>> i want barack obama to be the next president of the united states. i proudly nominate him to be the standard bearer of the democratic party. ♪ like [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] host: after a 48 minute speech by bill clinton, president obama became the official nominee of the democratic party last night. the first time a former president has nominated a successor. we want to get your reaction to

president clinton's speech and to hear what you think president obama should talk about it his acceptance speech tonight. members are on the screen. -- numbers are on the sreen. if you happen to be a de legate and want to talk about what you've seen, we want to hear from you as well. you can also contact us electronically. you can see the different ways there. facebook if you want to make a comment or continue the conversation. or send an e-mail. here is the front page. "the charlotte observer."

here is "the wall street journal." from a front-page view of "the financial times." although it is customary for former presidents to appear at the convention, this marks the first time a past occupant has delivered an address. it represents a public healing of the auctions -- often fractious relationship between mr. obama and mr. clinton. front page of the financial times this morning. here is how "usa today" puts it.

"washington times" -- david, who has written biographies of the clinton and president obama has a front-page piece in the washington post. the party is a big voice booming again.

that is from the front page of "the washington post." president clinton delivered the nomination address last night. here is the first call this morning from dayton, tennessee. donna, a democrat. caller: i watched president clinton's speech last night and thought he was wonderful. i wish we would have him back, but obama is a good president and trying to do everything he can to support this country. i just wish people would listen

to him. as far as republicans go, i am not grant to say anything bad about anyone. i believe in the health-care program. i believe it is a good thing. i love c-span. thank you very much for being the host of the show. thank you. host: randi, a republican in louisville, ky. we are going to move on to dallas i believe it is. audrey on the independent line. what did you think about president clinton's speech nominating president obama last night? caller: i think it was remarkable how he unveiled a lot of things on the republican party side. i think it is a disgrace for the republicans to have struck the will of the people, as far as doing what is it right, well

despite the differences with the president. i think president obama deserves another four years, given the facts and all of that. you can see it is obvious they have such distaste that they did not want to corporate to get the things done that need to be done. i hope and pray president everybody,essage to that it would touch the heart and they go in the voting booth to do the right thing so we can all pull together and help one each other -- one another. that's all i have to say. i am without a doubt. i feel like president obama will be reelected given the fact of how shameful it is for the republican party to have so much hatred. i believe it is because of his

skin color. audrey in dallas. we wouldre a delegate, love to hear from you. here is a chart compiled by c- span. this is available on our web site. bill clinton has delivered nine addresses at the democratic conventions. we have seven of them in our archives. your welcome to watch those at any point you look like. you can see his 1988 speech, which was the keynote during the michael dukakis nomination was 35 -- 32.5 minutes in length. his next beaches where he accepted the nomination were 53 and 65 minutes in length.

2000 he delivered a 40 minute speech. 2004, up 23.5 minutes. the last convention 21 minutes in denver. this year a 48 minute speech. if you go to c-span.org, you will be able to share that easily.tion very easy le it has all of our information with regard to all of the video we shot down in charlotte, the web exclusive video. we're following tweets of delegates and following a hash tag you can post to, and that is cspandnc. all sorts of different creeds there. the convention kicks off today at 4:00. gavel-to-gavel coverage on c- span, c-span.org and c-span radio.

the preview program will kick off at 3:00 live at the time warner cable arena. here are some of the featured speakers. tammy baldwin, running for senate in wisconsin against tommy thompson. charlie crist, the former republican governor of florida. caroline kennedy will speak. along with eva longoria, annise parker, brian schweitzer, john kerry, and joe biden and president obama. his speech is due to start at 10:10 latonight. >> are we where we want to be today? no. is the president satisfied? of course not. what are we better off than we

were when he took office? [cheers and applause] when president robert obama took office, the economy was in freefall. we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. are we doing better than that today? the answer is yes. host: politico has a look at the reviews of president clinton's speech. pundit swooned over clinton's s peech. is nearly 50 minute speech wednesday was praised by a reporters on all three major news agencies. this is from wolf blitzer --

here is ed schultz of msnbc. this is exactly what president barack obama needed. steve schmidt said his political power is is unmatched on either side of the title. " i wish we had someone on our side who have the ability to do that. we do not. it would be great if we did." brit hume said if i were guilty, i would not want -- i would want bill clinton there to defend the. nobody does a better. he is the most talented poet -- politician i've ever met.

no one can mount an argument more effectively than he can. that does not mean everything he said was true, he said. it was a little self indulgent and 30% too long. host: beverly in kearney, m o. how are you? caller: i'm elated. i am so excited. it is about time that people realize he does not do anything better than that. he nailed it. i did not vote for clinton either time. i have always been mad at myself for not voting before. it was because of the hatred that republicans were putting

out about him. i promised myself when i did not vote for him the second time either, and he did such a wonderful job, i promised myself i would never be swayed by the republicans lies again. now we have the same thing with president obama. there is hatred, hatred. they hate democrats. they hate democratic presidents. any democratic first lady. it is irritating the press lets them get away with it. i do not think there will be able to hide it in a longer peri. host: how was your summer? caller: it is wonderful.

i love moving back home to missouri. host: i am out of the next for ever. from you.ar we will talk to you soon hopefully. hcaller: 14 million people on food stamps. 8.3 unemployment. host: that said, what is your conclusion? caller: that the democrats live

like nobody's business. what host host: thank you for calling in this morning. here is more on president clinton's speech.

host: finally from this piece --

by the way, president clinton's past speeches are available at c-span.org we have seven of his convention speeches. every minute of every convention since 1984 is available up c- span.org at the video archives. it is also the home of our convention of. from "the new york times" this morning --

that is a little bit from jeremy iece.s peace malcolm and surprise, ariz., on the independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i was really impressed with president clinton last night as far as his clarity and simplicity and be able to talk about the different policies, and how he was able to calm we

go through this character rations of president obama. by him doing it in the manner in which he did, it was over time. the point of the matter is some say we need someone to explain to us in this way as to not deceived. i tell you what, if you were on the fence and wondering if you should give president obama another four years, i think that last night the ultimate message mr. clinton delivered was this, we're better off giving him four more years than the alternative. thank you. host: next call is from deal, st. louis, missouri. you are on. caller: bill clinton had a grand slam last night. he told the fax just like they are. he reminded people of things

they forgot about, the way they were when bush left office. i believe he answered the question, are you better off than you were four years ago? i believe that question needs to be directed at the republican congress right now, because everything that man tried to do, they stood in the way. they have blocked just about everything he has tried to do, starting with mitch mcconnell giving a little speech. my job is to make this 01-term president. he has tried really hard to do that. luckily, believe mr. clinton has successfully taken care of that. kful bama better be havthan he is not debating mr. clinton. host: deal in misery.

here are some tweets we received this morning. -- neil in missouri. the other party created amount of debt. here is jim hav. clinton's speech was no surprise to anyone, was it? this is gary, obama is a troubled if he said he is willing to share the spotlight with president clinton. that was finally. here is more of bill clinton from last night. >> now, we all know he also tried to work with congressional republicans on health care, debt

reduction, and new jobs. that did not work out so well. . [laughter] it could have been because of the senate republican leaders said in a remarkable moment of candor, to full years before the election their number one priority was not to put america back to work, it was to put the president out of work. [applause] ait a minute 00 -- senator, i hate to break it to you, but we're point to keep president obama on the job. [applause] are you ready for that? are you ready to work for it? [chating "four more years"]

debbie from "the hill" giffords is it charlotte to attend the democratic national convention. -- gabby. there is word would reject it says here by a spokesperson she does not have a role in tonight's convention, are rumored she will be leading the pledge of allegiance tonight in the opening of the convention last day. illinois. lyle on the republican line. caller: good morning. one thing, some of the people but said the other side is hateful is what is wrong with our nation. both sides say hateful things. i do not think one party has a

cover on that. the second is president clinton forgot to tell people the reason we have a balanced budget is because we have a republican congress that nailed the seat to the fire. he did not tell us there was a lot of income that came off of what was later called the tech bubble burst. tech companies are selling at 100 times earnings. before that, there were a lot of people making profits. the profits went into the tax structures. when the bubble burst, who was president? that was president bush. so president bush had to solve the problem that clinton left behind. one year after he was in power, we have 9/11, and no one

mentioned the fact that president bush had to severe problems to handle. -- two severe problems to handle. talking about our president now, he instituted obama care. he did nothing to fix medicare. no one, republican or democrats, are telling people they only pay 40 percent of the cost of medicare out of their peril. i hear people calling into c- span all the time saying i pay for that, and i should get it. no one tells them they are only paying 40 percent of the cost, and the reason we're having a huge bet it's not because of the of the futureause outlook on medicare. host: next is joe, independent

from florida. you are on "washington journal." caller: thanks for taking my call. i am no longer a republican, but i could never see myself joining the democrat ranks. if you look back at the numbers, 41 percent of white males voted for obama. so the charge of racism has been overused. when it comes to president clinton, he is a great speechmaker. i, however -- i think it is delusional some of the things he says. look back at his second term in office. he was controlled by the senate. they kept in check. they forced him to cut back. they forced him to reform welfare. that is the success of his

second term. i watched him speak and looked up in the stadium, and the whole stadium was giving him a standing ovation. they put the camera on joe biden, and he was still sitting down. and the things he says on a regular basis are just outrageous. this brings me to the next point, he just recently said if republicans get elected, they want to put a black people back in chains. where is the media outrage? p on todd aking u for the comments he made, but nothing about joe biden and the mention of slavery. but basically what akin said is

true. people have forgiven him and moving forward. i do not think joe biden asking for forgiveness in the are regis thinks he says. host: that was joe from florida talking about president clinton's speech last night. 10:10 is the scheduled start time of president obama speech. the coverage begins at 3:00. the convention starts at 4:00. president obama told nbc 12 on wednesday that he has regrets about the syntax of the now infamous you did not build that line, not for the point because everyone who was there watching

knows exactly what i was saying." that is from "the daily beast." from "the hill" a look at it should is platform debacle --

that is in "the hill" newspaper. next call from shawn. caller: well, i would like to say when i first got out of high school, my first vote was for president clinton. i was a democrat back then. that statement about changing the platform, you really have to show it to get the real aspect.

