host: charles mahtesian, thank you for your time.e will talk about health care with helen darling. she is with the national business group on health. large companies expect about a 7% increase on health care costs. later in the program, daniel newhauser will join us to talk about the farm bill. it is not quite finished yet. we'll get an update. some more news from c-span radio. >> reaction continuant to come in on paul line's selection as the vice-presidential candidate. david axelrod is comparing mitt romney's tories of paul ryan to john mccain's selection of sarah palin four years ago. the choice is "not going to be romney." for a new campaign ad already targeting congressman ryan. it portrays the ticket as a threat to medicare. it promotes president obama as medicare's protector. the romney campaign has released in a television ad of accusing the white house of stripping -- medtronic campaigns today in florida. c-span will carry that live. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> hello. we are anonymous. we have

developments in the presidential and congressional campaigns around the country with an editor charles mahtesian. after that a look at health care costs. and then, we are joined by a staff writer who will talk about what congress is expected to do with the farm bill that expires at the end of september. "washington journal," with your calls, tweets and emails." president obama was in chicago today for a fundraising event. there was an event here at the bridgeport art center. he commented on the mitt romney choice of paul ryan as his running mate and talked about when he calls the two visions for moving the country forward. tomorrow the president begins a three-day bus tour across iowa iowa. this event is about half an hour. >> chicago looks good. and all of you look good. >> ♪ happy birthday to you happy birthday to you ♪ [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. it is true. i am now 51. [cheers and applause] michelle, you are, too. you look better than i do. michelle says i do not look a day over 50. there are a couple of people i want to acknowledge. first of all, thank you so m

we begin with charles mahtesian, helen darling, and daniel newhauser. that is tomorrow's edition of the "washington journal." thank you for watching today and we will see you tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> coming up, "newsmakers" with tom vilsack. then, geithner speaks at a budget hearing chaired by paul ryan. after that, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. >> joining us is the agriculture secretary tom vilsack. he joins us from nebraska. the question is about the drought and what is going on with food supply. we have two reporters. thank you for being here. let us start with the first question. >> good afternoon. i wanted to start off by asking about this disaster relief for livestock producers. they did not get a farm bill done. disaster relief for livestock producers expired in the 2008 farm bill. i would like to get an idea of what is being done to address this. >> first and foremost, we are trying to use as many tools as are a

host: charles mahtesian is the national political editor for politico. he spent eight years as a national correspondent for governing magazine. we have harold from new jersey, a republican. good morning. caller: the good news is we live in the united states of america. we have a marvelous constitution and marvelous people with generous hearts. we need from our leaders inspiration. president obama has the ability to do that. he gave an inspiring speech in may to a high school that had been destroyed and came back. my president said correctly to -- our president said directly to -- correctly to the graduates, we need god. god bless you. may god bless the united states of america. god has answered that prayer and and god has said, mr. president, i will bless the united states if you keep our commandments. -- keep my commandments. the problem is we have not been keeping the commitments, especially you shall not give false testimony and that kind of stuff. what we need, obviously, to do -- this great country deserves better than evil. we do not need to demoni

host: as the table, charles mahtesian. it has been two days. what is the bulk of for the gop ticket so far? guest: i think we've seen a great deal of energy, similar in some ways to 2008. you can see the crowds there are attracting to the ticket. i think the selection itself was a surprise in many ways but generated a lot of enthusiasm on the republican side. host: your recent apiece in politico. you wrote this over the weekend. you weren't talking about the man paul ryan. what have you learned so far? guest: it was related to the budget plan, the controversial reforms. it was going to be litigated over the plan and the reforms for medicare. people like him. but there is some polling out there and it shows the country does not really know him all that well. especially independents. he is still a blank slate and somebody to be defined. host: the president and democrats are trying to define him right away and in their own way. what should they do to get what they want into the debate? guest: it will be a different debate than folks expected. ther

developments in the presidential and congressional campaigns around the country with an editor, charles mahtesian. after that, a look at health care costs. and then, we are joined by a staff writer who will talk about what congress is expected to do with the farm bill that expires at the end of september. "washington journal," with your calls, tweets, and emails." president obama was in chicago today for a fundraising event. there was an event here at the bridgeport art center. he commented on the mitt romney choice of paul ryan as his running mate and talked about when he calls the two visions for moving the country forward. tomorrow, the president begins a three-day bus tour across iowa iowa. this event is about half an hour. >> chicago looks good. and all of you look good. >> ♪ happy birthday to you happy birthday to you ♪ [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. it is true. i am now 51. [cheers and applause] michelle, you are, too. you look better than i do. michelle says i do not look a day over 50. there are a couple of people i want to acknowledge. first of all, thank you s