by telling everybody in the united states they no longer have to pay their taxes? or only 4% taxes? in addition, i have heard that donald trump is going to start cutting 20% of all tax dollars paid which is going to go into his personal bank account instead of paying that 20% towards programs that we all expect our tax dollars to go to like infrastructure. let me jump in. let me askompson, you before we say goodbye. what are you watching for today? guest: i'm watching what sort of

unity or display are we going to see from some of the dump trump folks. a lot of what we will see take place today will not be during primetime. one of the questions is if there is any drama that carries over into the evening hours. we are all looking for what we see from maloney a trump. this woman could be the first lady. first ladies have different style and it will be interesting to see what received from her. does she embrace some sort of cause? these are questions we will look to see play out tonight. host: all caps underway at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. we will come back here around noon for the official kickoff of the republican 2016 convention. tune in to c-span. if you are at work you can still

watch on c-span.org or on c-span radio. every minute of the 2016 republican convention here in cleveland. we will say goodbye for now. the afternoon and evening, coverage of the convention. day one here in cleveland. .hanks for watching ♪ >> the republican national convention starts at 1:00 eastern today. reporters from across the country are getting in place. picture oftook this

some of mr. trumps political beer for sale -- gear for sale. we will have a look at the schedule. the convention gavel syrian at 1:00 eastern -- dabbles in -- gavels in at 1:00 eastern. today trump campaign askedr paul manafort was about the republicans who are not going to attend the convention and here's what he had to say. >> romney, president bush. what is your message to those folks? the party is unifying. certainly the bush family we would have liked to have them. they are part of the past. we are dealing with the future.

we are dealing with the issues relating to the future. we would like to have them but they do not reflect the broad strokes of the republican party. many of the delegates supported jeb bush. the delegates who supported most of the other candidates are all supporting donald trump now. conventions are a healing time. they are not a time when everything is finally done. we feel the healing time is happening and when we leave here it's going to be a united republican party. we will be on message. governor pence brings a whole segment of the party that had some questions about donald trump because they didn't know him. the problems we feel existed inside the party relate to the fact that donald trump has not been part of the political process for the last 10 years. it has been much more of an

advantage because he's not shackled with any of the problems of the last 10 years. to talke free specifically about what the issues are and what needs to be done. how he can break gridlock without feeling the pressure of being politically correct. it's a double-edged sword. you will see speakers like governor walker, senator cruz. governor christie, governor huckabee. many candidates will be speaking on the program as well as congressman ryan. senator mcconnell will be speaking. the range of leaders in washington and in the states will be part of this program and are working with us closely. among those who will be

speaking tonight are iowa senator joni ernst, rudy giuliani, and donald trump's wife maloney a trump. donald trump may introduce his wife tonight although his speech is scheduled for later in the week. is posting onves the people who did not attend the convention. this tweet explains herbert hoover was not actually present at his republican convention. national republican congressional committee chair congressman greg walden of oregon talked about the potential down ticket effects of donald trump's campaign. this happened at an event hosted by the atlantic in cleveland on the opening day of the rnc's 2016 convention.

>> good morning, everybody. welcome to cleveland. we are delighted to have you here. before we get rolling i want to take a moment to thank our underwriters making this week in cleveland possible. they are the american petroleum institute, makers mark. we will have burdened ballot manhattan's and our custom drink, delegates to light -- delegate's delight later today. we are on twitter. we have an atlantic convention app.

look for the atlantic conventions hq in the app store. we have speakers, session times, of dates and everything else. now i'll recession is about the battle for congress. and move on toat the substance i want to put the week in a little bit of context as we get underway in cleveland. we have seismic events unfolding around us. yesterday there was a police ambush in baton rouge. int friday a bloody coup turkey, one of this country's most strategic allies. and a man killed scores of people enjoying the steel day fireworks -- bastille day

