some of the time slots have been rearranged. nikki haley and ann romney wills begun tuesday. mike huckabee will speak on wednesday. jim bush will speak on thursday those. are some of the biggest changes. -- jeb bush will speak on thursday.

tropical storm isaac was blasting the florida keys with rain and wind on sunday and will reach hurricane strength as it moves up the northern gulf coast. it will pass close enough to attempt to cause high winds and heavy rain. the convention will still open today, but only briefly. here is reince priebus, the national republican committee chairman. [video clip] >> it was not a direct hit. we don't think it is tracking our direction. if striking the opposite direction.

the problem we have had is driving rain and sustained winds, being able to predict that is a problem. we made the decision for the safety of our guests and delegates. we cannot be assured of total safety for the buses that are traveling over a long bridges, over open water with sustained winds. the secret service decided to tents outside --ents dow to take down all the tents. " we felt it was the right thing to do. >> you are not worried about having to cancel any part of tuesday? >> we are full steam ahead on tuesday. >> you have a schedule on monday. will you have to drop anything or are you putting everything

else into a book three days? >> we will meet with producers later today. so far, almost all of it will be accommodated in to the t'tuesday and wednesday programming. the business will start. tuesday afternoon we will probably get an exact start time. everything will be back to normal on tuesday. host: that was reince priebus speaking yesterday about the adjusted schedule for the republican convention. let's hear what david has to say on the phone, a republican from tampa. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say thank you for c-span showing up yesterday at the paul fest. c-span seems to be the last

really non-affiliated stores where we can get -- where the press is free, or they don't really take a position. i just want to say thank you for that and thanks for showing up and giving us some information about how c-span works and how we can participate and all that. host: what was the event like yesterday for ron paul? caller: we had several events in tampa yesterday. one of them was that the florida state fair grounds. that was a three-day event. there were vendors, different organizations represented. and there was live music and speakers over those three days. the big event was yesterday at the dome. that was a production put on by

the official campaign. it holds about 11,000 people. that was full. they had to put the overflow guests at the softball stadium next door. it was very well attended. again, i appreciate that the span covered it. i was there watching and i was able to come home and you all had covered the whole thing. you were the only news organization that was there. what is so important, the polarization of the news organizations, whether they are drifting into the right or the left, you really cannot get an unbiased opinion from regular news organizations. michael is just to thank c-span for what they do. host: here's a picture of the "washington times" of ron paul's

event. william b. knepp tune in to the convention -- will you tune in to the republican convention? caller: absolutely. i think the young people that are getting involved, the future of the republican party is going to be more liberty-minded, freedom, conservative party. i don't think we will have -- our wheat of the party is not going to have as much participation because the rules committee is controlled by the old republican apparatus. part of theee our party being too much involved, but i will be plugged in. it's a long-term commitment, not

just a one time deal. host: here is a headline from the new york times -- let's listen to what ron paul said yesterday. c-span was there with cameras rolling. [video clip] >> there's been a lot of talk about whether or not i would get to speak at the convention. of course, i had written that off. but today i got a call from the rnc. they said they changed their minds. they are going to give me a whole hour to say anything i want. [applause] tomorrow night. [applause] [cheers]

just kidding. first, i really want to recognize our delegates. hundreds. we don't know how many, but thank you, thank you. the [cheers and applause] it takes a lot of hard work. you knew the rules better than they thought they knew the rules. host: that was ron paul. here's our convention schedule that c-span brings you live what's happening in tampa. you can find all this at c- span.org/

we will have cameras rolling and we will be there for every thing that happens. we have gavel-to-gavel coverage of the rnc this week in tampa. next week we go to charlotte, north carolina, when the democrats convene for their convention. columbus, ohio, jerry on our independent line. good morning. caller: how are you? i just want to banks c-span for bringing us the politics of the day. i would like to make two remarks. we know how the republicans are. just look at their position on immigration. look at their position on women's affairs. look at their policies on the poor and disaffected. i look at their programs. alongt see them thinking

with the common people. i'm very skeptical of mitt romney. he takes a new position each and every time there's an issue. i am just not comfortable with him. and i am not comfortable with his running mate. i just don't know what they want to turn the world into. host: you are an independent. will you be listening this week to the republican convention to hear more about romney? caller: absolutely. i have been studying mitt romney since 2004. i just don't see anything. i don't see the truth in him. host: let's look at a story in the wall street journal --

john in cincinnati, ohio, on our democrat line. >caller: good morning. i was wondering when we will have a president that's not going to flip-flop on anything he says or campaigns or runs for. host: have you been paying attention to the convention this week? what is your interest? caller: i don't know. these men, they get up on stage and preached and tried to win over voters. as soon as they get an office they take a different route.

host: next, washington, d.c., mike, independent caller. caller: good morning, c-span. i guess my comment is directed towards the last gentleman who criticized romney for flip- floping. i am an independent. my politics sway both ways. it attracts me about romney is the star contrast -- stark contrast with obama's financial philosophy. there's a fundamental difference in that romney does not think the answer to everything is spending trillions of dollars and getting us into a worsening deficit. that's going to be the fundamental issue.

obama shows a lot of arrogance in thinking that he knows how to spend our money and he knows how to direct all these funds. i have a problem with that. host: instead of going to the phones we will take a look at the lineup for tuesday. this is went things really get underway at the republican convention tomorrow night. you have speakers including governor bryan cent of all of nevada, ted cruz, it nikki haley. we have comments on twitter and facebook about the events unfolding in tampa. we will bring you those as the morning goes on. you can share your comments on twitter and facebook. we have a special hashtag set up

on twitter. let's go to cincinnati, ohio. tyrone is a democrat. good morning. caller: hello. i would like to say obama is doing better than anybody else expected. republicans ought to look at what he has done. he went and got bin laden. obama has gotten jobs back. when bush was in office, we lost jobs pick. bush was in there 80 years and could not get it right. obama has been here almost of all your years and it will take him and other four years to get the country straight. people always talking about romney this and romney that. romney did not tell us about his taxes. romney is all about himself.

the democrats are more for the people. the republicans want to take money from the black people. the democrats are trying to help people. host: we are talking about the republican national convention. it has been delayed by one day. things get under way briefly today. we are asking for your thoughts on that as well as the convention at large. let's go to minneapolis on our independent line, harry. are you with us? caller: yes. host: you have memories of the convention four years ago in the minneapolis region? caller: yes, i followed it. my comment is about a true democracy in america.

host: go ahead. caller: i was a little confused because i have never called before. the number one champion of democracy are the democrats. this country is being left to run by a few wealthy people. the american system is going out. this is a big problem this country will have with respect to democracy if they don't change. host: what do you say about the convention going on this week? caller: i am worried, because i

would have preferred they put him in lives before the convention. you cannot always be ahead of nature. [unintelligible] host: let's look at a comment on facebook from tom -- mitt romney sat down with chris wallace of fox news in an interview yesterday with his wife ann romney. let's listen to an excerpt from sunday. [video clip] >> i would like people to stand back and say what are the big issues that america faces and what are the answers i have and that paul ryan asked for the issues we face? i believe if people stand back and consider all that america

has to deal with going forward, they will recognize we are the only team that has answers for these challenges. they are big and old answers. american need that kind of help at a time when so many are out of work or having a hard time making ends meet. >> if voters take away one thing from your big acceptance speech on thursday night, what should that be? >> but i believe in america and the american people. that i believe this nation is unique and exceptional and that we have everything we need to continue to lead the world in prosperity and in peace. host: mitt romney sunday talking about what he wants to see come out of tampa this week. our next caller is in north carolina. ann is a republican. caller: good morning p. ? -- how are you? yesterday i looked up all the

inauguration speeches on the internet from ronald reagan up to obama. every single one of them talked about the need to get spending under control. so i think it is a good thing to look up some of the original information. as we talk about the issues, whether it is spending or what congress is doing or what the president is doing, so we can get a better idea of how to talk about it. host: what do you hope to see this week in tampa? particular speakers or and themes? caller: i'm looking for the integrity each one of them has as they speak, their seriousness, their intent for addressing the problems we have and how they will work together to make progress with the other

parties. host: is there anyone you want to hear? caller: ann romney and marco rubio. we have been hearing ron paul and governor romney, so i pretty much know what they are going to say. those are the ones i meant str -- i am interested in especially. host: ann romney will be speaking tomorrow night at 10:00. governor chris christie will give the keynote address. that part of the lineup for tomorrow night. that will be the capstone of the day. it's the first day of speeches and activities of the convention. you can look at past inauguration speeches as well as past convention speeches at our web site c-span.org. we have all sorts of integration

about not just these conventions but the ones from the past. we have been airing some of those passed speeches, acceptance speeches of the nomination. we will continue to do that as we watch conventions. next from hindsville, alabama, byron on the democratic line. caller: good morning. -- huntsville. the delay is in god's hands. god does his work. it is not man or any other subject. the main subject is this. when is it going to be the hatred stops because we succeed?

