paul ryan and making his pitch last night to be america's vice president. welcome to "washington journal" on august 30, 2012. he spoke before delegates said the gop convention in tampa, florida. among his message was his support for mitt romney at the top of the ticket. former gov. romney will speak tonight. we are talking about the republican convention on " washington journal"this morning. call us with reaction. here are the numbers to call. give us your calls and also find

us online through social media to talk about gov. romney's acceptance of the nomination tonight. find us on twitter by writing @cspanwj in your tweet. we are also on facebook. e-mail us. let's take a look at the front page of the wisconsin state journal. we did this courtesy of the museum. a photograph of the hometown guy, congressman yan. it says, we are ready for prime time. paul ryan took to the big stage of his life and told voters and supporters he is ready. he is ready to turnaround is struggling economy, build a stronger middle-class, ready to be vice-president.

let's take a look at some of the paper's people are reading in washington. a front-page image of wash -- congressman ryan. it says "ryan pledges a gop rebirth." he took the national stage wednesday giving a televised speech that laid out one of the gop's sharpest pieces yet against a second term for president barack obama and for republicans as the party of small government. the address to the convention was an introduction to a national audience only now beginning to take his measure as one of the leading figures and the partner of mitt romney, the presidential candidate. let's hear from you. john is an independent scholar in pennsylvania. caller: good morning.

the republican party is basically a combination of the taliban light and joseph goebbels and his propaganda. the amount of lies they have told on the campaign trail and at this campaign are pretty much unbelievable. $13 trillion if you add it up and include bush's numbers from 2000 when the economy died as well as all of the other unfunded wars, etc., etc. -- $13 trillion of that $16 trillion is on bush. mitt romney will get up there tonight and tell moralize. you have to have somebody call

them out on this. otherwise the people who have not been paying attention will by this crap. if you think bush is bad -- host: headmen, republican. caller: i am a newly crowned a black republican and i am proud of it. i have been hearing the a lot about how great mitt romney's speech has to be. as bad as obama has been these last three and a half years, almost anybody can stand up there and give an average speech. the democrats want to talk about all of these bush -- stop blaming bush. it is time for the community organizer experiment to be over. host: democratic caller is in

chicago. good morning. caller: i watched last night and the night before. i am once more witnessing how you convince people with a lie. to tell a little like, you have to tell the biggest lie out there. i watched paul ryan put his choirboy face on. he flat out lied to the people. he said, i am going to do this. they have been talking about -- the president said small business. he hates them. the first thing he did was the stimulus. more than one-third of his stimulus, close to $300 billion in tax cuts for small business. by the way, paul ryan voted against it. if he hates them so much, why

did he give them so much tax cuts and a stimulus money? if they fail, why did the economy stabilizes and business actually make a profit? the stock market's comeback of the stimulus did not work? you have to ask yourself, what are republicans like paul ryan saying, do not blame george bush. they said, we will do everything we can to make him failed. the thing is, you have to believe them. host: let's listen to what congressman ryan had to say last night. >> what is missing is leadership in the white house. [cheers and applause]

and the story that barack obama does tell, forever shifting blame to the last administration is getting old. the man assumed office almost four years ago. is it not time he assumed responsibility? [cheers and applause] in this generation a defining

responsibility of government is to steer our nation clear of a debt crisis while there is still time. back in 2008, candidate obama called a $10 trillion national debt unpatriotic. serious talk from a look like a serious reformer. by his own decisions, president obama has added more debt than any other president before him and more than all the trouble governments of europe combined. host: that is paul ryan, the v.p. nominee. we will look at politifact website and see how they are reading some of his comments. in the meantime, let's hear from moses in virginia. caller: i was listening to this speech last night. he claimed so many things -- the

president but all the blame today because of the economy. listening to the news this morning, most said -- what really happened, the factories were closed even before the president took over. the. i am making. most of the republican speakers stand before the audience, stand before the crowd, stand before the national tv and -- >> you mention something congressman ryan said about a

plant closing. let's hear what politifact said about that. they said his speech was interrupted frequently by cheers and ovations from the enthusiastic delegates.

what do you think about last night's speeches? we are anticipating mitt romney's speech tonight if he accepts the nomination. paul joins us from connecticut. he is a libertarian. caller: good morning. i want to complement the first caller. everything that mitt romney and paul ryan have said. they start these attacks and then proceed to go on to the

democrat policies. they have an idea for were the country needs to go. the men currently an office -- i refuse to call him the president. he has done nothing for four years. he has added to our debt. i spent 13 months on employment because of the wonderful economy he created. i think it got for paul ryan and mitt romney. thank you for your time. host: are you still with us? we lost him. gary from maryland. caller: good morning. how are you? i want to say that the republicans entire point of view is false. they are copycats. everything the that the obama administration is doing now,

