. >> and john heilemann, your take on this new hbo film people will be talking about the race four years ago. >> well, we were then just thrilled to work with hbo on this. they have an incredibly high standard that they bring to all the work they do, whether that's episodic or movies they make. mark and i were honored and gratified when they bought the option to do the book. we knew there was going to have to be some choices made. it's a big book, 500 pages, a big campaign. if you didn't want to sit down and do a miniseries, you were going to have to pick a story line. jay roach, the director of this movie, the guy who also directed the emmy award winning "recount," for hbc, they were attracted to the palin story. it's an incredible american story about this woman who was for most of her political career a small town mayor and only governor for 18 months before she was snatched out of obscurity and put on the republican ticket in the most pressure filled environment with the brightest spotlight you can imagine. what that was like for her at the human level. what the kipd of decisions pol

co-written by john heilemann and mark halperin. inside the book they said the plan was for mccain to shock the world with his vice presidential pick. mccain's core conviction was that mccain vp choice had to be a game changer. joining us from new york, thank you for being with us on c-span. >> great to be with you, steve. >> hi, steve. >> mark halperin, let me start with you. why four years later are people talking and writing about the toile campaign and now your book turned into an hbo film? >> well, i think several reasons. the main one being it was, as we say in the subtitle of the book, the race of a lifetime. you had lots of bigger than life candidates and candidate's spouses competing for a race, open seat in the white house with the kind of plot twists and turns if you brought to hollywood as fiction, they would throw you out and say this is too implausible. i can list them off, selection of sarah palin, role of the former president as a campaign spouse of bill clinton, the story of john mccain's collapse and comeback and j

mark halperin, senior political analyst for "time" magazine and john heilemann, national affairs editor for "new york magazine." great to have you here. this is a huge event. i have to ask you the hollywood question first. what was this like for you guys to be involved in the film in your capacity having written the book "game change" based on the '08 election and then translating that into the big screen? >> if people are looking to do the game change about making the "game change," they're going to be disappointed. there was no drama. we looked at the big opportunity to tell the story of 2008 before we thought of writing a book. we said someone should do a movie. we sold it to hbo before we even had written the book. they were interested in collaborating. they were great to work with. they had such a concern about making the movie accurate. and they also were very concerned about the whole thing feeling to even insiders accurate and that's what they ended up doing. >> i want to get to that. i did feel that. what was so cinema to you? >> you had already had 15 months of hillary clinton

john heilemann?think romney believes he's going to be the republican nominee and is going to pursue that to the end. but i also think he's a rationist. he'd be more likely to drop out than people think. >> i think when his back is against the wall he's able to deliver. in the debates he was able to put newt gingrich away. he's also, i think, at the last minute be reflective. he can talk about his mistakes and learn from them. i think the question is, is he going to be able to do that within real time and be able to change course quickly enough? chris: like the last second of the nba playoff game. will he deliver? >> mitt romney that's off camera, private, is personable, funny, charming even. if they can figure out how to get that on camera in public, not have him freeze up the way he o does, that will make a difference. >> i agree with that. my first interview with him was years ago, with him and ann at the same time. this has been reported, but it's true. he's a different person when ann romney is s

john heilemann, your thoughts? >> i was thinking more when you asked the first questions. i was thinking more about the more granular way, they put her out there on that speech up in st. paul on the convention stage in st. paul to give that speech. and though she had done well as mark said in her intrintroducti speech, this was a national audience of many tens of millions. and the pressure was extraordinary. and john mccain was watching backstage with a fair amount of nervousness. not because he didn't trust sarah palin, but because she had never given a speech. very few have with that kind of focus on her. as you will see in the film when people see the movie, he's watch with mounting excitement as she gives this speech. he can't believe how good she is and what a red light performer she's turned out to be. as he gets more and more excited, she finishes the speech and mccain is over the moon. and someone informs him, one of his advisers says, you know, i got to tell you, senator mccain, the most amazing thing about that is partway through the speech her teleprompter was m