mitt romney is not focusing on anything at all. he is not. mitt romney is just talking loud and saying nothing. there are people getting disability. mitt romney wants to cut off medicare. i am one that can tell all of the united states that i receive only a certain amount. it's only for a roof over my head and no further action comes out of it. you keep talking about the republicans. we are not thinking about what the republicans are talking about. mitt romney is not interested in people starving. mitt romney is not interested in medicare continuing, but medicare -- 80% of this world, i

don't know what you all are thinking about in the united states. host: there's a poll on how president obama and mitt romney stand on medicare. first, let's go to new orleans. caller: hi. romney is doing the talking and not doing a walk. he is projecting and promising a lot of things. he's a white man. he is a republican. and he knows nothing about, and people -- about common people. he should visit the low-lying areas where black people live. send his wife to see what the ladies are doing. send his sons to see what is happening. he has a lot to prove. it's better to go with obama who

is already in there. it will take romney four dearyears to do what he's talkig about. right now the replicans are in real confusion state. , too, that's a joke introduce romney. the hispanic people are not fooled. i don't think he's going to win with the plan than he has. host: it is the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina and the devastation that it caused. were you in new orleans? caller: yes, i almost drowned. thursday when i woke up in my bed the water was up to my neck. the only thing that saved me was my house was two feet off the ground. that saved me from drowning. host: do you think the people

are prepared right now? we are seeing a headline saying the new orleans region feels better prepared to face the storm. caller: i am preparing right now. as soon as they tell me to leave, i am gone. the last time i stayed. i will not do that again. i lost my mother, father, and brother and another storm. but this time i am fighting cancer. host: sorry to hear that. lots of luck in preparing for the storm. let's look at how this is going. this is affecting the republican convention and other areas of the southern u.s. this is a piece from new orleans --

you can see the expected path of tropical storm isaac as we look at how things are shaping up and what's expected in terms of its trajectory. that's from "usa today." here's a tweet -- you can use the hashtag c-span rnc. joe is an independent caller from long beach, new york. caller: politicians of both parties have a particular way of speaking. america's great, we are going to improve the economy. that is too ambiguous. for some people improving the

economy means making the dow jones average go up, letting the commodity traders make more billions. this is what i want to hear from both parties, i am going to create jobs and this is how i am going to do it. if they are not saying that, if they are waving flags and telling me how wonderful america is and how great they are, that is not cutting it. have a nice day. host: you will be paying attention all this week? caller: i pay attention as much as they keep me occupied. if i'm bored, i will not pay attention. host: you can hear speaking tomorrow at the republican national convention. we will hear from rnc chairman reince priebus in the afternoon session and the convention platform and what ideas they will stand behind. then we will see the roll call

of states, voting on the presidential and vp nominations . here are some headlines from local newspapers in the tampa bay area -- we get these headlines courtesy of the newseum. early thisve shot morning in tampa bay and, the overcast weather. the tampa bay time forum. anson moreland lines -- -- and more headlines --

it is saying there's less of a threat right now. reince priebus is still worried about rain and things like that. a reporter will join us from the tampa tribune later on today. a senior writer will give us a perspective from on the ground. you can see the stage of the republican national convention from florida live a 7:30 this morning. arizona, a republican caller, alan. caller: hi, greta. thanks for c-span. i would like to talk about being positive. what is positive about the

republican party starts with romney's plan for energy. that is so significant that when you look at the cost of living and every aspect of our lives, if we reduce our cost and become the no. 1 oil producer in the world, when you take a look at being below $1 a gallon, what effect that has across the board. the most positive thing is if we can now commit to utilize in natural gas, the most abundant supply we have, that it then takes us to a point where now we become an opec and we become the lowest cost energy producer in the world, which then spurs people coming to the united states to do one thing. and that is to have their

factories over here because of the low cost of energy. that spurs millions and millions of jobs across the country. just to start with that platform with romney is so positive. host: do you think you'll hear about energy this week from the republicans? caller: absolutely, i think they are going. -- ilk about going i thi think they are going to talk about it. the negativity of the press right now in terms of setting up the republican party to take a position that if they continue the convention with the hurricane going into new orleans, but that is a negative thing and that the republicans should be standing aside and canceling their convention,

which i think is so ridiculous. so i am sad about that and fed up from the democrats trying to take out to the republicans just because of a hurricane. life goes on. there are all types of disasters everyday. host: the democrats are doing a three-day convention as well. c-span will be covering that next week in charlotte. both conventions are essentially three days longer this year. here's a story from the wall street journal with a special convention section --

let's take a look at some more of the speakers we will hear from tomorrow night at the republican national convention. they include house speaker john boehner, former senator and former presidential. candidate presidential and we will hear from representative cathy rodgers representing. washington representing -- representing washington state. don is a democrat. caller: good morning. i would like to see the republican party stand up and take the blame and responsibility for the position

the country is in. trickle-down economics has not worked. wars in two different countries have not helped our country. the republican party of the american people a lot of answers for the conditions we are in. president obama is doing the best he can with the rich sitting on the sidelines refusing to create jobs. the president cannot create jobs. all he can do is to create the environment to help large and small businesses create jobs. once the republican party, the rich, decide to start putting this country back together and putting people back to work, we will start doing a lot better. ronni chasen unions and union members. hating unions and union members and for people is

not the answer. we are paying the cost for previous republican governments. host: dorothea is an independent caller in maryland. caller: good morning. i am waiting for the republican national convention. i do want c-span to do one thing. will you please have a show and find out how obama has spent $16 trillion, exactly? and i like when romney talks about energy. the only thing i'm concerned about is one thing. we need some facts.

does anyone know of anything that goes down lower than it was? i don't care for its housing or clothing or food? you will never pay what you paid 10 years ago. i don't believe we will get energy for a dollar. people do things to make money, so gas will not go down under romney or any other president. it's going to go up, because they are making money. they are not trying to lose money. it will never go down. i would like to hear more when romney says he's going to cut taxes, which is probably a good thing, but exactly how are those taxes going to change a deficit? raising flags and saying i'm going to cut this and that, but we need to know what are the numbers that will? reduce the will host: what will you all be

listening for this week at the republican convention and what do you think about the delay? they will gavel in briefly today, but there will be a roster of speakers tomorrow, including the wife of a candidate mitt romney. here are some more details about who you can hear tomorrow. governor bob mcdonnell of virginia and governor scott walker of wisconsin slated to speak at 8:00 tomorrow night. you can watch coverage of that on c-span. we are bringing you live gavel- to-gavel coverage of convention uninterrupted. there is a live shot brought to you by c-span. our crews are also down inside the convention hall. final preparations getting under way to get the stage set for today and tomorrow's events. here's a story from the "washington times" --

next, holbrook, new york, sal is a democrat. caller: he is not for the poor. he is only interested in the rich. the problem with obama is he has to be stronger. right now i don't think he's running the country. i think oil and gas companies are running the country. if the american people stick together they should say don't use certain gas stations and put the big corporations out of business, things would be better. food and everything would go down as a result. you cannot depend on the president to do everything all the time, because his hands are tied by big corporations. people need to stop using exxon gas. then you will see the gas start coming down and our economy and do better. host: do you think the

republicans and democrats are talking about energy as you look for other platforms and what they believe in? caller: i hope so. romney said that he wants to open up their reserves. i lived in the door and they say there's plenty of oil and gas in pennsylvania. why are they not drilling? they say we have more gas in the u.s. than in the middle east. they really should be talking about this. all we are doing is supporting terrorism by purchasing oil and gas from the middle east. then they are creating nuclear weapons. i have one more comment. citco gas comes from venezuela. this man is a tyrant. all the profits that he makes, he sends 50% of its profits to

the middle east and iran to help them build weapons. . this is this country does nothing about it. -- this is treason. we have citco gas committing treason by collecting our gas money and giving it to terrorist nations. thanks for your time and god bless america. host: a tweet -- the take a look at comments that debbie wasserman schultz made yesterday on nbc. she is talking about mitt romney. she says he is extreme.

[video clip] >> todd akin's outrageous comments and mitt romney's position on immigration, he is the most extreme candidate for president in modern times on immigration that we have seen. it gives your u a window into the soul of the republican party. mitt romney chose a candidate for vice-president who co- sponsored legislation that would narrow the definition of rape to only forcible rape. on immigration, while president obama has made it a priority to rapidly and significantly increase border security particularly on the southwest border in the governor's home state, he is also focused on making sure we don't ignore the fact we have 12 million undocumented immigrants who are an important component of our economy and we are hurting our

future if we don't recognize there should be a comprehensive immigration reform approach to dealing with them instead of mitt romney's approach which is just says let's have them self- support. have unrealistic -- self-deport. host: we're talking about the delay in the republican national convention. what do you think about it, john? caller: safety comes first. but i really look forward to what the republicans have to say at the convention. i think the press is scared of it. most of the callers i have heard this morning are scared of it. the one guy who called in and said because i am white i don't understand what it's like to be poor, i would tell him to walk a mile in my shoes. and the last caller did said why are we buying oil from the middle east.

he makes policies that kill businesses in this country while supporting the people that he likes, the tyrants and the terrorists. you'll hear a lot of that, i think, at the republican convention. i think the press is scared because people are going to hear the troop. people that are now sitting on the fence will hear the truth about this president and his policies and what the republicans have to offer, the kind of policies that truly unites americans and don't divide like the democrats do. and i think the press is scared that the republicans will get their message out and carry the election and romney's going to win the presidency. host: there's a comment on facebook --

that's tomorrow night. we will have that here on c- span, live coverage of the convention. georgia, onalbany, the democratic line. caller: i was watching last in florida and they had assigned making a remark on obama's speech in virginia and they said we built this. i guess they did not know $68,000 of that money was coming from taxpayers. another king, the lady that wanted facts from maryland, it is a fact that romney did not show any more than one year of taxes and he got money in the cayman islands and has money in a swiss bank. so now she has some facts. host: independent caller in

indianapolis joining us. caller: good morning. i am hoping that romney and whoever gets up there to speak will be honest with the american people and let us know that our system has been bankrupt since 1933, the economic system. when they suspended the gold standard where there really is no money. all of this spending and turning people into corporations, that's how they are able to take advantage of the american people. the supreme court ruling even says how the people are not supposed to be taxed, especially their wages. i look at how much america spends on taxes, like for the war in iraq they spent $802 billion. the bush tax cuts has been $850 billion. the obama stimulus, $650 billion.

