thanks as always for joining us. >> thank you. >> eliot: chris o'donnell. i long for those days. coming back for. >> he's very good at promoting herself. i've had the pleasure of meeting her and working with her. >> eliot: working with her? explain, in the convent of some sort? >> we were together on politically incorrect with bill maher a couple of times. i had the pleasure of meeting her. the first time i met her we had a heated conversation. i told her that my parents were ex-catholic clergy. she said that she broke up with a catholic boyfriend because he wasn't sure he was going to heaven when he died and she knew that she was going to heaven. if a muslim said i know i'm going to paradise no matter what, people might be a bit skittish in parts of this country. >> eliot: you and she did not get along. >> no, we butt head, but then we met up again a few weeks later and i made nice. >> eliot: did they explain to the certainty? she's holding on to this herself. >> i'm half brooklyn and half southern. which means i'm bilingual >> eliot: or some might think you don't speak any lang

howard fineman, kelly o'donnell, helene cooper and major garrett. that's the show. chris will be back next week with a special preview of convention week.

chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today, abc's sam donaldson, nbc's kelly o'donnell, "the new york times"' helene cooper and "new york" magazine's john hileman. it's kickoff time. the conventions will be the biggest time yet to muster troops and reach millions at home. restless tea partyers probably won't get as bad as 1964, when barry goldwater delegates made things impossible for nelson rockefeller, chanting while he spoke, "we want barry." >> it's danger to the party. [crowd chanting "we want barry"] >> well, four years later with the vietnam war the big story, riots outside the convention hall in chicago stole the spotlight from vice president hubert humphrey, who was saddled with lyndon johnson's war. he never recovered from those images in the chicago streets. sam, this is the old question of campaigns and conventions, especially conventions. what picture are you going to give to the country? here's the question for the democrats. ironically it's not too much noise and excitement, it's complacency, minorities, people who may not vote. how does he energize them? >> he's going to give the country bill clinto

christie, romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. [ cheers and applause ] >>> i'm chris hayes in for lawrence o'donnelltwo new national polls show president obama widening his lead on mitt romney as the

. >>> i'm chris hayes in for lawrence o'donnell tonight. two national polls

. >>> i'm chris hayes in for lawrence o'donnell tonight. two national polls show president obama widening his lead on mitt romney as the romney campaign uses a new television ad to try to make nice with republicans. but first, we have new details, i suppose about the famous unnamed source that allegedly told senator harry reid that mitt romney paid no federal income taxes for ten years. here is reid's deputy communications director jose parra. >> all we can say is that we're comfortable with this person. this person is an investor in bain capital. a republican also, and somebody who, you know, who has been dealing with mr. romney's company for a long, long time. and he had direct knowledge of this. >> after that sound bite fopped up on the huffington post, he released a retraction saying i do not know the affiliate of the source or how long he invested with bain. democrats and the obama campaign are intent on making him pay the full cost of this secrecy. mitt romney's secret tax returns are the subject of a just released tell advice ad from

i agreed with lawrence o'donnell, the fact that chris christie didn't smile at all, and looked so agrieved is not what's necessary for undecided voters. >> i do think there's been one theme tonight. it's the nostalgia of experience for upward social mobility. nikki haley talked about her parents building a business. rick santorum talked about the immigrant grandfather who came, and the father who worked his way up. chris christie, ann romney talked about her father. so what it is is this nostalgia, right, this was this experience of american social mobility that is now gone. when chris christie says this line, which i thought was the most interesting, we are the great-grandchildren of men and women who broke their backs in the name of ingenuity. who was in that "we"? we are the great grandchildren. it's not people who came in this generation or the generation before. that's a very circumscribed set of people to whom he is talking, a set of people who feel america is not theirs anymore, who have the nostalgia of mobility in the past, that i will say objectively the case, no longer a part of

