captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: good evening from the "tampa bay times" forum on the final day of the 2012 republican national convention. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, the spotlight is on mitt romney as the g.o.p. nominee prepares for the biggest speech of his life. >> woodruff: as construction workers transform the stage to move the candidate closer to the delegates. we look at what the g.o.p. ticket must do to connect with voters. >> ifill: and we assess romney's record as massachusetts governor. >> woodruff: we'll be joined tonight by our jeffrey brown on the convention floor. >> ifill: as well as pollster andy kohut and historians michael beschloss and richard norton smith. >> woodruff: and with us in the skybox again tonight for insight and analysis are newshour regulars mark shields and david brooks.

>> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for

public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: as the republican national convention draws to a close, the centerpiece of tonight's agenda is the appearance by the candidate himself. the delegates, the campaign officials and mitt romney spent the day getting ready. jeffrey brown begins our coverage. >> brown: at the "tampa bay times" forum this morning, a different kind of racket as carpenters set up a new podium, designed to offer a more intimate feel for mitt romney in the big hall on this final day of the convention, republican officials were hoping to carry forward momentum from last night. the crowd gave former secretary of state condoleeza rice a boisterous embrace and she responded with a speech focused first on america's role in the world with a sharp jab at president obama's record.

>> we cannot be reluctant to lead, and you cannot lead from behind. ( cheers and applause ) mitt romney and paul ryan understand this reality. our well- being at home and our leadership abroad are inextricably linked. they know what to do. they know that our friends and allies must again be able to trust us. >> brown: it was her own personal story that brought the audience to its feet. >> a little girl grows up in jim crow birmingham, the segregated city of the south where her parents can't take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant, but they have her absolutely convinced that even if she can't have a hamburger at the woolworth's lunch counter, she could be president of the united states if she wanted to be, and she becomes the secretary of state. >> ifill: tom cotton, an "x" year old veteran making a run for congress from arkansas, was in the crowd.

>> condi rice was great. she really emphasized the need for american leadership in the world, to restore a sense of respect among our allies and fear among our enemies. but also the appeal that she had growing up in the jim crow south, growing up to be secretary of state and possibly president. she's a great testament to the republican party and what it can mean for individuals. >> brown: top billing for the night went to the party's nominee for vice president, paul ryan. >> ladies and gentlemen, these past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the white house. what is missing is leadership in the white house. ( cheers and applause ) >> brown: ryan closed with a call that tried to reach beyond the convention hall. >> together we can do this. we can get this country working again. we can get this economy growing again. ( cheers and applause ) we can make the safety safe again. ( cheers and applause ) we can do this. whatever your political party,

let's come together for the sake of our country. join mitt romney and me. let's give this effort everything we have. ( cheers and applause ) let's see this thing all the way through. let's get this done. ( cheers and applause ) >> he obviously motivated the party base very well. but i think he appealed to a broad swath of independents watching tv as well. >> brown: other delegates we talked to today, like kevin krick of california, agreed. >> the guy came up there and showed himself as poised, put together, smart, focused, on target and plenty of empathy. >> brown: but not everyone was thrilled. juliette jordal of minnesota is a ron paul delegate. >> i wasn't heard and i'm not feeling like ryan really brought me into the party today. >> brown: tonight, before the balloons fall, the final sale must come from the head of the ticket, mitt romney. we asked several delegates what they want to hear. >> now for him it's a big deal

of really showing that contrast between his promise and his ability to make his promises come true like he did in the olympics. >> he's a very warm man. but the main thing is he's not going to go out there and toot his own horn. it's up to us who know him personally to do that for him, to toot his norn for him, because it's not the type of person he is. >> brown: this afternoon, the candidate himself, joined by his running mate, toured the convention floor, where he addresses the party faithful and the nation later this evening. >> ifill: and with us tonight once again are shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. the big question of the night is what's going to happen in the big speech and what to expect and what does mitt romney, mark, need to accomplish? we've had a chance to look at some of the... the embargo was just lifted on excerpts of his

speech that he will give tonight. >> mitt romney has the take task he had coming in: what will he do? how would his presidency be different? how would he improve the nation? and tell us who you really are. >> ifill: what does that mean "who you really are"? >> the fact is, people don't know mitt romney and they've got an unfavorable personal impression of him. he's got to give the sense of what really moves him. i thought he blew a chance, quite honestly, after ann romney's speech to come up and say word or two and just say, you know, "you can understand now why this is the best wife in the world" or whatever. just sort of an authentic response. that's what's missing, i think. and i think that people are looking for it. they want to be comfortable with the president. >> woodruff: what do you think his job is? >> i'd say he's got to give a story where he says "this was a pivotal moment in my life, that moving moment when my soul was transformed and this is how i felt and this is how i reacted." a lot of speechs have mentioned him like a "dear occupant"

