organizing more. it will be interesting to see how much of the priority placed out over the next year. he mentioned child care workers. whether or not they will be successful at boosting those numbers. >> what are states you will be watching for union power? >> the midwest. you have to keep an eye and wisconsin. ohio. labor had a huge success in pushing back on collective bargaining. that is one area we will be watching. michigan. we are moving away from afscme -- a lot of actors have been extremely active in this campaign. >> he did not really acknowledge that the public -- is being less sympathetic to union priorities. i think there are some signs that suggest the public is willing to go to the polls bank cut tensions of public-sector workers. that has happened recently. we will watch closely to see

that. that is a big threat. >> i think he used the term "on all assault" on labor rights. that is a fair reflection. that is how a labor movement feels. he mentioned wisconsin is the birthplace said that and they were not able to take walker out of office. it is not just republican and democratic governors. this union is a key part of the labor movement. it needs to be fighting every day to keep itself in an upright and moving position. >> thank you for being with us. thank you to you as well.

>> i enjoyed it. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> the former commanding officer on the events surrounding al qaeda's 2000 attack that left 17 dead and 37 injured. >> i was doing routine paperwork when there was a thunderous explosion. of 500 feet.l al500 feet the ship was doing this three- dimensional twisting. ceiling tiles came and popped out. everything lifted up a but and slammed back down. the ship stopped moving. >> tonight at 8:00.

>> this week prime minister david cameron talks about the banking scandal which resulted in several recent resignations including bob diamond, the former ceo of barclays. the also questioned him about holding an e you referendum on the u.k. membership. prime minister's questions tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span. >> senator apartment that he has no plans to meet with mitt romney while in new england. he will serve them in any way he can. he is said to be on the short list of candidates for vice president that mr. romney is considering. in this half hour news conference he criticizes the economic leadership of president obama and contrasts the federal help call lahealth care law.

he served as the a high a chairman for the romney campaign. this was hosted by the new hampshire republican state committee in congress. >> it is great to be here in new hampshire. there is a dead heat between the two candidates. did you say they gave them a suggestion that it is a strong suggestion. i think mitt romney will run very well here. bulks know who he is. -- folks know who he is. he is a governor who inherited a $3 billion deficit and turned it around to a $2 billion rainy day fund, a surplus, working with a democratic legislature.

he was able to cut taxes 19 times. he was able to show leadership as an executive. that is what we desperately need right now. with your leadership he will do very well in new hampshire. i am delighted to be here to help out a little bit tonight. some of you have been asking whether i have been [inaudible] i have not. i have been on for college campuses and the past 40 hours. -- four college campuses in the past 40 hours. i am europe by 17-year-old daughter. -- here with my 17-year-old daughter. it has been fun to spend some time with her and to help fund the political front. the republican party has been

terrific. i'm delighted to help them tonight. the rear had a fund-raiser after this. i will have the opportunity to see some old friends. i was up here in the primary with the candidates including george w. bush have been in fall in six presidential campaigns. now seven. hopefully i will continue in new hampshire. it is such a critical state. it is great to see steve's results as an entrepreneur. i knew he was a great friend said john mccain. he was doing a little bit of everything on the campaign trail. we used to talk about what he was up to back home.

he is engaging in a presidential campaign. if you are an entrepreneur and a risk taker, you need a business environment. part of that will be dictated by washington. right now all the unpredictability in our economy, it is not difficult to get people to take a risk and to do what steve has done and what my family has done an ohio. my father was a small business guy who took a risk. he left his job in sales and started his own business. i asked him whether he would do it again. he said, i do not know. there's so much uncertainty out there. you have a government that does not seem to get it. they're making it more difficult and not easier to get jobs. steve has taken risks and is concerned. as all of us are. on monday i will be helping our

around the victory effort in boston. i will be speaking at a couple of that there, helping to raise money for the campaign and doing whatever i can to help those in the victory effort which is separate for the campaign. in ohio i am the chairman of the campaign. we have volunteers that are plugged in already. we're working very hard. ohio is like new hampshire. it is a classic swing state. we have a few more of a tour bo -- electoral votes. it looks like to us that it is a dead heat. there are a group of voters that are undecided. they are looking carefully. they are looking carefully at what is happening in the economy.

what they're seeing right now unfortunately is a continually weak economy and real concern being expressed across our state and here in new hampshire and across the country. i am so engaged because i am truly concerned about what is happening with the economy and the direction we are headed. the job numbers yesterday are further evidence of an economy that is not performing to the point of putting a lot of middle jobs at risk. it is not giving us to get the growth we need to get us back to the kind of growth we have seen since the 1980's. these numbers are not just bad. they are part of the trend. if you look at the last three months, the last three months abide are the worst we have had in two years. -- three months combined are the worst we have had in two

years. we have the first downturn in manufacturing in three years. we may be looking at a double- dip recession. this is before we look at what is happening at the year end where economists and analysis and the federal reserve analysis say that unless to resolve this deficit cliff coming up that we may see the economy go back into a recession. these are very troubling times. it requires leadership. we have not seen that in president obama. we have seen policies and promises that he has not been able to keep because the policies are not working. president obama put through congress on a total partisan basis a stimulus package, spending almost $1 trillion, unemployment today would be under 6%.