the afghan war, billions. corporate tax, $314 billion. exxon, $68 billion. customs, $29 billion. my point is that this is the raising taxes game, it does not even exist. but for the total deficit, yes. we have the uniform commercial code and not the american constitution. host: we want to know what you think about event being delayed . will it affect the schedule? first, here's a comment on facebook --

we have been talking a little this morning about ron paul's event yesterday. here's a story from the wall street journal -- it looks and his culminating speech yesterday. he was introduced by his son, senator rand paul. he gave a speech that rallied his supporters and fans in the tampa area. that was ron paul on sunday. c-span was there watching the event and bringing that to you on c-span. you can also find canon c-

span.org. next on the line is for lauderdale, florida, a republican caller. good morning. caller: i am glad that the convention has been delayed a day because i don't think that the republican party is really -- has really sharpened its message on the incredible scope of the failure of this president. he has had $1 trillion in stimulus, $6 trillion in quantitative easing. in addition, there is $80 billion per year iin the social security tax reduction. in addition to that, there are 3000 baby boomers retiring every day. there are record numbers of people going on disability from the unemployment rolls. this is incredible. what could he have done? he could've gotten behind simpson-bowles and he did not do that.

he could have gotten behind corporate tax reform, which both parties agreed on. this president is just incapable of getting anything done. the republicans are not doing that good a job of getting the word out. corporate america is not going to hire if this man is reelected. host: let's look at a story in the washington post on what a shorter gop convention means for mitt romney --

our next caller is from michigan, brian on our democrat line.

caller: how are you? i'm a little upset listening to some of the republicans on mr. obama's failings. the reason he is having so much trouble is he had a health care bill from congress and not much else, because they just don't want to move. congress does not want to move on fiscal issues at all. on the economy or jobs or any of that. they are hanging it on his neck that is not doing a good job. he cannot do a good job unless he has the whole team. but some democrats in those congressional seats. host: what do you think about the convention? caller: the republican convention, if people watched closely, it will showcase their intentions. maybe not all of them will follow that intention.

dt is terrible in intent ane content. i shudder to think what will happen to the american people under their leadership. host: our guest is joining us live from tampa in a few minutes. william march will be here from a the tribune, a senior writer. as we have mentioned, c-span will bring live coverage of everything going on this week. will briefly gavel in at 2:00 p.m. and will recess until the action starts tomorrow. things get underway at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon until 11:00 p.m. eastern with governor chris christie of new jersey and ann romney speaking. on wednesday, 7:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. on thursday, the same timeframe. c-span will bring all that to you live. we are doing gavel-to-gavel

coverage of the convention. the republicans this week and next week the democrats as they gather in charlotte on november -- september 4 through september 6. we will be right back. >> coverage starts this week. every minute, every speech, live on c-span, c-span radio, and online at c-span.org. monday and will see only a quick call to order and recess for the day. petrie speakers tuesday night include ann romney and new jersey governor chris christie with his keynote address. wednesday, arizona senator john mccain. later, congressman paul ryan delivering his vice-presidential acceptance speech. thursday, florida senator marco rubio will introduce the

republican presidential nominee mitt romney. use our online convention hub to watch web-exclusive video feeds, add your comments, and connect with other viewers, and watch video clips and share them. [video clip] >> john kennedy once met with the british prime minister. they discussed arms control or whatever, issues between the two powers. they did, but only long afterwards did we get the notes on what they said to each other in private. turns out kennedy spent a lot of time complaining about bad press coverage. the press was being tough on jack: and other things. the man asked him, why do you care, you have other things to worry about? kennedy said that's easy for you to say, harold, how would you like if if the press said that

your wife was a drunk? mcmillan replied you should've seen her mother. [laughter] it's the kind of thing that it's fun and gives you an idea what the people are like that you cannot learn in real time. >> historians and biographers use the advantage of hindsight to understand their subjects of through a prism of time. sunday, your questions, calls, e-mails, and tweets on the lives of presidents and wars hot and cold.

guest: you get to the rain clearing for about an hour and then raining again and alternating. host: it looks like the weather projections say the tropical storm will move west, but we are still seeing a change in schedule. what are you hearing about the storm and about how this will impact things for the republicans? guest: the storm is missing us for the most part except for the peripheral effects of brain. they probably made the right decision to cancel the first day's activities. paths of storms in the gulf can

be unpredictable. this could easily have taken a turn. guest: most of the speakers will still be on the schedule, just compacted. the biggest problem this will cause for romney is decreasing the amount of time he has to put his message forward to do probably the biggest single job he has to do, which is make himself known to the voters as a human being, as a person. a human being.

host: if you would like to talk term, here are the numbers to call. the number to call for our republican line is 202-737-0002. the number to call for our democrat line is 202-737-0001. the number to call for our independent line is 202-628- 0205. mr. march, i am looking at the headline of a washington times story. it says the storm is not slowing down protesters. demonstrators want to have their say. what is security like around the convention center? far you seeing signs of protesters? -- are you seeing signs of protesters? is it giving tampa a different feel? >guest: tampa definitely has a different feel. streets are closed down everywhere. streets are disrupted. there was a minimal amount outside the welcome event last night.

there will be out in the streets, despite the cancellation of activity. so far, i have not seen much of them. host: let's get to the phones and hear from our first caller. a democrat in austin, texas. caller: good morning. we know they're not doing a lot things that are supposed to do. what can you tell us about what they plan on doing -- there is a difference between a four-day convention and a three-day convention. if how will they make up for the things they did not do today? thank you. guest: that is a problem for the republicans. there are so many faces you want to put on camera to make the points you want to make.

examples about what your candid it is like. it just cuts down on the amount of time you got. there was a minor controversy this week because ann romney's a special -- official speaking plan looked like it would not give any sort of television coverage. that was considered something of a problem for people who wanted jeb bush to have a high profile. now they both have been worked into the schedule. i think on the same night. marco rubio, who is probably the biggest star floridian has held

onto his prime spot a a, introducing mitt romney. host: a republican, good morning. caller: might comment, since about the mid 1980's, i was a democrat. are no most of america looks for the economic issues, but i look for things that go on with the core beliefs of what i believe that the american foundation was built on. host: do you have a question? caller: no. it just a comment. host: thank you for sharing your

comments. what are you noting in their platform and values? guest: obviously there was a lot of talk as the platform was being put together about abortion and reproductive rights. a lot of talk about that in relation to the todd akin controversy. the republicans kept the same abortion platform that they had the past two election cycles. this time it got more attention. it calls for a policy on a span of a portion that does not allow any exception for rape and. -- and incest. in florida, one of the issues that has not been looked at is

the immigration plan. it has language supporting an immigration style immigration law. in an attempt to soften that and make the party scene more immigration-friendly. they also included language calling for a guest worker program. in terms of the so-called social issues, the platform is pretty hard-aligned. host: on the eve of the republican national convention in tampa, the governor descended the anti-abortion plank. he made comments on the program.

host: ball on our independent line joining us from new york. caller: how can the rnc be legitimate without ron paul being able to speak? he brings delegates. are you kidding me? the jeb bush? it sounds like the same old industrial complex. you know? how can the new york times pronounced his movement done when i plan on writing him in and any american with a brain ought to as well. host: are you still with us? we've lost him. i will get that "the new york times" headline. there's a lot of coverage they. here is one from "the washington times." ron paul giving a speech.

william march, what was the rally life for ron paul yesterday? how much of a game changer is his presence in tampa this week? guest: the rally was intended as a three-day event. i don't know how it will be affected with the rain. i think what you are seeing with ran the ball, the son of ron paul getting eight speaking spots, promising a consent attitude towards the party, you're saying a deal made in which ron paul agrees not to disrupt the nomination of mitt romney that has been choreographed and scripted in exchange for recognition of the

legitimacy of his son. rentable is apparently the inheritor of the movement. there were two paul rallies yesterday. one by the campaign itself and one by supporters. ron paul, who attended the rally held by supporters because he did not walk to attend any of that we could not control the town and make sure there was nothing that was disrupted for the republican nomination involved. host: here is the"the new york times" headline this morning. you can see their one of the families that has gathered support. here is a story from "the washington times."

reporting from tampa, with their help, his small government message will continue after he retires the matter who occupies the white house come january. democrats line, good morning. caller: i want to comment on the cancellation of the party. they are missed treating the poor people's. we are supposed to have a constitution. he cannot be one dictator. he ticked up those other

people's over there like those dictators that do what they want to do. it is not like that in the united states but they are blaming him for not making jobs. they worked together and help him. all they think about is trying to get him not reelected. all this money is going over there. he has not paid any taxes. he wants to take women's rights. if either one of their wives get raped, they would not keep that baby. they cannot know what that person has. it's not killing a baby just to be killing it. there's a lot less of their doing that is just not right. host: let's get a response from william march.

our caller brought up women's issues, the abortion platform. if she also spoke about taxes and mitt romney's record. but also the taxes that both men have who are running for president for the nation. how big are these issues, do you think, where they gather in tampa? guest: they are definitely on people's minds. the biggest issue in florida is the economy because it was hurt worse in the session. our caller definitely touched on the issues that democrats will be using in their convention next week and that they are already using here in tampa in the democratic response effort to push back the republicans. that is taxes, the prosperity of the middle class, the war on women, women's rights, and reproductive rights.

those are the big issues. the economic and middle-class prosperity arguments. that is part of the response going on here led by a congresswoman from western florida who is also the dnc chairman. the big issue with the economy, florida. the president relied heavily on the real-estate industry by the crash and a real-estate crash. the tribune reported that the crash cost floridians 65% of the equity in their homes. host: let's look at a story that you recently wrote. former governor charlie crist

endorsed president obama over republican mitt romney. remind us the significant of charlie crist and what this endorsement means. guest: well, former-a governor chris holds a unique place in florida history. he was a republican governor. a very popular one. instead of running for reelection, he decided to run in 2010 for the united states senate. but he also had taken a number of steps, moderate steps that emulated some of the conservatives in the republican party. in the fall of 2009 as barack obama was arguing for his economic stimulus plan. he appeared on stage to support the stimulus plan. it was a famous embrace.

