medicare is out front and center thanks to paul ryan. >> the truth is, we simply cannot pretend that medicare about to become bankrupt is acceptable. we need to make sure that we save medicare for upcoming generations. >> when they talk about their plan, they call it gutsy. what's gutsy about gutting medicare, medicaid, education? >> i want to bring in ron and ann. good morning, both of you. ron, florida, as you know, seems like ground zero for this battle. we've been talking about florida all season. mitt romney was there yesterday. key point, voters 65 years and older. so 23% of the electorate. and is it just as simple for democrats, just to use the line

here, they want to change medicare as we know it and seniors run from that? >> well, yeah. it's an important issue in both florida and other states that are very old demographically. there's a lot of upsites for the ryan pick. the upside is, they are going to win if the issue at the end of the day is the economy. jobs, jobs, jobs. right now, the debate has come down to medicare, medicare, medicare. that's not where republicans want to be fighting this campaign. >> ann, this is exactly the point. we were looking at google trends and over the last two days the word medicare in news articles has jumped by seven times. the word economy has gone down by about 70%. this is not what the republicans want to hear. >> i'm surprised it's only seven times. but even if it's not what they wanted to hear, i think it's the only outcome that you can expect by putting paul ryan on the ticket. the romney campaign has said

that they are going to be proactive in this. they are going to explain the situation that medicare is in and once they understand that it isn't sustainable, they will see that the that's the only way to address it right now. but this is not the focus of their campaign. it's very, very risky. it's not always worked in the past. but especially in some places in florida, and perhaps in some others, the elderly population is not necessarily as liberal as it once was. it might be a little conservative giving them hope to talk about medicare and changing it for future generations without being in as much danger as they have been in the past. >> traditionally conservative. the argument that the republicans have been making against what we've just been talking about is that the president rated $700 million from medicare to pay for his health care law and when we look at that point, the question might be, is this the best defense here, ron? >> well, it's bogus.

i'd hate to put a fine point on it but you can't on one hand accuse the president of stealing $700 million from medicare when paul ryan would make those same cuts. it's just an example of the distortion already going on. on the other hand, you have the democrats lead by barack obama tieing all kinds of things to paul ryan and his old budget which is is just as dishonest intellectually. >> anne, how do they get back to the jobs and the economy? >> we'll see what they try to do. you'll see paul ryan talking about housing. i suspect that at some point we'll see them try to tie the larger fiscal issues to the economy more immediately. but we don't really know yet. this is three days old. we'll have to see what they decide to do. >> ron, there's the issue of unfavorability and favorability.

it shows that 38% have a favorable impression, and 43, unfavorable. also, 45% think that the ryan pick is a fair or poor choice and 39% say excellent or pretty good. however, that no opinion space seems to be trending in a positive fashion. what's your thought? >> frankly, i would ignore those polls right w. most of the public doesn't know. paul ryan is being defined as we speak. a week be from now, ten days from now, it will make a difference the the more interesting favorability rating poll is on barack obama. people tend to like him, more so than his job approval rating and that's what has kept him afloat split tea. you see the romney ad, and it's a really tough ad, going right after barack obama's favorability rating. does he seem to be over time a less likeable person, a less likeable politician?

>> ron, anne, stand by. paul ryan's first solo campaign was not that smooth. let's listen. and if you watch more of the tape. ryan handled that pretty well, saying that impolite hecklers must not be from iowa or wisconsin. ron mott is in lakewood, colorado, where ryan will be. what is it supposed to be like today. >> reporter: well, we don't expect to see that scene play out like in des moines. an hour and a half before congressman ryan got to that fair, i saw a lot of people had really good seat up close to the stage who were wearing union t-shirts and i didn't think that it seemed like friendlies. and it didn't turn out to be.

