people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. this morning on "meet the press," where does the race for the white house stand just one week after the paul ryan pick? >> on the trail, the and the tax debate. team obama still wants more from mitt romney. >> i did go back and look at my taxets and over the past ten years, i never paid more than

13%. >> with us for a debate this morning, two influential voices in their party. chair the republican governor'ses so yaks bob mcdon afld virginia and the chair of the governor's association martin owe mall live maryland. plus we will hear from new york city mayor, rudy giuliani. then the campaign's tone. how nasty it's become. >> so mr. president, take your campaign of anger, and hate and get back it chicago and let us get back it rebuilding and reuniting america. >> our political roundtable on the road ahead. democratic mayor of atlanta, tea party back gop from texas ted cruz. chief white house koerpt chuck todd and columnist peggy noonian from the washington journal and

ej dpsh dionne from the washington post. >> meet the press with david gregory. >> we are a little more than a week away from the republican convention and the campaign has turned even nastier with a big focus as you know, on medicare. romney's new vp pick, paul ryan, campaigned in florida with his mother and president obama kept up his attacks in new hampshire. >> you'd think they would avoid talking about medicare. given the fact that both of them have proposed to voucherize the medicare system. but i guess they figure the best defense is to try to go on offense. >> i want to introduce you to my mom. [ cheers and applause ] >> this is my mom, betty. here is what mitt romney and i will do. we will end the raid of medicare. we will restore the promise of this program. and we will make sure that this

board of bureaucrats will not mess with my mom's healthcare or your mom's healthcare. >> that back and forth on the campaign trail just this weekend. joining me now, governor of maryland, governor o'malley. i want it ask more generally, governor o'malley, what is the ryan effect on this race one week after he was selected. >> well, i think it is still shaking out. but clearly now, if the voters of the country had not already a real stark difference of choices in terms of approach to job creation, middle class, expanding opportunity, now we see the leader of the tea party republican congress, their budget chief, actually stepping up and so we have a real clear contrast now when it comes to basic commitment like the commitments we've made to seniors and medicare. so i think that as this shakes out, you're going to see a very clear contrast between president

obama's vision of an america with more opportunity and the romney/ryan vision of less. >> governor mcdonald, for all of the energy and excitement on the republican side that you have talked about, you have republicans talking about risk, risk politically and the fact that a ryan budget, that a lot of republicanes have been running away from ever since he introduced it. >> good morning, david. good to be on with my friend, martin. this is a serious election and it calls for serious candidates that have real solutions. so we are in debt. $16 trillion. we have a horrific economy with the president's policies. 8.3% unemployment. over 8% of 42 months. it takes big ideas and things that will take some sacrifice for a lot of people in order to get our country back on track. paul ryan has been honest about what it's going to take. medicaid is in trouble. medicare will go broke in 12 years. and it takes some real changes in the spending habits in the united states of america to get

our country back on track. so i think paul ryan is a serious candidate with real solutions. time for rhetoric is over. there is plenty of time for rhetoric in this administration and it is time to get america out of debt and back to work. and paul ryan has ideas on how do it. >> the vice president of the united states, joe biden, created one of the more emotional moment on the campaign trail this week. raised a lot of eyebrows. got a lot of back and forth going. he was talking tuesday in virginia, about romney, ryan policies with regard to financial regulation. and this is what he said. >> romney wants to let the -- he said in the first hyundais, he's going to let the big banks write their own rules. unchain wall street. they will put you all back in chains. >> governor o'malley put you back in chains. was that over the top? >> i think it was indelicate play on the republican words of

shackling the economy with regulations and shackling small businesses. and so it was certainly an indelicate choice of words. >> he wasn't injecting race in the campaign. >> there's an racist bone in joe biden's body. i tell you, the injection of race in this campaign has been coming from the false allegations. alallegations that politifact and others have said on the issue of welfare reform. the false attacks on the president are far more out of line than the indelicate choice of words of vice president biden. >> your former governor of virginia, doug wild, had a different view. he spoke this week and took issue with the vice president and the president as well. this is what he said after those remarks. >> when he says they are going to put y'all back in the chain is what he means is you were there.

