a day that belongs to the working men and women of america. >> but with unemployed sky high, the administration is struggling to answer the question that plagued jimmy carter when he was seeking a second term. >> are you better off than you were four years ago? is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? >> vice president biden just now in detroit. >> folks, let me make something clear and say it to the press. america is better off today than they left us when they left. you want to know whether we're better off? i got a little bumper sticker for you. osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive.

osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive. >> republicans have already started their counter offensive. >> 23 million people are out of work or stopped looking for work or underemployed. if you have a coach that's 0-23 million, you say it's time to get a new coach. >> paul ryan is shadowing the democrats here in north carolina, campaigning this hour across the state in greenville, where he will be speaking moments from now. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in charlotte. obviously these crowds are here for the democratic national convention. the big headline greeting them today is at dnc begins, romney gains. a new poll today shows that romney is now up by four, outside the margin of error, in a state the president won barely

four years ago. joining me now to talk about all of this and the democratic re-election strategy, nancy pelosi. welcome. you obviously have a cheering section here and a lot of happy democrats. the sun is shining and this is a very big day but let's talk about that poll that greeted them today, the headlines in the paper. it is a struggle in north carolina. this is a state after all that passed an amendment to its state constitution against gay rights so you have a conservative state, you have 9.6% unemployment in north carolina. what's the strategy? >> well, the president, obviously the presidential race is about the long run. in this case, we are coming right out of the republican convention where there's a little bump for romney. the race is still a statistical tie but it's important for us to have a good week and i think we will. the people of charlotte have

laid out the welcoming mat to us and we have an atmosphere where democrats can come together, show the unity behind president obama and joe biden to re-elect them and elect a congress to go with it. >> the republicans starting with ann romney and that was the role of a spouse, traditional role, but they had some very exciting younger speakers. they had susana martinez, the governor. tell me about the strategy to counteract their strategy of trying to appeal to women by putting a lot of very prominent women on the podium. >> well, before we even knew what their convention was, and as a matter of fact, it is our tradition to have prominent women on the podium because prominent women have roles in the democratic party. i'm very pleased that we will have our women's presentation from the house and from the senate which not only showcases women, but talks about the issues that women are concerned about. women's right to choose, women in health care, women in the military, women in business, in small business, and the rest.

so it isn't about countering them. it's about who we are and we're very proud of the women who will be presenting at this convention starting with our chairman, debbie wasserman-schultz. >> one of the disadvantages that both parties have is the congress has the worst approval rating, historically low approval ratings, 82% disapproval rating. this is a problem for republicans in that they've got paul ryan on the ticket. it's a problem for you as you stage this convention. how do you counteract that disfavor toward congress? >> i think the disfavor is springing from the inclination of the republican congress resisting any overtures to work together. the fact of the matter is, i don't even know who the 18% are. do you approve of how congress has obstructed president obama? i don't think so. it doesn't have to be this way. it wasn't this way when we had a

democratic congress and president bush in the white house, although we differed, we found our common ground on several important issues starting with energy. but the fact is that president obama is on the ballot, so is joe biden, so are the democrats but the character of our country is on the ballot, too. medicare is on the ballot. we won't fall for their tricks on medicare. the american people know better. social security is on the ballot. hard-fought rights for women are on the ballot. the american dream is on the ballot and that is the case that we have to make. i hope the press will help us with insistence on the truth because the republicans as you know have misrepresented the facts. no need to complain, don't agonize, just organize to win on the ground. >> what do you say to their argument that for the first two years, you had democratic majorities in both houses and couldn't get all of the president's agenda through? >> oh, please.