letter. like it says "dear" and then in a different font "david brookts it's like our nominee "mitt romney" and then it could be any nominee. and they're running a generic race. he's got to be more specific with what happened to him. >> woodruff: we've had a chance, as gwen said, to look at the interprets from the speech tonight. he is going to talk about his faith. he's going to talk about his work. do you see anything in these excerpts that tell you what we're going to learn? >> you should never judge by excerpts because they're always duller than the speech. >> woodruff: on purpose. >> that said, it's reasonably generic. so far what we've seen and has been widely reported that he wrote it himself which is always a bad sign, frankly. and he did it reasonably late in the process. it was not an early thing where he did it months ago as earlier candidates have done. >> ifill: i saw something, mark, in a couple of the excerpts-- which are, of course, not reliable-- which he sounded more in sadness than in anger.

i wanted president obama to succeed. what about the college graduates who now have to move back home? echoing something paul ryan said the other night. >> probably paul ryan's best line in the hall where college graduates return to their childhood bedroom and looking up at the fading obama posters wait firg their lives to begin. it's a similar... i think anger factor has been maximized. they've got to get as many votes from people who are angry at president obama and what they're looking for is to give permission to people who voted for president obama in 2008, who liked president obama but who has been disappointed and want to be convinced that mitt romney could be better. it's not a question of disloyalty to the president or animosity just for the country's sake that you wanted... that's what he's trying to communicate, i believe. >> does that change the job, then, or how does it affect the job that mitt romney has had what paul ryan told us last night? >> well, he did the indictment and i thought he did it pretty well.

there's been some criticism of ryan that there were some factual errors and he didn't tell it the way a journalist would tell it. he described the simpson-bowles commission which did not go through, as if it was obama's fault, neglecting to mention he voted against it. so there were some things like that. that's politics. >> woodruff: selective rather than... >> if you were editing him for a college paper you would say "you have to give the other side here." but this is politics. but i thought what he did was lay out the prosecutorial case. again, all mitt romney these do is hit a threshold. a threshold of acceptability, of "i mirror you." and that's what he hasn't done so far. it's the "i mirror you" that he has to do. j just one thing. the crowd in the room swooned over paul ryan and the one thing that... the mistake i thought they made the the speech was paul ryan's reputation is build upon intellectual rigorous honesty. he's the truth teller. he's the guy that says things and when you get politifact, a fact check coming back the next

day saying wait a minute, that plant in janesville he spoke so movingly about, the g.m. plant that closed didn't close under barack obama it closed under george w. bush. and $716 billion that mitt romney has promised to restore in medicare spending was endorsed... the cutting of it was endorsed by paul ryan. in other words, he's got to restore president obama's cut but he's ignoring paul ryan's cut. so, i mean, i think you're playing at the edges. you shouldn't do this with his reputation. you don't want to introduce them to the nation as a trimmer because his credentials are as a truth teller. >> woodruff: well, we are going to continue to talk to the two of you for the rest of the night. right now, though, we have more on the convention coming up after this but we want to take you now to the other news of the day and for that here's kwame holman. >> holman: the storm named "isaac" was downgraded today to a tropical depression, but it gave no respite to thousands of people along the gulf coast. the system dumped new downpours and raised new alarms in its

slow transit from louisiana toward arkansas. inch by inch, the rain kept up across louisiana and mississippi's gulf coast. the coastal areas bore a continuing storm surge-- two days after landfall. and the rising water ultimately created a major new threat in mississippi. the lake tangipahoa dam-- about 100 miles north of new orleans-- became dangerously stressed threatening to send a torrent down the already swollen tangipahoa river. meanwhile mandatory evacuations were ordered for about 60,000 people, most in louisiana. officials also began a controlled release of water from the dam. and there were more emergency evacuations and rescues in areas outside new orleans. >> we had to break through the ceiling and come through the attic, and they took us out of the attic, into the boat. >> this is ridiculous.

we lost everything. everything. >> holman: some of the worst flooding occurred north of new orleans along lake ponchartrain and in swampy plaquemines parish to the south. both are outside the protection of the city's levee system. in plaquemines, evacuees told today of harrowing escapes after the storm surge topped an 18- mile levee and left homes under 12 feet of water. >> the water rose from my ankles to my knees in about one minute, so i said i've got to get out of here kind of quick, you know? >> holman: louisiana governor bobby jindal said officials were still considering an intentional breach of the levee would relieve the pressure and crews started that process later. >> with the breach that would be four days for that water to leave. without that breach, it would take us long as 15 days to pump it out and so again we said we'd certainly support that. as soon as conditions are safe, >> holman: to the west, in laplace st. john's parish dozens of buses and high-water vehicles arrived today to continue evacuations and distribute aid.

