>> welcome back to "open house." now with grammy award winning singer and songwriter john onand his fiance model chrissy tiegen, they bring us on a very entertaining tour of their east village home.

>> and hey, i'm john legend. >> i'm chrissy tiegen. >> this is p pick ppa. >> hi. >> welcome to our home. let's check it out! >> the elevator opens up right into the apartment which is good and bad. i mean, if you're naked, it's bad. [laughter] >> we love this place, the light, it's a great view of the city. it feels great being here. it feels like you're in the heart of the east village. >> so here we are in our living room. this is our little hangout area. it's also a good area where john it show off his grammys. i do have one award there. >> "sports illustrated" rookie of the year. >> sitting next to the best new artist grammy which is where it should be. >> exactly. >> it's the same caliber. >> yes. [laughter] >> one of the cool things about this place that gives it a very urban industrial feel is that we have exposed beams throughout the apartment. >> we like little pops of color

with flowers. for the most part, we keep it really neutral. our favorite colors aren't really colors at all. >> let's go to the kitchen. >> yeah, that's where the real magic happens, my cooking. >> so here we are in my personal favorite room, the kitchen. it's a really different type of kitchen. it's long, you have the view. as you can see, i love cookbooks. i'm a cookbook freak. we cooch as much as we can. this is perfect for it. >> chrissy is showing you where her magic happens. i'm going to show you where mine happens. let's go over here. this is where i can play a little bit, maybe write a song and have a great view of the city while i'm doing it. you know, it's pretty cool. [mary had a little lamb being played ♪

>> it's a little out of tune right now. anybody who is watching, don't be a snob, ok? [laughter] >> now it's time to go where the other magic happens. >> look at all of this magic happening right now. >> this is a great bedroom. it has a super high ceiling, great windows and a great view. it's facing north so you can see the chrysler building. there is one more little surprise that most new york apartments will never have. let's go check it out. this is the special treat that we promised you. we have a pool here. we also have a grill here that we actually bought from the building. it's going to stay here. when you buy the apartment, it can be yours, too. the cool thing about this building, if you have a car, you can actually buy a parking spot here. can you drive in under the building with complete privacy.

if you're a celebrity like this young lady, you can get away from the paparazzi. they will not leave her alone. >> no, it's part of being normal. >> you got far too many clothes on right now. >> as do you. >> so thank you so much for visiting our place. i feel like we have gotten to know each other so well. >> like family. >> you want money? >> that's what you do with family. >> oh, man. >> thank you for visiting with us. thank you for seeing our apartment here in the east village in new york city. >> hope you love it as much as we do. >> bye! >> up next, sam botero shows how people decorate this apartment. and the annual pasadena showcase house of design.

>> welcome back to "open house." now, interior designer sam botero takes us inside his own home which is a study in red. he says he kept the space intimate and also brought other colors into this is seductive retreat. >> hello. i'm sam botero, i'm a designer. this is my new york apartment, which i share with my partner.

as soon as you walk into the apartment, you turn left and you find yourself in this living room that i actually love. it has floor, windows that go all the way up to the ceiling, which is a wonderful thing to find in a new york apartment. the challenge in this space was that it's a spawl space. we painted everything the same color, the ceiling, the floor in order to lose the limits of this space. this is our little office alcove. i believe that large paintings in small spaces are very good because they do something to the feel of the space and again they make the space look bigger. the back of the apartment is completely uneventful without the treatment that we gave it.

we just wanted to do something simple and we found this fabric and put it up and we literally have walls that move. it's really delicious. this is our den. this is our hangout room. this is a room where we sit a lot. we have an extra large sofa that is extremely comfortable. it's all about comfort. a den is a room where you want to be comfortable. this is our master bedroom. it's very, very wonderful room to be in, very comfortable. everything we need is here. the french chairs flanking the chest between the windows are

done in velvet and such good text tour and feels so good. it's very important to not only think of a fabric in terms of its color, pattern, and design, but also in terms of how it feels. i love sharing with you my apartment, my personal space, and my design statements about who i am. i hope you enjoyed it. >> still ahead, a stunning california house and up next, a sky high chicago penthouse. you're on timeout leo! some things won't last 25 years.

ah! woof! some things will. some things won't last 25 years. ah! woof! some things will.

