from florida deals with this time of year every year. and there are a lot of visitors that aren't used to dealing with this, and so it's our job to communicate with them and

provide them all of the information that's not necessarily the sustained winds, it's the gusts as well and the rain at some points will be driving. so those are things that we are communicating with all of the visitors to the area and allowing them to make informed decisions. but as far as the moofr police officers are concerned, we're going to be out on the street. >> how are you communicating with areas, making sure they know what's going on? >> we have public address systems at our disposal, but right now it's person to person. there are officers throughout the downtown area, and we're making contact with individuals and groups and, you know, the large gathering, those people who have permitted parades and those types of things. >> on the streets? >> no, we're saying that when the weather gets -- right now, the track is moving further and further west. so as it is right now, there

will be high winds and rains, but it's not going to be sf that's going to prohibit anyone from doing what they want to do out on the street. if it changes, which is another issue that we're communicating to everyone, is that the only predictable issue of these storms is the unpredictability. if it changes and becomes an issue of public safety, then we will order people into safety, into shelter. >> [ inaudible ]. >> yes. we'ring we're having -- i believe there's another update this afternoon. >> 6:00 p.m. >> 6:00 p.m. >> we do a statewide briefing at 5:15 where we go to all the counties, federal, state and local. we'll make sure that we'll talk about what issues anyone's having. and then we'll do another briefing at 6:00 p.m. and the intention is to stay here is and do this today. >> [ inaudible ]. >> fema's involved. already because of debby, there

were about 245 individuals with fema in the state. they were ready to bring additional 100 in. and my understanding is they've pra brought some of those in hr. we have rnc. we've got fema. we've got local officials, state officials, and we're at the state level. we're at level one. so all the statewide agencies are activated 24 hours a day. and basically, the whole goal with all this is to keep the state safe. make sure that we have everybody has the best information. the national hurricane service is on. the national weather service. and we're making sure, is anybody seeing something locally different than what we're seeing than our understanding? because you can't expect people to make the same decision if they're using different information. so we coordinate all the information, all the weather information, all that. >> what is the current man with the out-of-town law enforcement? what is the current situation? [ inaudible ]

>> well, when -- i think it was two days ago, we went through to see who was going to come because this was some concern. we're fully staffed for law enforcement in the state. the national guard is ready to add more individuals if we need to. so we're ready to do that. once we know -- once we see where the track's going to be up north, if we need to provide resources to another state, then we'll have the resources to do that. >> they will not get pulled from here? >> no, they will not get pulled from here. >> [ inaudible ]. >> on the cancellation? i think every -- from my standpoint, my decision was made based on getting information and to watch where the storm was going, where i should use my time. the rnc, what we kept doing is providing them information so they could make an informed decision. in my discussions with them, i said what information do you

need? and what -- when do you need to make a decision? and so they made their decision last night. >> that's florida governor rick scott. we're going to continue to monitor this news conference for any news from him. he's giving them a couple of times a day. tropical storm isaac actual hi actually expected to make landfall somewhere south of the florida keys. we're going to go to our jim spellman when we come back. many of my patients still clean their dentures with toothpaste. but they have to use special care in keeping the denture clean. dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. polident is designed to clean dentures daily. its unique micro-clean formula kills 99.9% of odor causing bacteria

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welcome back to "state of the union." i'm candy crowley. we're covering two big stories here in florida. one is the convention of the republicans to nominate mitt romney and paul ryan to be on the republican part of the ticket come this fall. and the other is a little tropical storm named isaac. on the halatter, we want to tak you to where we think isaac will first hit land, down in key west. jim, what can you tell me about what's going on down there? >> reporter: excuse us, candy, while we keep wiping the lens. the rain has really picked up, and the wind has really picked up as well. you can see there's trees blowing around. a lot of businesses are like