meanwhile, the people of new orleans proper relaxed a little, after the newly rebuilt levee system stood firm. mayor mitch landrieu: >> isaac is now moving out of our distinct area and hopefully as far as the city of new orleans is concerned the worst is behind us. unfortunately some of our very, very close neighbors are getting hit very hard, and there are >> holman: across louisiana, power companies began working to restore electricity to some 900,000 homes and businesses still in the dark. also today, tropical storm "leslie" formed far out in the atlantic. and another storm-- "kirk"-- was upgraded to a hurricane, but it, too, remained well out at sea. a federal appeals court today threw out a texas law that says voters must show a photo i.d. to elections officials. the three-judge panel in washington ruled the statute imposes what it called "strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor", many of whom are minorities. texas is one of a number of states to adopt new voter i.d. requirements.

republicans say they'll curb voter fraud. democrats say they're meant to hamper groups that are likely to vote democratic. consumer spending in the u.s. rose in july by the most since february. but claims for unemployment benefits showed no improvement, and gasoline prices kept rising. as a result, wall street was in the mood to sell today. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 106 points to close at 13,000. the nasdaq fell 32 points to close at 3,048. in south africa, the killing of 34 striking miners by police took a dramatic turn today. the government announced it is charging 270 other miners with the murders. it said the strikers triggered the killings two weeks ago when they charged police, near a platinum mine. the announcement said the miners were armed, so the police were forced to fire in self-defense. for the second time this week, rebel fighters in syria claim to have downed a government aircraft. a rebel activist said a warplane

seen crashing near an air base in the north had been shot down by machine gun fire. meanwhile, at a conference in iran, syrian delegates walked out during a speech by the new egyptian leader mohammed morsi. he called the syrian regime oppressive and urged world support for the rebels. australia today mourned the deaths of five of its soldiers in afghanistan just hours apart. it marked the country's worst day of combat losses since the vietnam war. two of the soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash today, and three others died yesterday, when an afghan fired on them. overall, at least 54 international troops have been killed in afghanistan during august. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy and gwen in tampa. >> ifill: tonight's program focuses on mitt romney's story. and that's our focus, too. we begin with a look at one lasting achievement of his single term as governor of massachusetts. i traveled to the bay state earlier this month to explore that.

>> thank you, thank you, mr. president, mr. speaker, i look forward to working with you. >> ifill: on the day mitt romney became governor of massachusetts, he was a brand new thing. a businessman-- the guy who saved the olympics-- a turnaround artist. what he'd never been-- someone who held the reins of government. >> i received two titles today, governor and public servant. >> ifill: the year before, as the state sank into debt, former state party chairwoman kerry healey had been dispatched to utah to recruit romney while he was there running the winter olympics. >> i was receiving literally hundreds of emails and phone calls from people around the state saying, go get mitt romney. he's the person who can save the state. >> holman: spending more than $6

million of his own money, romney went on to win the election with 50% of the vote in part by sweeping the independent vote. many of the democrats who'd run the legislature for decades were hard-bitten deal makers who'd spent their careers at the statehouse on beacon hill. and like many newcomers to politics, the new republican governor pledged collaboration. it was easier said than done. michael widmer was there. he's the president of the nonpartisan massachusetts taxpayers foundation. >> the legislative leaders were never particularly fond of governor romney, unlike some other republican governors. governor romney brought in a mindset of, that he was going to be the c.e.o. as governor and it's a very strong legislature here, and of course very heavily democrat as well and so i think there wasn't an appreciation on

the part of the romney administration, that this was an equal branch of government, and they tried to centralize a lot of the control, the administration did, with a bureaucracy, and dealing with a legislature, and so forth. so, that didn't sit well. >> ifill: kerry healy, romney's lieutenant governor, remembers it differently. >> one of the things that governor romney did every week was invite the head of the senate and the speaker of the house to come and meet with him privately, to talk about the legislation that they cared about, the legislation that he cared about, what was going on in the state. any kind of big decisions that he would be taking that week. and while they didn't always agree, and sometimes they perhaps didn't even attend, but they were always invited. the door was always open. >> ifill: when mitt romney became governor of this deep blue state in 2003, there was no way to know that four years later his signature accomplishment would be the one issue his campaign is trying to downplay this year, the passage of sweeping, universal

