you have connie mack, the fourth the son of the former senator down there who has uniform name i.d.ause of his father going up against bill nelson. now, connie mack has not run the best campaign, but because of the national environment, bill nelson's numbers aren't very good, and the polls have shown him in a statistical dead heat. these are two of the three that are very key for the republicans. >> eliot: as you pointed out herb cole is retiring. he would have held that seat with some ease. he's very popular. when he announced his retirement, it set off a flurry, and at that point it looked like a democratic stronghold, but then scott walker pushed back successfully, and then the republican party is energized there. tommy thompson somewhat of a moderate could pull in voters. tommy touch son thompson in this was the winner. >> yes, it looks like what was happening in other states could happen in wisconsin the most conservative win. but the anti-thompson vote splintered allowing him to come through. republicans in washington had a sigh of relief in that outcome because he does have c

florida, representative connie mack, easily winning the republican senate primary and will face bill nelson in november. and tonight, just seconds after that race was called, the democratic senatorial campaign saying that connie mack iv cashed in on his family's good name for a house seat and cashed in for a senate nomination. and the voteez will have to the opportunity to meet the real connie mack, complete with road rage incidents, drunken bar fights and an arrest record...: >> dscc releasing this within seconds of that race being called... >> greta: let's go back to former alaska governor, palestinian. in the old days, they would congratulate you and let you take a bow before they hit you. this was seconds, one is greedy and one says road rage and arrests. what do you think of all of this? >> well, the democrats have in their back pocket, all of these negative distractions to spew and try to ram down the voters' throats here. dhiel that throughout all of these primaries as we head into the general. and they do that because they want to distract away from the failed policies that t

let's talk more about that and joining me from tampa, congressman connie mack, representing florida and a surrogate for mitt romney. i want to get to the new york times headline reading storm rewrites gop's script for convention. as we've been talking about the top of the hour, tampa has been spared by isaac is heading towards new orleans. in your estimation, how do you think the storm is going to change the tone of the convention this week? >> well, i think you'll still -- it will be a great convention, you're going to hear a lot about what are plans are for the future but everybody will keep an eye on the storm and hoping that the people now that it's past tampa, whether in the pan handle or other states are taking the necessary precautions to make sure they're safe. >> when we talk about the storms the party has weathered two different storms in the last week, first to the aiken controversy and now the real weather event that is isaac. here what is president obama said about mitt romney in an interview with the associated press. take a listen. >> he has signed up for positions, extre

cnn military analyst james marks will be our guest and rick scott will join us and congressman connie mack joining us. "starting point" begins right now. >>> tropical storm isaac gaining power this morning, heading right for haiti where hundreds of thousands of people still live in tents after that devastating earthquake back in 2010 gary tuchman is live for us. rob marciano is tracking hurricane isaac. we'll start with rob this morning. fill us in on the forecast, rob? >> this storm is big, got a big circulation but not terribly organized and strengthened a little bit overnight. that means we don't expect it to strengthen to a hurricane when it makes landfall across the western tip of haiti and the southeastern tip of cuba. the bad news is it will still have a ton of rain and that's going to be the main factor here. we're looking at several computer models, each one of these lines depicts an individual computer. they are closely packed and later in the period we get, the more spread it is. the next round coming in will have the highest confidence. they flew an aircraft north of the system

in the big senate race in florida tonight, republican congressman connie mack has just been declaredwinner. that means that connie mack will be taking on sitting democratic senator bill nelson in the general election in november. today is election day in florida. has been very exciting. these races and more. but look at how all the politics news played on the front pages of florida newspapers today. look. these were the front pages. romney campaigns in florida. how would ryan medicare plan affect florida? with full tickets on the trail, two sides spar over medicare. in florida, medicare is unavoidable topic. ryan will address medicare in florida. medicare shadows romney in florida. there are state-wide elections across the state of florida today, but the headlines there are dominated by something else entirely. and therein lies the big problem with what mitt romney for president, the mitt romney for president campaign has just done with their vice presidential selection. by picking paul ryan for vp, the romney campaign obviously wanted to change the conversation. boy, did they. rathe