clinton is not obama. obama is not clinton. if clinton was running for reelection, i would probably vote for him. he worked with conservatives and republicans. obama, after he read and health care down, what did he expect the conservatives to do? they were reasonable. obama came into office saying i of the house, the senate, i do not need you republicans. upas it and the corner of play with your leg goes. he screwed up this country. clinton is very energized, a very strong personality. i like clinton but i do not like for obama. -- but i do not like obama.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. this summer i was proud of his term goods party as the platform committee drafting chair. as the chair, i come before you today to discuss two important matters related to our party's national platform. as an ordained united methodist minister, i am here to test and affirm our faith and belief in god is central to the american story, and informs the value expressed in the party's platform. in addition, president obama recognizes jerusalem as the capital of israel and our party's platform should as well. mr. chairman, i have submitted my amendment and riding and believe it is being projected on the screen for the delegates to see. i move adoption of the amendment and -- as submitted and shown to the delegates. >> a motion has been made.

is there a second? any further discussion? all those delegates in favor say saye. aye.thos delegate all those delegates oppose say no. let me do that again. i -- i guess, i will do that one more time. with all those delegates in favor say aye. all those delegates oppose say

no. in the opinion of the chair, two-thirds have voted in the affirmative. the motion is adopted and the platform has been amended as shown on the screen. thank you very much. thank you. governor strickland, thank you again for your service. governor strickland, thank you again for your service. as chair of the platform drafting committee. host: peter bakker has of front- page piece on president obama. there is some interesting facts and here, interesting things in here. for years later scarred but still confident is the headline.

we you can see here there is a full-page where this article

continues just a couple of paragraphs from it. one wit

that is just a little bit of peter baker's piece in "the new york times." back to your calls on president clinton's speech nominating president obama. independent line. thank you for holding. caller: hi. thank you for having me on. i am a long time c-span please

spare -- listener. between c-span and the financial networks, i have had 80,000 hours on. i feel like i could have my own show about what i have seen, the reality is that unfold on c- span out of the horses' mouths. i just want to respond to some comments of recent callers. for example, the man who said that about rape, 43,000 babies are born every year for rape as a result of rape. the tension does not seem to stop it all that much. as far as where we are, the great depression took 15 years to get out of. people have to consider that. also, mr. bush handed obama not

only and 11 trillion dollar debt, about 1.2 trillion annual deficit. obama would have had to of ended the war in afghanistan, iraq, prescription drugs and bush tax cuts not to have it accumulate on an annual basis, especially while we were in the middle of going down the cliff. when the republicans say the stimulus did not work, they are talking down the economy in a situation where confidence is really important, so it is very sad and destructive. in fact, as a result of the tea party refusing to cooperate, the united states has -- was reduced, the credit rating was reduced a notch. host: we have a lot of

information on the table. we will leave it there. here is a couple of facebook comments. jimmy talking about president clinton's speech. he said tuesday was government government. bush's fault. pushe glorious as bill was awesome. william is a democrat and rockville, illinois. what did you think of the former president's speech nominating the current president? caller: i think it was really great. i believe barack is a very good president. i think president clinton that nominated him as a man that is looking out for the people. and for this country. this lady has a very good point. to me, people should stand up

for each other. we should not be down on each other just because of color of skin or anything. we should stand up for each other. i have been doing that all of my life, and i have people who are of different color standing up for me. believe me, when people stand up for people, it makes a difference. host: william and rock bill. how quickly we forget, bill clinton is the one who raised the question of president obama's birthplace, and least referred its he did not have sexual relations with that woman. he has no credibility in my book. one of the most startling facts of contemporary politics is that so many white working-class voters by democrats and appealing.

the party that brought about social security and the g.i. bill and is an unabashedly pro- union fails and willing the lunch-bucket crowd. president obama is trailing mitt romney by double digits among whites, and by an astounding 22 points among whites without a college degree. contemplate that for a moment.

that is "usa today" lead editorial. from "politico." new book.oodward's

if you want to see the excerpt, you can go to dailbeast.com. next call is from travis and atlanta. what did you to think of the president's speech last night? caller: it reminded me of a i did not have sex with that woman. it looks like dnc is run by a bunch of atreus. he played we like to the public and to congress. think you for letting me speak. host: travis, a republican in atlanta, georgia. coming up, we will be joined by david wagner, an anchor at wcnc tv in charlotte.

we want to show you a little bit more of bill clinton nominating president obama. [applause] >> mr. mayor, fellow democrats, we are here to nominate a president. [applause] and, i have one in mind. i want to nominate a man whose own life has known its fair share of adversity and uncertainty. i want to nominate a man who ran for president to change the course of an already weak economy, and six weeks before his election saw the stock market suffered the greatest collapse and -- since the great depression. a man who put us on the long

road to recovery, knowing all the while that no matter how many jobs that he saved or created, there would still be millions of more waiting. worried about feeding their own kids, trying to keep their hopes alive. i want to nominate a man who is cool on the outside. [applause] but who burns for america on the inside. [applause] i want a man who believes with no doubt that we can build a new american dream economy driven by innovation and creativity, by education and cooperation. and and by the way, after last night, i want a man who has the good sense to marry michelle obama.

[cheers and applause] i want barack obama to be the next president of the united states, and i proudly nominate him to be the standard bearer of the democratic party. [applause] >> "washington journal" contines. ues. host: a live picture of the time warner cable the arena. our program will begin at 3:00 eastern time from the floor of the convention hall. president obama and vice

president biden will accept their parties' nominations tonight. gavel-to-gavel coverage on c- span. meanwhile, we're joined by david wagner, a charlotte anchor, wcnc tv. what do you think about having the convention in your home town? guest: this is great. i think this is something that some never expected. this is the biggest convention that charlotte has ever posted. some people really did not know what to expect. i still think a lot of folks from the charlotte area it may have not had the chance to get down here and experience this. some were a little bit scared away that perhaps traffic would be so bad and businesses would be shut down, and to be honest, after having, from the republican national convention in tampa, this security seems relatively light to me, but the people in charlotte are really

excited to have the world watching, and i really hope as many people as possible have been able to get to uptown at charlotte. we call it uptown charlotte, not downtown. host: why is that? guest: that is a good question, and i got different answers when i asked that. people said they thought it sounded better to be going uptown verses downtown. i think the upside -- of town sounds better than the downtown. i do not know that has any basis in fact at all. host: has there been any surprises for you? have you been surprised by any of the events going on in charlotte or anything? guest: i guess i am not terribly surprised by this, but i have really been struck by the differences in these

conventions between the convention here in charlotte and tampa. in down in tampa, it seemed to me like a party that what -- that was really trying to come together. when i would talk to delegates from north carolina, i asked them a general question of what they think of mitt romney. the response was, i think once american gets to know mitt romney, there will like him. once american gets to know paul ryan, they like him. i reminded them that the election was just two months away, but they just felt like america would get to know these candidates and would like them and unify behind them. it felt to me like it was not quite unified. verses this right here, and this is a pretty raucous convention on a lot of levels. if you lot of music, and it almost feels, particular with

the president speaking last night, it almost feels like a church service on some levels. i know not everyone agrees with bill clinton, but he certainly is gifted. host: so the hall is a little louder and more enthusiastic? guest: definitely. i think part of that is down in tampa there was a hurricane bearing down from the gulf. they had to take four days of convention activities here yet i think it was hard, and in some ways it made for a little bit of an awkward convention. i think they tried the best they could to make sure it was a successful convention. i am sure if you ask the folks from the rnc they would say it was a tremendously successful convention. it is tough when you have four days planned and have to

shoehorn them into three days versus this which started out as three, and we have had weather elements to deal with, and the irony is at the republican national convention down in tampa has gone through the middle part of the state and now has hit charlotte. i think in some ways it has been an equal opportunity offender in terms of the storm. host: the cancellation of the bank of america stadiums speech tomorrow, how is that playing out? guest: i can first tell you i think folks in this community, there were more than 60,000 community credentials, and 19,000 other people waiting in line. more than 60,000 the democrat national committee folks tell me those were confirmed credential people and an additional 19,000 people on waiting lists. all whole host of people beyond

the delegates hoping to get into bank of america stadium. yesterday i know many folks from the republican party were maintaining bank of america stadium could not be filled up. that is why they pulled out. the democrats say that is absolutely not true, that they pulled out because of the concern about the weather. we had change in weather here. we have had sunshine and then torrential downpours. i think they were concerned not only about the weather but president obama speech. , also, the people would have had to get in line and get in the stadium much earlier in the day. that could have put them in danger if there were thunderstorms earlier in the day. they made that call. i will be curious to see how

this translates onto the tv at home. you are in a little bit of a bubble when you are in the arena, so sometimes hard to tell. preaching to the choir. host: we're talking to david wagner, wcnc-tv anchor. that is affiliated with which network? guest: nbc television. i have been here 4.5 years. this is an interesting area, because so many people, it is sometimes hard to find people originally from charlotte. many people here move from the midwest. a lot of people from new york, florida and california. as this city has grown, a lot of

people have moved in from the outside. host: first call-up is from washington, d.c.. you are on the "washington journal." caller: my call is in reference to i think president obama has done a very good job and the reason he has not succeeded is because congress is the one that has this country in turmoil. as far as president clinton is concerned, regardless of what he did, he still left the country in very good shape. guest: well, there are a lot of people inside the arena of last night, and it will be back in there today who believe just that. like it or not, bill clinton last night did a pretty effective job in terms of his

ability to argue the democrats's point in saying president obama has reached across the aisle and brought people into his administration. that was the argument from bill clinton last night. obviously he said things like he hired hillary. that was, in part, his goal last night to chip away at what took place in tampa to say this is a man that has tried very hard to reach across the aisle. again, whether or not audience at home that resonate with them is another story, but certainly in the arena last night. there are a lot of people that believe he has made an effort to reach across the aisle. host: who will win the north carolina's 15 electoral votes in november? guest: that is a tough one. back in 2008, barack obama was the first democratic candidate

to win north carolina since jimmy carter in 1976. if you talk to folks here, they will say it is a tossup. i talked to some of the political analyst for the networks, and from nbc and cbs, they believe it is leaning towards mitt romney, but that was after the republican national convention in tampa, so perhaps there has been a bomb there and we're just in the middle of the democratic national convention here. i was talking to shep todd from nbc news and he told me that he was told that the obama campaign does not necessarily feel like they have to win north carolina, they just want to keep a close here in north carolina in order to tie up resources and time by the mitt romney campaign. i think it will be very close, less than 24,000 votes separated them last time.