i welcome the argument. we started the first bill the president signed, lily ledbetter to end discrimination in the workplace for women. one of the last bills he signed, repeal of don't ask, don't tell to end discrimination against gays and lesbians, et cetera, in the military, and in between, everything else to make freedom more available to the american people, to protect the consumer with the wall street reform bill, to give people the liberation to seek the job that matched their passion and their skills rather than their insurance policy with the affordable care act, issues that related to our environment, that related to job creation. president obama was a job creator from day one. it's important to note that more jobs in the private sector were created under the leadership of president barack obama in one year than in the eight years total of the bush administration. so the facts have to be known to the people. the fact is, though, we're very proud of our record. we're one of the most productive

congresses in history but also, that progress has been blocked with the republicans not wanting to cooperate in any way with president obama and that would have put us in a better position now. >> there was another little contest behind the scenes contest going on between you and john boehner fund-raising. in the month of august, you $7 million. john boehner, $4 million. >> well, the fact is that most of our success springs from our small donors and our idealistic democrats who want to see more cooperation in government, more respect for each other's views, but what i say is we need to raise money to do away with money in politics, to reduce the role of money, to increase the level of civility. i promise you if we do that, elect more women, more young people, more minorities to public office, that's what we need to do and it's one of the first things we would do if elected come january.

>> they have overall raised more money and boehner claims he has raised more in his years as speaker than you had, 84 to 65, but the amount of money doesn't really matter one million here or there. the amount of money in this national campaign is unprecedented and while the obama campaign has raised a lot of money, they are going to get killed by the super pacs coming up in the fall. >> i think that's wrong. >> no way that citizens united, you can get around it, is there? >> i'm nancy pelosi and i approved this message. i have to say all of these billionaires putting up hundreds of millions of dollars do not have to be identified as paying for an ad, amend the constitution to overturn citizens united. that's dar, reform the system, reform the system so we have public financing of campaigns and re-elect reformers, i don't care if they're democratic or

republican, who will overturn this big role of money. the question that you asked at the beginning, are we better off. we certainly are much better off than we would have been if the republicans had continued in office, taking us down a path where we were on the verge of a depression, meltdown of our financial institutions, deepening of our deficit. president obama took us away from that. he did, with our recovery act, he was a job creator from day one. we could have done better if there had been any cooperation in the second part of the president's term. they didn't. that's why elections are important. that's what we have to insist on the truth as the difference between the two parties. we believe in reigniting the american dream. that's what this election is about. >> the elections for the house, there are 25 seats to get back the majority. it's a tough environment

outside, the supporters -- you're loving it here. what is your chance, what is your hope, your expectation, for your gaining the house? >> well, in our drive for 25, we feel pretty confident about it because we have out-raised the republicans without redistricting them but more importantly, we have out-recruited them. the excellence of our candidates, they are superb and that is one of the reasons we are able to attract the support we have, because of the quality of our candidates. but as you said, all of this is unimportant if the outside undisclosed special interest money weighs in to suffocate the air waves with endless unidentified money, suppress the vote across the country, poison the debates so that people just say i throw up my hands and walk away. that confusion serves the purpose of the special interests. we're not going to agonize, we're going to organize. we're going to go out there,

man-to-man, door-to-door, precinct by precinct, neighborhood by neighborhood, district by district to win in the drive for 25. >> if you don't retake the house, have you thought about stepping down as leader? >> first of all, i premise whatever i do on winning. second of all, it's up to my caucus as to even if we win, who will be speaker. it's not any foregone -- i don't assume anything and i'm not presumptuous in that regard. but i am responsible for doing everything possible to have the resources and the plan for the drive for 25 and we're magnificently led by chairman steve israel of new york, who is our campaign chairman. >> what about the role of joe biden? we haven't seen him doing interviews, not really doing interviews since his appearance on "meet the press" i think when he talked about gay marriage before the president was prepared to make that commitment. is the white house not using joe biden to best effect?