>> welcome back to "open house." now we're inside a custom designed chicago penthouse that's over 5,000 square feet. this beautiful home has amazing unobstructed city, park, and lake views you have to see to believe. welcome to our home. i'm stacy harris and you are going to be taking a tour of our family home in the heritage codominium building overlooking fabulous millennium park, so let's get started. i want you to try and imagine what we had when we started, concrete ceiling, concrete floors, no wall. 250 square feet of wall space and windows. right now we're in our living room. i guess you would traditionally call it a living room.

it's large, it has three seating areas and it's like that because we love to entertain. this wall may be one of my favorite features of the entire house. i love stone and it's beautiful to look at. so even though the table looks large, remember, this is a large dining room. we had floating wall shelves and beautiful pieces that make this really a home. they say the kitchen is the height of the home and in most homes that's absolutely true. the blue ceramic is the back splash. it is so strong. we didn't want it to compete,

there is so much room in here and the stone picks up the blue. it's similar and nothing more magical than sunrises over the lake and sunsets behind the city. i am standing in my office and it's great. i can shut this door, but watch what happens. now my students and i have all of the privacy we need and if we want to have some extra light for a view, we just flip the switch. isn't this fabulous! the master bedroom, the border is mahogany and the carpet is inset so totally flat, we love it. the two chaises are wonderful.

we can sit in here and see the great views. we love it. it's time to say goodbye, so thank you for taking the tour of our family home and viewing the beautiful city of chicago literally from every room. >> coming up after the break -- >> since the guesthouse was built later than the mainhouse, i wanted to add more details to make it more authentic. the barn door is a great example of that.

>> welcome back to "open house." now we're in california at the annual pasadena showcase house of design. we got the best in the business bringing us on private towers of their exquisitely designed spaces. >> hi, i'm albert cann. this is the pasadena showcase homes, welcome, and i did the living room this year. we decided to neutralize the palette this year to create a much more hormonious backdrop

for the art in the room. a lot of contemporary pieces and antique pieces. we have a contemporary table and a 19th century and early 20th century chinese mirror. the fireplace for this room is actually the major focal point and we decided to keep it very implyfied putting -- simplified putting a beautiful sculpture in and it carries the whole color scheme of the soft apricot brown and gold. and the piano is a beautiful instrument of ebony and pearwood designed by dakota jackson. it's one of three in the united states. it commemorates the 300th anniversary of the piano as an instrument.

>> hi, welcome to the casita. the casita is a fairly small room. the way we got so many activities in this space is to learn it. this area defined a dining space. over here using this great easel to help hold the television. in the back corner, we built a small kitchenette. we get a lot of activities happening in a very small space. since the guesthouse was built much later than the main house, i wanted to add a lot of architectural details to make it more authentic. the barn door is great for that. it differentiates between the sitting area and the first bedroom. the other thing we have done is use this blue painted floor throughout the three spaces to unify. in the sitting room, brighter colors, in the bedroom, more vivid pinks, chocolates and blues. in the last room, more tonal

earth colors. >> hi, welcome to my space in this year's pasadena showcase house. our goal was to create a retreat from the world for a woman who loves fashion, travel, and literature and i think we did it. so one of my favorite pieces in the room is this a pen board. it tells the story of the things that are precious to her and a great contrast to this very soothing, relaxing sitting area and its neutrals. so this space seemed very fall. it was very important to me to make it feel light, open, and airy and to that effect, we used a reflective wallpaper, in this case, a white on white with a very large scaled pattern that opens up the room and kind of keeps you from remembering or noticing just

how small it is to further create that sense of space, we wallpapered the ceiling with this fantastic textured wallpaper. the fun contrast to this very feminine feel is a fantastic black and white porcupine mirror. those are real porcupine quills. it gives some energy and a little bit of edge to what otherwise is a very soft, very feminine feel. underneath the mirror we have this these fantastic chinese horses. again, texture and color and all kind of interesting elements to keep your eye moving around the room so that you forget it's small and tight, and instead you focus on what is interesting and our airy and relaxing it is. that's what we all want in a study. >> that's all for this week's

episode of "open house." join us next week for more of america's top properties and designs. if you missed something on today's show or you just want to see more of these amazing homes, head to openhousetv.com. join our facebook family or on twitter. see you next week on "open house." i'm sarah gordon.