so, a conservative challenger, marco rubio a rose and was clearly going to beat chris in the republican primary for the u.s. senate race. crist dropped out and ran as an independent. they condemn him bitterly in speeches at party gatherings. he, meanwhile, has maintained some of his personal popularity, however, and has been edging closer towards the democrats. there has been speculation that he will run for governor as a democrat in 2014. the endorsement of obama, which he announced yesterday, on the eve of the republican convention in tampa is yet another step closer to his making some kind of move like that.

when i interviewed him, he declines to talk about the possibility. generally speaking, people who watched his career, he is in the cards. host: 10, a republican. you are speaking with william march. >> very interesting there what he was talking about. -- caller: very interesting there what he was talking about. charlie christian his chameleon efforts to try to find or he can continue to be a political force. one of my comments, to follow up on the previous calls, republican calls off tend to refer to the failed presidency.

one democrat caller replied that he was tired of hearing that. there had been many accomplishments. i would agree with him in the sense that there has been many accomplishments that obama has achieved. however, they are not what america stands for. but lack of investigative journalists that you hear on the major networks. i know that the lamestream media are in bed with obama. i to started reading a book, "fool me twice." when i read this book talking about the center for american progress that published major policy studies and ideas that

obama has implemented in his first term. if given a second term, our country will be in dire straits and the reduction of our military. the report complains of an excess of military spending. this is from a report entitled "the green dividend." it says the obvious solution is to reduce military spending and apply the spending to an alternative fuel. host: we will leave it there and get a response. guest: well, it is interesting to hear a conservative talking about the mainstream media being in obama's pocket. we have protesters on the speech claiming that the media is in the pocket of corporate media.

we hear from both sides and that is what you would expect. i think one thing that the caller said, he referred to charlie crist as chameleon-like and unprincipled. those are the attitudes that republicans in florida are using now when the tug of the former governor. host: here is the front page of "the tampa tribune" online. you can see coverage here of the storm. tropical storm isaac. also, the republican national convention. you can read our guest. he continued -- he contributes to many things. what is fresh squeezed? guest: fresh squeezed politics

is a political blog that i and others contribute to. host: if the same corporations are banks, giving the same money to the same parties, and you really expect to see different governance? you can tweet in your comments to c-span. william march, talk to us about word on the ground. all the money that is pouring into tampa because of the convention. the corporate endorsements. the money helping the republican national committee paid for the event. but also, tampa. guest: well, the corporate money influence on all conventions is huge. the host committee, just to cite one example, and this is not, by

the way, a political body. it is a non-part series -- a non-partisan charitable group that their job is to welcome visitors to attempt to arrange accommodations. that committee has raised more than $50 million. that is in addition to all the work of the convention itself. we are seeing all across the city, hundreds of parties. last night, there was a welcome event for all of the delegates and some of the media. it was held at a baseball stadium. one of the staff told me that they spent $3 million just on

food for that event. just the raw material that the chefs in the kitchen and cook with. host: the democrats have pledged to take -- to not take direct corporate donations. we talked about that on c-span's "washington journal" yesterday. you can find that on our web site if you want to check at the archive convention. go to c-span.org. meanwhile, saginaw, texas. caller: i like to watch and listen to both sides of these political things. i find that the democrats keep notng that romney's is telling what he is going to do. but i hear him say several

things that tells of least five things you will do and aim for and try to accomplish. however, i have never heard obama say any details of what he plans to do if he gets a second term. i think the republicans need to call him out and say, play out your five points or goals and hear what you plan to do. he can talk a good talk and give a great speech, but i have not heard any plans from any of the democrats. naturally, i am leaning more republican. guest: well, i think what you're hearing there is that criticism

of democrats of romney is that there are specifics missing, in their view, and some of his economic plans. he expects to increase governor revenue by eliminating tax deductions but has not said which ones. he will repeal obamacare, but not said specifically how he plans to replace it or whether he plans to replace it with a health care reform opera -- a health care reform program of his own. there is nothing better to do than to find out what these guys are planning to do and what the future is than watching the convention. host: let's go to another caller. why conventions? after decades of sliding ratings, viewers bounceback. they require pentagon-like

security. they can be quickly derailed by weather and natural disasters. nevertheless, the convention's retain their privileged place on the nation's political calendar, even as broadcast networks a scale back their coverage. host: you can see what your ship did dip down, it rebounded. in 2008, it was in the higher range. william march, how significant do republicans to let this moment is for them? you talk about reintroducing mitt romney. how much are they banking on

americans really turning in? guest: it is very significant for them. they need to put their candid it out in front of the people as a real warm human being, a family man. of course, there is some disappointment of the major networks scaling back this year after, of course, many years of continually scaling back the coverage. there is some talk, but we have all heard this before, that this may be the last election cycle in which we do conventions the same way we have been doing them. if you think about it, if we did not have conventions traditionally, nobody would proposed starting now doing the conventions that we do. but still, it matters a lot to them.

the romney forces are hoping to get a bump out of the convention. they did not get as much of a bomb as they might have hoped with the announcement of paul ryan as a running mate. host: we will watch the minimal gaveling in a 2:00 -- to 2:00 this afternoon. our next caller is in florida. could morning. caller: good morning. thank you for letting me talk to you guys. i am retired from the united states army's. my oldest son is currently serving now and my grandson is a captain in the military. i am confused by the way obama

talked about our military. there is not too much coverage on the president of russia and telling him wait until i am reelected. it is amazing how quickly we can sweet stuff like this into a corner some people do not control or hear it anymore. as a military person, it bothers us. the commander-in-chief telling the incoming president of russia, do not worry, once i am reelected, i will take care of it? that is not right, folks. host: let's get a response from william march. guest: that, of course, was definitely something that barack obama did not want publicity on.

it is probably pretty common. a pretty common kind of talk among world leaders. they all discuss them among themselves. it is well known that all american presidents feel they have more freedom after an election then immediately before one. host: william march, before we let you go, tell us what you will be watching for down in tampa. you will be on the convention floor engaging the response of republicans and other floridian s. what should you look for and what should we look for? guest: the main things i will be looking for is the tone and spirit of the republicans. how charged of are they?

i'll be looking to see the different factions. that is, the fiscal conservatives versus the social and liberal conservatives. i will be looking to see how well mitt romney manages to come across as personable and human. i'll be looking at what kind of arguments he makes to the affect that he is the guy best-able to get the economy under control. host: william march, at the tweet -- as the "tampa tribune." thank you for being here. coming up next, we bring you politico's breakfast. karl rove is their best. this is a live event from tampa. later on this morning, "washington journal" will resume

at 11:00. we will also talk with a local woman who runs a group that is focused on poverty and homelessness in tampa. her group about starting right now. the first, we go to politico's breakfast. >> a state of the art fashion through our morning e-mail's. as well as a good old-fashioned hard copy. we are extremely proud to be partnering with political.

we are happy to be here and looking for to a very interesting conversation this morning. >> thank you. thank you for making these conversations possible. karl rove. [applause] you left the white house and became a best-selling author. you became an "the wallstreet journal" columnist. he became a fox news contributor. you helped start american crossroads. >> i could lose a few pounds. [laughter] >> you are a man who knows conventions. you specifically no re-election conventions. you plan president bush's reelection in 2004. what will change on friday after mitt romney's convention. what should be true then that is not true now if the convention is a success?

>> well, this is president obama's reelection convention. that is more like 04. romneyre like 2004 mitt because as we saw today in the poll, we have been at this process for 19 or 20 months. particularly those of us in this room who are following it closely as junkies. we have all the problems of addicts. the final bunch of voters who will decide this election to not know as much about that romney as they do about barack obama. the key thing for mitt romney is at the end of this convention if people say, i know something about him personally that i didn't know about him before now. there is more that we know about these candidates, particularly obama, about the

issues aside and we might expect. but the personal side of the escapes' a lot of people. frankly, it's part of the nature of the process. the people who are up for grabs in this election taken a lot less information. they take it didn't at the sonically -- episodically. they can hold it deeply conflicting opinions of the same time on the same subject. they get serious about it sometime between august and september. >> if you were to do another column channeling david axelrod, what would he do with his reelection? >> i am writing this column for thursday. i do not know what it is, but there is somewhat of a physics that allow former senior

advisers to listen in. last year, i was hit with these slots of david axelrod. this is my thursday column for the wall street journal. it shows the desperation that you turn something in every week. [laughter] i must admit i am completely mystified by the obama campaign. because the campaign is dominated the presidency and not the other way around. that is low by column will be about this week. >> it is a bad economy and he is even. that is good, right? >> no. he cannot take himself above 50%. the other guy will get better- known and more accepted. >> how do know that he will get

more accepted? >> it is just the nature of things. how many people have had a lousy convention? 1972. a convention for a challenger, by and large, with few exceptions, the people are going to find out things about mitt romney from a personal perspective. there was the candidate flipping campaign -- flipping pancakes and having an exchange with his wife talking about when she was ill and he was running the olympics and what he did. people saw a side of him that they did not see. that matters to the people who are up for grabs. tax cutst know about and the huge economic plans and blah blah blah.

that matters a lot to them, but now they want to know who is the person asking for their vote. >> we welcome political.com viewers. we will take your questions. mitt romney has yet to put a way a state that he needs to. has he put away virginia? >> he has put away every state that john mccain carried which makes the election close. not a single state john mccain carried is in question. he pulled one of obama's swipes last time. i think he is on the edge of putting away north carolina. we have a couple of states in place that should not be. wisconsin was a 14. victory by obama is back to looking like wisconsin of 2000.

