like that take place where there will be significant residual positive impacts for the community along with the donations that they made to the convention center. i would not say it's been out of line with previous spending on other conventions. >> my name is rocky -- >> excuse me sir. >> yes, my name is rocky twiman. ooip the founder of the pray at the pump movement. and we're so happy that the gas prices have come down. and i guess we're going to have to get back out there again because the prices are going up. but i wanted to ask you, what do you think that we can do to alleviate the racial tensions that seem to be getting into this political campaign? what edadvice would you give th democrats and republicans as we near one of the most divisive and racially charged political

presidential campaigns in our history? and i want to say, i love politico. >> thank you, rocky. we love you, too. >> you may be asking me a question way above my pay grade. i would tell you that race in america is a serious problem. i think it is one of the most serious problems that we face in this country. i think president obama's election four years ago was historic. i think it was a positive thing for america. i think it set a tone and set, for many people an ideal for what america could be and what america should be. interjecting race into a presidential campaign is an abomination, to me, as an american. and for most of us, democrat or republican, interjectioning race into a situation like this, there's no place for it. there's no call for it. two divide americans based on

ethnicity or gender or or generalation or race, to me, is un-american. we are better because we were different. we should celebrate the diversity as a strength. any presidential candidate that does that, that demeans people based on any of the categories is, to me, unqualified to be the president of the united states. >> hi. i'm laura mcdonald. i'm one of your constituents. >> still registered in tampa, aren't you? >> yes, i am. how do you plan on addressing the transportation issues for locals? especially with people being bussed in from orlando and st. petersburg? and how will you address the disruption to business outside of the tourism industry that will occur in downtown tampa? >> great questions. transportation is a challenge, especially moving so many delegations from outside. those 400 buss will be coming from the beaches, coming from

north of us. we're going to have to dedicate this lanes on the interstate just to move the delegations back and forth. we will be open for business, but it will not be business as usual. if you look at other conventions, there will be occurrences, and i've been to enough to know some of the businesses suffer, but there's been challenges getting downtown, parking downtown. to the regular customers don't come. we will have a lot of office workers in downtown that will tele commute or choose to take vacations. there will be some impact. if you look at the positive impact of this event on the bay area and on tampa far outweighs the short term challenges that some of our residents will face. and we have been prepping them for that. we've been prepping them for the transportation issues. we've been telling them this will not be a normal week in

tampa, florida. we need them to be understanding. you look at the 7,000 residents directly across from where the convention will be held. the ingress and egress will be challenging. i told them don't come out on your balcony. you may find a laser dot on your forehead. i'm sure the secret service will be monitoring what takes place on harbor island. so there will be challenges. but we're excited about taking them on. >> tell us a secret about how to get around, how to get a cab, how to get a reservation. >> call mike allen. you know, don't call me. tell us something that we don't know. something we should see. something we should do.

>> that's not a secret. this is a great place to go visit. we have three brand new museums. if any of you bring your family downtown, we have a beautiful museum on the water. there's a lot of things that the convention guests will enjoy. between now and the convention you have a birthday. >> i do. you'll be 54. >> yeah, thanks, mike. >> how are you going to celebrate sf. >> i don't know. probably do an rnc prep. >> just fascinated me. the republican convention gets control of the tampa bay forums july 15th. so it's a month and a half. what happens in that time? >> the hour convention center will house the media. 15,000 journalists will be

there. and the tampa bay times forum will house the event. they will take over for the month. so in terms of upgrading the infrastructure, getting id ready for the traveling and the visiting dignitaries, we will spend the next month preparing the environment. secret service will control the environment. the perimeter will be outside of this, so the closer you get, the more security will be enhanced. but it's -- it is a lot of work. it's the biggest lift, and i can probably speak for the mayor, too, the biggest lift the city has undertaken. >> rapid round. president obama's chance of winning florida again are -- >> it will be a tight race. it will be a tight race. i would say 52-48, that he will win. >> that's a landslide. >> in florida it is, yeah. in florida it is. he was down a week ago and i had a chance to spend some time with

him. i think florida and bear in mind hillsborough county, where tampa is, is the ultimate swing county. it's one of the few counties in the country that voted for clinton in '96. and i ran the president's campaign in '96. voted for bush twice. and then came back and voted for president obama in 2008. and as i-4 goes, so goes florida. as florida goes, so goes the nation. so this will be the ground zero of american politics and tampa is the epicenter. >> mr. mayor, last question. you've been in for a little more than a year. almost a year and a half. when you were running, there was a profile in what's now the "tampa bay times" that says buckhorn acknowledges that some see him as too ambitious and too slick. >> come on. you guys wouldn't say that, would you?

