right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the battle of the battlegrounds. has an avalanche of negative attacks this summer turned voters off? our new nbc news battleground map and set of swing state polls shows the race is tightening and it all may hinge on medicare. the seven-year pitch. after days of being dogged by the akin controversy, mitt romney tries to turn the focus back to the economy. but what about his promise to become energy independent by 2020? and make way for isaac. florida governor rick scott says no change yet for next week's republican convention. >> these officials have been working together at the convention for the past 18 months. the possibility for a hurricane

has been part of that planning process. >> they say they're ready. plus, our exclusive interview with senator richard lugar today just back from one more diplomatic mission, trying to safeguard syria's chemical weapons. and the latest cover of "call me maybe" courtesy of u.s. troops stationed in afghanistan. ♪ all-time favorite there. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. our new nbc news battleground map gives us a window into the fight for crucial swing states for both campaigns. new poll numbers today on some of those states could send a signal to mitt romney that there are electoral votes up for grabs. "washington post" columnist and editorial writer ruth marcus joins me now. when you look at the battleground states, the nbc news breakdown today and "first read" shows there is still a real window of opportunity here. but after all of the hammering we've had, especially those of

us living next door to battleground states. >> hello, virginia. >> hello, virginia. we've been hammered by these negative attacks and it hasn't really moved the needle. >> and i don't think we're going to see that move really until the end because this was always going to be a close election, in my view. it's going to be a close election. looking at that battleground map, if i were mitt romney, there would be, and also the polls, there would be two things that make me most nervous. the first thing would be ohio. because how many times have people sat here in the studio and said to you, a republican nominee has never won the presidency without ohio? and you have, i think it's a six-point gap in ohio in favor of president obama. that is something that should be troubling to governor romney. the second thing is the questions about medicare and who voters trust on medicare. he did the bold thing picking paul ryan. that throws medicare into serious question.

>> and so after all of this, we still see an electoral vote of potentially 237-191 which we consider pretty solid as the base for both sides. 110 up for grabs. we look at the same nine swing states. north carolina, iowa, florida, colorado, virginia, nevada, ohio, wisconsin, and new hampshire. then you drill down on the polling and we show just how important medicare is now going to be. especially in florida, ohio, and some of these other states where there are large numbers of senior citizens. >> iowa has large numbers of senior citizens, pennsylvania has large numbers of senior citizens. but as our old friend used to say, florida, florida, florida. that's going to be fascinating. the other -- the flip side of the coin, though, for governor romney, is that voters trust him more on the economy. and they disapprove of the president's performance on the economy. and that is, has always been,

will continue to be, i think, in terms of voters' minds, the president's weakness. he's got unemployment numbers, deficit numbers, and all sorts of other ugly numbers out there that are going to dog him until election day. >> and when we talk about the president and the president's campaigning, big fund-raisers in new york city, hoop dreams. he actually, you know, went out there with michael jordan and teams, those who competed as a fund-raising gimmick. he actually said, he talked, first of all, for the first time about akin. he said, not on camera, this was, of course, the notes taken by poolers, print poolers at the fund-raiser. this is an individual who sits on the house committee of science and technology but somehow missed science class. it's representative of a desire to go backwards instead of forwards and fight fights we thought were settled 20, 30 years ago. channeling women's anger, to

excite the base. a lot of people are asking me about the science and technology committee that todd akin sits on, which is to explain that the speaker of the house decides who sits on what committee. who sits on what committee has never had anything to do with what their talents or experience have been, except the judiciary committees where you have more of the lawyers. >> the lawyers. >> but wow, that does seem like quite an eye opener that he sits on the science committee. >> it is kind of icing on the cake from the democrats' point of view, the very delicious from their point of view story. as you watch the path of the hurricane toward tampa, you really have to think which would republicans want least at their convention? to have the hurricane hit them or to have to keep talking about todd akin? and of course, it's very smart for the democrats to just do their best not to make akin look like an outlier in the party but make it look like he's carrying the party's message on abortion. >> ruth marcus, thanks for starting us off today. we'll be seeing you in tampa. >> be in tampa.

