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Democratic National Convention Carolina Fest, Governor Deval Patrick on Mitt Romney; Exclusive Interview With The President; Energizing The Electorate; Sandra Fluke Now Campaigns For Obama; Sandra Fluke to Speak at DNC; U.S. Suspends Afghan Training; Convention Does Little for Romney; Paul Ryan: Are You Better Off Today; Jeff Bridges Sings at CarolinaFest

Aired September 03, 2012 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux live from the site of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

We heard from the Republicans, well now it's the Democrat's turn and the stage set for them to try to convince voters to reelect President Obama.

We we'll be here throughout the convention bring you interviews inside and the highlights of the speeches and events. North Carolina one of a handful of swing states could decide this election. President Obama won here back in 2008 by about 14,000 votes. I want to get right to this.

Four years ago, it was a message of hope and change that helped President Obama win the White House. Well four years later, Democrats, they are dealing with sluggish economy, high unemployment, lingering effects of the Great Recession, all of these things, and what do they need to do in charlotte? We want to bring in Ron Brownstein, a CNN Political Analyst talk about all of this.

Hi, you get to see all the CNN rolls, RNC and the DNC, the whole bit four years ago --

ROBERT BROWNSTEIN CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Exactly, exactly, a real tour of America.

This is an important question, because it does not even seem quite yet that they are clear on the message, right? We heard from the Maryland Governor O'Malley earlier today, and he was saying, no, we are not, you know, we're not better off than we were four years ago, but he says that is because President Bush held us, you know, dealt us this hand that was just too much. You know, to say yes, definitively to that statement. What does the president need to do? What does he need to say?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, I think in many way, there is more clarity in the negative message from the Democrats than the positive message so far in this campaign.

I mean they have worked very assiduously to identify Mitt Romney as more the problem than the solution on the economy to turn his business experience from an asset into a liability and say it kind of embodies the trend that have made you more insecure

The missing piece, I think, throughout this has been a clearer sense what the president would do in the second term. He's kind of told us -- he's made his argument that he prevented disaster in this first term, he prevented us falling into another depression, but no one would say they are satisfied with the economic growth since then even if we avoided the worst and where I think the biggest hole that has to be filled this week is to give the voters a better sense of what he would do to make another four years to make their lives better.

MALVEAUX: One of the things that we noticed here in North Carolina is that the latest poll is now showing that Romney ticked up. I mean this is to a virtual dead heat, he has ticked up slightly about four percentage points or so. This is a critical state. This is, I mean four years ago where we were here, this was historic for President Obama because he was able to grab this Bible Belt state.

Now that is play. That is in flux. What does the tell us about how things have playing out over the last time?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, it is intriguing, I man North Carolina is one of a group half of a dozen of the states across the Sun Belt that had voted Republican almost entirely in the 10 previous elections. North Carolina, in fact, had voted Republican in nine of 9 of the 10 previous elections before Obama won it in 2008.

Obama was able to flip and he was able to flip pretty much for the same reasons whether it's Virginia, North Carolina, Florida in the east, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico in the west. Same factors growing minority population and Democratic reformers among white collar, white suburbanites who them to be more socially liberal.

But this, Suzanne was always the one closest to the bubble for them. Almost 45 percent of the vote are even white evangelical Christians, a tough audience for Democrats.

This was a kind of state where if he had any retrogression from his numbers in '08, it would be hard for him to hold. So this is going to be a tough place for him to win. He doesn't have to win it. As you get deeper into the list, of Virginia and Colorado and Nevada, they become more a must wind states. The president --

MALVEAUX: Right, because James Carville, he said that he didn't have to win North Carolina. So it is not spin, that's no line and that's actually true.

BROWNSTEIN: No, that's not spin. The way to think about is what is within the first 270 Electoral College votes for either side.

By the time Obama wins North Carolina his national numbers probably at a point where he's won the other states and he's past the 270 mark; this is somewhere in the 300 electoral college vote range for Democrats, so he doesn't have to win it. But the same factors that hurting him here are challenging in other places that are important to him like for example, Colorado. What you've got is a further decline among the blue collar white voters who are always a tough audience and moving further away from him than they did in '08 and the challenge of mobilizing that big minority turnout so important for him winning the state last time.