this sunday morning, f this be sunday ormorning, r the first time during this campaign, i go one on one with the republican nominee for president, mitt romney. we go behind the scenes and on the record with governor romney less than two months before the election to press him on how he will turn around the economy and solve the nation's debt crisis. >> are you prepared to cut a deal with democrats that would cause conservatives to revolt? is it that important to get a deal to get us away from this fiscal cliff? >> well, it's critical to get the country on track to avoid the kind of financial calamities you're seeing around europe. and i have a plan that does that. >> and we get his reaction to president obama's stinging criticism during his convention in charlotte. >> now, our friends down in tampa at the republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with america but they didn't have much to say

about how they'd make it right. >> the fall campaign is now in full swing with new disappointing job numbers sharpening the debate over the economy. will americans blame the president for a high jobless rate or give him for mour years to solve the problem? a rising star in the democratic party this morning who gave the keynote address at the democratic convention. mayor of san antonio, julian castro. author and radio talk show host, bill bennett. columnist for "the washington post," and our political director, chuck todd. good sunday morning. this weekend i spent time with governor romney on the campaign trail for an exclusive two-part interview on the state of the race and what specifically a

romney presidency would mean for the country. we met up with the romney friday in manchester, new hampshire where they began a short trip down state for an evening campaign rally in nashua. >> this economy's going to come back in a big way and you're going to see more jobs again and you're going to see rising home values again and you're going to see more take home pay again. but it is going to require me being elected and new hampshire is going to do it. >> it was a day that also saw the president in battleground new hampshire to kick off his post-convention push to election day. >> now that both sides have made their argument, there's a big choice to make. and i honestly believe this is the biggest choice -- the clearest choice of any time in our generation. >> on-board the romney campaign bus, i asked the governor where the race now stands. >> so the two conventions are now in the books. and we are really kicking off the final stretch, the fall campaign. how do you feel? you feel like you're winning? do you feel like you're losing? >> i think we're making real

progress. i don't think i was as well known of course as the president and so we had a convention and i got better known. people got to see ann and hear our story and the result of that is i'm better known, for better or for worse. and that allows me to continue to hammer away on what i do to get america on the right track and i have really two months to be able to convince people i can do a better job than the incumbent. i think i can do that so i'm in a better spot than i was before the convention. >> it's tough to beat an incumbent, as you well know. do you feel like an underdog or do you feel like you're right in this ping. >> i think it is tough to be an incumbent if the incumbent's record is good. i think this incumbent has a very challenged record and jobs numbers that come out this week as well as the performance over the last 3 1/2 years suggest that this is a president that has not been able to deliver on his promises. people are dissatisfied with where he's taken the country and that gives me an opportunity which might not have been available had he done what he said he would do. >> i want to ask you about the

news of the day, these job numbers. less than 100,000 jobs created last month. yet it is striking because here you have the stock market at the highest level since 2007. i spoke to a top prominent business leader today who said the underpinnings of the economy right now are terrific. it's prime to take off. and yet we seem to be relatively speaking in a jobless recovery. what do you think's going on? >> i think it is a jobless recovery. if it's a recovery at all. it really doesn't look like a recovery. you're not seeing the kind of job growth that keeps up with population growth. you're not seeing any wage growth so it's not at all what a recovery's supposed to look like. it is really not the kind of recovery people had expected. normally when things go down as deeply as they did, they come rebounding but it's now been how many months? 43 months with unemployment above 8%? this last month it was surprising to me, not only the anemic job growth but the three or four times as many people dropped out of the labor force as were added as net new job

holders. this is really saying that people are having a hard time finding work. very, very troubling. of course, the stock market does well and, in part because the indication by the fed that they're going to print more money, pour more nn into the system, where else are you going to go? if interest rates are going to be near zero, investors have to go somewhere to protect against inflation. stock market's got no place to go. >> you don't think the fed ought to be any more involved at this point? >> i don't think that easing monetary policy is going to make a significant difference in the job market right now. i think what the nation needs is a change in fiscal policy, a different structure to our economic positions. if we take the right course, i believe you're going to see this economy roaring back. i do believe as you began by saying that there are many, many entrepreneurs, as well as major corporations, that are ready to jump. but they're hoping to see the kind of conditions on ground in