instead we have over eight%. we had it for 41 consecutive weeks, which is the kind of job performance -- months, which is the kind of job performance that has allowed people to look at the alternative. there is a relatively small number of voters that have not made their mind up, they're looking for a better way. the understand with the high employment numbers and manufacturing number is taking a dip, that the policies president obama has put in place simply are not working. the good news is we have a candidate running who did very well in the new hampshire primary. he is now spending a lot of time in ohio and other swing states. he has a very clear idea over where this country ought to go

in terms of the economy. he has the record. he has the experience. he has the policy to turn things around. this is precisely what we need. i talked about his record in massachusetts where he was working with the democratic legislature. that kind of leadership and is lacking in washington right now. he is a risk taker. he greeted over 100,000 jobs in his business career. he took the lead it at a time when they were mired in scandal -- he created over 100,000 jobs in his business career. he took the olympics at a time when they were mired in scandal. he will get the country back on track. when you that it obama's and that promises -- look at obama's unmet promises, they simply

indicate that his policies are not working. then you have a governor romney who has promised from day one that he will move forward on an aggressive economic plan including reforming the tax code. including an aggressive national energy policy with domestic sources of energy, and improving the keystone pipeline, on day one. he will bring new regulations to get the burdens of small business owners around the country. he will begin the process of repealing the dodd/frank legislation, which has created problems in terms of credit in small business is getting the loans they need it, and the president's health-care plan which has been a big topic of conversation. he will begin the process of getting our economy back to where it should become a growing economy where our kids and grandkids generations will be able to see what we see, our

grand kids being able to pass it on to their generation. we have one candidate who have put in place policies that he thought were right and make promises as to what the results would be. they have not worked. we have another candid with the record, experience, and policy to put it around. he's ready to go to work to create the opportunity we have all been looking for, restoring the american dream. with that, questions, comments. >> we've identified by name and organization. -- please identified by name and organization. >> do you plan to meet with romney or his senior staff before you leave? >> on questions on the vetting,

i've said that is really up to the campaign. i will not address them. i am here mostly on college tour with my daughter. i am helping out a little bit with the new hampshire republican party also. >> do you have plans to meet privately with the governor before you leave? >> i will not get into it. no, i have nno plans. >> would you care to comment about the current situation in syria? >> where president obama has not led is really in three areas. one is the debt and deficit. rejecting his own fiscal commission's recommendations showed a lack of leadership. yes thought receptive congress. in terms of the economy, the policies have not read it he has

not reached out to congress. -- he has not reached out to congress. in terms of the economy, the policies have not worked. the rhetoric mix harder to keep the economy back on track. whether it is iran or north korea or syria, america has not shown the leadership we should. the situation is complicated. i had the opportunity to meet with leaders both in the arab world and israel and also within afghanistan. we have a lot of conversations about syria. america ought to take a more aggressive stance. we should be assisting some of the forces that are trying to defend themselves. you have probably seen some of the press reports and coverage of the terrible atrocities being committed. it is a humanitarian tragedy.

the united states can and should play a more aggressive role working with our partners including turkey. turkey is very interested in working to make sure the opposition to assad have the ability to defend themselves. it is appropriate. >> i am wondering if president obama and a vice president by are ramping up their attacks. would it be advantageous to the governor to select a running mate earlier rather than later? >> you know, i am not sure. i think macdonald would have a comment on this. there are plenty of circuits out there for mitt romney as well. some of those are on the so-

called list. others may not be. i do not think he has had any shortage of interest in republicans getting out and talking on his behalf in ohio or here in new hampshire. we all share this deep concern about the direction of the country. i think there are still plenty of their get out there. it seems to me, i have been involved -- surrogates out there. it seems to me, i have been involved, that there are more there. gurrogates out loyalty around it romney is there. our party will come back together strongly. every republican leader i know is for the camp. they want to get out there and

say why. >> when do you think would be the best time? >> i do not know. there have been different strategies sometimes with dan quayle, the day before the convention started, and with sarah palin it couple of weeks before. i am not sure it matters a great deal. what matters is that we have energy and enthusiasm on the republican side. i see that year. this year. i certainly see it in ohio. we are willing to make sure there is a change for themselves and their families. th>> in many previous cycle to have played the role of debate prep. has the romney campaign asked

you to play a simpler role? >> i would refer you to the campaign on that. i want to help every way i can. my understanding is that they are not in the process yet. debates are still a ways away. there are only three of them on like the primary where there were 19. i think they are putting it off for a while. i do have a big job which is representing my state in the united states senate which i love doing. i spent a lot of time doing that. we have a really aggressive legislative agenda. we passed three laws last week. we continue to pass hard on a number of initiatives including energy efficiency. i am going to continue to focus

on that. as chair of the campaign in ohio, we have a big task ahead of us. you saw the numbers today. it looks like the obama campaign has put more money into a higher than any other state in terms of their media. there also put together an extensive operation as -- they also have the together an extensive operation as have their allied groups. we're in the cross hairs. both candidates will spend a lot of time and effort there. we have a little catching up to do. we have a primary and they did not. they have a lot of resources early on and we did not. we are starting to develop more of a grass-roots infrastructure in ohio. if you have seen on the fund- raising totals, the romney campaign is not only catching up, and they are doing better than the obama campaign.