they are promising america they are going to do. this deficit spending that paul ryan is speaking of, at it is totally and possible to not spend excessively more money to get this country back in shape. i do not get it. president obama was handed a $10 trillion deficit the moment he walked into office. the other thing here is, the republicans -- they had nobody at all that has credibility to run against obama the first time. of course, they just laid it down because they knew the democrats were going to take office. secondly, they feel now they have totally gone against obama 's policies. nothing has passed in the house. they are against every idea the

democrats have had from day one. they are totally manipulative in their approach in helping this country. host: let's get a different perspective from john who is a republican. caller: good morning. your screen there was a very polite and patient. she is to be commended. i anticipate watching a very good man mitt romney accept the republican nomination for president. may i add another thought? host: absolutely. caller: two things will not hear next week from the democratic convention. two democrat icons martin luther king, jr. and jfk. martin luther king said, he looked forward to the day when his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

that would give you food at the democratic convention next week. -- that would get you boo'ed at the democratic convention. they want specialized treatment for black people. john kennedy said ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. you will not hear that at the democratic convention next weekend. that would get the man boo'ed off the roster. thank you for letting me appear on your show. but there is a tweet coming in from cindy. you can hear the speech yourself. we are giving you gavel-to-gavel coverage of the convention. at 10:00 tonight marco rubio introduces mitt romney giving his nomination acceptance

speech. we've mentioned paul ryan spoke last night. others took to the stage including john mccain. condoleezza rice as well. we will hear a little bit about what she had to say. she said the world is chaotic and dangerous with a weak usa. paul hear some more of ryan a making his case to be vice president last night. >> obamacare comes to more than 2000 pages of rules, bandits, taxes, fees, and finds that have no place in a free country. -- mandates, taxes, and fines that have no place in a free country.

that is right. that's right. you know what? the president has declared that the debate over government controlled health care is over. that will come as news to the millions of americans that will elect mitt romney so we can repeal obamacare. host: that was congressman ryan in tampa, florida. but go to seattle, washington from the independent line. caller: i am very interested in the comments already offered. i would like to say something about the convention, but also about something that was not said. i am a 31-year veteran. i voted for mitt romney in the primary.

then i voted for obama in the general election and i am glad i did. a comment on condoleezza rice's speech. i thought that was excellent. she is a soviet expert at stanford university. i thought it was strange that she did not comment on romney's statement that russia is our principal foe. i think that is really harkening back to the cold war, which apparently the republicans like to focus on. with regard to what was not said. there was virtually nothing on foreign policy. we face serious foreign policy problems. if the republicans are put into office, we will have war with iran because their principal economic plan is the stimulation that can, from war.

if people had known bush would get us into two on funded wars when he was elected, i think he would have never served as president. thank you for letting me speak. host: let's take a look at a story and "the new york times." it says -- barack obama said he would restore civil liberties and sit down with world leaders. the relationship between what presidential candidates say and what they do once elected can be tenuous.

we will look at some more stories on foreign policy and how that is being talked about right now. a couple more i tends to mention include this one. the book on the osama bin laden killing contradicts the u.s. account.

we will talk more about foreign policy and hear what condoleezza rice had to say last night. we will take your calls as well. we are asking you what you thought about speeches last night, and what you think about what mitt romney's speech will be tonight at the 10:00 time frame. jeffrey, from savannah, caller: georgia -- caller: i had issues looking at the republican convention. for the life of me, i cannot figure out how can all of the people who stood up there look

the people in the eyes and tell bold face lies. but paul ryan that summed it up. i really loved his speech. everything he said it was as if he was talking about the republican party. it was a bold face lie. the sad part about it is if they become president and vice- president, for all the people who want them toecome president and vice-president, it will be a sad day. they want to cut benefits -- they want to make slashes all across the board. if people are happy with that, god bless them. i will leave it at that. >> thank you.

caller: obama promised stimulus and he lied about fixing roads. a paul ryan mentioned that -- obama failing with jobs. and saying republicans start wars, that is a bunch of lies. obama tells around with george clooney -- these wealthy people who should be taxed 100%. host: thank you carolyn in baltimore, maryland. caller: i know it is a tradition to bash -- a voter like myself and a christian, i know it is more important to complement or did somebody some credit.

i know some say he did nothing. their claim is he did nothing during the four-year tenure. that is not true. you will get more my attention if you admit that some things were accomplished during his tenure. it might not have been what they wanted or everything that they wanted, but there were some accomplishments. if you keep on saying negative things and not give any credit where credit is due, how can you persuade a voter like myself? i have seen what has been done. i have also seen what has not been done. if you're going to stay on the claim that all he did was -- all of that is not true.

i do not know what the republicans are planning on doing and what their policies are. all the time they are saying what barack obama did not do. host: let's hear from the president in his own words. he was on the campaign trail yesterday in virginia.

host: rebecca on the democrats' line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have been watching the convention every night. it seems like most of romney's foreign advisers are former george w. bush neocon advisers, just like condoleezza rice. she lied us into a war like the other advisers. a romney vote to meet your children and grandchildren role be into on ending wars. as for paul ryan saying the his mom depends on medicare, she happens to be a very wealthy woman, most of which she inherited along with her son from her deceased husband. ann romney telling us to trust met and that he is a wonderful and lovable father, that is great, but who cares?