fireworks in southern france. this is after a campaign season that has been i think it's fair to say like no other. this week donald trump and governor mike pence will be on the- formally republican presidential ticket. and the control congress is up for grabs. key races across the country. will republicans maintain control of congress? they're are 34 senate seat races this year. 24 are now controlled by the gop. republicans occupied 247 seats in the house. let's begin the conversation. waldencongressman greg is the chair of the national republican congressional committee and his job is to keep

republicans in control of the house. my colleague volleyball -- mollie ball is here to lead the conversation. [applause] >> thank you for coming. >> good to be with you. >> let's start with the question. are republicans going to keep control of the house? >> yes. >> problem solved. everybody can go home. elaborate on that a little. thisank you for hosting event. let me thank margaret for her opening comments. go outall of our prayers to those across the world and on who have been afflicted by violence. feeling that many

americans have of insecurity that leads us to where we are in cleveland today. they are frustrated. if you are in the middle class you probably feel like you have not had a raise in a long time. you are about to get your obamacare insurance rates and they are going up. everywhere i went that was the topic. insecurity at home and around the world. too much federal regulation. election can be framed about whether you want to continue things the way they are or whether you are ready for real change. i think americans are ready for real change away from this administration's policies. we are not running in a vacuum. i get fromuestion the pundits is about one nominee. amazingly there is actually two

nominees. see as we look in these races is that hillary clinton is as unpopular in most cases as donald trump. but what is distinct is that our members and candidates are very strongly received. they have had great fundraising. they are doing what they need to do in washington and at home so i feel pretty good about where we are at. members in seats barack obama carried. we knew coming into this cycle that we had a different election cycle. that meant different standards for pulling, different campaign strategies. we take nothing for granted. happy with the crew we have. we are in good shape. .> i'm going to move over here

what would you say is your ballpark? you are bound to lose at least a few seats. >> i don't give out ranges and numbers. skated -- skidded to 247. i feel like we are in really good shape. retirements that create some opportunities. they've got some retirements. that's where the playing field will be. this notion that there are 70 to 80 seats in play is rather preposterous. you would be down to cap the morris rogers -- kathy morris rogers's seat. the notion that this playing field has been opened very wide

defies the data. >> how many do you think are in play? >> i think it's the traditional sort of 20 seats where the battleground is. we've got 26 members in seats barack obama carried. we have some members retired. >> you get asked a lot about the effects at the top of the ticket. when affecting think the nominee is going to have? >> it depends district by district. would tell you donald trump is more popular than hillary clinton. in addition to that our members have their own unique identity because they are working in their districts. people know them. are veryorables strong. if you have been doing work in your district where voters know you. to link at easier

democrat to hillary clinton because she is quintessential establishment than it is to link a republican to donald trump. they will try that. they will have some limited success but they are totally different styles of campaigning. >> it sounds like you are expecting candidates to want to distance themselves from trump. >> the candidates get to do whatever they want. cases we have members and candidates openly embracing the nominee. they are on television all the time. if that happens virtually every -- that happens virtually every time. you are seeing that in some cases with hillary clinton. >> what are some cases? >> you are seeing around the country where they are certainly shying away. nancy pelosi for example was in omaha the other night and had dinner with brad ashford.

there was a big kerfuffle over whether she was there to help him or not. each of these races is going to be different. >> what are some of your favorite? do you have favorite recruits for example? great stories about potential members of congress? >> we have some good candidates and more are emerging. certainly if you look at brian fitzpatrick. he is running for his brother's seat. he is retired from the fbi, counterintelligence anti-terrorism work. knocking it out of the park. you have general done bacon in omaha. terrific servant for the country. running a very positive campaign. dccc was so afraid of him, they ran a campaign to tell voters that he was more

mainstream >. now what are you going to say in the general election? you have scott jones. you go around the country, terrific candidates one end to the other. races?there some sleeper >> there probably are. that's how we keep them. >> its top-secret. all right. issue set andthe things you hear about from constituents when you are back in your district. you think that the chaos and instability we are seeing changes the political landscape? >> absolutely. i tell you this because we have seen this the last couple of years. the instability around the world, failed foreign policy of this administration. remember it is the obama clinton foreign-policy.