this country, the economic conditions that pro-business, pro-jobs conditions, that suggest it is a good idea to invest in america again. >> you talk about creating 12 million jobs in your first term. i have seen independent reports predicting about that many jobs under any event being created. doesn't that suggest that the president and his team have laid a foundation for that kind of growth to occur? >> well actually, the president has kept in place a series of policies that have made no progress against unemployment and a shrinking job market. the number of individuals that are in the job market today is at almost -- well, a 30, 40-year low. people can't find work. if this president is re-elected, you're going to see chronic high unemployment kin continue for another four years or longer. you're going to see low wage growth, if any growth at all. of course there will always be this fiscal calamity in our doorstep, crisis potential at our doorstep, the kind that you're seeing in europe today.

there's no question in my mind, if president obama is re-elected, you're not going to see our unemployment picture change dramatically. you're not going to see us create the jobs we need to create or the rising incomes people need. >> this is just a wild guess but i don't think either one of you were looking for any souvenirs from charlotte. but i actually did bring one. okay? i brought one. this is a bumper sticker that i found. it says, bin laden is dead, gm is alive. obviously this is one of the big tag lines, bumper sticker line from the obama campaign. why is that not a good bumper sticker for the president? >> well, i don't know that that's going to get him the support that he wants but of course he deserves credit for giving the order for the s.e.a.l. team to go after bin laden and take him out, that's absolutely right. with regards to gm, we'll probably get a chance to take a closer look at that. general motors should have gone into bankruptcy earlier. president resisted that for six months. i said let them go into bankruptcy. help them come out but let them

go in. i don't think most americans know that gm went bankrupt. president put them into bankruptcy and he finally did what i also thought was the right thing to do but i thought it from the very beginning and that would have saved us $20 billion or so that otherwise would have been able to be invested in things like teachers and policemen, as well as growing our economy. >> what's the romney-ryan bummer sticker? >> we got bumper stickers letting people know where we are. it is basically, you want more jobs? you want higher income? then vote for romney and ryan. >> mrs. romney, your speech was very well received around the country. you had an opportunity to talk about yourself and to talk about your husband and to talk about how he's connected to people in your lives and in your family. there was something that caught my attention, i'm sure it caught yours from the keynote speaker at the democratic convention which sort of went to this charge that somehow neither one of are you as empathetic about what's going on in the country to people who are out of work. and the line was, from julian

castro, the mayor of san antonio, you just don't know how good you've had it. how did that sit with you? >> well, i think the thang i want to communicate to people -- it's so important that people understand -- is that mitt and i do recognize that we have not a financial struggle in our lives, but i want people to believe in their hearts that we know what it is like to struggle. and our struggles have not been financial but they've been with health and with difficulty and in different things in life. and one thing that i, again, like to remind people is that multiple sclerosis has been my teacher, it has been at times a cruel teacher, but it has also been a great gift in my life because what it has done, it has taught me to be more compassionate and caring for those who are suffering. i know people are suffering right now. for people to think we don't have empathy just because we're not suffering like they're suffer something ridiculous.

it's ridiculous to think that you can't have empathy for somebody that's struggling. our life has always been devoted to those that are struggling more than we are and i was grateful for the opportunity that we had at the convention for others to speak up and talk about the kind of lives we've led and in particular for mitt, who really has been demonized in many ways as many heartless, and for people to stand up and say, excuse me, he was there when my son was dying of leukemia, he came to my son's bedside, he did all of these things for my son. and another woman saying how mitt was there for her. there's hundreds of those stories that haven't been told. and it was refreshing to me for the american people to finally be able to see the lens through which i see my husband and the perspective in which i understand how he operates. >> as a candidate now, when is the last time you really got to spend some quality time with

somebody who out of work and what did you get from that? >> well, actually, just last night it was. i was with a person who is facing some challenges. we shared our personal experiences, an effort on my part to point out that we can make it through tough times. look, that's part of every day life for most people. you have friends and acquaintances that have challenges and you talk about them. and i can tell you this. my life has been greatly enriched by my relationship with this young lady here. and i know how whiffle's got it because i was able to marry ann. but the reason i'm in this race is to help people. i'm not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet. i'm in this ris to help the american people. this is a commitment on my part, on ann's part, on our family's part, because we care very deeply about this country. i really think that those people that try and minimize.

