> this morning, a special edition of "republican meet the press." still, this convention, week could be rom ne's big moment to reshape the race. >> i believe if we get off the track that america's president has put us on, you're going to see the economy come rolling back. after distractions like congressman in the abortion fight. as well as his joke friday aimed at the president. >> nobody's ever asked to see my birth ser tiff kat. but they know this is the place

that we were born abds raise. >> this morning, a commanding figure. former florida governor, jeb bush. also, we'll turn to the party's nominee four years ago, senator john mccane. waying in on the state of the party, romney now leads. finally, inside's political round table on the job ahead. plugs plus the fight for the women voters that will occupy. joining me, florida congresswoman and chair of the democratic party. republican strategist mike murphy. live from tampa florida,this is a special edition of "meet the press" with david gregory. >> good sunday morning from tampa. and our approach here as the republican convention.

the story this morning is not politics. it is the weather. the convention is now delayed until tuesday. joining me now, overlooking tampa bay, the weather channel's jim canori. jim, they've cancelled monday. they hope to be able to get in tuesday afternoon. but based on this track, you had that to be delayed for a bit? >> it's going to be a close call. even if we begin to ramp things back up here tuesday and improve in tampa, on many, many people's minds is what's going to be happening in the gulf coast? here i am on the eastern end of the causeway. but the problem is we're only 3-5 feet.

the decision to cancel certainly was a wise one. the wind begins to push the water. when you look at the cone here, you think, okay, tampa, if you're not in that red cone, why are you so concerned? if you drop a rock in a pool, the wave that it produces is going to go all the way to the end of the pool. and the wave is going to affect tampa in the way of water. and the wind is going to push that water up. so the search is going to be 3-5 feet. as they planned on, many, many people will be focused on what's going to be happening upstream from new orleans to pensacola. >> we'll obviously be monitoring the storm all day into tomorrow. but, now, back to politics. in just a minute, you'll hear my exclusive interview with former governor jeb bush. president obama blames his

brother, former president bush, for the state economy. >> he's had three years. his policies have failed. rather than blaming others, you just can't keep doing that. mitt romney will be over this thursday. senator, welcome back. >> thank you. let's talk about the weather: it's ironic. you were in this very same position when the hurricane came barrelling towards new orleans. there was a real perception problem with yoi and the republicans. do you think there could be a furter delay down here?

those are an important three days. but a long-standing tradition of three or four days, spens political campaigning so that the republican party and the nominee can make their case. >> senator, you dealt with real safety concerns and also the perception. getting a huge disaster for other parts of the state. how sensitive in your judgment do they have to be about the optics in this? >> obviously, i think they are. that's why they very early on cancelled the first day so that people can make arrangements. but, david, as you know, it's wednesday and thursday night that are the big moments.

now people have this thing called channel changers. so it's not that there's -- that we don't want those -- that first night. but i don't think it would be damaging if we lose the first night. you were astounded by it. the reality is he said no. this was his response on friday. we are going to be here through the november election. and we're going to be here to win. she writes that the comments reinforce the per sthaepgs we in the public are unsympathetic. hoi big of a hole did he dig

that romney has to climb out of? >> it's a problem. he should realize it's a privilege. if you abuse that privilege, you should not get to keep it. what he said was unacceptable. we republicans have to consider all options to start with making sure that she's right or she will not have the support of the mainstream republican parties. but you know, david, we were talking about it earlier, what the republicans have to do. i'm surprised that we are neck-in-neck in polls right now. it means to me that this attack strategy of obama not being able to defend his record is wearing a little thin with the american people. so i'm overall optimistic.

i urge mr. aiken to abandon his request for the united states sfat because frankly, he would not be held by republicans in the united states senate. >> are you concerned when you hear the birth certificate joke? that's doing so as pearl when he reaches out to undecided voters? >> no, i think it was an atempbt at humor. sometimes these speeches become more boring by all candidates. >> i wanted to speak to you this morning because you have unique inside into that pressure. going into a convention,

connecting your mode map with the ere o people. the governor has some problems with women, with latinos. does he need a change change in this convention? >> no, i don't think so. i think he needs to try and reinforce his message. he's been heavily out spent by president obama campaign where he will have some advantage. up until now, it's been much more heavily spent, as you say, to hispanic voters and to women. we have to point out that the unemployment rate is now 16%. at the unemployment amongst hispanics is very high. that jobs in the economy are

more important, perhaps, than maybe other issues. we are a big-ten party. jobs are the only way we can help. obviously, we have an uphill task. it is a tough task, but i'm confident we can do it. >> senator cane, thank you very much. up next, my interview with former governor jeb bush who talks about mitt romney, the republican party and the bush legacy right after this. the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. roc® max for maximum results. has a facebook page these days. but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance. click or call.