this is a republican crowd in the high school gymnasium. congressman ryan is here to talk about energy which is a big topic in colorado. about 160,000 people are employeed in the gas and energy here. the president has green lighted from oklahoma down into the oklahoma refineries. but canada through wyoming, colorado and kansas, he is waiting on a decision, the president is. so when he goes out and talks about the five things that he and paul ryan would do to turn things around, energy is always the first item on the check list. he says that the country needs to gain energy independence. the folks are going to talk about housing and how the industry out there is really suffering. richard? >> ron mott, as always, in lakewood, colorado, with paul ryan. as paul ryan travels across

swing states, the battle for the blue collar worker is heating up. they helped win the white house by two out of three. this time around, some are sitting out, not contributing to the democrat convention or to president obama. with me is the president of international association of machinists and aerospace workers. his union endorses president obama. let's go to a point that ron just made there, tom, and that is, right in the front row, there were many individuals there wearing union t-shirts. paul ryan is going to face more of this as he is on the road, as he hits states in the south, key swing states. does this pick hurt the union vote for -- and there wasn't many to begin with, for the republican ticket here? >> i think the selection of paul ryan is going to have a negative impact on the romney campaign. paul ryan has got quite a reputation of being opposed to all of the things we believe

make for a good, solid middle class. and to cut taxes to help the wealthy and expect the middle class and the poor to pay more isn't going to be what i think romney was looking for. it not what the american voter are looking for. >> tom, it's interesting, with you saying that, on the flip side, you are putting money in state races. you think washington is broken at the moment. what does this say about the excitement coming from union voters, if you are doing that. >> union voter, i would characterize them as being really dissatisfied with the political direction of both parties. we are not focused on the number one issue today. i don't care what anyone says. the issue is jobs. people want to work. they want to have the ability to make a living and fight for what they want out of the american

dream and the experience. >> is it worth losing the key supporter that you have in the white house by taking money away from, for instance, the convention, not putting money into the convention, at least your group is not, and not putting money into the national election and going stateside? >> by putting money in the stateside election, we are helping the democratic ticket. the dnc didn't ask for any money from my union or i don't know about the others but i kind of doubt it and we haven't received any requests for funds from the presidential campaign committees. but we have been helping the state and the senate and the house campaigns the best we can with our resources and the encouragement of our members to get out and vote. it's their future that is at stake and it all about, as i said earlier, jobs and who is going to do the best -- make the best effort to provide the opportunity for job creation in

our country. >> tom, one group you know well and one group being watched by both sides at the moment are those white blue collar workers. he's getting 28% versus 65%. the white blue collar worker with paul ryan now being chosen? >> i think president obama's going to make a lot of inroads in bringing the white male voters back, especially union members, back into the democratic side of the equation because, as i said earlier twice now, jobs are the issue. jobs and more jobs. and it's putting america back to work. the president's got the right message on this issue. i'm afraid mr. romney doesn't and so people are going to vote what's in their best interests and their pocketbook this coming election. >> tom, thank you so much.

tom buffenbarger, appreciate your time. >> anne, we were talking to tom about the ad and something that also came out this morning, the romney campaign still wanting to talk about the ad. let me play this first. >> what does it say about the president's character when his campaign tries to use the tragedy of a woman's death for political gain? deserve better for a president that will say or do anything to stay in power? >> so the campaign answering a super pac ad. is this an effective way to fight back? >> well, and we're seeing increasingly the rebuttal of the negative ads.

so, yes, of course they have to. and when they see an ad starting to do damage, they go into the cutting room and cut one of their own that rebuts it. >> ron? >> i couldn't agree more. if you're running against a favorability ad, you go right to the character. >> ron and anne, thank you both this morning. >> thank you. the nation's historic drought could prove to be a major campaign issue. food prices will be on the rise as election approaches. whether it helps to slow pocketbook pain, voters will know in just weeks. tomorrow on msnbc, we'll take an in depth look at what is ahead for you and your family, "drought 2012 ". newt gingrich and demonizing of medicare, next.

[ heart beating, monitor beeping ] woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know abouflood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays]

when he was running for the white house, my next guest once described himself as the only, quote, true conservative in the 2012 race and was a vocal critic of paul ryan's plan. in may last year, this is what he had to say about it on "meet the press." >> i don't think imposing radical from the right or oh left is a way to operate. >> joining me now with insight is former house speaker newt gingrich. speaker, thanks for being with us. >> it's good to be with you and it great to have a chance to talk about paul ryan, who is one of the greatest guys in the republican party. >> on sunday, speaker, you called ryan extraordinarily exciting choice. you also said, looking at his plan now, his budget plan, you

don't believe that it involves right-wing social engineering. why not more? >> one of the great things about ryan is that he listens carefully and understands that nothing is perfect and that you can actually keep improving things. so he went out and worked with senator ron wyden, a democrat from oregon and provided the only bipartisan plan for medicare. they allow you to stay in the current system if you want to and choose can other options if you prefer. it only applies to people under 25 and gives people a choice plan, not a come pull sorry plan. this should tell you something about the notion that ryan is really trying to reach out in a bipartisan way to find real solutions and i think it's a very impressive achievement. >> speaker, you also said in the past that you don't want radical