we all have family like that. she has scan in this game. me and mitt, it's our time now. how elitest can you get? >> let's hear more from the speech last night. talking about the youth vote. president obama made his case against -- for young voters. >> the issue is not the economy that barack obama inherited. this economy that we are living. [applause] college graduates should not have to live out their 20's in their childhood bedrooms staring up at faded obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. [cheers and applause]

everyone who feels stuck in the obama economy is right to focus on the here and now. i hope you understand this, too. if you are feeling left out or passed by, you have not failed. your leaders have failed you. none of us should have to settle for the best this administration offers -- a bill, adventure was journey from one

entitlement to the next. a government plan that life. a country where everything is free but us. host: you can see an image of the tampa bay side of the convention this week. caller: good morning. i feel as a leader we need a businessman. romney my promise that to us. right now i am going to graduate. i feel stock. -- stuck. obama right now is not doing much on that. the last, interstate that ryan's mother inherited money -- they must've had a successful business. the policies are trying to stop

foreign businesses from going overseas. also, ryan and got to me on that speech. i really feel the same way. host: what you want to hear from governor romney tried when he makes his speech? caller: i want to hear how he's going to decrease to lawns and make plans to open more businesses and stuff like that. -- to decrease the cost of student loans. host: toni in boston, massachusetts is on . caller: good morning. romney is right. what is missing in the white house is leadership. and a physical body, a presence in the house. i have seen that obama is either campaigning from the very beginning. the is rubbing elbows with the

hollywood elite. they are very rich. he's rubbing elbows with his friends who are also very, very rich. the athletes, his administration, who, according to what i read, also have money in the cayman islands, switzerland, and bermuda. he is campaigning, golfing, vacationing. his family is always vacationing. i see romney working, expanding his companies, he is creating jobs. i think that romney will give the small businesses what they are looking for, the ability to expand their jobs. andy's going to do this by cutting their taxes, by cutting many regulations. -- and he is going to do this.

my friends it in boston, in order to get the certification to open up their business, it does not only take a couple weeks, in one case it took my friend four months, costing him an extra $80,000 just to keep the business open so he could open it, costing him waitresses and wait staff. he was absolutely discouraged. he almost closed. and a trucking license takes forever. so we need someone that is interested in small business and will help them. thank you. host: she makes the case against president obama. congressman paul ryan did last night as well. this in the washington post --

there's also stores in the news about president obama making his own case and giving his defense. let's listen to president obama in charlottesville, virginia, yesterday. [video clip] >> in just over two months you can make a decision about which passeth we take. [cheers and applause] you can decide whether we give a massive new tax cut to folks

like me and mr. romney who don't need it. he needed even less than i do. [laughter] or whether we work to keep taxes low for americans who are still trying to make it. i have cut taxes for middle- class families and i want to make sure that taxes are not raised a dime on your income first $250,000es' worth of income. that means 98% of americans without seeing an increase in their income-tax. [cheers and applause] but that depends on how you vote in november. host: president obama in virginia yesterday. let's go to a democratic caller in georgia. caller: good morning. how warm your?

host: annie, what did you think last night? caller: it was like a joke last night, to stand up and call the president a liar, saying he has not done anything, talking about how he's cutting medicare. that is a lie. how can they stand there and stayed there kristiansand tell a lie with a straight face? i don't want to hear anything from mitt romney tonight or where his money is. how can he lead a country when he cannot stand up and give his taxes. he's paying less taxes than i am andes a richman. and -- he pays less taxes than i do and he is rich. was a joke aswife

well as condoleezza rice. condoleezza rice does not represent me as a black woman. and david, the man that defected from the democrats, a plant. but they don't know it. they need to look closely. when they stand up and tell the truth, then i can listen to what they say. i want to know why romney stopped being a bishop in the church? how can he tell women to give up their children because they don't believe in abortion? i am ashamed of them as christians. they should be helping people out of trouble. and let me get to my last statement. it's not about race. it's about president obama being a black man. they are racist. look atd let's take a the coverage of hurricane isaac

from the baltimore sun -- taking a look at a story in the washington times on the rural areas --

we're watching the story unfolds from louisiana. bowling green, mike is a republican. mitt romney will make his acceptance speech at the nomination tonight. what do you want to hear from mitt romney? caller: i know he's never going to say what i want to hear, because i want to hear some candidate somewhere willing to tell the american people that franklin d. roosevelt's model of trying to take care of everybody at public expense does not work, because the demographics have completely changed since then. you had somebody on the program yesterday or the day before who

made that statement that the demographics of the country don't support that model anymore and they have not for a long time. the result has been federal borrowing of the likes of which of a debt we cannot possibly sustain. the situation is that there is no longer a way to save the value of the dollar. for me than has been the bottom line on all of this, that federal spending has undermined the value of the dollar. that dollar will affect everything and will affect everything that my liberal friends love. none of that will exist anymore if the dollar collapses, if it's not a sound dollar. you are not going to have a