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and we're back. we want to take you to the former governor of florida jeb bush. the son and brother of presidents, of course. he was considered a favorite this year for the gop nomination. he remains influential this week. >> governor, welcome to "meet

the press". >> great to be here. >> let me start by asking you. here we are looking at our polling in the national race. it's a four-point advantage for president obama. but he's under 50%. you said it ensured their victory. why? >> what i said was it was about the -- change the campaign about big thingings. this should be a campaign of substance and big thingings rather than distractions and little things. and i think the choice, of all of the people in washington, he's the one guy that has had the courage to lay out plans with great substance that are big and broad. and i think the debate will change -- and it has, it eegs already started to change towards these bigger things the country needs to fix. and i think mitt wins when it's about these big things. if it's about the constant distractions, it would be a very, very cloesz race. one of the big debalts right now is abortion.

is this a constructive topic? it's a powerful, moral issue. i's not going to change the economic climate. we're not going to take jobs by having a discussion about this. i think the republicans really need to be disciplined. here's how we're going to do it. here's why the president's fail. >> one more as we sit here and still in the race, made controversial kmentds ablt his legitimate rate that he apologized for. mitt romney and everybody else has forced him out of the race. >> i think the reason why he's been asked to consider leaving, it doesn't relate to the views on the life question, it relates to his misguided views about

rape. rom snoo has a slightly different view. i know he would prefer what's on the minds of the american people. you can every poll that 70% of the people are concerned about economic growth, job creation, deficit, det. that's where we have the winning -- where mitt has the winning philosophy, for sure. there's a 120% deficit when it comes to caring about people. why do you think? >> it's an advantage the president has temporarily. but as the president goes on the attack, constantly attacking. constantly using negative messaging, i think his

connectivity with people will drop. he's going forward to reconnect with people to set the stage for the general election and show who he is, what's in his heart. i think the acceptance speech is a great place to start. >> you'll also speak. you'll have a prominent role. when you're not running, you can be lynned to more. what is it that you'd like your party to hear? >> well, i'm going to talk about education. it's something that is not a national program, but it's a graet party. there's no amount of government programs that could fill that void. we have this big debate about class warfare. the president is constantly trying to divide the country by

saying rich people need to pay more and they didn't build what they built. it was a communal effort. i'm passionate about this because i think american -- the american political system has become so short-run in its nature. >> you've talked about wanting to see -- or for the republican party to lead a nation of converts. >> you look at the gender gap between the president and governor romney. among the hispanics, he's got two-thirds of the vote. our polling on african americans, zero for mitt romney.

are you concerned that the republican party is not making much progress toward becoming a nation? >> i'm concerned about it over the long hall, for sure. our demographics are changing and the message and the intensity, for sure. i don't think that's going to have an impact in this election, though. so there's a gender gap in favor of president obama among women. >> this is going to be a long term. >> has to be add concerted effort to reach out to a much broader audience. talk about the importance and how race the tight is going to be. we did some analysis based on where we looked at the map right now.

he's just 411 votes short. >> i think it's the economic issues again. how do we restore confident and greatness by a climate of economic growth. it's true to our pay trotic that's going to invest in our own resources. an immigration policy that allows people to stay with a ph.d. or a master's. it's not creating prosperity to recognize that you can get desired benefits without creating a huge compliance cost. an education policy that reaches out to everybody. they have built a capacity. a fiscal policy that isn't just nuts when you're spending 40 krents on every dollar through

debt. entitlement reform. tax reform. >> well, let me break that down a little bit. let's talk about taxes. this is going to be a big fight in november. do republicans have to give on this? tax reform could fienld ground on entitlement. >> you've been favor, willing, at least, to say -- you said there's too much orthodox in the republican party. >> i'm saying there's too much orthodox in the political process. that we're yapping too much.