healthcare reform. tim murphy, a former investment banker who joined romney as a top health care adviser, was one of those who saw the promise in putting the republican governor's stamp on the issue. >> there were tons of doubters about why we were even interested in doing healthcare in massachusetts. you know, we didn't have the bona fides, like republicans don't care about this issue. mitt romney hasn't been involved in the wars of healthcare reform in the past 30 years here in massachusetts. >> ifill: state senator richard moore-- who runs the health care financing committee-- was among the democrats who chafed at the new governor's private sector ways. >> he was a businessman who had not been part of the beacon hill process. he'd run against beacon hill. >> ifill: partisan difference was only part of the problem. democrats had worked with republicans before. republican william weld, who served as governor in the 1990s, could slap backs with the best

of them. by 2008, he'd crossed party lines to endorse barack obama. romney was not that kind of republican. moore remembers the first time he was invited to romney's office. >> i said, "oh governor, that this is the first time i've been in here other than for a photo since bill weld was governor to do a substantive policy discussion." i said the difference was he served heineken. and romney got all tense and he said, "you know, he said we don't have any liquor in here, but i do have a case of yoo hoo chocolate drink if you want something." >> ifill: the former governor, a practicing mormon, does not drink. so he found other ways to build the relationships he would need to tackle a budget crisis and, in fixing health care, make history. >> we knew we needed to work with the legislature but with power concentrated so much, we only really had to spend our time and focus on our time on a handful of people. so if a state representative from town "x" or city "y" didn't

like the fact that the governor didn't go and hang out with them after work or didn't you know get invited into the governor's office, you know i don't know really what to say about that. >> ifill: but when it came to health care, romney and the democrats had more in common. romney and the democrats agreed that health care costs were a drain on the state economy. >> there were more and more people who were walking into hospitals who didn't have healthcare coverage, and that was costing hospitals, taxpayers and insurers a lot of money. so he was looking for a solution to this problem, one that met human needs and one that met the economic needs of the state. the democratic leadership said, we understand he's going to use this, but we believe in it. so, there were a lot of common interests. >> this is a politician's dream. >> ifill: by 2006, when romney signed the bay state's universal health care law at an elaborate faneuil hall ceremony, he was surrounded by democratic lawmakers. also by his side: senator ted kennedy. >> it was an odd couple if you

will, kennedy and romney. >> ifill: 12 years earlier, kennedy, the liberal democrat, had turned aside a strong romney challenge in this same hall. universal health care was kennedy's passion, and he worked to break down some of the walls between romney and the state house democrats. the compromise solution reached after years of back and forth requires individuals to be insured; penalizes employers who do not offer coverage; allows anyone earning $29,000 or less to purchase insurance from a state-subsidized pool and like if that sounds familiar, it's because those features are also contained in the federal law. >> one could make an argument that there is a difference between doing it in one state, and then having the imposition of federally, and there's probably some truth to that, but it is really a stretch in the sense that the two bedrock

pieces of massachusetts health reform, both advanced by governor romney, were the individual mandate and the exchanges, and those are the two bedrock pieces of federal health reform. >> ifill: in 2007, romney agreed with that. >> those who follow the plan that we pursued will find it's the best path and we will end up with a nation that has taken mandate approach. it was recognized that he was seeing this as a single achievement for his future run for presidency. >> ifill: but romney's health care law has caused him a his new running mate was not always a fan. >> do you believe the mass healthcare reform worked? >> no, i'm not a fan of the system. this idea of having the government being the single regulator of health insurance defining what kind of health insurance you can have, and then an individual mandate, it is a

fatal conceit, and these kinds of systems, as we are now seeing in massachusetts, are unsustainable. >> ifill: tim murphy, a principal author of the massachusetts plan says the legislation was considered a model for other states, but not for the federal government. >> the way in which we deliver healthcare and finance healthcare in massachusetts is distinctly different than the way in which you do it in california. and so i think that mitt has laid out what has been kind of broadly defined as kind of a federal ( inaudible ), like let states go and figure their own things out and i think in some ways that gets misconstrued to be you know kind of more overly like a philosophy of government. >> ifill: whatever it's larger intent, six years after the massachusetts health care law was enacted, 98% of the state's citizens are covered, and the legislature recently passed a follow-up plan to control costs. but is romney's health care record in massachusetts a good measure of how he would govern in washington? >> i think the jury is out. there was a political alignment, and an unusual alignment of

stakeholder groups, and republicans and democrats here, so both substantively and politically, the stars were aligned here. i think other states can do it, but it's a... it's a tall order. >> ifill: a tall order. and a key test. >> woodruff: what does romney's record tell us about how he'd govern in washington? for that, we turn to two men with personal ties to the former governor. michael leavitt, as governor of utah, tapped romney to take charge of the 2002 winter olympic games. he also ran the environmental protection agency and the department of health and human services under president george w. bush. and tom stemberg co-founded the office supply chain, staples in 1986, with backing from romney's former private equity firm, bain capital. gentlemen, we welcome you both to the newshour.