i think it will be a tight race. host: dave wagner is our guest. west palm beach, florida. ground on the independent line. -- rhonda. caller: good morning. my parents hail from north carolina. i have been a democrat, republican, and going in as an independent. i've a couple of things to touch on with bill clinton. i think when he was in office, he was an excellent president. he is a highly intelligent man with a lot of integrity. i felt he embarrassed america with the scandal. i felt his home life, i do not think he was an excellent has been at the time but felt he turned it around for himself. as far as barack obama, i felt he did have a clean record and has been an excellent president tried his best to turn it around, but i also feel as far as the job situation, there is still a lot of people out there

unemployed. i was one of them. i think what is going on right now with them bringing in these men, i think they all have great integrity, and i feel everyone should be given a chance in this country is one of the greatest countries in the world to be president. one of my things if it will ever change, i do not know, but i feel like every four years we should have a new president. i want to touch a little bit about putting got back on the platform. i think that was an excellent idea. i do not think the world realizes how important the survival of israel is. we have in god we trust on our dollar bills. i wanted to share my views with everything. i wish that every runner has the best of luck. i hope god puts in the right person for the position. host: that was rhonda in west

palm. guest: there were many people on the floor when that subject came up were concerned. some were in question whether there was a two-thirds majority on that. getting back to former president bill clinton. if our concerns about bill clinton among those delegates on the floor, they were certainly not recognized. they recognized the man. i think bill clinton pretty effectively navigated down that path of praising his republican presidents -- predecessors and successors. he talked about both president bush's and talk about ronald reagan. what he tried to do and many people think he did affectively was to both praise republican

presidents and at the same time blame them. i think it is tough to tell how much he swayed any independence out there. i think the democrats for give bill clinton in many respects. i think those republicans who did not like bill clinton before, will not like him any better after last night's speech. host: you had an interview with president obama. guest: it was on a different television station. sure honest, i'm not which television station that was but it was not us. host: what is the word on the vice president joe biden? guest: vice president joe biden has a story that reputation in

many respects in the democratic party. people love him. affectional the call him joe. i think they think of him as joe and not necessarily by his title because they fuehrer -- feel comfortable with him. tonight, joe biden will do what he often does which is to come out swinging and be the pit bull and the charismatic. when we see vice president joe biden, that is often what he does. when you talk to democratic delegates here, he does it pretty effectively. host: michelle obama has been around charlotte campaigning. guest: she has and she has been here in north carolina a fair amount. we have a significant number of military bases in north carolina

and she has made that her platform and one of her important causes. she has been in north carolina a lot prior to this convention. i don't think there is any doubt that people of north carolina like the first lady. i think they like her personally and she is probably more popular than her husband in some parts of the country. when former president clinton was talking about how barack obama risch across the aisle and was not afraid to bring in the administration and people disagreed with him and president clinton said he hired hillary. that was a pretty effective moment. it was a lighter moment but it really resonated with the people in the a real fear. host: charles on our republican line --

caller: yes, sir, i wanted to comment about the bipartisan of president obama. when they went behind closed doors, they pushed through the health-care. i think we really deserve obama for president. i think we deserve the hurricanes and everything else. we premeditate to bleep murdered 55 million innocent little babies. host: that was from louisiana. moving on to a democrat from dayton, ohio. i apologize, this is kirsten in winthrop, mass..

caller: i wanted to say as an independent, my first vote was for a republican, bush senior. as a christian and a strong believer in god, my concern is that we have become an extreme and i look at the fact that we believe in god and in god we trust and it is in error hots -- in our hearts but we separate religion and state and we care for everyone. we have every walk of life in this country and there are people who are different and there police should be united in our leader and we should care for everyone. i was in corporate america for over 20 years and i left to work in the non-profit sector because i saw the need of how many

people were losing hope and had no support and the cuts that have been coming down and a lot of that has not been touched about what will happen. i happen to work with people living with hiv and that has not been talked about. it has gone down but that does not mean that funding should be cut. means what we have been doing has been productive what will happen when funding is cut? what will happen to the un educated people? those are important to me. what happens to the separation of church and state? guest: that is a question a lot of people are asking. i want to talk about the stability in this country or the lack of civility in this country i talked to a lot of people who are concerned about that. they are concerned about the

certain negative political discourse, not just from the campaigns themselves, but these outside groups that are influencing this election on many levels. when it comes to new generations of the voters, i think a lot of young people like a certain amount of direct ness in the political discourse and they feel sometimes they are not getting that. these outside groups that are influencing these elections, it is hard to tell what is fact from fiction when they get involved. part of the concern is the impact on the election right now -- part of the concern is what is the impact for future generations in getting into the arena of politics? are they so disgusted by what is taking place in both parties and

is outside groups that perhaps they don't get involved in the future? i think civility is a major issue among many young people, at least the ones i talked to, in north carolina and it is not just here. many of the folks i talked to in tampa after the republican convention said this as well. host: dave wagner, i want to get your take on the fact that there was not much talk about what the last caller brought up, hiv. it is often a democratic issue but not much talk about that at all during this convention but a lot of talk about women's health and women's rights to choose and gay marriage. what is your take? guest: what you don't see in the convention -- you don't see the protests that are taking place outside. their protests regarding health issues, protest regarding

immigration, protests by the occupy groups. there's a lot going on outside the convention you don't see. in reality, what happens with these conventions, they are very scripted. you also do not see what takes place before it appears on prime-time sometimes unless you happen to see it here or in other places that are carrying all the speakers. they do address some of those issues throughout the day. it is just not in prime time and they pick and choose their battles. president clinton chose his talking points last night and everything is pretty well scripted here as it was in tampa. i think vice president joe biden's comments will be scripted tonight as well as the president. there is not a lot of guesswork. it is pre-planned out at all the

conventions of these days it seems. they touch on some of those subjects that are important to people, you don't necessarily see them in the main speeches. t --: here is a twee next call comes from dayton, ohio, a democrat. caller: i wanted to comment on the collar -- on the previous caller. i am not understanding the backlash for church and state. when we did this at the convention, they showed a picture of native americans which i have no problem with. when you come into this country, it is the pledge of allegiance. i don't understand the opposition -- i don't understand

why the -- what the amendment was about a don't get it. guest:well, i will be perfectly honest with you -- i was running around trying to prepare a story for the late news. i was not able to hear or get a personal reaction from many of the delegates on the floor. i did see the votes but i did not get to talk to them afterwards about what their specific concerns were. this is a diversified party. it is a party of people from many different faiths. it is very different from the republicans. it is not that there are people with different opinions but you look out of that crowd, it was primarily a white and often times christian audience in tampa. you look into this crowd here

and there are people of different colors and creeds. i think it is different. people are very sensitive about what they are passionate about here. and where they come from in life. it depends on your perspective as i looked out at some of those arab americans or people who are supportive of our americans in this country. there was a real concern and a genuine one. that is part of this party and has been for a long time. host: "usa today" lead editorial today --

guest: as i go out in north carolina and talk to people here, this is a very the state from one end to the other. it is a big stake and a lot of different people. you have your military presence and other folks to the east. you have a research triangle which has other voters with different opinions and you have people to our west in the mountains and you have large cities like charlotte. i think this is a varied state. issues like gay marriage, it is a very polarizing here. there was a marriage amendment that was passed overwhelmingly in north carolina recently.

at the same time, four years ago, we saw barack obama, the first democratic president since jimmy carter. you go from one end to the other and you will find, like much of america, many different opinions. host: california, our republican line. caller: i have a question to pose to you. i am sure you're old enough to remember when alan greenspan did his speech on doing away with social security and medicare and all those things. what do you think about putting money into it and raising the tax on that? they always raise health care and they always raise all these other things. in the times i have been around and from when i talk to my parents, their -- they have never raise the amount they put into that. it is like a foundation.

if you take away the foundation, everything collapses. if i remember right, alan greenspan back in the 1980's talked about this. this was a big concern and now the big concern seems to be that nobody is working. how do we build the economy? if you are not building into the foundation of the economy, doesn't it make sense that you would not bring it up ford? -- upward? guest: that is what the issues that the democrats have been outspoken about at least in terms of protecting social security and protecting medicare. that was front and center during the president's speech last night. i did not get a chance after president clinton + speech last night to talk to any of the delegates in the i read about

that specifically. what they have to do here -- the talk about these specific points -- what they do at these conventions as they narrow it down. what will resonate with the audience at home? what will resonate with the audience in the a rematch. arena? i don't know that we get that many specifics that the conventions. they certainly throw a lot of red meat to the delegates and get them fired up by not sure that we ever hear of those specifics at least in those prime-time speeches. we might hear a point/counterpoint comment during these different addresses but i don't think they will veer too far down that path. the bottom line is we're protecting medicare and social security but they don't talk too

much about that. host: when you talk to the delegates and other folks down there, the question of whether we're better off is playing out in the press. guest: it is and i think people in this country are aware that there are many people hurtling across america. i think it is hard when talking to delegates, it is hard for them to understand that they are not doing all that well. it is hard for them, i think, to look back four years asked if they were doing better. they feel better but at the same time, they don't feel like they're doing as well as they wish they were. i think it is a matter of perspective. delegates on the floor bought into what former president