having a wisconsinite on the ticket will make that easier. is that because it is comfortably put away? no. it is absolutely up for grabs. that is a sign of weakness. colorado, new hampshire, nevada, new mexico. >> in order, mitt romney's chances of winning pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, ohio. >> i would say, pretty close between ohio and wisconsin. these are battleground states. i hate to be critical of the media here. [laughter] it is a painful thing. "usa today" ran its third store on their battleground poll. 12 states. and they said, looked at this.

obama has a narrow lead, 47-44. context matters. if you look at those states four years ago, they were won by barack obama and every single one of them, all 12 of them, one by a 55 margin. you think that would be worth mentioning in the coverage. you look at those battleground states, if you are running eight points behind and your opponent is running one point behind what your opponent ran in your the incumbent, and you can i get above 50, that is a problem. >> these were bought from someplace in charleston south carolina. if i could remember the name, they might give me a free pair of cuff links. >> if you are watching on c- span, you can get them there.

in free advertising on c-span. >> you are famous for being an architect. tell us 3, 2, 1. >> this is a column from earlier this year. i wanted to sketch out for republicans with the most obvious path was. it was to star with the mccain states. if you only when those, the electoral college's 12 of votes closer. -- if you only win those, the electoral college is 12 of votes closer. together, they have 37 electoral college votes. you have to get those back.

obama has no chance of carrying indiana. i asked mitch daniels if there was a white democrat south of indianapolis supporting all -- supported obama. he said, not that i can think of. indiana is gone. i think north carolina is gone. they play like it is not gone and will keep spending hoping against hope. you cannot pull out of a state where you're holding your convention. when you're 20% of the people in the democratic primary voted for somebody voting for someone other than barack obama, the party is in disarray. there were a lot of new south independents who are racial moderate economic conservatives who think this would be good for our country. this time, they are saying, i like him, we did the right thing, but he did a lousy job on

the economy. he is not a fiscal conservative. it will not be voting for him. i feel good about virginia. i feel good about the state. that is not to say any of these are settled. i think it will flow back in. the two are ohio and florida. here is the nation as a whole. here's the nation into dozen 8. here are the states in two dozen 4, 2008. this wind for obama -- there is a little bit of resistance. anyone. if you when those five states. >> was the most likely? >> the neighborhood in new hampshire. the home state of michigan. there's the gambling state of nevada. just one. >> in just a minute we will go

to him in his extreme weather gear. the first question goes to a man who spells his last incorrectly. >> thank you. that thing is well below your belt. i have read abc standards and that is just [laughter] not right] -- that is just not right. [laughter] >> this is off topic. matt roads recently said that he thought president romney would be like president paul. nobody knows more about presidents than you. so, help me out. president polk, i know he clashed with abraham lincoln. would you make? >> that is the way to reveal that. >> congratulations.

[laughter] [unintelligible] >> first of all, he will be like polka. -- polk he carried his own state. the last president got elected failed to carry his home state. wilson, 1916. how about virginia? this is an attempt to undermine my credibility. you may be the smartest guy in the room, but i just one-upped you. he might carry the state he was born in, mich., but not the

state in which u-boats'. >> i will ask you a question. >> i have an answer. i think there may be some similarities. polk is one of the great spirit will not recognize him. here is a guy who ran who said he would do four things. he said he would reform the treasury, did read of jackson's fed bank, stopping federal money in these banks. he was going to lower the tariff. he was going to resolve the oregon border dispute with britain and which was a huge dispute. he did all four. were it not for his actions in texas, -- [unintelligible] might not be at all. he served one term and got out.

but he came in with a clearly defined program. tariff reform had been a huge issue. oregon had dominated the u.s.- british relationship for 15 years and was getting worse. it was a contagion issue. if you result texas, both the north and south were having a nervous feelings about the result. if you're a northerner, you were uncomfortable. >> the believe he will do those things and it will cost him a second term? >> it did not cost of a second term. he made the decision not to run. but making it about big things and making it about achieving.

this -- he is methodical, we know, from his brain experience. -- bane experience >> to try a new format here. i will ask a question and he will rebut. >> my famous -- my favorite color is blue. >> the closest historical analog to this point was -- >> we don't know if it was 1980. you could make a case that this could be 1980 for you have a incumbent who is challenged by circumstances and policies. a general sense of well-meaning individuals. the question is, does the challenger reassure the american people. at this point, is as rough like the middle of august of 1980.

james earl carter jr. was ahead of ronald reagan. this is a close and unpredictable race. >> it is 2012. most of these things. >> the obama people hope this is 1996 or 2004. you were involved in that in some significant way. is it not like she doesn't for? in what respects is it like 2004? >> a couple of really important ways. first of all, bush was seen as a strong leader. obama is not. a republican poll said 2/3 of people thought obama was a weaker leader than they thought he would be. only 20% thought he was a stronger leader. 51% said strong leadership applies to obama. that is very low for a sitting

president. and bush, whether you agreed with a more lot, people saw him as a strong leader. he made the campaign about not just the past, his record, but also the future. also, about his opponent. we were talking about this morning. i went back and got the speech of the convention. it says it all. after acknowledging everybody, the president's election as a contest for the future. i'll tell you where i stand, widely, and where i want to take this country in four years. obama has not done that. it has been about my opponent is a weird, rich vampire who cannot be trusted because he will still your money and send it to a swiss bank account. this is not been a campaign in which he has said look in my record, i am proud of it.

i just think the dynamic is different. bush was talking about bold things. the next at an energy policy. this was not just in one speech. this was the campaign fabric. i just cannot see that being the case this time. >> we are going to give one minutes of the microphone. first, i will ask you, you are relishing the analyst's role. do you miss the other role? >> agena know about relishing. i enjoy it. -- i do not know about relishing. i a joy it. >> it is long career for you. >> i do have a higher tax rate

and president obama and i do make more contribution all -- more charitable contributions. mark up be underwear and given away to goodwill. [laughter] i get to still be involved. i'm doing some stuff in politics. i enjoy that. i really enjoyed writing for the wall street journal and doing fox. the most lucrative part of my existence is debating howard dean which is not only the lucrative, but i do relish that. [unintelligible] he is a very thoughtful, soft- spoken guide. [unintelligible] [laughter] >> what role do you play in that quartet? >> i think he got tired.

we will meet in san francisco for speeches. stumbled onto a format that makes it possible for dean's stomach to be in the same room as me. we start off by talking about the art of our lives in that kind of stuff. but, anyway. >> adam smith. >> talk about how concerned you are with the hispanic vote. this election and then -- term. >> i am concerned -- term. because if the republican party cannot deal with a growing part of the electorate than it will find themselves in a place where we get 5% and a consider ourselves fortunate. 13% 14%, we are ecstatic. it ought to be ours.

we are talking about strongly pro-family. an incredibly entrepreneurial group. informed by a deep love of this country. they volunteer for military service higher than any other demographic and america. that ought to be ours. in this election, i think there is something we're going on. for the first time in modern history we've seen the number of latino voters flat line and a decline from 2008. i think that is because, in part, some elements of the latino community have been impacted far more deeply than other elements of the poor economy. for 3.5 years, they say we've been missing to your problems and has not worked out for us. the other interesting thing is the latino community is

concerned about immigration reform. we had some interesting focus groups among latino voters whose principal language in the house in spanish. these are people who are changing clothes and hotels and digging ditches. talking about becoming integrated into the american experience, but on their way there. there are more than you might expect. more aware of the economic difficulties, but less likely to apportion blame, to have a way out. things are bad and there was the work better as opposed to things of that, here is who is responsible and what we need to do to get out. information was immigration. president obama told us he would take care of this. this would be something he would do.

he had the ability to get it done. they're telling us he had 60 votes in the senate. that was all he needed. if he could have done it. it was not important to him. now he is talking about it again. he had his chance. he was more interested in deporting us than getting it done. i think that eventually works its way out by latino turnout been depressed. >> you see it argued that if the demographics of the electorate in 1980 were within our today, ronald reagan would not have been elected. a very structural barriers. the argument is that if you have a demographic of 2008 voting as they did in 2008 applied to 1980, you could make some case. this would made by james carville and a famous book in 2010 which protested a 40 year

thomas by the democratic party and then came november 2010. a little bit of a bomb on the way there. i do not know. demography is not destiny. this is true when it comes to latinos. i don't know why we get there. he may have seen this controversy about joshua. he has a latino last name but i'm not sure he is considered to be latino. i have a nephew. his father is a liberal democrat. his mother is mexican-american. he is about as avant -- an avid a republican is you can imagine. but he is latino. the question is, how to these

groups play out? -- how do these groups play out? in canada, you have a significant slice of asian- americans to a member of the conservative party. they are entrepreneurial and pro limited government. anti-regulatory state. you know, the can easily play out here. just depends how we play it. >> off when you split your time, you were building a house. congratulations. i think your selection on the door knobs is excellent. hank you for asking me. [laughter] >> to what degree is the 10 decrees victory in that primary, is that a texas story? our national started? what does that tell us? >> it tells us some things, but it does not over platelets --

let's not overplay it to. when he ran for example, he ran for reelection, contested republican primary. he ran television ads and to be identified as being by george w. bush. he won. where he ran no television, he tended to lose. this showed that it is out the door. second of all, it shows that being an active, aggressive campaigner matters. it also shows the difficulty of running negative ads in a primary in a runoff. i met with some people and you would have expected this couple to be completely establishment in orientation. i said, how did you feel? this is, we supported him the

first to go around, but we voted for him. i said, why? we got tired of the negative ads and gave the young guy a chance. reelected campaign because it attacked our mayor. this shows some big things up the strength of conservatives and a tea party conservatives in particular. we had to almost equally guy -- equally conservative guys running. we want a latino leading our state ticket in texas and also said something about the negativity of the campaign. >> i will come to this and zip code next for a question. the two-party is waning? >> both. here is the tea party. right here.

