>> bob: i thought they said to get out. >> eric: 30 seconds. >> bob: i always wondered about that. it's that or a lex on you, bob. hex on you. >> eric: that is it for us. thank you for watching "the five." see you tomorrow from tampa, florida. good night, everybody. ♪ ♪ captioned by closed captioning services, inc >> bret: vice presidential candidate paul ryan on the campaign, convention and the not so perfect storm. live from the republican national convention in tampa. this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. we are coming to you tonight from the tampa bay times forum, which is significantly less active than we anticipated a few days ago. because of the threat of tropical storm isaac. not here but up the gulf coast. the latest storm track has new

orleans squarely in isaac's sights. landfall is expected in southeastern louisiana tomorrow evening. romney is working on his acceptance speech in massachusetts. he will be nominated thursday. congressman ron paul says he does not fully endorse the governor. a bit later, the impact of libertarians and paul supporters on this election. back in tampa, congressman paul ryan will accept the vice presidential nomination wednesday. he comes to florida tuesday. today he was in the hometown of wisconsin and i caught up with him there via satellite earlier today. >> you can see over my shoulder this is a track i ran track on. i'm standing on the hill that we take our kids flooding on. good to be home. >> bret: i want to ask you about the current environment here. there are a lot of republicans here who are excited for you to come down to florida. but to be honest, they are bummed out that isaac rained on their parade.

their party. not so much the weather conditions here but that the storm has shortened this convention. and may truncate it further. your thoughts on all of that? >> well, that is our first concern the people who are in the path of the storm. it's already hit haiti hard. our hearts go out to victims there. our primary concern right now is those who lay in the path of the storm. the rest of the convention details will work itself out. we truncated it. we want to make sure that people are out of harm's way. >> bret: as forecast now, you have a hurricane, category one hitting new orleans, tuesday night, right before the primetime speeches. how does it train things? does it go further or shortened further? gest we have to adapt based on circumstances as they occur. >> bret: from your point of view what is the most important thing you want to take away from the convention? >> we have positive ideas and solution for better future. look, the contrast between the president obama plan, which

put us in the nation in debt, doubt, decline, versus romney's vision and solutions for a better future to get us back to prosperity couldn't be clearer. what we want to do is highlight the contrasts and give the country the choice they deserve this fall. by showing them how we'll get the country back to work, how we will get the country out of debt and how we get the american idea revived. >> bret: congressman, i would like to take a few minutes if i could and go through the attacks that the president has been making on the campaign trail. have you address them. a lightning round of obama campaign attacks if you will. first on taxes. the president cites a study of mitt romney's tax plan from the tax policy center at brookings institution and the urban institute. >> the average middle class family with children, according to this study would be hit with a tax increase of more than $2,000. >> bret: your response to that? >> well, first, it's not an accurate study. it's not a study of the actual romney plan, but more than

that, you just premiseed it with a question. the president is on a campaign trail attacking. that is what you will see all fall. the president doesn't have anything else to offer. he can't run on the agenda. 23 million people struggling to find work. unemployment above 8% for 42 months. so he can't run on the record. all he is going to do is attack. he will use distortions, fear, it's anger, frustration. i don't think the country wants that anymore. that is why i think they will be receptive to the positive vision for america we'll be offering in tampa. so, the only perp proposing tax in -- only person proposing tax increases is barack obama. the romney plan for stronger middle class does not raise taxes. it says instead of having washington pick winners and losers with the special interest tax break, lower tax rates for everybody. families, small businesses, job creators to get more prosperity, more take-home pay, more job creation. >> bret: so to be specific,

mitt romney has a 20% cut across the board on individual rates but he has not identified, you have not identified what loopholes and deductions that you would eliminate so the tax policy center essentially made the assumption, concluded it would mathematically be impossible for romney to achieve what he wants without having tax hike on lower income americans; is that fair? >> "a," the math is wrong. "b," there are studies that show they're wrong. "c," what we are saying -- here is how it works today in washington. people send money to washington. people and businesses. if you do what washington approves, with a lobbyists lobby to get in the tax code they will get you some of your money back if you engage in behavior that washington approves of. we disagree with that. we're saying keep your money in your wallet, paycheck in the business in the first place and you will have lower tax rates as a result.