clinton said last night. the people at home who are out of jobs and are suffering and having difficult times, they may not have the same kind of hope or have been as inspired by that. i think all lot of it is along party lines and there's a whole group of independent voters who make veered toward president obama or a little bit toward mitt romney. i think it depends on your perspective and where you are. , whether you have a job or you don't have a job. host: the convention kicks off at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. here is a tweet --

anything to add to that? guest: i will buy that. i have heard so many different people describe to me uptown vs downtown but that sounds reasonable. host: 5 promised to let it go. here is an independent from naples, florida. caller: i would like to dispel a few mths that i keep hearing over and over again. barack obama did not inherit an economy from george bush. he inherited an economy from the democratic congress who spends the money. he was part of that congress. that is the congress of 2006. george bush with all this major spending and that congress, congress spends the money so barack obama spends the money. george bush gets credit for it

and barack obama comes on like a new kid on the block and says he inherited this terrible economy, from himself. are we better off today than when george bush took over? look at the gas pump. we're not better off. look at food. it is going up and up as the dollar goes down. we're not better off. we are spiraling down. things are not getting better. there is a lot of political rhetoric but look at the facts, not the rhetoric whether you are an independent like me or on the left or the right. guest: i think there are a lot of people who feel the same way you do. i talked to many people in north carolina who feel like we're not better off. former president clinton last

night maintained that we could be in worse shape. obama not done what he believed what barack obama did. what you say is really what many independent voters and many people in the republican party tell me. i have heard it in tampa. people say that we're not better off. than four years ago. people in this convention will differ. they believe fervently that this man has made america a better place, not just strong economically, but in their belief, a more moral nation on

many levels, a more humane nation on a lot of levels. that's what i hear from the people on the floor here in charlotte host: here is a tweed t --- \ guest: i think what resonates in charlotte is what resonates really the whole country. you cannot just stereotype charlotte. charlotte is a relatively new city and has grown rapidly. it is a banking capital so you have this financial interest in charlotte and at the same time, you have a lot of people who have moved here from elsewhere. we have a democratic mayor in charlotte. prior to that, we had a republican mayor in charlotte. some would consider him to be a more moderate republican who served and he is running for governor now.

there is a divided public here and it is symptomatic or at least much like the rest of america. it is divided and while this is a city that tends to vote democratic, you don't have to go far outside charlotte to see there are people with strong opinions on the other side as well host: next call is from raleigh, n.c., a democrat. caller: i want to start with a comment. yes, i am a democrat. i am not satisfied with the economy. i think it is important for democrats to hold president obama to the fire wednesday is reelected into office. he has made a lot of promises

and we were expecting him to fulfill them like education and with regard to the economy and with regard to the troops and the war, etc. having said that, my question for dave has to do with a comment that former president clinton made with regard to hate. the republicans like to talk about a lot about god and what their beliefs are. they are making this big fuss about jerusalem being the capital of israel and how the were god was not in the convention on tuesday. the question i have specifically is -- what do you think about president clinton + comments any he said - i don't have hate for republicans but the republicans 8 barack obama?

i would like to hear what your thoughts are. guest: when i talked to folks in tampa the delegates at the republican national convention, they do not lock barack obama. they feel strongly about it and sometimes that comes out in ways that many people might construe as hateful. sometimes there is not a distinction between haiti for the man's policies and hate for the person. many people in this country like president obama and i find some who like president obama disagree with it. what you are talking about, i think, is this sort of discourse, public discourse, political discourse that has changed in america.

i think many in north carolina and many of the folks i talked to in tampa feel that it has eroded into not really a conversation about issues but a conversation about personalities, people, skin color, political party versus the issues. many people i talk to in the charlotte area, it is cloudy what is really important. it is hard to recognize the differences when you are so busy running someone down. i believe many people in this area that i talked to believe there is a on both sides. we certainly saw that in the democratic party with people who had a strong reaction to george w. bush as well host: here is an article in "the washington post"

are you hearing 2016 talk? guest: not at all. we certainly saw people on the floor like cory booker speaking to the convention here j,ulian castro, those speakers resonated with the audience. they may be talking privately or perhaps occasionally in the media about the future. i think the focus right now is purely on reelecting barack obama, at least here in charlotte. folks i talked to him tampa, some of them were looking toward 2016 as well they threw out names like degette bush, the former governor of florida. jeb bush.

these are political insiders campaigning and have been for years. it is different here than it is at home. for the most part, people are focused on this election in the next few days versus what will take place and another four years. host: republican in missouri, go ahead. caller: i have watched both conventions and i am leaning more toward the democratic convention mainly because i find that mitt romney is not trustworthy. i see him talking about his record in massachusetts and i hear the massachusetts governor says he does nothing in massachusetts to help the economy. being from a town like troy, it

is difficult on the majority of poor people here. i don't think he can identify with my plight or the things i am going through. guest: i really believed that is one of the point the democrats have tried very hard to push. use of former president clinton last night play to the delegates in michigan and play to the delegates in ohio that have been hit hard in areas like the auto industry. i think there will be more of that and i would not be surprised if vice president joe biden brings that up tonight. that seems to be a part of it. mitt romney, at least here in charlotte, they say mitt romney is out of touch. they say he cannot relate to the average working person out there. i think that has been a central theme in this campaign at least for the last five or six months.

host: does the president have any scheduled events beside his speech tonight in charlotte? tonight and charlotte? guest: that i do not know. i have not looked at the president's schedule today. as you know, sometimes they are a little late in releasing it for security precautions. i do know the president is the south end of town at a place called the lodge, part of a hotel down there. staying in a more remote area. that is where the president and first lady are staying right now. the first lady has stayed there before. michelle obama has had some events in our area. i do not know about the president today. host: dave wagner, anchor of wcnc -tv in charlotte, thank

you. as we continue our live coverage, we will have a breakfast briefing and house minority leader nancy pelosi has just joined mike from political. here it is live. guest: i have two grandchildren. i have two daughters, and both of them are here. i have three children, one son- in-law, three grandchildren and the husband. look at going to take a the video, a brand new video that we will talk about it. ideal of the's american dream is if you are willing to work hard, play by the rules, take responsibility, everyone should have the ability to succeed. everyone who works hard should have the chance to climb,

build, and achieve the american dream. the difference is there are those that believe they have made it, everyone else is on their own. democrats believe we should take down barriers and build ladders of opportunity for all americans. we believe we are all in this together. we believe it is time to reignite the american dream. we are on a mission to strengthen the pillars that have historically made the economy succeed. small businesses, on corporate your son and thriving middle class. we are democrats. our purpose is to reignite the american dream, and we have work to do. [applause] >> soul of you are branding house democrats. what is the purpose? >> not a question of granting them, but a question of identifying -- this was a

consensus, early on we said to the members, tell us your call to service. why are you here? sort of an existential question. wiry here, and what is the purpose? the consensus that came from the caucus, rather than granting them, they came together, so this is something we're very proud of, because it is ownership that came right from each and every member who participated, which was a large percentage of the caucus. what was exciting for me is listening to president clinton's speech last night where he talked exactly about the sense of community that has been the hallmark of the democratic party. >> we had a watch party for president clinton last night in the lounge. what was it like in the hall?

>> i was sitting with the california delegation. he is the master, a master of the auditory, master of policy, a master of politics. he was on fire. there was a real appreciation for his appreciation for all that everyone is called to action. >> this is your 13th convention. tell us about your first. >> my knowledge of the first one, i went with my parents when i was a little girl in 1952. no one in this room was born at that time. from the history books you may know that those of you who follow this, there was an array of candidates. no one knew who the canada was going to be. pretty excited when you think

back on the convention. making the decision right then and there. i have this bianchi and it would be named for whoever -- i had this donkey that would be named borrow every thickheaded it would be. then, the next one was at john f. kennedy, 1960. i went with my parents do that convention. what is exciting about that is it was an intimate thing. you could see any of these candidates in the lobby, there was so much access. it was a completely different story. i remember the story that went around. the story that went around is he got up in the morning and said i feel like a million dollars. his wife said, why are you so depressed year.

, dear? [laughter] donna kennedy, that was thrilling. my father had been mayor of baltimore. one of the leaders of the kennedy campaign in maryland. the first night we got there, it was the dinner for him. we all saw the president, the family very differently. after he made his speech at the stadium, which was stark, no one ever did that, fabulous seats. my father want to go to a famous restaurant in los angeles. we did. my father said this is really an expensive restaurant, how did you choose the restaurant. compared to baltimore, it was very expensive. i remember him not complaining, but making the point when the door opened and here comes senator kennedy.

he came right over, what did you think of the speech? ask me what i thought. all of a sudden the prices came way down. >> suddenly it was not worth it. take a one of the most memorable single images of this convention ran on the front of "the new york time" was you with the women members of the house. but was a like to stand up there? >> it was pretty exciting. that was only half of those we have in the house. it was pretty exciting because of the connection. it was so exciting to see them, and each of them women that spoke have the depth of knowledge on the issues they talked about. a lifetime of work. author of the league lead illy ledbetter bill.

it was deep, and it was warm, and it was quite wonderful. >> congress is going back to school. i think there are 8 legislative days between now and the election. would you go back into session, what will you try to accomplish? >> we hope when we go back there will still be some kind of effort to show a path to how we will have some area of agreement on the budget. >> what are the mechanics of that. to coat the mechanics of it have been involved. the majority of the senate. we are not very much involved in that, which is contrary to what it was when i was speaker. but that, plus the white house, the election is going to

determine a lot of what happened after that. that is why i said it is the clearest choice that we will see probably in modern history. >> assume president obama is reelected. we come to december 31. what is the likelihood we will go off the cliff? have a big deal and have the general shape of the deal? >> we cannot go off a cliff. this is the united states of america. >> you are confident house republican leaders will not allow that to occur? >> i think it is important for the american people to be engaged. president lincoln always said public sentiment is everything. public sentiment is get this job done. it should have been done by now. we cannot go over the cliff. we have so much responsibility. with all of these things there

has to be a coming together, finding someplace to agree as the president did last year at this time and the republicans walked away. i think he has to go to the table with public sentiment and the results of the election fully behind him. of course, we have to win the election, so that will have some impact. democratic majority will have some impact on that outcome. whatever it is, it will have to have revenue, it will have to have reduction in spending, and it will have to have growth. i say that in opposite order of importance. i always said when my members went to the table, one super committee to another, put growth at the centerpiece of the table, and whenever decisions are made about changes in investments or revenue, you have to promote the growth of my economy, because that is the important way we will reduce the deficit.