and have two elements of it. you have the element that wants to be the king makers. the guys running television ads and making endorsements. and that is about this much of the movement. here's this much of the movement which says we do not want to be with the republican party, if we want to influence people in both parties. we want to be like the second amendment and the pro-life movement and the civil rights movement and find a way to affect people in both parties. this group is probably having difficulties. it is bigger, but having difficulty figuring out how to become durable. they want to do that, but they do not have the visibility that you get our running tv ads in a primary. there was an institution of difficulties to this group in finding its way. .

it is waning. this group is waxing. i am the tea party guy, give me some money. we will have victory. sometimes that is over-stated. richard murdock is seen as a tea party victor. he won because he is a two-time state treasurer. he is a self-made lincoln scholar. he would show up at the lincoln day dinner. he would get up and give a seven-minute speech about abraham lincoln. it would be something you had never heard before. each time, it would be different. dick luger, one guy supporting him said the problem was the last lincoln day dinner he went

to was in the 1980's. one of the ranking members of the indiana party said she had never met lugar. he had been gone from the states along she had not met him. that part of the tea party movement is waxing. we spend too much time looking at the movement. here is the sentiment that gave rise to the movement. it has not waned. it is driving this election, particularly among independent voters. they do not see themselves as tea party. but the concerns about the deficit and debt, the economy, obamacare, that is what is driving them. we're spending too much time looking at the movement and not enough time looking at the

other. >> i am wrong weaver from tampa. paul ryan may be just a heartbeat away from the presidency. what are some great and not so great messages about the selection of paul ryan as the candidate? >> they say mitt romney is bold and not conventional. he chose a guy he had come to know when he was writing his speech last november about entitlement reform. he announced behind-the-scenes for paul to give advice on it. it is a good road map for how he approaches entitlement reform. i think he took the measure of paul close of -- close-up.

he did not succeed in spain by saying he did not care who they hired. -- he did not succeed at bain by saying he did not care who they hire. he wanted his campaign to be about bold reform before the safety nets break. i cannot think of much bad about it. i think they went about it in a thoughtful way. they put a lot of effort in this. he talked to a number of people but kept close counsel. they sent people up to survey things. it was made in a thoughtful fashion. i hear the criticism he should have made the announcement here. my friend said he should have made the announcement here. i think they did it right. they did it before the convention so they could get

some ink out of it. they can have a healthy debate about medicare before the convention. >> [inaudible] >> i think that is what the party will be about. we're going to have a debate about medicare. it if we did not want to have it, it would be conducted by late night phone banks to scare the crap out of them. we know these things are going broke. the american people are ahead of the politicians when it comes to entitlement reform. republicans have a sensible, thoughtful idea springing from the democrats. >> looking at some of the tv ads this week, talking to some non-

committed voters, it is so much about romney's wealth and tax rate. one ad yesterday says you probably paid a lower tax rate than him. how does governor romney get past farah -- it past that? >> if you deeply care about the fact that he abides by the law of the united states and derives his income from investments come and as a result pays a lesser rate than on wages, and you are going to vote against him for that reason, there is not much he can say to convince your otherwise. on the other hand, it says something about the president of the united states that is what he is reduced to doing. is he attacking warren buffett for being an american -- unamerican because he derives his income from capital gains?

if he wants his secretary to pay a lower tax rate, he should give her a bunch of stocks instead of a salary. it is going to be one of the ugly things about the campaign. alta milli, i think it is one reason why obama will lose. people are desperate for the president to offer more than that. -- ultimately, i think it is one reason why obama will lose. if he were to win, and i do not think he is, he would come in for a second term as ill- prepared as any president in the history of our country. i just came from the architect's perspective. in 2004, we talked about tax reform, energy reform.

we got one hour before. we got the energy bill in 2005. we tried. this guy has not laid a predicate for anything other than the buffett rule that will generate $7 billion over the next 10 years. >> how could he win? >> wait for my thursday column. it is great. [laughter] >> i am from "vanity fair." >> of course you are. >> [unintelligible] >> go ahead. reet journal, you are highly critical of sarah palin, donald trump, rick santorum. were you doing that intentionally to help romney's chances?

did you discuss it all with roger ailes? >> no. i was complimentary of some of those people at the same time. when they embraced the birther isue, and was critical of them. is a book that was written that depends upon a nut that says i personally got her to investigate the governor of alabama. this will be an entertaining work of fiction. i wish them all the best with it. >> one of your first projects after leaving the white house was to start a group that has been a success beyond what you planned. what does american success say about current policy? >> i did not do it immediately. and left the white house -- i

left the white house in september. crossroads was not found until 2010. it says something about -- i do not know. it is up to others to decide what it says. i do know the republicans were tired of the democrats beating us by having liberal groups and unions talking to each other beating up our guys and gals. they were looking for a vehicle they could support. crossroads is a different vehicle. as a result, it has garnered some support. we raised $79 million in 2010. our goal is to raise $300 million this cycle. i think we will do it. >> we had the phenomenon this

cycle where the outside groups are spending more than the campaigns and the party. we added it up in the groups are going to spend $1 billion. >> i think that number is high. >> what do you think the number is? >> i do not know. i think is maybe going to be slightly more than half of that. we know the unions spent $450 million on behalf of obama in 2008. that is not the only outside group they head. in 2004, i did add it up. we were outspent by $124 million. that did not include the unions. we did not have a good number for the unions. it was probably closer to $600 million we were outspent in

2004. our object is to even the playing field. >> the magnitude of the outside spending has the consequence for governing. when the senators and members come here, they're much less beholden to leadership than they would have been in the past. >> how can you be beholden to regroup -- to a group -- i do not know if they do or not. we will see. the leadership has its own groups. >> i am with the washington examiner. do you think the candidates' spouses will have an impact on the vote? do you think a spouse of her house? >> they have a big impact. people look at the picture of the canada -- candidate and his

or her spouse and make a decision about it. michelle obama was very effective. she was in charge of bowery to military families. you go to north carolina, jacksonville, fla., some of these battleground states in military committees, she covered the waterfront or landscape well. it had a powerful impact. the president is different from any other office. we know we're going to have to live with them for four years. one thing we want to know about them is their spouse. the outspokenness of barbara bush was a plus. the concern for the common man and woman of eleanor roosevelt was a plus.

all of these things have been a great utility in some races. >> do you think outside spending is give or bad for the country? >> it is what it is. the democrats have been doing it for years. i got tired of fighting with one hand behind my back. i do not remember this thanks to -- this angst when george soros and his pals were beating of bush -- up bush. they receive $14 million for an ad attacking bush as a bigot. to me, it is a sign of hypocrisy of liberal news organizations that they hyperventilation about one and not the other. >> american crossroads will live

beyond this cycle? >> this is a news-gathering. . [laughter] >> what is the next stage for american crossroads? >> when we set out to do this, we wanted something that would be durable and the right model. durable, a cheap shot on your part, but that is to be expected from politico. [laughter] we have a board of directors of business people and political leaders. we want this to be the place when you are the former official of the party that he might get swept into this to continue your service to the party and give it the kind of sensible leadership groups like this ought to have. we want to be transparent with donors so they know how the

money is spent. we want to be transparent to them. >> i am going to go to the back next. is it possible for obama to overcome the economy? >> it is, but i do not think he will. tune in thursday. this is going to be a good one. i have to finish writing it. on thursday, there will be other news besides the column. >> i am peter from cnn. when you talk to some activists in the conservative wing of the party, they see some unintended consequence from the pressure from washington. it may have had the effect of side.ng pastors to akin's

do you have any regrets about coming out hard and fast to get him out of the race? do you think republicans will have to back him to get the majority? >> 50% of the people who say they're voting for todd akin in the poll want him to withdraw. independents want him to withdraw. the only ones that want him to remain in the race are democrats. i do not think they have the best interest of the republican party apart. what he said was indefensible. the manner in which he handled it made it worse. this is a program he taped. he saw nothing wrong with it on tape. it was shown on a sunday morning. his response was on tuesday evening in the form of television ad. he can say sorry, but who are the voters going to believe?

the journalist was tossing him soft ball questions. he said in the case of a legitimate right, a woman's body has a way to shut it down. you can see it. he was ahead by 10 points after the republican primary. a week later, he was behind by 10 and sinking. i note todd. he is a good man. he has a good heart. he said a really stupid, indefensible thing from which there is no recovery. if he really cares about conservatism and pro-life, you will not go down with the biggest loss of any republican candidate for senate. he has until september 25. if the republicans nominate a credible candidate, they can bleed -- beat clair mckaskill

handily. it is unfair, i get that. it was also incredibly wrong. there is no recovery from it. it would be one thing if he made a minor misstatement. this is pseudoscience and morally incomprehensible. >> [unintelligible] as you look ahead to covering charlotte, what was your strategy for president bush? >> let him have a couple of days off. let the democrats have their convention. i know president obama will do his college tour this week. it is a sign of his concern about the youth vote, but i think they are making a mistake. stephen had a great line. they ask him about president

obama can paint during the republican convention. he said was a sign of disrespect in modern american politics. i think it is a tactical mistake. the president is exhausted. there is a reason he said if you build a business, someone else did that. >> how many fund-raisers? >> 205. and counting. >> i have a simple question. how much less influential our tv ads than they were four years ago? you guys spend a lot on tv advertising. >> i think less people are watching network tv, but more people are watching tv. more people are watching their

own screen. some of the most cost-effective things we have done are geared toward the web. our spoof on the james bond movie about obama's comments on the russian prime minister saying i will have more flexibility after the election. it is part of what many modern campaign has to do. you could make the case is more difficult to punch a message through by buying three networks. that is why it becomes more sophisticated and complicated. you have got to buy cable to target the voters you are talking about. you have to devote some part of what you would normally give to television to alternative media. direct mail is coming back. they are able to do amazing

things with voter contact through the mail. one of the reasons things are tight in michigan is the outside groups run television in michigan and obama has not. the outside groups ran television before the selection of paul ryan and obama have not. the volume of tv, you cannot have too big of a disparity there. >> what is the next new platform? what is the next week to consume political information? >> i am going to have an app that hard wires our brains into politico. >> what would you be putting your chips on if you were in the media business?