people who get most of the deductions are in the top tax bracket, wealthy. not middle income taxpayers. by getting rid of the deduction that the higher income earners get, more income is subject to taxation so that means we can lower tax rate for everybody. they won't shelter the income from taxation but in exchange they will get more tax rates. eight out of ten businesses in america file taxes as individuals, this is a big small business jog creation idea. the -- job creation idea. president is proposing tax rate on the successful small businesses goes up 4% in january. countries around the world are cutting the tax rate on their successful job creators, canada cut theirs to 15%. president obama wants them to go above 40%. that is going to give us a recession we think. cbo agrees. that is why we're saying stop picking the winners and lewders in washington and let people keep the money in the first place and lower tax rate across the board for everybody. >> bret: why not be specific

on the loopholes you will eliminate and deductions you eliminate to cut off the attack? >> what we don't want to do is whatted they did with healthcare reform, cut a back room deal that obama did in harry reid's office and give it to the country. read what is in it later on. we want to go through a transparent process in congress, where we have a dialogue with the public. what are important and broad based? get rid of the corporate welfare, crony capitalism in tax code. we have want congress to participate in transparent debate in front of the public eye to have a good debate about how best to broaden the tax base and lower tax rates. by the way, bret, a lot of bipartisan agreement to do it this way. simpson-bowls proposed this. a lot of democrats agree with us. get rid of loopholes. lower tax rate. good for economic growth. but it's not president obama or harry reid. they want more loopholes to kill growth. >> bret: democrats cite and the president used in speeches

that the cbo and medicare actuary say medicare is going broke and will become insolvent in 2016 under your plan with obamacare repealed. but 2024 under president obama's. is that true? what is the solution to that? >> no. the same experts also say you can't spend the same dollar twice. you can't take it from medicare and spend it on obamacare and then pretend to deep it in medicare. you can't have it both ways and the president is being hypocritical on this. we're saying to leave medy care intact today. we'll borrow money but we can do that if we put reforms in place for the next generation to guarantee it's sustainable and solvent for them. what we are saying is very, very clear. don't change medicare benefit for people in or near retirement. but to guarantee promise of medicare for current retirees and those about to retire we need to reform it for your

generation a my generation, bret. >> bret: democrats are accusing you to redefine rape. you cosponsored legislation to distinguish between statutory and forcible rape. why? >> well, look, all these bills were bills to stop taxpayer financing of abortion. most americans agree with us. including pro-choice americans we shouldn't use hard-working american dollars to finance abortion. rape is rape period. this is language, stock languageed used for differents bills, bills i didn't author. the language was removed to be clear. i agree to remove it so we're clear. rape is rape. period. end of story. >> bret: you have been critical of president obama for what you call lack of leadership on iran. you said he should have supported the green move in the tehran and been forceful early on. look at the situation right now, what would romney-ryan administration do differently with iran? >> for the last three years the obama administration has tried to water down the sanctions that we applied on iran. because we have had huge

bipartisan votes in congress do we have the sanctions we have in place. romney-ryan administration would not stand in the way of sanctions. ryan-romney administration would have been leading the position of the sanctions, which is to make sure the iranian regime see we're serious. that is important. the other concern i have with our foreign policy, not just with iran but with all the other areas is that they keep putting our policy, subjugat subjugating it to the united nations. we shouldn't worry about whether or not russia a china will veto everything we want to do in pursuit of the national interest, we run everything through the security council. that means we have to appease russia and china to safeguard our national security interest. that's the wrong posture. >> bret: i want to get personal for a second. you got emotional when you went back to wisconsin in one of those first events. you're there in your hometown today. reflect, if you can, about making this trek and being at this point. ready to accept your party