prior to that time the opposite was true. frankly, we have our work cut out for us somehow. i have a big focus there. >> since the ruling on obamacare and whether it is a penalty or a tax, i wonder where you fall on those things. >> it is that up to me. it is up to the supreme court. they said it is a tax. as i said long before they announce the case, whether it is constitutional or not, whether the commerce clause was appropriate as a way to pass legislation, it is still unaffordable to american families because of our health care costs keep going up. it is unaffordable to

businesses. many businesses in ohio and i'm sure this jury in new hampshire are saying -- and i am sure this is the same in new hampshire are saying this is a hard way to go. it is unaffordable to the budget. it will bankrupt the country. despite these claims that it is deficit neutral, the cbo has come up with a report saying it is not. it only would have been if you took $500 billion out of medicare and put it in the new entitlement rather than saving medicare. it would add $500 billion in new taxes not including the penalty taxes. this health care law does not work for our families, job creation, or our budget. that is the central issue.

i will go ahead and answer this. this notion that somehow president obama and governor romney have similar positions on health care is ridiculous. they could not be further apart. there will be a contrast here for voters to look at. you have one candidates strongly defending the health care of all that he said would reduce costs to american families by a couple of thousand bucks a year. the opposite has happened. there are 21 new tax increases. it is something that is not affordable to our country and family businesses. with regard to mitt romney you have someone who said from day one he will dismantle this legislation including a waiver to all 50 states. he believes there is a better way to get at the costs of health care through more transparency in competition and be able to help family is up for

health care. huge differences. i think this will be an issue in the campaign. it relates to directly to a central issue, jobs. it is difficult to see the economy ticking off. >> [inaudible] >> i know governor romney has talked about this. he made the point that we are 50 states which are laboratories of democracy. it is different in some the at the federal versus state level. every state is different. it related to 8% of the massachusetts people that are uninsured. they're very different laws. one is the level. one is federal level. -- state level. one is the federal level. this will be an important

distinction between the candidates. for the boaters to have not made their minds of, they will carefully at the impact of this law if we do not change direction and replace it with something that works better. i hope that will be one of the considerations. >> mark halprin. but the conservatives -- a lot of conservatives have been critical of governor romney's campaign. [inaudible] how you respond? do you have any worries? we talked about the number of campaigns i have been involved with.

there has never been a campaign where there has not been sniping from the outside. and second-guessing. that is particularly true where there is a republican primary. there have been back and forth from democrats. i hear the same thing for the democratic side in terms of the bombing campaign. that is to be expected. i think mitt romney has been very aggressive and laying it out. i do not the there's any question that when they listen to both candidates where they stand in terms of the economy. there is a huge difference of opinion. president obama thought the private sector was doing fine. he said the problem is we're not hiring enough workers at the state and local level. it is a totally different philosophy. he will save the private sector is not doing fine.

the answer is not more government. the answer is to get the private sector moving again by providing the tax relief and regulatory relief. these are domestic sources. we have huge differences here. mayor romney has been very aggressive. this'll be a hard-fought campaign. people have to look carefully at the facts as they are hearing all these debates back and forth in terms of paying capital. iran has a proud record. he was actually in the business -- mitt romney has a proud record. he was action in the business. he can create an environment for job growth rather than a disincentive. that is a fundamental problem in our economy.

he understands we have some structural problems. but the antiquated tax code. like the overregulation. like we're spending more energy [unintelligible] last year we produced 14% less oil on government land at a time when gas prices were a record high purity is there's a different approach here. i think he'll -will be- -- record high. there's a different approach here. >> only the fighting back on willific allegations tha-- he be fighting back on specific allegations? >> he has a record to be proud of. i wonder why the obama campaign want to talk so much about his private sector experience. i think that is a huge advantage. a lot of undecided voters

and knows what is needed in washington to of create an environment. i do not think that is in negative. i think that is a positive to it, and what we have seen with president obama, he has surrounded himself with people who do not have that experience or background, and he does not have it. it has led to overtaxing and the kind of health-care policy that hurts jobs rather than helps jobs. on energy, it is not realized but. and it is very evident from the disappointing job numbers, from

the mfg. number s three or four days ago, from the consumer confidence numbers we have seen, costs and we have had the weakest economic recovery since the great depression. we are heading in the wrong direction. it is time for someone to understand how to turn this around. i know a lot of smart people in the obama campaign, and i am sure they have thought through this. but for them to keep talking about that he has private-sector experience, i think that is what they are looking for. someone knows how to get this economy turned around. he happens to be from new hampshire and would be great, too. and with my colleagues in the senate, one of my good friends, look. i think this election is going to turn on a number of issues.