federal program to help the poor. host: i mentioned that condoleezza rice was one of the headliners of the evening. before representative paul ryan, here's the new york times photograph and caption -- she said, one cannot lead from behind. a tweet now -- leveson to condoleezza rice from last night. [video clip] >> it has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies and to intervene on behalf of the most desperate. the aids orphans in uganda, a refuge she's pulling zimbabwe, young women traffic into the sex

trade in southeast asia. it has been hard, yet this assistance together with a compassionate work of private charities, people of conscience and people of faith, has shown the soul of our country. and i know, too, that there is a weariness. i know that it feels as if we have carried these burdens long enough. but we can only know that there is no choice, because one of two things will happen if we don't lead. either no one will lead and there will be chaos or someone will fill the vacuum who does not share our values. my fellow americans, we do not have a choice. we cannot be reluctant to lead. and you cannot lead from behind. [cheers and applause] host: that was condoleezza rice

speaking last night. let's look at who you will hear from tonight. representative connie mack of florida. newt gingrich and callista gingrich will be on the stage. craig romney, one of the sons of mitt romney, will talk about his father. that's in the 7:00 hour. you can find that on c-span. here's a story about ronnie's kids ---- romney's kids -- they are spoiling stories about -- spilling stories about the family. they are not boys anymore. they range in age from 31 to 42,

with 18 grandchildren among them. during the republican national convention week, the suns want america to know that their father -- to know their father like they do. we are on the line with oklahoma. turn down your tv for us, so we can hear you. caller: obama is taking a lot of our tax money that we work for and put into a different feels like health-insurance and stuff. you know? i have had health insurance through aflac. this obama guy wants so much money for his health care rescue deal. and aflac does not really cost that much. last year i gave $5,000 to

the government and they only gave half of it back to me. i want to know where the other half is going. i am sick and tired of it. this is supposed to be a free country. we are supposed to be free. obama is not letting us be free. romney is going to let us be free and that's why my vote will be for him. host: >> david is a republican in el paso, texas. caller: i am not a republican. i am a democrat. host: excuse me. my apologies. caller: i am not even going to talk about all the distortions and the lies they talked about, because they showed the fact check, and thank you for that. ryan voted against simpson- bowles on the panel, did not even want it to get out. president obama has asked

congress to send him a bill to stop the subsidies for business going overseas to china and the republicans in the house refused to do it. you have a caller saying that is what romney and ryan were going to do. that's ridiculous. your callers need to read up on what paul ryan follows every. one on medicare and social security are socialists, that's why it's called social security. i hope you vote for these republicans so they can take it all away from you. i honestly do. i'm not going to vote, because of what the republicans to win so you can get what you deserve. thank you. inst: now a republican warsaw, missouri. sharon.

caller: good morning. i'm proud united states citizen. my husband and i have struggled in the second class for the last three and a half years. the one thing i do want to share more than anything every day with everybody. when bush took office he had 911 against him. ff against him, which was crushing. complain in the united states about something we offer to take up. i hope to god that god is here in our prayers, because we need mitt and ryan. we need to become free again. thanks so much. host: what do you want to hear

mitt romney say tonight? caller: i would like to hear him lay out a little bit more plan in what he has for the people. i have heard him over and over in different skitsit that everybody keeps saying mitt romney to tell us what he's going to do. mitt romney is telling us what he wants to do. i am 61 years old and am proud i was educated in a high school and grade school that taught me about my rights as a u.s. citizen. mitt is trying to give those rights back to us. if we would just be quiet and listen to him with an open heart, he has grandchildren and children. they are going to fall under obama's non-freedom plan as far as my feelings and my husband's.

my husband is a truck driver. he should be bringing home $1,000. he's bringing home $300 or $400 a week because there are too many truck drivers out there and they have to split it up between everybody. host: here's what some top republican politicians are telling it romney that he should do --

you can read more advice on a washington post, given by people like caylee barbara and michael steele. mobile, alabama, maureen joins us on the independent line. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i am an independent voter with a for your children and three grandchildren and four sisters. one of my sisters lost her home in cincinnati, ohio. i have had several family members that struggled with. with. i've had a college student moved back home because she was unable

to find employment for a year. i attended the inauguration of president obama with her. on that day i felt such a sense of hope and promise during the inauguration. those dreamsthink that our president has set out for our country have been realized. so many small businesses are struggling. i have a neighbor with a third- generation business that has had to sell out to a german company. i have a sister who is a dentist. her business is down. she feels strangled by the new things that will be implemented in health insurance. i just have a lot of questions. i am still on the fence about who to vote for. my questions tonight for romney

have to do with more specifics. i think that we need some big ideas to get people back to work and unleashed the creativity, ingenuity, and the hard-working americans that are sitting on the sidelines right now, they need to be put back to work so we can make our country stronger again. i have not heard the specifics from romney. i think we need some kind of national job line to get everyone back to work. i don't see specifics on either side on how they're going to do that. one more comment about our legislators. our u.s. senators and representatives need to hold their paychecks back until they can work together and pass legislation. they're not doing their jobs as far as i'm concerned. host: banks. here's what mildred has to say