for example, in cutting education, pell grants, that is the softest economy of all, because nothing brings more money to the treasury than the education of the american people. >> you are realistic. what is your most optimistic scenario for what could occur by december 31? >> one thing for sure is when president obama winds, there will be an assumption of expiration of the high income tax cuts. that brings in a hundred billion dollars. the sequestered is 1.1 trillion, so we will have to find some other thing, even if there is no appetite for provisional revenue. so it would be some cuts and some growth features, but it happened probably because right away to get to this. it is such a missed opportunity.

we can have a budget agreement that takes us four trillion dollars out of deficit, 4 trillion dollars. for us to just settle for getting through the day i think is a missed opportunity. however, we have to get through the day. to go all the indications with our conversations from the administration is they do not intend to extend the bush tax cut. that is when you have the most leverage. the you agree with that? -- do you agree with that? >> absolutely. i do not know about december, i wish it could be dealt with sooner. when all of the bush tax cuts were extended, including the high end, and including icing on the cake for the estate tax, we were very disappointed.

that the the -- that the republicans held the middle income tax cuts hostage for tax cuts to the high-end that did not create jobs, increase the deficit, but that is the price that had to be paid to have middle income tax cuts. >> it sounds like you are playing hardball. the goal is not hard ball. hardball means we would have further sources of revenue. -- >> it is not hard ball. this is what we will have to do anyway when we revise the tax code for education and fairness, for making every -- i do not even know what you would call them, some would call them tax breaks. we call them tax breaks, they call them something else. nonetheless subject every provision to the harsh as green tea. why is it there? because of the strongest lobbyists in town? it's it there because it creates growth? is it there because it makes us

more competitive. is it there because it brings as revenue that reduces the deficit? -- brings revenue that reduces the deficit? that has to be done. whether it can be done and those at the spirit of the end of the year, i do not think so. i think it is very serious and needs to be done in a more cool environment. >> do you see that in 2013? >> i think so. >> do you believe tax reform could be accomplished in 2013? >> i think it needs to be, really has to be, otherwise we are the same debate and proposals of the rest. it might interest you would we're in the room talking about the budget and the fiscal this

and that, it is curious because all of the sudden we are surrounded by fiscal hawks. i thought there were extended species when president bush was president, but all the sudden now the deficit is all. we have a moral responsibility to reduce the deficit, and that is why we have pay as you go. the pay go was very important, but they eliminated that. i think the right thing to do is that we would eliminate it. why would we have $38 billion in tax subsidies for big oil as an incentive for them to drill, when in the same time there will make a profit of one trillion dollars? when you were at the table, this is the part that might interest you or surprise you, republicans 81 to save $30 billion? cut pell grant. we have a different bodies system when it comes to all

this. that is why the republicans -- by the public should be engaged so they know what the decisions are, because that is what they are, decisions. we have given a sneak peek at the bob woodward book coming out next week. one of the most vivid scenes as you and peter read it talking on the phone earlier in date administration with president obama. you reach over and put president obama on hold, on you. -- on mute. why? >> that did not happen. whenever a branch of you might have with an individual, when the presence of united states is having a conversation with the speaker of the house and leader in the senate, it is a formal situation. it is history. i recall it is history. so i usually -- perhaps because i might need a resource, but

mostly i clear the room when i'm talking to the president. i clear the room and i take notes. we have a conversation. a president is not a person long on the phone. if we will have a small talk conversation, that will be another conversation but with an official purpose. harry reid is a different person. he stopped listening long before you stop talking. i do not know where they of could've gotten this idea, because usually i do not have anyone in the room. i'm trying to think of a time when someone may have given the facts and figures. it is so disrespectful, and as i

say, it was not nancy and barack, but the president of the united states and speaker of the house. >> certainly not something you would of done intentionally or something you remember? >> no. >> what do you think of [inaudible] ? ? >> i do not think about him a lot. was that bill clinton met with as of last night? people are concerned about their jobs, homes, pension, and future. they are not concerned about personalities and washington, d.c., but i did like -- what was the first one? robert redford, i did like that one. [laughter] >> talk to us about

campaign financial reform. republicans will spend $1 billion. democrats may come close to that. that is more than the campaigns and party put together. that is the revolution in american politics. >> i think there has to be a counter revolution. i have issued this to that effect. >> i will not describe it. i am nancy pelosi and i approve this message. billionaires' putting hundreds of millions of dollars on the table do not have to have that authority line on that advertisements they put forth. amend the constitution to overturn citizens united. it must be done, and it can be

done. our reform system, i say take it back to a public financing of campaigns. it must be done. e, elect reformers that will do it. i do not care if they are democrats, republicans, what ever they might be. this is absolutely essential to our democracy. what the supreme court did is so hard to understand in terms of a corrosive nature of it to the political process, and we did pass public financing of the campaign were president bush, and george herbert walker bush vetoed that. if we have to do it again, we will. this is about our democracy. we might as well cancel the election, forget the convention and just go to five guys and say who do want to be president and speaker and governor? that kind of money suffocating

the airwaves, suppressing the vote and poisoning the debate just makes it their own country. what does the average person say? they're totally turned off. that is because of special interest. even if we are the ones with the advantage of money, it is wrong, and we get to turn it back. our founders to risk everything. i am afraid when the president talked about this the right of liberty and sacred honor for this country, that is a democracy for the government of the many, and that the government of the money. so when we win, a second bill we would put forth would be campaign finance reform containing some of the features of the first bill, which would be jobs. >> there is the house democratic majority. >> there will never be campaign group finance reform with that -- without the house majority.

>> when you are referring to five guys, what are you referring to? not the burgers? [laughter] >> i wish i was. they're much better than the future of our country. >> you talk about sheldon adelson and the coke brothers and the rest. >> i am talking about the guys who says what difference does that make what billions we put up, we will get tax breaks in return. very wrong. the tax code is the biggest force. isn't that a funny thing to say? there is more activity surrounding a; and the tax code then there is in the whole value system. it is just appalling. walter reuther's said we cannot separate the breadbox and the ballot box. if your want to have the right policy, you have to have the right politics.

the politics is played it fair and square, but do not suppress by the manner in which i described earlier. >> tell me what you mean about the tax code. >> you know what i just said, what difference does it make if i put tens of millions or even $100 million but some have put up more, when i am going to get billions of dollars in tax breaks in the estate tax with the republicans? billions of dollars of breaks. these people are extraordinarily wealthy, multi-billion heirs. -- multi-billionaires. they will get tax breaks in the tax codes, which is why i say it is transactional. it is about giving something back other than good government. >> that is what you think is motivating -- >> i am just saying what they

say. that is what they say. >> while we are on monday, one of your many political talents is fund-raising. just this month you have raised $6.8 million. speaker boehner has raised around four. not that anyone is counting. as you talk to people here that writing big checks, what are you hearing and learning as you talk to donors here? >> this is not a fund-raising activity for me this week. we're talking about how we're went to win the election and the drive for 25. we're talking about the policies. and why that is important, where the policies are that would spring for that. i was a volunteer when my children were in school all day. from that time forward, i have

built a national network of idealistic progressives who the enthusiasm that the democrats bring to some of the issues they care about. it is the least pragmatic fund- raising. it is all cheering for the issues, including campaign finance reform. i bring to this a decade of relationships. having said that, my conversation with many of them is the super pak the democrats have, i describe it as the super pak to end all supertax. that is using money to win the election eliminated. i promise you this, and i know it for certain, you lower the

money in campaigns, you increase the level of civility and elect more women to public office, more minorities and more young people. they do not have to build relationships over time, they can just get into the fray, because that is what it is. it is not for the faint of heart running for public office, but thinking, and much sooner, and i think that is a good thing. >> you raise this money with your schedule. q. do a breakfast, lunch, breakfast the next day. what makes you willing to invest as much time? >> my whole motivation is the one in five children that live in poverty. i have five children myself. raising them is the most important thing. it is so fabulous and wonderful. did you see the disparity of opportunity for children in some

countries, and i have a very bad tolerance rate for that. that is what gets me going. it is what i pray about at night, how do we break the disparity in our country when one and five children in america, the of our world, people are so wonderful and they would not want this to continue, and yet, why don't we just keep the tax breaks for big oil and take the money out of tel grants? it is an attitude that motivates me. >> what is an outlook for the drive of 25? it house democrats netted 25 seats, would you be speaker? >> are you ready to go on this right? [laughter] -- on this ride? lessill is getting steep. it may sound strange to you but

it is easier to win 25 seats that it would be to hold 63 seats. this is what we lost in the last election. some in the press certainly unintentionally even wrote that we had to win 63 seats in order to win back the house. people had an attitude that how could that ever possibly be done? that is not the case. dry for 25. we thought if we had 50 seats we could compete in, we could next 25. we have about 75 seats where we have fiery -- where we have very viable candidates and the rest. we do it by two ways. first, globally. there are 67 seats, round 65 seats that were won by president obama that have republicans in

office. 65. >> what do you call those seats? >> they are called republican seats that were won by president obama. we call them opportunity. [laughter] >> now we're talking. >> of those, around 18-20, that is a lower number, were also won by john kerry. now, some of the members think we should win all of those. let's give them 1/3. we will take 2/3. 12 for us, six for them. then we will go to around 45, a little more than that, but let's go 45. and 45, give them 2/3. this is where it is the worst- case scenario. 15, 12, 27.