he's a practical person wo's had life experience based on solving problems. and then in that kind of an environment, rather than this ie dee logical fight that is existing right now that's turned off the american people across the spectrum, if you had a leader like that, you can see how you would get common ground done. is it a tax increase if you increase the eligibility or the cap for medicare? people pay a tax today that's capped at 103,000 clarsz. i don't really care. government-raising revenues should be on key. the first step is ek no, ma'eki

where people are being taxed because of it. we spend 25% of our gross domestic prugt. that is much higher than it used to be. it used to be around 20 pbt. %. and our revenues are 15 pnt, which is much lower. the reason why that is is demand is placed on government grow when there's no activity. if we rate it with economic growth, you can create it and the imbalance goes away. that has to be the first step. that changes the whole context. >> you mentioned medicare. let me ask you about the positives. can romney and ryan win florida? he later said it was a mistake.

>> well, you have to persuade. the attack on the other side says you're pulling granny off the cliff in a wheelchair, which is outrageous. so, yeah, i think you can. >> they're doing significantly wetter. up double digits for voters over the age of 65. but you have to explain that the romney plan does not change anything for anybody it allows people to opt out where there would be new choices. it's the right thing to do to create some cap on the explosive growth of the medicare program.

immigration, you see such a decline. now you have the debate that's been put in place to allow children of illegal imgrants to get on a work path, if not on a citizenship. sayings she wouldn't allow driver's licenses to be issued. should they continue with that to be an opposition? >> my personal plan is to get beyond where we are. we need to create control. that's going to happen. it's been that way now for almost two years. if you say we've gotsen a much better grasp than jugs coming in without papers, then you can develop a strategy that's part of an economic growth. we need young, aspirational people to come to our company to grow over a sustained period of time at a high rate that will

allow us to create jobs, without raising taxes and blansz everything that we want to. is it important on wedge issue? it might be, but i don't think that's important for our country. i think people will move back towards the republican side. but we've got a better tone, for sure. jou can't ask people to join

your cause and then send a signal. it doesn't work. i saw a recent headline that says how about this, the daily show marketing their coverage and tampa says rnc 2012, road to jeb bush 26. would you like to be president some day? >> you know, i don't think about it. i'm not motivated by it. it takes an incredible amount of discipline. i'm not there in my life. >> but you have said that this is probably your time politically. >> yeah, it would have been a good time to run for me because of my tenure as governor ending in 2006. the fact that there's challenges for the country. i'm excited about supporting mitt romney. he's a great guy.

>> how much do you get your back up when you hear this president blaming our economic condition on your brother? on his predecessor? >> look, the guy was dealt a difficult hand. no question ant it. but he's had three years. his policies have failed. and rather than blame others, you just can't keep doing that. but that's not going to happen between now and election day. i want to ask you about this. i want to ask you about the bush leg ki from your ten your as governor to your brother's president to your father as president. what is that legacy? >> i don't know, the l-word is not used much in our family. so we don't have a lot of people trying to organize it or plan it. i think in the case of my

grandfather and my brother, they all served with distinction. >> governor bush, thank you very much. aappreciate it. >> and coming up here from tampa, how does mitt romney reconnect with voters as governor bush said he must. and the recent back and forth over abortion rights. our political round table is here. dnc chair debar wasserman social security schulz. and nbc news political correspondent.

we are back, our speciediti from tampa. joining me, chair of the democratic national committee,

debbie wassermanschultz. and our friend, republican strat ji and columnist, mike murphy. chuck, i think we should start with some news. we're talking about the weather, we're talking about potential delays. what are you learning? >> i think they're pretty determined on tuesday. they have to do some business at the convention. but i've been talking to individuals who indicate a tone change, if you will. what tuz that mean? they know that they're in the middle. as of right now, they'd see 90 pvnt certain going on. >> the business of this convention, a lot of these like a really big opportunity for a

candidate and a party to con nekt their vision with a much wider audience. romney is thinking about a much bigger mission vmt. >> if you're running for president, there are foreign powers that count. one is the acceptance speech. so, yeah, this is prime time. it is key that romney refrain himself. it's a good opportunity to get through the filter. there's a joke going around that the tuesday night theme is not going to be who built that arc, you know. who knows what it could be by tuesday. but the key is wednesday and thursday. and in particular, that romney speech is huge. how does he deal with some of the negative that is have been built up by democrats and team