she felt design and implement what we have now. it is hard to find a place in the world that is more secure and safe and respective than america was eight years ago. now we know isis is no jv team. they are sophisticated. this leads to the angst i think americans feel today. somehow leading from behind has left us more vulnerable. that's why you see strength on the issue of foreign policy and american security. we are out talking to constituents. we know that. the dnc just discovered that the great polling and focus grouping. guess what, we discovered national security is an issue. well, no fooling. if you have to do a poll to

figure it out you are not in touch with the average american. security is a big issue. we saw donald trump on the right and bernie sanders on the left tapping into a similar vein of discontent in america. there's a reason that sanders held on for so long. people on the left don't feel secure. we think there is a better way forward. paul ryan has certainly outlined that in our initiatives. >> and about crime and domestic instability? trump has talked a lot about being a law and order candidate and making america safe from instability in cities. idatest something cand

will talk about? >> if you don't feel safe going out in the middle of the day on a sunday morning in an american city, there is nothing wrong. -- there is something wrong. something is dramatically wrong. from one end of the spectrum to the other in terms of these issues i think americans are looking for focused leadership. us inng out how to get safer terms at home. you have the terrorist attacks and home. people go, how does that happen? there are no simplistic easy answers. this stuff is hard. but we have to do more than we are doing. >> the answers we have heard from donald trump have involved mostly keeping people out. getting rid of foreign intruders, keeping out all muslims, people from countries that harbor terrorism.

is that what your members are running on? >> it's being very careful about how we track people who come here. recent reform for example -- visa reform for example. about half of them came here legally and overstate. -- overstayed. you have people trying to use the system to to do bad things. clearly the research homeland security has done has determined there are people, not many but enough, who are trying to use our goodwill as americans to get in here to do harm to us. they have gone overseas and trained. we have to be very smart about how we go at this. i think that's the key. you have seen the house take

legislative steps to deal very surgically with this problem and very thoughtfully. >> do you think donald trump is going to win the general election? >> i think he has every opportunity to win the general election but we know in america the country is pretty divided. these elections are not landslides. it will be a competitive election. i think you are seeing in the polling when you get down to the battleground states, it's very competitive or tied. >> are using evidence -- we see a lot about trump rearranging the map in some ways. changing the electoral calculus. is that something you are seeing? >> we see a bit of that at the district level. race.cus is each we are seeing places like pennsylvania. recent data showed trump up.

other data shows him down. clearly pennsylvania must be in play. there are districts that will surprise people where he is winning. there is a bit of that going on. i think we will know better after we get through these conventions. races are independent of the presidential for the most part. there will always be influences. for the most part, members are identified and they are running their own races. >> you think they can be totally independent? >> i didn't say totally independent. there is always influence. >> is that saying there are going to be republicans who aren't maybe supportive of the nominee who will come out just to vote for their congressman? >> i think that is the case. i think it will happen, yes. we are not going to sit on our hands. we will be doing voter

identification to determine who those voters are. we will be reaching out to them and helping them turn out to vote. voter turnout grassroots on the ground is a really important element of winning any campaign. >> talk to me about tactics. we have heard a lot about the efforts that the nominee has yet to make in terms of staff and allocating resources on the ground and advertising. is that a place where the committees pick up the slack and you deploy staff? >> we each have our own wheelhouse. we do the house. somebody else does the senate. to his great credit, reince priebus has done a remarkable job with the rnc. compare the rnc to the dnc. the dnc has been wracked with controversy, disarray, threats to throw out the chairwoman. they are essentially broke.

