even more disturbing is that with the polls showing a dead heat, mr. romney's approach appears to be working. but just keep this in mind. the ultimate tragedy if mr. romney wins this race is that america will have elected a man who so crudely embodies the singular belief that the end justifies the means, whatever the cost. thanks so much for watching. chris matthews is next. it's republican time in tampa. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews down in tampa. let me start with tonight's opening of the republican national convention. this is the second gop convention in a row that's been delayed by threatening skies. and if this were the democrats

facing the wrath of bad weather i imagine some character like pat robertson would be standing out there in ancient garments lamenting god's judgment on the fallen. here in tampa it's just late august weather, a rare acceptance in these political quarters of science. well, tonight the triple header scheduled, rick santorum coming up to push the dishonest romney welfare pitch, the same ploy used for decade busy george wallace, david duke, and ronald reagan, the star of racial resentment. we have the candidate's wife, ann romney, coming on to sell the money she ves. then to cap off the evening, to rip the bark off obama, the convention keynoter chris christie of new jersey to lay on some real jersey attitude. i'm joined by joan walsh with "salon." there's a long history we know in american politics of using welfare to divide voters along racial lines. ronald reagan starting in his campaign in 1976 and onward

often referred to a welfare queen who collected checks under multiple aliases. let's listen to him. >> in chicago a couple of years back they found a woman who was getting checks under 127 different names. >> on the campaign trail in 1976, reagan vilified "the strapping young buck" on food stamps. the "new york times" reported it this way. at an overflow rally in ft. lauderdale he said working people were outraged when they waited on lines in grocery store checkout counters while a "strapping young buck" ahead of them purchased t-bone steaks with food stamps. the reporter pointed out this specific language was tailored to the southern audience, writing the ex-governor was using the grocery line illustration before. in states like new hampshire never used the expression "young buck" before, which to whites in the south generally denotes a large black man. when david duke ran for governor

of louisiana he too hit on welfare recipients in his campaign ad. let's listen to that. >> i'll make welfare recipients work for their checks, get drugs out of their neighborhoods, reduce the illegitimate birth rate. >> when a campaign brochure for george wallace's 1976 presidential run, he says he would work for "a curtailing of welfare programs that are designed to pay able-bodied individuals not to work." there you have it. you are younger than me, maybe you didn't have to witness this garbage, but it went on and on and on. welfare queens, young bucks, food stamp sheets, always with a racial implication, everybody thought so. it still seems to do so. >> i think mitt romney finds himself in a position where his challenge is really upswelling the white vote. talked to a top republican who said that's what he needs to do. they obviously aren't going

after african-americans, they haven't done well with hispanics. this is the last stand that they can make in terms of getting this -- >> you make it sound justified. that this is the only way they win is to scare the white vote. >> it certainly works that way. when you have those ads, they certainly invoke in people a certain feeling, anger, resentment, and those are the people that get out and vote, those are the people that knock on doors. it's a strategy that has worked. and i think we are naive to suggest that somehow race and politics have in many ways existed in a bad marriage in terms of presidential politics through a long time -- >> you think most african-americans you report on and cover know what the signal is? >> i think they do. i think if you look at the recent poll that you all had out, i think it was 0% african-americans who were supporting mitt romney. there isn't a sense mitt romney is actually going after african-americans. but there is a sense that he has to do well among white working class voters, much better than

john mccain did. so far he hasn't been able to do that. i think they go to identity politics. you are brutally honest of what's going on. without any passion you simply state, this is the way it works. go ahead, joan. your thoughts and feelings. >> she's telling the truth. and, you know, the real problem for the republican party, chris, is that it is the white party. 89% of self-identified republicans, according to gallup last year, were white. in a country that 63% white. this is a strategy -- >> there's nothing wrong with being white. >> i love being white, no problem, nothing bad about white people. in a country this diverse it's not a formula for long-term success but this is the last time -- one of the last times they'll be able to do that. they also have a problem with the white working class because they don't trust romney. >> the roll call, people are actually going to vote at this convention to nominate, we all expect certainly, to nominate mitt romney for president of the united states. john boehner, speaker of the house, he's on the floor of the convention at the podium.