i wasn't. when you go back, i won't be going with you. biden's remarks brought race into the campaign. and they were not necessary. >> cool it. back up. and there's nothing wrong with saying i was wrong. i have never intended to do this. what i said was inappropriate. it was wrong. you can't defend it. >> now look, the president, vice president have said, there was no racial connotation here that he meant. this is over scrutinizing what candidates say when there are so many words said in this day and age in a campaign trail. how do you see it? >> i agree with governor wilder. president obama and vice president biden doubled downed on those remarks. in the last couple weeks there were incendiary and wra over the top remark and allegations of mitt romney not paying taxes. there is a super pak super pac

romney killed someone's wife. we can disagree respectfully, but the character attacks about the other side are just horrific. but i understand it, because if you have a record with you have 16 trillion in debt and no energy plan and a jobless rate over 42 months over 8%, of course you can't run a campaign on the issues and you're going to have to resort to that. i think it is way beneath the dignity of the american people. very different from the hope and change campaign that was very optimist nick 2008. now it is very negative. as we focus on serious issues of debt and medicare reform -- >> have you governor romney talking about a campaign of hate on the part of the president of the united states. strong words. >> you never want it play pick up basketball with him. he is always fouling and always crying foul. governor romney himself launched a series of attack ads falsely accusing the president of

unwinding welfare reform. it's been determined false. governor mcdonald himself was labelled as false by his own politifact in virginia. so what we are seeing on the hyper scrutiny of vice president biden's remarks is the romney campaign to do everything in their power, to rough up the president, go after him with a huge money advantage, attack his character, and do it on grounds with racial tensions and racial resentment. >> let's talk about rufg up both sides. the obama campaign is putting pressure on him to release more of his tax returns. even saying this week, just released five years and we will let the iue alone. mitt romney, governor mcdonald spoke about this on thursday and an impromptu event and he answered a question about tax returns. here is what he said. >> i did go back and look at my taxes. over the past ten years, i never

paid less than 13%. i think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. so pay taxes every single year. >> direct question related to that answer. was that 13 percent in federal income tax? is that what he paid? why won't he answer more? should he? >> this issue is not about mitt romney's tax returns. that's not what americans care about. they care about their own tax returns and whopping increase in taxes and increases that this administration put on the american people. here is what we know about his tax returns. he paid more tax returns. he released more documents than he needed to. he is a very successful guy. let's focus on what americans want to. debt, spending, american dream. there a plan or middle class focusing on debt reduction. small business and trade and work force development.

these are the substantive issues that americans care about, not tax returns. >> is he lying? do you think he didn't pay taxes? >> it is hard to imagine that he would continue to hide them and make the big secret of the campaign whether or not he paid taxes. the only thing for sure is that he had one year of tax returns. he had swiss cots, cayman island accounts. we know he did not pay 13%. he paid 1%. with vice presidential hopefuls asked for more than one year of tax returns. >> did romney pay exactly when a should have paid under the law? >> this is what we know, we know that he has been engaged in tax avoiding schemes with off-shore accounts. with in the cayman islands and

bahamas. >> you're not suggesting anything unlawful. >> but it is tax avoidance. when the nation needs everyone's help, he is hiding off-shore account and betting against the future of the united states. >> a quick response on that. >> that just flat wrong, martin. this is the same reckless and slanderous remarks that harry reed said a couple of weeks ago. this is not what the american people care about. this is below their dignity. this is about how do we get the greatest country out of debt and back to work? obama flat failed. bad policies. haven't got the job done. time for change. i would say the ryan/romney ticket that believes in the american dream and want to get people back to having an opportunity to succeed, that's what we need to talk about. these other diversion issues on accusing ryan of throwing grandma over the cliff and

romney of killing somebody's wife and not paying taxes, these are diversions. let's talk about the issues. >> let's talk about medicare then. there's been so much noise and back and forth on 34ed medicare. there is what we know, let me start with the president's approach and i want it put is on the screen for our viewers so we can have a basic understanding of this. the president want it leave the program in place the way it is. a defined benefit program. he has passed under the healthcare law, reducing payments it hospitals, healthcare providers and private insurance to the tune of $716 billion. you've heard that figure a lot this week. he claims he would claim dissolve ancy. beginning not until 2023, he would change the program. he would offer premium support or voucher so that seniors could buy private insurance through competition.