vice presidential nomination. >> you know, bret, i never planned this for my life. i wasn't one of those people who had my life mapped out. i love the study of economicsism thought that is what i'd do for my life. when i decided to run for office at 28. i was fortunate enough to get elected. people in southern wisconsin have been very good to me. it tried to live up to their trust. to be standing here on the hill, i take my kids sledding in the bowl i played soccer an ran track talking to you act the issues at this moment in our country is very profound for me. it's a very moving moment. you know, in wisconsin, as a kid, go to catholic school and public schools to be in this position, only in america. >> bret: your dad died as we talked about at an early age. you were in your teens. you think back about him, as you are getting ready for the journey down here to tampa and this moment? >> i thought about him every

day. it was one of those moments in a life where you basically have to make a decision whether you sink or swim. when something like that happens to you, it's a real punch in the stomach. you have to decide whether you'll get yourself up, brush yourself off and dive in to life. that is a decision i made when i was 16. it's made me a stronger person as a result of it. i'd like to think he would be proud of not just what we are doing here but of my family and what we're doing. >> bret: you said after we got thumped by pelosi in 2006 i was sitting in hi free stand thinking why am any congress? what am i doing? is it serving a purpose? i considered leaving because i was young and didn't want to be a lifetime politician. she implemented a five-day work week. when i looked at it, i'd say my family one day a week and i was thinking at that time is this worth it? in a tree stand as a hunter,

bow hunter. from that point to this point? >> that tree point six miles in that direction. it can get in my tree stand in 20 minutes of leaving my house. that's what we do in wisconsin. i do a lot of my thinking in the woods. i'm an outdoors guy. that is what i thought. to be good at these jobs in leadership in congress, serving as vice president you have to be willing to lose the job. you can't worry about your next election. you didn't worry about the next generation about what needs to be done to save this country, and that is the problem i have with president obama and a lot of politicians like him in washington. they are so worried about their election that they are compromising the country and the next generation. i decided back then i'll do what i think is right. i'll move the debate to get the country fixed. so we don't have the kind of european result we're clearly heading toward. what i'm pleased to see is we are finally having the adult conversation we need to have in the country if we want to fix this country's problems and get us back to prosperity

and get people back to work. >> bret: i said i'd ask one question from twitter. tracy gorman tweeted a question. ask congressman ryan what his biggest surprise has been so far as vice presidential candidate for him and his wife? >> it's been a lot less stressful and more fun than i anticipated. people said it would drain me. it actually energizes me. pleasant surprise. >> bret: congressman ryan, thank you very much for your time. good luck in your journey down here to tampa. we'll see you here at the convention center. >> all right, bret. see you later. >> congressman ryan. we'll air more clips from him. you heard what he had to say in that part. get reaction from senior political analyst brit hume. good evening. you sat down with congressman ryan in colorado. your thoughts? >> wonderful example of what is the ryan effect. look at the things that you an congressman ryan were discussing. you were in details of the tax

plan, you were in detail of the medicare. and details of all the issues. substantive issues. point-by-point rebut to bam become attacks. he is what paul ryan brought to this race. my own discussions with him are similar. i thought your interview by the way was better. both you and he were better. but it's an interesting effect. this young man is potent political being in the sense that you sense his earnestness. you sense his knowledge. when he says that he is not in this just to win and he is not worried about the next election, next generation, i think voters may be more inclined to believe that from him than they would have many another politician. >> bret: do you sense he is comfortable in his skin as the vice presidential candidate and he is ready for the podium behind us wednesday night?

>> i thought about him for a long time he seems unusually comfortable in his skin. he knows where he is, knows where he came from. hasn't forgotten where he came from and his roots are. he's sufficiently grounded in the knowledge of the issues that he has made his. that he will be fine here. he is not having any, i don't think he is having panic attacks. he meant it. this man i think is the future of the republican party. the question is whether the future is now. >> bret: brit, as always, thank you. i thought your interview was great. >> thank you. >> bret: the reason things are so quiet here tonight, tropical storm isaac. it appears tampa avoided a direct hit but isaac is bearing down on an arizon area familiar with bad storms. it's headed for southeast louisiana and could be a category two hurricane by then. correspondent casey stegall is live tonight in new orleans. good evening, casey. >> reporter: good evening, bret. tonight, people in the big easy are bracing for isaac. state of emergency has been declared.