are they afraid to have joe biden go out and do interviews? >> i don't think so at all. i think joe biden is out there at campaign stops all over the country. he draws big crowds and everybody is very enthusiastic to have him. joe biden is a great leader in our country. he's authentic. he says it the way he sees it. >> if the president is re-elected, if he is or if he isn't, is joe biden a likely contender in 2016 if he wants to, or would you expect that hillary clinton or some of the younger faces we've seen, corey booker going to the iowa delegation breakfast the other day or today, rather, is a key indicator? >> we have many good choices in the democratic party but let's get through this election first and elect this extraordinary president who in no ordinary time was able to pull us from the brink of depression, job

creator from day one, more jobs in the private sector in one year than in the eight years of the bush administration. one election at a time. >> democratic leader nancy pelosi, in fighting form, ready to take that podium. thank you very much for the preview. still ahead, the battle for north carolina. we talk to the governor. up next in our daily fix, charlie cook, mark halperin and michael steele. first, the rhetorical dynamics of mario cuomo. >> we believe in encouraging the talented but we believe that while survival of the fittest may be a good working description of the process of evolution, a government of humans should elevate itself to a higher order. ♪

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my belief is you need relief. i don't need relief. mitt romney doesn't need relief. he needs it less than me. but that's a choice in this election. you can choose whether we give up new jobs and new industries to countries like china or whether we fight to keep those jobs in states like ohio. >> president obama today in toledo, ohio. the 11th time he's gone to the all-important buckeye state this year. the latest stop on his road to charlotte. joining me now, charlie cook, msnbc political analyst and publisher of "the cook political report." mark halperin, senior political analyst for "time" and msnbc. and michael steele, msnbc

analyst and former republican chairman. thank you all. welcome. first of all, charlie, we arrive here in north carolina, elon university has a new poll with the charlotte observer showing mitt romney up four, that's barely outside the margin of error, i should point out, that you, charlie cook, you michael steele and our own brian williams are all proud elon parents. >> it's a very good poll and it's a poll of live interviews, including cell phones. it's a higher quality poll than a lot of the other ones you see, robopolls that aren't allowed to call cell phones. >> what does it mean? north carolina is a must-win for mitt romney. there are other routes for barack obama. he's got more options to get to the magic number. >> that's exactly right. i think you will see the obama campaign staying here because for every million bucks they spend here, they could force the

romney campaign to spend two or three more million to defend it. does romney have to win north carolina, the president doesn't. >> mark halperin, this is a tough environment for president obama. 9.6% unemployment. he won north carolina by 14,000 barely plus votes last time around. and ohio, all the focus on ohio. that tells you the path to charlotte tells you exactly what they're worried about. >> this is their weakest battleground state. any republican strategist, the rnc, the romney campaign, is north carolina in play. they say it's not. the president's advisors disagree. they think this state has their best organization, the combination of young voters, african-american voters, rising hispanic population. charlie's right. they will keep it in play until the end relatively cheaply. i don't know if they will spend tv money here the way they will on other battlegrounds but it will be big and like most battleground states, some surge at the end on either side could make the difference. >> and there's a lot of

confidence in the obama camp looking toward the fact mitt romney did not get a big bump coming out of his convention. are they potentially overconfident? >> the obama campaign? well, sure, because they still could lose. we've got unemployment numbers coming and -- >> on friday. >> this is a 50-50 nation and again, if governor romney strong debates has a surge at the end. i think they are confident but not overconfident in the sense that they're not taking anything for granted. they're raising money, out campaigning hard, but they do believe they are going to win. if you look into the souls of the democrats and the souls of the republicans, as we all try to do, i think it's fair to say the democrats are still more confident overall. >> michael, you are slightly on alien turf here. when you look at the math and look at the two campaigns, the republicans are very well organized here in terms of the counter offensive. you had reince priebus, you have marco rubio coming in town, a lot of their stars coming here. joe biden and the democrats'