there would also be a choice, romney says. you could have the option of keeping traditional medicare. he says he would end the president's healthcare plan, take that $716 billion moved out of the program and put that back into the mode care program. so governor o'malley, that's the approach. what are the key differences that people need to understand? >> oh, the difference is really good to the heart of the country we want to become. governor romney's plan is for a country of less. where we actually cap what we do to protect the security of seniors. we give them a voucher and we tell them good luck. you're on your own to cover whatever the difference is. and the congressional budget office estimated this will lead to our nation's spending. anywhere from 5900 to 8,000 less per seniores. those are dollars that are going to have to be covered by senior citizens themselves. >> to be fair, that's scoring of the rye on budget, would ch would not necessarily be the romney plan. >> there is really very little

difference. >> let me let governor mcdonald respond to that point. if you put seniors at a point where they are exposed to the vagaries, down the line, that's what folks would be forced to do. >> well, you need to know that the medicare trust fund is going broke in 12 years and president obama is not only for the status quo, but he want more spending without reform. that is just irresponsible and reckless. every governor of the country is reforming in pension systems because it defines a benefit and the numbers just don't work. i think romney and ryan are honest in saying, look, we're not going the right direction. if you want money there for future generations, you need reform. paul ryan doesn't touch any benefits for people over 55. but of that, yes, it gives people some choices. do we not trust people to make good decisions for their own healthcare or do we believe government's got to make every

decision for you? that get to the heart of it. but if you get rid of obama care and get that $716 back, can you do an awful lot to shore up the sol ven sift system. that's what we're going to do. >> the president robbed the medicare fund of $716 billion. now democrats have attacked republicans in the past for doing the same thing. but these are not benefit cuts. indeed, ryan made the same cut in his own budget. if in fact he is denying payment for hospitals, trying to get to the idea of more efficiency in the healthcare system instead of just paying for volume. don't you think that criticism is over the top by the republican ticket? >> i do. >> governor o'malley, first. >> we're broke. and they are being honest about the fact that we're broke. and obama care is the largest expansion of the federal government. i think in our lifetime. and generally it is not

acceptable to the american people. so we fwheed to get rid of the 21 taxes and $500 million in new taxes in the obama care system. use the free market approach. and some of those savings can be plowed back into medicare reform. but to say that this is being, that we are taking seniors and literally throwing them over the cliff is the rhetoric from the left and obama campaign is really disingenerous. if we don't reform it, david, here is the bottom line. if we don't reform this medicare system, when we get to 65, it is not going to be solvent and our families won't be taken care of. that's the biggest difference. we have rhetoric of obama and serious hard talk and real solutions from the romney/ryan ticket. we're in trouble in the country. we've got to make changes. >> governor o'malley, i want to end on this point just to shift it and talk about the broader economy. the reality for the polls in swing states and here are some of the state by state numbers this week.