so say the convention goes well. you'll be back as congressman? >> none. those of you who don't know my history, it took me a long time to get the job. it's the only job i ever wanted. i got beat bad in 2003. i was lucky to come back. i was lucky to win. pe every day that goes by, there's one day less. i get up every day excited to go to work. so for me having to come up here and -- no. >> i take that as a maybe. mr. mayor, good luck. >> thank you. >> thank you very much for a great conversation. we look forward to seeing you. >> my pleasure. thanks very much. >> thank you up there in live stream land.

thank you to bank of america for making this possible. and now we have a surprise for the mayor. a lot of you know beth lester. then vice president of events who invented the play book breakfast and made every one of them possible. playbook is big on breakfast. a birthday in two days. so we're going to celebrate by having beth lester in for her birthday. sprinkles and cupcakes. cupcakes for breakfast. thank politico. beth, we love you. happy birthday. enjoy a sprinkles cupcake. we'll bring on mayor fox. mr. mayor? >> thank you so much for coming in. we really appreciate it.

thank you, sir. now wuf worked in washington. you are on the house judiciary committee staff. >> i was. >> you've seen washington from two ways. what's it like to come back? >> it's much easier on the conscious to be coming back asking for things that have a real world impact on a local community. now you don't see what happens on the ground. as mayor, i see what happens on the ground. so it feels a lot better. >> now, you're a democratic rising star. charlotte's rising city has survived very well. very strong financial services downtown. what are we going to learn about charlotte in the convention? >> it's a good question. we're going to learn a lot about a city that really has a real heart to it.

i'll give your a couple of examples. the first one is that my grandmother turned 95 about two weeks ago. >> you have great genes. >> i hope so. appreciate that. i'll eat it after the interview. her grandmother had enough sense to make sure that her children went to school. they got a fifth grade education. the next generation went to college. the next generation went to graduate school.

the next generation, five generations later, this family that had someone sold at an auction block five generations ago now keep the largest city in north carolina. i grew up on the west side of charlotte. largely african-american part of the community. single mom. went to a public high school. and under a desegregation order that required bussing. and when many cities across the country were struggling with the effects of bussing w had kids come from boston to charlotte to learn how immigration worked there. because charlotte was known as the city that made immigration work. so there are a lot of stories about the way charlotte reconciled opposites over time. that's one of the stories of america that needs to be told. >> what is this going to be like for the convention. we talked about it being beachy

out there. charlotte will be a little more formal. >> i was thinking about bringing some stand and volleyball nets, maybe. but no, charlotte actually has a little relaxed feel to it. it's not all business suits. it's actually a city that the restaurants improved dramatically with the welcoming of johnson and wales, a great culinary school. and some great performance art and entertainment that happens there. we have a lot of outdoor activities for those who like to do that. we have the national white water sernt chrks is a manmade rapid facility to canoe or do rafts out there. >> we're big on breakfast. we're also big on food.

what should we eat? >> well barbecue is something that you should try. absolutely. but you have to decide and this is a serious issue. you can go with vinegar based, tomato based or mustard based. and for people adventurous, you should try all three. >> there must be a correct answer. barbecue is never a multiple choice question. if you could only have one? >> the one you pick. >> there could be a number of unique things about this convention. one of them is that the venues are divided. one hall for the first few days. and then the president gives the acceptance speech in a larger venue. tell us about that.