. >> john heilemann, on that point, lessons for any nominee selecting a running mate? you go back to dan quayle, he was thrust on the national stage. had been in the u.s. house and the u.s. senate but was not a well-known figure when george herbert walker bush selected him. and also what we saw in the campaign with john mccain and his selection of sarah palin. >> i think, steve, the overarching of all vice presidential selections is something mark alluded to. i think the best political pick is also the best substantive pick. i think that for a simple reason. i think most american voters don't make a decision based on who is on the ticket. vice presidential nominees move through votes and only on the margins. most voters the way they look at the vice presidential pick is the first decision the nominee is making. they evaluate the decision as a reflection of the decisionmaker and how serious and scrupulous that nominee is being. so what they want to know, first and foremost is, has this nominee chosen someone who is, as mark put it, unequivocally qualified to be presiden

john heilemann. >> it is certainly not inspiring. yet as you know, chris, romney campaign has been successful running negative campaigns throughout this primary season, and they do it very well. they have been successfully doing it, they had big financial advantages, put negative ads on the air through the campaign itself or usually more so through the super pac. it has worked for them in the past. i talked to john braybender, rick santorum's chief strategist, he is saying we have to stay focused on the economy in illinois. santorum wants to talk economic message to rebut those ads. he has had a hard time staying on the economy. we will see in the next few days if he does. >> does he get any free media. here is the pro-santorum red, white and blue fund, they have another ad on romney. let's watch. >> meet the real mitt romney. supported the wall street bailout, putting america trillions in debt. raised taxes and fees, leaving massachusetts over a billion in debt. his healthcare takeover, the blueprint for obama care. romney, more of

john heilemann, david leonhardt, gloria borger, kelly evans. thanks for watching the show. you back here next week. [captioning made possible by nbc universal]

john heilemann. >> it is certainly not inspiring. yet as you know, chris, romney campaign has been successful running negative campaigns throughout this primary season, and they do it very well. they have been successfully doing it, they had big financial advantages, poured a lot of negatives ads on the air, whether it's through the campaign itself, usually more so through the super pac. it's worked for them in the past. i talked to john braybender, rick santorum's chief strategist, he is saying we have to stay focused on the economy in illinois. >> thank you, have a nice weekend, john, up in new york. and david corn, thank you so much, my buddy. >>> coming up, republicans insist there's no war on women. of course, they don't see it that way, the democrats do. and this is hot, hot politics. gender politics. >>> then why are republicans by the way out in arizona about to pass a bill that would require women trying to get reimbursed for birth control to prove that they're taking it for medical reasons, not to do with birth control? thi

john heilemann, david leonhardt, gloria borger, kelly evans. thanks for watching the show. you back here next week. [captioning made possible by nbc universal] [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ so, where to next? she's using more. he's using more. america's appetite for energy is growing. nuclear energy is part of the answer to meet this demand. nuclear energy facilities in 31 states already provide reliable and affordable electricity for one in 5 homes and businesses, and nuclear energy is america's largest source of clean air electricity. so nuclear energy can provide made-in-america electricity while protecting the environment. nuclear--clean air energy. homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives? as a police chief i have an opportunity to affect what happen

still with us, mark halperin and john heilemann.itor and chief of news week magazine and the daily pooes, tina brown. >> good morning. >> msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson. >> we are perusing news week and i love this. here we have this weeks "news week" complete with "madmen" a show that's been our favorite since the first season. i remember calling amc saying can i have the first season dvd. complete with retro ads. >> that's a neat idea. >> it's cool. here is "madmen" the article. i saw -- look at these old ads here. retro dunkin' doughnuts ad. you can say yep to america's cup. >> i love the way everybody got into it. we went to the advertisers and said go back to your libraries dig out the old ones and go retro or the new ones went retro for the hell of it. in the back you have two astronauts landing on the moon kissing. you know buzz alder was tweeting about it yesterday. >> cool. amazing. >> of course, there was the premier last night of "madmen." the new season. joey scarborough said it was great. huge. >> johnham, who

the book written by john heilemann and mark halperin. they say the plan was always our mccain to shock the world with his eyes but the dental picks. john heilemann and mark halperin are joining us from new york. thank you for being with us on c-span. >> if it is great to be with you, steve. >> like four years later our people still talking and writing about the 2008 campaign and now your book turned into an hbo film? >> i think several reasons, the main one being you had lots of bigger than life candidates and candidates competing for an open race, open seat for the white house with the kind of plot twists and turns that if you got to hollywood as fiction they would throw you out and say it was to impossible. i could list them all. the election of set -- selection of sarah palin. the story of john mccain's collapsed and the comeback. john and elizabeth edwards and their extraordinary role only revealed far after the fact was going on with them. >> john heilemann, your take on this new hbo film that people will again be talking about, the