and paul ryan has just wrapped up a defense industry roundtable. fayetteville, north carolina. home, of course, to ft. bragg. also a battleground state. that is where we find nbc's ron motte. ron, what is paul ryan talking about today? >> reporter: hey there, and degr rea. this was an anything but akin speech day. they were here to talk about defense spending in particular. one thing that paul ryan said to the audience here, it mostly looked like a business crowd here, is the current budget sequester which could go into effect on the second day of new year would hammer defense spending by the tune of $50 billion to $55 billion a year for the next ten years. he said this was an unfair target of the military, if you will, and men and women that serve the country and the president has sort of got his priorities out of line in terms of this budget sequester. this is kind of wonkish stuff. we don't expect to hear a whole lot about this budget sequester going forward on the campaign trail. suffice to say, that's a very popular discussion in north

carolina, other places where there are heavy concentrations of military bases. going forward, he's off to missouri this afternoon for meetings with finance people and fund-raisers there. then up to michigan where he will reconvene with mitt romney tomorrow on the stump in governor romney's hometown of michigan then on saturday big, big meetings planned there, rallies in ohio which is a state obviously that the romney/ryan camp very much want and probably needs to win to be competitive in november. but all in all, the crowd here seem to warm up to the idea that what the republicans and what mitt romney would like to do to avoid this budget sequester going into effect, they hope that that is actually going to be the case and that all the industries who are connected to the military across the country don't see these cuts come through, it will affect not only military but a lot of other people, andrea. >> when you really drill down on it, for those who followed the debt crisis, the debt ceiling crisis, finally when they accepted sequesters and hard

triggers because they failed to reach a budget deal, these are the budget cuts that republicans and democrats accepted and agreed to. they start rolling back the defense cuts, what are they going to take it out of? more out of food stamps? they're not taking it out of spientitlement entitlements. they're criticizing the president from cutting money from medicare, in their claim, cutting $716 billion from medicare. it seems like the people who are campaigning on fiscal solvency are the same people who are complaining about budget cuts. >> reporter: right. no, you're absolutely right, andrea. the devil, as they say, is always in the details. paul ryan along with a lot of republicans voted for this sequester. it really is endemic of the problem democrats and republicans have communicating and reaching a consensus on almost anything in washington. he voted for the bill that prescribed these particular cuts, 50% going to the military, and the balance of those cuts of $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years coming from other programs. got to tell you, one funny story, almost funny then we'll

send it back to you, andrea. at the very end of this discussion today, the moderator opened the floor up to questions from the assembled audience then said we'll hear from the media with questions after that. paul ryan quickly said, oh, no, no, no, we donwent do that. we didn't get a chance to get on the record with his position on the budget sequester. we'll try again next time. >> ron, i know you will. thank you very much. great having you out there zblunch. up next, tony perkins joins us from the family research council already in tampa. still ahead, tracking isaac with an eye toward tampa. don't forget, all next week we're live in tampa at the republican national convention, rain or storm, rain or shine, i should say. and this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance?

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todd akin ostracized by the republican party now relying on his social conservative base in missouri and elsewhere in the country. the national leaders of the conservative movement to keep akin's senate campaign afloat. reports not confirmed yet by nbc news placed akin in tampa wednesday night at a secret meeting with the council for national policy. constructed of conserve atives d evangelical leaders who could help him stay alive against claire mccaskill. joining me, mr. perkins of the family research council. thanks very much, tony. thank you for being with us today. were you at this meeting, were you aware of this meeting last night? what can you tell us about it? >> there was a private meeting that took place with todd akin, just to talk with him and encourage him and the stand that he's taking. >> and were you at the meeting? >> i was at a later meeting with him. i have spoken to him, and, you

know, this is a challenge for him. obviously, you know, it was a biden-ism that he made. it was inexcusable. it was inappropriate. he has acknowledged such. and he's moving on. now, there are some in the republican party that want him to get out. he has made his decision that he's going to stay in. you know, and from my perspective, as i, our organization endorsed him in the primary, we endorsed him based upon the totality of his record. he has been a strong advocate for national defense. a strong advocate for life and for the family and for all americans. and so our position on him and his candidacy has not changed. >> will you come up with enough money to keep him going? because he's now lost all his money from the national republican campaign committee? >> well, i mean, that's his role as a candidate. i do think you have to look at what he did in the primary. he did not have any support of the national party or republican organizations, and he was successful there.

i mean, look, he has a very difficult road ahead of him, and i think he's still pondering his decision as to what he does. although at this point he said he's going to stay in. >> do you sense some wavering? >> people make mistakes. >> do you sense wavering? at this point, get out before september 25th which is the next deadline. >> anything's possible, but i -- he seems to be pretty steadfast in his decision that he's going to stay in this race and run. now, there's not unanimous support, obviously, as you've seen much of the national republican establishment have called for him to get out. others are weighing the realities here of whether or not he can be successful. but many people thought, you know, wondered whether or not he could be successful in the primary. he was. i think he still has a chance to be successful in the general election as well. >> was there support from the group last night, overall support that he should stay in?