plans to come to tampa were dampened literally by -- >> well-planned storm. >> -- the well-planned storm, isaac. the republicans now have free roam of north carolina to try to make as much noise as they can here. >> they do, and they will. there's no doubt i think that both charlie and mark have framed the battleground here very well. it's going to be one of those opportunities for the gop this week to come in to do their counterprogramming, their counter messaging. certainly it's already started. i think you have already seen coming off this weekend and into today the democrat operatives and talking heads out there that are supporting the president not being able to answer the question, are you better off than you were four years ago. at least with any level of consistency. so they have already started that drumbeat and how the obama team responds to that i think is going to be important to not allow the gop narrative to overcome or at least be competitive with the narrative that the president is trying to get out this week. >> you look at our battleground

map, what about north carolina and the other really tough battleground states, where do you think mitt romney has to put all his attention? >> i think this is important but i've said for six or seven months now following some of charlie's numbers especially and very proud of the elon poll that's out today, that north carolina is going to go for romney and i just don't -- i know, i know. but i really think that at the end of the day that's where it goes. but virginia's still in my view remaining the cornerstone battleground state. where virginia goes i think is going to be a trend line of how this election ultimately is going to go because it's such a microcosm of what's going on in the country right now. >> i was talking last night about a woman i met, she came up to me not here, it was on my way here, and she said, you know, my late husband was a republican, i'm leaning democrat, i voted,

she said i was leaning democrat, i voted for barack obama but then i was worried about the economy so i was really leaning towards mitt romney, but now i'm really worried that the republicans are going to push down on the glass ceiling. she went like this, push me down under the glass ceiling. middle-aged woman, working woman. to me, that captured sort of the reason why so many people are undecided and it is the woman's vote here and elsewhere that the president is relying on to try to get it out. >> it's very hard to find a pollster in either party that doesn't point to women, suburban women, moms as swing votes in this election, that that is an absolute key group. white women, obama -- the president's behind by about seven or eight points but to the extent he can narrow that up, it will make all the difference in the world. >> getting out the youth vote, we talk about college campuses. north carolina known for all of its wonderful college campuses.

lack of enthusiasm. the young people are as affected, more affected according to the numbers, by unemployment and by the inability to find jobs when they get out of school. >> you can look at a lot of places to find why the obama campaign is so optimistic. one reason is for three and a half years they have been saying who are the voters we need to get out and while they are not going to do it with the same level of absolute enthusiasm as 2008, they do know how to reach those voters. in this state in both the primary and in the general election, they were extraordinarily effective in using social media and really understanding the rhythms of college students' lives and young people's lives to get people out to the polls, get them to beg votes as quick as they can. i think they will do it this time more with mechanics than enthusiasm but there's still enough of both they are confident this state is one they can steal in effect, even though the romney people say again it's their best battleground state. >> the biggest challenge, michael, for president obama, joe biden and the rest of the democrats here to counteract

mitt romney's message, are you better off today. >> yeah. that is the preeminent challenge they have to face. i think they can make -- i think they can frame the argument yes, in the context of this is what i inherited but then this is what i've done with what i've inherited. how we've moved the country forward. i think you will hear that theme throughout and certainly when the president speaks on thursday, he's going to not only give what we've done in the last four years, but what we will do next. the clarion call to go forward with him. that will then set up that wonderful first debate in october. >> which we're all looking forward to. michael steele, mark halperin, charlie cook, thank you. safe travels to you. up next, the counter convention. we're on the road with paul ryan, next on "andrea mitchell reports." [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes,

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republicans are trying to counter program against the democratic convention. paul ryan on the other side of the state and ron mott is at ryan's rally in greenville and joins me now. what is the message coming from paul ryan today? what are you expecting at this speech? i'm not sure ron mott hears us. >> reporter: sorry. it's loud where you are, loud where i am. we're at east carolina university. can you hear me? >> yeah, i hear you fine. we're just wondering what message you're expecting from paul ryan today out there in east carolina university in greenville. >> reporter: well, pretty much the same thing that republicans are hitting on there in charlotte, andrea. he will talk about that question that ronald reagan famously asked 32 years ago, are you better off today than you were four years ago, and here in north carolina, that message is probably going to resonate with some folks.