things tend to happen during campaigns that are unpredictable. i think when john mccain got the nomination, it was about iraq. september 2008 occurred. but there is a fundamental problem with the economy. we are not creating opportunities that america has traditionally been able to pass along generation to generation. it is deep, and it is serious, and if we do not fix it, we are not going to be able to continue to lead the world as a beacon of hope and opportunity for the rest of the world. we have to have a fundamentally strong economy, in order to protect business. the story about syria. what is going on in iran. we have to have a strong economy. i am on the armed services committee. i am very concerned about what we are seeing in the economy because it affects our ability to lead the world, to be the

country that promotes human rights, to be the country that promotes democracy, fight corruption, transparency, growth in other countries, and in order for us to be able to continue to have a stronger middle-class and to be able to provide opportunity for future generations, we've got to change the scores, and mitt romney has the experience. he has got the record, and he has the plan, the policies to do that, and i think in the end, that will be the fundamental issue. other issues will come and go, but over the next few weeks, they will have to ask what is different. we have tried the obama policies, and by his and standards, it has not worked. now it is time to try something that has this potential. we have developed the strongest middle class on the face of the earth. i think these are the

fundamental issues that voters will be looking at over the next few months. >> in 2008, george w. bush, what was the liability. >> i serve as a trade representative at a time when we had a strong economy, at a time where we had deficits that we would die for today. they are about 16, maybe about one seventh of what we had to date. -- they are about 1/6, maybe about 1/7 of what we have today. president bush was able to make some tough decisions, also because we had economic growth, unemployment, 4% to 5%, and we had the possibility of getting

america back on track. i was proud that while we were there, we're able to put this on line and work to get to come up with better spending bills, there were appropriations bills. again, a balanced budget over five years is something that i would love to see today. it is an alternative to what we are doing right now. this started in the 1980's. we have seen pretty sustained growth. if the economy comes back, we are not seeing it this time. this was an equally deep recession. fat, unemployment was higher in 1981 than it has been in this

most recent recession. at this point, we had gained back over 7 million jobs. in this recession, the weakest recovery, we are still down millions of jobs, so instead of gaining, we are down almost 5 million jobs. again, the jobs we have seen our additional evidence of the fact that this is not working. we are not getting back on our feet. the jobless recovery after 2001, at this point, after the 2001 recession, we had gained back thousands of jobs, net new jobs. we are still down almost 6 million jobs. we talked about the consumer confidence, of the things all

going the wrong way. we have got a candidate who understands how the economy works, understands the role. there are certain plants that he will implement on day one to begin to turn things around. i am excited to be working for him and helping him. i am hopeful that here in new hampshire and in ohio, probably a handful of states that will probably make a difference, folks will take a long and hard look at the very distinct contrast between these candidates. look at the facts, not just the advertisements. i think it will work out for the american people. thank you. >> that has been public. i did not get it out there, but one of you guys got it out there.

>> the full house is likely to take up a bill on tuesday. live coverage of the market begins tomorrow on c-span3. >> we had pulled in by about 9:30, and we were more to the harbor. >> the events surrounding the al qaeda october attack in 1980 in 2000 left 37 injured. >> turning back to my desk and doing routine paperwork, when at 11:18 in the morning, there was a thunderous explosion. you could feel the destroyer quickly and violently thrust up and to the right. it is almost like we were hanging for a second in the air. the ship was during this audit of twisting and flexing. the lights went out. everything on my desk lifted up about 1 foot and slammed back down. i literally grab the underside

of my desk and a bracing position until i cld stand up. >> more tonight at 8:00 on c- span's "q&a." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> from today's "washington journal," this is just about 45 minutes. host: thank you for being with us. guest: good morning. steve, thank you for having me. host: every four years we talk about pennsylvania being a battleground states. al gore winning pennsylvania in 2000 by 51%. john kerry winning the state by

51% in the 2004. and barack obama winning with 54% of the vote four years ago. is it a battleground state? is it a swing state? host: that is a great -- guest: that is a great question. our state gets close at times. if you remove the obama at 10- point victory in two dozen a, -- in 2008, they were relatively close. one of the reasons, the same with ohio and a florida, has to do with the large number of electoral votes. among the swing states, florida has the largest. basically, what we're talking about is a large number of electoral votes in a state that

republicans have not 145 elections. they have a chance this year. obama has on average about a eight-point lead on the state. it could be competitive again. a swing state, but likely democratic is the most people would say. this day. -- when this state. -- win this. host: if you look at the demographics, the strongholds are for the democrats. if mitt romney is to make this competitive, where does he need to cut? guest: he is not going to do it in the big cities. there are two ways to think about this. one is you have to get your base vote appeared to have to get the turnout of your loyal supporters. in 2008, democrats were more

enthusiastic. as a result, obama won the state by 10 points. go back to debris zero years ago, we saw the reverse. the republicans easily swept the state winning a senate post, a governor's race, five congressional seats shifted from democrat to republican in 2010. the state house had been democratic and fled to back to republican. you have to energize your base and get those of voters out. that is when the swing counties in this swing state. basically, they come down. that is pretty much true for the other swing states. the suburbs are often the key. in pennsylvania, that would be montgomery county. your viewers might recognize the city as allentown.

in lehigh county. bethlehem in north hampton county. up in the poconos, monroe, and then a small but growing county where a lot of folks have come and bought land in the last decade. those swing counties, in aggregate, you win those swing it counties carry the state. that is what obama did. that is what the senator did when he won in 2006. that is what past governors have done. key swing in counties in this swing states. host: there also elected people milton shaft eight years as a democrat. there has been this trend and now tom corbett a republican, changing hands in pennsylvania.

guest: that is exactly right. the democrats have roughly about 1 million more registered voters swing voters. that was the first time a democrat had been elected to a full u.s. senate turned up in pennsylvania since 1962. the republicans had dominated the u.s. senate. of course, arlen specter is well-known to your audience. from his role in the judiciary. obviously, defeated in a primary a few years ago. pat tumie squeaked out a narrow victory in 2010. but tom corbett, who got the governorship, the governorship won by nine points. in a democratic state, tom corbett won 63 of 67 counties.

pretty remarkable, as i pointed out in the republican wave of 2010 that saw big changes in congress. and governorships, as well as in state legislatures all across the country. host: when you look it the jobless rate, this may be surprising because pennsylvania's unemployment rate is lower than the national average. why is that? guest: i think largely because of the diversification that has particularly east of the river. you get down to the suburbs for you have lots of activity in pharmaceuticals and the service industry. yet expansion of tourism in the northeast.