obama. look at some of our polling results that romney now faces that's put up on the stream. polling is in president obama's favor chlts caring about average people. 22%. he's got to deal with a lot of methodings. >> well, we're here at the convention and i believe that that is our great opportunity to unite republicans behind governor romney and then to be able to reintroduce governor romney to the republicans. >> we introduce and we reconnect. it suggests that there's a

perception of the local parties carrying away. : oe think we're more focused on jobs and the economy rather than the kinds of things that happened. so, you know, i know governor romney. he's a wonderful person. and this is our opportunity to let us connect with him to the public. >> congresswoman? mission accomplished right as you battered his image and also affiliated with the obama campaign. >> let me just say i want to commend my republicans, counter part. we know here in florida in hurricane alley, we make planes and god laughs. so et's good that they've made the decision to put safety first and they want to make sure that our visitors and guests as well as our residents stay safe. but i think the words redo,

reintroduce are just code words for what we expect no mater how long the convention is to be a convention-reinvention. this is the big moment for mitt romney. they're going to do their best because not only has he not connected, he's alien nated large groups of important voters that are going to be important to determine whether or not we can continue to have the president in the white hougs or whether we have a president that mitt romney is going to to take us to the failed budgets and the economic policies of millionaires and billionaires to make sure that they can do echbl better. >> we've been looking at some of the history with conventions and conventions bounces. we put it up with an interesting graph. and look what jumps out at you. it is clinton in '9d 2.

a 16 .bounce. it's an image problem. battered on the other side by his own mistakes. and we all remember this line that concluded his acceptance speech. >> i end tonight where it all began for me. i still believe in a place called home. >> there was this introduction in his heart. talk about that and talk about how he compares to romney. >> well, that 92 democratic convention may be the best reinvention, if you will, that we've ever seen. that's when we day baaed the famous photo. that was from a production standpoint. it's still an unmatched convention of modern error. let's just say something about that. there's no bounce. these conventions are too late.

>> you ooifr not going to see more than a 1-2 point. i think he has to break out of the cage. i've been in politics for a long time. >> the campaign is trying to fill out a story breaking through on jobs. they can't run on our record. that is horrible. we've got to destroy romney.

so this year, both are going to be about romney. there's going to be a convention here breaking forward. it's going to be about ruining romney. so we won't know what's going on until late september, after we go through all of this. and i frakly think if i request use husband speech, it will be a good contrast to the tone of the campaign that governor bush got to. >> there eegs also some issues at the parties. doing a lot of damage, the entire establishment saying get out and he says no, you have a fight on immigration that has created some fissures to even the republican party.

>> our demographics are changing and we have to change not necessarily our core believes, but the tone of our message and the message of the intentionty of it. >> do you agree with that? when it comes to let's start with women and out reach to women and what they care about? >> well, i think, you know, everybody wants to divert the real issues. i think there's been a plum etting, if you will, of republicans. the democrats have certainly tried to wage a war gensz women, the class warfare. and now everybody wants to pile onto that statement, trying to make it a republican statement.

and as far as immigration, you know, arizona has been the battleground, if you will, regarding illegal immigration. where he live in the southwest. we're a very diverse population. we believe in the rule of law. we believe in the rule of law. certainly those kinds of issues are going to be discussed moving on into the future. we're going to have to be determined collectively, legally and lawfully how we're going to deal with those issues. and we're all willing to do that. the current administration is just absolutely the un-american way. we have congress there. we have a president that aulgt to be holding the tux. >> and this is the tone that has alien nated a lot of hispanic voters, if you do look at the polls, which is an opening for the democrats politically.

we have mitt romney's immigration. and he's the most extreme for modern times. i'll give you a window into the soul of the american party. he show shows co-sponsored. their platform embraces a human life with no president obama has made it a priority to rapidly on the southwest border and in the governor's home state. we're hurting our future if we don't recognize that there

should be a comprehensive immigration form approach to dealing with that instead of mitt romney's approach which just says let's just have those 12 million self deployed. it's an unrealistic decision. >> 40u are you going to get beyond these base issues with the party? is it a window in the soul of the party? >> no, nobody reeds it. i've been in this business for 28 years, i've never read it. he committed to and failed to deliver. >> the democrats want to be about trivia. what romney's got to do is breakthrough all of that.

the more we debate these side issues, the more we take away stuff that we're better at, we're screaming at every poll. the voeters are not confused. this is the election they want and i think the traditional kickoff, is now. the conventions. >> i think the president is trying to turn this into a value selection. there's some people that argue, and i think mike might be one of them. i think the democrats have turned this in a segmented way. how do they take his economic argument and turn it into a value's argument rather than just a business lead on the economy.

his lead is smaller. >> i want to come back and talk about regranting necessary for mitt romney. i want to talk about strengtss as he comes into this convection. why is he pretty pleased. have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks.