we need 25. then we go to the ethnically impaired republicans. remnants of theted last election, and there is plenty of opportunity there. [laughter] where is that opportunity? let's go by the states now. ok. my german is the best. he is the chairman of the dccc. juergen by his concern for policy makes a very firm on the politics. he is completely well-organized. steve israel -- again, i said to him, when you take this job, understand this is for the cold- blooded. this is not any thing -- interested in some of his college roommate, a cousin,

anything like that. think of the one in five children in america. that is where we have to allocate our resources for them. steve has the sufficient reptilian tendency of cold- gluttonous to do the job. so you take the map and you look for the president is not. the president is not in california, illinois, new york, because he is going to win big in those states. then you take texas where he is not going to be for the reverse recent. so you have four states where he is not which we will win multiple seats. we do not have the time to name names and the rest, but we will win at least half the seats we need, 12 to 13, in those four states. then you go where we're more likely to win one, maybe two where he is not -- maryland, arizona, washington state, like that, and we get up to the high

teens. now we go where we're going in together. in most cases, the president, the senate. most of these states do not have a statewide campaign of any consequence. they do not have a real race or test. then you go to florida, ohio, iowa, colorado, nevada, places like that. you get up to release the high 20's, 30's, like that. i am doing worst-case scenario. there will be some places that do not fall into those categories but our opportunity states for us. i want 35. you probably the not surprised to hear that. but we have to protect our incumbents. if you are a a democrat in you could win in 2010, that year from hell, you could probably

win in 2012 with president obama on the ticket. but we assume nothing, and we have to make sure our incumbents win. let me just say that since we started with history, my going to conventions as a child, even before that in 1946, the democrats lost 55 seats after world war ii. they lost control of the congress. president truman ran against the do-nothing republican congress, saved his presidency. guess how many seats the democrats won? well, i will tell you. 77. you do not know how elections are, especially now with communications being so different. we need a big one, 25. that is what would be called a big swing. but, you know what, we are

fighting this. how are we going to win? door-to-door, phone call-to- phone call, neighborhood-to- neighborhood, precinct-to- precinct, distract-too-distant. we're not yielding one grain of sand. >> leader pelosi, you say you will only get 24 so you fall short, democrats remain in the minority. we do stay in leadership? >> i do not think we get 24. i think we get 30 or 20. if it is 24, we're going to get 25. >> but will you remain in leadership? >> that is really up to my caucus. it was my goal after the last election to take us back to a place where we are poised to win. i believe we can do it at this time. it is not -- not about me. it is really about, again, the

one in five, about the democrats winning congress. and you know what, i do have quite an active schedule. so it would be nice to have -- see how others could do it, too. but in any event, we do not know, who knows? i never go into a fight predicated on losing. it is always about winning. what is our goal? engineer back from there, and just not yield one grain of sand into the opponent. it is very exciting. you know why? we have the greatest candidates. a candidate will always tell, given a fair shot in the communications, and we have the police chief in florida, a young woman on the first 20 years. part of that as chief and reduce the crime rate cut it off florida, orlando, by 40%. tammy duckworth.

when the generals. when a small business people. we have legislators. we have every aspect of young -- many, many, many, many minorities. so when men will lead the way. they will have the biggest number of in our victory. again, many minorities. we say we out-raise them, out- recruited them, but we take more credit than we deserve bought into that respect because many of them self-recruited. they just stepped up and said i want to win for the american people. >> as you go, i will ask you a 10-second question. >> [inaudible] >> paul ryan, how much does he help? >> [inaudible] >> paul ryan, a couple of things. about a month ago, i would have said to you that it is.

these races could go like this. when ryan went on the ticket and win todd akin, when he made his statement, the really came up more of our way. and the races will be close. but what is important about todd akin and ryan is there in lockstep on policies that relate to forcible rape and depriving the women the right to choose, even in the case of rape and the reason i want to distance themselves from todd akin is because of the same line on those issues. but, you know what, it is not about either of them. it is about romney and about president obama, and we feel very confident with the comparison. never more consequential decision that you have to make. most important election of our time.

>> thank you for a fantastic conversation. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪ >> thank you very much. thank you. thank you. [cheers and applause]

thank you. thank you. now, mr. mayor, fellow democrats, we are here to nominate a president. [cheers and applause] and i have got one of in mind. i want to nominate a man whose own life has known its fair share of adversity and uncertainty. i want to nominate a man who ran for president to change the course of an already weak economy -- >> welcome back to political playbook breakfast. welcome to c-span. welcome to news channel 8. welcome to you from

politico.com. we will get your e-mails and tweets. to start off here, we're going to take a look at the introduction when president bill clinton came into -- now we're going to welcome our next guest, david axelrod. david axelrod, thank you for coming. [applause] thank you so much for coming out. thank you very much. >> sounds exciting in here. [laughter] >> father of the room this week? >> my son is getting married, so i have been practicing. my son my goal is getting married saturday. that is the real stuff. -- my son michael is getting married saturday. i am proud of my party. it has been a spectacular convention so far. in i am looking forward to tonight. >> president obama is your

friend, your boss, and your client. four years ago, how is the man you see tonight going to be different from four years ago? >> when people say, what is his most salient quality, i mean, he has a lot of great qualities, but the one that strikes me more than any is continuity. he and i were talking yesterday before we left for the -- before we got off the plane in charlotte, about how this is both our last campaign. and, you know, about this lunch we had at 10 years ago at a restaurant in chicago to talk about his long-shot race for the u.s. senate and how far, you know, how long and interesting this journey has been. but the guy i sat across the table with and the guy i met 20 years ago as a young law student from harvard -- she was doing a voter registration drive at the

time, he is the same guy i know today. obviously, the presidency changes you. he has an enormous growth curve. the kinds of grave decisions you have to make can have an impact on you, but there is a solid core to this guy. what is remarkable about him is not how much he has changed. it is about how much is the same person i have known, unpretentious, focused on the right thing. obviously, i deeply admire him. >> you're skeptical of taking him as a client? >> and the note -- no, i was not skeptical about taking him as a decline. it was about our chances of winning. he was a long-shot candidate. i have told this story before. in the interest of full disclosure, one of my clients in the early days was rod blagoyovich. you may have heard of him. he came to me in 2001 and said

he wanted to run for governor. i was first surprised and maybe a little appalled by that. i said, well, why? he said, you can help me figure that out. i said, if you cannot figure it out, i cannot help you. then he went and ran, and he ran a very proficient, very smart campaign. in the summer of 2002, he was about to get elected governor. he was running against a decent, principled conservative republican and. i was very -- i was depressed, really, because i thought his campaign was a pretty cynical. he was running as a reformer at the time -- ironic. you know, i thought -- i came into politics as an idealist. i had to either find a way to recharge my batteries or i had funding else to do. at that time, i heard barack obama was running for the senate.

he was not a highly-touted candidate. i said to my wife, you know, if i could help barack obama get elected to the senate, i would feel like i was doing something of value. i could recharge my batteries. so we hooked up around the campaign. it has been an incredible experience. i told him yesterday that i am grateful to him because i started as a 5-year-old, my interest in politics, when john f. kennedy came to my community in new york city and spoke and i was transfixed. i believe in this stuff. i came in as an idealist, and he is allowing me to finish as an idealist. >> what was that moment like on the plane yesterday when you were talking about his journey? >> it was nice. >> where were you? >> we were sitting in the conference room of the air force one. which was considerably different from that bistro in chicago. you know, it was just a moment

of reflection. but it is coming in know, every once in a while when you have a chance to catch your breath and look back at the road we have traveled, it has been an extraordinary journey. every once in awhile, it is nice to take a look back and see how fortunate you are. >> when you look at the republican convention in tampa, when you saw the sum of it, did you think that we dodged a bullet and they give is a huge gift here or this could be trouble? what did you think? >> i thought then and i think now they missed an opportunity. you know, there was a lot of anger and insults directed at the president but not a lot of ideas for how to move the country forward. i think the people are genuinely looking for a sense of where these two men are going to lead. no, i think you'll find that our convention is much different in

that regard. you listen to president clinton last night and michelle obama. our keynote speaker versus their keynote speaker. tonight from the vice-president and president. people are going to leave and they will get were these guys are going, understand their vision for this country and how we should get there. i think that is moving the ball forward. forring a clinician's eye mitt romney. >> to get a little more insight into himself as a person. i am sure he gained from that. the downside was he did not give anybody a sense of really what he would do other than repeal everything that obama has done. >> that might be popular in some places. >> it certainly was popular in that hall. but in the country, i do not think that is what people are looking for. they're not looking to refi the battles of yesterday to go there looking to move forward. they're not looking to repeat the policies of the last decade. he simply did not answer the

question, what would you do and where would you leave? for that reason, i think his speech was a missed opportunity. >> in your world, tim pawlenty would have been the smartest vp pick for them. there's a lot of skepticism in the world about paul ryan. some tried to talk the governor out of it. how is that pick working for them? >> you know, i think that what he did do in picking ryan is he certified the kind of dogmatic, a audiological pitch to his campaign. you know, it was a merger with those very ideological house republicans. paul ryan, intellectual leader of the republican party. in doing that, i assume he is a bracing, you know, that thinking. you can see that the romney platform reflects that, you know, $5 trillion tax cuts. >> he should not bring up

platforms. >> [laughs] yes, thank you for that. there romney program does not reflect that. i mean, you know, there is this dogmatic faith that if we just cut taxes, particularly at the top of a massively, and if we cut back on all the rules for wall street, somehow everything will repair itself, the economy will take off. even though you're not paying for any of this, somehow the books will balance. and the middle class will thrive if people at the top thrive. that alone is enough. i think that is a theory that has been tested. i think it has failed. but it is the one that governor romney has failed. picking paul ryan certified that. beyond that, i heard a leader pelosi talking about some of these social issues,

particularly women's health issues. and ryan, you know, was right at the far edge of that discussion, has been in the house. you know, while he did not say the ill-consider things that congressman akin has said, he has certainly been his partner on a lot of these very, very harsh laws that would take away a woman's right to choose, that would limit contraception. you know, those kinds of things that are important. so this is basically what romney has fought. and i am not sure that it is going to work out well for him. >> since you brought it up, how did those two deletions -- >> actually, i did not bring it up. i think you brought it up. [laughter] but i am not surprise. >> how did those two deletions occur? we are still there or we inserted at the president's direction. >> they were.