. >> kelly o'donnell, you're the first to report that chris van hollen is going to be the stand-in ton debate practice. let me play a clip. i'm looking forward to the next debate between you and your republican counterpart, paul ryan. >> i would welcome that opportunity. >> he seemed to have all the medicare facts yesterday but paul ryan, you cover him, because you have been on the hill obviously with him as the budget chair, you have been tracking the budget. he is ready to go, primed to go. we watched him in virginia this morning. do you think they now embrace ryanism and make a virtue of it, that's why they chose him? >> it's interesting, usually we are asking the second person on the ticket where they differ from the nominee and somehow that's been flipped around this time. maybe in part because there was a degree of surprise even though there had been a lot of discussion that paul ryan is a bright face in the party would be considered, but there had been a sense this a safer choice was going to be the more likely path for romney. well, that didn't happen. so now it really is a ca

reverend al sharpton and chris hayes as well as the mccain/palin team senior strategist from 2008, steve schmidt. lawrence o'donnellill join us as well. leading our coverage from tampa is, of course, my colleague and frie is chris matthews. a from a cuss on the floor but with the business of the nomination done, big picture, what else do the republicans need to do with all of this attention and with this big event? >> to get elected president, that's what's elected. tonight it is all about strategy, target zone, working class, noncollege white american voters. the way to get to them is with chris christie, a regular guy, cab driver wloshgs can say it is none of your business, jersey way, and aiming directly at the reagan democrats, working class perhaps catholics as a group and romney, kind of soften up her husband and the weight that hasn't been done before and the third one, you may call this the ugly piece tonight. that's when rick santorum comes back, tasked with the job of raising what's to many people dishonest message is that barack obama, the president, is basically allowing people to get welfare checks wit

lawrence o'donnell, host of msnbc's "the last word" always great to see you thank you. >> thanks, chris thuz this morning, five australian soldiers have been killed in afghanistan in just of the past 24 hours. three of them by a man wearing an afghan army uniform. two others died in a helicopter crash. 14 nato troops have now been killed by their afghan colleagues this month. >>> hurricane isaac is causing gas prices to jump up 11 cents in a week. just yesterday the price rose almost 5 cents nationwide, but look at this in ohio. it was up 14 cents. in indiana, 13 cents. in illinois, 10 cents. >>> and something new is cooking at campbell's soup. cnbc's mandy drury with what's moving your money. andy warhol is back. >> he is indeed. the world's biggest soupmaker plans to introduce special edition kansas of its condensed soup reminiscent of andy warhol's paintings. available at target starting on sunday at a cost of 75 cents each. obviously, much less than the original. the irony here, chris, is that campbell's knee-jerk reaction back in the 1960s was it was considering taking legal action

governor chris christie's giving the keynote address tonight at the republican convention, so we'll ask the governor about the message ♪ >>> welcome back to "cbs this morning." nora o'donnells at the republican national convention in tampa. new jersey governor chris christie is a rising star in the republican party, and he'll be giving the keynote at the convention tonight. governor christie, welcome. >> happy to be here. >> this is an important podium, an important moment. tell us what you have said, what you have to accomplish to make this what it ought to be. >> you know, i just have to be me, and i think if i come out here tonight and if everybody walks away from the speech saying, yeah, that's the guy i thought he was, then i'll be okay. >> but you want to deliver a message, because the company is watching. this is really the true beginning of the convention. >> well, no question, and i think that what you want to lay out is a vision for our party and our country for the next four years. what does it mean to be a republican and what will that mean over the next four years after mitt romney and paul ryan are left. what will the republican governance look like and what

o'donnell took an aspirin and went to the cardiologist the next day. an artery was 99%blocked. anshe had to hav a stint put in. >>> rihanna just told oprah she has forgiven ex-boyfriend chrisbrown. but that's not good enough for the courts. brown is expected to go before a los angeles judge today. the court appearance to determine whether he has completed the domestic violence classes and community service he was sentenced to after beating up rihanna. >>> and so what if roger clemens hasn't pitched for a baseball team for five years. the rocket who is now 50, signed yesterday for a minor league team in texas called the sugarland skeeters. the skeeters. his first game is on saturday. the game is sold out. and a workout with the team, clemens' fastball was 87 miles per hour. go, skeeters. >> we'll see if he still has it. >>> none of clemens' major league teams feature in our sports update. but that does not mean there's no baseball. some highlights, now, from espn. >> good morning. i'm hakem dermish with yr espn news update. a historic dayn williamsport. wi lucasnd the kids from connecticut, facing new castle, indiana. top two, strikes out bryce utley. then gets jared porter