we will put it up in a graphic. all of those in yellow, unemployment rate ticked up in all of those states. i should point ourt the one blue section between indiana and pennsylvania, that's ohio, it did come down slightly. pretty tough picture for a president running for reelection. >> there will be ups and downs for the road to recovery but there are some things you can cannot debate. most important in my mind is this. 21 months in a row of private sector job growth in our country. that the longest stretch we've had since 2005. there are more jobs created last year in our country during the entire presidency of george w. bush. more jobs created the year before than the entire presidency of george bush. the ep unemployment rate can and must be driven down but that will happen when we have changes in congress and remove the tea party congress. to what end, talking about the country's solvency down the road. to what end and what does it

help to give $5 trillion more in tax breaks to people like mitt romney and his friends? look, our country is a country that can create greater opportunities and better life for our kids. but it is not going to happen if we continue to give away huge tax cuts to the wealthy. >> and the tax debate, medicare debating with tp continue. thanks you both very much. >> thank you, david. >> we will take a break here spp. coming up, a campaign as polarized as we have ever seen. what does it mean for election day and beyond? governing the country. joining us, ted cruz is here. democratic mayor of atlanta, reed. chuck todd. peggy noonian and washington post ej deon is up next. [ female announcer ] how do you define your moment?

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former new york city mayor rudy giuliani is still ahead and

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the president, i'm told, is talking about medicare toda talking about medicare today. we want this debate. we need this debate. and we will win this debate. >> clear indication the republican party is trying to go on offense on medicare and remove it as a liability. we will talk more about that in just a minute. we are here with our political roundtable. joining us, e.j. dionne, peggy

noonan, check todd, ka ka kasim reed and ted cruz. he will be one of the main speakers at the upcoming republican convention in tampa. mr. cruz, let me start with you. when you won your primary fight. big story, big party down in texas. as you won, there was a big rally for you, because of the tea party's strength here in another campaign. this was the headline, the "the dallas morning news." i want cruz rides anti-establishment wave, surges past dewhurst. is the real ryan effect to you that we have scent tea party reemerge and occupy the real space in the campaign. >> look, i think the biggest ryan effect is that this race will focus on issues.

i am thrilled with the pick of paul ryan. and my view for months has been, if this presidential race focuses on issues, if it focuses on the economy, on president obama's abysmal record, republicans win. the terrific impact of paul ryan is that for the next three months we will talk about economic issues, about how to get 23 million americans that are out of work, back to work. i think that's great. >> we will also talk about the role of government. what the government should do, particularly in a distressed economy and mr. cruz is right. and what president obama wanted all along with his team. >> i think the republicans made a decision to run for the second time a right-right elections. my dad says republicans do well when they do dog leg lefts. go out to the right back it center. democrat go out to the left and to the center.

this is the second time they've got right, right and back to the woods. mccain picked palin, right, right. now romney is picking a right, right. he is just better at it. >> the assault on paul ryan. ej, have they landed any real blows? >> i think they have. mitt romney made in paul ryan the one and only decision he will make in this whole campaign that made liberals and conservatives really happy. c conservatives said it the way senator cruz said. >> he is not senator yet. >> i like it make mistakes once in a while. >> the paul ryan has made conservatives happy for all of the reasons he have. and liberal believe, and i think they're right, that when you put

issues on the table and i think they have, the steep tax cuts and the support on medicare, that these issues will move people away from the republican ticket. and it is doubling down on the conservative side as the mayor said. and he is the mayor. the other thing that i think is going on here, is an attempt to say that h that somehow, and a liberal blogger said it, and republicans are trying to argue on one hand that barack obama is a socialist who want to socialize healthcare and he that he is a right wing brute who want to cut medicare. i think the contradiction there between the two arguments is not going to work. >> peggy, initial thoughts here on the say all the on paul ryan. >> look, i think the choice of ryan was admirable, you know. and i think ryan himself is an admiral and accomplished person

and a serious man. he talks about serious issues. he does focus things on the budget and on entitlement spending. but i also think this is a little bit delicate for republicans. this is a stressed nation. this is a tough context in which to talk about pinthings that pe hear as cuts. i will respect the road the republicans are going down. i think so far in the past week the real news has been they've been talking medicare. and they've been winning on it. but long-term i think the republican issues are growth, jobs, the economy. those are the things people trust the republican party on. this is all very delicate. it is strong but delicate. >> we will come back to medicare in a few minutes. but there is a dynamic that you see playing out. around the country in terms of just how polarized the electorate is and there is