that may change. but they have not had a good run. they have never gotten over the last election, which by the way they won. and then it fell into total disarray. conversely, reince priebus has been a great partner for us in terms of building data, learning from our mistakes. our polling stunk in 2012. we think we have fixed a lot of that in 2014 special elections. we narrowed the error rate down significantly. he has done data, digital, fundraising very confidently -- competently. a couple years ago he began to put people on the ground. in many ways what the rnc has avoids been -- has been

what the dnc has done. overall there is some balancing going on. we have been doing our own work. >> how do you integrate? >> a lot of responsibilities are divided up. state parties have responsibilities on a lot of this. sometimes you do a joint victory center. there are different models followed depending on the district. we know in the house we have to ake care of our selves. we only lost eight seats. we still have the second-biggest majority since world war ii. arrour how to operate on own if need be. we went into 2014 learning the mistakes from 2012 and we came

out with the biggest majority since 1928. you can say, that was an off year. of course it was. we have had those cycles before. we got 247 seats. this one is a presidential year. the turnout model is going to be different. no one expected this kind of presidential year. we are adjusting but we are data-driven and i would rather be us than them. >> start thinking of your questions and i will call on you. i want to talk about ohio since we were here. i fondly remember traveling around four years ago. what are the competitive seats in ohio? >> that's a really good question that i think makes my argument. the dccc is not spending any money in ohio. >> at all.

>> no. >> you think it is off the table. eats here.reet >> i don't see it. bill johnson, they have to run races. they are confident, capable proven electoral vote gatherers. show me the high-profile race in the house in ohio. second cycle in a row, by the way, that they have not spent a dime in ohio. this used to be the big battleground. nada. go to new jersey. tom macarthur who replaced jon runyan. he was a self funder last time. spent a lot of money. recruit failed

against the fellow going through a personal bankruptcy. where's the competitive seat? you go around the country race by race and you realize we are in pretty darn good shape. we will have our own set of competitive races. >> one seat i have always been interested in is nevada's third. what's going on? >> we went through primary. the good news for us is joe heck leads the ticket. when he said he was going to run for the senate i said, that is the best news i have heard. you are going to do everything to make sure mike coffman wins his seat. and you paid your dues before you decided to run for senate. joe is a good friend. tough race. that is a competitive seat. he made it look easier than it normally is.

he got all those influences. off to acadian is strong start. it will be a competitive seat. go next-door to nevada four. we just did a survey that comports with data we saw last fall. trump winningd the fourth district? rep. walden: it is more democratic than the third district. but when you have somebody the caliber of joe heck who knows how to run a campaign, he has to be strong in his own district and will win the second, so i will be out there next week helping do some events. thosel pretty good about

races but now you are in the battleground and the seats are in play. >> i think we've got a microphone. before it to come to you. >> the rnc is running as the national security party and donald trump has taken a strong addition against isis, yet we have never heard him distinguish a sunni from a shiite. he does not seem to be aware of the fact that carpet bombing or bombing at all would destroy civilians. be awareot seem to that the pkk's influence in dealy is a part of how we with turkey. he's given no indication that he has understanding at all of the complexities of the middle east. feel your candidate can project an image of strength when he seems to have no understanding of the issues?

none. rep. walden: i appreciate your opinion. i think you will see him lay out his national security views. i think that's the responsibility of any candidate to lay out their views. but i can tell you we have laid out our views and further, i look at a continuation of the obama-clinton foreign-policy. look at iran and the iranian agreement. how is that playing out? they are not following that agreement. so the ballistic missile tests are ok? i don't excel. breaking -- i don't think so. so breaking other agreements is ok. they are violating the agreements they have, but this is the point.

is why americans are frustrated. you enter into a bad deal with iran that puts israel at peril andran immediately goes violates other agreements. >> i don't want this to turn into a partisan argument. if i can state that in a slightly different way, you have alluded to trump being a slightly unorthodox republican and i have been interested in whether he leaves a permanent mark on the party whether he wins or loses. do you think used changing with the republican party stands for? nominee doesevery their own campaign and they have an effect on the party because they are a nominee of the party. republicans around the country came together and said we want you because you are in touch with what we want to talk about.