the feeling and the connection that we have with the american people really miss the mark very badly and are trying to divide americans on who has money and who does not have as much. frank frankly, americans are not defined by whether they they were successful financially or not. a united america can solve the kind of challenges we have today. >> we have this dynamic where i don't think the president and mrs. barack obama weren't watching yours, you weren't watching theirs. nonetheless, a lot of attention to clint eastwood on your final night. he said after taking some shots about this that it was mission accomplished. were you laughing along with him or were you wincing part of the time, governor? >> i was laughing at clint eastwood. look, to have him get up and speak in my behalf was a great thrill. i mean this is a guy -- ann and i have watched from back in the days of the good, the bad and the ugly. we've been watching his films

for a long time, "dirty harry," and "grand torino" recently. he is a true american icon. >> true enough. but it was bizarre have to have him talking to a chair. >> you don't expect clint eastwood to get up and read a speech from a teleprompter like a politician. >> what about bill clinton. he had quite an impact. do you think he could get elected today for president. >> if the constitution weren't in his way, perhaps. i don't know the answer to that. but did he stand out in kcontrat with the other speakers. he really did elevate the democratic convention in a lot of ways. and frankly, the contrast may not have been as attractive as barack obama preferred if he were choosing who would go before him and who would go after. >> i want to ask you something more personal. you both are guarded about in your faith. you talked more about it at the convention. we came from a quote of a

biography written by your father in 1968, about being a mormon, i am among a religion that's among the most persecuted minority dwrou groups in history. you could be the first mormon president. i wonder how much pride that gives you and you think it gives others in the church. is it similar to what many catholics felt with president kennedy? >> i can't speem for aak for al members of the church. i'm proud all members of my faith are proud that someone of our faith is able to run for president. i've got so many challenges ahead of me within don't think so much about the impact this has on the church day to day but more about the impact i want to have on the electorate and what it takes to become elected president. i'm convinced that my background and heritage and faith has made me the person i am to a great degree. the judeo-christian ethics i was brought up with, the sense of

obligation to one's fellow man, the absolute conviction we are all sons and daughters of the same god and therefore in a human family is one of the reasons i am doing what i'm doing. it would have been very easy for me to just stay in business. i like business. that's fun. but when the olympic request came along, ann said you've got to do this, this is important. when i ran for governor, this is important. now when i'm running for president. i think that comes in part from this judeo-christian ethic of service and commitment to one's fellow man. >> mrs. romney, do you think that mormons in america and around the world, for that matter, have got be past a level of persecution that they can very openly be proud of what the two of you are doing? >> i certainly hope so. i mean it's always wonderful when milestones like that are accomplished and i think that was why we were all so pleased with so many americans were so pleased with the last election and seeing that a black man was elected as president of the united states. it made us proud as americans to know that those prejudices that

we've had in the past are falling away. >> beyond some of the more personal areas, we sat down at campaign headquarters the next morning for more detailed discussion about where governor romney stands on the key issues of the campaign. so governor, we talked last night about jobs and the economy and also the debt. i want to begin there. you've called the debt and our deficit a moral crisis and yet in addition to extending the bush tax cuts you want to cut tax rates an additional 20%. you've rejected a 10-1 spending ratio when it comes to spending to increasing taxes. and yet you want to balance the budget. the math simply doesn't add up, does it? >> actually it does. five different economic studies including one at harvard, princeton, aei and a couple at the "wall street journal" all show that if we bring down our o top rates and go across the board, bring down rates for everyone in america, but also limit deductions and exemptions for people at the high end, you can keep the progressivity in

the code, remain revenue neutral and you create an enormous incentive -- >> you haven't specified where you'd cut loopholes. you actually want to increase defense spending in addition to aulg of that. >> i want to maintain defense spending at the current level of the gdp. i don't want to keep bringing it down as the president's doing. this sequestration of the white house cutting our defense is an extraordinary miscalculation. >> republican leaders agreed to that deal. >> that's a big mistake on the part of the white house to propose it. think it was a mistake for republicans to go along with it. the president was responsible for coming out with specific changes that he'd make to the defense budget. it was supposed to have come out this last week. he has violated the law that he in fact signed. the american people need to understand how it is that our defense is going to be so badly cut. my own plan to bring down the rates of taxation while maintaining the revenues that come in to the government is by making sure that we don't lower taxes on high-income people.