they're about to begin this procedure. it's obviously cooked in the numbers. he's won most of the primary. he's won overwhelmingly the majority of the delegate we're going to see the formality tapes i believe right now. >> the call of the roll of the states. alabama. 50 votes. >> madam secretary. i'm proud to lead the alabama delegation. alabama is on the moon. three national football championships in the last three years. -- transportation technology -- but madam secretary, we need a

job-builder who will slash a $16 trillion debt. alabama unanimously cast our votes for the only person who can do that. the next president of the united states, mitt romney! >> alabama. 50, romney. >> well, that's of course the beginning of the roll call. it's going to take 1144 votes to win the nomination, to lock it up. as we get near the conclusion you're going to see it on msnbc. let's talk about this dishonest ad. you're the reporter with "the washington post." we've worked so long together. your paper has done a fact-check on this where it claims, of course, that this welfare work requirement, which was put into law under president clinton, is

not being exercised or enforced by president obama, created a loophole so people could skip work. according to your paper that's a dishonest statement. >> it is dishonest. if you look at the memo released in july it's absolutely not true. even newt gingrich has come out to say, well, we're not really sure if it's not true either, this ad that they have out. but again, we know what's going on. they're playing in some ways identity politics. paul ryan is playing into this too when he says that he's a catholic deer hunter. it's of a same piece i thinkry i think the thing about political ads is they don't always have to be true to be effective. but they do have to exist as propaganda in some ways. i think in that way it is probably very effective in terms of invoking -- >> what's the limit here? how far can you go in simply saying, we know this will appeal to white working class, why don't we rip the bark off, scare them enough, rip the scab off. black people are getting free checks without even showing up

to unemployment lines, they don't have to do anything because of this african-american president. that's what it's saying. >> the worst thing about it is that it's false, then it's also racist. the program that we're talking about is .07% of the federal bug. it's a tiny program. its rolls have shrunk by 58% since president clinton signed the welfare reform law into law. it is not helping very many people. in fact, we have the opposite problem. and they're acting like it's this growing problem that's giving away your hard-earned dollars. >> it's largely children and white women who benefit from these programs. i was in florida, i met with a white woman who had been laid off as a teacher, she was actually having to get welfare and food stamps to take care of her family. i do think in the popular imagination that a welfare recipient does exist as an african-american woman. >> the romney welfare we're talking about, which has been overwhelmingly debunked by every honest group, airing in key swing states now since early

august. let's watch this ad which has been basically been discredited. >> in 1996, with the clinton and a bipartisan congress help end welfare as we know it by requiring work for welfare. but on july 12th, president obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements. under obama's plan, you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. they just send you your welfare check. and welfare to work goes back to being plain old welfare. mitt romney will restore the work requirement. because it works. >> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> there's romney approving -- there's an old argument, sociological argument, about the middle class. that robert rice told me about. he said if you want to get to the middle class, the working class of this country, they fear two things. the mob at the gate. they could be illegal immigrants, poor people, crime, anything they fear from the bottom. the top says they being screwed by the people with power in this

country. it seems to me the republicans are working the mob at the gate. >> that's right. >> and the democrats are thinking it's the bastards on wall street taking all your money. >> you're right. that's why you see all these ads casting mitt romney as someone who doesn't care about the poor people. and the polls reflect that people generally seem to believe that mitt romney is more out for rich people than he is for the middle class. >> what do you think as the reporter? what are people most resentful of? poor people they think are grabbing welfare checks or the people on wall street who are we'll setting the system up where they're holding back their investments until this guy's out of office, planning what they can to get cap gains to zero in effect, they want the corporate rates lower, nothing, no epa regulation, huge amounts of wealth to increase their own wealth? >> depends on who you are, depends on where you stand. how close are you to poor people? where do you live? >> what works better? >> i think that's going to be the big test of this campaign.

