fear and smear. we're not going to do that. we need real leadership. t me man who is about to be the next president of the united states, and his name is mitt romney. (cheers) i don't think i've seen a time in our nation's history where the man and the moment have met so perfectly. this man is a leader. everything mitt romney has done in his life has prepared him for this moment in our history to provide the kind of leadership we need. look the at the beautiful family he's raised. do you remember the olympics in the late '90s? remember the scandals, the wasteful spending, the bloat, the corruption, sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? when they needed someone to turn it around, who did salt

lake call? they called mitt romney and mitt romney turned those olympics around and made america proud and we thank him for that leadership. (cheer (cheers) >> look at what he's done in business. he helped start new businesses. he helped turned around struggling businesses. he helped create great businesses that we all know now. sports authority, bright horizons, staples, this is a man who actually created jobs, who knows what it takes to get people back to work, to get businesses up and running, to create prosperity, to help people in need. take a look at what he did when he was governor of massachusetts. of all contrasts that we can have, this is as clear as it gets. and president obama came into office promising to create jobs and prevent unemployment from ever getting above 8%. it's been above 8% for 42

months. when mitt romney is governor of massachusetts, unemployment went down. 23 million americans today are struggling to find work. nearly one in six americans are in poverty today. household incomes, family income has gone down by more than $4,000 over the past four years. when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts, family income went up by $5,000 over his four years. remember president obama used to say he's going to bring everybody together. not red states or blue states, just the united states of america and set aside childish things, it's the most partisan atmosphere i've seen. and this is the third president i've served with. when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts a republican in a democratic state with a democratic legislature consisting of 87% of the legislature. what did mitt romney do?

he reached across the aisle. he extended the hand. he negotiated and he balanced a budget without raising taxes. (cheers). this is the kind of man for this kind of moment we need to lead our nation at the crucial moment. now, you've heard the president has been talking about medicare a bit lately. we want this debate. we need this debate. and we are going to win this debate. (cheers). now, like a lot of americans, when i think about medicare it's not the program. it's not a bunch of numbers, it's what my mom relies on. it's what my grandma has.

you see, like a lot of people, and i see wisconsin hats all around here, wow, that's a pretty good showing. hey, pat. we had this rule in wisconsin, kind of an unwritten rule. you turn 65 you've got to go south for the winter. (laughter) >> we call them snow birds. my mom's a snow bird, she's a florida resident. >> she lives just down the road over here lauderdale and she like so many people here, she comes down here for the winter just like so many folks from all over the country do. you know, my grand ma moved in with my mom and me when i was in high school, she had advanced alzheimer's, my mom and i were her two primary care givers. you learn a lot about life, you learn a lot about your elderly seniors and your family. you learn a lot about alzheimer's. and medicare was there for our

family, for my grandma when we need it had then and medicare is there for my mom while she needs it now. and we have to keep that guarantee. (cheers). >> . >> peter: my mom has been on medicare for over ten years and i won't tell you exactly how many years over ten years, she plays tennis every week, she exercises every day. she planned her retirement around this promise that the government made her because she paid her payroll taxes into this program which she made this, which she had this promise with. and that's a promise we have to keep. (cheer (cheers) >> here is what the president won't tell you about his medicare plan. about obamacare. the president raids 716

billion dollars from the medicare program to pay for the obamacare program what's more he puts a board of 15 unelected. unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of medicare that will cut medicare in ways to deny care for current seniors. you want to know what medicare is saying about this? from medicare officials themselves one out of six of hospitals and our nursing homes will go out of business as a result of this. 4 million seniors are projected to lose their medicare advantage plans that they enjoy and they chose today under this obamacare plan. what's worse is the

president's campaign calls this an achievement. do you think raiding medicare to pay for obamacare is achievement. do you think that empowering a board of bureaucrats an achievement? neither do i. medicare should not be used as a piggy bank for obamacare. medicare should be the promise that is made to our current seniors period, end of story. (cheers) here is what mitt romney and i will do. we will end the raid of medicare. we will restore the promise of this program and we will make sure that this board of bureaucrats will not mess with my mom's health care or your mom's health care. (cheers). now, let me just see a show of

hands, how many of you are 55 or over? okay. (laughter) >> how many of you are not? all right. our solution to preserve, protect and save medicare does not affect your benefits. and let me repeat that. our plan does not affect the benefits for people who are in or near retirement. it's a promise that was made and it's a promise that must be kept. but in order to make sure we can guarantee that promise for my mom's generation for those baby boomers retiring every day, we must reform it for my generation. to save it for this generation, you have to reform it for my generation, so it doesn't go bankrupt when we

want to retire. (cheer (cheers). the good news is, there are bipartisan solutions to do this. the plan we support originated in the clinton commission plan to save medicare in the late 1990's. and it's a bipartisan plan in congress today. it's a plan that says do not change benefits for people 55 and above, and for those of us who are younger, when we become medicare eligible, we get a choice of guaranteed coverage options. guaranteed affordability, including traditional medicare, and a pick, a plan for us, when we retire, and that means all those providers compete against each other for our business, and we don't have to beg for the mercy of 15 bureaucrats whether or not we get our health care. [applause]. we think the best way to save

medicare is to empower 50 million seniors, not 15 unelected bureaucrats to make their decisions how they get their health care. mitt romney and i will protect and strengthen medicare so that the promises that were made, that people organize their retirements around like my mom, are promises that will be kept. [applause]. one of the ways that we can make sure that this promise is kept, is to get people back to work. is to grow this economy. and that's why we're offering solutions for more jobs and higher take home pay. the romney-ryan plan for a stronger middle class is designed to get this economy growing again. [applaus