i do not precisely know. obviously, it was done without the decedent's of the president. you know, when he saw what was going on, he said, just put it back. and that is what we did. i mean, we in no way meant to apply change in our party's platform or i did to the president's thinking about this, so we reasserted the 2008 language. >> how did you all discover it? >> well, i think it is fair to say it was brought to our attention by people who were scrutinizing our platform more closely. so we learned about it when the republicans raised it, and it became, you know, the latest ball of yarn for the news media. >> and it was the president --

>> yeah. there were talking about on morning joe this morning, how did for president clinton's speech was then of the things we have been hearing in the hall. it was more centrist, more business-friendly. the things we will hear from the president tonight, will be along the more centrist line of clinton? >> i was actually on morning joe this morning when this came up. i think there is this fascination with this right to left kind of old paradigm. i think there is the thread of continuity between all the speakers that you will hear. there is certainly continuity between these two presidents about how you grow the economy and what a healthy economy looks like, and it starts with the middle-class. nobody's more articulate on this subject than the president. you know, we strongly believe that a strong, healthy economy begins with a thriving middle- class and that there are certain things we have to do to help

ensure that. we have to educate our people. we have to continue to keep our image in research and development and technology. we have to get control of our energy future. we have to have infrastructure. we have to deal with our fiscal challenges in a balanced and responsible way. i remember when bill clinton passed as deficit reduction package in 1993, and you remember it well also. not one republican vote because they said raising taxes even a little on upper-income americans would crush the job-graders. and it was one of the most productive periods in recent times in our economy. now we're almost having the same debate. so tonight, i think when you hear the president talk about his vision, i think it is very much in continents with president clinton's vision. we have a view on how to grow the economy and we understand what our responsibilities are to

each other out into that pursued. >> let's talk about the map a little bit. ojai looks very close. you have been ahead of it as some polls -- ohio looks very close. i do feel about ohio? >> i feel good about ohio. ohio, as government -- as governor kasich said in florida, is doing much better than it had been. >> the republican governor did say this, yes. >> what he did not say and what is the fact is that the president chose to intervene and save the american auto industry and that has had an enormously positive impact in ohio where one in eight jobs are related to the automobile industry. the fact that governor romney opposed that action is kind of a defining debate in that state. for that reason, among others, i feel good about ohio. we have been had consistently.

we're going to fight very hard for it. i think he is in real jeopardy there. >> whether or not he repeated in virginia depends on what? >> whether we get more votes. [laughter] what else do you need to know? [laughter] you know, i think virginia is going to be very close. virginia is closed now. i think it will continue to be close. a closely-divided state. we want to run our numbers up in northern virginia. i think the positions that governor romney has taken on issues like contraception is motivational for voters in that area. virginia is a state that prizes education. you know, the governor stressed education. that was the key to va's economic reform which has been very good. so i think they would appreciate

a president that believes education has to be at the core of our economic strategy, and that is going to help us in that state. but there's no doubt, they're called battleground states for a reason, and it will be very close. >> the obama campaign in the obama white house have been sophisticated in the approach to how people consume information. we had a guest here the talked about how they use the videos in the 2008 campaign. based on how people consume conventions, are we in sort of a bounce-free era. >> certainly after tampa, we're in a bounce-free era. >> did you think he would get some balance? >> they predicted an 11-point bounce at one point, some of them. they thought the rig is a huge bounce out of ryan. by the way, in a sort of

handbook of party chairman, do not said expectations higher than you can meet. he obviously missed that page. [laughter] copy.was michael steele's >> but i think the nature of our politics right now, more than conventions, makes -- no, a lot of people have decided who were they are voting for. the movable part of the electorate is not as large as perhaps it has been in the past going into those conventions, and these came late. i think the prospect of a huge bounce and your convention is small. as you point out, the way people consume information now is, you know, not everybody is sitting around watching conventions. the networks have cut back on their allotment. you know, the audiences have been smaller this year than four years ago. social media is carrying more of the load and we're trying to make use of that.

but conventions are important but not probably as important as they once were. >> so what is important now? >> we want to finish up well here. i do not want to minimize the importance of them either. you get one shot to make your case in an unfiltered way to the american people between now and the election, and that is your acceptance speech. we saw what governor romney did -- i am looking forward to the president having this opportunity tonight. we have three debates coming up, presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate. those are obviously going to be important. and in the day-to-day coverage. interesting thing about president races, we are being outspent and we will continue to be about -- but the combination of romney and the super pac's on television. but as you move along and after labor day, what is a important is much less what is in the advertising and much more what happens on a day-to-day basis because people get so much coverage in the course of their

news that they will for in their judgments based on what they see. >> tell us and we do not know about the president's speech tonight. >> well, hopefully everything -- you do not know anything about the president's speech tonight. [laughter] we have had a major breach of security if you do. you know what ramallah would tell you about his speech is -- you know what, all i would tell you about his speech is, you know, the romney speech was dragging to me in that it was interspersed in a speech that was largely personable about himself with some fairly caustic remarks about the president. you know, we're not interested in coming tonight to bodies them governor romney or to tear him down. we're interested to talk about how we can lift the whole country up. you know, so i think the speech is a very positive speech.

it is one that will give people more than they got last week, a sense of where we need to go. beyond that, i do not want to skip the president on his own speech. >> on the viewership, the u.s. and the republicans watch the republican convention and democrats watched the democrat convention -- and do you assume that? >> i'd think that is somewhat true. you can look at the fox ratings. you know, if there were twice as large or more than twice as large for the republican convention, and you know, that is the home town network of the republican party. you know, that is a barometer of that. but i do think that there are some voters were legitimately trying to decide and cartooning in and really want to hear the case -- and are tuning in and really want to hear the case. i see growing enthusiasm. everywhere we have gone in the last week -- i have been

traveling with the president, and the crowds have exceeded our expectations. the money, small contributions are exceeding our expectations. all the signs that you hope to see are beginning to surface. obviously, a great convention like this will help in terms of spurring people's enthusiasm. i do think i do think that swing voters will watch. >> you think it will be tied after this? >> i think it will be close. there is never going to be a huge gap. i don't think that the structure of the electorate and the nature of our times will allow that. i am not going to -- having already criticized others for being too rationally exuberant about the prospect of a convention bounce, i don't think

i'd better engage in that here. i am hopeful that we will get an advantage out of this, but in any case, we will get a chance to make our case. >> this is your last campaign. among the house you will wear in your next life as academia. >> not quite academia, but i am going to the university of chicago to start an institute of politics. i want to inspire young people to go into the public arena not just as candidates but as policy people, political people. i really believe in this. i understand that this is a solid process -- sullied process, it can be grinding and discouraging, but i don't think there's anything you can do that is as exciting as helping to shape the future.

i want to communicate that to young people. there are a handful -- there they are in the back -- students from the university of chicago who will be involved in our institute who politico has hosted as interns this week, for which we are grateful. i can tell you that before i came out here -- what we hope will happen is that they are getting a chance to see this close-up and they are getting infected with the budget. i don't mean the democratic party bug. >> the political bug. bug -- nottical the politico bug, either. [laughter] although, there will be forums,

and mike allen will be at one of them, although he doesn't -- [laughter] we will get consultants, strategists, speech writers, policy people, and a new generation of leadership. >> we are grateful for the university of chicago team, we appreciate c-span, newschannel 8, thank you into "the charlotte observer" for the great partnership. thank you for a great conversation. [applause] host: and that was the final politico playbook breakfast this week from charlotte. they did the same thing from tampa, and we brought them to you every morning on c-span. coming to you in just a minute is the "national journal" briefing for the day. what you're looking at is a picture of the time warner cable arena.

the last day of the democratic 2012 convention in charlotte kicks off there. live that will double coverage, as we have always done since 1984, of the convention. president obama is due to talk at 10:10 this evening. the last night at the convention was moved back to time warner because of the threat of rain. they were originally scheduled, as you know, to have it at the bank of america football stadium, where the carolina panthers play. that all begins at 3:00 p.m. eastern time. we will continue our live coverage today. we have a couple more guests this morning from charlotte. we will be talking with the president of emily's list, and

will also be talking about carolina health care, about health care and public policy and how that fits in and out they deal with it on the local level. a couple of front pages we want to show you. this is "the boston globe." "clinton arouses democrats with arguments -- rouses democrats with arguments for obama." here is the "tallahassee democrat" newspaper. charlie crist, former republican governor of florida, will be one of the speakers at the convention. "dems ponder 2014 possibility of him running for governor as the democrats." "orange county register" out of california -- "party star revs up faithful"-- again, talking

about bill clinton. among the speakers tonight, tammy baldwin, running for tommy against fo gov. thompson, former governor of wisconsin. brian schweitzer, governor of montana -- he, too, will be speaking vice-president biden will accept the nomination prior to president obama accepting re nomination. we should also mention that at our convention hub, you can watch all past speeches from this convention, plus past speeches from all past conventions since 1984. c-span.org is the website. the daily convention briefing for "national journal" is starting.

you see ronald brownstein, james bennet, and bob schieffer. this is live from charlotte. >> ok, good morning. how are you this morning? we were out late last night. i am publisher-at-large of atlantic media, and on behalf of atlantic and "national journal" and at cbs news, i want to welcome all of you, and the audience on c-span, to our last daily briefing over the last two weeks at both conventions. i invite you all to the daily briefings four years from now, time and place to be determined.