-- you can share your comments with us by e-mail. there's also twitter and facebook. we have a special hashtag set up this week on twitter. april is a democrat in. knoxville, in caller: good morning, libby. i cannot hear you. host: we can hear you. caller: i would like to talk about the convention and all the lies that are being told. i have this one thing about me.

how can this country trust anybody who would stand up there and tell a lie after lie? what does that say about us as a people? are we that gullible? are we that insensitive to the needs of others? can we not see through the lies? especially from paul ryan. one of the big obstructionists in the senate. still he gets on television and talks about all that our current president has not done. yet they do not say why none of these things have been accomplished. when a statement is made after inauguration to make this president a one-term president and that's what this republican party has said and as set out to do and has been instrumental in doing, so how can anybody trust

a party that is so prejudiced against the color of a man's skin that they're not willing to give him a chance? host: let's listen to more from want represented paul ryan said last night. onre's been a lot of focus his budget plan, his ideas for medicare. here he is talking last night on wanted he hopes that he and candidate to romney can do to stand in medicare. [video clip] >> in congress, when they take out to the heavy books and wall schart about medicare, my thoughts go back to garfield street. my wonderful grandmother janet had alzheimer's and she moved in with my mother and me. although she felt lost at times, we did all the little things that made her feel loved. we had help from medicare.

it was there just like it's there for my mother today. medicare is a promise. we will honor it. the romney-ryan administration will protect and strengthen medicare for my mother's generation, my generation, and my kids and yours. [cheers and applause] so our opponents can consider themselves on notice. in this election, on this issue, the usual posturing on the left is not going to work. mitt romney and i know the difference between protecting their program and raiding it. our nation needs this debate. we want this debate. we will win this debate.

host: that was representative ryan last night in tampa, florida. bill is joining us from illinois on the republican line. caller: good morning. i am perplexed why minorities are backing obama almost 100%. when the president took office, the unemployment rate was 7.5% and gas was $1.78 a gallon. he spent his first year in office pushing totally on health care bill while people were losing their jobs, losing all homes, and jobs were being shipped overseas. today the average unemployment rate for black males is 14% to 16%. black minority youth unemployment rate is 27.5%. the stimulus, almost $1 billion to celebre and five other energy corporations, they lost a billion dollars.

they went bankrupt. and part of the stimulus went to president obama's best friend who was head of general electric. they shipped 45% of the stimulus money to sweden for solar equipment. i really believe in my heart that if people really look at the situation we are in, that we have to make a change. we need somebody with business experience. the downside to this is i am from illinois, we have rahm emanuel, who does not believe in freedom of speech. i don't want president obama to come back here and get an office illinois. he had the worst voting record of any state representative. the worst. so what did you expect from him when he became president? host: since you are talking about the business experience, how strong a case do you want mitt romney to make tonight about this time working in the

business field? caller: i think that has pretty much been put under. a under it's more important to me that he explain to america how he is going to lead us out of this whole we are in. what people don't understand is if interest rate goes up on what we are borrowing, that the country will collapse. we have one of the lowest -- china is starting as one of the lowest interest rates in the history of the u.s. the last point i would like to make is when the president gave his acceptance speech he said that he would cut the national debt. in debt he has increased it 33%. he has done nothing. people need to wake up and understand these facts i gave. the country is in terrible shape. host: in california, the independent line. good morning. caller: i hope that you'll let me finish.

i would like to preface by saying i think it's high time we stop calling the republican party andublican po call it what it is, a party of angry white people. all we see in the shots from their convention are white people. host: what did you think last night about condoleezza rice and new mexico governor martinez? did that change your opinion? caller: my statement was appropriate for all the speakers. it's all lies. host: let's look at who will be speaking tonight on mitt romney's behalf in advance of him accepting the nomination officially in a speech this evening. we will hear from jeb bush, former florida governor, 8:00 this evening,. the romney campaign chairman bob white. and the founder of staples, tom

stemberg. here's a story in the new york times --

host: and they look at the lineup as well and say -- jane edmond is a self-described liberal democrat from massachusetts who is very likely far from mitt romney on most social issues. but that's not what she's here to talk about. tonight she'll speak on his behalf at the convention. she says -- host: let's take a look when

this woman, jane edmonds will be speaking tonight. the 9:00 hour. speakers include the former lieutenant governor of massachusetts, also jane edmonds as we mentioned and former olympic athletes will be speaking on behalf of mitt romney. well, let's hear more of your comments and reflections on the republican convention. mary joins us now on the democrats line from las vegas, nevada. hi mary. caller: yes, hello. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i am disappointed about the people are really blind. they don't realize what they're doing. they can see, like the last man said, nothing but just white people. i hope every black person in america would wake up and see that they want to put us back in slaverry. i know what i'm talking about. and i hope to god that they would wake up before it's too late because the lord has shown