representative connie mack will be here. craig romney and jeb bush will also be featured speakers. they are scheduled to be in the 8:00 hour. then in the 9:00 hour, the romney campaign chair, bob white. then staples founder tom stemberg, and then governor kerry healey and former olympic athletes will speak. then marco rubeo will introduce mitt romney as he accepts his party's nomination for president. in just a few minutes we'll be showing you some of last night's speeches. we'll be showing you paul ryan and rand paul's speech. it was after rand paul's speech that the ron paul delegates staged a walkout off the convention floor. we'll she you those speeches in just a few minutes. right now, this is jan from puth, new hampshire -- portsmouth, new hampshire on our democrats line. caller: good morning. i would like to make one comment regarding anne romney's speech. she seems to think many of us do not have problems like breast cancer, but i have breast cancer and i'm about anne romney's age. i could give you the further story of my family, although i'd rather not. we include one who

i think this will end up being a closer race than most people think, whether connie mack can put it over the top or not. they think bill nelson has gon tten a free ride. if you look at the 2006 race, yet -- that could be true. i did not have that as a tossup yet, but it could get there sometime in september. >> this is the primary where connie mack decided not to debate because the premier was over three weeks before the primary was over. >> time for one more question right here. where is the microphone? and there it is. >> i will take off my texas hat and put off the new york hat, wondering if david could talk about chris gibson, and the other freshmen who won in new york that is the be in trouble. >> you have four vulnerable democrats and four one of all republicans in new york. let's talk about republicans. we have of one in syracuse. that is the most challenging race for republicans. then you have to bank tossup races in the hudson valley. races in the hudson valley.

] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> we will began in the evening with connie mack, newt and callista gingrich, and craig romney. in the 9:00 hour,, kerry healey and jane edmonds from his state cabinat. e he will be introduced by marco rubio. you can watch a live on c-span and any you missed on our web site c-span.org. up next, a washington journal is live from at tampa. we will talk with scott helman. at 11:00, jenny beth martin. susan macmanus on the importance of florida and presidential elections. >> mr. chairman, at delegates, and fellow citizens, i am honored by the support of this convention for vice president of the united states. the united states.

and connie mack won his senate primary and will face off democratic senator bill nelson in the fall, that is a 50/50 race. >>> republican megadonor sheldoned aal son has put more money into the -- tuesday he attended a las vegas event with congressman paul ryan. >> of all the places that needs jobs, that need home values to rebound is it's nevada. the unemployment rate, i had to read this number three times, 11.6% in nevada. you deserve better than that. we will get this economy growing, we will turn things around, we will get the economy back on track, and we will not duck the tough issues, we will lead. >> by the way, as john ralston, my man out in vegas pointed out, paul ryan dan did pronounce nev correctly. adelson is moving money everywhere. >> i was talking to one of his associates, close associates just yesterday, he's already spent about $42 million to try to defeat president obama, reports of up to 100 million, i have asked how much is he prepared to spend? the answer, whatever it takes. >> he's spreading it around. he had the one for newt. and obviously he put eight figures

it shows republican congressman and florida senate candidate connie mack in his district instead of attendinge. tell us about the program. how many trackers do you have? >> we have about 20 trackers across the country. following senate candidates, house candidates, during the republican presidential primary we had trackers in new hampshire and iowa and south carolina and all of the places that they were going. i think what people believe about trackers is that it is all about the gotcha moment but it is about more than that. it is about finding the inconsistencies and the hypocrisies that kind of come out throughout a campaign. it is about those republican candidates who swing so far to the right in order to appease their tea party base during the primary and then the day after that primary was over, they tried to forget. it is kind of like what mitt romney's advisor said, the whole etch-a-sketch. we said all of the things. we're going to cut medicare and social security. the day they have to start talking to more independent open-minded voters, they try to change those positions and we think

joining me is florida senate candidate and current congressman connie mack. with me his wife, california congresswoman mary bono mack. florida and california have a rivalry, you're going to lose that. i deal with david gregory, california. let me start with you. i understand you are not comfortable with the party's platform. you think the party's platform on abortion is harmful to this issue of the gender gap. >> well, that's not the reason that i disagree with it. i am who i am. i do wish that we would sort of move to a softer side of the platform. it's the same platform we've had year after year, every four years. it hasn't changed. i just continue to be who i am and fight for what i believe in. i think we would be better se e served if we loosen that up a bit. >> do you think the party risks having this debate, you know? sometimes the debate was about which trimester abortion could be illegal and now it's about -- do you think todd akin moved the debate to the wrong place? >> the important debate should be about jobs and the economy. i go out and speak to m

tim scott, both macks, congressman connie mack and his wife, mary bono mack, coming up next on msnbc, jansing. bye-bye. and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. tus out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots!