>> i couldn't -- i couldn't tell you that honestly, because i don't know. there was not any kind of, you know, public expression of that. it was just meeting with a group of his friends. i don't think it would be reflective of the whole movement. >> he explained that he didn't mean the term legitimate rape. there have been -- you know, he's explained that, he's apologized for that. i take him at his word. what about the larger question of, how widespread are the views of dr. john wilky, the view which has been debunked by most scientists, the view that women who are raped are less likely or only rarely get pregnant? >> andrea, i've never had a discussion about that. it's not something that's discussed. look, i see that every human life is sacred. it should be welcomed into our world and protected by our laws. our laws reflect that. the republican party's position

reflects that we see life as sacred. now, when you get down to the specifics of the actual policies, there's differences of opinion. this issue is not one that's been discussed. todd, he said, you know, he misspoke. he apologized for it. and so now i think it's time to move on. >> how disappointed are you, if at all, with mitt romney and paul ryan, both of whom have urged him to get out? >> well, i mean, that's a decision they made. and i don't -- reasonable people can disagree. i have some very close friends that disagree over this race. todd happens to be a personal friend of mine that i've worked with. and when i give my support to somebody, i give it to him based upon not just one particular incident, but on the totality of who they are and what they've worked for. we're not talking about a moral failure here. we're not talking about unethical or illegal activity. we're talking about someone who

misspoke. and, again, i totally have rejected what he said as being inappropriate and unartful and he should have never said it. i don't know why he was having that discussion. it is was it is. it's a biden-ism. he said it, he's apologized for it and now it's time to move on. >> i take your point that it is a, quote, biden-ism. i'm not going to get into an argument over that. i know what you're trying to say. but i wanted to also play paul ryan on the plane with reporters yesterday. this certainly shows an insight into what he is now saying about his policies and his policies going forward. if they are successful and win the white house, on the question of abortion. let's watch. >> i'm proud of my record. mitt romney is going to be the president. the president sets policy. his policy, his exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother, i'm comfortable with it.

it's a good step in the right direction. >> rape, incest, to protect the life of the mother a step in the right direction. that's where mitt romney is now. that's not where paul ryan was with any of the number of bills he introduced, some co-sponsored with todd akin. what to you think about that? are you at all concerned that paul ryan is wavering in his stance on this key issue to you? to accommodate himself to the romney ticket? >> not at all. not at all. look, the process of making public policy, you come with different perspectives and come out with a consensus. we are where i think the law presently is, where americans are, and that is with these exceptions that are there. do i agree with them? no, not necessarily. i see all life is sacred. there are many that hold that view. others do not. that's part of our process. as the executive who has stated his positions, that's what he's going to be advocating for. that's where we are. and i understand exactly what paul ryan is saying and doesn't cause me to question his position or mitt romney's position at all.

>> thank you so much. thanks for being with us. tony perkins. >> all right. look forward to seeing you in tampa. >> family research council. see you next week. thanks very much for being with us today. as the romney campaign begins to open up more about mitt romney's mormon faith, abby huntsman from a utah family, republican family, her father ran for president unsuccessfully in the primaries. she sat down with brian williams for "rock center." the daughter of the candidate tried to clarify the mysteries, some of the mysteries surrounding the mormon church and her own uneasy relationship with her faith. >> why do you think those of us non-mormons don't know more about the mormon church? >> i don't think they've done a good enough job opening up. they've been very secretive and it causes people to think of it as a mystery. >> reporter: abby huntsman grew up in a family considered mormon royalty. she's a descendant of one of the