-- you have expansion of tourism in the northeast. basically, you have a mining and miltown area where so-called reagan democrats reside. a lot of conservative democrats in those areas, there has been a brain drain. people graduate from high school. dakota college. they did not return because there are not any jobs there. a much tougher economy. basically, it has been because of the diversification of the economy of this state. that began in the 1980's led by the governor. dick thornberg. host: our campaign trip in ohio wrapping up in pittsburgh. while in ohio, he talked about the latest jobs numbers. [video clip] >> we learned that businesses created 84,000 jobs last month. that means jobs of credit for

0.4 million jobs. -- 4.4 million jobs in the past months, including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. direction. [applause] yuca goes to mr. romney's -- you can go to mr. romney's website or look at the plant thethat is basically the plan. that is their vision. the basic idea is if everybody is just on their own, doing what they do, everything will turn out just fine. host: let's talk about the number. and also, the jobless number. more importantly, the attitude that people have about the overall economy. clearly, it is that attitude that will drive which way voters cast their ballots. guest: you are exactly right.

for the first time in modern history, pa.'s employment is below the national -- unemployment is below the national average. the economy is still the single- most important issue. there is a debate about whether this would ratchet up the importance of that decision. it only seems that that health care sorta confirms the views people already have that it did not convince very many people to change either sides politically or to change sides on the issue, but the economy does dominate. and it matters probably more, in the southwestern part of the state, in the mining and mill town areas where unemployment is higher, ec much more of a

concern than you do in the eastern part of the state. as i pointed out, they tend to be conservative. democrats, many now voting republican. they tend to be culturally conservative. surprisingly enough, many of them are fiscal conservatives. in the eastern part of the state where the swing voters are, they tend to be fiscally conservative, and that tends to produce an interesting tension about what issues tend to be more important. the economy will drive this election, and the voters in the polls i have done will make a judgment based on what they think the economy is likely to get better, whether they are more optimistic or pessimistic, and what they think about what president obama has done, whether they think it has made his live a better or not. gdp growth and unemployment

figures. voters tend to live and it very personally with halifax them and their families. >> join us from pennsylvania, but author of a number of books on pennsylvania politics, also a former elected officials and lancaster county, currently the director of a center at franklin and marshall college. jackie is on the telephone, pittsburgh. good morning. >> yes. i am just wondering. we are seeing signs about the whole industry, because obama is really on that, and another reason we are having this economy is because of the marcellus shale. they already have a bunch of dumb restrictions. i do not know it. i think if obama gets reelected, and a going to get very bad here. but obamacare hitting, i think

people do not really know what is in that bill. they do not know because they did not write it. host: thank you. terry? >> -- guest: your caller makes an interesting point about the marcellus shale, tracking. -- fracking. but if done properly, it can be a boon to a state. pennsylvania is sitting on enough to supply our country with that energy supply for 50 years, and it will produce thousands and thousands of jobs, and so depending on where you live in the state, it gets more support than in other parts of the state. down in the philadelphia suburbs, for example, there is greater concern and a poll i have done about the

environmental effects of it, but the folks up in the energy producing areas understand the job creation aspect of it, and in our state legislature, just before they took off for the summer recess, the legislature adopted the biggest single tax credit for a company in the history of the state, more than $1.70 billion that will go to the shell petrochemical company to build a plant in western pennsylvania that will take natural gas, turn it into ethane and ethylene, which is then used in other things. you did not saying you're going to get a chemistry lecture this morning korea i had to learn about that myself. but they say that alone could produce an thousand jobs, many of them in western pennsylvania, so a huge energy production state. a huge issue. it is hard to be against the

energy production itself, but some concerns in the environmental community about the effects this will have on the health of the environment in pennsylvania. guest: steve says that pennsylvania is no longer a swing state. when is the last time republicans won the election there? 1988? george herbert walker bush? guest: that is correct. the elections have been fairly close. interestingly enough, if you take a look at the money in 2008 spent by the presidential campaign on television advertising, from the middle of september 2 election day when you really get into the big spending, pa., television stations, the second most money spent in the country, $25

million. florida had more money spent than any state, $30 million. of ohio was third with $17 million in television expenditures by the candidates, by their campaigns. then, if you look at pennsylvania, it was the third most visited state. from labor day to election day, by the presidential candidates. ohio was the first. as you might expect, 62 visits to all iowa mccain and palin and joe biden and the president, said those three states, ohio, florida, and pennsylvania, they saw more than 60% of the visits and 2008 and more than 60,000 of the television advertising. it is interesting that pa. despite the fact that it voted democrat for five straight elections remains a visited state. this year, this year, $4.50

million spent by the romney super pac. $4 million in pennsylvania by the president's campaign and by his super pacs. the republicans have spent more in the state at this point than the democrats. >> keeping an eye on neighboring ohio, another key state, the president kicking off its two- day bus trip, from toledo, ohio. joining us on the telephone, thank you very much for being with us. caller: good morning. host: some say as ohio goes, so goes the nation. is that it could >> the history here, in the last election, the state that what the candidate other than the winner was 1960, so, yes.