plenty of polarization. but here do you have a very clear choice. and the high-minded campaign is not really shown up yet. what you've got is a lot of anger on both sides. >> that will stay. i don't think we will have a high-minded. i think the debates will be interesting to watch. but go back it a point about the ryan effect. i believe we are on day 25. 25 days since the com romney campaign add coordinator push on the economy. and that was basically the day before he left for his overseas trip, overseas trip got caught up and some things having to do with the olympics and then the vp pick and shifts the issue it medicare. looking back, do they wish they had 25 days back in talking about the economy and make a case. the romney campaign will say, we are already winning that. we can talk about other issues p.

but it seems that if you ask the obama campaign, if you would like to take 25 days off from talking about the economy, yes. >> somebody who is in line with the tea party, all to the good. let's talk about debt. let's talk about taxes. let's talk about role of government. work us us in 2010 in mid term race. >> that's exactly right. the issues aren't disconnected. the reason the tea party arose. the reason we saw a tidal wave in 2010 and i think we are seeing a tidal wave in 2012 is that american people are fed up with politicians in both parties in washington who keep spending money we don't have. we've got $16 trillion national debt. larger than the gross national product. and the great virtue of the paul ryan pick is paul ryan is a serious substantive man who spent a lifetime in congress working to role up his sleeves and tackle these problems and you want it turn the economy around, get the boot of the government off the necks of the small -- >> peggy, i come back to this

tone. the polarization seems that it does matter. are there moderates who show up and vote, who do they vote for and who do you govern after this kind of condition? >> that's a problem. oddly, while it is so good and in some many ways to focus on medicare by making people over the next 60 days take very definite points of view, you may make it harder to make a med can care deal down the road. but overall, it seems to me, i'm not sure the american people themselves are so polarized. i sort of have a sense that they know -- they tell pollters, i think i'm going this way for the president. i think i'm going this way for mr. romney. there is so few undecided but lately i have a feeling the -- there's a sort of feeling of dissatisfaction among a lot of voters with the choice that they have, they are open to persuasion. they are open to listening for the next 70, 80 days to appoint

of view that serious. they want hope. a big group of americans feeling cenacle and diseffected. some people can reach into them and say, i can help. that would be powerful. >> i think in this case about governing, it widens the width of this election. we might have 53-47 in either direction. by having the medicare debate, you are forcing that role of government. you are forcing everybody to take a side. where do you want the government to be? and the winner might actually have a governing mandate. for a small window. but might actually have a gf governing mandate. >> i agree with chuck on this. that i think for all the talk about how nasty the campaign is, even before the poll line pick, this was a very substantive choice and a substantive argument about the role of government in the future of our country. the ryan pick sort of

accelerates that process or makes it stronger. but it was there already and i think the issue, one of the arguments we will have, is is ryan about balancing the budget? he has been cast as a budget balancer. his budget doesn't balance until somewhere after 2030. he is about reducing the size of government and cutting taxes. the one issue we will decide at least is does the government need more revenue? yes, tax increases, in order to balance the budget or not. you have a very clear difference on that and voters will know that. and we will ask, do we raise tax on the wealthy at least to balance the budget or do we cut taxes further? >> i want to push back on this notion of paul ryan as a serious man. he voted for every measure under president bush. he asked for money under the american recovery reinvestment act. he voted for both wars. he put medicare on a credit card. all of a sudden in the last 24

months he is availabling as a serious guy. then in terms of this week, he has underperformed sarah palin. he contributed about 1% bump. according to the gallup, republican pick for vice president typically performs at about 5 point. >> mr. cruz, should that be part of the record here? why is the tea party so supportive of a guy who is part of, what the tea party thinks is profitable spending mr. his predecessor, mr. president bush. >> i think the reason is simple. because paul ryan has been serious, talking about these issues. but votes matter. >> and i don't agree with all of his votes. but let's be clear. let's contrast the leadership paul ryan has shown with president obama's lack of leadership. the senate for three years hasn't had a budget. so it is very difficult for democrats to complain how dare the other side get serious about fix is these problems when they don't even pretend to fix the