12 original mormon apostles. her father, jon huntsman, former utah governor, former u.s. ambassador to china, ran unsuccessfully for the gop nomination. abby is 1 of 60 huntsman family grandchildren and is the only one to marry outside her religion. she is no longer active in the faith. >> there are a lot of wonderful parts to the church, the family aspect is what i loved most about it. but it's very black and white still. there's no gray area. you either live by the mormon doctrine, or you do not. >> reporter: in this modern world, some old-school rules still govern the mormon church and that means no non-mormons allowed inside their temples. ann romney's parents, as non-mormons, were not allowed to see their own daughter married inside the temple in what's called a sealing ceremony. the same was true and abby huntsman's parents were married. her grandparents as non-mormons had to wait outside on the

couch. what about the fact you and i right now could walk across the avenue into st. patrick's cathedral, no one would care or wonder what our religious affiliation is. i can't get in to the mormon temple. will that ever change? >> i hope it does. but -- >> what goes on in there -- >> i don't think that it will. nothing crazy. it's very much a sacred thing for mormons, and causes a lot of people to feel maybe not good enough. why am i not allowed in there? so this idea of maybe being more accepting and moving with the times a little bit is much needed in the church today. >> and you can see a lot more, watch an hour-long look at what it means to be mormon in america. "rock center with brian williams" tonight at 10:00 eastern, 9:00 central, on nbc. and up next, the politico briefing right here.

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nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. this election to me is about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. this is a clear choice. the republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper income people and go back to deregulation, what got us in trouble in the first place. president obama has a plan to rebuild america from the ground up. it only works if there is a strong middle class. that's what happened when i was president. >> that was, of course, the man, himself, bill clinton, the most popular political figure in either political party in our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. it's no surprise he's being pulled back into action by team obama. they hope that some of the former president's popularity just might rub off, perhaps. joining me now, politico's roger simon. well, he's backs and, boy, in

full political form. but what -- the obvious irony is all the tension between barack obama and bill clinton in 2008. and since. >> yeah. i mean, bill clinton's figures are amazing, his favorability ratings, considering he left office, what's admitted, in disgrace. >> 57% popularity. 23% unfavorable. >> his resurrection is the biggest resurrection since the resurrection. i mean, he is -- the importance of that ad we just saw is not even the words he said but a president who's popular, ex-president, who is associated with prosperity. there's a lot of prosperity during his eight years. a lot of jobs created. stock market went up. people made money. and now he's the last democratic president, and he's not only endorsing but coming out for barack obama whom as you said, he opposed, bill clinton was

running his wife's campaign. he ticked off a lot of people. had a lot of angry words. now they're together again. and you look at the flip side. where's the last republican president? where's george w. bush? he's not going to the convention and he's not making commercials for mitt romney. >> well, the fact is bill clinton is also going to be at the convention giving the primetime speech. and this, as you point out, was the -- i mean, remember the angry face of bill clinton in pittsburgh during the pennsylvania primary. obviously that was during a primary season. but it's really true that hillary clinton came to terms with endorsing and seconding the nomination of barack obama, campaigning for barack obama. more easily than did her husband who was more competitive. >> i think it's truly sad that the spouse of the candidate sometimes has a harder time dealing with political realities and political criticisms than the candidate -- >> but does it transfer?

can the aura of bill clinton as he is today and with all of his global good works and the clinton global initiative which is going to be on full display in new york, convening in september, his work in haiti and elsewhere in the world? can any of that really transfer to barack obama? >> some of it can. none of it hurts. and you can't think of a figure in the republican party who is the counterpoint to that. when bill clinton makes the speech at that convention, it's going to be a huge moment. and it's not going to be the candidate's speech or the vice president's speech. it's going to be a separate huge moment. it's hard to look at the rundown at the republican convention and see where that huge moment is going to be. >> roger simon, and we will see you in tampa. up next, "andrea mitchell reports" special, richard lugar's mission to control chemical weapons in syria.