me, all these has happened. it's to wake up the people and let me know that if we don't get it together and work together here we won't be able to make a difference. it's wrong, it's wrong, and obama is the best president we ever had. when he got in there, it was already messed up. and if they put the republicans back in there, just look out, everything that's not white is going to be put back. if you black, you've got to get back. if you white, you right. and that's all i got to say. host: we mentioned condoleezza rice who's african-american did speak last night to the republicans gathered in tampa. another one is suzannah martinez, the "washington wire" and the "wall street journal" go with the headline that she reaches out to latinos. the new mexico governor tried to reach out to both latino governors and the g.o.p. wednesday with a speech that touched on her tidge and brought

delegates to her feet as she talked about packing a pistol as an 18-year-old at her parents security company. >> i fear some of our leaders today have lost the courage to stand up. that we have now are politicians that won't offer real plans, and only stand up when they want to blame someone else. and i don't say that just because a democrat is in the white house. i was a democrat for many years. so were my parents. before i ran for district attorney, two republicans invited my husband and me to lunch. and i knew a party switch was exactly what they wanted. so, i told chuck we'll be polite, enjoy a free lunch, and then say good-bye.

but we talked about issues. they never used the words republican or democrat, conservative or liberal. we talked about many issues, like welfare. is it a way of life or hand out? talk about size of government, how much should it tax families and small businesses? and when we left that lunch, we got in the car, i looked over at chuck and said -- i'll be damned, we're republican! [cheers and applause] host: the new mexico governor suzannah martinez talking about her switch to the republican party. rochester, new york, jim is a republican. hi there. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: a lot of folks talking this morning about the black and white, you know, mitt romney's

for white people. i think people under that premise should read and understand the history of the united states. that's for starters. i hope -- the reason i called in was that you asked what romney needs to do. i want to hear romney protect the united states. i want to hear about the lawsuits that are going away against our states. through this administration. i want to hear about the lawsuits being restracted from the 26 states that have sued our government. these are things that are just unprecedented. fast and furious, i want to hear about that. i want to hear about how we shutdown the oil rigs in the gulf and took all the jobs away. it's what i want to hair the republicans say tonight. host: all right, let's go to a

tweet coming we're directed to an article about racial incidents intrude. let's look at the story he's referring to. this is from the "washington post." reporting from tampa, it says from the convention stage here the republican party has tried to highlight its die versity to emphasize their economic appeal.

host: that's information coming to us from "the washington post" reporting from tampa. mitt romney can accept the g.o.p. nomination in a speech that caps off the republican

convention that's been going on the last couple of days. we would like to get your impressions and what you hope to hear from candidate romney. let's go to mike now in vermont on our independent line. hi, mike. caller: good morning. i like mr. romney to expand further on news reports that he has committed sheldon adelson to go to war in iran. i'd also like him to comment on him going to france when threatened by a draft or in the vietnam war. i would like to find out if any one in his family has ever served in the u.s. military because i can't find any records when i google. i would like to find out if he does go to war in iran, will any of his five sons be in the front ranks when that occurs? thank you very much.

host: daniel, a democrat in tennessee, hi daniel. caller: oh, thank you for taking my call. that last caller, boy -- that's something to pay attention to. i would like to start out by excellenting there's three branches of government and the legislative and judicial and executive. well i feel the media takes a place in that, and from what i see, your program is the epitomy of enlightenment. there's no better show. when i was watching the show last month when you had the news of agency from around the world and the chinese television, representative was on there i wanted to call in so bad and ask them where are your shows like this in our country. ha, ha, ha.

but let me get to the point regarding the conventions. i find it telling that again, bush, george w. bush was again not invited to the convention, nor was sarah palin. that should speak for itself. and taxes. my father was an i.r.s. agent for the better part of my career i was an inventory auditor at a supermarket large enough to be on the new york stock exchange. what i've seen in my career from hauling manure to flying on a corporate jet to $10,000 per person fishing trip, in my life experiences show us your taxes if you're not embarrassed. your taxes are going to show whether you're proud of how you made your money or not. is there another year there

where he only paid 4% taxes? is there another yeah where he paid just 1% taxes. if you're proud of the way you made your money, show it and that would show the american people you made your money honestly. otherwise, what else do we have to believe if you don't show us your taxes? host: let's look at a facebook comment written in by debby. romney has not sold himself thus far buzz the american people does not believe he has a core. heslipped off on major issues and no amount of testimony can change that. we do not want to turn the most powerful position in the world over to someone whose true convictions are suspect. that's the bottom line. you can join the conversation on facebook by looking for c-span and weighing in there. you see there the header of our facebook page, countdown to the conventions. we're in the midst of the republican convention, democratic convention kicks off next week and c-span will be