not just here in louisiana but in neighboring mississippi an alabama as well. folks are stand bagging, boarding up their shops and homes. pulling their boats out of the water. they are heading for higher ground. most of the evacuations in this region at this point are voluntary. but the governor of louisiana has this message for his residents. >> we recommend those in low-lying areas and those outside of the levee protection, intercoastal to certainly evacuate before the on set of tropical storm winds. >> isaac is still a tropical storm at this hour. already having done a lot of damage in haiti and the dominican republican. at least ten people died in the caribbean in the wake of this storm. now forecasters believe it will strengthen in to a hurricane within the next several hours. he is expected to make landfall here tomorrow evening. nearly seven years to the date of hurricane katrina. katrina was a category three. isaac expected to be a strong

category one. if not a two. >> every storm is different. we have never had two that have been the same. so, like with katrina we expected a wind event. we got a broken levee event. this time is a wind/water event. >> reporter: now at this point the national weather service predicts the system will stall or slow considerably once it hits land, which could translate to high winds and heavy rains for days and days. by the way, president obama earlier ordering federal aid to this region to assist with the local governments with isaac. bret? >> bret: casey stegall live in new orleans tonight. we'll keep the track of the storm every minute. thank you, casey. up next, the party is here in tampa. tampa. where are the romneys and what [ pilot ] now when you build an aircraft, you want to make sure it goes up and stays up. [ chirp ] with android apps, you get better quality control. so our test flights are less stressful. i've got a lot of paperwork, and time is everything here.

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>> bret: welcome back to republican convention. balloons are poised, ready for thursday night. the central figure in tampa this week is presumptive nominee mitt romney. he leads president obama by one point in the latest gallup poll. he is tied in a poll in ohio and virtual tie in florida. his big moment will be thursday night. carl cameron is in boston tonight to tell us what romney

and the convention are doing in the meantime. >> reporter: day one of the 012 republican national con vention went according to contingency plans. chairman opened proceeding and started obama debt clock to watch it rise in the gathering and led prayer of first responders dealing with isaac. that was it for day. >> the 2012 republican national con vention stands in recess subject to the call of the chair. [ applause ] >> reporter: rnc officials downplayed talk that the storm might cause more of the convention to be canceled. the final gallup poll before the convention shows romney up one point, 47-46 over the president. the leader in the gallup poll at this point in past campaigns won 12 of the last 15 elections. in the premier swing state of ohio and florida, the columbus dispatch poll says romney surged to dead even tie in the buckeye state. in florida, a virtual tie. obama 50 to 46. in a cnn survey. mitt romney spent much of the day at the belmont,

massachusetts, home working on the speech and tracking isaac. plans were being medal for him to call gulf state governors. meeting with the head of the white house transition team mike levitt was postponed. romney and wife ann began the day at their lake house with speech preps and storm in mind. >> my thoughts are with the people in the storm's path and hope they are spared any major disruption. >> reporter: romney's speech is set for thursday. he gave a vote of confidence for mrs. romney whose speech comes tuesday night as isaac bears down on the gulf coast. >> i like my speech. i really like ann's speech. >> the g.o.p. running mate paul ryan held emotional convention sendoff in wisconsin. >> wow! look at this. >> president obama has no campaign events scheduled. vice president biden who had planned several campaign days in florida to bracket the g.o.p. convention called them all off last night. late this afternoon, the obama

campaign announced it would have campaign rallies in iowa and colorado. the republican national convention meanwhile moments ago held a teleconference call to tell reporters they are going ahead with the abbreviated schedule as is. no additional plans, changes and plans. and that they have begun talks to solicit charitable donations and volunteer relief efforts to help in isaac's aftermath. bret? >> bret: sounds like minnesota four years ago. carl cameron live in boston. thank you. back here in tampa, one group whose presence is felt more this year than perhaps ever before libertarians. chief washington correspondent james rosen on their impact and their future. >> i give to you the guy that is my hero, my father, ron paul. >> reporter: the 7,000 libertarians who pack the university of south florida sun dome to ron paul may have witnessed the swan song for the congressman who turned 77 last week and is not seeking re-election in the house.

