like pailin, refell ca's female, also doesn't read newspapers and has completed the same number of terms as governor. great, great vm p.m. pick. her one negative is that critics claim dressage is elitist but not so says refalca's rider and trainer. he said, "money is not something that defines dressage. it's something you can do with a normal budget." yeah, it's really all about budgeting. you cut out a couple lattes a week, by the end of the month, you've got yourself a $3 million dutch warm blood. and these normal budgets are why dressage is full of normal folks, like prince abdullah alfud of saudi arabia, the princess from denmark and daria phillips, granddaughter of queen elizabeth ii. ♪ these are the people in your neighborhood ♪ in your neighborhood or on your money. well, folks, last night refalca, dressage, give it up for dressage. [cheering and applause] well, folks, last night i showed you part one of my adventure in the work-a-day world of horse ballet. tonight the thrilling conclusion, which, in the spirit of nbc's coverage, we actually taped ten days ago. jim? >> last night

. >> while he is not a complete unknowns like sarah pailin in 2008 many americans are asking who is paul ryan? so we asked to do a background er. >> paul ryan has served wisconsin's first congressional district since 1999. he shares the house budget committee. -- he chairs the house budget committee. he is considered a rising star in congress. he immerses himself in budgets and fights for the conservative cause. he is also a family man, a father of three, married to his wife for 12 years. he was born in wisconsin in 1970 the youngest of four kids. in high school, he was prom king was also voted biggest brown knows there. he says the experience of his father's heart attack made him a fitness buff. he worked odd jobs while studying economics and politics. he briefly worked for his family's construction business after graduation than found his way to politics, becoming a speech writer for jack kent. at age 28, he ran for congress and one. since then, he has risen within the party. he voted for the iraq war and the of the bailout but he is best known for his budget plan calling for major cut

and i won't get into rebutting each and every one of them, but it is clearly the obama tactic to pailinizeke the ticket so anathema that nobody will vote for him, but they won't get away with this tactic as they did four years ago, because so many members of the political and media class have grown up with paul ryan and they know him to be a reasonable guy. he voted for banning workplace discrimination, and against people with same sex preferences, so if you were the look at his record, i don't think it is going to be able to have the obama campaign is going to be able to caricature it quite as much as they might want to. >> and what about the battle for independents? both campaigns trying to pick up independents and ryan is unknown outside of washington, and so do you think that the presence will help gain ground there? >> no, because the independents don't share his view of an america where the top get better and better and the bottom continue the struggle. what it really underscores is a difference between poul ryan and joe biden. i mentioned in the book 52 reasons to vote for president

eastern from speeches from eisenhower, and mccain and pailin four years ago.ll those tonight at 7:00 eastern. next, a history of the conventions from today's "washington journal." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] host: joining us from boston is professor thomas whalen. we will be talking about political conventions, presidential history with professor whalen. thank you for joining us from boston. i will start with a question that media folks and others like to ask every four years. do conventions matter anymore? guest: i think they are like dinosaurs that you can put in a room with a camera with the nominee's speech. these are just overblown infomercials of this point in time. host: why are they still big media events today? guest: inside each party is the feeling this is what brings the race together. it is also good for racking up dollars in terms of getting donor money to the campaign. i think they are viewing it as more of a campaign funding exercise than reaching out to voters

. -- sara pailin and her husband. >>mark: last week these two people were found shot to death.ice are searching for pedro median and they believe that he is in southern california heading to mexico. >>darya: we will be right back. there is an with the golden gate bridge. there is like a lot of fog up there. the >> in '93, a >> downtown oakland should be ride around 76 degrees. take a look again to the day outlook. we will continue with the and warm temperatures. as we head into friday the temperatures will drop dramatically. let's hand it over to george to is and traffic. >>george: where looking at the bridges. here is a check at the bay bridge pin is still not bad. it is now a 14-60 minute drive time. this >> tale of bridge ride looks good. it is a problem free both directions. >> looking at the ride to the golden gate bridge and is still a problem free northbound and southbound hood as they look at the traffic maps is 28 minutes west bound heading to dublin from livermore. and here in the south bay is 15 minutes from the capitol expressway to the money he viewed expressway. -