there are a lot of folks in america who are frustrated with security internationally, economic insecurity, health-care premiums going off the charts. they are looking for a fighter and they know someone like donald trump can bring around him talented and qualified the restat can provide of the framework. i think his choice of mike pence is a good choice. i served with mike in the house and i think he will bring a great addition to the ticket. it will be interesting to see who else he puts in these slots or puts out for consideration. and you build a team. it's not just one person. >> i'm a reporter for marketwatch. talking about republican identity on trade, mr. trump has

said a lot of things about nafta and tpp. typically, the gop has been for free trade. who's party is it now? you yourself supported tpp. is that going to change in the future? rep. walden: coming from the pacific northwest, we are very engaged in trade. we are home to nike, intel, so trade really matters. trade matters,r good trade matters. what i find most striking is when i was a freshman, bill clinton was in the white house and he had me down as a freshman on the aggie committee to help get trade deals for china. we met with the president several times. party is no longer

the party of bill clinton. it's the party of bernie sanders. when hillary clinton comes out against the agreement where she had to be part of pushing been pushed she has so far to the left, you wonder where the constituency for trade remains. , i thinkok at the epa it past 220 82 205 in the house. only 28 democrats voted for it in the house. probably 10 democrats for tpp. there is still a strong effort among republicans to engage internationally on trade. there are lessons about this agreement that still linger and my guess is if you put it up for a vote today, it would go down to medically. that in a fit, my

votes are strongly in support but others have been silent. it's going to take a big effort to get that moved. >> do you think there is any chance it goes through in the lame-duck? rep. walden: don't take this as a partisan comment, i know i chair the republican committee, but when you talk to democrats and my friends, they say i don't think we would have 10 votes for it. in the past, bill clinton was able to get 50 or 60 votes for these agreements. >> do do you think the -- you think the republican votes would still be there? rep. walden: it was not a trade agreement. it was the setup. now you are in to the nuts and bolts of the agreement. we were left out and there's no

way we can vote for it. pharmaceuticals have issues and car manufacturers have issues. members noted in the past and for say i have problems these reasons. my constituents are unhappy about that, y and z. unless you can figure out those pieces somehow, and i'm not sure that is possible, and yet i know it is important. ironically, tpp does a lot to box in china and give us an upper hand in those negotiations. in seoul and tokyo i recognize the importance from a geopolitical standpoint and trade standpoint, but there are problems internally that will preclude a

majority vote at this point. >> we are sadly out of time. thank you. please welcome to the stage, david wasserman and the director of elections for cbs. come on down. [applause] like you to fact check what congressman walden was saying about the house races. far off. not that ohio, there are not any competitive races going on. that is true. forblicans have safe seats themselves, but what he did not mention his gerrymandering is part of that. i think democrats will pick up seats in the house and the parties have separate challenges. democrats have three challenges. first is the message problem.

tieas been hard for them to republican incumbents to donald trump. 74% of republicans have endorsed him. by the time trump won the nomination in may, the filing had passed, so is hard for them to get good challenges. they also have a geography problem. consider where hillary clinton is likely to run up the score, the advantages and democratic -- demographic shifts that are benefiting them are happening in seats, kratz already hold in the house. in kissimmee, florida, or you have an influx of puerto rican voters, they will help democrats . they will help hillary clinton seat of aut that is a kratz already hold. for republicans, it's much more of a challenge.

if all ryan has a reduced majority, it's going to be hard for him to get what he wants. 87% of house republicans are white man and only 43% of democrats are white man and that number could go up in this election. >> the challenges are not mostly electoral challenges. >> right. and this is a record majority. back told be reduced where it was. you have the house freedom caucus waiting in the wings and could expand to over 40 members. that means the person in the most predictable -- in the biggest predicament is paul ryan. >> i think we have heard that refrain, for paul ryan.

us up at polling? >> we looked at the senate race here in ohio and we have portman up via point even as trump is behind clinton. is i think the case instructive. portman is up as a point because here, donald trump is having the hardest time keeping the primary voters. predictably, that is kasich voters. he's only getting half of them. the rest are not going to hillary clinton. they are saying they are undecided or they may not vote or they are hanging back. broader terms of will of top of the ticket be a boost or drag on the ticket? i think in the case of donald trump, in the case of the