MALVEAUX: one things that I noticed and I went to the event last night, this was gay activists and there the president's message on same-sex marriage in support of it really a very hot issue in this state, and there are some evangelicals and Democrats who say this could cost him some really important voting blocks in the state that he took a big chance there. How risky was that move when you take a look at some of the states that he turned four years ago, and he is turning off.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, I look at it as a piece with several other things that he has done. Doing the dream act a administratively on illegal immigration confronting the Catholic church over -- including contraception and the health care plans and the gay marriage.

there are a whole series of decisions he made with consciously take the risk of further alienating blue collar, older and rural whites in the hope of mobilizing what is the new Democratic Coalition of young people, minorities and socially liberal white collar whites and with gay marriage, that makes something like a state of North Carolina tougher, 61% I believe in may voted for a state, you know, ballot referendum to ban gay marriage.

But Obama on across these issues one after the other has been willing to take the risk of further alienating those voters to mobilize and consolidate what is emerging as the 21st century Democratic Coalition. That's what's allowed a state like North Carolina or Colorado or Virginia that were reliably Republican to come back into play for Democrats, it's that alliance of minority voters primarily socially liberal upscale white, and in all of these decisions, he is playing to that coalition and taking the risk to further alienating the voters that are coolest towards him.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk about the optics, because four years ago when were in Denver, Colorado you had the columns, the Grecian columns and so forth, I mean there was a lot of symbolism behind that, of course.

This is a convention and event that is it is estimated to cost more than $53 million and we are talking about of course, private fund-raising on behalf of the party and also some federal funds for security that are automatically set aside for these kinds of events.

Would this have been a better opportunity, better time to say, look, you know, let's not spend this money on this big three-day extravaganza. We know who the nominee is going to be.

BROWNSTEIN: That's an interesting question, first of all if you look at how polarized the electorate is and how little movement we now see in the polls out of these conventions, you have to wonder about the return on investment.

Just from that point of view for the parties and the amount of money and the impact that it has I think it was about 16 million people not watching Fox watched Mitt Romney's acceptance speech. I mean for all of that cost and effort that is what you ultimately get?

And I think the -- look, you're broader point though is the president, I think, does has to have a different tone, and there is nothing that-- it's hard to imagine there's anything triumphant about his acceptance speech this time. He is going to talk about hard fought progress, argue we are moving in the right direction and we can't turn back.

but I think as I said, the missing piece, is that even voters who are willing to concede that what he did prevented the worst, the bottom from dropping out, very few are satisfied with the pace of economic growth that we're experiencing now, the job growth and certainly the income growth, and I think the biggest challenge for him still is to convince people if you give me another turn, I have a plan to make your better and that is the missing piece of his agenda so far.

MALVEAUX: Okay. Thank you, Ron. Have a burger.

BROWNSTEIN: okay. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Good to see you, Ron.

One topic of conversation already brewing at the DNC, is same sex marriage. Gay rights activists celebrated in preparation for the convention this weekend. Had parties for Democratic officials and journalists.

One was called the Unity Event and you are seeing it here. We went there and talked to several people, but I also got a chance to talk to meet one Republican who is now considering voting for Obama because of his support for same-sex marriage.

You identify as Republican, but Obama has extended, you know, a hand in terms of same-sex marriage, so how do you square the two?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a really tough question.

I love Obama for that, and, you know, it is actually I mean, one of those that might be a deal-breaker, so I may just go ahead and switch to be a Democrat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Love is love. We are one love we all love each there and just because two women love each other or two men love each other and a man and a woman love each other, it shouldn't matter. It's all love, we are all love.

MALVEAUX: We expect several speakers at the convention to support the president's stance on that issue.

And we are talking to some of the biggest stars of the DNC this week and in 20 minutes Sandra Fluke will join me, the Georgetown law graduate who Rush Limbaugh called a slut after she spoke in front of Congress about health care contraception. Well, she is set to speak in front of the DNC about health care issues as well.

And looking ahead on Thursday we're going to be joined also by the DNC keynote speaker Julian Castro, and also the Mayor Antonio, Texas.

And on Friday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa he is going to be joining us. He is also the chairman at the convention and gavel in the proceedings.

And if you would like to know what it is like to experience the DNC inside tomorrow at noon join my colleague Wolf Blitzer, CNN political team online for CNN election roundtable; submit your questions and get some answers in real time through our live chat. You can login to ccc.com/roundtable.