the history is that ohio, you have to carry ohio to win the election, and the candidates are certainly campaigning like that is the case. obama has been here about seven times in 2012, and mitt romney has been here about nine times. we see a lot more of them. >> -- host: if you look at the northern areas, toledo, ohio, these are strongholds for the democrats. the president campaigned along with another stop on friday. these other areas tend to be more republican, which means the center of the state, dayton and columbus, they will be inundated with advertisements as this becomes a swing region in a swing state. can you elaborate on that? >> -- caller: i can say that the northern part of the state is democrat rich. it is also automotive industry

bridge. there are automotive plants and automotive parts plants, and that is a signature. as far as ohio goes, that automotive bailout was a signature achievements, and the president has talked about it every time he has been here. so has president biden. and they expect that to be a big selling point. this is where the votes for the democratic candidates are. i hope the county. -- one particular county. i would say there are democratic votes in dayton, ohio, and columbus, ohio, too. host: based on his comments over the weekend, what about john boehner and the romney camp? >> -- caller: he says he is.

he said he was there to open two mitt romney offices in the state. i have heard john boehner say from the beginning of this that his focus was on being speaker of the house rather than campaigning for someone else. i think he is kind of distancing himself a little bit, just as we have seen the governor of ohio distance himself somewhat. there is the presidential campaign, and then there is doing my job, which may be speaker of the house or governor of the state. host: over the next four months, what you will be seeing in your state of ohio, what do you expect? >> i expect a lot of visits from the presidential candidates. they have told us to expect that. the last visit from obama was

very intensive. in addition to the three big speeches that he made, he made about four or five sort of stops that were not announced, chock full of photographic opportunities for him, some not so desired, i would gues but, yes, we are going to see a lot of him. i am wondering what mitt romney is going to do in this northern tier, how he is going to respond to this automotive bailout issue. host: i want to share the comments of mitt romney and his wife. this was an interview conducted on july 4 in new hampshire with cbs news. the question focusing on a running mate. >> i think it is someone who can obviously do the job but who will be able to carry through some of the other responsibilities. i think our country is in such deep trouble right now, and i

think it is going to take someone else with the same personality type that will enjoy spending time with him and also confident and capablei think thd people out there that fill that bill. we have been looking at that. i would love that option as well. there is a lot of people that are considering. host: do you have a favorite? >> i like to think that there are a lot. >> what she said. host: if you read between the lines, somebody who he is comfortable working with. many have speculated senator portman fits the bill. guest: he fits the bill unless they're looking for a woman.

he is the same, he is perceived as having this personality, not a high charismatic guy. very dedicated and hard-working. a lot of people think he is in the top tier of vice- presidential candidates for romney. host: thank you for being with us. we're talking about the swing states including pennsylvania. there is this e-mail from arnold who says if romney outspends obama in pennsylvania he will win. host: not necessarily. you need enough money to get a threshold of ads and said of a campaign.

and florida state senators who are not nearly as democratic as pennsylvania it is. remember that george bush won the presidency without winning pennsylvania. locally you are in a statewide race. bob casey defeated rick santorum by 18 points. he was outspent by senator santorum by $7 million. before it is over the president will be spending more money than the romney campaign in this day. >> republican line. thank you for waiting.

caller: leica was telling my wife, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. it does. california is in a solid blue states. we have red and blue colors. i have seen the numbers shift due to our state economy. it is getting dark blue to light blue. people should be more moderate center. nine% unemployment. you are going to find a lot of these states being players. you touched on health insurance and medicare. the problem is how everything is overinflated from

prescription drugs to hospital stays. people on the bus say rates are so high because they have to offset all of the uninsured. i do not know how true that is. has an incumbent president ever let his vice-president go before running for a second term? >> i love the trivia question. >> fdr. not one but two. vice presidents, we switched t hem. it is not totally uncommon. i wish more states were competitive. california is likely to be won by the president in a field poll that was released recently.

he has a substantial lead. the dynamics of american pol that fivere such states got 60% of the did it in 2008. there will be 10 or 12 states that are swing state. no. carolina and virginia are in the mix. virginia is the newest and the largest of the states that we call a swing state that will get a lot of play, it typically a republican state that now because of changes has been going through the demographics of it. the demographics have changed a good bit. 10 or 12 states is where the campaign will be bought. that is where the campaign will be won by obama or mitt romney. >> mitt romney will pick portman.

