the legacy of a great leader. uniting us with pride and love of this nation which holds so many of god's good children. it's a motto we should spend time try to match. it's a tribute to the ploys who every once in awhile show their ugly head. and that's "hardball." thanks for being with us. i'll be right back in an hour with rachel maddow and the rest of my msnbc colleagues for full coverage of the republican national convention. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, mitt's moments. in just a few hours, mitt romney will accept his party's nomination for president of the united states. much of tonight's proceedings are dedicated to reintroducing mr. romney to the american people. to change minds and erase his

sky-high negatives among voters. we'll hear fellow mormons talk about romney's faith. something he himself rarely addresses. and then a big part of the evening is devoted to his time at bain capital. it's the company that made romney even more wealthy than he was. he's now worth up to $250 million. but it's been a political liability for nearly 20 years. also tonight speakers will try to defend mr. romney's time as governor of massachusetts. he rarely talks about those four years in boston even though they're his only experience as an elected public official. maybe it's because romney care became the model for obama care. and its mere mention causes the republican base to freak out. or maybe it's because massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50th in job creation under governor romney.

finally tonight, we'll also see several athletes from the 2002 salt lake olympics. highlighting mr. romney's role in turning around the games which happened thanks to more than a billion dollars in taxpayers funds. yes, he built it with all of our help. mitt romney enters tonight with a big opportunity and a big challenge. he has very high negatives for a major presidential candidate. his wealth, his compassion. we'll learn a lot more tonight. joining me now live from tampa is a man who's covered mr. romney for a long time. david bernstein, political reporter he recently wrote about romney's efforts to get voters to like him. and ana marie cox, washington correspondent for the guardian. thank you both for joining me.

>> thank you. >> thanks. >> david, is it too late for romney to try to fill in the blanks on his biography? >> i don't think it's too late to fill in the blanks. he needs to talk to a lot of people who don't know a lot of the details because as you mentioned, he doesn't talk about a lot of the details on the campaign trail. there are a lot of people just tuning in now. what i think is it's a tough call for him to try to make himself likable out of those details. that's been a problem for him going back years and years. it's something he and his pollsters and focus groups and advisers all know. it sounds like they're going to try to do that tonight rather than just strictly try to make him mr. confident, mr. power point which is usually what he's more successful at portraying himself as. >> so this likability question, this problem he has of connecting with people has been a life long problem of his throughout his political career? >> well, certainly was it '94

when he ran against ted kennedy, kennedy was able to knock that likability down by portraying him as the businessman who had gotten people laid off from their factories. and in 2002, in fact, as i reported the campaign essentially acknowledged amongst themselves that they couldn't make him likable and scrapped some plans for some bio ads that were going to go. >> now, ana marie, you covered john mccain and pro or con, everyone knew john mccain's clear message. we knew who he was. we knew his consistent record. how do we deal with this convoluted kind of picture, this kind of different picture, different time in his career that we have of mitt romney? how do they tie this all together? >> you know, obviously they're trying to tie it all together. with basically just an attack on

obama. i've said this before, i've been writing this all week. the only consistent theme here in tampa is going negative on obama. that's like the glue that holds them all together. and that's giving mitt romney some leeway, i think with his narrative. but i've got to agree with david. i think mitt romney is running to be our boss. he's running to the guy to turn this around and be ceo of america. we don't always like our bosses. that can be okay. he's a technocrat. that is the genuine thing for him to do. >> david, you mentioned bain as well as ana marie just did. i'll give you a quote from the excerpts from his speech tonight. quote, when i was 37 i helped start a small company. that business we started with

ten people has now grown into a great american success story. so it seems that he's going to try to now paint bain as a great american success story that started his little business that grew into a success story. so the fact that people talk about he was talking about opponents. you're just anti-american success is the narrative. >> it's interesting for him to portray it that way. obviously having ten people is little different when you have one of the biggest business consulting firms in the country backing you. and there are some other things that just don't fly with that. it's also true one of the reasons he has acknowledged, he's acknowledged that one of the reasons that they were so successful and he got so rich and others got to rich through bain capital is because the stock markets soared through the bill clinton years.