there in charlotte, north carolina to bring you live gavel to gavel coverage from the convention floor. we'll also bring you other events happening in charlotte. let's go to tennessee and hear from linda and a republican. hi linda. caller: well, mitt romney gave 16% of his money last year to charity. he gave everything he inheritted to charity. obama gave less than 1% and he has family people to reach out to get them out of their mud hut. tennessee's really proud of al gore for charity. and bill clinton, well he gave his old underwear. the guy that called in and said we loved c-span. we know, democrats love c-span, just like the first guy that called on the independent line. they have two-lines to one right here on c-span. most of the people on c-span all yesterday yesterday, they were

msnbc. then comcast gives all their money, and explaining why c-span has become another democrat, liberal program. host: i'm sorry you feel that way linda. we try to give a balanced approach and balanced guests throughout our c-span schedule all day long. let's go another caller. this is wesley, an independent in tennessee. hi wesley. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: how are you? if you can just have patience for me for a few seconds. ok, first of all we all are americans. democratic, republicans, liberal, whatever status that you're under, just like religion. but basically, i'm just a plain old country boy. but what i look at every day is the dispute between differences.

old money don't like new money. we have 300,000 students that graduate out of college every year, and only 30% of those get the upper earn listen jobs in america. and -- get the upper eschelon jobs in measure. host: thanks for your call, wesley. coming up now, we'll go live to plitco doing convention coverage. >> some people have been here for every single one. we really appreciate it, we've had such a great time. and today is in two parts. this morning, we're honored to have ted cruz of the u.s. senate candidate in texas.

he won a big republican primary, and is almost certain to win in november. so sort of the first class of 2013 that will be a celebrity member of the class of 2013. and then, this afternoon, also part of this bank of america theory we're going to have a playbook snack. speaker gingritch is going to be here. he says he might even bring mrs. gingritch. we'll see, that would be fun. this is a fun day. we're excited to be here in the politico hub where we've had 70 hours of live programming between the set here, the events up here. some of you, there might still be some people there from last night. i'm not sure. i would like to thank the bank of america for continued

partnership and sponsorship of this series, we really appreciate you're supporting these great conversations both in washington and on the road. and we've had a good time with mike fields, the president of bank of america florida. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you very much. >> you've been a loyal attendee. >> i'm delighted to be here joined by my bank of america teammates. you will see on your seats we have been blessed with a copy every day. thank you sir. we're also blessed today to have the president of the university of south florida. thank you. [cheers and applause] my teammates and i are just so, so happy to be a part of this mike. we're so happy to be part of the fabric of the great tampa bay area in the state of florida. very, very important to us.

you'll notice an ad here on the seats is our latest report. we're very, very appreciative and we look forward to another great day. >> thank you for good times and great conversation. mike fields. and sherman, come on out. we're going to pre-game here quickly with jake sherman, young man. jacob, little bit of a big night. how is kid rock? >> lovely. made a couple of obama-romney jokes so definitely a political guy. pretty crowded. we saw some members of congress even getting down with kid rock. successful event for him. >> anybody you can mention?

>> yes, i have to think though. come back to me on that. i have to jog my memory. there are so many freshman, but it's tough to keep them straight. >> jake sherman is one of or congressional reporters. he was early to recognize the potential and the power that ted cruz came to see. i wonder if you could give us a little ted cruz 101. tell us why he's important? >> for many reasons. this is a guy who announced his candidacy on a blogger conference call. so someone from the beginning kind of harnessed the power, the outside power, there are two kinds of powers in washington. there's the power that you derive internally from the building, from the capitol, the power that comes along with the institutions that have defined washington for so long. the senate committees, the campaign committees. then there's the outside powers,

bloggers, columnists, and paul ryan has been a master of of harnessing their power to kind of ease his glider or direct his glide up through the house, and now as a vice presidentle candidate. ed cruz is starting to follow on that same path. was not the favor of the establishment. rick perry, the texas governor, long-time texas governor, longest serving texas governor i believe was not a ted cruz guy to say the least. he endorsed his opponent. he's somebody beginning to harness that coined of outside power and not the institutions that have defined washington and have defined washington power for so long. so that was just my introduction. he is somebody who also has an incredible background.

we've heard a lot about behind the scenes and publicly is the republican problems with minorities, which obviously ted cruz is hispanic. he's somebody who has an unbelievable background clerk for chief justice of the supreme court, harvard law graduate, was on the law review. somebody with a very, very impressive background but is really working in a different way than a lot of senate candidates have in the past. >> and, want to welcome also our viewers in livestream land on politico.com and our viewers around the world on c-span. tweet us at #playbookbreakfast. and those questions will be handed to me on cards. and we'll try to stump sherman.