in florida it's senator bill nelson with a seven-point lead over connie mack.s according to the cbs/new york times poll. the poll also found that in ohio sherrod brown has a 12-point lead over self-financer josh mandel. and in pennsylvania, i'm always watching that one, bob casey with an 18-point lead. i know bob, he's still working hard. but finally in michigan, debbie stabenow is over hoekstra. this has got to be tough in these races. a lot of good news for liberals tonight. we'll be right back. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf. this year we are out to do even better... and now is a great time to start. our beatches are even more relaxing... the fishing's great. so pick your favorite spot on the gulf... and come on down. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. [ "the odd couple" theme playing ] humans. eve

taking a look who is on the docket, connie mack of florida is in the opening session at 7:00. we will also hear from newt and callista gingrich. he is now speaking at the event this evening. we'll also hear from craig romney, will talk about his father. other speakers include jeb bush, former governor of florida, also bobw white. we will hear some stories about mick romney's time as governor, also personal reflections on him and his time working for the olympics. kerry healey speaks, and also jane edmonds. and former olympic athletes will talk about mitt romney and as well. it comes together in the final hour this evening with mitt romney speaking. he will be introduced by senator marco rubio of florida. but romney gives his acceptance speech after that. c-span is in tampa, florida. you can see a live shot their of the tampa bay times forum, where things are getting ready. we have behind-the-scenes look for preparations of the speeches. over 13,000 members of the media are intact but this week covering this event. c-span is not the only one there. bringing you news from televi

we have a governor in rick scott and a candidate in mitt romney and connie mack who are focused on puttinge back to work, building on the strength of enterprise and entrepreneurism, and peeling back the regulations that the last 3 years of the obama administration have placed on small businesses. >> shannon: i'm from florida, so i know "when you say "bless his heart," i know what that means. what is the rb message that republicans need to communicate more effectively to connect to the floridians? >> i think it's important that we tell the people in the state of florida and in the country that we believe in them. if you look at this election, it's about who do you trust isn't democrats believe in more government, more government regulations, more taxes. you know, they believe in a system that holes people down. we believe in lifting people up. we believe in freedom. and so, the hopes and dreams of the people of the state of florida and america is what the republican party stands for, standing with them, supporting them, we need to put our faith and trust back into the entrepreneur, the risk

and 730, you will hear from connie mack and there will be a video tribute to president reagan and newt gingrich will be speaking to the delegates. at 8:00 p.m., craig romney talks about the governor and the jeb bush will make a presentation. at 9:00 p.m., a look at the governor's past career highlights including bobwhites, the founder of staples, who knows the government from his bain days, kerry healey and a group of former olympic athletes. and then at 10:00 p.m., marco rubio introduces mitt romney and he will make his formal acceptance speech. we have an hour and a half until the proceedings began. at some time there will be music and a lot of delegates coming in. we will show you that and we will have a number of guests and we will speak to delegates about their expectations to give you a flavor of the convention and also to set the stage for the politics of tonight. we're going to begin with juana summers. she has been on the campaign trail and she is joining us from the convention floor. let me ask you about about how the governor's staff is setting the expectation level. there h

in florida it's senator bill nelson with a seven-point lead over republican connie mack.e cbs/new york times/quinnipiac poll. the poll also found that in ohio sherrod brown has a 12-point lead over self-financier josh mandel. and in pennsylvania, i'm always watching that one, bob casey with an 18-point lead. i know bob, he's still working hard. finally in michigan, debbie stab agnaw is oefr hoekstra. xó >>> we're back. what can you say about a senate candidate who proudly declares his idea of compromise is making the other side cave in? that's the language used by richard murdock the tea party candidate who won the race between he and senator lugar in indiana. take a look. >> what i've said about compromising bipartisanship is i hope to build a conservative majority in the united states senate so that bipartisanship becomes democrats joining republicans to roll back the size of government, reduce of bureaucracy, lower taxes and get america moving again. >> he's not exactly laughing when he says that absurdity. imagine what happened if every senator talked like that guy.