we're not going to have high-income people pay less of the tax burden than they pay today. that's not going to happen. i do want to bring taxes down for middle income people. >> erskine bowles said something's got to give, that your plan would not actually reduce the deficit, that indeed taxes would have to go up on the middle class. what gives? if you're not right about your projections? >> first of all, i've got princeton, harvard, "wall street journal" and aei all saying actually that we can bring down the rates and if we limit or eliminate some of the loopholes and deductions at the high end we keep the current progressivity of the code and the same revenue coming in to the government, we get more growth in the economy. my tax policy is designed to find a way to encourage more hiring in this country. i'm very concerned that we have

23 million people who are underemployed or stopped looking for work. everything i warrant to do with regards to taxation follows simple principles -- bring our rates down to encourage growth, keep revenue up by limiting deductions and exemptions and make sure we don't put any bigger burden on middle income people. in fact i want to lower the burden on middle income people. >> but governor, where are the specifics how you get to this math? >> the specifics are these -- which is those principles i described are the heart of my policy and i've indicated as well that contrary to what the democrats are saying, i'm not going to increase the tax burden on middle income families. it would absolutely be wrong to do that. but i've had the experience of being a governor. i've demonstrated that i had the capacity to balance budgets. i balanced them four years in a row in massachusetts and we cut taxes 19 times. >> give me an example of a loophole that you will close. >> i can tell that you people at the high end, high income taxpayers, are going to have fewer deductions and exemptions. those numbers are going to come

down. otherwise, they'd get a tax break and i want to make sure people understand, despite what the democrats said at their convention, i am not reducing taxes on high-income taxpayers. i'm bringing down the rate of taxation but also bringing down deductions and exemptions at the high end so the revenues stay the same, the taxes people pay stay the same, middle income people again get a break. but high end of the tax stays the same but we encourage small business because small business is able to keep more of what it makes and therefore hire more people which is my priority. >> will you balance the budget in your first term? is that a commitment you can make? >> i'll balance the budget by the end of my second term. doing it in the first term would cause i believe a dramatic impact on the economy, too dramatic and therefore the steps i've put in place -- we put together a plan that lays out how we get to a balanced budget within eight to ten years. >> are you prepared to cut a deal with democrats that would cause conservatives to revolt? is it that important to get a deal to get us away from this fiscal cliff?

>> well, it's critical to get the country on track to avoid the kind of financial calamities you are seeing around europe. i have a plan that does that by really do -- >> but are you going to compromise? >> there's nothing wrong with the term compromise but there is something very wrong with the term abandoning one principles. i am standing by my principles and that is, i am not going to raise taxes on the american people. problem in our country is not that we're not paying enough taxes, it is that we are spending too much money and the economy is not growing as it could and should. look, we've just watched another month of tepid job numbers. this does not look like a recovery. the president's policies that meant have this economy is not growing as it should. fastest way to balance our budget is to grow the economy, put more people to work, see rising incomes. that's how you balance budgets. and so my tax policy is not designed to say, let's get some

more money from people. it is designed to say let's get more growth in the economy, hire more people so we can get more tax revenues -- >> a couple of specific areas on health care. you say that you would rescind the president's health care plan on day one. does that mean that you're prepared to say to americans, young adults, and those with pre-existing conditions that they would no longer be guaranteed health care? >> of course not. i say we're going to replace obama care. i'm replacing it with my own plan and even in massachusetts, where i was governor, our plan there deals with pre-existing conditions and with young people -- >> you'd keep that as part of the federal plan. >> i'm not getting rid of all of health kay health care reform. one, make sure those are existing conditions can get coverage. i also want individuals to be able to buy insurance, health insurance, on their own as