this, boarded up and shut. authorities encourage all visitors to evacuate and pull out. but not everybody's listening. take a look at this, candy. sort of avid surfers out here waiting for the ig waves to pick up. they know this is south and this is where the waves will come. they want to be here. this is one of the things that authorities here worry about are the people that want to have hurricane parties, ride out the storm. they want to see what's going on. people are out here trying to get a hook. authorities here want everybody to stay indoors, stay safe. that's the best way to handle this storm, they say. candy? >> jim, when is it supposed to hit there? >> reporter: later this afternoon, but it's really intensified just in the last hour. they think around maybe 6:00 in the evening is when they'll feel the full force of it here. they're even warning people at hotels that the eye could come over key west itself, to not be fooledpy that if it suddenly gets calm. but it's going to build steadily as we're already seeing through the afternoon, candy. >> jim spellman, there's a hood

on that jacket. you should use it. it looks wet down this. thanks very much. we will get back to you. >> reporter: thank you. >> as we await the first hassle of the tropical storm. right now we've got joe johns, he's somewhere outside this convention hall. he came to do the security aspect of this convention, sort of got swept up in the oncoming tropical storm which may soon be a hurricane. joe, they now have sort of double duty, it would seem to had he, here in tampa and throughout the state of florida. but when we're talking about the convention here in tampa, they've got two jobs now, right, sort of watching for whatever isaac may bring here as well as keeping the bad guys out. >> reporter: absolutely. and sort of a continuum, if you think about it, candy. the less storm there is, probably the more they have to worry about protesters and vice versa. and talking to the authorities, of course, the wh rigeather rigw is the big issue. two things they're worried about even though the storm is tracking farther west, probably the first thing is winds, high

winds. a lot of concern about that, and then storm surge. if you get a bunch of high winds, certainly you're going to have a big problem here. they think there could be up to 40 miles or so. the mayor of tampa, i talked to him just a little while ago. he said, look. they closed down on monday is a pretty good idea as far as he's concerned. just because of the possibility of the high winds going across tampa's three major bridges. the other issue is storm surge. that only occurs if that storm were to change directions or if it were to stall off the coast. then they would get more and more water coming in here. and if you look out here right on the riverfront, you can see outside the convention center, it wouldn't take that much for a bunch of water there to end up essentially where i'm standing. so they're expecting, though, that's not going to happen because that storm seems to be moving at a pretty good clip. and they think they have this thing under control, but then, as you said, candy, the question

to protesters, and that is something for these thousands and thousands of police officers and even a few military personnel, national guard, to have to deal with if they become a factor. candy? >> joe johns, thanks very much. appreciate it. so it's basically the tropical storm isaac versus mitt romney's convention. so far isaac is one up on mitt romney. this convention has been shorten ed by one day because of safety concerns. when we come back, we'll look at the political side of the wh with our wolf blitzer and jim acosta, also reince priebus. you'll have to remind your family they can use less. it's made with extra cushions that are soft and more absorbent. plus you can use four times less. charmin ultra soft. ♪

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on the eve of the republican convention, a dead heat this the presidential race, the sputtering economy drags on the president. consider the question who's more in touch with the middle class? 39% of likely voters said romney, 53% says obama. obama, 60%, romney, 31%. who cares more about people?

53% obama. 39% romney. we are back now with. nc chairman reince priebus. clear ly there's a connection problem here, that people are looking at your candidate and saying he doesn't care about people. he doesn't care about the middle class. he doesn't care 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. >> a hot lot of polls show that. this isn't an outlier. >> it shows obama has an advantage on those issues. it doesn't say that people think that mitt romney doesn't care about the middle class and dent dare about women. it just says in those polls, there's an advantage. let me get to your question. we have to tell the mitt romney story here next week. people are just getting to know mitt romney. obama's been president for four years. and i think it's incumbent on us

to do two thing. one, we still need to prosecute the president as far as when he 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's decent, honorable, gave away his father's inheritance, started something from nothing and created a business, five great boys, governed the olympics, and he's been very successful. we need someone to fix this economy, and mitt romney's the one that can do it. that's part of what a convention's all about. >> it is something that he's talked about a little and that others around him have talked about. certainly they haven't shied away from this is a man who's generous, et cetera, et cetera, and it hasn't taken hold. at the end of these four days, after he gives his acceptance speech, what's anybody going to know that's different about mitt romney than they know now ? >> i think who he is as a person, a father and a husband, who he is and why he believes that the american dream is alive