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and after a couple of weeks she was part of the family. we're so lucky that lucy picked us. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow complete. and for a delicious way to help maintain a healthy weight, try new purina cat chow healthy weight. tropical storm isaac, it could become a real threat to the u.s. mainland this weekend. as it heads toward florida and, of course, also the republican national convention. you're watching it for us, of course, the weather channel's hurricane expert, bryan norcross. bryan, where is it tracking now? >> well, it's still on that same kind of track. here's the dilemma, andrea. it's not a very strong storm. it doesn't have all the ingredients we look for to become really strong really fast. but there's hardly a more vulnerable place to even a

category 1 hurricane than tampa. so the people that are making this decision have a really tough task. let me show you where it is right now, and where it's going. it's a 40 mile an hour tropical storm. that's the bottom end of tropical storms. it's moving generally to the west through the caribbean. dumping very heavy rain on puerto rico, the virgin islands, and some of that heavy rain is going to fringe into the dominican republic up here, but it is not a well-organized system yet. now, going off into the future, here it comes along. the national hurricane center is forecasting it to be a hurricane when it's in the vicinity of haiti. we're very fearful, of course, for problems there with people still trying to deal with the earthquake of a couple of years ago. but there's a big question mark if it can pull itself together that fast, but if it stays down in the caribbean, probably can, pretty warm water. there are big mountains up here. if it goes farther north and interacts with mountains, that would make it weaker because hurricanes don't like mountains. then on to cuba and approaching florida. now we're into early on sunday, and indeed, all of south florida

including the keys, they're going to have to make evacuation-type decisions in the keys here pretty soon. and moving north. if it were to stay way over here and head up in the direction of the central gulf coast up there, probably far enough away from florida. if it comes anywhere in this area, they've got the tough call to make and i just don't think they can have a bunch of people in the vulnerable parts of the florida west coach which include right where that convention is right at the top end of hillsborough and tampa bay. so it's a really close and difficult call. andr andrea? >> which makes you the most important political and weather expert around. and one quick question, bryan. is the slowness of the storm, is that an issue as well as the size? because it has a huge area it's covered. >> yeah, it's big and so it's going to move a lot of water, so it doesn't have to come right over tampa. you know, we can't be looking at if it doesn't go over tampa, goes just a little bit offshore,

it's okay. yeah, these things definitely come into play, and the fact that it's still weak puts a question mark on all of this. because weaker storms are more difficult to forecast for the computer forecast models that we rely on. so we've got probably another day to two to be more certain about this and i don't know what their threshold time is, but it's got to be well before the convention before everybody gets there and have to try and turn them around. >> 70,000 people, indeed. bryan norcross from the weather channel in atlanta. thank you very much. topping the other headlines right now on "andrea mitchell reports" firefighters battling flare-ups of the ponderosa fire in california. winds caused the five-day-old fire to jump a containment line. federal health officials say the current west nile outbreak is one of the largest in american history. four times the number of cases for this time of year. more than 1,000 illnesses have been reported. about half of them in texas. in michigan, health officials confirmed a second death due to

the virus. at least 42 people have now died to date. a dramatic rescue in scottsdale, arizona, today, after two people were trapped inside a van. authorities believe that the driver tried to get through a flooded street following heavy rains last night. one of the passengers was wheelchair bound. both passengers were successfully rescued. the british tabloids appear to be showing some restraint today despite the nude las vegas pictures of prince harry showing up online and newspapers and magazines all over the world. as the naughty prince has now returned home to face the music at buckingham palace, prince charles' attorneys urged newspapers in the uk not to use the pictures but tabloids are crying foul saying censoring the pictures is, quote, ludicrous and won't save the prince any blushes. our favorite take on this, to avoid the censors, a staffer named harry, an editor, posing nude in the same scandalous pose making the cover. and the u.n. has caused a

minor uproar today announcing secretary general ban ki-moon is going to attend the summit in tehran next week. despite u.s. efforts to isolate iran for its nuclear program and its support of the brutal syrian regime. indiana senator richard lugar is the senate's longest serving republican, former chairman of the foreign relations committee, ranking member now. just returned from moscow. another diplomatic mission. trying to get russia on board to help control syria's chemical and biological weapons. senator, it's great to see you. thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. >> you, of course, co-sponsor of the lugar nonregime which for decades controlled weapons of mass destruction and tried to prevent, successfully tried to prevent proliferation at the fall of the soviet union. now, tell me about moscow, because we have a lot of concerns about vladimir putin's stance supporting assad, propping him up, just as the u.s. is getting more and more worried about that red line the president spoke about, the