the governor leavitt, let me start with you. we want to ask you in a minute about the utah olympics that you recruited governor romney to. but first of all, you as someone who knows health care, what about that question at the end of gwen's report. do you believe what he did in massachusetts with health care reform is a test... is a measure of how he would govern as president? >> i think from the mass health care you'll see a couple things. one, you will not see tax increases as a means of being able to do it. massachusetts health care feature... did not feature any kind of a tax increase. one of the things you'll see that's different is that it will not be a takeover of the delivery system like obamacare is. he was trying to solve an insurance problem. but he took a very narrow approach to solve a very specific problem of how to get people ensured and i think you'll see him take a very direct approach to very specific problems as president as well. >> woodruff: in terms of how he dealt with members of the other party, what do you think that

may tell us or not? >> well, i think that's a very important part of his narrative. he did govern a state with 85% democrat and he was able successfully to work across the aisle to find and craft collaborative solutions and it's something he'll have to do as president no matter what the outcome of the election. >> ifill: tom stemberg, let's talk about the other part of the mitt romney narrative, which is his life as a businessman. he helped you found staples. tell us a little bit about that but make that connection as well. what is it that you know about mitt romney the businessman, which he talkss about about a lot, that would also roll over into what kind of a president he would be. >> first of all, the way mitt got involved in staples is i had a business plan to open the very first office superstore. i showed it to a bunch of venture capitalist and many were doubting thomases. who would want to save money on paper clips and pens and stuff like that? mitt romney may be the cheapest

human being i know, so the notion of saving money on paper clips immediately resonated with him. (laughter) so he liked the idea, he pushed hard on the numbers and he backed us. unlike a lot of investors he wasn't just a guy who gave his money and went away. mitt was there the night before we opened our first store giving a pep talk to the associates. when vendors wouldn't sell us because they didn't want discounting of prices in the industry mitt convinced them that if they didn't get on the train the train would run them over. he was a real instrumental part of the staples story for 15 years and people ask me would staples have existed without mitt romney? the answer is probably yes but it would not have been nearly as big or successful without mitt romney. >> ifill: every good businessman is not a good politician or a good governor, someone who can govern... >> let me tell you something about that. mitt romney credits me with giving the idea of his health care plan. i gave them that idea... >> ifill: really? >> i gave him that idea during a meeting after his transition team meeting. i said mitt, it's incredible in

massachusetts because i was involved with massachusetts how all these people are coming in without health insurance to the most extensive teaching hospital 40 in the world to get flu shots and take care of their kids grippe. this money is being paid for by the insurance company by mandate. if we diverted that money and used it to provide people health care it would be a much better solution. didn't hear about it for a couple years until all of a sudden he called me up and said "you know that idea you've told me about? we've decided to go do it." that's the kind of guy mitt is. he absorbs everything, stud dooez dees everything and has the unique ability to surround himself with highly talented people to get things done. he did it at the olympics, as massachusetts governor and he'll do it as president of the united states. fill. >> woodruff: it was a few years after staples, governor leavitt, you were state of utah and you were reached out to mitt romney

during a crisis? >> we had received a bid for the olympics games, we were in the midst of preparing and there was a national scandal we were caught in the midst of. we needed a new leader and i took it upon myself to find him. i had a very specific profile in mind. i needed someone who had a proven track record of turning things around and i need someone with financial discipline to turn the budget problem and third i needed someone who could exert the inspiration required to help our state believe again and the olympic community. if you look back you can see a pattern where he stepped in and began to give a speech over and over about needing to divide from the things that we want and the things that we absolutely need to do this and he brought the deficit down to instead of a $400 million deficit we had $100 million surplus. but more importantly he was able to inspire a sense of new confidence among the olympic community and the people in our state and people began to believe and it was a very

successful game. >> ifill: tom, i want to ask you about bain. the democrats have been all over this, using it as an example of mitt romney's remoteness, of the way he has handled money. you know what the rap is on him with bain capital. how do you think that the republican nominee now should handle that? >> well, i think tonight you're going to hear a number of speakers, including myself, trying as best we can to set the record straight. the distortions, the lies and the half-truths that the obama administration and their friends have thrown throughout are just outrageous. 95% of all bain companies have been successful and have thrived. the companies under... during mitt romney's tenure added $80 billion to their revenues and when you add $80 billion to revenues, believe me, you're creating jobs, not destroying jobs. >> woodruff: but part of the

obama campaign argument is that sometimes jobs are lost in a private equity situation. a company... the investment is made to make money for the investors. for people... >> in the aggregate, we have $80 billion of growth. on balance there are thousands, tens of thousands of jobs created. occasionally was there an inefficient plan where somebody made things less expensivefully china and our labor couldn't compete? yea? that happens. that's the creative destruction that happens in the american marketplace and the global marketplace. that's not unusual to mitt romney or even to private equity >> ifill: how does mitt romney handle setbacks? we know what he's... he's run for president before and didn't work. we know he's running again. what happens if he doesn't get what he wants? >> i've seen over and over in any political setting when that occurs and through the pries there were moments when we thought we would do better in a particular state than he did. we got up the next morning and recalibrated the plan and drove on.