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we are we are back here outside of the republican convention chlts more with our round table. i do want to talk to you about this aiken controversy, as well. as i talked to women this week, i can't imagine that anybody thinks it's a good idea for mitt romney. there's a lot of republican women who heard this and are

disgusted by it. well, aiken was a giflt to harry reid. but, yoi know, unfortunately, the greater of boston is gone. but here's something to remember about aiken. two-thirds of republicans in the primary in missouri voted against this guy. everybody in the party except eisenhower is calling them to get out. there's not much more we can do. the question is with time, will it become what it ought to be? a local deal. romney came out strong gengs it. it will be a flag the democrat's wave around. i think it will memt away. >> what they're going to look at is what states they can flip. >> it does. look.

here are our 9 battleground states. obl two of the nine are both that barack obama won. let me show you why there are so many people who sit there and say you look nationally. and you think, boy, this is a dead even race. i eegs very difficult. you can follow up top there. let me go in order of where the romney folks think are their best opportunities. and look how long it takes them to get to 270. that's where they get in the battleground. and then you've got florida, iowa and then colorado. those first four are the ones you'll feel best about. the next five are top or maybe even slightly in the president's advantage here.

they've got to win at least two of them, one of them being ohio to get close in one other state. if they don't get ohio, the numbers get even more. this is a hindrance. so they're fighting obama's class warfare and they're fighting the latino stuff. so this convention is the voters he has, for free. so they're connected. >>. >> colorado and virginia, more have been won by democrats by reaching out to pro-choice suburban women who want to vote republican on economic issues. they've been able to steel on those two states on the issue of abortion. >> it's a huge issue and it's

something we're all looking at. but i truly believe that the republican party is the party of women. you look at governors alone. we've got more republican governors than we do democrat governors. we believe in life. that is true. we believe in life, but we are very, very open and supportive of the women issues. but the bottom line is most women, they want to talk about jobs in the economy. they want to talk about your children's future. and we, as republicans need to drive that message down -- and we will do that between the convention and reintroducing the president romney. we will be out there and get that. here, you put it up on the screen.

good ideas to review the economy. changing business as usual in washington. a six-point advantage. and here's the other reality that obama faces. are you better off than you were four years ago? this is what our polling shows, that a whopping 69% think it's worse off or the same. >> as a no, ma'am with three young kids and as a woman who understands when i comes to economic policy, women want to make sure we have a president in the white house. in making sure that in america, everyone has an opportunity to succeed so that, you know, your kids can live the american dream. romney would increase taxes on the middle class. would do that to pay for bungt. j but, like you said, david, it's -- that six-point advantage

in one poll is very narrow. women would unction that it's not making them better off. but he also has an extreme set of policies on their reproductive rights, on the things that are important to them to make sure that their children have another big success. >> i think americans are looking for a vision -- not just of leadership and where you take the country, but how you're going to actually get there. there's that sense that nothing is going to change. >> i think mitt romney has to sell forward results and he'll get there. biography is vulnerable. i think the president has invested a lot, almost all the way to national bankruptcy. it's in that plus 6. when that goes in the double

digits, 10 or 12, that's one of the wins. >> do you hear any bipartisan ship? >> no, that's the problem. congress had the lowest-ever approval rating. i think it's something that they're going to do. i'm going to leave it all there. thank you very much. a cup m of programming noets before we're done here today. you can watch a rebroadcast at 2:00 p.m. eastern. and then you want to stay there, right after that at 3 is my friend chuck todd's mitt romney, the making of a candidate. and starting tuesday at 10:00 p.m. eastern, i will join brian williams and the rest of our political team for live coverage. and that's all at meet the press

nbc.com. that is all for today. we'll be back next week. if it's sunday, it's meet the press. as we leave this morning, we'll remember astronaut neil armstrong who passed away yesterday at the age of 82. he was a modern-day explore r whose words will be forever engrained in the fabric of this country. >> that oes one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. ñ