chemical weapons. where do we stand? >> i appreciated the opportunity to visit russia. first of all, to talk about the basis of the program, to extend the umbrella program to give legal basis so we can continue to work with the russians to destroy missiles and destroy engines that had nuclear weapons attached to them and all the rest. i took the opportunity with deputy ministers of defense and foreign affairs to suggest that there is another cooperative threat reduction we could do with russia. united states and russia, two great powers. lot of experience with chemical weapons. and we would plan together for a contingency that if the assad regime falls or there is a general disintegration of order in syria, we would be prepared, as two nations, to take over those chemical wes and destroy them. and i suggested this as a cooperative threat reduction program because we want to have,

i believe, a stronger relations with russia. it was good to be with russia on the syrian question, and appeared to me this was a possible opening. >> did you get any, any kind of sense from the russians that they would be willing to cooperate here? because there's been a lot of concern in the administration that the russians are not playing ball and we've seen what they've done at the u.n. and seen very angry statements from the secretary of state and the u.n. ambassador susan rice about what russia has done in the security council. >> indeed, we have witnessed all of that. this is why i took advantage of opportunities in moscow to forge a different path in which we work with russia, in which there was experience in working with russia to destroy weapons of mass destruction. we have a lot of experience doing this. we're committed both of our countries to get rid of all of our chemical weapons and we've helped the weapons at suchra, a big plant now, from going through tons of the stuff even

as we're speaking today. therefore, leaving aside all of the debate which has proceeded, it seemed to me this was an opportunity for a breakthrough and at least the reaction of some russians was that this is very interesting. others said, after all, syria is not a member of the chemical weapons convention. they own the weapons and so they do. but i think there's a general fear, and president obama expressed this, that red line is there. if weapons get used or if they're moved or what have, the united states might take military action. that would be a unilateral step. i'm suggesting a possible bilateral planning and bilateral action. >> you, in fact, took then-senator obama, i think on his first trip as a united states senator, at least, to moscow. what about the state of our politics today? and, you know, your own experience, of course, you had the republican primary and we know that you're going to be retiring from the senate not

something that you wanted. you've lost the primary. but is there a role that you an play now given just how toxic our politics have become in both political parties? mitt romney, the standard bearer, for the republicans have said that russia is our biggest adversary. do you agree with that? >> no, i don't agree with that, but i would say simply that i heard tom pickering, former am ba ambassador use this term, we've been kicking the shins of each other. what we have to is find ways to work together. it will not be easy. the non-lugar program in which literally the russians finally invited us to come in and destroy the nuclear weapons that were aimed at us for 40 years, is a breakthrough of the sort of no one anticipated. i'm suggesting we need some more breakthroughs. that's going to require some tough diplomatic work. and so i'm offering one suggestion, but it's not the only one.

>> have you talked to the white house about this? or the state department? >> no, i have not had that opportunity. we just got back from our travels. and i hope that we'll have some conversations. >> richard lugar, senator, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, andrea. thank you. and up next, "time" managing editor rick stengel with a look at the new cover story, "inside the mind of mitt." ♪ [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help

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hi, everyone, i'm tamron hall. coming up in just 15 minutes on "news nation," right now we're tracking the storm that's threatening to collide with the gop convention. we'll talk to tampa's mayor live. he says he won't think twice about evacuating the city even if that means, of course, putting a damper on the big party. and within the last hour, a warning from the feds about possible violence at both the

republican and democratic convention. we'll have details and a brand new interview with congressman paul ryan on the budget and deficit. it's already being criticized as being short of substance. we'll play that interview for you on "news nation." with paul showing that mitt romney has still not communicated enough about himself to voters, he's now given an exculusive interview t "time" magazine before the republican convention. the cover story "the mind of mitt" and the interview covers the personal including mitt romn romney's faith. joining me "time" magazine's richard stengel. it's a great cover. thanks so much for joining us today, richard. this is the opportunity for mitt romney to reintroduce himself to a larger group of americans, they hope at the convention. your magazine certainly delves into mitt romney, the man, in a much more personal we than we've seen him before. >> yes, andrea. this does give him a chance to