Here are stories we are working on at this hour. Some critics of President say he does not socialize enough with members of Congress, well the president defends himself saying that family comes first.

Six-thirty, we want to be at the dinner table with our kids and I want to be helping with their homework. And I that's sometimes interpreted as me not wanting to, you know, be out there slapping backs and wheeling and dealing.

Paul Ryan plans to ask voters today, are you better off than four years ago? We are going to listen in on the vice presidential candidate's speech just a few miles from the DNC.

And the U.S. military makes a major move suspending the training of afghan police officers after attacks against U.S. and NATO troops

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

I'm Suzanne Malveaux and we are in Charlotte, North Carolina, today where we put the focus of the national politics at the Democratic National Convention.

The president facing criticism from both sides of the aisle for not achieving more bipartisanship in the first term and maybe not doing enough to promote the party and the base. Well, the president sat down with CNN's Jessica Yellin for an exclusive interview about some of those questions.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: In my interview with President Obama, I talked to him about why he hasn't built more relationships with some of those Washington insiders who could have helped get his agenda through, and here is what he said.

OBAMA: Sometimes, Michelle and I not doing the circuit and going out to dinners with folks is perceived as us being cool. It actually really has more to do with us being parents. When we're in town here in Washington, in the evenings, 6:30 we want to be at the dinner table with our kids, and I want to be helping with the homework. And I think that is sometimes interpreted as, you know, me not wanting to, you know, be out there slapping backs and wheeling and dealing. It has more to do with the fact of the stage we are at in our lives.

YELLIN: If you are re-elected the girls may have their own weekend plans and not wanting to hang out with mom and dad.

OBAMA: It has already started to happen, yes.

YELLIN: Do you think you might do more outreach, or back slapping, with members of Congress?

OBAMA: My hope is getting past this election, people will have an opportunity to maybe step back and say, you know what, the differences that divide us aren't as important as the common bonds we have as Americans, and some of that, I'm sure will require additional effort on my part and hopefully we will see more effort on the other side as well.

So in the documentary, we delve more deeply into all of the issues, both the president's family life and some of these issues of partisanship in Washington, and who shoulders responsibility for it.

And we talk to some of the president's closest aides including Secretary Clinton, his former personal assistant Reggie Love, former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and the leader of the opposition, Speaker John Boehner and a lot of other people. I hope you'll watch.

MALVEAUX: You can watch "Obama Revealed, The Man, The President" tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN

And the party just beginning here in Charlotte at the Carolina Fest, where music, politics take center stage one day ahead of the Democratic Nation Convention.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: You can call it the party before the party. Carolina Fest kicked off today with a parade, lots of food, of course, couple musical selections. On tap, Joe Johns, he's in the middle of all of that.

Joe, tell us, first of all, what's the focus of this? Is it to support the DNC? Is it partisan? Or is it just kind of Labor Day celebrations?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Suzanne. I think I can hear you pretty well.

Look, this celebration was supposed to sort of highlight inclusiveness, if you will. Democrats wanted to have a big party in the center of town and invite everybody from Charlotte who wanted to come. And here you are, Trade (ph) and Trion (ph) streets, the center of town. A good idea, right? Well, if you think about it though, it's a little interesting because North Carolina is such a right to work state, and having this party on Labor Day in the -- by the party that represents, you know, the president, and labor is so -- such a supporter of the president, we asked a few people about that. And some union members tell us they like the idea and perhaps it's just an excuse, but they say they liked the idea because it highlights the issue of North Carolina and its traditional opposition to organized labor. That's at least the way they explain it, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Joe, I know there are a lot of musical selections, a lot of fun going on. But you were there and you've covered -- you used to cover North Carolina back in the days of local news and yesterday there were protests. The Charlotte Occupy folks who were out in pretty strong number. And they essentially were going up against the fact that you've got -- this is a hometown of Bank of America, Wells Fargo. This is a big bank town that they're in the middle of and they're not happy with how things are going with the banks. Can you explain what was actually taking place?

JOHNS: Yes, I've got to tell you, the people I talked to, and I marched yesterday with those Occupy people and others, they're walking a line, too, sort of a balance, if you will, politically. And what they told me was they actually lost a lot of people in that march because people said they didn't want to be perceived as demonstrating against President Obama.