problems. >> he wasn't serious under president bush. why didn't he say america should pay for the war in afghanistan? why didn't he say when we have a tarp programs it need to be available it folks on main street? he was for the automotive bailout. >> did barack obama say any of that? >> the democrats did not. but i tell you what, he are not talking about a guy wh has a career doing something di completely different. he has a budget that doesn't balance and he claims he is a budget balancer. he is using supply side economics. they have a 20% tax policy that is 5 trillion tax -- >> i agree with you. that republicans spent -- >> acting and being polite -- >> ej, quick point. >> president obama put a plan on the table that would balance the budge net 12 years. dh is quicker than the ryan budget. i didn't even agree with the whole plan. but the budget proposals, he tried to reach a deal with john

boehner and that fell through. he tried to put a lot on the table. >> how many votes did that gelt. >> that's a side issue. >> he got 0 votes. not one. >> that's because the vote was put up as a political matter. the fact is, it was a serious plan and serious budgets -- >> that's an serious plan. sfrs. >> let me come back to the effect of paul ryan. we know and we learned this week that republican convention which is coming up will have high profile keynote speaker. that of course is new jersey governor chris christie. another prom fent speaker will be florida center marco rubio. i, think week, sat down with another keynote speaker from new york city mayor rudy giuliani. i asked him about what we are discussing pt the ryan effect on race. >> first of all, here is the good news for midromney. no major problems. when you think about it, that puts the vice presidential choice at 75% range of vice

presidential choices. it is in that first week that the problems start to emerge. i don't want to mention former people, but you remember what i'm talking about. >> sure. >> it has been a positive effect for both sides in the sense that selecting paul ryan was like selecting an issue, as much as a person. he was selected not for his home state for political advantage or an ethnic group but because he can speak powerfully on a particular issue. which is how to rain in the government. how to deal with our budget. how to deal with our economy. whether you agree with imh or not, romney rather than the president, who should be setting the agenda, now set the agenda for campaign. i think it'll make it a better campaign. >> have you worried it is too much after gamble. when you said one issue, i thought you meant medicare. paul ryan wants to overhaul how medicare is run. and romney would make those decisions at the top of the

ticket. are you worried that gamble on medicare is tougher to win. >> i am. i'm worried the gamble might not work. every gamble might not work. do you think it should have been done? yes. i do think it will work? i believe it'll work. i can't guarantee that. >> is it a mistake for romney? he was talking about medicare at the time. he answered a question about that and now there is more focus on whether or not he should release more tax returns tp is this an issue that means something? you think voters hear it and say, there is a problem with that. >> i think there's a trade-off. i don't know the inside answer on this. but being a lawyer and representing a lot of clients, a lot of people with very big, big tax returns, having a pretty big tax return myself, if you take ten years of somebody's tax returns, that made the kind of money that mitt romney made it, or anybody, you can spend three months making that person look bad. i don't think there is anything wrong, i don't think there is a

crime or fraud or anything like that. this man is an honest plan. been honest all his life. i think this gives the tunlt to divert the campaign for three or four more weeks if they give him too much material. >> you mentioned the thrust of the campaign and vice president biden raising a lot of eyebrows, talking about how romney/ryan would put you back in campaigns, is his quote. you've been tough on biden saying he doesn't have the mental capacity, that he's not too bright. what is the impact of something like this this week? >> i was afoustounded by his remarks. i heard the tape first. and i said, that's a dumb remark. joe is a laugh line on jay leno. he is not a vice president. he is a joke. you never know what he's going to say. in one week he tlaut he was in

the wrong state. he thought he was in the wrong century. he didn't know the poll runner was the congressman. and he said an awful three, everybody makes mistakes, but he seems to make a disproportionate number of mistakes. and don't get offended, but we believe we are unfairly plit gated by the media. if he was dick cheney, they the media would raise questions about, is he smart enough? how he can make so many mistakes? he is be president? that why i want it is to enup the score. >> you can see rudy rudy giuliani on our blog. >> you heard republicans saying he is a joke and should be dumped from the ticket. is he doing more harm than good for the president?