i think you see that through his business career. you can see it as governor, during the course of his time running for president as well. >> woodruff: governor leave witt some stemberg co-founder of staples, thank you. >> thanks for having us. >> ifill: what do voters think about mitt romney? andy hoe cut from pew research has some answers. >> brown: start with the personal qualities. what do you see in the numbers? >> he's got a very big problem. a 35% favorable rating in last weekend's "washington post" poll. no candidate for president has ever won the presidency with something under 50%. he has to make real progress in the way p.m.c. him. >> brown: what are they talking about when they talk about personal qualities? >> we see three issues. first of all, likability, he's got a likability problem, he has a credibility problem and an empathy problem. all related but all distinct. >> brown: likability, empathy and credibility.

>> yeah. and likability when we asked people who's the more likable person, obama by 20 points. and when it comes to his credibility people wonder whether he's honest and trustworthy and whether he's consistent in his positions on issues. >> brown: have these numbers moved around much or stayed stable? >> they've been pretty negative. on empathy he's not seen as a president who... as a candidate who understands people like them and cares about ordinary people. these are the attitudes that really have to change in order for people to get comfortable with mitt romney the person. >> brown: another issue that's been talked about a lot here is how much-- particularly tonight-- will he address his faith, his being a mormon. what do the numbers tell us about how important any of that is to people? >> unlike his personal image, this is turning out not to be an a major issue for american voters. when we ask people what do they

want to hear about with respect to mitt romney only 16% said they want to hear more about his religion. most people said "let's hear about his record when he was governor of massachusetts. let's hear about what he did at bain." and we find most people saying that they're comfortable with his religion and among those who know that he's a mormon. >> brown: can you break that down? there's still a lot of misunderstanding about the religion. do you break that down to catholics, evangelicals in terms of support and understanding? >> well, sure. white evangelical protestants and catholics are less positive, less accepting of that aspect of him than main line protestants are but those white evangelical protestants, the big important religious base of the republican party they're as much supportive of mitt romney as they were of john mccain. now, those who say that they're uncomfortable with his mormonism-- and there's some significant number-- are less enthusiastic but they still say

they'll vote for him. >> brown: as someone who can extrapolate from these numbers, should he talk about that or not make a big deal out of it? >> he has to make a big deal about how empathetic he is and whether he's being honest and trustworthy. all of the things that were said about him in the primary campaign have stuck. he didn't have this bad a person image before he ran against his republican rivals. and he's now carrying the burden of his successful presidential campaign. ful if. >> brown: andy kohut, thanks as always. >> >> woodruff: and we're joined now by two "newshour" regulars and presidential historians michael beschloss and richard norton smith, scholar in residence at george mason university. they are in washington tonight. plus, mark and david are back with us as well. welcome to you all. we've just been listening to

andy kohut talk to jeff brown about the likability issue with mitt romney. i want to sku ask you, michael beschloss, historically, is this something presidents have struggled with? how much of a factor, how much of an issue has it been for american presidents? >> >> it's been big. i remember as i was listening to andy arpl conversation i once had with, of all people, richard nixon and he said voters don't vote on the basis of like/dislike, they vote their interests. and he was wrong. because if you look through the history of elections since world war ii time after time you see a candidate who lost the election, probably should have, given the state of the country in the interests but lost because they were way down by a high unfavorable unfavorability ability rating. tom mast dewey, al gore, john kerry, if people liked them more they might have won the elections. >> ifill: andy talked about the

mormon issue has it's come to be known. his religion. this takes you back to john f. kennedy and his catholicism. at the time that was a big deal and was considered to be a negative. do they care? >> it was a big deal. what it really tells you is you hold a mirror up to our culture 50 years later it's a very different country. in fact, there's a lot of analysis from the 1960 j.c. that suggests in the end it was at worst a wash to go back to richard nixon. he certainly thought that in the end it may very well have worked to kennedy's advantage. there were any number of independent voters who did not want to be thought of as prejudiced anti-catholic repeating al smith's experience in 1928 the fact that the whole hormone issue has been such a non-issue 50 years later is a