and well. i think we've got a really optimistic message for america. i think that we are coming out of this as the party that believes in the american dream, that we believe that every child and every parent, republican or democrat, wants their child to be successful. we're the party that embraces success. and i've got to tell you, i think that this sort of miserable glass half full america that barack obama is selling out this is not the america that parents want for their kids. and i think we can take that message of the american dream and embracing success, and we can win on that message. >> let me play you something the president -- the governor and his running mate were in michigan on friday, and this is something that mitt romneyed. i want you to take a listen. >> i hov being home in this place where ann and i were raised, where both of us were born. ann was born at henry ford hospital. i was born at harper hospital. no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. they know that this is the place

that we were born and raised. >> this blew up twitter. it blew up the internet. people criticizing mitt romney saying he is putting that out there because that, you know, is something that's like catnip to nose w those who still don't believe that the president has produced a legitimate birth certificate is really a citizen of the u.s. is that helpful? >> you know what? i think it's a nothing. the fact is is that mitt romney, myself, from the moment that i became chairman, and consistent hi governor romney has said that this is a nonstarter, barack obama was born in hawaii. >> why even bring it up? i think that was the problem. when you bring it up, you p up it out there, and you're a high-profile guy. you're about to be the realm m republican nominee. >> first of all, that isn't what he was doing. he's a michigander. he's making the point we're ahead in michigan, doing well in

battleground states. i'm from michigan. i was born here. 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 just redig husband. no one can say anything that's remotely humorous. the president makes jokes about this all the time. he plays these, you know -- he came out at the correspondents' dinner a year ago. >> he did. the joke's on him. that's a little different than someone else, and it's a political year. you know. let me move you on to one other subject, and that's todd aikin who has decided to stay in the race in the senate despite a lot of mainstream republicans saying he really ought to get out. this is the man who spoke about, quote, legitimate rape, basically some nult nutty stuff. >> i call it biological hi stly stupid. >> how difficult does his decision make it for republicans to seize control of the u.s.

senate? >> i think it makes it more difficult. that's very clear. i think he should get out of the race. he's got time to get out of the race. and i think he ought to put the mission of hib liberty of freed ahead of himself. >> he's got time. >> i think he should get out and so do a lot of other. >> you think he could cost the republicans the senate? >> sure, absolutely. >> i think it's pretty startling where he says yeah, he could cost us the senate. i think that's another sort of shove. joe wrote a pretty interesting column i think in "the baltimore sun" is where i saw it that just said all this proves is how weak the party is. that there is a part of the party, in this case the tea party, that doesn't really want to play by old party rules. and if it, you know, sees something else ini its interest. do you think this has, "a," made the party weak, and do you think that reeince thinks that priebu could get out? >> i think there's a chance.

if the money dries out, the rnc says they're not going to give him money. >> won't the anti-abortion groups give him money? >> yeah, but they won't be able to come up with the kind of money that the republican establishment. and i think jules has a point, when the republican presidential nominee, the chairman of the republican party, virtually all of the republican establishment and most of the tea party establishment as well, tea party express, they've all urged aikin to drop out. he's not dropping out. what does it say about the power of that leadership? >> i don't want to disagree with you too much, but remember in the 2010 midterm elections, even though there were damaged goods, they carried on with those campaigns, and both came up short. >> republicans don't want to see that happen again. >> in fact, i think that's ringing in their brain even as they watch this play out. jim, wolf, stick with us. we'll be right back.