>> the republicans think it will appeal to poor people. >> appealing to poor people works better. historically that's true. it's possible this time around, mitt romney is the perfect candidate -- >> and the empathy gap is so huge. that is a real problem for him. so his strategists are openly admitting that they've got to go hard on these cultural issues to grab that white working class voter and fear works. always worked. >> santorum i'm told has been tasked, that's a nice word, with smashing into this welfare argument. that's his job. he gets to speak tonight because he's to push this lie on welfare. >> you know, i don't know how -- that's probably not the best choice in terms of appealing to the broad middle and that's what this party needs to do, appeal to women, appeal to latinos, appeal to african-americans. he's obviously a catholic. he's not going to appeal to this sort of social justice strain that exists among catholics. it's a tough thing, i think, for

rick santorum and this party to pull off this argument. but they're certainly going to try. >> the father with the big hands and all that stuff. >> that's right. >> that's the nice part of this background. if he plays this job then he's a hired hand, i think. >> and he is happy to do that during the primary. >> it's going to be interesting tonig tonight. we have the nice from mrs. romney. this guy's going to talk like he's yelling at a cab driver, cut him off. >> there's some minorities that are going to be -- nikki haley. >> he's got the sleaze biz tonight to do. thank you for i would say almost perfect description of the situation. and joe walsh of course with the passion i love. coming up it's slaughtering down, it's hot, it's humid. chris christie needs to fire up the conservatives tonight. we know how he's going to do it. he's going to take on obama. ann romney as i said needs to do something. five years of campaigning hasn't accomplished. to show her husband as sort of a

regular nice person, i guess. we're going to see how she tries and whether she succeeds. also, republican platform supports extreme anti-abortion language. life, liberty and property to the unborn. exempting nothing including rape skin cyst from its law. the vast republicans don't even support the narrow definition they're talking about. we're going so show to it you, what the party says it stands for. we're going to ask the chairwoman of the platform committee to talk to us. charlie crist says the republican party has moved so far right there's no room in it for him. he's here to explain why he's endorsing president obama. plus we'll be monitoring the roll call throughout the hour to get you up to date on the inside action and the convention as mitt romney gets closer to clinching the republican nominati nomination. he needs 1144 votes. he's getting them. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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entertain, inform or both? >> more inform than entertain. i think my style can be entertaining at times. >> really? >> yeah. you know, i think it's my job to set out the vision for the party the next ten years. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was new jersey governor chris christie previewing the keynote speech he's going to give tonight. he's a man many wanted to run for president. tonight christie will be making the argument for republican policies and principles you could say in the romney administration. meanwhile the candidate's wife ann romney is going to show the more personal side of her husband. chuck todd's calling it the hard sell and the soft sell, i'm calling it the affection and the attitude. both hope to be successful in helping romney win his case and win independent voters. with me is three-time governor

george pa tackty and "usa today's" washington bureau chief susan page. the roll call has begun in tampa as we showed you. we expect mitt romney to go over the top within the hour. we'll keep you up to date on the roll call count. let me ask you, governor, you were a pro-choice republican in new york. and romney was one in massachusetts. and now we have a platform that's just been released tonight which basically accords 14th amendment rights of life, liberty and property to the unborn and goes all the way towards actually -- >> chris, chris, chris, chris, two things. >> i don't even get to ask the question? where do you stand on the platform? are you on this platform? >> i support the position enunciated by governor romney. he's going to lay out his position, he's said what his position is. you know what is fascinating -- >> why is there a platform -- let's talk about what happened -- >> the last four years --

>> i'm trying to go with the news story. you have a platform to stand out, can you stand on it? >> i can stand behind mitt romney and work hard to make him president of the united states. he doesn't stand entirely with the platform but that's not the point. the point is that he is has the right experience and ideas to lead this country and we are looking at a country where the overwhelming majority of americans know we're headed in the wrong direction. it's not because of a failure of the american people, it's this administration that had so much promise four years ago that has let the american people down. >> let me ask you one more element in the platform, then we'll move on to what you want to talk about. are you comfortable as an eastern governor and has had to keel with crime, gun violence, the platform tonight basically calls for unlimited magazines, unlimited ammo drums on these semi-automatic weapons like we saw in killings where people kill people by the score? >> governor romney has already said he doesn't agree with every element of the platform. talk about what matters to the people. >> why do you have a platform if you refuse --

