joining me are lynnny mcallister, senior contributor to politics 365, marshall white, project manager and senior consultant, and guy regehr, senior vice president. thank you all so much for being here. lydia, i'm going to start with you. an interesting moment, not official yet, but mitt romney is for all intents and purposes the republican nominee for president. how does that make you feel? how do you feel about that nomination? >> it's a mix because romney wasn't necessarily saying the types of things that african-american republicans really liked on the primary process. if you look at some of the things that newt gingrich said or rick santorum, they stepped in some holes. they also tried to direct some of the issues that african-american voters needed to have addressed in regards to schools, in regards to jobs and the like. >> what are the things that republican voters, and particularly black republican voters, want? what are the issues that matter? and what kind of stance do you want your president to take on? >> what i'd like to see more out of mitt romney, particularly for the bl