and they happened to ride on that. >> are you suggesting that they think that bain may not be a negative for them in the fall? >> i think they know they have to deal with it. they know the obama campaign is going to be coming after him portraying him as this great evil wall street overlord. they have to destroy it somehow. >> ana marie, when you look at 1700 jobs lost. bain profit of $242 million. that's just out of dade international. gs industries, 750 jobs lost bain made $12 million. 385 jobs lost. bain making $102 million. and you combine that with his still refusing to release his tax records. so we know what percentage he's paying. we know where he banked and why he banked and whether he used tax havens. doesn't this give a different

picture to the public about mr. romney and the bain story and the story of his wealth and how he managed it? >> when you look at the numbers, what numbers we have. you're right there's a lot of numbers we don't have those are the numbers in those tax returns. what they do have, the scrappy ten people that started bain and the thousands that have been laid off, that's a dramatic difference. i don't think that you can argue that he created jobs in a way that's going to go to a wa i for a president to the create jobs. he has only governed once in massachusetts. and that is not even what he's running on. he can't run on that. as you said before, republicans kind of panic when you talk about romney care. it would be interesting to see what the floor reaction was if someone did mention it. i can't imagine it would be positive. >> you talked about the floor. have you been talking to any of the delegates and people down there at tampa in the convention?

is there excitement for romney? is there excitement building up about him tonight? what is the feel there, ana marie. >> i would be careful to say i've talked to a few people. there's not a scientific polling. the people i've talked to are very much eager to get obama out of the white house. that really is where the energy is. they tend to -- they're supportive of romney. i haven't heard a lot of criticism of him. i don't hear people volunteering to me that they don't like the fact that he invented romney care. i hear people talking about him as a businessman. i hear people saying that's the only thing that matters to them right now is to turn the economy around. so i wouldn't say they're resigned. that makes it sound too negative, but they're definitely sort of lining up. they're being good soldiers. good soldiers just have to get to the front lines. don't have to be eager to do it. >> interesting. thank you. thanks to both of you for being here and your time tonight.

>> thank you. coming up, thanks, paul ryan. the fact checkers were working overtime last night. my colleague lawrence o'donnell joins me on paul ryan's fibs. and we've seen a big push for diversity at the convention this year. i think it's great. but someone forgot to tell them about their own policies. all that, plus republicans have found a man of true grit to give a big speech tonight. a man with a message. that's right. it's clint eastwood. he's the big mystery speaker. more on that ahead. you're watching "politicsnation" as we get ready for a big night at the republican convention right here on the place for politics, msnbc.

hey, folks. did you hear? paul ryan broke the fact checkers' fact checking machine last night. the question is does it matter? paul ryan's pulp fiction with lawrence o'donnell, that's next. ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch?

with two times the points on dining in restaurants, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. we're back on "politicsnation" with a live look at the floor of the rnc in tampa. it was the scene of paul ryan's big speech last night. a speech that i said would

either leave him a champ or a chump. well, he delivered. he fired up the gop. he brought the delegates to their feet. the only problem, well, as pretty much everyone has pointed out, he played fast and loose with the facts. he falsely attacked president obama for raiding medicare. how many times has that been debunked? he blamed the credit downgrade on the obama administration. when it was his party that brought us to the brink. he even slammed the president on debt, when ryan himself voted for the republican policies that got us into this mess. but it was this whopper about a gm plant in his hometown that really took the cake. >> right there at that plant, candidate obama said i believe that if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another hundred years. that's what he said in 2008.

well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. >> yeah. about that plant, it closed before president obama was even president. joining me now is jack shultz, reporter for nbc affiliate wmtv in madison, wisconsin. thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> my pleasure. >> now, i want to show you a picture. it shows workers during the last day of suv production at janesville gm plant. the banner they're holding says december 23rd, 2008. this picture says it all. right? production was ended one month before president obama took office. am i right? >> well, i was there that day. media wasn't allowed on the floor of the plant when the last car came off. that was the last day for the major production at that

factory. and the way the media covered it was that was the end of the plant. that's when the uaw workers walked off the line. now, the plant was idled after that and there were still some contract work that went into the following year. but from the local perspective, that was the end of the plant. >> now, there's a little confusion because the plant was idling until april of 2009. explain that. >> there was still a contract to make some other vehicles that weren't gm products. and a limited number of workers had to fill out that contract. i believe that went to april of 2009. and those workers were still there. but the rest of the workers had already left the plant. it was already closed down. and the union considered it closed. >> zac, thanks for clarifying that. it closed in 2008 just idling beyond that. thank you very much for that clarity. >> my pleasure. >> joining me now is lawrence o'donnell, host of msnbc's "the

last word." thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> great to be here with you. i have to tell you, there's a lot of people down in this auditorium who wish you were here. everybody i walk by says where's the reverend al? why didn't he come down? >> oh, must be a lot of protesters down there. >> okay, mostly al it is the people who work in the building, but there are a lot of friendly republicans here who like you and would love to have met you. >> all right. well, thank them for me. but let me ask you something. clearly ryan had a little trouble telling the truth last night. but at the end of the day, does it matter in this? >> i think we're in the home stretch here. most people have decided who they're going to vote for. most people are impervious to what's spoken in these conventions. we're down to maybe 7% of the vote. everything these people say is targeted at them. and those people are low information voters.