>> it reflects the views of the delegates here. the party position will be enunciated by the candidates. >> the people who nominated him don't matter? >> sure they matter. >> their platform doesn't matter. >> they're casting their votes right now. >> i get the message. you're not comfortable with the platform, you don't want to talk about it, fair enough. governor christie tonight, somebody close to you politically, i believe. he weighed in on romney's tax returns this morning on "joe." an interview with matt lauer on "today." governor christie is really good at this talk. >> i think you could always look back in retrospect and say maybe i would have done this or that differently. do i think any american voter is going to say i'm not voting for him because of this? no. i think they're more concerned about mounting debt and joblessness and those are the things that are going to decide this election. >> susan pace, thanks for joining from us "usa today." what's interesting, christie's very good at sort of conceding the point. okay, i would have release mid

tax returns. okay, i wouldn't have told the lame joke about not having a birth certificate problem. he lays back just like the governor here lays back on the platform. everybody concedes the platform doesn't mean anything, this guy's made a lot of mistakes. they're very good at it. they don't fight over what they can't defend. your thoughts? >> i think that's right. i think the platform has a potential to be a problem for governor romney. the failure to release more than two years of his tax returns can be an issue. i do think that governor christie is right. it's not the core issue of his campaign. the core issue of this campaign is the economy, that's what they want to talk about. the platform's been passed, once they get on the stage tonight for the big speeches, that is what they're going to focus on. >> well, it's the core issue for the republicans, right? >> no, what -- the core issue -- it's exactly what you just said. they don't talk about what the people want to hear them talk about and that's the ohm administration. they don't talk about jobs, they don't talk about deficit, they

don't talk about what they've done with obama care that is not liked by the american people. let's talk about a 2003 tax return, let's talk about a provision in a platform that governor romney has said he doesn't agree with, let's talk about the future of america. >> that's very profound. the fact is i didn't come out with his position on tax returns, i didn't write your party's platform. i'm asking you -- >> come out with your position on obama's records in school or law school, i don't care about that. >> donald trump, you're talking about his school records, are you infected by that? school records? you are trumped. you have been trumped. >> how much promise did this president hold out four years ago and has he let us down? let me ask you a question, has he let us down? >> i think if you look at things like that, your crowd, rich people, doubling the dow jones industrial average, if any republican has doubled the dow jones industrial average from 6,500 to 13,000 you'd be dancing on the roof.

if you guy had caught bin laden you'd give him the congressional medal of honor. let's go to romney. susan. why don't you delineate the truth. seems to me the republicans want to talk about one issue, how lousy the economy is and blame obama for it. any other discussion is called digression. your thoughts? >> that is the core of the republican message. and it is true that there are other issues that matter to people. but republicans think that this issue, the issue of the economy and president obama is the core issue, the issue that's going to determine the outcome of the election, if they can keep the focus on it. >> this is the guy i was pushing for president a few years ago but he's mad at me now. george pataki, three-time governor of new york, a man very much like chris christie, a little more restrained. susan page for "usa today."

we're going to have more from tampa and our coverage of the republican national committee and the role call. the real suspense coming around 6:00, we'll see who won the nomination officially. a historic moment coming up and to indiana and the roll call. this is "hardball," the place for politics. >> -- already strong congressional delegation, expand our state house legislative majorities, and keep all of our statewide elected offices, proudly cast all of our 46 delegate votes to america's next great president, mitt romney! this man is about to be the millionth customer.

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can she humanize her husband, make him a more cuddly guy? >> i think she absolutely can. guy to university of tampa, in november i will definitely be voting for mitt romney. i'm very excited for ann's speech tonight. i'm really excited for chris christie. >> okay, thank you. do you know how to say attitude? >> i don't. >> south jersey, come on. where you from? >> marstown. >> that's far north. i'm talking about south jersey. what do you think about ann romney? she's got 20 minutes to sell her hubby. >> 20 minutes might be long enough. if anybody can do it ann romney can do it. >> why do you say that? >> she's been less likely than previous first ladies to be a pretty face. she's stood up for him on issues that have been unpopular like his tax returns. if she's able to -- >> you think she's allowed to say tax returns? >> i hope so. >> what do you think about ann romney or chris christie? christie's got real voice.

he's the kind of guy giving the sign to the cab driver, just cut him off. >> i like chris christie. >> i like that it would. >> ann romney is going to be the next first lady of the united states. >> linda johnson from tampa, florida. i'm an independent and i'm disgusted with both parties. why? >> because of all the lying and fighting. >> who's told the biggest lie you've heard? >> oh, gosh. come on. >> probably romney. >> what'd he say? >> well, the work wor welfare is one. >> thank you. >> what are you? >> i'm a ron paul supporter. ron paul! >> you know how many votes we're getting ron paul? come down here. i think you're somebody from the christian era. come here. >> i'm from tampa. i'm definitely for obama. and i'm also thinking that we've got to get a lot of people in

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we're back, watching the very closing moments now of the republican roll call for the president of the united states. minnesota is being heard from. they're going through it alphabetically, may take awhile.