>> i am glad i am not in the media business. all kinds of things are being blown up as people try to figure out what the next big thing is. >> what do you see surviving or thriving in that environment? >> i have no idea. i am watching it as it happens. it is like watching people blow up vacant buildings. you know what is being blown up but you do not know what will take its place yet. >> you mentioned wisconsin and michigan has traditionally democratic states that republicans might have a shot in this year. what is the next state down a wish list for you? >> organ -- oregon. it was a battleground state in 2000. this time, there is evidence obama has difficulty there. you do have this weird element

in oregon centered around portland that looks at obama as a dangerous reactionary. but you also have something with this libertarian, western, iconoclastic "i will not be put in a box." the republicans came within 15,000 votes of winning the governorship. it is the most unchurched state in the union. it is a weird conglomeration of things. but oregon might be next. >> how would you respond to the fact that obama who ran his last campaign on the idea of transparency is asking romney for his tax forms? >> tax reforms or tax returns?

this is an issue that has hurt romney because people already have a suspicion about him. he is a rich guy, he must be hiding something. i am mystified by his response. if you do not want to issue more returns, that is fine. john mccain put out two years and you are content with that. now you are not content. this shows it is about politics. i understand why you are doing this. you do not want to be talking about deficit and debt and obamacare. i get it. so do the american people. it is what it is. at this point, it is noise from the obama campaign that does not gain additional votes. it reinforces people who have bought into that. my sense is is not a lot of the

people up for grabs. this issue has been played out for several months. on may 15 when they ran the first tv ad, it was 45/45. now it is 46/47 now. i do not see the issue has a great deal of purchase. >> what are the chances that in the lifetime of the young person that asked the question there will be [unintelligible] >> zero, but there is a reason why we have not had a third- party candidate. >> what about a ceo? >> the institutional structure is we have two big parties with big groups of followers and an electoral structure that

mitigates against third-party candidates getting in. you have to have a failure on the part of both parties for some unmet need the american people feel ought to be dealt with. we see that occasionally. 1856, 1854. 1912, close to it. close to it in 1968. thank goodness we did not reach out to the u.n. that need. it is hard to do. >> you are a stamp collector. why? >> i was in the direct mail business. my grandfather and father were practicing philatelists. they helped to form the classics society that studies old stamps. i was brought up in the house filled with stamp nuts and continue to be one. >> thank you for being here on

this blustery day. we thank c-span, bank of america, and the times. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> you have been watching the politico playbook breakfast. you can watch it again tomorrow morning. next we will go to eight national journal daily briefing. let's take a look at the convention scheduled. c-span will bring you gavel-to- gavel coverage this week. today is a brief convening at

2:00. the rnc chairman will dabble in -- gavel in the event. tomorrow at 2:00, things get underway with speeches and events. the afternoon session will have the chairman and an unveiling of the platform. speakers include people like john boehner, rick santorum, cathy rodgers. they start speaking at 7:00 tomorrow evening. we will be seeing speakers in the 8:00 hour like governors. we will stay tuned for other speakers, more governors. we will also see a lineup that

includes people like ann romney and others. governor sandoval continues in the string of governors speaking. arthur davis and governor haley will speak. we will see ann romney and in the keynote address given by governor chris christie. you can catch all of that throughout the week as c-span brings you convention coverage every day this week from tampa. next week, we will turn our attention to charlotte, north carolina, and the democrats. coming up in a few moments, the national journal daily briefing. they are looking at online media, the impact of social media in 2012.

moderators' include correspondence. they will discuss how on-line meeting it is affecting campaign 2012. we will go to that event in a few moments. we can show you some live shots of the times forum. we have a crew on site getting set up to bring things live from tampa. you can see the site of the convention right there on your screen. the tampa bay times forum. looking at a couple of stories that folks are covering in the news this week. "the wall street journal" says mitt romney is seeking to boost his image as tropical storm isaac stops the convention this week. it is the most important week of his political career, hopeful that the storm will pass in time for the circle of friends and supporters to give his presidential campaign the powerful lift it has been

seeking all summer. rnc chairman reince priebus, that we have been talking about all morning, weighs in with a commentary. he says "romney and ryan will get the country working again." we will talk more politics on "washington journal" later this morning at 11:00. in a few moments, "national journal" brings us a live event that brings us the impact of social media and the on-line experience. during this week, "washington journal" will come to you live throughout the morning, and will bring you tweets and social media pages. we have a hashtag we are using on twitter all week long. it is #c-span/rnc. here's a story from "the wall street journal" about events that happened yesterday.

congressman 1 paul's fans been him i do for now. it shows fans waving posters, and larger than life face poster of ron paul at the rally in south florida yesterday. we go to "national journal," the digital campaign, social media's impact on campaign 2012. >> good morning. the mike is on now. good morning, everybody. i am john fox sulvan, publisher at large of "national journal" group. welcome to hurricane tampa, where the sun is out, the beaches are ready. i want to thank you all for joining "national journal" and

atlantic and cbs news for the first of four daily briefings. we will do these every morning right through thursday right here at carney. we will meet each other, get together, listen to some of the smartest mines in politics, and have a little bit of fun. we have been doing these events at conventions and publishing daily newspapers over eight convention cycles since 1984. it is kind of fun to be able to do it here in tampa. i want to thank some people who helped make this possible. our underwriters, the critical -- the credit union national association. pfizer. the property-casualty insurance association of america. and united technologies. i want to thank our friends for helping us out. each morning we will have a different program. today is focused on the digital campaign and social media's impact, 2012. we have speakers from google and

twitter, facebook, and the romney campaign. for those of you joining us online, via atlantic not, or national journal lot, or cbs news.com, we are happy if you want to twitter us. our hash tag for this is # dailybriefing. let me introduce two of the three people on the stage, are two moderator's. to my left, first, major garrett, white house correspondent for "national journal." he has been with us for two years, covered congress and the white house, before that on fox news for eight years covering the white house. before that, cnn. he knows his stuff. he is pretty damn good. >> a good hire. >> and we pay him a lot of money, so he had better do good.

>> really? >> is particularly fun to introduce norah o'donnell. you know her as the new co- anchor of cbs morning news. before that she was at msnbc. we have seen a lot of her on television, but i must climb some sense of something or other -- she also worked for our company at the hot line many years ago. >> not that long ago. >> a couple of years ago. it is a treat to have you all. let's have fun. >> thank you, john. it is great to have you with us this morning. in national journal briefings will occur every day, here and in charlotte, so we encourage your attendance. we will get right to it. governor rick snyder is our guest from michigan. he may not be called this yet in michigan, but it might be fair to call him among other things, governor hang out, google-plus

hang out. i want to talk about some things with how you use the hang out, how they have allowed you to digitize town hall meetings and what that has meant for the way you communicate to constituents or they give feedback to you as governor. >> it has been a great success. it is my favorite forum to communicate with the citizens of michigan. i did 82100 town halls. i have done dozens and dozens of town halls. google-plus hang out has been a huge benefit and i think it is a great experience. what we do is on a monthly basis on a regular schedule -- i just did what a couple weeks ago where we had a white -- a wide audience in lansing, the state capital. we had state legislators at four locations across michigan.

the experience is great. we have displays up so people can see one another. you literally get the impression of people being there, and the feedback has been great. you were lucky to do one location. simultaneously we're doing five locations, on a regular basis. then there are people picking up the screen from that. we have news media picking up. it has been really exciting. we have done a number of these. they are a great format and we will keep going with them. >> do you find these to be spontaneous events, norah? you want to have some control of what you are trying to do, or are these wild west spontaneous events where you are not necessarily in as much control of the events as you want to be? >> and that is not a goal. i like to give a first person

impression from the capital, but the other thing is i want their questions. that's how i get feedback on what we are doing from my customers. i look at it as a customer service business and the citizens are my customers. we do not filter anything because it really gives me a better perspective of issues going on. the feedback we have gotten -- we talk to people in these remote sites, they feel like they're there in terms of having that first-person dialogue, which is fabulous. >> it certainly allows you to reach more people, but do you feel like you lose something by not being in person with people? >> again, you always like to be face to face in the physical sense, but the quality has gotten so good now -- one interesting phenomenon we saw early on, the remote sites did not think they were really on, and it now it is kind of funny. i picked on them in the last one

and i said you guys are getting into this because there are different remote sites that we shift around. but now the banners are up, the marketing is up. there are -- there's all kinds of information that showed their location because they are there. that are part of this now. >> we have done that before. we even air them at the end of occasion. nation" on th tell everybody what you're twitter handle is. >> getting into this -- "one tough nerd." >> tell everybody why. >> basically i have never run for public office, so i ran an ad in the super bowl in 2010. it was a fabulous opportunity. so the way i route -- the rway i

view it, i was so low in the polls. i called my early followers the margin of error club. if you looked at my early in followers, i was in the negative. >> how has the computer help you connect with constituents? most people know that many people use to order to get the message out, some interact with their followers, arguably the idea of social media. you seem to do it the but of that where you react a great deal. cory booker is the best politician who uses twitter as an informational tool in responding directly to constituents. >> it is part of the portfolio. i do not think there is one answer to all of these, but twitter is important because there are updates for exciting, interesting things, giving them a chance to follow. people involved with twitter truly rely on it as a mechanism.