and florida, where the race is 42 nelson, 40 connie mack. but nelson is at 42. be overwhelming mack. that's six seats. that gives us 53. in virginia it's tied. >> sean: george allen. >> in michigan, ohio and new mexico, it's very close. and where there's an incumbent, he's under 50. and there's an outside shot, because the incumbent's under 50, in both pennsylvania and new jersey. on the negative side of the ledger, we lose maine, because snow is retiring and king will vote as a democrat. i don't know about scott brown yet. that's hard to read. and other than that, we hang on to everything else. so you're looking, i believe, at a large electoral college victory, a popular vote victory of more than five points, and at least six and maybe nor seats in the senate. >> sean: we don't have enough time tonight, because we went long with the vice president. dick, i appreciate it. we'll have you back next week and we'll talk more about it. pretty interesting analysis. i'm not as optimistic as you, but i got run. >> these are the polls. >> sean: 92 days to go. we'll know

bill nelson with a nine-point lead over republican challenger connie mack.nd in wisconsin, tommy thompson, former governor of the state has a six-point lead over democrat tammy baldwin. we will be right back. [ male aou eligle for m cmeresu bse bof su ueain en y icariebe gdi w ean en y 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. >>> welcome back to "hardball." in 1981, president ronald reagan created the gold commission. the commission was there for one reason, to figure out if america should go back to a gold standard in order to beat the dreaded inflation monster. the conclusion of the commiss n commission, no, bad idea, do not do that thing. and that was ronald reagan's commission. and it came at a time when inflation was really high. you couldn't have picked a more sympathetic president or more sympathetic moment to look at the gold standard. and they still rejected it. so, fast forward 30 years we're here in the present now, no inflation problem, the h

down in florida, congressman connie mack, running for the senate, called the ryan budget a joke. he missed the vote on it, in fact. yet his office said he would have voted for it if he had been present. and in the state of north dakota, one of the richest members of the united states congress, republican rick berg, is embracing, he is embracing and standing with the ryan plan wholeheartedly. interesting move. burg voted for the ryan plan but democrats believe most north dakotans don't agree with ryan's vision for america. it is an aging population in north dakota, and medicare means an awful lot to those folks. let's turn to heidi heitkamp, democratic candidate for the senate. great to have you with us. you have been very involved in your entire career when it comes to health care and the health care delivery system. and now you are faced battling against this lie that the republicans are putting out there, saying that president obama has taken $716 billion away from medicare. we are know what the truth is. now, the ryan budget, is it a political winner for democrats and how will

eastern with republican connie mack and newt gingrich. bush and bob white and the founder of staples. in the 9:00 hour, the lieutenant governor that served alongside mitt romney and jane edmonds who served in his state cabinet. all of that leading up to mitt romney'excepts in a speech. he will be introduced -- mitt romney's acceptance speech. he will be introduced by ricky rubio. you can watch any of the speeches on c-span.org. spend this weekend in ohio's state capital as "book tv" joined c-span's local content vehicle to look at the history of ohio's largest city. browse the rare books collection at ohio state university. and on american history tv on c- span-3, learn about ohio's connection to our 16th president. discover how the prehistoric hopewell people created and used the largest earthworks in the world. on c-span.org 2 n 2 and 3. while the republicans are in tampa, president obama made a campaign appearance in charlottesville, virginia, home of the university of virginia. this was the last stop on his tour of college campuses. h

just to let you know, some of the featured events include representative connie mack who will be speaking. there is also a video tribute to ronald reagan. jeb bush will be speaking. the founder of staples, tom stemberg will be speaking. along with some former olympic athletes among others. then in the 10:00 hour senator marco rubio of florida strose mitt romney who will accept his party's nomination. later we will show you some presidential nomination speeches from c-span archives including barry goldwater, richard nixon, ronald reagan, 1984 in dallas. george h.w. bush in new orleans, and george w. bush in 200 in philadelphia. that's all coming up. right now, we want to have some phone calls. we want to hear from you this afternoon about what you have seen here at the republican national convention, or one of the speeches you would specifically like to comment on. you can also contact us electroncally, of course. you can go to c-span.org. go to our convention hub where you can make a comment on our facebook page. this is a continuing 24-seven conversation going on, on our facebook page, a

florida the same poll has senator bill nelson with a nine-point lead over republican challenger connie mack. and in wisconsin, former hhs secretary tommy thompson, former governor of the state has a six-point lead over tammy baldwin. we will be right back. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ] bloop >>> welcome back to "hardball." in 1981, president ronald reagan created the gold commission. the commission was there for one