>> rudy and biden have a bit of history. biden that came up with that hit four years ago. all you hear is rudy giuliani, 9/11, noun, verb, and it get kpeed comedians. i with biden, what they like him for is hand-to-hand. there's a lot of bravado coming from conservatives and republicans, they can't wait until ryan wipes the floor with biden at the debate. just be careful. biden's been around the block a few times. i couldn't be cocky. >> what did you make of this whole episode this week. >> think thought everything jude rudy giuliani just said was true. if it was a vice presidential candidate who made those gaffs so comically and on top, the subject would be, how stoop sid this person. can this person possibly ble blofern. think i this is something o to

what chuck said about the debates. joe biden is an american politician. he's been around forever. he is a big, warm, fleshy person to person paul. that has a certain power. and he can play this sorted of grandfather thing, who everyone thinks he will make 15 mistakes, but he said two or three cute things that can work in a debate. >> ka kasim reed, did you hear racial remarks? doug wilder did. >> i didn't. i sought entire thing. i saw transcripts. i think it is small ball. that was the kind of text of the message. when mitt romney or paul ryan stands up to rush limbaugh when thefr's dispuraging or stands up to ned nugent, stance up to anybody. stands up to donald trump, then

i will have a conversation about a comment the vice president made. >> we will have more about medicare, politics of it, facts of it. also this tax debate and chuck will be at the map. we will put this through the filt ef t filter of the balancer ground state. we're back after this. the same. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. this is the plan that revolves around you. introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. and a single pool of sharable data

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their analysis their analysis show that governor romney would raise taxes on middle class families with children on average of $2,000.

now, as governor romney and his running mate when they're here in new hampshire on monday, they will come here monday, ask him if that's fair. >> that's the president in new hampshire talking about the tax debate. talking about battle ground states being in new hampshire. chuck todd is over the at big screen with his device he keeps by his bed each night. as we look ahead, chuck, through the prism of the battle ground map and that road to the 207 electoral votes that you need to be president. >> let me just let you in on how to follow this. here are the electoral numberes. what these numbers stand for. 237 are r votes are in states that we think lead in the obama column. 191 electoral votes that we believe lean in the romney column. i want to show you the power of florida in this battle ground. if the president is able to ride

medicare to florida, look at this, his 237 goes to 266. david, he's four short. you just give him new hampshire where he was yesterday. romney can win everything else. north carolina, virginia, ohio, wisconsin, iowa, colorado, nevada and look at that. he's two short. this is the power of medicare and the power of the state of florida. this is why, you take florida out of the column and he needs do a clean sweet. in. >> we want it put up exit poll numbers from 2008 that showed the senior vote. this is something e.j. you wrote about, mccain has an eight-point advantage over president obama back in 2008 than senator obama. it shows you medicare, florida. if he can cut into that number, it could be the end of the election. >> right. over 65s have become a very big part 6 of the base of the

republican party. we forget, these aren't the all new dealers who have gone on to their eternal reward. this is a more conservative generation. if we can cut the republican advantage among seniors, by say two or three points, it becomes very hard to beat obama. by the way, in north carolina, mccain had a 13-point advantage among seniors. so medicare is one of those issues that allows obama potentially to cut into the vote that romney needs to put together some of these things. >> i talked to republicans, mr. cruz, who think that this may be a year, fingers crossed, and they will still sweating when they say this, this could be a year to argue medicare differently as a republican. do you believe it? >> i do believe it. i think we will see that test. i think people are ready for serious leadership. >> but you did work for president bush? private accounts, social secure

pit. wrote in his own memoir he regrets that. he would have tried something else. >> we need leadership to stand up and save social security and medicare. i think the democrats are being reckless. barack obama is doing nothing to save social security and medicare. what the romney/ryan team is doing is running on leadership to get serious and save the programs. number one for seniors 55 and over to preserve every bit of the ben fitsz that are there. but number two or younger folks to have fed mall nal so they can be there. >> but peggy,es ra cline says this is a false choice. there is no evidence that that necessarily works even the medicare mr. bush caused premiums to rise. you wrote in your column this week, ryan's got to be not a cutter, he has to rab saver of medicare. how do you do that.