game change the best selling book by mark hall person and john heilemann. game change leaves the reader with a vivid visceral sense of the campaign and a keen understanding of the paradoxes and contingencies of history. the book is now a hbo movie. here is the trailer. >> we need to create a dynamic moment in this campaign. or we're deed. -- or we're dead. >> we desperately need a game change. none of these middle aged white guys are game changers. >> so find a woman. >> i would be arne to be your nominee to the president of the united states. >> rose: joining me now the authors, mark hall person and john heilemann, jay roach the director and danny strong the screen writer. i'm pleased to have them here to talk about this movie which airs on hbo on saturday night of this week. so here's the question. this is the book. the book is about 2008, the presidential campaign. obama versus clinton. everybody raved about the book. so you pick out one particular story. >> right. >> rose: one three months in that story. >> yes. because the book is a great book with ton

my conversation with "game change's" author john heilemann.hat exist th-- election and if that exists in this campaign zone there was a moment for a week or ten days in that race that where things got a little -- too hot out in the crowds. in some of those rallies. and -- you -- it was -- evident on the obama campaign that he got a lot of -- i was with him on -- during that time where could you see increased secret service presence at the event because they were concerned about what was happening on the other side. there is no question that that was an episode. seems to have cooled down a little bit in more recent months. i think that's for the better. there is no doubt there has been that strain and it is not the majority of the republican party. it is a volk am minority and it is the one that i think is not a good thing in our politics and one i think republicans more responsible republicans -- would be well advised to try to keep a lid on. >> you say that you haven't seen as much of that of late. why is that? is it because people accepted b

and john heilemann is editor for "new york" magazine. susan first.e want to start with women on this always. although birth control is generally because of hetero sexual sex, they do care about it. they are the ones that can get pregnant. let's start with the obvious. let me give you numbers. who supports the requirement that private insurance companies cover the cost of birth control? just two-thirds of the american people. an incredible overwhelming majority. 63% to 33%. who supports it generally? democrats. 83%. independents 62%. susan, this is not a winner statistically for republicans. >> it's not a winner for republicans. talking about respect for religion, religious freedom, that's an argument they can make. or talking about mandates by the obama health care plan that seem intrusive or extensive or too much. that's an argument they might be able to make. they were trying to make it it yesterday, but rush limbaugh has hijacked that argument and made it about contraception. >> he's not exactly speaking for the church. >> it's hard to imagine rep

my conversation with "game change" co-author john heilemann.his on-camera role in the hbo movie version and why he thinks sarah palin should see the film. >> the book changed my life a lot. when the book came out it went to "the new york times" best-seller list. a lot of people said things will change for you. it's all for the best and all for the good. it's opened up a lot of doors and opportunities. the movie has more been coming along for the ride even though we helped them with the script as consultants. it was hbo's thing. it was an incredibly satisfying and fun thing to see it up on screen. >> you were taking a number one "new york times" best h-selling book which you put your glad, sweat and tears to, and you're thinking they are going to make a "game change" movie? what if they mess it up? >> they had a reputation for doing historic docu-dramas. we knew they had done "recount." it had been successful on a lot of levels. we started working with them and found out their reputation was well deserve they were constantly wanting to be as tru

. >> reporter: john heilemann, one of the authors of the book "game change," stands by his reporting.film takes some dramatic license. as any movie that is a dramatization will do. but on the particulars in question, the movie's 100% accurate. >> reporter: this depicts the powerful moment she was introduced to america. >> senator, i am honored to be chosen as your running mate. >> sarah, sarah! >> reporter: it very well may be that sarah palin is something of a rorschach test. >> thank you. >> reporter: people see what they want to see in her, depending on what side of the political spectrum they come from. >> the movie shows areas in which she was an incredibly powerful, magnetic, human element in the mccain campaign, where she performed extraordinarily well under bad circumstances. it also shows the ways in which she fell short. >> reporter: sarah palin makes clear she'll never like it and never even see it. >> i'm not going to see the movie. neither is the good senator john mccain. we discussed this and realize hollywood lies are hollywood lies. >> reporter: and while team palin an