reintroduce himself to the american people, to introduce himself in a different way. i think that will happen when he gives his nomination speech at the end of the convention. but in our story this week, we have a really in-depth piece by bart gellman about mitt romney's years at bain, at bain capital and bain consulting firm, and what it does is it gives you a kind of lens to analyze what type of decision maker he is, what things he values, so one of the things that bart discovered is that he's extremely cautious. he invested only very rarely in companies and he wanted to make sure that they were absolutely going to make money. he decide edecided, no companie involved in tobacco, alcohol, guns or pornography. you get an insight into the man, how he thinks and makes decisions which is one of the things voters need to know. >> one of the things that also

comes through, he's talked about president obama and how nasty the campaign has been, for lack of another word. to quote, it has been one attack after the other, accusations, all of which or most of which have been distortions or misguided. and i think it's beneath the office of the presidency to engage in a campaign of the nature that he has pursued. he says the personal character assassination i think is an unfortunate course and i don't think it will be a successful one. you guys say, you hold him personally accountable for that character assassination. he says, well, i'm responsible for what happens in my campaign, he's responsible for what happens in his. did you get the sense after talking to him that there is a level of personal animus here between mitt romney, at least his attitude toward barack obama, and we've also seen in recent writings in politico that president obama has certain feelings about mitt romney, that these two men really don't like each other?

>> you know, we did the interview down in new orleans, mike crowley and i, and governor romney was very upbeat, very positive, very much brimming with energy.energy. i would caution one thing. i think in every campaign there comes a point during the campaign at which news organizations start writing. you know, they are not just opposed to each other. they really dislike each other and hate each other. i think that's a narrative that we've seen over and over. that being said, in that interview i thought he was very strong in holding barack obama personally accountable for what he felt were the ads and speeches and lines that went over the line. he said, look, i'm responsible for everything in my campaign and i take responsibility for that. the president needs to take responsibility for everything in his. and while i would never even begin to analyze whether -- how they personally feel about each other, i think there is a level

where they feel, where both campaigns feel like the other guy is in the gutter and i'm going to be in the gutter and that's the way it's going to be until election day. >> there is a term for that, as you know, from the cold war, which is mutually assured destruction. but in any case -- >> one of them is not going to be destroyed. >> right. and there is a picture, though, that you guys have where you show mitt romney the time magazine cover with his father on the cover. that's a charming picture. that really shows his pleasure at seeing an old time magazine cover. >> yes, in fact, that cover is exactly 50 years old. it's 1962 and his dad is on the cover and there's a little rambler and really was, i had a little extra time before the interview and reread it. in fact, we began by talking about his father. one of the interesting things is really the contrast between mitt and his father. his father was a traditional conventional businessman. he ran a manufacturing company, a car company. governor romney as a consultant, as a strategic investor,

actually looked at all different kinds of fields -- technology, manufacturing, retail, you name it. >> which shows that -- >> that gives him a certain advantage i would say. >> it certainly shows a very different take. thank you very much. we'll be right back. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain.

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it was just a year ago today when we had a little shock here in washington, about to go on with the show and we had the 5.9 magnitude earthquake. it was as we were finishing the show so we didn't get to jonathan capehart that day. >> hi, andrea. >> we ran downstairs, ran outside. tamron hall took over. that shock of course a serious shock in terms of damage to the national cathedral. >> right. >> and to the washington monument. but at least we get a chance today to finish your thoughts. >> i don't even remember what we were talking about a year ago this time. but, andrea, i had no idea that

you had bolted from the scene to evacuate. i was seated in the chair. we were pinning on my microphone, putting in my ifb and that's when our studio shook. unlike you, you went for safety. i went back to my office and wrote. >> let's just say i was ordered out and dragged out and down the stairs. we finished the show out on the lawn. thank you very much, jonathan. thanks for being there last year. >> thanks, andrea. >> and this year. that does it for us. earthquakes, hurricanes, whatever, we're here for you. "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation." >> can you believe it's been a year since that day? here we are as you mentioned, a hurricane could be certainly on its way to florida threatening the gop convention. that's not good of course. we'll talk with tampa's mayor. he says he won't think twice about evacuating the city if it means keeping people safe. and within the last hour a warning from the feds about possible violence at both the

republican and democratic convention. also within the last hour, a warning from the feds as i mentioned about a possible violence. we'll have the latest on that. we also have a new congressman paul ryan interview regarding the budget and the deficit. this interview is already being criticized. it just happened a short time ago and we'll play the interview for you next. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved

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