dionne and michael scherer join us for a preview on the mittstery man.ember ♪ [ female announcer ] fresh milk and real cream makes philadelphia and the moment a little richer. mak[ ayhilathco ody indiinct cond the moment s et manc e' be b s et foha >>> when mitt and i met and fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in the way of our life together. i was an episcopalian. he was a mormon. >> mitt and i also go to different churches but in any church, the best kind of preaching is done by example. i've been watching that example. our faiths come together in the same moral creed. >> mormonism is no longer off limits for team romney. his wife mentioned it by name on tuesday, and romney's faith came up in several speeches last night. mike huckabee, a baptist minister who in the 2008 primary defeated romney in iowa didn't exactly offer support for romney's faith but said it wouldn't affect his vote. >> i care far less as to where mitt romney takes his family to church than i do about where he takes this country. >> huckabee also used a speech

us now from washington is "time" correspondent, our man in d.c., the man with all the answers, michael scherereat to see you, michael. >> good to see you, alex. >> so we've talked a lot about technology and team obama's harnessing of new technology. i was impressed with the sophistication of this app in particular given the contrast of mitt romney's vp app, where people were to get an early nod on who the vice presidential pick was and the romney campaign undermined the entire app by leaking the news early. tell us about the sophistication going on over there in kmaug. >> 2008 was sort of revolutionary. we had social media coming into the campaign for the first time, a lot of people organizing online, giving lots of money online, but all that was done through the desktop. we're starting to see moving that from the computer you have at home to the phone. there's geographic potential which is what we see in the app you just described. any voter now, any supporter of the president can download the app if they have a smartphone, go to any neighborhood they're in a swing state, type in the app and

max pappas, michael scherer, thank you for joining us. >>> up next, the line of public officials fedle bachmann gets even longer. this is "hardball," no surprise they've had it with her, the place for politics. [ male announcer ] if you had a dollar for every dollar car insurance companies say they'll save you by switching, you'd have like, a ton of dollars. but how are they saving you those dollars? a lot of companies might answer "um" or, "no comment." then there's esurance. born online, raised by technology, and majors in efficiency. so whatever they save, you save. hassle, time, paperwork, hair-tearing-out, and yes, especially dollars. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call. >>> back to "hardball." now to the "sideshow." a group of former u.s. officials have teamed up with ngo leaders and others to call for republican congresswoman michele bachmann and two of her colleagues to be removed from their posts on the house intelligence committee. bachmann and friends drew a slew of backlash suggesting that some in the u.s. government have ties to the muslim brotherhood

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one of the things in michael scherer's article in "time" at a lollapalooza concert in chicago recentlye at the concert checked their phones to get a weather report, what they got instead was something from karl rove's group which was an ad attacking barack obama. so this is how targeted, the cell phone usage can be for these campaigns. >> right. of course, andrea, you remember tip o'neill said all politics is local, but social media and mobile technology is making it hyperlocal, that you can target people at events like this, you can target people on the street where you live. in fact, the -- michael also writes about the obama campaign app which you can download, and if you want to become -- if you want to knock door to door, you know, part of the app tells you who's a democrat on your street, who's a republican, where they live. i mean, it really is taking local politics to a new microlevel that was hard to imagine even just a couple of years ago. >> now, the obama campaign was way out ahead of the republicans four years ago in their use of social media and of the technology. have th

michael scherer, if i may, let's look at some new poll numbers from "time" and cnn.al battleground state of florida, where republicans have gathered this week, those earning under $50,000 a year favor the president by 15 points, while those earning over $50,000 favor romney by eight points. the effort to appeal to the wealthy is something we've seen before. but have the genuine ikons of the old republican party from john mccain, even george w. bush, simply been shoved aside to make room for the extremists? >> you know, as i was coming into the convention hall today, i saw a bentley drive past. and it's true that at republican conventions with with, there's more of an embrace of wealth. the party tends to be outside the convention hall, where at democratic conventions, the party's more inside the convention hall, although both have these parties. what you said is absolutely right. it's really nice to have very wealthy friends when it comes to fund-raising, but when it comes to votes, you need to be able to appeal to those making under $50,000, because that's the vast

thank you meghan mccain and michael scherer. that's it for our coverage. over. i'll be back tomorrow for "hardball" until then, good night from tampa. we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as $15 at lunesta.com. there's a land of restful

. >> michael scherer, david trucker at the postponed republican national convention, thank you so much. >>> now let me bring in chris mathews host of hardball on msnbc. let me ask you for a big picture question now. what are you looking for at this convention? what do you got your eyes on? >> well, i think it's going to come down to romney's acceptance speech. all this talk about the weather is just preview. i think the question is, can he connect to the american people in a way that -- in a way that says this guy can help me deal with my challenges. i know he's smart, i know he's rich, be i know he has a nice family, i know he's god fairing and religious and all that, can he connect with the problems i have and help me out in life? >> does he have it in him, i don't mean that to be harsh or anything, but if he hasn't connected with so many people up until this point can one speech turn the tide? >> that's true, what you said is true. he has never connected. he's not the nominee of the party because he's ever connected to the american people. he's the nominee of the party because he's

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