we have a terrific program this morning, with the best in terms of political pollsters and consultants and great moderator's. before getting to that, let me thank our underwriters, without whom we could not do this. we appreciate their support. the american federation of teachers, the credit union national association, ending spending, pfizer, united .echnologies, a volkswagen for those of you into twitter, our hashtag is #dailybr iefgins. -- #dailybriefings. ron bronstein, political analyst extraordinary, james bennet,

editor of "the atlantic," and bob schieffer of cbs news. i don't know if scott pelley like this, but to me, bob schieffer and cbs news go hand- in-hand. >> this is hands down always my favorite event of the conventions, where we bring together folks who have had senior roles in strategy for their party and still have the senior roles in strategy for their party to talk about what the convention has accomplished so far, with the president has to do or the nominee has to do on the last night, and the orllandscape of the general election. we have a terrific panel. on the far end, peter hart has been the chairman of peter hart research since 1971 and is one of the pioneering giants in the polling and field. next to him, making a rare sighting in public, is laura

quinn, president of the democratic group that works on my returning of a voter is. -- micro-targeting of voters. next to her, the deputy chief of staff for president clinton, now an attorney based in d.c. stan greenberg, also a longtime democratic pollster. his clients have included bill clinton, tony blair, nelson mandela -- pretty good list, actually. maybe if we have time at the end, he can tell us about the focus groups in caracas on the opposition to hugo chavez. the author of several books, including "it's the middle class, stupid" with james carville. what did president obama need president clinton to do, and did he do it? >> i think that what he needed

to do is articulate, as only he can, what the choice was, and in particular, our talk about the challenges want governor romney would do, and what it would mean to the working class. what president obama needs to do tonight is what we are for -- our future, the mission. he cleared, in a way, the underbrush and made clear the stark choice about what got us here, the near-depression. we have to admit -- the other side has been saying that president obama keeps saying that he inherited a tremendous obstacles and challenges, but the reality is, it is true, and

people needed to be reminded about it, and reminded that, yes, we are better off. not where we need to be. he needs four years to be able to continue that progress forward. >> stan, peter, what did you think? >> i think he did two critical things. the first is, he trashed and humiliated mitt romney and paul ryan. in his own way, as only he could do, he took that a -- took them out behind the woodshed and they will cover a smaller people today. they have always back from what the president laid out last night. the other thing is narrative. the thing that people have been surprised is the president of

the offense is not doing the right thing in policy terms, but not -- president of the united states not doing the right thing in policy terms, but not bringing the country with him. he told a story of what happened to the economy, what the president did, told the story about health care and what the president did, laid that out in a way that sets a frame for the president to speak almost entirely about the future. up and basically say that the king was in the house last night. he essentially defied the laws of physics. he just brought alive this convention. i started in 1968, my first convention, 44 years ago. the difference between chicago and charlotte are more than the "ch" at the beginning. essentially, you have gone from divisiveness to an apprehension

that i saw coming in to a sense of joy, that it is going to be electric and going to come out with the one thing that will it needed to happen, which is how you turn people on and get them and used -- get them enthused. that is what we will remember from the clinton speech more than any single line. >> laura, you dealt with the electorate in very granular terms to clinton was the witness for the defense last night. in a lot of it was about rebuffing republican arguments, a very large part of the speech. do you think that reached his target? >> i think that what he was most effective at doing was laying out the choice that people had what republicans are trying to tell america, particularly folks hurting in this economy -- they were saying that there are going to be winners and going to be losers. if you go with obama and the

democrats, it is is going to come at your expense. if you are hurting already, the recipe is to take more away from you and give it to somebody else. bill clinton stood up their bank, and the entire night was about a series of people were talking about, yes, it success is important, but it does not have to come at the expense of other people. you can win at business and not rush your employees in the process of doing it. it was an optimistic path forward, inclusive, including small business, business ceo's, workers who had managed to pull through in the auto bailout. it was a very different economic vision. nobody can explain that as well as the president can. the former president, i should say. >> you know, what struck me last night -- i will start in an

unusual way. huill quote my friend brit me of the fox news. "if i was ever in trouble, the first person i would fire to defend me is -- hire to defend me is bill clinton." in the cbs booth, our consensus was that bill clinton in a 45 minutes explained much better oe obama administration has been able to do in four years. i don't care how good your message is -- if you cannot break it down and explain it to people in language they can understand, you have wasted your time. when he stood up last night and said that this guy left it in a mess, our guy did not clean up

fast enough, so they say that we should fire him and bring us back, that pretty much answers the question of "are you better off now than four years ago" in a way that the obama team has been unable to up to this point. in the honor roll of political speeches, that was one of the best ones i've ever heard. >> i think that you said that this free to the president to talk about the future, because it seems like the first night was by demonstrating empathy an aspiration. michelle obama's speech was a version of "i still believe in a aeech coalled hope," speech you probably at a part in writing and in 1992. this is still leaves one big hole here, which is, is there a plan to make the next four years

of your life better if you elect me. how much progress has president obama made in filling in that part and what does he have to do tonight? >> it is interesting, ron, and you are absolutely right. there were a few things that need to come out of this convention. one was to bring a sense of joy and enthusiasm. the second thing was that you have to be able to talk beyond the democratic constituencies, and i think that they have done that. the third thing is that you have to give them an example of where the next four years are. the one thing that american voters need to know is that the second term barack obama is better than his first term, and, essentially, that is the job that he has to do tonight. that becomes the standard and the measurement that people will take out of this. to me, they set of the thing up

and cleared out the underbrush, all of those things. there is only one person who can do it, and that pass to be the president's -- that has to be the president. the president is the only person who can say where do we go from here. >> let me dig down on this, because while i believe that the ge has been set for the president to talk about the future, this convention, as well as the republican convention, has deepened a framework on which the election is grounded on the recovery and public policy. they made a mess. the question is the pace of cleaning up the mess. that is not where the voters are. you can win this election by finishing cleaning the mess.

romney is not the guy to bring in, and if the democrati coalition is big enough to figure out how democrats can win, that is a decent margin. the problem is not the recovery. the problem is the long-term loss of middle-class income, the loss of american jobs, the buildup of private and public debt, and that the long-term problems existed and were getting worse prior to the financial crash. people believe that they have gotten worse during and and and that they are still getting worse. the reason for the caution in taking the next step -- the president has made this case over the past three or four months. he has talked about the long- term process, not just the recovery. does the policy move to the analysis?

if you ask voters whether we want to continue the obama policies into the next term, that is not what the bank of looking for that -- that is not what they are looking for. bold, term, future-oriented policies that address the problems of this country. >> as stan said, there is a frame here that is really important that the american public now has, which is that the other side talks about individual success, individual, individual, and it really bothered me last week. us as aggressive, our narrative -- what we were reminded that no one actually does it alone. government has a role and a place, and this were the role and-- is has a

policies, and having an incident, articulate how government is going to help -- not a handout, but the structures of the people can achieve their individual potential. we don't want a wonkish speech, and he does have a tendency to be a wonk, as does president clinton, but we need the soaring rhetoric about the future, but reassuring that it is building on the last four years. >> one of the big things both sides say that barack obama did get done in the first term as health care. for a long time, it seemed like he did not want to talk about it that much. as president clinton said last night, the republicans have been referring to it derisively as obamacare could by the way, the

democrats are owning the name "obamacare," they are calling it that now. laura, sorry to reduce it to politics, but that is what we're talking about today -- specifically in the battle grounds, how is that policy registering? is the valance of that name shifting? is no longer a negative for the president? >> what at this point, we see that the piece of policies viewed through a partisan lens. if you are a democrat, you have the view that it is a good piece of policy, and if you are republican, negative. i don't think that people are understanding how the real facts are going to play out. at this point, it is still up to the democrats to make the case for how the specific effects are playing out in the battleground states.

what stan just said is very important about the need for the speech to be about the policy and what is going to happen next. that is critical, because i'm a lot of ways, what we're down to is a turnaround -- a turnout, in this as an issue. whose voters are going to be moved to the polls? when we look at early indicators, things like registration, the folks who are still not nearly as enthused as they have been our younger voters. some of the democratic constituencies that performed at such levels for the democrats last time -- we are starting to see some of that registration effect kick in now. if the president's speech talks more about the future and what can happen going forward from here, that will be the last piece that brings the in d.c. and some higher -- brings the

enthusiasm higher. >> i agree, that in my experience interviewing voters, there's not a sense of 2008 being a sharp departure, but from a decade of stagnation and losing ground, so "are you better off than four years ago close what is less relevant, becaus -- "are you better off than four years ago close what is less relevant, because people don't expect to be. romney chose not to highlight his plans, but they torbit plans, a big change -- they are big plans, big changes. is the president talking on the scale he needs to? >> not yet. i assume that this speech as a

point is the platform to do it. on health care, you raised the issue of embracing health care. health care is of a policy change, the implementation. doubling down on many of the reforms that are there and taking them much further than what is at the legislation, addressing the health care challenge is the biggest thing you can do to address the deficit. the thing is wrong with simpson- bowles is that the main problem on the deficit is that government health care spending is too high and increasing at too rapid a rate. therefore it was ok to shift those costs from the government to seniors. the real problem is health care costs. that is a policy that you can do through health-care reforms by embracing it and explain it. i think president clinton held on that -- helped on that.

>> we have been measuring and on the nbc-"wall street journal" poll four years, and to divide is there, it has not changed. laura's point is right. they have gotten the downside, the obama administration. they should own it and get the upside, the enthusiasm. all the hate is on at the negative people, and they don't have enough on the positive, that is what bill clinton -- >> how about the scale of one , is talking about for the second term? sydney the skill of the anxiety that stand describes? -- does it meet the scale of the anxiety that stan describes?

>> voters de reassurance. we are on the huge lake, and american voters are on a rowboat, and they are halfway across the lake and are trying to figure out, is it worth going forward across the latke, or to return around and go back? what is on the other side, why will it make a difference? i'm not concerned with how big the scope is as the direction and the the sense of they know where they are headed. >> do we know what is the president's agenda for the second term, and at some points -- we criticize romney for not giving us specifics, but what is the president's agenda? >> i think it and started to make the case. president clinton was setting

him up to make the case tonight. the democratic approach, the president's approach, is to attack the structural problems that are crushing the middle- class. they gave two incredibly important pieces of evidence for that. the salvation of the auto industry -- the president made an incredibly risky, bold decision to go in and save that industry. and the health-care bill, standing up and saying that all the effects have not been found dead, but that was a -- daring all the effects have not been felt yet, but that was a daring accomplishment. the challenge is to build an economy that resource and a class incomes and security. the president has a real challenge in front of him tonight to explain how he is