>> author david maraniss and his book, barack obama, the story. .. to discuss his latest book barack obama the story and then take your calls, e-mails and tweets. >> david maraniss you write in barack obama the story that no life could have been more the product of randomness than that of barack obama. >> guest: it's the whole world coming together accidentally in honolulu, hawaii in 1950. a father that happens to become ill from kenya because he rads a story that describes the university of hawaii as a great place because its diversity, and a mother that has a father with a wanderlust that is never satisfied the and he ends up selling furniture than the meat in the russian class and here comes barack obama who emerges as a whole global treen amex systems until he becomes president of the united states. >> host: >> guest: in butler county is where obama's mother grew up and natalie and the rest of the store in topeka which is the state capital because he lived there for a short time. his father, the president's great grandfather was an auto repair ma

david maraniss, daniel juergen, sally smith, david and julie nixon eisenhower, tom friedman, those would be some of the guests featured at the national book festival this year. join us on book tv on c-span2. >> what i want to do and what i have been doing is it for your investigation for bbc television on five continents. i don't know if they're is a sixth. i guess. of that 1 percent. i want you to know the names. when he to meet their trophy wives. i want to know the movers and shakers who are moving and shaking as. you're going to be timid, and your going to meet the people that they have moved unshaken because we don't -- it's not about wall street. we occupy for stan lee and mattingly. stan lee and mattingly is in india in oklahoma who lives in the drolen. on a property like much of the indian reservation. those go up and down, the metal horses pull up will. and they have a contract. go around a track. the truck would come in and pull 20 barrels of for stripper well and marked down 16 and go to her neighbors. what? the difference is called overage . or theft. kind of a couple beryl's

obama recently in the book by david maraniss's book, when maraniss went to obama, he said no, i had lots of girlfriends. which is interesting because none of them have come forward. no journalist has ever interviewed any of them. this is a man with many black holes in his biography. we were like, we've never been interviewed, no one's been done here. so incredibly, this is the biggest story in america, and it is uncovered in the mainstream press. it is not good for democratic policies. not just the liberal media, the liberal media was pretty tough on clinton and john carter. there was another factor that is going on here that leaves people in the press to not cover obama, but when the people who try to bring it out, and he gives a reaction that you can expect. >> there are some people who couldn't have a logical discussion about this discussion. but i know i'm going to go see this movie. [applause] and the people who are not here, the people who refuse to talk about it will go to this movie? >> the way to make the film succeed is for conservatives to go to it. if the film is a massive su

david maraniss of the "washington post' has written biographies of both men. >> events have conspired to bring bill clinton and barack obama to the same place. bill clinton loves to be needed as much as he needs to be loved and he's really needed by barack obama right now. >> and, david, because the original plan it was to be in that outdoor venue where they were not going to be able to drop balloons for obvious reasons, there will not be balloons tomorrow night, after the president accepts his party's nomination for re-election, unlike what you normally see at such an event. as we saw last week when mitt romney accepted his party's nomination. so, david, i know you're a big fan of balloons. no balloons tomorrow, sorry. >> jake tapper leading us off, we'll have to settle for the confetti cannons instead. last night, it was not the confetti but the "i love michelle" signs in the air. and apparently somewhere place else, twitter. 28,000 per minute for the first lady in fact. and apparently, it wasn't just her speech, it was also her dress. and so we're going to turn down to the conventi

the orioles sweep the maraniss. they are 1/2 games behind the yankees. nice triple body bumped right there. what a pennant race and what a showdown. the ravens and patriots right here. strange game sunday in philadelphia. the eagles turned the ball over four times and the ravens still lost. that is rare for the ravens. tom brady was outplayed in january. that means nothing now. he says the ravens have the talent and leadership to get it done sunday night. >> i think that is what is great about our offense. i have been with them for five years. we have seen growth in both of us. we had of the guides leading the team. michael in the younger guys. we call ourselves vocal leaders. >> our coverage begins sunday at 6:30 p.m. >> nbc picks up the coverage. kickoff8:20. -- 8:20. >> a fire here yesterday morning and another one nearby. the work of an arsonist. the story is next. >> on the presidential campaign trail, a war of words. trail, a war of words. i now sink your teeth into that big n' toasted if you're ready to soar. good. exits are here, here, and here.