they don't consume this kind of stuff very much. and so they are only going to hear the short sentence version of something. if the republicans make a charge against the democrats and the democratic answer is a paragraph and it maybe has some numbers in it, that's going to be hard to get through. they have said -- they've accused the president of raiding medicare. the president has to come back with another word. he's going to come back and say that paul ryan wants to abolish medicare, make it raiding versus abolish. you cannot fight what they have with charts and graphs. >> now, the fact that you're saying that people have already made up their mind means that there's this small group in the middle. how do we pull them? and are you saying that the facts are not the way you're going to pull them, it's going to be based on other things? >> it is going to be a lot of gut voting. in that small group that will end up deciding the election.

and the final deciders, they're going to make up their minds in the final week. and we know this from exit polling. that, by the way, just to remind everybody is why these campaigns are so expensive. they're so expensive because the best way to reach those voters by 30 second television ads stuck into the most popular tv shows on tv. that's where you find this kind of voter. you don't find them watching news tv. you don't find them watching what we're doing. it's very important after these speeches that everyone does as much of a fact check as we can do in every one of these speeches as fast as we can. but i don't want people thinking that that fact checked argument is somehow going to be able to carry the day when you get into the place where we are now in this election. this is way too close an election. and the democrats are going to have to be able to come back with very quick punches that land more effectively than the republican punches.

>> let's try one ryan last night talked about president obama's attack on medicare. also how the romney/ryan ticket would save the entitlement. listen to this. >> we had help from medicare. and it was there. just like it's there for my mom today. medicare is a promise, and we will honor it. a romney/ryan administration will protect and strengthen medicare for my mom's generation, for my generation, and for my kids and yours. now, he dramatically referred to his mother who was there in the audience. a nice lady, i'm sure. and he raised this point of romney/ryan would save and preserve medicare. but once you look at the plan, is that so, lawrence? >> paul ryan has a plan to abolish medicare. he's abandoned the complete abolish medicare plan and morphed it into something that

partially abolishes medicare and sends it on the road to being an inadequate program. by making it an inadequate program, what he hopes to do is diminish medicare's popularity. the reason there's a cheer in this building of republicans and any building you talk about medicare it gets a cheer is because it's a popular, very effective, and well run program. people are staying alive on that program. they can afford to stay alive because of that program. if ryan gets his way, he'll make it an unpopular program over time. the more unpopular he makes it, the easier it will be for them to abolish it. that is the final place they expect to go. but first of all, they have to weaken it substantially as they would under paul ryan's design so it can then become unpopular and no longer get cheers when you mention it in a convention hall. the important thing last night, medicare got -- preserving, strengthening medicare which is

their promise which we know is not what they would do. it got a huge cheer in a republican convention. >> lawrence o'donnell, i'm so happy you stopped to talk with us tonight. and thanks for your time tonight. >> great to be with you. >> don't forget to tune into "the last word" week days at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. coming up, senator marco rubio is the last of many diverse speakers to take the stage. but now it's time to get serious about the policies. and the biggest buzz heading into tonight is all about clint eastwood. that's right. he's the big mystery speaker. good luck following that act, governor. you're watching "politicsnation" as we get ready for mr. romney's big night right here on the place for politics, msnbc. [ female announcer ] with swiffer dusters,

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have you checked us out on facebook yet? the "politicsnation" conversation is going strong all day long. today our "politicsnation" family was buzzing about the rnc's mystery speaker clint eastwood. but we asked them who they wished had gotten a speaking spot. p jay said pinocchio, because then at least we could gauge his lies in realtime.

but marie had out of the box pick. she wants to see the romney tax returns on that stage. and our facebook community is still talking about paul ryan's speech from last night. brenda says quote, mitt romney has a pre-existing ill nns, foot in mouth disease. who would have thought it was contagious? we want to hear what you think too. head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance.