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talk to your doctor today about androgel 1.62% so you can use less gel. log on now to androgeloffer.com and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. welcome back to a special edition of "state of the union." we're covering the confluence of events between a tropical storm and republican national convention. we've for the video, mitt romney sunday went to church this morning. and this reminds me that they will be, we're told, as they sort of lay out of story of mitt romney at this convention, that his church or his religious beliefs, at least, and how he carries out charity will be a part of this. >> that's right. >> as they try to -- it's not so

much redefine mitt romney, but -- >> i think they're reintroducing him to the american people. and keep in mind, candy, when reporters would contact romney aides to talk about mitt romney's faith, earlier in this campaign, you know, you would get some pretty nasty e-mails back saying why are you going there? we don't want to talk about this. so this is a shift for this campaign. and what we understand is that on thursday night of the convention, there are people who are going to be coming up and talking about romney's heardship leadership at the mormon church in poston. there are good anecdotal stories how he helped people through crisis, and some of those folks will be getting up and talking about that, speaking of his faith. we understand this morning he and ann went to church in new hampshire, and they both brought in their ipads to church. mitt romney reads the bible on his ipad in services. and on the way out, one of the press poolers overheard one of the staffers saying get the tell had he prompter guy ready. in addition to going to church, he's working on his speech.

>> let me ask you, i think you saw those numbers i showed to reince priebus had basically show when it comes to those kind of personal attributes, cares about women, cares about the middle class, cares about people, the gap between president obama and mitt romney is huge. and that's what they hope this convention is going to at least begin to ameliorate a little bit. >> you would think if you saw those numbers, this would be a landslide. >> it tells you how bad people think the economy is really. >> that's right. people think that they can relate more to president obama than mitt romney, than he is better equipped it deal with middle-class issues or women's issues. but it's neck and neck if you look at the likely voters in our latest cnn/orc poll which does confirm that it still is the economy. these other issues may be important, especial hi ly in a e race, but when all is said and done, it's going to be jobs. >> again, it does seem to be a -- people seem to look at him well in terms of competence.

it's the compassion part that they need to get across here. >> and candy, we both know from covering this campaign and wolf as well that they have been saying for months and months, our issue is the economy. we're going to be talking about the economy. and it's gotten away from that in this last month. and a day they don't do that is a lost day for them. then they got into this aikin controversy and paul ryan and medicare. and then the birth certificate thing on friday. so they haven't been focusing on the economy. on the flip side of that, it's interesting by focusing so much on the economy, perhaps they did not get voters out there to focus enough on who mitt romney is and try to get folks to like him more. i think that was perhaps something that they neglected and they are trying to correct that now here at the wednesday. >> on the mormon issue, i always felt that was a bigger issue at the primaries and caucuses among republicans themselves, evangelical christians to be sure. in a general election, i don't think this will be a big issue. stick with me.

we want to talk about how many people out this have made up their minds. (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

welcome back to "state of the union." we want to put quick numbers up on the board to kind of give you a little hint of the state of this race. asked whether people have decided and have total hi maly p their minds of who they'll vote for, 87% say they've made up their mind. 11% said they could change their mind. in a horse race, 11% is much bigger than just the swing vote that's undecided. if you can change somebody's mind, this is the place to do it. >> start to start doing it, and you know what else will do it? those three presidential debates, one of which we will moderate in october. >> thanks, wolf. >> so the pressure -- you'ring

it to do an excellent job. we have total confidence. but it's those debates. as important as the conventions are, i think the debate will be even more important and potential hi changing people's minds. >> i think so, too, because i do think over the course of an hour and a half, you get an idea of who a person is a little bit. remember how much it mattered when george bush looked at his watch? >> the things like that. >> was it fair? who knows? but in a close race, it made a lot of difference. but i think here they have this sort of unfiltered way of saying listen to us about who we believe mitt romney is. so it's a huge chance with some people still with open minds, enough people to change this race dramatically. >> not to bring this back to isaac, whatever he is right now, this is becoming almost a missed opportunity for hmitt romney an the republicans if this becomes a serious storm. we understand it's going to cross the keys, head into the gulf and after that, who knows? it's already going to blow out