opposed toy being able to get it on a tax advantage basis through their company. >> that brings us to medicare. one of the things you believe in with the idea of premium support or a voucher for seniors under medicare is to achieve the goal of solvency. if competitive bidding in medicare fails to bring down prices, you have have a choice of either passing that cost on to seniors or blowing up the deficit. what would you do? >> well, let's stand back first. there's nothing about seniors in our plan. >> right. you'd wait ten years to implement any plan. >> there's no change for anyone who is retired or nearing retirement. it is only dealing with those people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and early 50s. that's the group we're dealing with and we're saying what's the best deal for them. it strikes me the best deal for them is to let them either buy current medicare or to have a private plan. a lot like medicare advantage today. >> that didn't drive down prices, governor. >> oh, it sure did. actually what you're seeing with medicare today, with medicare part d, the prescription drug benefit, is that congress in putting this together said we're

going to allow companies to compete for a package of prescription drug benefits and the costs that they've come up with is far less than anyone predicted. competition -- look, competition works. >> let me turn to foreign policy and ask you a couple of questions there. "the weekly standard" took to you task in your convention speech for not mentioning the war in afghanistan one time. was that a mistake with so much sacrifice in two wars over the period of this last decade? >> you know, i find it interesting that people are curious about mentioning words in a speech as opposed to policy. so i went to the american legion the day before i gave that speech -- >> you weren't speaking to tens of millions of people when you went -- >> i found wherever i go i am speaking to tens of millions of people. everything i say is pick up by you and others and that's the way it ought to be. i went to the american legion and spoke with our veterans there and spoke about my policy as it relation to afghanistan. the troops know my commitment to afghanistan and the effort that's going on there.

i have some differences in policy with the president. i happen to think those are more important than what word i mention in each speech. >> he used some pretty tough words in talking about you saying you and paul ryan are "new to foreign policy, want to take us back to an era o blustering that cost us so dearly." said you were stuck in a time warp. tough stuff suggesting you're not ready on day one to be commander in chief. >> well, i can certainly look at his record and i think one can say that he's had some successes and he's had some failures. perhaps the biggest failure is as it relates to the greatest threat that america faces and the world faces, which is the nuclear iran. the president has not drawn us further away from a nuclear iran. iran is closer to having a weapon, closer to having nuclear capability than when he took office. this is the greatest failure in my opinion of his foreign policy. he ran for office saying he was going to meet with ahmadinejad, he was going to meet with

castro, kim jong-il, all the world's worst actors without precondition. >> president bush said he would keep iran from going nuclear. so did president obama. neither one were able to achieve that. >> president obama had a policy of engagement with ahmadinejad. that policy has not worked and we are closer to a nuclear weapon as a result of that. ly have a very different approach with regards to iran. it is an approach which the president is finally getting closer to. it begins with crippling sanctions nap should have been put in place long ago. >> is the country safer or less safe because of president obama's leadership. >> in some ways safer. getting rid of osama bin laden, i think a success on the part of the president authorizing s.e.a.l. team 6, commanding s.e.a.l. team 6 to take him out. that was a great accomplishment. using the drones to strike at al qaeda targets. i think those are positive developments. iran, however, becoming nuclear, is a whole different development and a game changing threatening development, threatening not only to our ally israel but threatening to the united states

of america and the president has not been successful. in the words of prime minister netanyahu, iran has not changed its nuclear course one iota by virtue of this president's policies. that's something i intend to change. >> you put troops on the ground to stop iran from going nuclear or can you live with a nuclear iran and contain? >> i don't think we live with a nuclear iran. i think we make it very clear a nuclear iran is very unacceptable to civilized nations throughout the world and we'll maintain every option to keep that from happening. >> two presidents have said the very same thing. why can you succeed on iran when they cannot? >> at the time president bush was president iran was years away from a nuclear weapon. he pursued diplomacy as i think we should continue to pursue diplomatic channels and pursue as well the kind of crippling sanctions. we need to use every resource we have to dissuade them from their nuclear path. but that doesn't mean that we would take off the table our