new york city along with my colleagues ed shultz and the reverend al sharpton, chris hayes and steve schmidt. lawrence o'donnell will be joining us as well. leading coverage from tampa is the one and only chris matthews. chris, this is the big night. i mean, there has not been much said about mitt romney personally these past couple nights. it's been a good commercial for the republican party, not much on the nominee. but tonight that all changes. is there anything that surprises you about tonight's agenda? >> no. i think that clint eastwood is interesting because no matter what script he's given, he's still clint eastwood. we know the guy, his back story. he's tough. he's got character. the big problem tonight for mitt romney is will the words define him or will they simply guide us to his weaknesses, his attempts to create a notion of himself rather than the reality. i'll go back to it, the back story is more important than the script tonight. we'll all be watching for that thing. >> there's one thing i wanted to get your take on before we go too far. we just fed in this tape from chris christie today talking

o'donnell. you name it. let me begin with my first reads of the morning. hours from now mitt romney and paul ryan arrive. two big speakers, chris christie and mitt's wife, ann. >> i like my speech. i really like ann's speech. our sons are already in tampa and they say it's terrific there, lot of great press. we're looking forward to a great conventi convention. >> can you give us a little preview? >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen. >> two big speeches from ann romney and chris christie represent the two key goals that romney needs to achieve to make this convention a success. call it the soft sell and the hard sell. ann romney, who has been married to mitt romney for 43 years, her job is to humanize her husband a little bit and make him more three dimensional, if you will. >> i wish everyone could see him how i see him, because as a mother, i've seen him, how compassionate he has been with me, as a wife and raising these small children. and how he always valued my work as being more important than hi his. >> campaign tweeted this fogt off ann romney, making welsh cakes to bring to the convention. not worried about her speech.

o'donnell and luke russert. we are only just getting started. coming up, more political all-stars. virginia governor bob mcdonnell, antonio villareigosa, michael steele, chris cillizza, mark halperin and tom brokaw. all eyes on isaac. where will the storm make landfall? this is "andrea mitchell reports." welcome aboard! [ chuckles ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ like the elephant on my chest... he thought he was having a heart attack. she said, "take an aspirin, we need to go to the hospital." i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm very grateful to be alive. aspirin really made a difference. >>> i like my speech. our sons are already in tampa and they say it's terrific there, and we're looking forward to a great convention. >> can you give us a little preview? >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen. >> is mitt romney ready for his big moment? we'll find out here in tampa when the

o'donnell, host of "the last word" who joins us live from tampa. good afternoon. and it is -- >> martin, i'm just sitting here desperately wanting to be loved like chris christie says am. he's absolutely bright that. he's got me. >> please feel the affection that our broadcast conveys to you. >> martin, that was the single worst phrasing and line i have ever heard in a convention speech. what could he conceivably have meant that anyone in this country who isn't a republican is curled up in some pathetic way desperately wanting to be loved and republicans don't need to be loved. it was -- how did they get into in a in the speech? >> i guess in his defense, he would say that he believes there's been a lack of respect, i guess, for authority or government. and he wants to bring respect back nook america. >> his only defense is the other guys wrote this speech. they forced me to say it word for word. it is their convention. they own every speech. they own every word of every speech. >> okay. well, it is sort of a beauty and beast tonight because we have mike huckabee and paul ryan. but who is going to bring the love and who is packing the respect tonight? can you divid

chris christie. but it seems right now all eyes are on paul ryan, in terms of vice presidential buzz. we want to go ahead and bring in our del kelly o'donnellrter: yes, i am. >> kelly, let's go over why they would break this on a friday night. what do they really have to gain here in terms of letting all of the news organizations know they're going to do this on a friday night? >> reporter: well, first of all, they want everyone to be in place and make the biggest splash when the event occurs. it is a bit surprising it's on a friday night, this late, and the olympics are still going on. we had been given a lot of sort of indications by people who are close to the process that it would likely not occur during the olympics for two reasons. many people are still glued to that. the attention has been consumed by the olympics. and mitt romney has his own personal tie to the olympics with his work leading the games in 2002. and you could make the case that he should not step on the olympics, if you will, that he should not step on the olympics by making the announcement. another way to look at that is by making the announcement on a saturday, mit