change when it comes to medicare. 2003 is the point where there will no longer be the possibility of enrolling in medicare if you're not already in. is that enough time? would that still be considered a radical change? >> no. i think in the new plan you could enroll in it but have a similar amount of money to spend. you could enroll in traditional fee for service medicare if that was your preference all the way through. that never changes under his new plan, which is part of what he reformed. so the question is, should people -- and, remember, this does not affect anybody over 55. so any effort by president obama or the democrats to frighten senior citizens is a remarkable falsehood and a disservice to the country. because no one over 55 is touched by this plan. but what it does say to the younger generation is, here's a way to get to an affordable, sustainable medicare plan that doesn't bankrupt the country,

does give you health insurance, and does bring the power of competition to lowering cost. and we know from what has happened with medicare part d, the competition there has brought in lower costs than projected and, in fact, people have paid much less for drugs under part d than they thought they would. competition really matters. >> what do you think about the optics, though? if we move away from the politics, 74% in a poll were against the ryan plan. if we look at the 80 some odd day, is there a way to turn around that view that senior citizens have of of what that plan means to them? >> it's one of the major challenges that the republican party and the romney/ryan ticket have, is to get across the truth for senior citizens. the truth is, no one over 55 is affected by this plan.

any attempt to mislead you is a waste of time. >> former house speaker, newt gingrich, thank you for your time. >> thank you. chris christie will get give the keynote speech. here are a few of the governor's more infamous quotes from the past. >> you have numb nuts who put out a statement, you know, comparing me to george wallace and lester maddox. come on, guys. at some point you've got to be able to call bs on those kind of press releases. >> first of all, it's none of your business. i don't ask you where you send your kids to school. don't bother asking me where i send mine. >> what the hell are we paying you for? touches your lips. the delightful discovery,

the mid-sweetening realization that you have the house all to yourself. well, almost. the sweet reward, making a delicious choice that's also a smart choice. splenda no-calorie sweetener. with the original sugar-like taste you love and trust. splenda makes the moment yours.

here at the hutchison household. but one dark stormy evening... she needed a good meal and a good family. so we gave her purina cat chow complete. it's the best because it has something for all of our cats! 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. let's compare. germ party! eww! now the colgate total mouth. nice! [ female announcer ] colgate total fights 90% more plaque germs. i'm in. [ female announcer ] colgate total. less germs. healthier mouth.

justice officials will be monitoring polls in florida to flake sure that language assistance is being provided in spanish. former six-term congressman chris shays is fighting for his life against linda mcmahon. she's far outspent her opponent, doling out a reported $65 million of her own fortune. we now know what has kept jesse jackson out of the media for the last two months. they would not discuss his treatment. michelle barack obama finally explained what happened with this botched kiss cam incident on the tonight show. >> you turned him down? >> no, i did not. i did not.

i had just walked in and sat down and i just saw my face on the jumbo cam. i didn't see the kiss part so i didn't know we were supposed to kiss and then malia came over after we got booed for not kissing and she was just disgusted with us. >> aerospace engineers are going to test a super fast aircraft that would fly at 3600 miles per hour, five times the speed of sound. it would make the flight from london to new york in about an hour. my question is, would you get on board that? well, you can answer on our facebook page at facebook dot kok/jansingco. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... ...advanced headlights... ...and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪

introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ nissan. innovation that excites. juicy brats grilled up on a thursday. the perfect use of the 7th inning stretch. get that great taste anytime with kingsford match light charcoal. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

[ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. mitt romney's touting his running mate's ability to reach across the aisle zoo a.

>> he recognizes that there are ways to find common ground, to bring people together. >> ryan co-sponsored 975 bills. that's 22% sponsored by democrats. he's slightly more bipartisan than the average republican. i want to bring in chris van hollen. thank you for being with us. >> great to be with you, richard. >> i know you've worked with him for quite some time very intimately. has paul ryan made an honest effort to reach across the aisle and work with fellow democrats? >> richard, as you know, i get along personally with paul ryan. we're good friends. but let's not confuse civility with a willing to compromise. if you look at the paul ryan budget, and he's the author of it, it is a totally uncompromising hard-edged right