autoworker's wanted to let it be known they he led detroit go big bankrupt. >> the vice presidential selection is fascinating. we know he wants to pick a candidate from a big swing state, lot of electoral votes, and the vp can make a difference. barack obama picked joe biden. george bush picked dick cheney from wyoming, three electoral votes. bill clinton picked al gore, in neighboring state whenever want to pick a running mate from an adjacent state. you want to go across the country. relatively small. george herbert walker bush picked dan quayle from indiana,

and other relatively small state, state republican. we are debating whether he pick someone from a pivotal state, marco rubio, portman, but when it all comes down to it there's only one election were the vice president choice has made a difference in a presidential election. do no harm. on day one the person does not want to have a complex set of and investigations going on. tom eagle and mcgovern a big example. when you look at it, it is basically about are you qualified to succeed? you have to pass that threshold. do no harm. get out on the campaign trail. play the little role of an attack dog. do it in a way that is

responsible. >> you said a vice president making a difference in an election. are you referring to 1960? >> absolutely. he delivered taxes. -- texas and three southern states. it is tough to find another election. he might be allowed to go back and find. marginally so. certainly not in modern times. host: democratic line. good morning. caller: my question is about the swing states. when you go to pennsylvania i do not have nothing against ids. my problem is why not two or three years before an election, not just a few months? who are these people who cannot

have it? i came here. normally i had this in the other. -- this or the other. some say it is voter suppression. it happens in every state whose governor is a senate republican. host: thank you. guest: the column references the voter edification laws passed a few months ago that has been controversial. it is modeled after indiana. it is restrictive in terms of the agenda vacation have to supply when you go to vote. there is a big controversy over that law, whether it does involve voter suppression. how many people would it affect? the republicans control the

legislature. he signed the bill into law. he said maybe if that year than 100,000 people. the democrats a closer to 1 million. we have learned that -- he says maybe it affects 100,000 people. the democrats say closer to 1 million. we have learned that they need in order to qualify to vote and turn that to be very controversial. the republican side did not help because the majority side actually said that romney would carry the state because of the identification law. that statement made the stephen colbert show. it became viral. it was something of a national story. it is controversial despite

which side you are on. host: it all up who said that obama did not bail out the industry. he bailed out the unions. the washington post pointed out this question. guest: that is an interesting point. if the go back to the spring of 1980, reagan was behind karcher. clinton was behind bush. when we come out of the in 2008, yousince

were there. i came home from minneapolis. i did a national poll. there were about five poles out. we have a week or so of the convention. what we saw was the race was about even. i had john mccain up by two points i think. another poll had him up one. the poll that had obama, one or two or three points. then we had the collapse of lehman brothers in the third week of september when obama shot up to a lead, seven or nine. depending on the pole. he won by seven points. there could be some event that could provide a shock wave into the electoral system literally between labor day and election

day. there will be bounces out of the convention. they typically do not last. they are made for tv. they are choreographed. there may to put the candidates and campaigns in the best light possible. the caller does make the point that an election that is very close right now, 2.7 points ahead for obama, swing states very close, something could happen that affect the outcome of the election. host: in the next few months we will be in florida for the republican national convention. joining us live on the phone, thank you for being with us. we remember so well in 2000, tim russert said it was florida. we know what happened in that

2000 election. could we see a repeat in terms of the importance and the closeness of the race in your state, four months out before the election? >> the election in florida will be closed. this one is looking very close. the most recent polls are showing obama ahead but lessen the margin of error. the most recent one -- at less than the margin of error. the most recent one shows him with a lead of less than one point. others show him with a two or three point lead. host: marco rubio continues his book tour. there were early reports that he was not being vetted by the romney team. romney was trying to correct that. how serious do you think he is? guest: that is a pretty speculative question. it would surprise me if he is

not being looked at. that particular story you referred to is anonymous. it surprised me a lot. there are reasons why marco rubio would not be the best running mate. one is his level of experience. the other is a significant amount of political baggage here in florida. it would surprise me if he is not being looked at. generally he is not thought of as the top of the list currently. host: i am going to share with you more from this interview with dan crawford. she was asked about the negative attacks we have been seeing in advertising and pennsylvania and florida. here is anne romney. [video clip] >> i feel like mitt has the answers to turn this country a

round. he has to bring back hope for this country. that is what they ran on last time. this is the one that has the hope for america. [end video clip] host: this story the past week is indicating that a negative ads by the obama campaign have been working best far. guest: it is hard to tell. i've not seen in results that would prove that. obama's largest lead in florida occurred in early spring during the republican presidential primary. both sides are inundating florida with at right now. both the romney campaign in several independent groups that back romney are huge purchasers. one just announced a

$600,000,000.10 last week. that is the latest of several. host: what about in pennsylvania and the negative ads from the campaign and the 527 groups? guest: i agree. i've not seen a lot of activity in the polling. it shows the race tightening a bit. the general impression is that romney has not responded well, purchase nearly to the negative ads in dealing with jobs -- particularly to the negative ads in dealing with jobs that he has shift jobs abroad. the general sense from reporters is that is working around the country. in the battleground state it does not seem to have moved them. it does not look like in ohio where the race is very close or in pennsylvania, despite the fact that i do not think romney

has responded well to them. host: as you follow the process for the republicans, when do you think mitt romney will make his announcement for running mate? will of the right before the convention? -- will it be read before the convention? guest: i do not see him to wait. i see it at almost any time appeared i would suspect prior to the convention. it is the same likely that he is going to make the kind of pitch that john mccain did where he chooses a candidate who is designed to pick up supporters like he did from sarah palin. romney is more likely to pick somebody reliable. there is no reason to wait until the convention to do that. host: william march, thank you