military option. that's something which certainly every american would hope we would never have to use. but we have to maintain it on the table or iran will undoubtedly continue their treacherous course. >> one question on a social issue. that is abortion. in 2 240u7 you were on this program and said you would fight to overturn roe v. wade. would a president romney fight to overturn roe v. wade? >> there are a number of things that need to be said about preserving and protecting the life of the unborn child. i recognize there are two lives involved. the mom and the unborn child. i believe that people of good conscience have chosen different paths in this regard but i am pro-life and will intend, if i'm president of the united states, to encourage pro-life policies. >> just encourage or fight for it to be overturned? >> well, i don't actually make the decision the supreme court makes so they'll have to make their own decision but i will, for instance, reverse the

president's decision on using u.s. funds to pay for abortion outside this country. i don't think also the taxpayers here should have to pay for abortion in this country. those things i think are consistent with my pro life position and i hope to appoint justices to the supreme court that will follow the law and the constitution and it would be my preference that they reverse roe v. wade and therefore they return to the people and their elected representatives the decisions with regards to this important issue. >> i want to come back to where we started in this final area about how difficult it is going to be to govern in washington as you well know. you know you could be a very unpopular president if you make tough choices that you say you'll make. if it came to it, if the only way to achieve a deal on this fiscal cliff was to endanger yourself politically to the point that you were a one-term president, would you be satisfied with that? >> david, i could not care less about my political prospects. i want to become president of the united states to get this country on the right track

again. america is at a critical crossroads. we have to strengthen the foundation of our economy, of our values, of our principles so we have a military so strong we can defend our freedom and others. put americans back to work and politics and whether i'm highly favored, not highly favored just doesn't enter into the equation. >> would you be satisfied with one term if you could get a deal on averting a fiscal cliff? >> let me tell you, if i can get this country on track again, i'd be satisfied with anything. >> there's still questions, you acknowledged, do people really flow you. i think the question is are you the moderate from massachusetts who championed universal health care, who at one time was for abortion rights or are you the candidate who said he was a severe conservative? what will you be as president? >> i'm as conservative as the constitution. i believe in the principles this nation was founded upon. i understand how our economy works. i've lived in the economy. i also understand how to work across the aisle. you get elected in massachusetts where 87% of your legislature is

in the opposition party, you've got to work with people across the aisle. i know how to do that. i'm going to work like crazy to break the deadlock in washington and to get america on the right track. i actually think that because we're at this precipice economically, at the precipice fiscally as a nation as well, that there are going to be good democrats and good republicans who have shown respect and if they see a president that's willing to work with them to share credit with them, to encourage them and pull them along, we're going to be able to deal with the challenges we have. if not, i'm going to die trying. i'm going to do everything in my power to fix this country. >> governor, you're in a unique position. you had both parents seek high office and both fell short. victory in this race in november will be humbling enough because of the problems this country faces. but if you lose, how would you handle that? >> oh, i don't worry about myself. i worry about the country. i watched my dad when he thought he lost actually. it was his second term as governor and lyndon johnson won

by a landslide in michigan. my dad wasn't concerned at all. he was running because he cared about the state, thought he could do a better job than the people who were otherwise going to be running the state and he went on and anticipated going on with his life. look, i'm not worried about my life. my life's fine. i'm worried about the country. i'm worried about the people that can't find work. the people in the middle class that have been crushed under this president. their wages have gone down, their costs have gone up. around the world people are asking where is america's leadership. i was with lech walesa in poland. he said where is america to lead? we can't afford a president who's incomplete. we have to have a president that understand wlaz it takes to restore america's economic vitality, put americans to work and be able to provide the kind of military strength and leadership globally that the

world needs and that americans deserve. >> governor, thank you for having us to your headquarters. sorry about the gusty conditions but stay safe on the campaign trail. my conversation with governor mitt romney. coming up here, reaction. how did governor romney change the debate in this campaign with this interview. we'll get reaction to all of it from our political roundtable. one of the stars this past week in charlotte for the democrats, julian castro. bill bennett. we know why we're here. ♪ to connect our forces to what they need, when they need it. ♪ to help troops see danger, before it sees them. ♪ to answer the call of the brave and bring them safely home. [ female announcer ] around the globe, the people of boeing are working together, to support and protect all who serve. that's why we're here.

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