reflection on a culture that has changed profoundly. >> reporter: david, what about that? this idea of a president's religion, a candidate's religion how much of the american people evolved in their own need to be comfortable with that? >> we're just not a denominational people anymore. peach used to make tremendous differences between protestant methodist or protestant catholic protestant jew. we're not like that. there was a presidential race on the democratic side where you had a whole series of candidates almost all of whom had changed denominations at one point in their lives wes clark has changed, howard dean changed his religion because he didn't like his church's policy. so we are religious but not theological. >> reporter: mark, can you think of a presidential candidate who has manag to calm these existential fears about them? whether it's about religion or

other uncertainty like disthis likability question we can't get enough of? >> >> i certainly think that john kennedy, the houston baptist minutester speech in 1960 was key to that. to confronting and it surprised me that mitt romney hasn't done the same thing to identify the values of mormonism, the values he practices and community and consideration and concern for his fellow americans with american values. i mean, that... there's no question that it worked for kennedy in that election. richard and michael recall that norman vincent peal, a leading protestant theologian and minister of the time came out against john kennedy because he was a catholic. and ally steven son responded "i find peel appalling and paul appealing." (laughter) so in american politics the presidential candidate has to have religion but he can't take

it too seriously. jimmy carter got in trouble for being considered... prying five or six ties a day and mitt romney's father got in trouble for going away for a period of fasting before deciding whether to run for president. the. >> ifill: as somebody who's studied so many presidents, how do you think we've changed in our relationship with our president and his faith. >> i think what's happened is that 1960 people didn't vote for john kennedy because he was catholic. all the way to 2000 joe lieberman was the running mate on al gore's ticket. the data found that there were very few people who voted against the ticket because the running mate was jewish. things changed a lot. i think the most important thing about religion now days-- and we'll probably see this in mitt romney's speech tonight-- is people look at it as an index, something that's going to show them what the candidate's soul is like. it doesn't have to... the candidate doesn't have to have

the same religion they do but if you're a pious, prayerful person it's probably reassuring to someone that the candidate is as well. we're all looking for clues into a candidate, especially mitt romney who's remarkably unknown here on the night he gives his acceptance speech so that's one thing i think he could probably use in his favor if he does it truly. >> woodruff:. >> ifill: the other thing people is curious about is that he sells himself as a great businessman and his business principles will affect his governing style. is there an example that you can think of where we elected a businessman president? >> well, herbert hoover was a unique figure. he'd been, of course, the great engineer before he was the great humanitarian and he was sold to the american people as a wunderkind, a great administrator, basically beginning with his business skills. and that didn't turn out terribly well. one thing i do want to take a little bit of issue with, that's

the nixon connection and likability because it could be argued... >> you're agoing nixon was likeable? >> well, i would say richard nixon was a realist and he recognized he didn't win because he was deemed more likable than hubert humphrey. the parallel is it's interesting there's a 16-point difference in the romney numbers, favorable, unfavorable, likable, whatever. but no one think it is race is 16 points. in other words, romney is keeping this race very close notwithstanding the resignations that a lot of people may have about him why? because in times of perceived crisis when there is an appetite for change and 1968 would certainly qualify i think there's a lot of voters that are willing to look beyond traditional purely personal factors 40 years later we have

the 24 hour news cycle and presidents are with us more than they were then. that's something to keep in mind. >> ifill: in fact, that has to be what the romney campaign is counting on. >> well, one thing has happened is many more voters are locked in than exited in 1960. you're locked into 47% if you're a republican or democrat so we're arguing a very small part. i think among to that small part who are undecided or persuadable likability matters. when they ask voters what position did this this candidate have or that candidate even on the basic positions of tax cut, about a third get them wrong. people aren't paying attention to issues. they're judging what kind of person is this and this is not a stupid way to make that kind of decision. we're good at evaluating confidence and trustworthiness. we do that everyday. so they're making those decisions on a more personal basis these few swing voters. >> woodruff: so the campaign are really threading the needle here

because they have to... they have to show the likability that he is likable but at the same time he's got to keep persuading people are upset about the economy that he's the right guy. >> likability is the biggest remaining piece. >> if it's true voters are locked in 47/47 as david says, what is the point of a speech like tonight? can it move or is it just yet another in a series of opportunities to close that tiny little gap? >> well, you are basically talking not to the people in the room. you are talking. we saw the romney emphasis on more on sorrow than anger. you are talking to people. the people who are deundecided right now, two-thirds of them are women and they are favorable personally favorable, to president obama. you can cut that universe... you can cut that down. so you have to not go after president obama and say he's a