>> one vote for senator rick rick santorum -- >> that's congresswoman michele bachmann on the right. >> minnesota, six, romney. >> mississippi, 40 votes -- >> we're going to follow this as the numbers go through and you'll be able to see what's happening here. marcia blackburn and michelle goldman. are you comfortable with this platform that's just going to be approved tonight? let's start with reproductive rights, abortion rights, giving the unborn the rights of the 14th amendment to life, liberty and property. are you confident that that's something the american people will be happy with? >> chris, i am. we have the hyde language. our provisions are what they have been. we are the party of life.

and we send the issue back to the states. it's federalism. in my remarks i made, when we approved our platform, i talked about the renewed commitment to federalism. >> yes, but about quickly the 14th amendment. the rights to life. i mean, how can you have any abortions without risking criminal action, if you say that an unborn child is an actual person under the 14th amendment? >> well, what we have done is to use the language that we have had in our platform over many years. and then we send the issue back to the states. and when there are exceptions, the states make -- that's a state issue. >> it's not in your platform. let me go to michelle goldberg. it seems like the language is radical here, it's more than pro-life -- no, it isn't. >> i'm reading it, do you want me to read to it you?

>> sure -- no, i -- i'm capable of reading it -- what we did was to remain silent on any exceptions. >> but you say also in the language, in addition to a life amendment to the constitution, you say, we endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th amendment's protections of life, liberty and property apply to unborn children. you go beyond a life amendment. congresswoman? why did you go beyond -- >> i'm sorry, i can't -- i'm sorry, chris, i'm not able to hear you. >> let's go back to michelle. what do you make of this? this situation has created where a woman, if she has an abortion, could be guilty of murder if a person has a right to life under the 14th amendment. how do they reconcile that with these exceptions they talk about for rape and incest? >> they don't talk about the exceptions. romney talks about the exceptions. the party has been very clear those exceptions do not appear

in it platform. some people have said, this is the rnc's platform, not romney's platform. these a big disconnect between what romney espouses and what his party espouses. the platform has been consistent over several cycles. they often call for these human life amendments. it's only because of todd akin that people are now paying attention to the extremism of the gop on abortion. >> let me ask you, congresswoman, we've got a new poll from gallup, maybe it conforms to your thinking there should be exceptions for rape and incest. 67% of your party in the gallup poll, which is a respected poll, say they'd like to see an exception for those two situations. and the platform does not make an exception. >> the platform is silent on exceptions. and i'm one of those members of congress that supports having those and allowing those exceptions. we send it pack to the states, chris. bear in mind that the platform is a visionary document.

it is not a reactionary document. >> how do you by the way decide on whether a woman was a victim of rape in the time that you have to decide whether she can have an abortion? most criminal trials for something as serious as rape would take a lot more than nine months, or certainly more than five or six months. how would you know to allow a woman to have an abortion based on the law? >> chris, what we do, there again, there are many of us that are for exceptions that are in the pro-life community. our language has been consistent. we sent the issue back to the states. and i think that whoo we're seeing is that the democrats keep trying -- >> thank you. >> -- to divert the issue. >> okay, i thank you so much. always great to have you on, congresswoman blackburn and michelle. let me get back to the roll call. it goes on to 1140, the requisite number of delegates.

new hampshire, home of the next summer white house for the united states of america. new hampshire casts nine votes for our adopted favorite son, mitt romney of massachusetts, and three for representative ron paul. >> something of an attack dog lately on the president. >> nine, romney. >> new jersey, 50 votes. >> madam secretary. the garden state, the printout home of tonight's keynote address given by governor chris christie. proudly casts all 50 of its votes for the next president of the united states, governor mitt romney. >> new jersey, 50, romney. >> over the top.

you see that on the podium, he's got the 1144 he needs, he is the nominee. certainly no suspense but now it's official. there's going to be a big demonstration like the old days. said placards wave. they're going to let us know how excited they are about this nominee. i think that's a big part of this convention, to create excitement about the man himself. as they said, ann romney, wife of the candidate's, going to come on and create some warmth, i believe, if not perhaps some cuddliness toward this candidate who seems remolt and businesslike i might say. look at the signs, mitt! seems to be the sign. i never saw that before. not romney, mitt. more personal, almost like hillary in the last election. mitt. these are not handmade signs, this is the republican convention, these are organized people here. these signs were distributed, not brought in from home. nothing wrong with that. let's see what's coming up now. >> new mexico, 23 votes.