. >> david maraniss his grandparents died in 2006. did president obama ever meet him? >> guest: no, he never met after the 1980's after his grandfather had died. aside from the very early days of his birth but he didn't get back to kenya until both of his grandparents were gone so there's a dramatic difference in that part of the story. >> for barack obama the story how many interviews did you do over the course of the last four years? >> guest: i would say almost 400, and i had a wonderful assistant who helped with some of the leader interviews in the story but i traveled all over the world and so everybody could find in every part of the life of president obama and his parents and grandparents. >> host: barack obama sr. was born in 1936. what was his childhood like? >> guest: from a fairly early age he was dealing with western culture in the british. he was a very smart kid. his father was difficult to get along with and was not often there mostly in the nairobi and he was growing up. he was lucky in the sense that he was smart enough to get into a very good school i

earlier tonight, i was talking to david maraniss, a buyographer of both obama and clinton he said that bill clinton needs to be loved but also to be needed. boy, does president obama need bill clinton to make a very strong case. >> jake, i want to point out the fund-raising, the first line, don't take anything for granted. don't think you can wait until the debate. we have to point out to everybody, october 3rd. again, we are so close to these debates. >> the fund-raiser is so important, it is a divisive advantage over the campaign. now, we're seeing the video introducing president bill clinton. >> from cokie, another thing that the president has to do, it seems to me, kennedy voters now in they're 60s, 70s, hard to believe. john mccain did well among them so he's representing tonight. >> it's true, he's become the senior spokesman. the former bad boy of the democratic party and according to some has now become clearly a senior spokesman. and those voters that he did win when they were younger, he's going to have to appeal to them tonight and a very important appeal because as you say,

david maraniss is working on another biography at this time. there are lots of great books that come out every year by serious journalists/historians that are worth reading. walter isaacson's book on steve jobs is a perfect example of that. was an international phenomenon because all the things we could learn from it. >> what you currently reading? >> i read an eclectic we. i read a wonderful book written by -- blood not. i love that. and the 48 campaign which if you think this is wild that was really wild. harry truman and henry wallace and strom thurmond and tom do we first election after the war. terry anderson, book about georgia bush and how he decided to go to war. my wife finish catherine the great. i have got to go back and get involved in that. i read a lot of magazine stuff. a lot of essays. i opened up a correspondence with donald hall as a result of something he wrote about growing old. we had a little exchange. i am in awe of great writers. i don't pretend to be a great writer. i am energetic and i am pretty good sometimes the grea

during the live show at 4:00 p.m., david maraniss, author of the barack obama book that came out this year. and he has also written a barker fee of bill clinton. he will be one of the guest this morning, along with david wasserman of the cook political report. and finally come on robert gibbs of the obama campaign. -- and finally, robert gibbs of the obama campaign. at 5:00 p.m., the convention gave two kicks off. -- today two kicks off. here is a look at who will be speaking. you can tune in for gavel-to- gavel coverage. that is all tonight on day two of the democratic national convention at the charlotte arena. next call comes from san marino, california. brian, thank you for holding. caller: even as a conservative, i love the first lady's speech. it was graceful. it was lovely. i cannot begin to express my respect for her and what she is trying to do. even though i'm not planning to vote for president obama. however, i want to make a comment on the coverage of c- span. i love the gavel to gavel and no-nonsense, but one thing our -- i remember in going through the republican convent

obama recently in david maraniss's book about obama he names a girl who dated obama, claims she was the girlfriend that obama refers to in his own book but their stories don't match. when meredith went to obama obama said i had lots of girlfriends which is interesting because none of them have come ford. no journalist has interviewed many of them. this is a man with many black holes in his biography. i think this is the result -- when we were doing our film we would be in hawaii and indonesia and talked to people related to the obamas and knew his dad and his mom and a new young obama and i asked when rio interviewed and we have never been interviewed. no one has been down here so incredibly this is the biggest story in america and being truly uncovered in the mainstream press. it is a little bit of the scandal and not good for our democratic politics. not just the liberal media. the liberal media was tough on clinton and carter. there's another factor going on that leads people in the press not only to not cover obama but when incriminating information surfaces to try to squelch it can

and when maraniss went to obama obama said, have fostered or friends which is interesting because none of them have come forward. no journalist has ever interviewed one. so this is a man with many black holes in his biography. and i think this is the result, when we are doing our film we would be in hawaii, indonesia, talk to people who are related to the obama's, knew his dad, mom, has mobs thesis adviser and ask them, well, when were you last interviewed and there were light, we have never been interviewed. incredibly this is the biggest story in america and it is being truly uncovered, not covered in the mainstream press. a little bit of a scandal, i think. it's not give our democratic politics. not just the liberal media. pretty tough on clinton and carter. and other factions going on. not only to not cover him, but incriminating information services, to squelch it and discredit the people who are bring it out. that gives you a little preview of the kind of reaction you can expect is our film goes national thank you. let's go to the next question. >> each of us knows people that wo

minutes, we will take you live to the time warner cable arena for our preview program with david maranissall of this coming up beginning at 4:00 here on c-span. until then, a closer look at the city of charlotte and the state of north carolina, the politics, and how the two campaigns are perching this. this is about 10 minutes. >> now we are thrilled to have the political writer of the charlotte observer. thank you very much for coming in. he has great coverage in the run-up. we are excited to ask them. he is from illinois. for years he has worked with the peace corps. in 1979 he came into rock hill. he came to the charlotte observer and has been the chief political writer since 1987. why has met running up the way north carolina? >> i think north carolina is becoming a purple state. it has changed over the last few years. no. carolinas with the fastest- growing states. the population has changed. the obama campaign said they can work north carolina. i think you have a combination of ground games of the obama people and the demographic changes that make it more of a purple state. >> just