>> is there anything left for me to say? >> reporter: indeed there was, as the scourge of the federal reserve held for an hour defined as ever warning about the dangers of a universal currency, handling bradley manning as whistle blower and claiming his own support because of paul's libertarian followers don't feel comfortable coming to a republican primary. >> major paper in washington, d.c., that said the revolution will not be happening. don't they only wish! >> reporter: it's the g.o.p. platform that paul and his supporters manage to insert planking on freedom and the u.s. constitution. convention goers were slated to video tribute to the feisty texan. paul supporters should feel comfortable with the ticket. >> ron is a friend of mine. i have known him a long time in congress.

we see eye to eye in a lot of issues. we believe in sound money and limited government and economic freedom. the founding principles. >> libertarian party nominee, former new mexico governor gary johnson is reportedly polling under 10% in colorado. meaning he and like-minded candidates could siphon off crucial swing state votes. some attending the ron paul event in tampa appeared huppingry for such alternatives. >> i will not vote for evil men. lesser of two evils if 90% is bad, they're still evil. >> others say they plan to return to the local republican county organizations and work from within to promote ron paul's ideas. one man told us, "we're not going away." bret? >> bret: james, thank you. two more american troops were killed today by an afghan colleague. an afghan spokesman says one of the country's soldiers fell and accidentally discharged his weapon. but the pentagon says there are indications it was intentionm. 12 american seasonals killed by the afghan partners this month alone. syrian helicopter went down in

a ball of flames today in damascus. this is unauthenticated video. rebels shouting "god is great" as the chopper falls. it hit the ground amidst gunfire in damascus. no grapevine tonight to bring you the regular feature. that is, karl rove and joe trippi with the electoral college scoreboard. that is coming up nex

>> bret: we are going to talk for a few minutes about the magic number this no.. 270. 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. get insight from former bush senior advisor karl rove and democratic strategist joe trippi. let's look at the map right now to start out. the latest map, lay it out. you can see the info on the key. red is romney. those are romney states. blue, obama. then pinkish is lean romney. light blue is lean obama. then yellow are the tossup states within the margin of

error. this, of course, is all based on polls over the last 30 days. okay, karl. start from the left time we were together. what has changed? >> two changes in status. the most important of which is wisconsin moves from lean obama to what joe and i suggested it would be after ryan's appointment. the vice president running mate. that is tossup. so ten electoral college votes out of the obama column to tossup. five electoral in mexico from lean obama to obama. >> bret: american samoa is testing by the way, behind us just so you know. >> no electoral votes. >> bret: joe, most important of the changes? >> wisconsin moving to tossup, karl and i agree that would likely happen. it did. that is important. but the most important may be the polls that are coming out of ohio that show that it was a tossup but it is getting tighter, which is significant. obama had been widening up things there. and romney really needs ohio.

now it looks like it's a possibility. it is going to change i think a lot of the tactics on all sides. if ohio really is in play. i think it may be. >> bret: let's review to the first time we did this. karl, we talk about the 3-2-1 strategy for republicans. let's review and kind of tell people where we are on that. >> well, the three are the three historically republican states whom which were taken by obama 2008. indiana, totally out of the play. solid red for romney. 11 electoral votes. the other two states, north carolina leaning toward romney. but still a tossup. obama, leading today in virginia. but both of them tossup states. basically, up one and down two. respectively. those are going to be battles until the end. we may differ where they will end up. i think they are tilting toward moving toward feeling better about romney. but those are the three. then there are two tossup states that have been historically tossup, swing back and foth. florida and ohio. florida, a general sense of