former governor sarah pailin and senator john mccain, and later, at the canon in 1992. -- pat buchanan in 1992. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> thank you so much. thank you so much. [applause] thank you so much. [applause] thank you. thank you so much. thank you. [applause] audience: woo! [applause] >> thank you. [cheers and applause] mr. chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens, i am honored to be considered for the nomination for vice president of the united states. i accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend america. i accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election, against confident opponents, at a crucial hour for our country. and i accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions and met far graver challenges and knows how tough fights are won -- the next president of the united states, john s. mccain. it was just a year ago when all the experts in washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves. with their usual certitude, they told us

. >> i am not in the habit of breaking promises to my country, and neither is governor pailin. would we tell you we're going to change washington and stop leaving our country's problems for some on lucky generation to fix, you can count on it. [applause] we have a record of doing just that. the strength, experience, judgments and backbone to keep our word to you. [applause] >> you have stood up and what -- stood up one by one and said enough to the politics of the past. you understand in this election the greatest risk we can take is the same old politics was same old players and expect different results. you have shown what history teaches us, that in defining moments like this one, the change does not come from washington, change comes to washington. [applause] >> c-span has aired every minute of every major party conventions since 2004. the countdown continues with less than a week to go until the live coverage of the republican and democratic national conventions live on c-span, c- span radio, and c-span.org online. -- and online at c-span.org. senator john mccain and forme

neither is governor pailin. when we tell you we are going to change washington and stop leaving our country's problems for some unlucky generation to fix, you can count on it. [applause] we;ve got a record of doing just that. the strength, experience, judgment, and backbone to keep our word to you. >> you have stood up one by one and said enough to the politics of the day. you understand that in this election the greatest risk we can take in stride the same old -- is to try the same old politics with the same players and expect a different result. you have shown what history teaches us. at defining moments like this one, the change we need does not come from washington, the change comes to washington. [applause] >> c-span is aired every minute of every major party conventions since 1984. our countdown to the convention continues with less than a week ago and still are live gavel-to- gavel coverage of the republican and democratic national conventions of, live on c-span, c-span radio, and streaming online at c-sp

when the last caller, it is like these zero pailin -- sarah palin days. i see this move out of desperation. there are new numbers that the president may be up by nine or 10 points. romney has abandoned going after the independent vote. part of what is going to happen is we're going to get a really nasty campaign. they're going to throw every piece of garbage out there to keep people from going out to vote. i'm not going to vote. host: the headline in the sunday morning "examiner." is romney-ryan a winning ticket? in bethesda, md., does this energize the party? caller: i think it does. i attended one of the events in manassas. i think it's a great choice. i think paul ryan is a great speaker which will be very helpful in the next three months. clearly, the whole idea of our current government not being sustainable will be addressed. is viewed by both parties as a bright and someone being able to look at the big issues. i think it was a great choice. i know some democrats and independents feel that selecting him plays into their hand and i do not see that.

. >> i am not in the habit of breaking my promises to my country and neither is a governor pailin. when we tell you we're going to change washington and stop leaving our problems for a sum like your generation to fix, you can count on it. [applause] we have a record of doing just that, and the strength, experience, a judgment and backbone to keep our word to you. >> you have stood up one by one and said enough to the politics of the past. you understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. you have shown what history teaches us, that in defining moments like this one, the change we need does not come from washington, change comes to washington. [applause] >> c-span has aired every minute of every party convention since 1984 and the countdown to the conventions continues with less than one week to go before our live gavel to gavel coverage of the republican and democratic conventions on c-span. it all starts next monday with the gop convention with new jersey gov. chris christie