As you said though, the key thing is, Charlotte is such a financial center. So many banks here. Bank of America, of course, right behind me. Their headquarters right here in Charlotte, North Carolina. Occupy is very accustomed to demonstrating against the banks in this city. And they say, you know, so what if the president's convention is here, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yes, and it's kind of ironic, too, when you think about it, Joe, because the president will accept the nomination in a Bank of America stadium there. So there's going to be a remind of just the relationship with those banks.

Thank you, Joe. Appreciate it.

Rush Limbaugh, he once called this college student a slut. Well, now she is speaking at the Democratic National Convention. I'm going to talk to Sandra Fluke about her upcoming speech on abortion rights.

And, don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to cnn.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We're in Charlotte, North Carolina, focusing on politics and the Democratic National Convention. The law school graduate once called a slut by Rush Limbaugh is now campaigning for President Obama and is scheduled to speak at the DNC on Wednesday. Sandra Fluke testified before Congress in February to talk about the difficulty women face affording contraception like birth control. She was originally denied the opportunity to testify and she made big headlines when talk show host Rush Limbaugh said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, TALK SHOW HOST: What does it say about the college coed Susan Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex. What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? Makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: President Obama called her after that to give her his support. Remember, his health care policy requires most employers to provide contraception coverage free of charge. Now, religious institutions, they don't have to, but their insurance companies do. Now, Mitt Romney has sharply criticized the president over this. I want to bring in Sandra, who is with us now.

Thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.

SUSAN FLUKE, GEORGETOWN LAW GRADUATE: Well, thank you for having me. It's a -- it's the great grill.

MALVEAUX: I have to say, I was surprised when I started getting your e-mails, because I know a lot of journalists, you know, they get e-mails from both sides. It was clear at one point that you had started to become a part of the Obama campaign.

FLUKE: Right.

MALVEAUX: First of all, how did that happen? How did you come to accept that role?

FLUKE: Well, you know, actually, when all of this started happening in the spring and the testimony and things that you were referring to, I originally thought that, you know, I should stay neutral, I should just talk about which policies I cared about in terms of, you know, things like fair pay or the contraception policy and try to stay out of the elected politics side of it. But, honestly, it really just began feeling more and more like Mr. Romney was not speaking to women like me and to young people like me and so I felt that the biggest way to could have a difference, make a difference on the policies that I cared about, was to support the president.

MALVEAUX: Have you ever been political before or this really was your first foray into politics?

FLUKE: In terms of electoral politics, this is really my first foray. I have been someone who's active on policy for a long time and really speaking out about issues that I cared about, but haven't really been involved in electoral politics.

MALVEAUX: So this is a huge stage for you. I mean I know you've gotten a lot of attention. But when you are a speaker in the DNC, I mean, in the evening, primetime, this is Wednesday, that's a pretty big deal. What do you want to convey? What do you hope to give? What's the takeaway here? FLUKE: I want to make sure that people have information so that they understand that the choice that they're making between Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan and President Obama and Vice President Biden, so that's what I'm hoping to convey, is what the differences are in their policies, the differences in their vision, and especially how they see women's roles going forward.

MALVEAUX: There's some people who think this is manufactured, this idea that there's some war on women that the Republicans are engaged in. Mitt -- I'm sorry, Ann Romney talked about it, the wife of Mitt Romney, and there are some other people who admit -- Republican strategists who admit, you know what, this is -- there's a political calculation here that we can get women on our side, we need women on our side. And this is a way to do it. Do you ever fear that maybe you're a part of something that is, you know, political -- a political manipulation?

FLUKE: Well, I can't control what other people think or say about me in my role. But what I look at is the record that we've seen, especially the last two years in the House of Representatives. You know, the first bill that they voted on was to defund Planned Parenthood. And we've just seen a staggering number of bills targeting women's health and not in a positive way. And so however it's characterized, that's quantitatively true. That that's what we're seeing in Congress and in legislatures across the country. And I think women are responding to that and are feeling that their representatives aren't looking at the policies that they are concerned about.

MALVEAUX: Do you think it's an overstatement to say it's a war on women?