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stage this week in tampa. governor nicki hailey, condoleezza rice, governor susana martinez and several others were featured. the republican party should be commended for welcoming more minorities to their party. give credit where credit is due. but the party's policies don't match the picture. and that's the problem. take a look at their official platform approved this week. they oppose any form of amnesty for immigrants and encourage illegal immigrants to return home voluntarily. it is now party policy to require photo identification for voting. and have you -- and you would have to look at governor romney's have you looked at his attack on president obama's welfare policies? well, it's a false attack. a false attack with some ugly undertones.

so this diversity push is just an optical illusion. joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell. he's the former chairman of the democratic national committee and now an nbc news political analyst. and in tampa is jonathan capehart an opinion writer for the washington post and an msnbc contributor. thank you both for being here tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> our pleasure. >> governor, as i said i want to give credit to the gop for diversity on display. but what about the policies? how do the two come together? >> well, rev, they don't. let me also say there was diversity on the stage but not a whole lot of diversity in the audience. the delegates had a distinctly common touch. they were older and they were white. there were very few latinos, very few african-americans in the crowd itself. so the diversity is somewhat

phony and hypocritical. just like paul ryan was hypocritical in his speech. the policies in any way shape or form do not coordinate with the diversity. -- getting them back to work. and this republican party turned its back on a jobs bill that would have produced at least a million new jobs by now. in october they had a chance to vote for that jobs bill. those are the types of jobs, manufacturing jobs, jobs filled by well paying jobs filled by minorities. they voted against it purely because they didn't want to give the president a victory. and that's how they've been on every issue whether it's immigration, whether it's voting. the voter i.d. i thinks they should be ashamed of what they've done. so the policies are so out of whack with this show of diversity that i would hope some of the gop, some of them would

do like charlie crist does and say i'm ashamed where the party has taken me. >> jonathan, you're down in tampa and have seen the display, i call it an optical illusion on the stage. but the people in the audience and governor rendell is saying it's not diversity. how do they deal with the policies when they say we should be proud of the diversity on the stage but the policies don't in any way seem to appeal to people that are in those communities. >> well, keep in mind while the overall shots of people here in the hall are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly older, there are african-americans and latinos here. there are people of color delegates here at the republican party. and not just the folks we saw on stage. i think the problem that's going to come in for the republican party isn't so much what's happening now in terms of the disconnect between the candidates and the position of the republican party.

it's going to be what happens in 2016. a lot of the people we saw on the stages, mia love from utah, susana martinez. these are people of color who -- if they run, i know mia love hasn't gotten to congress yet but if they run and take a leadership position in the republican party, the party itself is going to have to come to terms with that very disconnect you're talking about. if the gop is going to survive and stop being a regional and reactionary party, it's going to have to take on these issues of immigration, gay rights, choice issues head on. >> that's assuming that any of those that run that you just named bring up those issues. when you look at -- because some of them may just go quietly and just say i'm not going to challenge anything. but when you look at, for example governor, you mentioned the welfare stuff that has been said. the national journal had a story

ron forny wrote a piece about the campaign playing the race card. let me read you this quote. the welfare issue generally speaking triggers anger in white blue collar voters that is easily directed towards democrats. this information comes from senior gop strategists who have worked both for president obama and romney. a senior gop pollster has said he has shared with the romney camp showing that white working class voters who backed obama in 2008 have moved to romney in recent weeks almost certainly because of the welfare ad. now, this is disturbing. playing knowingly to some biases. you've run and won as a governor in pennsylvania. you've come pained amongst white working class people. you do not have to campaign this way to get their support. >> no, you don't.

and there's certain things in the romney platform and what romney's been talking about that appeal to those voters on a substantive level. you don't have to do stuff like this. but the problem for romney is not white working class democrats. he's going to get his share of them. john mccain in pennsylvania, rev, four years ago carried 11 of the 12 southwestern democratic counties. lost the state by 11 points because he got clobbered in the philadelphia suburbs and the harrisburg suburbs. he got clobbered because he has nothing to say and nothing to appeal to those independent voters, moderate republicans, moderate democrat who is live in the suburbs. you cannot win a state like pennsylvania or a state like ohio in my judgment just appealing to white working class blue-collar voters. >> jonathan, it has been widely said by political operatives that mr. romney must get a