the unemployment rate here is hovering around 9% higher than the national average, and because barack obama won this state by a thin margin, the republicans, mitt romney and paul ryan think they've got a good shot at picking this state up, 15 electoral college votes. we do expect him here in the next few moments, then he will spend the night in north carolina doing a lot of local media. that's how important those 15 electoral college votes are to the romney/ryan campaign. then believe it or not, they will head out west into some very blue territory, going out to oregon and washington. those are traditionally reliable democratic states. they're playing a 50 state strategy so he's got a packed house inside this auditorium, ready to be fired up to hear paul ryan today hit the president hard on his record and again, ask that question that we expect to hear a lot of times this week, are you better off than you were four years ago. >> ron mott in greenville, thank you very much. up next, countdown to the kickoff in charlotte with north

carolina governor purdue. first, 2004, a star is born. >> there is not a liberal america and a conservative america. there is the united states of america. there is not a black america and a white america and latino america and asian america. there is the united states of america. you know what i love about this country? trick question. i love everything about this country! including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this great land of ours has to offer like demolition derbies. and drive thru weddings. so if you're one of those people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day, block the acid with prilosec otc.. and don't get heartburn in the first place. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

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a thing that helps you wbuy other things.hing. but plenty of companies do that. so we make something else. we help make life a little easier, more convenient, more rewarding, more entertaining. year after year. it's the reason why we don't have customers. we have members. american express. welcome in. welcome back to "andrea mitchell reports" live in charlotte. you can see the crowd is here. these are people who have just shown up. some may be delegates. they seem to be very excited about having the convention here in charlotte. president obama won north carolina by only 14,000 votes, the first democrat to win here since jimmy carter. but the president is slipping behind mitt romney. today's elon

university/charlotte observer poll says [ inaudible ] outside the margin of error. what is the strategy for democrats to catch up? joining me now, north carolina governor, our host, bev purdue. thank you very much for having us here. there is a challenge here in north carolina. your unemployment is 9.6%. the president only barely won it. it is a real battleground state. it's a state mitt romney really has to win and they're working very hard to do that. >> not as hard as we're working. look at this crowd out here. they're excited. they love the fact that we have this kind of energy and enthusiasm in north carolina. the good news is the last bounce is the best bounce so our conventioneers intend to leave charlotte, let america know what we stand for and we are going to win north carolina. we don't want to go back to those old policies that got us into the great recession. we want to keep investing in the

future and the president's done that in north carolina. we're excited. >> of course, timing is everything, and unemployment in the state is 9.6%, well above the national average. the jobless numbers for august come out this friday, barely ten hours after the president's acceptance speech. any bounce that he were to get if all goes well here could be stifled if that number is bad. it could be helped if the number is good but that timing is a tough bit of business for you. >> we don't think it's going to be a negative here. we think he will go out of here with a big bounce. at the end of the day, we have to look at where we were. we had seen the offshoring of our textiles and furniture. north carolina has bounced back. we're in recovery mode. we added more than 100,000 jobs

since i've been the governor. we have a biotech industry that's red-hot, 300,000 jobs. we feel we are organized on the ground and that in north carolina we are serious about winning this race for the president of the united states, barack obama. >> are you and local officials ready to handle the protests that are anticipated? >> yeah, we are. the protesters are a part of democracy. we are not at all unexcited that they're here. they have a message and a voice and they stand for a purpose and that's the great news about a democracy. we're also excited to have all these other folks around the country come to north carolina and around the globe. >> are the optics bad? the protesters really couldn't mobilize in tampa against the republicans, against whom they have real grievances as well because of the storm, because of isaac. now they're here, the sun is shining and their anti-wall street protest, and the republicans of course, their mantra is that barack obama is bad for business, hostile to business.