it works well for us. >> the logistics -- we will keep the governor here until about 10:05, so be ready for questions. i want to ask you about all the ways of talking to your constituents, do you find that you are speaking to those who are already fans to you, who already support you, or do you create anything exponentially, either in the way you communicate or bring more people into your tent or your world? are you just talking to folks who are already inclined to be following you in the first place? >> no. you do get people who are followers, who are on board supporters. but you also get people who have an issue. because this is meant to be a forum to bring that up. i see people who bring up what they believe are really tough questions and i thank them for that. we have had a lot of controversy

over building a new bridge to canada. a fabulous opportunity for our state. we have a special interest that has spent about $10 million of misleading ads. they have bad information. a lot of citizens have picked up on that information. they come to the remote sites to ask, "why do you support the bridge?" and i think it is wonderful. it is a common-sense thing, that building a bridge will create long-term jobs. it allows people that may have an issue or problem to come and ask me first person. that is the best answer. the chanting -- the challenging part is to get people who are not involved to be more engaged. watching through news media or

on their own, that may get them show up and be part of it because it is a cool experience. >> we know the majority of those age 18 to 34 are getting their news online from social media, as opposed to and seniors, mostly using local and network television. is it a way to reach younger voters? >> absolutely, and it is great for that. that is the fun part about all the technology choices. we're looking at future things. there are new crowd sharing opportunities we're looking at. we are starting with the state employees. it will kind of be like the idea box. they can come up with problems -- good things we're doing, bad things we're doing, dumb things we're doing. vote on them and come up with suggestions or ideas. we're not stopping, where are

piling new advances with our employees that i then hope to open up -- we are compiling new advances with our employees that i then hopes to open up to the state. if you go back to the election, obama did a good job in terms of showing leadership during the romney campaign has done a very good job. it is showing that the marketplace is recognizing if you want to be in an election, you need to leverage social media in an effective way. >> a recent study showed the obama campaign has posted four times as much content as the mitt romney campaign. there are active on twice as many platforms. on twitter, rummy averages one tweet per day, whereas the -- romney averages one tweet per day, whereas the obama campaign averages 29. is that a problem?

>> it is not the quantity as much as the quality. you can get overwhelmed with the volume of things. if you get how many twitters a day, it comes through to the point of distracting you from -- you're not going to keep following the same way. a lot of it is that balancing act to find the right tool in the right quantity with the best quality to be successful. >> do you think that is an issue, major? >> they certainly believe it is a structural advantage. the obama campaign believes far and away they have a built-in social media advantage. on the side of governing, communicating in times of distress, the social media and has social media provided another opportunity by which you can, as governor, take care of the most dire needs of your state? and how so? >> i think it really does.

the philosophy of information -- the velocity of information coming at you has increased so dramatically, people get overwhelmed with information. the challenge is, you can get bombarded with so much information. the key thing you can do with social media is making sure you can hopefully at least's the discussion -- at least pause the discussion long enough to answer it. what are the facts vs what are the perceptions? it is important to get as much clarity as possible in doing that. unfortunately, we have not -- fortunately we have not had the disaster scenario. we blog fairly often. i will put together a blog and have some great people helping me, but we do not do it all the time.

we will often put a blog out, from my perspective, what that means, and hopefully in a clear way we can follow up later if people have questions. >> is facebook part of your social media strategy? if so, how? >> absolutely, especially with younger generation. that is the best way to communicate with them. it is one of those things where you go through and tell your story in facebook. back to the twitter issue, it is building a channel of -- a portfolio channels and mechanisms of high quality. it is not about evaluating questions, shot getting information. -- shotgunning information. >> do you send your own tweets?

>> we do a balance of both. we have people doing to order for me, and then when i tweet, i put my initials behind it. people can identify whether it is a tweet from me or from the team. >> explain the experience when somebody came to you and said you need to go on twitter. what was your response? >> awesome. i was doing that stuff before i became governor. because i am a nerd. pushing them to go harder and faster. i am pushing them now to go at a new technology. there is a start up called up to. it is a start up in downtown detroit that is a cool mobile app that people are saying let's -- people are saying i can put

on my schedule that this is where i am going to be. leverage facebook and twitter when the events happened. >> now, when you think about the volume of information that comes to your constituents, there is an old saying in washington -- keep your head down, answer your mail. serve your constituents and take care of that. in your perspective, do you still receive as governor or state legislator -- calls from male or electronically? had that switched over to an entirely electronic conversation, or is their traditional phones, mail? >> the traditional one should keep going because there are people who have not engaged yet, and i do not want to discourage anyone from communicating with me. traditional media quite often, you have seen more organized efforts. people will put out a broadcast,

probably using social media to use the broadcast to say "call." so we will get inundated with calls on one topic, and an e- mail rise coming in because someone has orchestrated that, and that is fine. but you never want to -- this is the part of government that i am trying to emphasize that i think has gotten lost too much in the political culture of america today. why do we exist? i am a business person from background. we are a customer service business. i'm trying to give them great customer service. >> how would you evaluate, as a governor, the value added of individual constituents face to face encounters and the digital counters? most politicians would say that the most important experiences are face to face. is that still true, or is it the digital experience? >> the important point i would

make is it does not matter what i think because what matters is what my customer, my citizens think. if they are happy communicating in digital fashion and that works for them, i have no role bank to tell them that they should do anything different. if they want to communicate in person or do the traditional leather, we need to look at the government model talking to citizens, it is the customers to citizens, what is best for them to get answers from people who should be responding to their needs. >> have you changed or made any directives to your state agencies on how to use social media to better interact with your constituents? >> to some degree, yes. i have been at this long time.

there is an adoption period for technology. you don't try to force everyone in a single path to adopt new technology. it is working really well. the people in the state government want to adopt this. you put out the tools, and you find the early adopters, you have the normal distribution curve. so the exciting part is you have people jump into that and build off of that. the response is it is fun because they are innovating, coming up with mobile applications and ideas i would have to keep up with. i'm not going to hold you back, go. >> as promised, you can tell that the governor has been a lot of innovative ideas. i believe we have microphones. i'm sure that you have strong centurion voices, so we will be just fine. the gentleman right here, please.

>> the vast ability of this medication -- take google hang out. one of the criticisms in the political world is that people do not talk to their opponents, different parties, different philosophies. could you envision kind of a regimen were periodically you would create a hangout, new and some of your meeting adversaries, etc., on a routine basis to say let's hang out every two weeks or whatever? ? >> i want people have different perspectives in the town halls. one of the challenges which would be great in theory, one of the problems -- when you get in debates in those kinds of events, it is too much about people talking about why the other person is bad, and it is too much of a negative dialogue. one of the things i thought of is i do not say anything

negative about anyone. i believe in relentless positive action. i try to solve problems. if you could have it where people are focused on why their idea is good, or you are terrible, or your terrible, i do nothing that is good. you hired me to solve a problem. if you have a format that this focused on the alternative solutions, pros and cons, that would be fabulous. unfortunately it is difficult to do that today. i believe there is a better culture, a more positive culture. >> you have a microphone? ok, back there? >> hi, governor snyder. just the power of digital learning and technology, you're doing some interesting things in

michigan. i wonder if you could talk about how you are using technology to empower teaching, and particularly young teachers in michigan. >> thank you. i love that question because it is awesome. there is a revolution coming in education, and it is way overdue. it gets back to the port of our educational system, to use michigan as an example, we have great teachers and administrators. but we're not showing student growth the way we should. our system is not succeeding. i think that is a national issue. the key is not the technology, it is the teacher applying that technology, the cultural change to go with that. the flipping of the classroom is exciting, the concept of saying let's do the homework in the classroom and have the child learn online and do some exercises at home. with technology -- i will use mass as an illustration -- if you do it the right way and the

child connect in the teacher connects, a teacher can see how each child is doing on every single problem, not just whether they got the right or wrong answer, but how long did it take them to get an answer, did they struggle? potentially leaving kids behind, which happens to often, really now this particular child is having a problem with geometry right now, and in two weeks they are doing fine. but when you identify this other child having problems -- in three or four years when they take geometry two, i think it is an awesome opportunity. also, it allows parents the opportunity to provide the right provision. changing the culture so that teachers embrace it, parents embrace it, and the students. the educational achievement authority focuses on failing

schools right in detroit, michigan. >> any additional questions? for the governor? how many twitter followers do you have? >> probably 10,000, 12,000. >> what is your follower builder strategy. we know you're benchmarks. >> it is the same thing with facebook third we can do better. it is an evolutionary cycle. i view it as one step at a time to read the thing that is the coolest, though, this crowd sharing is going to be really unique. they are all working together. it is a great time, and i encourage people to do more of it, but we need to do it more in a fashion of not quantity but

quality. it is the substance of what you are communicating, and that is what we're focused on. >> norah? >> is mitt romney going to win michigan? >> i think there is a great opportunity for him to win michigan. people have not put michigan at the top tier battleground state, and i do not know why they have not. if you think about it, in many respects, which were 50 out of 50. in 2009 we had 14% unemployment. we are the comeback state in the country right now, and a lot of people say that traditionally the democrats when bank at the national level. i think we are a very competitive state, and it's a great way to showcase what you can do. michigan is a model for what

washington needs to do. if you look at michigan, we have reformed the tax system, balance the budget. we are being financially responsible, taking care of education reform, all these other things. it is not all fighting. doesn'tmply saying this work, we will solve this problem and get the job done. due respect, he o is not have anything to do with that story. >> he has a similar background. he has a lot of items covering that same principle. one of the challenges i got as a business person coming to public office, i had never held office. in terms of doing it before, people say you do not get it. 10 to 20 years ahead in terms of different principles to better manage or be more effective, giving great customer service, which is fundamentally -- isn't