certain amount of the latino vote. he's been polled at 0% of the african-american vote. he cannot run without some support in minority communities. but just putting people on the stage doesn't get that. i remember when i was born, my parents were republican. my pastor was republican. and jackie robinson, the most popular black at that time was a republican. first black to play baseball. but as the democrat are more pro-civil rights, black people shifted to where their interests lie. don't the republicans understand the way to get latino votes and other votes is not putting people on the stage but dealing with the interests in the policies? >> the gop used to have chairman that understood that very well. ken melman understood that and wanted to reach out. michael steele, another former republican party chairman who wanted to reach out to african-americans and latinos to broaden the tent of the party because the party can't survive

unless it expands and unless -- particularly expands to include latino voters. and right now, you know, this tent the republican party tent is extremely closed. >> governor, let me end this with you. romney's struggling to win over several groups of voters. according to recent nbc poll, should he be courting them? not pushing them further away in your opinion? 41% of women say they support him. 0% of blacks. 26% of latinos. if you were talking to him tonight before the big speech, should he be courts them or trying to play off of them, use them as a back board to score with other voters? >> those voters are going to come out and vote against president obama no matter what. he's got to appeal to the voters you just talked about. he's got to appeal to women voters. if i were him tonight, i would make it clear even at the risk of getting booed by some of the people in the hall, i would make it clear that a romney administration is going to be

pro-life, but it is going to carve out exceptions for rape and incest. i want to be abundantly clear about that women of america have nothing to fear. you know, boom. stuff like that. he's got a carve out on identity to make people think he's got the guts to lead and the guts to confront his own base. >> you say if you were him you'd say -- come on that stage and say you're pro-life. >> i'd say i was pro-life but offer exceptions -- >> exhale. i don't want you to hold your breath for that one. governor ed rendell and jonathan capehart thanks for joining us. >> thanks. coming up, it's been a tale of two romneys. one who flips and one who flops. which one will show up tonight? and 45 years ago, thurgood marshall was confirmed as the first african-american supreme court justice. it's a reminder of how serious and important this election is. you're watching "politicsnation"

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the theme of last night's republican national convention was we can change it. hey, i thought of something. the gop has the perfect slogan for a nominee who has changed on every position out there.

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the kickoff of romney's big night is just a few moments away. today we learn the identity of tonight's mystery guest. oscar winning actor clint eastwood. isn't amazing? the guy who starred as the hero with the unshakable moral core is standing up for a candidate who never met a position he didn't like. his flop flopping is long and varying. on abortion he was for woman's choice before he was against it. >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. i have since the time that my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a u.s. senate candidate. i believe that since roe v. wade has been the law for 20 years that we should sustain and support it. i was pro choice.

i am pro-life. i'm in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and insist and health and life of the mother. >> he was on a path for undocumented immigrants. before he opposed it. >> my own view is consistent with what you said. that those people who come here illegally and are in this country should be able to sign up for permanent residency or citizenship. if people don't get work here, they're going to self-deport. >> romney even flip-flopped on a republican icon. ronald reagan. >> i was an independent during the time of reagan/bush. i'm not trying to return. the principles that ronald reagan espoused are as true today as when he spoke them. >> yesterday's theme at this convention was we can change it. mr. romney has always applied that to his own beliefs.

joining me now is michelle cottle. she's the washington reporter for the daily beast and news week. and erin mcpike, reporter for real clear politics. erin, thank you for being here to both of you, you and michelle. erin, i want to start with you. am i old fashioned or does flip-flopping not matter anymore? >> al, it mattered a lot in mitt romney's first run for the presidency. it was a big mark against him from his republican opponents when he was running in 2007 and 2008. it has not been nearly as big of a theme in this particular campaign. the obama campaign tried to simply paint mitt romney as an extreme conservative. but we're not hearing as much about the flip-flops throughout this general election. we got some of it in this past primary, but it was a bigger issue for mitt romney in that first election. and i think the romney campaign has tried really hard to show that mitt romney is a convicted politician. even if he has had these flip-flops in the past.

>> well, he is convicted. just that he doesn't stay convicted long. michelle, let's look at a few of his flip-flops that i didn't mention. gun ownership in 2007 he said he owned a gun. days later he said it was his son's gun. on same-sex marriage in 2002 he opposed same-sex marriage. but as the massachusetts governor, he signed a same-sex marriage law. and in may he told students at a conservative liberty university that marriage is between one man and one woman. on grover norquist no tax pledge, he refused to sign it when he was running for governor in 2002. but romney signed the pledge earlier this year. i mean, over and over again flip-flop after flip-flop. how can you think this man has any real convictions? >> well, that has been their challenge all along. you saw it come up a lot during the primaries when a lot of his conservative opponents were

pointing out that he had not been steadfast on these things. and you saw romney run far to the right as he could. you saw them trying to get to perry's right on the immigration issues and convinced the base that they could trust him. but this has been an enduring issue. he's going to have to kind of work on that still going forward. >> now, let me go back to you a minute. you said it hasn't been a big issue in this campaign. but today the obama campaign released an etch-a-sketch video saying that romney can't shake his massachusetts record. look at this. >> what he did do was add $750 million in fees which is just another way that the government collects money like taxes. >> if mitt romney's an economic heavy weight, we're in trouble. because he was 47th out of 50 in job creation in the state of massachusetts when he was governor. >> i was a severely conservative republican governor.