that's not the message you want the larger voting populace to see. >> we feel barack obama is good for business, good for small business. we don't want to go backwards so the protesters all have legitimate concerns. we're excited that they're here. we feel the convention is going to be very safe, very secure, and this is america. folks have a right to get their message out. we intend to stay on our message which is electing barack obama talking about the future of jobs for our people and education for our people. >> voters in your state voted a state constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage which is against the platform and against the president and vice president's own commitment to same sex marriage. that's a big disconnect. >> somebody talked to me during that whole thing, i was as

disheartened as anybody in the country over the defeat of that amendment and i'm still sorry that we lost it. at the end of the day, the people in north carolina are like most americans, they care about bread and butter issues. they care about better schools for their children. i have yet to hear any of the republican candidates talk about education and building a work force for the future. this president and his team does that. so i think the message is very clear from us. we know how to get from here to there and we are going to win in november. >> thank you so much, governor. good luck in the convention. up next, chris matthews. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports."

i'm tamron hall. coming up in 15 minutes on "news nation" a little later this afternoon, president obama

arrives in louisiana to tour the damage from hurricane isaac before heading to charlotte for the dnc. we are live in charlotte where the prep is under way. we are also getting the first poll numbers on mitt romney's big speech and americans give it the lowest rating since bob dole's address. what went wrong? tonight at 10:00, msnbc will air an hour-long documentary on president obama hosted by chris matthews. barack obama ran on the theme of hope and change but in the closing months of his campaign, a financial meltdown redefined the challenges for the new president. this excerpt looks at what barack obama inherited when he took the oath of office. >> problems waiting for him on the oval office desk included two wars, a broken health care system, an economy on the verge of collapse, millions facing foreclosure, a jobless rate

spiking relentlessly skyward. >> tomorrow, we're expecting another dismal jobs report on top of the 2.6 million jobs that we lost last year. we've lost half a million jobs each month for the last two months. >> but while all agreed on its ferocity, the crisis failed to unite a polarized country. despite a highly vocal opposition, the president managed to push through the biggest economic stimulus in history. >> there you go. >> the stimulus and the $80 billion auto rescue that followed burned through much of the political capital obama had hoped to cash for health care reform, a key promise he had made to the american people. >> madam speaker, the president of the united states. >> but with the economy still on shaky ground, obama decided this was an issue he needed to take on early in his presidency, or forfeit it entirely. >> the time for bickering is

over. the time for games has passed. now is the season for action. now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the american people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. now is the time to deliver on health care. >> my colleague and host of "hardball" chris matthews joins me now. congratulations. i saw the documentary this morning. i will be watching it again tonight. you framed the whole context of what barack obama inherited and how he handled it going forward and what he faced with congress as an ally in the first two years and then not in the last two years. how does he frame that in this convention? >> well, i am befuddled by the inability of the obama team to state the obvious. when he came in in 2009, he didn't come in in 2008, no matter what paul ryan thinks. that plant closed in 2008 in

janesville. he came in in 2009 where unemployment was spiking up well past 2%, the stock market was bottomless, falling down to 6500, the lowest in more than a decade, and he took it from 6500 to 13,000, how can you not say we're better off? i don't see what's so complicated about this. >> they of course are turning to the unemployment numbers and the fact that people don't feel -- it's a balancing act. >> the fact is that we were in a very scared country in 2009. when w left, we didn't know how deep it was going to go. nobody knew it was going to stop at 6500 with the stock market. it was heading downward. unless he had gotten through that stimulus package in february of 2009, we don't know where we would be. for them to criticize the democrats for leading this country into hell and then come

back and claim it isn't heaven is insane. [ inaudible ] it was taking us back from the abyss. if you're not going to fall off a cliff and you're ten feet back from the cliff, that's a hell of a lot better than being off the cliff, isn't it? isn't it? it's not about how far you're going to fall. it's whether you go off the cliff or not. i think that's something these people, it's not my job, they got to do it. they got to start with martin o'malley. these guys are professional politicians and don't know the easiest political questions, how are they going to know the answers? these are easy. >> let me ask about the speakers at this convention. we have a new rising star in the party as the keynoter. how are the speakers going to match up? they have a lot more house members, members of congress. we know -- >> look, the advantage is that they have a president and vice president who are clearly human beings.