york city along with ed shultz and al sharpton and chris hayes and steve schmidt who was the senior strategist for mccain/palin in 2008. lawrence o'donnell will be leading our coverage from tampa is chris matthews. mitt romney's choice of paul ryan was never a gimme, never seen as the safest choice in the world. to you tonight, chris, what would it look like tonight if that gamble is paying off and what would it look like if the gamble did not work out? >> well, that's great. that's a tough one, rachel. i think we'll see the excitement in the room reach a crescendo with ryan. i think ryan is the spirit of the republican party 2012. i think he's tea party, he's mainstream, he is the party. romney may be the nominee. he's the heart and soul of this party. i think they will show that in the room every face will radiate it. i don't see how they can have a down night tonight. tomorrow night i think is a big question for us all i think tonight is the night. i think also something happens. i think they made a mistake. they should have put ryan on to put his speech on with romney tomorrow night. there's always the risk he'd outshine him. it's li

o'donnell. we will watch you all afternoon and evening. >>> it's mitt romney's big week but tonight the spotlight is shining on his wife. his wife ann and of course, the keynoter, new jersey governor chris christie, two pivotal speakers, tasked with firing up the conservative base but also reaching out to independents. joining me now, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and "usa today" washington bureau chief, susan page. thanks both. chris, our daily fix, what is ann romney's challenge tonight? >> well, it's a big one because it's a challenge that mitt romney hasn't been able to overcome which is sell himself as something more than a rich business guy who wears a suit when he wakes up in the morning until when he goes to sleep at night. >> it's from costco. >> i will give them credit for pushing this out because i got a text last night from my mom, who is not too political, saying mitt romney buys his shirts at costco. >> i know your mom. if they can reach your mom, they are in better shape. >> she lives in connecticut, heard that message. the thing i would say is her task is significant and it may be as big, i think this speech, this ann romney s

chris van hol len. >> he worked closely with paul. >> he did? >> yeah. >> the and the chairman of the rnc, ryans priebus, host of "the last word" lawrence o'donnell will be here. up next the politico playbook. first bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> before we go to bill. >> yeah. >> do you guys -- let's go back to the control room for one second. >> no. >> we need a seven second delay button. >> what's going on there. >> i want to make sure you -- show him the right button. are you sure that's not the chopper 4 button you pushed last time? >> john knows what button to hit. >> practice it right now. >> no, no, no. >> let's go to bill karins. >> wow. suddenly he's the director? >> what's that. >> tj, go to disneyland like 12 times a year. >> what's that? >> come on. tj is calling the shots? >> what's that? >> i'm the director of the show. >> why don't -- why don't you just do the rest of the show? i'm going. >> no, no, no. you can stay. toss to bill. >> alex leaves and this happens. there's a mutiny. >> you know what -- >> alexander hayes. >> i'm uncomfortable with the way tj is acting. >> i do too. screaming at me. alexander -- >> i don't li

chris wallace said the romney speech was workman like and he got the job done. brit human said it was a good solid speech but not a great one. and msnbc's lawrence o'donnell said, quote, this crowd absolutely feels they have someone who can win this election. and the front page of the national review as i said, i think puts it best, romney gets it done. he put his side in a position to beat president obama. >> before mitt romney launched into a critique of the president's record he tried to connect with women voters on a personal level. talking about the parents who shaped his values. >> my mom and dad were true partners, a life lesson that shaped me by everyday example. when my mom ran for the senate my dad was there for him every step of the way. i can still see her saying in her beautiful voice, why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation. don't you wish she could have been here at this convention? and heard leaders like be governor mary fallon, governor nikki haley, senator kelly ayotte and secretary of state condoleezza rice. >> you know, michael steele, i talked about being moved by the stories about mitt