. >> there are two wonderful books out now about al qaeda and the taliban, david maraniss is workingn another biography at this time. and there are lots of great books that have come out every year by serious journalist/this ones that are worth reading. walter isaacson's book on steve jobs is a perfect example of that. it was an international best selling phenomenon and with good reason because of all things that we can learn from it. >> what are you currently reading? >> i read eclectically actually. i read a wonderful book written by a british man is fought in world war ii. i'm reading about the 48 campaign which if you think this is while. that was really wild. harry truman and henry wallace and strom thurmond and tom dooley, the first election after the war. so i'm reading that. the book about george bush and how he decided to go to war. my wife just finished catherine the great which was given to me and she picked it off, i got to go back and get involved in that. i read a lot of magazines stuff, a lot of essays. i read -- openable correspondence with a poet by the name of donal

david maraniss, biographer of both president clinton and president obama. the convention kicks off at 5:00 p.m. with gavel-to-gavel coverage on c-span tv, c- span.org and on c-span radio. and tonight, bill clinton is the closer. he will be nominating president obama for a second term. that is in the 10:00 p.m. eastern time hour. the full-scale -- schedule available c-span.org. and last night's close are is michelle obama. and that is how the obama campaign refers to her. here is her from last night. >> please welcome elaine fry from ohio. >> wow, what is a mom like me doing in a place like this? i am not even a political person, but what i am as a military mom. i'm helping my youngest will join the coast guard. they are and moms was precious treasures. and i don't know when i can get together again because one of them is always the plane. our lives are always a little bit easier. along with president obama, they have made military families a top priority. they have brought together the american people including thousands of businesses to become part of a na

coming up next in the history biography tent david maraniss, barack obama the story, biographer of thedent just published in june, speaking in that tent shortly and that he will be followed by bob woodward, another associate editor at the washington post. mr. woodward's 19th book is the price of politics, all about the budgets and the last couple of years with the obama white house and republican house and the democratic senate. so those are the next two speakers live from the national book festival this year. as we continue our live coverage. here on our set just a few feet from the history and biography ten we are joined by author thomas mallon who has written this book, watergate a novel. now, we are a nonfiction work. how do you write a novel about watergate? how you approach that? >> the reader will find that the agreed upon facts, most of the big ones are still intact. president nixon resigns in 1974, the same basic time line. it is not what sometimes it's altered, the history. but i think what they can do with the existing history is in certain things in between. and then try to

[laughter] now its maraniss, sir, is interviewing or ex-girlfriend. [laughter] >> yeah. [laughter] >> now to chip. it's not easy being the child of a famous person especially when your real that is for the else's surrogate dad. he didn't know me when the process started three years ago. i called him just a few weeks after his dad died, which could not have been an easy time for him, could not have been more helpful, more gracious, a better gentleman. the family archives dugout a bunch of stuff that nobody had seen before. went through his dad's personal papers, dug up a bunch of stuff. and after his dad's long lost wartime correspondence were discovered, chip made absolutely sure that i had full access to everything. i'm delighted that chip's son, walter for, that's working at cbs, with help from his former hamilton college professor, will be bringing out a book, the definitive wartime letters of walter cronkite. will be out in about a year or so it couldn't be more pleased. in fact, i defy anyone to read the letter that walter cronkite wrote to his wife, betsy, on chris

national mall with two days of presentations and interviews including walter isaacson and david maranisslive on c-span 2. to discuss details at booktv.org. >> paul ryan spoke today at the aarp annual conference in new orleans. he talked about social security and medicare and his plans with presidential candidate mitt romney to protect the programs in the future and repeal the health care law. this is about 35 minutes. [applause] >> hey, everybody. how are you? thank you. appreciate it. jane, everyone here, i appreciate the introduction and this chance to be with you in new orleans. you have had a busy convention. i know that many of you may time yesterday to volunteer around this great city. it was very much in the spirit of a group whose motto calls to the service of others. this country honors those who serve. we have set aside today as a nation to remember those men and women in uniform who were taken as prisoners of war or went missing in action. to honor those who have endured hardship and to remember those who remain missing, i like to begin with a moment of silent prayer, if you w