and then risk/reward with jessica yellen. i'm candy crowley, and this is "state of the union." no surprise, president obama's campaign and other democrats are wasting no time attacking the new romney/ryan presidential ticket. descriptions we've heard thrown around so far, wrong, harsh and extreme. joining me now, former new hampshire governor and romney campaign adviser john sununu. welcome, governor, and good morning to you. >> nice to be on, candy. happy sunday. >> so let me ask you, this is certainly -- comes as a surprise to the romney campaign. they certainly knew ahead of time how this would taken. how do they move against what clearly is going to be an attempt to say, this is a man who wants to fundamentally change medicare and social security and going back to his record, which is basically seven terms in congress? >> well, you know, you've had a lot of discussion on that. i just want to point out that there's another benefit to this what i think is a great choice. and that is it's going to test the seriousness and credibility of the pundit class in washington. these ar

and i'm joined by jessica yellen also. ama is maintaining his campaign swing today, going to iowa, speaking at college campuses. more events tomorrow. there's been a lot of talk about what the republicans should and shouldn't do in the face of this tropical storm isaac hitting the gulf post, but the president keeps on campaigning. is that inappropriate? >> first of all, let me just say that i think that republicans and democrats agree that priority number one is the health and safety of the people on the gulf coast. our hearts and prayers are with them. and vice president biden suspended his campaign here in florida. the president is continuing his campaign. but at any moment, he may suspend it, given as things develop. i think what's important is that we all understand that priority number one is that we have to take care of these people. i think that bobby jindal, mayor landrieu, and the president are all working together. the federal, state, and the local, to make sure that people are safe. >> you say priority number one

our chief white house correspondent jessica yellen is joining us now with more reaction. t the campaign and elsewhere, jessica? >> reporter: hi, wolf. you can expect to hear the word ryan as part of a phrase an awful lot between now and november from the obama team. you'll hear it as part of the phrase romney/ryan budget or extreme house republican budget. that's because their goal is to try to bind mitt romney to paul ryan's budget which they believe is an example or they'll try to tie him to the narrative that they've already built, which is that mitt romney wants to give tax breaks to the upper-income americans at the expense of middle-class americans. and they think that the pick of paul ryan helps them make the case that he is committed to doing that. that will be what they'll try to do, wolf. they do know, as you can see, he's an enormously charismatic campaigner. on the other hand, they can make this argument to deficit cutting that mitt romney would go about it in a way that would hurt the middle class whereas the president would not, wolf. >> you know, a lot of de

cnn's chief white house correspondent jessica yellen is joining me now. what do we expect today from ann romney? >> from ann romney herself, her purpose is to warm up her husband. one of the big challenges is the that the gop is focusing on these voters who think that the president isn't doing enough. they want to vote against him. but they just like him and they don't know if they like mitt romney as much. ann romney's job is to make them like him enough to vote for him. >> there's a glare called, the question is who do you like more, find a more friendly and likeable person. president obama leads mitt romney 61 to 27%. >> it's a huge advantage and it's an advantage that ronald reagan had back in his reelection campaign. that's one of the reasons they felt that he won. something the obama people also think that the president had. so ann romney's job tonight is to explain a little bit more of who her husband it as a man, as a person. so folks get to know him. >> mitt romney is coming to town today. obviously they want a great picture there. there's a a lo

and then risk/reward with jessica yellen. i'm candy crowley, and this is "state of the union."ent obama's campaign and other democrats are wasting no time attacking the new romney/ryan presidential ticket. descriptions we've heard thrown around so far, wrong, harsh and extreme. joining me now, former new hampshire governor and romney campaign adviser john sununu. welcome, governor, and good morning to you. >> nice to be on, candy. happy sunday. >> so let me ask you, this is certainly -- comes as a surprise to the romney campaign. they certainly knew ahead of time how this would be taken. how do they move against what clearly is going to be an attempt to say, this is a man who wants to fundamentally change medicare and social security and going back to his record, which is basically seven terms in congress? >> well, you know, you've had a lot of discussion on that. i just want to point out that there's another benefit to this what i think is a great choice. and that is it's going to test the seriousness and credibility of the pundit class in washington. these are the

. >> we are back with cnn's chief white house correspondent jessica yellen, also david trucker, associatecall. i feel like -- you know that old senate saying about, you know, all that needs to be said has been said, it's just not everyone has said it. >> yes. >> exactly. so let me ask you this first just sort of big question. we've spent all this time, everybody saying here's what it means, here's what it doesn't mean. has anything fundamentally changed the dynamics of the campaign right now? >> i don't know that the dynamics are changed, but i think that with ryan's -- with mitt romney's choice of paul ryan, we know where he wants to go. we know what he wants to do if he wins. and i think it gives us a different picture of mitt romney than everybody was assuming, which is that he was risk averse, that he was a play-it-safe guy. and even though i don't think that paul ryan is necessarily as risky as some people believe, it means that he's willing to do things that didn't fit with the caricature of who he was. and i think that gives us a different window into who mitt romney is. >> sure. i