monday night and then starts sucking up all the air time and oxygen tuesday night into wednesday night, that's going to intrude on this party's opportunity to reintroduce mitt romney to the american people. make no mistake, candy. and they want to get mitt romney, ann romney, those five sons and all those grandkids and paul ryan, miss ryan and all those kids up on that stage wednesday night, thursday as much as possible up on those screen because they want people at home to realize that mitt romney's more than just the guy over at bain capital. >> especially to those 11% that either have made up their minds but are still switchable or haven't even made up their minds, it's hard for the three of us to appreciate the fact that for millions of people out this, they haven't been paying much -- we're obsessed with this, but a lot of people, they haven't really started paying all that much attention. >> that's absolutely true. >> and it's kind of amazing to see that number about the 11%. because if you look at the way these two campaigns have been fighting this race over the last couple of months, it has been scorched earth. with almost no regard for the voters in the middle. they've vus been firing up their base. i don't think they realize, there are a lot of folks out in

play out there. >> jim acosta, wolf blitzer, thanks for hanging out with me on a sunday afternoon here in tampa. i appreciate it. up next, little view from the other side. martin oe mall 'malleyo'malley, governor from maryland. don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here. ntgomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need.

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one of many democrats will be following the republican convention is hair mamaryland g martin o'malley. i spoke to him earlier this morning. governor, thank for being here. i think you heard our previous panel talk p the need for them to expand the party, but they believe that in the next 75, 76 days, they can do that. in fact, that's kind of what this convention is about is opening up the party and letting people see what it's about. what's your reaction? >> i think it's going to be very hard, though they will try to reinvent mitt romney and try to paper over some of the more extreme comments he's made about immigration or women's rights. but i think that will be very difficult. candy, what people are going to see very clearly simply in the pictures that come into their h living rooms is a party of exclusion and a party of inclusion. the republicans have kind of

painted themselves into a real demographic corner, if you will. and you hear people like even jeb bush saying that they have to change for the long term because this view of white anglo-saxon america, i'm a true american, no one questions where i was born sort of thing is really offputting to those of us who believe that our diversity is our strength. that we are a nation of nations. >> it is absolutely true that the president has joked, i think, over the past two couple of white house correspondents' dinner, he's joked about the whole birth certificate thing. can't you just take mitt romney at his word? he was joking. he was in his hometown of michigan. what is so wrong with that? have we holost, quote, our sens of humor as one of my previous guests suggested? >> i think it portrays a loss of and a lack of perspective and then appreciation that when you have policies and had you advance position that are

bashing of new americans and new immigrants, when you have policies that want to take us back in terms of women's rights and freedom of women to choose, i think it becomes a very exclusive party, and that birther comment is simple hi more -- is more icing on that cake. i do think, though, that the real issue of this campaign is going to be -- >> i'm sorry, what do you mean by "more icing on what cake?" what did you think the birther comment was about? >> i think the birther comment, had you combine it with 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, when you put it together with his anti-immigrant policies and the things that he has said, i think 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 a 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's appealing to the white vote? >> i think that his -- i think -- well, i think that their party, in fact, is a party that has a problem, as jeb bush has said, with being an e exclusive party, a party that makes comments about women's rights, about immigration, about even basic voting rights. i mean, look at the number of their republican governors who have signed bills that make it harder to vote. had h when you have a party that says coded things that makes totally false ads up about falsely saying the president's trying to

undo welfare reform, i think you're going to see heavy hi and not-so-subtly coded messages from the romney/ryan campaign that it's not in keeping with an american that's moving forward, that's growing, that's becoming more diverse with fuller freedoms for every individual. >> the road to tampa and the massive effort to get ready for the big bash. that's next. ♪ ♪ wow... [ female announcer ] sometimes, all you need is the smooth, creamy taste of werther's original caramel to remind you that you're someone very special.

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and 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 they didn't even end up 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 balloons are this the rafters, the back tl dr backdrop is in place. 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 around here 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 engineers. we thank them for making it happen. and thank you for watching "state of the union." i'm candy crowley in tampa. stay with cnn throughout the week for wall-to-wall coverage of the republican national convention and tropicaor