bad man or that he's insensitive or uncaring. that's a very important part of this campaign. >> woodruff: richard and michael weigh in on romney's task tonight. to the extent there's that small sliver of undecided folks out there. i mean what does he need to do? >> this is probably what has been the most effective speeches of modern times and two of the four would be i think one of them would be george h.w. bush in 1988. before that convention we were in the reagan boom, peace and prosperity but a lot of people felt that george bush had the soul of a vice president, couldn't imagine anymore the president's chair, gave great speech that dispelled those doubts. 1992 a lot of polling showed bill clinton going into his convention many people felt amazingly enough that this was someone who came from a

privileged background, probably because he went to an elite university. he used that speech to spell out what a tough life he had had and how he was going to climb to the nominee of that party. that speech really helped. is this. >> ifill: based on what michael said where we know the speech has given people a bounce, do you anticipate mitt romney can make that work for him? this is based on what you know about people like mitt romney actually having done this in the past. >> they have done hit in the past but first of all we want to be careful and not overanalyze one speech it's a unique moment, the last chance that he has in an unfiltered way to deliver his message on his determines to an audience that is likely to be larger than anything on election

day. the debates will have their own dynamic. history suggests that these speechs have a short shelf life. and we'll leave it at that. (laughter) >> woodruff: does that mean we're spending way too much time talking about the speech? (laughter) we were talking earlier, last night about paul ryan and whether we really, really remembered any other vice presidential... >> the only other vice presidential shl pete is is perhaps hubert humphrey's in 1964 when he did a litany of not knot senator goldwater and talked about legislation that both republicans and democrats had supported and he had not. >> woodruff: you remember it! >> i remember it vividly. >> i would say geraldine ferraro and sarah palin were memorable. >> certainly sarah palin's was and geraldine ferraro's was a great symbolic moment, certain >> ifill: okay, thank you, david

mark, michael and richard back in washington. our convention coverage continues online where we reach beyond the sky box and offer you an all access pass to events on the floor and around town. watch the main speeches and highlights on our you tube page and catch the entire proceedings from the convention floor on our live stream. >> woodruff: of course, we have much more on our web site. you can follow the conversation on twitter using the #pbselection. and you can explore electoral college scenarios in our vote 2012 map center. hari sreenivasan explains. >> sreenivasan: we're going to take a deep dive into the digital map center you can find on our web site at newshour dot pbs.org. christina bellantoni, thanks for being with us. people notice these yellow states, why are they tossups? >> we've looked at the states the associated press ranks as tossups and they're tossups because it means they're close in the polls, the voters there are not sold on the president deserving a second term.

>> sreenivasan: let's lookt 2008 every single one of these states that are battleground this time around were light blue for obama. >> that's very true. and when you look at the general rust belt area this is why it's the romney campaign strategy because they feel like they have an opportunity there. the president was able to win by a slim margin of votes. >> it's such disenchantment with the entire political system right now part of the listen to me campaign, here's a couple sample of voters that are frustrated. >> when a person like myself who can't be a huge financial donor can't even get word one with any of the candidates, that's a broken system because those people are supposed to represent me. >> i think people are afraid if they go one way or another it will be the wrong way so i think you have too many people locked

in to either side to find middle ground. >> the most problematic thing is that there are only two parties that are fighting with each other. democrats and the republicans. we don't have any choice. >> so one of the things you mentioned is that there are possible paths to success for mitt romney. what are his strategies. what other possible calculations on the board? >> this is not what the final electoral college map will look like. we're not sure of that. but we have a potential scenario based on what the romney campaign advisors are saying. there was a briefing at the republican national convention where they were talking about iowa being a state they believe they can flip and that's the middle of the country. then also wisconsin and this is ryan toson why, of course, they be mitt romney's running mate because potentially he could flip the state. now, this is important to point out that it has not voted for a republican for president since the 1984 reagan landslide. democrats a they they're very comfort there but there has been

interesting dynamics there which we've talked about before. florida is an important crucial swing states which why the convention is in tampa and that's an area where the romney campaign is confident so if they can do this rust belt strategy there you see he's gone over the 270 electoral votes needed to win but it's a difficult path and the polls still show with those tossups that it's going to be very close. >> well, that's one political strategy. until then this is the land right now. you can do this at home, you can decide who you think is going to win these battleground states yourself on our digital map center. >> and then you can share those with your friends and tweet your results. >> that's right. christina bellantoni, thanks for joining us. >> ifill: you can find other conversations exploring the campaign by way of data in our 24 hour live stream. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day: mitt romney made ready for the biggest speech of his life,

accepting the republican presidential nomination on the final night of the party convention in tampa. the former hurricane isaac was downgraded to a tropical depression, but it kept dumping rain in louisiana and mississippi, forcing new evacuations. and a federal appeals court threw out a texas law that says voters must show a photo i.d. to elections officials. that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. stay with us. we'll be back in a few minutes on most pbs stations with full coverage of tonight's session of the 2012 republican national convention. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪

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