better territory for republicans. ohio has been seen as a rougher territory. new columbus dispatch poll showing dead even. slight romney lead. 15 out of the 1560 some-odd survey recipients 15 more people for romney than obama. wees have the cbo, "new york times," quinnipiac point six weeks ago that showed 6-point lead. but the poll is 8% more democrat than republican for a state for example in 2010 was one point more republican. and the "columbus dispatch" is dead especially republican and democrat. >> bret: that is the three and the two and the one? >> one is any other state. if romney wins three and two, he needs new hampshire or pennsylvania or michigan or wisconsin, or iowa, or colorado or new mexico or nevada and he wins the white house. >> bret: the question is if he doesn't win ohio is there a path feasible for romney to win? >> doable but it's tough.

obama is 247 electoral votes. ohio is 265. at which point iowa alone, six electoral votes makes it 271. the ohio goes literally ryan has to take the entire map from there on. he could, there may be one or two states that could go to obama and he would still make it. no, actually, there isn't. >> bret: you have to run the table. >> i have a different view of it. >> bret: not surprising. >> new hampshire and nevada are moving in to tossup status. in two weeks i bet we look at this map and not seven tossup states but eight or nine. we may have one state move out of convention. i believe, north carolina will move out of convention. but there is a way the get there. you don't win ohio, win colorado and wisconsin. or win, colorado, new hampshire. >> bret: it gets tougher. >> it gets tougher. but here is the deal. we are looking at this from governor romney's position. look at it from obama's

position. he is playing defense everywhere. we see a state he won last time, gone. everybody agrees. seven states all of which he won, "usa today," gasolineup will poll this week, they said look at this. president obama is leading in the swing states 47/44. however, they fail to put context in it. obama won the states by 55/45. he is suffering in the battleground states he needs to win. >> bret: joe? >> look, i think, i don't disagree that there is ways to get there. but if ohio goes, i mean first of all, obama is ahead in virginia, too. it's closer but he has been holding that one. the two states are critical. it's critical to the three, two, one. obama has shown advantages there. this is going to be tough even if nevada and the other states come to play. the one thing i would like to do is get rid of texas. >> a great state. >> no, no, no. >> listen, texas. >> karl has pull and we get a

poll down there so we could put it in the solid romney. >> bret: keep texas. >> here is the deal. he is right. i failed to get the poll run. i thought they'd run a poll. the reason i've been told no poll is being run because they consider texas so solidly republican that they aren't worth spending the money now. i agree. let's make it solid bright red. move the 38 votes to solid romney camp and recalculate. >> bret: one quick point. where they go, the candidate goes is interesting. romney, ryan in michigan. now we have seen michigan. his home state. you know, where he grew up and his father was governor there. but i have heard the political pundit say it's fool's gold for republicans to go to michigan and pennsylvania. >> you know what? here is the deal. michigan is moving closer, if you look at the recent polls and they are closer than the 6% number we have here. look, worth making a play for. it's got 16 electoral college votes and recent poll show the race leaning toward romney or heads up. here is the deal. battleground states, likely to see more rather than fewer of

them. good news for romney. bad news for obama. >> if you worry about ohio you look for other places. >> no. no. >> michigan a home place for romney. >> if you want to win the election keep this map as broad as you can, as long as you with as many states spread obama thin. make him fight in all the place. >> bret: always the last word. always. that's it. gentlemen, thank you very much. we're going to accelerate it. once a week. how about that? >> all right. >> bret: all right. thank you, guys. don't forget the ipad app. keep it here.

ron and i know each other very well. we see eye to eye on a lot of issues. sound money, we believe in limited government and economic freedom. the founding principles. we believe this is a watershed moment for america, whether or not we're going to reclaim the american idea or become, you know, craid to the grey welfare state where the

president is taking us. he and his supporters should be comfortable with us. he's a friend of mine. i have seen him a long time in congress. >> bret: congressman paul ryan talking about congressman ron paul who has not endorsed mitt romney. he is here. his son rand paul endorsed him. talking about influence of ron paul and supporters. new poll out today is tracking a lot of other polls. romney up by one point. the romney-ryan ticket, 47/46. look at this. direction of the country, wrong track. 6 67%. this is an interesting one. who do you hand to do better job handling medicare? 45%, governor romney. president obama, 42%. this is a poll that over-samples democrats plus seven. bring in panel. steve hayes for "weekly