wing document. what it does is provide huge tax breaks to people like mitt romney but it does that at the expense of the rest of the country and democrats offered amendments. every time we had a roll call on the amendment, our amendments were defeated. so, no, this is an uncompromising budget and it's part of a totally uncompromising tea party-controlled house. >> so you and i have been reading most of the reports on who paul ryan is after the weekend announcement. some say he has a very bipartisan wrapper but on the flip side he could be a moveable object when it comes to moving things forward that, say, democrats care about. >> look, richard, if you look at reports today from his own colleagues, one of the things they say they like about them, this is a lot of the new tea party members of the house republican congress, they say they like the fact that he refuses to compromise, that he

refuses to budge on these issues. look, in the house republican party these days, compromise is a dirty word. you don't hear that. so it very interesting to hear mitt romney try to make this particular claim. one of the reasons we've been unable to make progress is that house republicans have refused absolutely to take the kind of bipartisan framework that's been recommended, like groups like simpson/bowles and others. instead, they've said it's our way or the highway. in fact, as you know last summer, they essentially announced that the united states would default on our obligations for the first time in history if they didn't get this particular budget through the house. so, again, let's not confuse congeniality with the willing to compromise. >> consistent with what you've

just said, that it's a do nothing congress. as you know, because of the polls -- and we both watch them -- this current congress has the lowest numbers of any poll taken in terms of congressional approval. the approval rating right now at 12%. how much of that negative halo, shall we say, will hurt the romney/ryan ticket? >> well, i think it's got to. because in mitt romney's own words, his vice presidential pick has been the ideological leader on the republican side of the house. and that's a house that is totally uncompromising. there's a reason that the american people give it low marks. it's really stunt the progress. the president had a jobs bill that's been sitting in house of representatives since last september. it would help invest more in our infrastructure and we have huge needs in terms of renovating our

aging infrastructure. that has never received a vote inhe house of representatives and yet they spent their time voting 37 times to repeal obama care -- repeal the affordable care act which, by the way, provides seniors on medicare with more protection on prescription drug coverage, on preventive care. and on the romney/ryan budget they would get rid of that. it's an important point that people understand because there's a sense that the ryan/romney plan will affect people in the future in a bad way but immediately hit seniors with high prescription drug costs and seniors who use a lot of preventive care services. the cost will go up immediately under the romney/ryan plan. >> and to the point that you are making here, democrats have been hitting ryan very hard on the proposed changes to medicare. we know that the polls are

showing 58% say the future of medicare should continue as it is today. that smaller 36% saying that they would like guaranteeing a fixed amount of money to purchase coverage. so should he -- should ryan, though, get some credit? his idea here of trying to rein in entitlement and pull costs down, should he get some positive remarks because he's trying to solve that problem? >> well, it's a fundamentally misguided way to do it. and here's the difference. the president's proposal would modernize the medicare system by trying to reduce the costs overall in the health care system, including medicare. by changing the incentive structures so that we reward the quantity of care. that's a very different approach than the ryan/romney approach which simply transfers escalating costs on to seniors. seniors would have to pay a lot more for their medicare or they

wouldn't get the benefits that they get today. and just to be clear, what romney and ryan are proposing on medicare is a much worse deal for seniors than member ofs congress get. i don't think it's fair for seniors to take on this kind of risk. >> representative chris van hollen, thank you. >> thank you. mitt romney and paul ryan seem to have a chemistry on the campaign trail. they group up in different places. growing up in janesville, wisconsin, paul ryan got his hands dirty. he worked at mcdonald's and got his hands dirty as a camp counselor. romney was running bain capital where he made his millions. in high school, ryan was voted prom king and class president. not to mention, biggest brown noser. romney was known as something as

a prankster in his younger days. his engagement reads, ryan is an avid hunter and fisher. the paper reported who does his own skinning and butchering and makes his own polish sausage and bratwurst as well. >> i like to hunt here. i like to fish here. i like to snowmobile here. i even think ice fishing is interesting. >> here's romney's 2007 take on hunting. >> i'm not a big game hunter. i've made it very clear, i've been a rodent and rabbit hunter, and i began when i wase hunted varmemts since then. >> there's that. as far as exercise, ryan is a