that's an advantage. the other guys had to reach that test in tampa. they had to prove they were human. that was their first standard. imagine having to prove it. so ryan comes on and tells a joke about his ipad or whatever it is, just to show that he's cool. he's alive. we know that biden's a person. he makes mistakes, he commits gaffes but he's a recognizable human being. barack obama's definitely a recognizable human being. it's an amazing standard when he said that is the first goal in life is to prove you're one of our species. >> mitt romney [ inaudible ]. with all due respect, mitt romney did a very good job in that convention of showing the human side of mitt romney. he's been criticized by the "wall street journal" editorial page this past weekend for not filling in the details of how he would create new jobs, how he would become energy independent,

but he did show the soul and the heart and the man, and i think you praised some of the speakers as well. >> i think he was better than he was the week before when he was telling birther jokes. i think he was better than that. he stopped telling birther jokes. he got better. but look, i think the republican party is confronting the democrat party are so many levels. first they try to deny people the right to vote. that's the first thing they do. you have to have a voter i.d., birth certificate, what else you going to pile on? a literacy test? they keep adding that stuff up. then they try to scare people to don't even bother to vote because it's too complicated. then they start white working class agitation with the welfare stuff. they do that very effectively. they discourage black voting and encourage white anger. they're doing that in a back room while they set out this guy looking pretty face on television but they're the ones improving this ad campaign.

they're approving voter suppression stuff. in pennsylvania where you and i live, they have the head of the republican party in harrisburg bragging about holding back voters from voting and that means they can win the state by preventing black people from voting. that's the goal. you're laughing because you know it's all true. you don't have to say it. i am. >> am. >> it's not our opinions. >> it's not opinions, it's factual. it sadly is. >> special documentary "barack obama making history" premiers tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern. what political story will make headlines the next 24 hours. that's next right here on "andrea mitchell reports" live from the democratic convention in charlotte. ♪ ♪

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washington post writer jonathan capehart joins me now. both parties have lots of trinkets for sale. this one has a message. this is a mug, a coffee mug at the democratic national committee store with the president's birth certificate in case anyone has any doubt. they are trying to let us all know. >> of course, there are still a lot of people who still doubt whether the president's birth certificate is real, but this is the obama administration's way -- i should say the obama campaign's way of putting it out there. look, he's a citizen of the united states, he was born in this country, and he is legitimately president of the united states. >> made in the usa. now the speaker's looking ahead to the next 24 hours. michelle obama is the star attraction. >> right, right. in the way that ann romney was the star attraction for her husband at the republican convention in tampa, first lady michelle obama will kick things off tomorrow, as everyone knows or says, the first lady is the president's biggest secret

weapon. she's someone who connects with voters, and particularly, the folks who are here. i'm sure they are much looking forward to her being the first lady. >> whether she goes on letterman, leno, does "the view" or other shows, as well as serious interviews, michelle obama is, you know, much the secret weapon and the whole obama family. >> remember in the first campaign she was a little reluctant and a lot of criticism she got was harsh, but now she's all in, both feet in, and on her own accord. >> jonathan capehart, see you later. thank you, my friend. that does it if they are edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow, bill burton and peter hart joining us. our colleague tamron hall has a look what's up next on "news nation." later this afternoon, president obama arrives in new orleans to tour the storm damage from hurricane isaac, but

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hi, there, everyone. i'm tamron hall. "news nation" is following big news right now, president obama is heading to louisiana where flooding from hurricane isaac is forcing more evacuations. his trip, of course, comes as the democrats are in charlotte prepare for tomorrow's official start of the democratic national convention. speaking of conventions, for the first time, we're seeing how americans are feeling about mitt romney's big speech at the rnc. the gallup poll found 38% o