>> okay, we're going to go through the procedure here now of people that all the states get to speak. we're going to come back now in a moment. we're going to talk about -- we're going to have another governor come in, the former florida governor. and he's going to -- governor charlie chris is coming in here. he's endorsed romney. the republican governor of this state has endorsed the democratic president -- actually, barack obama. this is going to be to get, to get him up on the stage. if he's here now, governor christie, can you get up on the stage? let's get him up here. we're going to watch him come up here. where do i see governor christie? governor charlie crist is going to come up on the stage. if he can move fast, he'll be here fast. there he is. charlie crist. come on governor.

we've got a little surprise here for us. it's charlie crist who is governor here, a very popular governor, got involved in a very difficult race for the senate. here he is. i see you brought a good book along with you. let me ask about your position on the presidential race. you're an independent, i believe, still. you wrote in an op ed piece, an element of the republican party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they prove incapable of governing for the people. >> it's a great concern. you know, i've seen the party drift to the right so significantly that it's at a point now sort of the inverse of ronald reagan where i didn't leave the republican party, the party left me. i think that's true for a lot of people. and why i've decided to support the president is because how helpful he's been to all people. when i was a republican governor, for example, he obviously, a democratic president, but on issue after issue after issue, president obama was very helpful to us in education, in the environment,

with the handling of the bp oil spill. so many other issues. he tried to give us a bullet train, unfortunately that didn't work out. but he's just been a great president and worked hard for the people. >> you want a fast-moving trait down here. >> that's correct. >> let me ask you for jeb bush. a lot of us like jeb because he's very good on education, focused on where he is, he's not a big talker. seems to be somewhat in the direction you're in, discomfort with the way the party's going. >> to a degree i would agree with you are. i think he said ronald reagan couldn't get the nomination in today's republican party and that we have to have a more sensitive ear, a better tone about the message that republicans are trying to put across. and i think governor bush is right. >> why are they giving -- you're an attorney. why are they giving 14th amendment rights of basic personhood to the urn born? why don't they give it to women? >> i don't know. >> what is going on with this party? i understand pro-life principles, of course. i share them. what about this idea? just reacting, rejecting the

right of the woman right across the board to make a decision? this gun craziness of theirs, unlimited ammo belts, unlimited magazines and drums of bullets you can carry around for massive shooting sprees. why is that important to any reasonable hunter or sportsman? >> i don't know why. i don't think that it probably is. i mean, a lot of us support the second amendment, i do too. but you have to be reasonable about these things. apply common sense to make sure when you carry out legislation that is like that, that it's not applied in a way that can be dangerous to people or invasive of others' rights in the process of carrying them out. >> i don't know why anybody needs a concealed weapon -- concealed carry right, go from state to state across the union. that's like a federal law they want. they want good faith in credit like marriage. you can carry it wherever you go. why have state permits and use them anywhere. get one in nevada, move around the country. >> that's right. >> what happened to your party? when did it start to split right? >> i started to see a couple of years ago. that's when i left the party was in 2010.

and when i started to see it, i wasn't a place i was comfortable anymore. there was a great line i heard yesterday. it said, obviously today formally mitt romney will receive the nomination of the party. will mitt romney lead the party or will the party lead him? >> do you think he can make these deals about no revenue increases, with the hawks on foreign policy, with the religious right, with the tea party, then walk away from those deals come january 20th? once he's in office can he be his own man and forget all those deals? >> i don't know, i can't speak for the man. what i hope is president obama's the guy that's there and then that won't be an issue. >> give me hope about obama in the second term. i know it's the republican week but give me a moment on him. where do you see him progressing from here to the end of his second term? >> what i've seen firsthand, how he's treated issue after issue in florida. i mentioned a few of them earli earlier. race to the top through the department of education, we were very successful. i was a republican governor, he