die-hard p and when it comes to sports. >> i was raised on the badgers bucs and brewers. >> but just as memorable, this is is romney at the daytona 500. >> not as closely as some of the most ar dent fans but i he some great friends that are team owners. >> romney/ryan. i want to bring in a political correspondent who wrote a great piece that really laid out the kind of guy that ryan is. from your research, what is he like? is he likeable? >> yeah. he's a really appable guy. he's humble from pretty earthy roots. he's, by no means, wealthy. he's relatively wealthy but he's definitely a relatable character which is what the romney character was looking for. >> it seems like the two of them get along. we've been talking about this

chemistry. they feed off of each other's energy. do they really get along? would these guys hang out together, let's say? >> i don't know if they'll hang out together. it's almost like you never know, do they hang out with their sidekicks probably not. but when you saw ryan with romney, he was really comfortable. i always thought that would bode well for ryan but ryan's policies seemed to be a lightning rod, i wondered whether he would do it. >> jim, why is it they get along? >> you know, some people say he's almost like -- he could have be romney's son. romney is very close with his son. some people are speculating and obviously from their own sofas that there's a father-son dynamic. but there's such an ease about ryan that, again, even his opponents will tell you about. >> what's also interesting about this pair is mitt romney emphasizes his life in the private sector and paul ryan, as

you've probably listened, he's spent almost his entire adult life in washington. >> yeah. ryan is from the think tank world. he's spoken before kato a lot. he came out of empower america which is a think tank that later merged with some that are associated with the koch brothers. he plays that down effectively because of the roots thaw opened your segment with here. >> these guys are both exposed to politics earlier as you were alluding to. ryan volunteering for john boehner. romney's dad was governor of michigan. he volunteered for a campaign, rather, in high school. is that one place that they can really talk and have a common bond here? >> i think it is definitely one place. that's not the only place but yet they both are rooted in politics from an early age for sure. >> all right. jim rutenberg, thank you so much, from the "new york times."

>> thank you for very me. a man who fired at police near texas a&m university say that they are distraught over what has happened. thomas coffle shot and killed a constable serving him an eviction notice. police shot him and he died in custody there. penn state could be losing its accreditation. penn state is now on warning because of the way the school handled the jerry sandusky sex abuse allegations. a massive wildfire in washington state has destroyed 40 homes and more are being threatened. it started in a small town an hour from seattle and has grown to 23 square mile. fires are also burning in idaho, utah, oregon, and california. baseball fans are mourning a baseball legend. johnny pesky died at the age of 82.

he was an ambassador for the sox. this was his 56th season with the team. fenway park is named after him. clearwater, florida, crews are working to free a construction worker who became trapped. our affiliate said he was working on a city drain. the worker is conscious and alert and crews are building a box around him to stop any more dirt from falling on him. these days, more luxury cars are failing crash tests. plus, new owe bobesity numb are out and they could affect you even if you don't have a weight problem right now. mandy, let's talk about the car. what are the ratings? >> first up, let's talk about those with a poor rating. the audi and lexus es 350 got

low grades when they hit another vehicle or an object such as a tree or a pole. it was acceptable and only two had a good rating. the acura tl and volvo s60. only three of the luxury model cars for 2012 passed the crash test. it's likely that most normal cars won't do well either, which is kind of scary. >> you kind of figure you pay more, you get more. >> yeah. >> mandy, i was mentioning the obesity ratings. >> yes. >> 12 states have a rate higher than 30%. mississippi coming in at 34.9% while colorado had the lowest rate which still is 20.7%. still billiabout a fifth of the population. even if you are not obese, it affects you because it pushes up medical care for everyone.

>> mandy, thank you so much. >> you're welcome, richard. next time you want to swear at the office, you might want to zip the lip. more than half of employers say they would be least likely to promote someone swearing at work. 58% in chicago, 60% in denver. our nation's capital takes the cake with 62% of people dropping curse words at work. no wonder the f book was just added to the dictionary. i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today.

♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ]

[ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. snoof. mitt romney has been bragging about paul ryan's credentials. take a listen. >> this is one of the key reasons i selected him, is that he has that unusual, almost a unique capacity to find people of different parties who are of a common purpose that can come together to do something that is right. >> but an article in today's

talking points mem row refuse that. he says, the mild-mannered wisconsinites's record reveals a near-total absence of democrat support for his many ambitious proposals. i'm joined by mickey edwards, author of "the parties versus the people." thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> now, even senator ron wyden who worked with him to come with a second version of the health care plan is distancing himself right now after working with paul ryan. does this show to you that things aren't getting any better? >> well, ron wyden will say, i love this plan. i'm going to go sponsor it now. it's a party line thing. i can't do that anymore.