>> you have to tell people, i'm trying to be the lifeguard, not the shark. listen, something interested happened yesterday. paul ryan went into the belly of the beast, the towns of florida. we probably all saw the speech where most of the people there were over 55 years of age. you can't live there unless you are over 55. >> it is the villages. >> sorry, excuse me. it is an interesting place. it is full of people who are elderly and who seemed they showed up in great -- >> because you made it about cutting into -- >> huge crowd pb paul ryan brings his mother and said she is on medicare. i'm not here to try to harm those programs. i am here to try long-term to save them. everybody in mer kwa does know we're not on firm ground economical economically. they know the government has to be -- to be rearranged a little bit or realigned.

i think people need that the democrat many do nothing to save medicare but they will not like it if they have the sense that republicans will harm them. >> mayor be with you argue that this is also a myth, that the president is doing nothing to strengthen medicare. there are big parts of the healthcare law that address this and the white house makes that argument very forcefully. >> i think my friend but the president did show leadership when he made reforms that extended medicare by eight years. not according to at partisan group but the ceo. paul ryan is the chair of the house budget can commission. if he wanted to get his plan scored so we could have an independent third party to give us an opinion on what the real numbers and impact, co-do it. if the plan was so wonderful they wouldn't wait ten years to implement it. they would implement it today. so he can go to a republican

strong hold and be embrace bed to you say that president hasn't shown leadership is not supported by the ceo. >> talk to other conservatives who won't say it publicly right now. saying attacking the president on his medicare plan, $716 billion of cuts, is a little din ingenerous because it is what republicans cried about when democrats them in 86. and those are all cuts, tuts kuts in future growth, not cuts in benefits now. aren't these some of the same cuts you have to advocate for, assuming you are elect foed the united states senate? >> if you are doing reform to save the program then that's something to celebrate. but the problem with he is took $716 billion from medicare. he didn't use it to refund -- >> you are in favor of -- >> you are in favor of those reforms, just not what he used

the money for. >> i'm in with failure of leadership. the classic definition after gaff is when a politician actually tells you what he thinks. i think joe biden makes an awful lot of gaffs. he says what he thinks and the obama strategy is not to talk about serious solutions to our debt, to the 23 million people out 6 work. it will be to distract and scare people. when he said he would keep people in chains -- >> i know you want to talk about the issue of moving 700 billion up. >> yes. two thirds come from court curtailing medicare or trying to get to hospitals to behavior efficiently in treating people. secondly, he does move some money right back to seniors. seniors will be back in that doughnut hole under the prescription drug benefits. he goes seniors the opportunity to get can check ups that they

couldn't have. so they could stay well. i think argument resembled that line we must destroy the village in order to save it. the other side doesn't want traditional medicare. they never like traditional medicare. they want to move it to a different kind prove gram. that's a good depiet. let's have it. >> before we go, way to end on a slightly lighter note. something that caught my attention, not on medicare this week. i want to show you a poll in "time" magazine about our devices we use. 50% of americans say they keep their devices, iphones, blackberries, by their phone. 56% said they would rather have their device than lunch. >> i actually carry two of them. i keep both by my bed each night. what about you? i don't know. the debate will keep going. >> a hundred percent, right? >> you know it. >> kids are out at night -- >> you want to know. you want to know. thank you all very much.

we will be back next week live in tampa, florida from the site of the republican convention. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." [ mom ] what? shut the front door. right? woop-woop! franklin delano! [ male announcer ] there's oreo creme under that fudge! oreo fudge cremes. now in two new flavors.