[applause]. 12 million jobs, grow the economy at 4%. this would create 713,000 jobs right in florida alone. the key to doing it is to get us back to work. we have lots of energy in america. let's use this energy in america to create jobs and lower our gas prices. (cheers). we need people who are out of work to be able to go back to school to get the skills they need to get new jobs and careers to get back on the path to prosperity. and we also have to grow more things in america. my buddy my senior year, ad commissioner, knows a lot about growing things. we make things in america. we grow things in america. we we have to make more, grow more, sell it overseas, that creates good jobs in america. (cheers). we also have to stop spending money we just don't have.

we've got to cut spending, get this deficit under control so we leave our children and our grandchildren a debt-free nation. that affects jobs today. we have to champion small businesses. small businesses is the engine of opportunity, the engine of job creation, we need to restart that engine. you know, growing up my dad worked and my mom stayed at home. i've got three older siblings, my sister and two brothers. and my mom stayed at home those years. when my dad died my mom went back to school. she went back to college, got a new skill, a new trade and then she started a small business. my mom had three or four employees at that small business that she started, taking care of my grandma at the time. going to school and then she started this small business

and mom,-- mom, i am proud of you for going out and getting another degree, i'm proud of you for the small business that you created, and mom, you did build that! (cheers). that's what america is all about! i'm so proud of her for that. i'm so proud of her for doing that. right in the middle of her life. and this -- this election is the most important election in our lifetimes no matter what generation you come from. there are a few things my dad

would always say that have always really just stuck with me. number one, he would say, son, you're either part of the problem or part of the solution. he was usually telling me this when i was part of the problem. (laughter) the other thing he would say is son, in this country every generation of americans solves their problems so that their children are better off. that's the american legacy. it is our duty to save the american dream for our children and theirs. when we talk about these things, when we look at the fork of the road we're in. when we look at the enormous choice we have in front of us. when we have such a clear contrast between the leader in mitt romney and the failed

leadership of president obama, the choice is very clear. it goes deeper than that though. it really comes down to a question of, what kind of country do we want to have? what kind of people do we want to be? you know, our founders were so eloquent when we created this country. and they said it very clearly. our rights, as individuals, as citizens, our rights come from nature and god, not from government. (cheer (cheers). our found eers preserved this, founded this, secured this and our veterans have kept it ever since and we thank those veterans. veterans. [applaus

[applause] >> here is the commitment that mitt romney and i are making to you, our fellow citizens. we're going to give you the choice. we are not going to duck the tough issues, we're not going to keep kicking the can down the road, we will lead. >> (cheers). we will not blame other people, we will take responsibility. (cheer (cheers). and we will not try to transform this country into something it was never intended to be. we will not try to replace our founding principles. we will reapply our founding principles. [applaus

[applause]. >> we are suffering from decades of politicians from both political parties, who have made empty promises to voters just to get reelected and soon those empty promises will quickly become broken promises with painful consequences for all of us if we don't act. we need leadership. we need to make sure that government keeps those promises to people who are organized retirement around the promises like my mom, betty. we need to make sure that a promise of this country is not only there for my mom's generation, but for my children's generation. we need leadership. mitt romney is the man for the moment to provide that leadership. and this is a defining moment. this is our generation's time. and you know what? we can do this. we can turn this thing around.

we can get this economy growing. we can get families back on the the path to prosperity. we can secure medicare's promise for tomorrow. we can do this and with your help together, florida and the rest of america will get this country back on track. thank you very much, everybody, thank you for coming out today. we love you all. thank you very much for support, we really appreciate it. ♪ >> paul ryan speaking at the villages, the world's largest retirement community. paul ryan in in case is it a little like ef hutton when he talks about medicare, everybody there listens up. there are 31,860 social security benefits by the end of 2010 that was the case, and not only tops in the country, but it's 12,000 more than any other zip code in senior rich florida. the interesting thing about this, the romney campaign clearly going on the attack in the defense of medicare,

saying 716 billion dollars, is the obama administration has taken out of medicare and devoted to obamacare, it's a red-hot piece of red meat for this campaign, carl? >> reporter: hey, yes, hi, doug. doug, paul ryan is doing the-- here at the villages after a straight up speech telling seniors what romney-ryan plan would do for medicare, at one point almost forgotten where he was in the biggest senior retirement in the world and protect medicare for my parents and your parents and what about us? and the romney-ryan plan in short is protecting medicare for existing and soon to retire voting citizens under the age of 55, an alternative,