republicans running in blue states, the extent to which he can unify the base and unify the party and bring over some of those reluctant republicans is behind a lot of his numbers here. that's why he's not doing as well here as he is as say in iowa. i think that portends well for portman. at 41-40.e portman that is very close. it suggests there could be a lot of ticket splitters. we have been told ticket splitting is dead. is it going to make a comeback? ticket splitting is almost dead. if you look at the national trends, you can go back and find a quarter of people who split

their tickets in some fashion. down to something in the mid-single digits. if you look at it last year, obama retained about 95% of the senate and the house. roughly the same with romney. will it make a comeback this year? when you think about the ticket splitting, think about dynamic behind it. one theory says there are less informed voters that come rather than just go straight to the party. the other one is interesting. if you are a religion in republican and you are not quite there with trump and let's say you go to hillary clinton. and there are very small numbers of such folks in the polls.

do you vote for a republican senator because it might end up being clinton president but i want to check on her presidency. is that a reverse ticket split than just sticking with the party? that is a dynamic that will be interesting to watch. >> are reluctant republicans the soccer moms of 2016? >> it is a mix in the polls. there are some moderates and some independents who are not quite with trump yet. he is and about the mid-70's with conservatives and republicans in the polling. he needs to get to the mid-90's. he has a way to go. are they the soccer moms? aree's a mix of those who

conservative and those who'd do not think he represents the essence or values of the party. maybe the mike pence pick helps with that. conservativeome voters not yet ready to back him. if they stay home, it becomes a turnout problem. >> the democrats have had the thetegy of basically tying senate to donald trump but that's not necessarily effective? >> it may ultimately be effective in some cases. with regard to tickets splitting, the voters are likely to split their ticket, they are likely to be well educated, high income voters. that's differentiated between

the top of the ticket and the congressional ballot will stop its either likely to vote for oflary clinton at the top the ticket and vice versa. but democrats are doing everything they can, particularly in the 26th district that president obama carried and house public and republicans that are putting party ahead of country. we will see if that resonates when voters start tuning into congressional races. >> he raises a good point. party image plays a role in this as well. has the nomination of hillary clinton you think better or worse of the democratic already? outside of the liberal base who supported her, the answer is no. nomination made you support him? the answer is no.

if you want to talk in terms of whether these nominations, both of them, helped the senate underates who are running that party label, the answer seems to be a wildcard. having said that, the republican incumbents are known names and that gives them a chance to and that's why you hear them and see representur party, i our party more so than donald trump does and that's the distance someone like mark kirk or kelly ayotte seem to be going. mentioned mark kirk and kelly ayotte, who are the most vulnerable republican senators? this perfecte saw storm in favor of the republicans with a lot of democrats running in red states.

you have a number that is audibly six or seven who are republican sitting senators with an open seat or two running in states that are reliably blue. you have the race in new hampshire, the race in ohio, mark kirk in illinois, florida is interesting. the polling suggests rubio has an edge there. i know democrats were hope full. coloradoennet in doesn't really seem to have an edge in the polling at least at the out that. so those are some of the top ones. this string of republicans sitting in blue states. >> is your big picture prediction a pickup of a few seats for democrats mark >> amply by the numbers, they are

likely to pick up a few. that is the wildcard. if they can tire get the majority, that is not clear. >> how the see the geography of the house landscape? pennsylvania may be more competitive because of the demographic of trump's appeal and away he seems to generate excitement among white working-class voters. does that change where you see competitive districts? >> i agree that pennsylvania is the state to watch. the golden triangle is florida, ohio, and pennsylvania. with the electoral votes republicans carried in 2012 and work your way up and trump needoes donald

to get to? i don't see him getting there without florida and ohio. colorado, ohio, virginia and pennsylvania. i think they are poor states for donald trump. the economy is doing better there but if there is one state that could be an opportunity if he is competitive, it is pennsylvania. there are not a lot of house races that are competitive, but there are two house races that intrigue me -- nebraska's second district -- and what do they have in common? >> a lot of old white people. >> a lot of white people, but they are the only states that divide their votes by congressional districts. so donald trump will be targeting northern maine.