>> so if this is a video released today, if the obama campaign is going to use his flip-flopping in the fall, wouldn't that be a problem, erin? >> i suspect that they will use it more -- i think the point is that the obama campaign is trying to run a choice race between the different visions that we're seeing from president obama and from mitt romney. tonight's speech, i've seen the excerpts. he doesn't get into some of the nuances of policy. he's going to talk about his personal background. the flip-flopping charge may get addressed later this fall, but again the obama campaign is trying to say that mitt romney is going to take the nation in a different direction than the president has. >> now, he's going to get into specifics later. but isn't that a problem, michelle, that a lot of independent voters, not those that are with romney, not with

the president, but independent voters are wanting to hear what specifically are the policies. the president has governed in one way. what specifically are you saying, mr. romney, about medicare, about health care in general and a lot of the issues that a lot of independents are very concerned about? isn't that something he's going to have to present to the people, michelle? >> he is going to have to present it to the people. but i don't know that he's going to need to do that tonight. i mean, this convention speech is his last best chance to address what is still his biggest problem. kind of the issue of whether or not he is a relatable human guy with a core, and, you know, he's going to have to get up there and try to do what everybody said ann was going to do and what we've been waiting for him to do all along. give people a general sense of who he is. when you're trying to do that, policy details often get in the way. which is the position he'll

probably take and try to kick those down the road even farther. >> you wrote a piece saying ann romney connected pretty well, but it's not going to help him. how does he connect if he doesn't have that kind of personality, or do you think he does have it and he just hasn't revealed it yet? >> oh, i don't think he has it. i think he suffers from the al gore problem a bit which is no matter how charming he may be in private, in public he is very awkward and doesn't connect well. and what ann did was she came across very well. she told lovely stories about her. even when she was trying to tell us how great he was, she didn't have any specific anecdotes. she didn't come across with those kind of political stock and trade. one time he was there with this sick person, or one time he was -- you know, kind of things that are really basic showing you how somebody really is at heart. and so i don't even know that he'll be able to go much farther than that. although one of the issues people are buzzing about is how far into his faith he'll get.

that's one of the big question marks out there. and i think it would be important for him if he could do that just little bit. >> erin, you've traveled with the romney campaign throughout the year. are they concerned? are they worried about the connect factor? or have they said he can pull this off tonight? >> the connection factor, i mean, i think this speech is written to show a lot about his personal life. i think he'll talk a lot about his father. he's not going to get into the tenants of mormonism at all, but he will say how his faith has shaped his life and how it's driving him with this sense of obligation to run for president. i think we'll see that and a bit more about the passion that he has for doing this. >> well, passion and romney is not often in the same sentence. thank you erin, thank you michelle. thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, why thurgood marshall reminds us today just

how serious this election is. that's next. welcome aboard! [ chuckles ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪

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welcome back. there's big news today out of texas on voting rights. a federal court has struck down the state's new voter i.d. law because it would undermine minority voting. saying the law imposes quote, strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor. this is an important victory for democracy and fairness. but the fight is far from over. texas says it will appeal to the supreme court. and a similar voter i.d. law in south carolina might end up there as well. that's why the makerup of the supreme court is critical for protecting the right to vote. we already know romney's favorite justices. >> with just a name, favorite supreme court justice. >> roberts, thomas, scalia.

>> what would happen to voting rights, to workers rights, to a woman's right to choose if there are even more conservative justices on the bench? they would literally change history. on this date 45 years ago, thurgood marshall made his history. he was confirmed as the first african-american supreme court justice. it was the beginning of a distinguished career defending justice and civil rights on the nation's highest court. he helped change america for the good. let's keep that in mind as we think about what kind of justice would be nominated in the years to come. it's just one more reason why this election is so important. this election is more than about personalities. more than about some got you statement. whoever's president may choose two to three new justices, and