a democratic president, but reached across the aisle and truly tried to help people instead of being concerned about partisanship. i think he will continue to comport himself that way. that's why i'm proud to stand with him. >> why do you live in a state where everybody sweats all the time? >> i don't know, it's hot here. >> let me ask you about weather down here. you've dealt through these hurricane seasons before. and some governors have made their names. perhaps you. certainly jeb made his name during a hurricane. and haley barbour in mississippi. some guys do well in these things. ray nagin didn't do well. what's the trick to handle a hurricane? >> work with people, be on the ground, be on-site, make sure you're plugged in with local leaders in counties and cities throughout your state wherever this might happen. i think that's probably what governor jindal is doing right now and that's very important for him to be cog. we would stay in touch with local representatives, also our federal partners. whenever one of these storms

came in it's important to have all hands on deck, have a real cooperative attitude, do what's right to protect your people. >> let me ask about the florida race for presidency. this state is in play. this state has a lot of seniors, they're nervous about medicare, they don't like it being changed. where's your feeling on that? we have a lot of minorities, not just cuban-americans but hispanics. how is that going to work come november? >> i think it's going to work well. probably one of the most diverse states in the country. i think being open to diversity is important. i think that's why you see so many hispanics speaking at the republican convention. it's continuing to grow that we're going to see in florida and across the country. >> the florida thing is interesting. because is it an old state or a young state? >> it's both. it's diverse. it really is both. we have probably one of the most significant senior population in this the country. that's why i think the medicare issue is going to be so important. >> something more important, there's a lot of screwing around

by the republican party, your former party. in pennsylvania where i grew up playing games you have to have a photo i.d. card issued by the government. people never had one in their lives, they've got to go where they came from, up here you've got to extend voting hours in days when you were governor. they're purging voting rolls, looking for people with problems. sometimes killing the voting rights of people with no problems. >> it's true. it's going in the opposite direction. i really don't understand why. i mean, this is such a precious, sacred right. the right to vote, the right to determine our leaders. in a free and open society. you're right. when i was governor we expanded the early voting days and the early voting hours so that people could exercise that right and do so in a way that was convenient for them to be able to cast their ballot. it should be that way. >> hold on, governor charlie crist in florida is going to stick with us here in tampa, florida. we'll be right back.

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we are back to "hardball." charlie crist now no longer republican. he said the republican party-going too far in the right wing direction and thinks the platform of the party about to be approved is an example of that. you will speak next week in charlotte at the democratic convention. give as you tease. >> i will talk about the president. and i'm going talk about the fact that i think he has been a great leader, that he has really led us in a very difficult time, obviously. he inherited a real mess. and the fact that he's worked across the aisle, you mean, i talked about it earlier, that he helped news florida when i was a republican. and didn't really care about,

you know, the partisanship of it at all. was very nonpartisan and was a gentleman. one of the things that i really appreciate about him is the demeanor and the way in which he leads. he leads with -- >> this governor have you now here is not at all like that. >> no, he's very different from president obama. >> this guy, rick scott, is -- kind of an unpleasant sort of person, don't you think? >> everybody has their own style. >> do you think you might rung against him next time? >> i don't. >> do you want charlie to run? >> goii'm enjoying the private sector very much. >> let me ask you about this whole staff situation of yours. for some reason, a lot of charlie crist people are going to work for mitt romney. what was that parting of the ways about? people like andrea and stu stevens? >> they are talented people. no question about it. >> you are a diplomat. >> i am. i'm honest. they are talented. governor romney is fortunate to

have them with him. when i went independent -- >> wish you well. we will see you in charlotte. charlie crist. when we return, what to watch for at the convention. i take insulin, so i test... a lot. do you test with this?

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[ cheers and applause ] when we finish tonight we will watch for at the republican convention opener, one, be on the alert for the tribal messages, war drums of racial division. listen to welfare. listen to the charge you are working hard but someone else is getting a free ride courtesy of president obama. if that doesn't get you going, wait for warnings that your medicare benefits are being siphoned off to pay for obama's health care recipients. another case where the good middle class familiar sly getting shorted so that the poor minorities get something for nothing. then try and hear one person tonight from the platform even mention the radical stuff that tucked into the republican party platform important 2012. listen for the 14th amend rights being pushed for the unborn. the abstinent hard line against marriage equality, wild demand. right to carry concealed weapons across state boarders and concessions to the nra. you will hear none of this