hillary clinton has decided to counter by opening a campaign office in omaha, nebraska. first obama was the democrat to carry that congressional seat. we will see whether she can put that suburban district in omaha in play. that's just one electoral college vote. both of them have -- brad ashford is the first democrat to get elected to thousands 1992. as the first republican to get 1994, you have an interesting symmetry in these district as well. of the ideas was this idea donald trump is going to be a drag on the republican ticket

does not account for the fact that hillary clinton is a drag on the democratic side of the ticket and she is indeed extremely unpopular. do you see that being the case? >> i think a lot of us pay exclusive attention to hillary exclusive attention to donald trump. there is a yen and a yang here. in the iron range of minnesota where you have a lot of blue-collar working-class voters, donald trump is pulling pretty well. on the other hand, in minnesota's second and third districts, you have a lot of white color -- white color republicans voting against donald trump and that has been the case for a couple of decades.

symmetryn interesting between those at the house level. --do you see any impact unpopularity of the republican and democratic candidates, what potential effect would that have down ticket? >> if you look at the polls, they are doing relatively well. >> for gary johnson specifically? both, i've seen him alone in double digits. in hours, you can get a .ombination that is close to 10 here's a couple of things. third-party candidates typically pull much better than a act actually do -- than they actually do. if the voter walks in and says they are not going to win and pick a major party candidate,

the rule of some is divide that in half. that is what we've got. these things are going to be so close that lets not dismiss the idea of 4% or 5% having an effect. orit is in effect on turnout a vote that goes away from one part or the other, that could make a difference. if you look at the stability of gary johnson's vote, it is consistent. has in studyh, he and where he is in the polls. only going to get more interesting. it's now time for your next lineup. >> next up, michael seale, he

was republican party chair from 2009 through 2011. before that, maryland's lieutenant governor. he's now an msnbc political analyst and is here with my colleague, steve clemons, to explore the landscape in cleveland and beyond. steve: i know you are uncomfortable with all of these republicans around. talking aboutord donald trump and how he has proven everyone wrong, that he has clocked the other challengers, a political punditry class, i would say many of them think he has no chance to win. can you give us your view not necessarily what will unfold but what his path to the presidency looks like. half lies where it has always been and that is out across the heartland, and

neighborhoods and communities that have been forgotten for a while by both political parties. uncanny ability to keep it real and you know what? are a conventional people in politics. we like things neatly packaged and we like the crisp, deliberate soundbite that doesn't offend anyone and do anything to unravel the status of. along comes this guy and he flips everybody the bird and starts talking about body parts and using foul language and you know what? guys and gals on their couch think finally, somebody who understands me. look at theback and focus group done in new hampshire, and i talk about this a lot because this is the moment this i went off where

blue-collar working mom of two in new hampshire when asked about donald trump, her response was, he's one of us. a multibillionaire from new york, you are here raising your kids, trying to make ends meet, but what she was saying was he connects with me on the things i'm really angry about and he articulates that and manifests that in a way that works for him. if you listen to the panel about some of the pathways and processes, donald trump is not worried about the process. think about this -- he's had the worst six weeks to two months any political candidate in history has. can we agree on that? tiedatest polls have him by three? some by seven? let's make it worse case, 12. what does that tell you about

where the american people are? they are in a different place from where the political establishment types are. you say that on msnbc and i heard you say it this morning. they were worried about the fact that he's not able to pull in these celebrities -- does she just not get it or do they look at you like you are from mars? >> it's not even a question of being 10 years, it's just a question of connecting the dots. can we just get comfortable with the idea that donald trump doesn't care? if you get comfortable at that space, then you can move into the other spaces to understand where this election is all stop -- where this election is. who is -- who does he want in front of america this week?

does he want big hollywood stars and music act? he wants his children and his the republican>> national convention starts today. c-spanlive on the free radio app. it's easy to download from the apple store or google play. watch live or on-demand anytime on c-span.org on your desktop, phone or tablet, where you will find all of our convention coverage and the full convention schedule. find us on twitter and like us on facebook to see video of newsworthy moments. don't miss video of the republican national convention starting today on c-span, the c-span radio app, and c-span.org.