>> we're excited about the opportunity to display the city in numerous ways. and also to invite as many people to the city as possible. we were delighted when the decision was made back in january or february to use the large stadium, because what that means for us -- >> bank of america? >> absolutely. bank of america, politico. so we were able to use a large venue to seat 74,000 people to bring in as many people into this convention as we -- absolutely. so our goal is to make it the most open and accessible in history. to involve as many people as we can. one of the advantages is people from around the country, a few lucky people with no connections are going to be selected to come. >> well, there are going to be lots of people who will come in.

whether they are delegates. whether they are folks that had been involved in the campaign in some way in volunteer capacities. we want as many people to be part of this convention as we can. >> now, tell us about the hall world for the first few days. >> the first official activities will start on tuesday. the gavel will go down on tuesday. we shortened the convention from four days to three days to your earlier point about the modernizations of convention. our goal is to compress as much of the activities as possible. the first two days in the basketball arena, which will be full. which is sometimes a challenge for the arena. and we're going to involve the traditional activities from another convention. the speeches. the role call of states and so forth. so it's going to be a lot of fun.

you've been very involved in fund raising, and you've been doing a little bit with one arm tied behind your back. campaigning in the white house. >> the rules haven't changed. the reality is a decision was made very early on not to accept corporate or lobbyist money to support the convention. we were under a contractual requirement to observe that. we've been moving through the process. we have an amazing response from people. we have 40 times more donors to the convention than denver had already. and the tount to involve so many people in the process of bringing this convention together, not only from the standpoint of funding, but from the standpoint of format, and

expanding the opportunity for people to be engaged, it's exciting, it's historic. we're looking forward to it. >> it's exciting. it's also been a real pain. made it much more difficult. do you think this is a feasible way to raise money for conventions in the future? >> i think so. i think it's a different model. and it's a model that every day people can play a role in supporting an activity like this. i believe conventions have a purpose. one of the main purposes is casting the narratives that become part of the conversation as you turn the corner into the fall. and we don't have another vehicle to do that. and so, i think my experience so far has been that people are very interested, very engaged, and very willing to support it. >> unions have been unhappy about the choice of north carolina. how has that affected organizers? >> so we're moving from four days to three.

but what would have been the fourth day is labor day, which is monday. we've had an overwhelming response to our plans on monday. which will be to create an up town, a downtown charlotte sort of street festival. >> so for people who have been following the convention. it was going to be an event out of motor speedway. so we traditionally have a labor day parade in charlotte. and the labor day parade usually draws a couple of thousand of people. this is going to be the biggest labor day parade charlotte ever had. and it's an opportunity to celebrate working people all across the country. and our response from labor has been incredibly positive to that. and we've never had a convention that takes a day and celebrating working people. that's what we're going to be doing. >> there was a fantastic spread

in "fortune" magazine that says charlotte, up to the bank crisis is just fine. and the doodle staff inside the graphics that you would expect in the business magazine population, finance employment. and then it says charlotte. nascar team 27. nascar teams, 27. nascar is say major industry. a lost playbookers don't know about nascar. >> nascar grew out of folks running moonshine around the mountain parts of the south. i like dukes of hazard for those of who you understand the reference. it ended up become the sport. the first nascar-type race was run in charlotte and we are home to about 90% of the race teams and it gets back to the point i said earlier. there is a lot more to charlotte than wearing suits and sitting at white table cloths. >> i think 55 days until game

day. what has to happen between now and then? >> we are locking in on our transportation of security logistics. we are working to train our volunteers and again, sort of like mayor buck horn mentioned, we are staffing up the police department with folks from all over the country. we have a 1600 member police force today. we will double the size of that police force by the time the convention rolls around. there is a lot of activity associated with that, but at this point i feel good about where we are. >> is the history that there is more demonstrations, more alternative opinions as the mayor put it? the republicans or democrat? >> i think it's about the same. i haven't done a careful analysis. >> what are intel are you getting?