standard." a.b. stoddard, associate editor of the hill. syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. and mara liasson, national political correspondent of national public radio. mara you look at the polls and you saw paul ryan's performance. start with the interview. your thoughts? >> paul ryan is a fresh exciting face. the republican of the future. you can see why the party has been energized since romney put him on the ticket. he is responsible for a small bump. you call it really small, but a bump toward romney in the last few weeks. >> bret: which candidate do you trust to do a better job handling medicare? >> the thing that is interesting about that, democrats rejoiced when paul ryan was put on the ticket. they thought they had a juicy target because he wants to partially privatize medicare. they ran and attacked about it a lot. they ran ads. lo and behold it hasn't hurt the romney ticket.

to neutralize the traditional historical advantage on the issue is an achievement. >> talking to romney folks they said if we can through the election play medicare to a draw, we're winning. >> this suggests in a poll that oversamples democrats, as many do, including the fox poll because of the structure of the polling, that they winning on this issue. >> which is astonishing. if you listen to ryan defending it in the past you say he make sense if he could get his case out, he would be able to carry the argument, which i think he had. then there was a remarkable counter attack. when on medicare, the romney-ryan people reminded america that obama plan took $716 billion out of medicare, which is sort of the democrats stepping op a land line. the third effect was that ryan who is least equipped republican to argue with obama

on obamacare, and to bring it up, because it would be a weakness for obama, romney all of a sudden had an argument against obama on obamacare that had nothing to do with what they had in common, individual mandate but what the difference is that romney accomplished it without raiding medicare. so in three ways they turn out to be a really positive effect for the republicans. that is why the democrats are shocked. that is why you see the narrowing of the race. romney i think getting a head of steam here. >> what about the interview, a.b.? >> the interview shows why i think ryan has given romney a bump. he's enormously compelling person. he is so smart, he is so eaest. so affable. he is so calm. he is a serious person. he is never mean, never angry. he really as charles points out is the best person to explain what medicare and reform and romney

administration would mean and how it would take place. the best person to fight back against the medicare, you kno know, mediscare demagoguery of the democrats. >> bret: the romney campaign would take -- >> what i'm going to say is this. that is one hole the democrats will keep up the fight. you might be right if they fight to a draw they win. this is not over yet. there are other polls that show what people perceive as the ryan medicare plan is enormously unpopular. so this is one poll, one sample. it doesn't mean they won the debate on medicare. we're not at the first of november or october 20 yet. that is a battle that is still going to continue to wage. >> bret: that is fair. steve, asking the question about ron paul. you heard the answer there. the outreach. this rnc tried to reach out with -- with planks in the platform.

>> even before we got to the convention we had the courtship of ron paul going to the primaries. they have had a personal connection. it was a little bit surprising to hear that ron paul say yesterday or the day before, i'm not going to fully endorse mitt romney here. look, i think had he done that, had he fully endorsed mitt romney he would have take an ton of grief from the hardest of hardcore libertarian types saying that is a sellout. we followed you a now you sell out to the big party machine. all sorts of that kind of rhetoric. the bigger problem for ron paul and libertarians going forward there is a huge space for them in american politics and the republican party in particular. if they stick to economic freedom issues and the kind of issues likely to appeal. where ron paul has problems, where he goes off the rails is on foreign policy and the national security. that is not to say there is not le beckettually coherent argument made in favor of non-interventionism. but what he said yesterday, he said, yesterday he said at

this rally, people say if we listen to me, usama bin laden would still be alive. you know what i say? so would the 3,000 people killed on 9/11. that is not just crazy, that is deeply offensive to suggest we brought that attack on ourselves. you had especially john topper, the lead singer of blues traveler who performed at the rally yesterday say on "fox and friends" i'm with him on all this stuff but he not with me on the foreign policy. >> bret: if we can bring blues traveler in the panel that is a good hook. really quickly, mara he spoke out in support of julian assange and bradley manning. >> ron paul is problematic. he has young people who the republican party batly needs. he has tremendous amount of loyalty and energy. but the guy is out of the main stream. but he is way out on the fringe. he is truly extreme. to the extent that the republican party wants to get his supporters without adopting the views or being associated with his views or having any of that rub off on

them, it will be tricky. >> bret: we will be right back after this. more with the panel from the republican national con vention.