and we'll have some questions to cruz. you wrote a fascinating story about the house leaderships anticipation for the outcome in november. they gave a forecast. >> they are giving a forecast. and you had mitch mcconnell here yesterday. those two things kind of dove tail a little bit. the power in washington have a very large majority are now saying they're going to net somewhere between four to eight. i think they said six to eight. some people say four to eight. so they're not only predicting that they're going to hold their majority, they're saying they're going to expand it. >> now, they need to lose 25, roughly? 23, 24, 25? >> democrats say 25. but behind the scenes republicans say and deprats acknowledge it's more like 40 -- democrats acknowledge it's more like 40 buzz redistricting has changed a lot of it.

some democrats are going to lose, so it's actually a little bit larger of a number. >> what's the majority roughly now? >> they have 89 new folks, i think it's in the 60's, if i'm not mistaken. >> so what does that mean to speaker boehner? >> it depends on the composition of the house. i think john boehner would be well-served to lose, actually he would be well-served to lose and to get rid of some of the people that have been problem children for him. they're not going to happen, because they're in rock red republican seats, very strong conservative deep red seats. people who could afford to buck their leadership time and time again. the next year in the house in congress is going to be one of the more consequencal year. whatever the outcome is, if obama wins, if romney wins, it's

going to make 2013 will be one of the more important years in modern washington. >> so if you cover congress this is a great time. >> great, great time. >> we know about the fiscal club, but what else in 2013 will be making news. what will be the tough choices that are going to confront a freshman like a senator cruz? >> i think chief among the things is defense spending, the sequester, a series of automatic cuts that were built into the debt ceiling deal, if the supercommittee failed, the committee of law makers that were supposed to cut a grand deficit compromise. >> but we don't think these are actually going to happen. >> the likelihood is not. but how it doesn't happen is the important thing that congress is going to have to wrestle with. and the republican party is going to need to do some soul searching, coming to grips with

just how much defense spending they are willing to cut. what they're willing to cut instead of defense spending. >> when you talk to people in the pentagon there are plenty to cut, the most hawkish will tell you, officers will tell you there's plenty to cut. >> that's right, i think there is. but there's always a fight over readiness and the optics of what to cut. just the optics of cutting defense spending for republican powers, very tough political dynamic. >> a lot of it is in the south. >> also as we know, and you guys i'm sure have a very good sense for that, defense contractors and businesses across the country, there's a direct fall out from cutting defense spending, and programs getting pared back. a lot of them are not starting programs, not following through with contracts, just because they don't know what the world will look like, the defense world. >> just about any seminar you go to or conference or convention you go to, what do you pick up

from the value in it usually isn't in the sessions, it's in the hallways, after hours. this convention is very much like that. jake, what have you learned from your sources high and low as you mingled about here? >> i think the prediction on how many seats the republicans will get in the house was something picked up in the sidelines of the convention. we also did a number of stories while we are here. we all worked very hard. >> one you did recently? >> paul ryan. if mitt romney does not win in november, paul ryan's' sent to power will be rocky. he's obviously somebody who is extremely well-liked in the republican world. has a great fund-raises base, he's going to have to, but he doesn't have, but will likely have to go back to the house and

he will have to contend with what that looks like for the next four years. that's a long time. >> so you can pick up on some speculation that might go to a corporation. >> he could, he could leave congress but then he also -- he could be leap-frogged by somebody, somebody could jump ahead in line. if you're out of sight, out of mind. not something you want. if he stays in congress, if thousand of more votes to deal with, he has to look at cutting a deficit deal with the president, which -- >> ok, this is interesting. jake was pointing out that it will take thousands of hundreds of bad votes in the next four years. >> yeah. >> that's really interesting. >> if you look now, todd aiken, the senate candidate in missouri who has been creating some unfortunate headlines, republicans would say. they sponsored a bill together which, honestly i remember this very well. i don't remember either todd aiken or paul ryan being a major part of. they weren't a big part of this bill. it was a bill that sought to

redefine rape and something in the way beginning of congress. it was forceable rape versus like it's not forceable rape. but i don't remember either aiken orien being a big part of it. but it's become a big part of ryan's campaign. >> it sure looks like a fallback plan. they salled he couldn't get off the ballot. do we still think that's true? >> i don't think he couldn't. maybe for his party's sake they ask him to stay on the ballot. if he wins, which he is going to do, he could be replaced by some mechanism. there could be some sort of technicality that would keep him on the ballot or made it easier for him to stay on the ballot. >> i see, they could put someone else in that might not have been strong enough to get elected on their own.

so something that i learned here is just how republicans seem to be optimistic about the big picture, about their narrative, their message. but i don't sense any optimism, in fact accute some pessimism about specific state. this came to mind because i think politico now thinks they're going to win wisconsin, but if you're fighting in north carolina, that's the one that is like really is a head scratcher. they're very worried about ohio. and that's how you actually win the presidency. >> i think north carolina is the most illustrative of like romney's weakness. romney should be cleaning obama's clocks in north carolina. i mean, granted obama is spending a lot of money there because he's going there next week and he can't pull out of the state where he has a convention. but obama's embrace of gay marriage, same-sex marriage, is not something that plays well in