>> we sent a team to chicago as did tampa. we are tracking that type of activity. i think if chicago is an indication, there will be a lot of run up to it and a lot of speculation going into both conventions as to how much of a presence or a demonstration activity will actually have. i think at least if chicago is an indication, we may see less than what people expect going in. we will be ready for whatever is there. >> how worried are you about actual damage? >> you are always worried about making sure you do everything you can to make this a safe environment. not only for people who are attending the convention, but the demonstrators themselves. our security protocols are aligned around trying to make sure we strike the right balance between protecting the first

amendment rights and making sure everyone is safe. >> one of the things you are known for is bringing more people downtown. you have done that partly with light rail and trying to make it more transit-friendly. >> charlotte is a student of what happened in a lot of southeastern cities where you are starting to see an inward migration from other places around the country. population growth even during the recession. one of the challenges that happens in an auto dependent area is you start to get this sprawl effect. about 20 years ago, charlotte under took to be progressive in trying to adopt transportation strategies that also had strategies attached to them. light rail is a part of that. we had a nine-mile line of light rail that runs into the south. we hope to get it extended later this year, but we are aligning residential development along

the lines by prezoning the property so that piece of business can be dealt with and developers can do what they do best, put up units. $1.4 billion of investment along the line, that's the 1 that exists today. we will try to do everything we to advance our strategies because we know they work. when you build it, people come. they want to live near it. that's part of the way we try to reverse the effects. >> you are the proud papaof the feast that is coming to town. you used it as an excuse. what have you done in preparation for the convention? >> i lost 15 pounds. i am trying to lose a little bit more to be a living example of the first lady's example. childhood obesity is the legacy we are focused on. we are engaging organizations to help us make a real dent in that issue before the convention so

we can talk about what we have done at the convention. we are working on engaging youth in this convention more than has been done in the past. i made a promise to engage 1,000 youth in this convention in meaningful ways. those would be 1,000 kid who is can say they had an opportunity to be engaged in helping stage this historic event. >> so what can i do? >> we have everything from internships and a kid's convention where we staged a mini convention and they did media like this and speeches. >> did they get cupcakes? >> they didn't get cupcakes. you are a high class man. so we have done that. economic inclusion is another legacy. charlotte for the first time is a majority-minority city. they haven't correlated as

rapidly as the demographic changes. we have implemented a really ahead of the curve effort to involve minority and women-owned businesses and others in this convention. in fact this convention is the first convention of either party to have a stated minority in women participation goal. it's incredible. >> what's the goal? >> a third of the spend would be at a minimum given to those diverse businesses. >> women and minorities together. >> and folks with disabilities and lgbt businesses as well. finally i will talk about my legacies now. finally we are also working hard on this issue of sustainability. charlotte is the first city in the country to take the central business district and aspire to

reducing the carbon footprint of the central business district. we are going to reduce it by 20% over five years. we are doing it not throughout public sector, but the private sector by proving the business model of what those reductions mean in terms of cost. those types of things you have to look forward to. >> looking forward to bringing into the conversation, but the one thing that everyone will remember from the breakfast today is how did you lose 15 pounds? >> oh, man. it's been a challenge because people give me cupcakes. i get up and swim and run and do a variety of things and diet is the biggest thing i have been working at. trying to avoid stuff like that. i will eat that one. >> tell us what you eat more of and less of. >> a lot more vegetables. a lot less meat. i probably eat meat two or three days a week, but try to stay

away from that and carbs are a big source of weight for me. >> stay away from bread. >> bread and flour and sugar and that kind of stuff. kind of like that. >> questions for the mayor? >> thank you for everything you are doing to get the city ready. we heard about the assets he is bringing to tampa. can you give us examples of what you are doing in charlotte to help prepare the city. are you bringing in taxicabs from other cities or other employees from other areas? >> good question. we will use about 250 buss to bring our delegates in and out of the central district for the convention activities. some of those buses will be local and some will be coming from other places. we went and got dispensation

from the general assembly to allow us to use black cars and that sort of thing from other states to come in and be part of helping us with that piece of logisti logistics. we have a lot of assets already in charlotte and we are looking forward to the ability to show those assets off. >> mayor fox, you spoke eloquently about your downtown and the light rail. your predecessor and republican did the same. the mayor buck horn said showing off tampa's urban renaissance may get republicans excited about the cities. nevertheless this whole thing still is viewed as a largely partisan issue. as the transportation bill out come showe