>> bret: last thing, you young looking, you are 42. do you get concerned that people would say that guy is too young? >> no. i don't think so. we have had plenty of president in their 4s, vice presidents in their 4s. i've been in congress 14 years. i have more experience than president obama did coming in office. people know who i am. if you want to understand me, it's this. i am not trying to be anybody other than who i am. proud of my record in congress. i'm proud of the principles that built the countryism want

to mange sure we reapply the principles to revive the american dream and get people back to path of opportunity. >> bret: congressman paul ryan and n janesville, wisconsin, talking to us today. another clip you didn't see earlier. we're back with panel. charles, you heard mitt romney in a couple of interviews over the past couple of days say, including with chris wallace, "i am who i am." he quoted popeye a couple of times. it sounds like they are coming to the personal laying out the biography in tampa. >> ryan just has this aspect to him where when he says, "i am who i am," and he talks about thinking about the future while hunting, he stands on the field on that hill. you know it's completely authentic. one reason that youth is not a problem for him he speaks so seriously. dan quayle had a bad roll out. as a result he didn't look

serious, though he was serious. his youth hurt him. it is going to help with the ryan-romney ticket, or the romney-ryan ticket. because he gives it energy. for romney i mean he can't do the, he is not a natural politician the way clinton was or obama is. he can overcome that by being earnest and sincere. that is as close as he gets. that is enough. it's all americans want. competent, earnest and sincere leader who i think can make the case. i think he can. >> bret: a.b.? >> i still think that mitt romney needs to tell a little bit more about himself this week. i think he is criticized obama for months, the race came to a draw. there is a place for him, there is room for him to break away at the end here. but really not doing something bold but really just engaging with the public. not a lot of baby holding or anything. he doesn't have to start leaping in the camera. but i think he needs to talk more about his family.

his life. his stuff, his decisions, maybe, you know, his relationship with his dad whatever it is for people at home who are shopping and want to know more about him get something more. >> bret: steve, governor romney said openly that that is not easy for him. >> right. i think you do see a contrast to a certain extent between the kind of politician that romney, the kind of politician that paul ryan is. ryan, you said he is comfortable in his own skin. he has always been that way. he is who he is. you talk to him and do an interview and he talks about reading economic texts until midnight and falling asleep. it's believable. it sounds like something a politician would say to sort of prove his bona fide on his economics. that is exactly what paul ryan. is some of us, i want to be clear about one thing. some of us on this panel don't think that 42 is very old. [ laughter ] i think that is pretty old. >> i think romney has a tough

job. has to get the likability ratings up without seeming like a phony or changing himself. now yesterday he talked about buying shirts at costco. he flipped pancakes and talked about how he does the dishes. i don't know if that is enough. but it's something he resisted up until now. if you don't want to do it, it might come off like it's not real. >> bret: last thing, 30 seconds, charles. we still have a storm out there. it still may be a hurricane to new orleans. still a channel for th -- stille for the rnc. >> i think the rnc canceled the wrong day. today was a lovely day, a little overcast but a day they could have used. thursday and wednesday are tough because you may have people out there suffering. how are you going to make speeches, especially attack speeches. you have to change the tone. they might have been lucky to cancel thursday rather than monday. we are where we are and they have to deal with it.

>> bret: rnc says they will be nimble. thank you, panel, as always. that is it for the panel. stay tuned for final thoughts about the week ahead.

finally tonight we hope you will be with us here in tampa all week. tomorrow activities get underway in the rnc. we'll talk to former governor jed bush about