you know, the real problem that we've got in washington is that people aren't going to talk honestly about the problems and aren't going to talk about getting together as americans to work on solutions. it's, let's take the party line. whatever it is. so you'll have chris van hollen here, you'll have newt here and all of a sudden all they can talk about is the other guys are bad, my guys are right. if we're going to solve any problems in this country, we have to do it as americans and get past this, my party first and -- >> well, what pick would have been in the middle? >> it's not a matter of who the pick is. if we change the system, we have a system in the way we elect people, the way we get guys like mike castle or dick luger get knocked off in primaries. joe lieberman was almost knocked off in a primary. we created a system that says you've got to stick to the party line or you're going to get knocked off. >> there's too much power with

activist voter that don't have a place. >> that's part of my point. my point is also that if you don't change the system so that the people themselves can can make the decisions instead of having the parties weed out their options for them in the primaries or draw congressional districts that are going to make people who are very close to the party line or allow leaders in congress to decide who sits on what committees as long as they promise to tow the party leaine you've got to change that. >> for those not inside the beltway, how might we understand this? >> let me give you an example. the state of delaware has a million people in it. in their senate primary last time, christine o'donnell got 30,000 votes. >> right. >> i don't care whether your listeners would have been for o'donnell. what mattered was castle could not be on the ballot in november. he wasn't available as an option because in that state of a million people, 30,000 voted for

somebody else. the party ought not to be able to keep people off the ballot. you know, you want choice, i want choice. we have choice in everything we do. >> as a result, we've seen the congressional job approval rating. it's at an all time low. they are leaving congress, throwing their hands up in the air and saying, we can't handle this anymore. is there any hope here? >> i saw the numbers where 79% -- >> yeah. >> disapproval. >> 21% are not paying attention or it would be 100% disapproval. now, there is hope. you've got to change this system. you've got to change the way congress works internally. >> you say appoint nonbipartisan plans and ban contribution from groups. >> i don't care how much money is put into the campaign as long

as it's transparent and from human beings. you can contribute, i can contribute, not pacs, not labor unions or political party. only people. we've got to get the system back to where it's democracy and we get to make those choices. >> congressman, thank you so much. how to turn republicans and democrats into americans. >> thank you. congress is not the most bipartisan party right now that we've been talking about. today's tweet of the day, harry reid writes happy birthday to social security. one of the most important programs in the history of our country. [ female announcer ] how do you define your moment?

the blissful pause just before that rich sweetness touches your lips. the delightful discovery, the mid-sweetening realization that you have the house all to yourself. well, almost. the sweet reward, making a delicious choice that's also a smart choice. splenda no-calorie sweetener. with the original sugar-like taste you love and trust.

splenda makes the moment yours.

oh, my gosh. a family affair. and you're going to need a bigger boat. >> oh, man.

a racecar veering off a cliff and tumble down. don't worry. the driver and its passengers are okay, walking away with only a few bruises. the mountain has 156 turns on that course and the driving conditions can turn treacherous in just minutes, as you saw there. five siblings, five weddings, all in one day. this family was engaged within a two-month span so they figured the easy thing to do would be to have all of the weddings at once. more than 1,000 people showed up. and a shark was caught off the coast of oceanside weighing a whopping 800 pounds. the guy who caught it says it probably weighs more but the scale topped out at 750 pounds. it took two hours to reel in that shark. and look at this more than 17 feet and weighing 164 pounds. that's not all. she was pregnant with 87 eggs. that wraps up this hour of "jansing & co."

thomas roberts is up next. hi, thomas. >> hi, everybody. the agenda in the next hour, it's game on. the candidates blanket the battleground states. is there really that much difference between what mitt romney and paul ryan would do to the budget and what's the contrast currently with president obama? sarah palin is out and chris christie is in as he prepares for the speech of his life as we center in on marco rubio's role. and two teen girls, the jersey girls, they are going to join me live to explain how they got that done. that and more coming up after this. 2-ou ans onov fr there are projects. and there are game-changers. those ideas that start with us rolling up our sleeves... ...and end with a new favorite room in the house.

and when we can save even more on those kinds of projects... ...with advice to make them even better... ...that's a game-changer in itself. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get this exclusive vanity with porcelain top for the new low price of just $99. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!

>> the hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. the race from the left to the right. paul ryan, the representative from wisconsin, remains solidly in crystal clear campaign