very much for sharing your perspective. richard is on the phone from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to say that i believe that the democrats in this one term has done enough damage. all we can see in the future is more damage. he is not going to quit taxing. he has got things in mind to cost us more. that bill they just passed, if you sell your house you will pay 3.8% to the government. that is a new tax. that is a tax. host: thanks. guest: look. there is going to be a big debate over one aspect of the health care bill that mitt romney did not handled by consensus which now will argue that what happened is that

paying for the mandate is a tax. i think they're going to hear a lot about that. republicans will have come back from 16 trillion dollars in national debt. deficit is $1.40 trillion. we will hear a lot about that. we will see competing philosophies play themselves out with some democrats arguing they want more stimulus and spending. mayor romney arguing to leave it republicans said that. this is the most important election of their lifetime.

this is what they were saying. they argued for the country. now the congress is likely to remain unchanged. we'll have to see what any new president would say. they will get an agenda that will largely still be in republican hands and the house and the 60 votes you need in the senate to do anything. maybe we just have four more years of grangridlock. host: mitt romney spending the weekend in the hamptons are raising money for his own election. the fact that florida is so close shows me how the republicans feel about mitt romney. my republican friends do not like him. he is not conservative enough. there is this from the wall street journal. "he promised that he was the best man to make the case against president obama who it they desperately wanted to

defeat. so far he is letting them down." guest: if the go back to florida in 2008, look. obama went to the state. he only went by three points. -- wins it by three. . points. florida of the debt 537 votes. the entire presidential election in florida. i do not know that is an indicator of where romney stands. there is a complaint that romney has not spelled out where he would take the nation, hoping that the dissatisfaction with leathe economy will be the swing states to vote for change and him. i think he is likely to be more specific. the more specific you get, the more likely you are to find folks to take issue with it.

the other campaign will tend to tear apart your specificity. that often gets you into some difficulty. host: our last caller is charlie from georgia. you have to happen with the pronunciation of your town. it sounds like an indian name. caller: thank you for taking my call. the question i had was i had heard that mr. romney had required 10 years of back tax records from his running mates. if that is so, why would he released two years of his tax records? do you think there will be pressure on him to release more t? i have a question about the presidential debates. i do not know if you have time. thank you. host: what is the question?

caller: going there my mind, since 1960 from kennedy and nixon, i think every one that has won the debate has won the election, whether it be courtear over ford. what do you think the debates will hold? guest: i think there have been a couple of transformative moments in debate. reagan certainly, undoubtedly kennedy in 1950. it is pretty fascinating. i do not remember a time back when the debates that were covered by cable and the networks played such a role in helping or hurting a campaign. look at what happened to gov. harry in the debate. -- governor perry in the debate.

his performance was that. yet to get out of the race. rick santorum did very well. it allowed him to hang in. you have to be careful. the debates this time could play a much larger role than his starkly they have. we've had some debates in the past in which they have. that has worked to his favor. of joee're seeing a lot biden spending time in pennsylvania. they're expected to head back to pennsylvania. does that make a difference a? gues? guest: probably not as much as we would guess. you get a down-home -- it is not a flight over. you're not flying in. you get the impression that it is grassroots oriented. you are close to people.

the press bill covers it. you get the same kind of press coverage. i am not convinced it is the be all and all. you're trying to create a narrative that you are close to people. you understand their problems. you relate to them. it allows you to take a message to a particular place. you go to ohio. you want to talk about automobile recovery. the president did that. he goes to pennsylvania. he want to talk about students and their future. you can get that if you fly into some place. my sense is that it matters in terms of the impression you're trying to leave , that you are more or less like them. it does not work as i think they think they cthe campaign strategists to do. host: your web site isfa

famd.edu. when does your next poll come out? host: september. it to be a fascinating campaign. we appreciate your time. .uest: thank you a [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> paul bishop shows the state of the market including existing home sales and the impact on economic recovery. matthew wald looks at the investment of federal money to improve the u.s. electrical grid. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c- span. >> i do not mean to sound like i want to go crazy and regulate the internet. on the other hand i do not

believe the internet should exist as a place outside the law. >> walt mossberg on the future of personal technology and relationships with train technology makers and the federal government, monday night at 8:00 eastern on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> we start tying our hand appeared the first was petraeus and mcchrystal recommended a minimum force of 30. they got 25% less. they wanted to conduct simultaneous campaigns to collapse the enemy and put pressure on them. but they could not do it. we had to do is sequentially. it drives up casualties. evaporate more political will at home. the second problem we have is petraeus wants to keep the surge forces, the 30,000, much longer

and at a higher level. they are all gone. that is where we are at the time of your question. given those dynamics have already happened. there's pressure on the commanders to stay on a schedule that transitions our combat forces in 2013 totally and then the out of there by 2014. in my judgment what is happening to support that is far from condition based. that is a date we are moving to. by god we are doing it. we to take the pressure off of them so they can come back and say we have to slow this down a little bit. >> with nato forces scheduled to withdraw in 2014, experts testified on the progress of afghan security forces. watch this on line at the c-span video library. video library.