effectively a pay service or what democrats derisively say is a voucher system. an alternative. and democrats argue what romney and ryan would do would change medicare as we know it and deception misleading of the facts on both sides and what the democrats argue the original proposal would replace medicare with a voucher program and that's what the democrats focus on not acknowledges, even so much that romney helps and calls for to be a choice for current and future retirees, soon to retire and people under 55 there would be a choice and that's what the plan is, argue that's what will save medicare as opposed to what the republican criticism of the obamacare funding transfer for medicare amounts to. the democrats took 716 billion dollars, largely in payment, earmarked for medicare for provider services paying doctors and hospitals, clinics, et cetera, that money

and it wasn't for the patients and recipients themselves, it was to pay the service providers and that's 716 billion dollars coming out of medicare and into the affordable care act as start-up funds and obamacare at the least is controversial, and on the right, republicans think it needs to be revealed and replaced in the fastest possible and taking money out after popular medicare program and shift it go into a controversial health care proposal for everybody, seniors in the republican view are being ripped off to pay for everybody else's health care and shunts be that way. the argument back and forth not going away. less than 12 weeks away from the election, two and a half to the democratic convention, and this calendar is jam packed with the presidential debates, conventions, and a very, very intense debate over what to do about entitlements. paul ryan, 42-year-old chairman of the house budget committee, the youngest chairman of the budget committee in the history of the congress, has built his

reputation since he was a congressional staffer and an actuarial wizard. he can take a look at the number and look at it quickly and complex issues and disstill them into something, consumable for an audience only now tuning into the presidential election, debate over entitlements and meds care is decades old and mitt romney and paul ryan are trying to come up with a immediate effect and-- it's a bold proposition, but the romney campaign and paul ryan are not backing away, intent is to keep the obama campaign on defense and it's indisputab indisputable. an exactly seven day old vice-presidential candidate paul ryan, it's an issue and republicans driving it. >> and carl, keep the answer short, we want to move out, but an itinerary for the

romney campaign told that paul ryan and mitt romney will be campaigning separately just after the republican convention, but there's a change, apparently reunited in new hampshire on monday, what's that about? >> last weekend when ryan joined the ticket we knew by monday they were going to split. part company and that the newly minted running mate would be separated from the machine at the top of the ticket. mitt romney and raised questions, clearly the chemistry between the two are positive and elevated mitt romney's game when ryan joined the ticket and to separate them seemed unreasonable. on tuesday, i asked if there was to be a plan to reunite them and they said, yes, and the town hall in manchester monday morning and take questions from the audience, not on the. looking perhaps to reunite them again in iowa and one more time beyond that before the actual convention. and the romney campaign has acknowledged and recognized that ryan has been a jolt of adrenalin to the campaign and some polls begun to shift and the issue set has been

designed by the push for medicare reform and they'll join the twosome monday in iowa, excuse me new sham hire and possibly repeat that in iowa and it's clear recognition from the romney campaign that perhaps this ryan, can add to romney's energy. now, historically the selection of a running mate 4 to 6% bump in the poll, not much more, that's yet to materialize for paul ryan, but we're only in the first week, having said that the romney campaign is counting on combined 11 point bounce in the polls. and putting the two together, they hope will bring about the 11 point bounce much faster, doug. >> carl cameron at the villages, where paul ryan continues to work the rope line there. thanks, karl. and president obama is wheels up to new hampshire and when he arrives, he arrived in new hampshire in the next hour and

greeted by this sign, not so friendly reminder of romney campaign, that the comment with small businesses is a sticking point with small business owners and one is gene marks, founder and owner of the marks group and joins us right now. goods to see you, gene. >> hey, doug, how are you. >> well, thank you. tell me what you made of that speech you just heard? >> first of all, i think it sums up completely why i'm actually enthusiastic about romney's pick of ryan. you know, ryan himself is all about the economy and all about balancing the budget and fact that he goes into the largest senior living facility in the country, to really talk about his plan for medicare, means that he's, now,'s attacking entitlements, so from the aspect after small business owners that's what we want to hear from the guys in government. how they're going to drive the budget deficit down and reduce the national debt and attack entitlements out there. and i think air choosing ryan as a running mate focuses debate on the economy and

that's exactly what small business owners make me want to hear. >> i want to move on to your small business, and you wrote a piece in inc..com and you sauk did small businesses owners. >> my kids don't want to hear what i have to say unless it's go giving them money. and my vendors miss delivery dates and i wait on hold 30 minutes an airline makes a minor change to the ticket and charges me $150. >> ni know, $150. >> and you end with, this is my life. part of the frustration that small businesses owners are feeling these days. >> doug, you should be aware in 2008. i voted for obama. and i want you also to know that i like president obama. in fact, i think some of the stuff he's done has been good, but on the economy itself. particularly as a small business owner shall i just have had a fundamental disagreement with how he's handled things and the fact

that my life has been over the past four years, since he's been president. my company, although it's been possible, we haven't grown at all. >> gene, i'm going to have to wrap you up. we've got a hard break around the bend. thank you so much for joining us and sticking around, appreciate that. >> thank you. >> all of you fans fear not, the business block right now. has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through.