john heilemann and mark halperin. thank you for being with us. >> steve, thank you. thank mr. brian lamb and thanks for c-span and all employees in the cable television industry for its gift to america. >> and ditto from me. >>> watch super tuesday results tonight on the c-span networks. use our second screen web page with your tablet or laptop computer to see result maps, social media posts from candidates and reporters and a public forum for your tweets. you can monitor our mentioned on c-span blog where we'll be posting super tuesday programming information and news stories. use a laptop or tablet to extend your c-span viewing at our brand new web page made for our super tuesday coverage, c-span.com/screen2. >>> this afternoon, the senate foreign relations committee looks at the president's 2013 budget request for the u.s. agency for international development or usaid. agency administrator rajiv shah testifies. usaid is asking for nearly $52 billion, an increase of a little more than 1.5%. the hearing begins at 2:30 eastern. >>> at his monthly news conference in brussels ye

change: obama and the clintons, mccain and palin and the race of a lifetime," the book written by john heilemann and mark halperin. the plan was always for mccain to shock the world with his vice presidential pick. they're joining us from new york. thanks for being with us here on c-sp c-span. >> great to be with you, steve. >> hi, steve. >> mark, let me begin with you. why four

house did you take this slice out of the book that mark halperin and john heilemann roche? how did you decide? >> it was a practical reality we only have two hours. we learned from recount if you have a story about one specific group of people and 100 of time that can make a good political move the. we did look at the rest of the book. like the 10 burns multi part miniseries but i just thought the clinton obama that we considered was episodic and took place over all the primaries, lasted a couple years. it could be a two-part inouye. something about this story. it is different that that is behind obama who gives a great speech then everything explodes i just got the power of those people stuck in that situation together. if you write that from scratch you would struggle to find force is perfectly designed to clash. >> the authors said you were true to the book. true to history. you did your own reporting? >> i interviewed 25 people from the mccain/palin campaign. i wanted to get their stories. it is important to interview people that really loved sarah palin and were loyal

rick tyler answering some questions, hoggan gidly answering some questions, karen finny, john heilemannhn harwood. big panel. >> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." i think i'm going back to washington. no offense. i like new york. coming up next, chris jansing, and don't miss alex. >>> i'm meteorologist bill kaimpbz ask what a day today. so many beautiful locations around the country. boston, new york, d.c., much warmer today. almost like april. temperatures in the 60s. atlanta, great. detroit and chicago, enjoil it while it lasts. chance of rain late in the day today around dallas. otherwise enjoy a beautiful afternoon. what do you get when you combine the home depot with this weekend? the cure for cabin fever. because with get-it-done savings on everything we need... ...we can turn this weekend into a fresh floor... ...or an updated bathroom... ...or a brand-new look. so let's hit those orange aisles, and make today the day, we make a big difference - no matter how big our budget. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. lay down a better floor for

. >> let's go to john heilemann, people get bitter and petty, there you have one candidate calling him tweddle dumb. >> it does, i have seen these candidates over the last few days on tv and they look tired. things are tired to evolve in the way you're talking about. but santorum, the name calling is that he is trying to make a point. he says they're like match set, they're twins, and the point is an ideological point. and he's trying to say that the problem with romney is that he is too close to the president on some issues, and the party would do better with starker and clear i contracts and santorum believes he would be that candidate. more conservative than romney and able to draw differences on key issues like health care and several others. >> this morning in springfield, illinois, romney continues his lightweight theme tagging the president and romney -- >> i'm not an economic lightweight, president obama is, we cannot replace one light yn weight with another. >> mark halperin, it seems like someone you consider a colleague, calling him a lightweight, is this a new -- you're fro

watch the press pass conversation on the blog this week, and we talked to mark halperin, and john heilemannrote "press pass." thank you and we'll see you back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press". and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ foil yourat's my world. house to reflect the sun's rays back into space to try to reduce climate change. but there are easier ways to go green. like turning off the lights when you leave a room. you could save the tin foil for leftovers the more you know. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com you could save the tin foil for leftovers