FLUKE: Well, it's not the language that I use. I prefer to just stick to saying, you know, what is being -- what is occurring, what are the pieces of legislation? And we're seeing legislation that tries to limit which types of rape survivors can have access to the care that they need to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Of course the legislation around contraception and to allow employers to make choices about which types of benefits insurance covers. You know, so all of these really do feel like they're targeting women's health.

MALVEAUX: Are you nervous?

FLUKE: Of course.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: Are you doing anything special to prepare?

FLUKE: Practicing, I guess.

MALVEAUX: Practice, practice, practice.

FLUKE: And not thinking about it at all.

(LAUGHTER) MALVEAUX: Don't ever think about it. Just don't think of all of the people watching, and you'll be fine.

FLUKE: That's not helping.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: No. That is a trick I use, really. Just don't think about it.

Sandra Fluke, thank you. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

FLUKE: Thanks for having me.

MALVEAUX: Democrats have criticized Mitt Romney for not mentioning Afghanistan at all in his RNC speech. But now we learn that the U.S. military has suspended the training of Afghan police recruits after the rise in attacks on U.S. and NATO troops. We will talk to General "Spider" Marks about all of that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: President Obama will visit Louisiana later today to survey the damage from Hurricane Isaac. Nearly a week after the storm slammed into the gulf coast, the effect is still being felt today. The governor says that more than 3,500 people remain in shelters and more flooding is on the horizon. This is the Pearl River, expected to crest five feet above flood stage, which is posing a threat to several thousand homes.

In Pakistan, a car filled with explosives slammed into a U.S. consulate vehicle, triggering a raging fire. Now, the blast ripped through part of an SUV killing two Pakistanis and wounding 25 others, including two U.S. consulars. this took place in Peshawar, which is 125 miles from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

It is a setback for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Some of the training of the local Afghan forces is now being put on hold. In the last year, members of the Afghan security troops or insurgents disguised as Afghan police have killed more than 40 NATO troops. Authorities are re-doing the background checks of local police forces and re-interviewing candidates.

I want to bring in retired major general, CNN contributor, James "Spider" Marks.

General, thanks for joining us.

First of all, it is almost a year to today when I was invited by the U.S. military, embedded in Afghanistan, so they could show us how it is they train the Afghan soldiers to become police. Back then, they said there was a risk, that there were a lot of problems here. And now you have them stopping, suspending the training mission. This is what was key, critical for us to get out of the country in the first place. What does this mean? GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Suzanne, the real challenge is that with the suspension -- and we don't know how long it is going to be. And will the United States and the remainder of the NATO forces be able to achieve the right numbers of Afghan security forces in the time that is allotted in order to facilitate that departure as you indicated. So the key question is, does this now put the U.S. departure onto a different time line. That becomes more of a political discussion than it does the realities on the ground, as you well know. You have been embedded with these guys before.

MALVEAUX: The one thing that they kept talking about, they complained that the Afghans were abandoning their posts. They complained that they weren't reliable. That -- these were, you know, uneducated. But they did not say, these guys are attacking us. And now you have that kind of lack of trust between the two individuals. How do you ever get that back?

MARKS: Well, you truly have to keep working at it. You are absolutely spot-on. You can get it back. It can be reclaimed. The issue becomes one of trust. And counter-intuitively, what is happening is that through the implementation of some of the new changes, is U.S. and NATO forces are being separated on the bases from their Afghan counterparts. Truly, in order to build a team, you want to keep the folks together as much as possible. But there has to be some level of trust that's reintroduced. And you are going to have to do that overtime.

Again, I think the key thing is to get after those that are attacking the green-on-blue attacks and identify them and scrape those individuals away and get them out of the formation. And the short answer is yes. It is going to take a lot of deliberate steps. But the key thing is that it puts it on a far greater time line to reach the level of readiness that the United States would prefer to have before they depart.

MALVEAUX: Well, let's talk about that time line, because we are talking about the end of 2014. That is the goal for the U.S. forces, for allied forces to be out of there, and for the Afghans to have security -- to take control over their own security. How do you do something like that? How do you train these guys, recheck them, make sure they re-establish the trust, and then leave within that period of time?

MARKS: Yes, well, mission one in all of this, Suzanne, is to make sure that you have got a handle on those that are already a part of the Afghan security forces. So you have to go back and check what is called the digital footprint. They are starting to build a database of all of the individuals, the Afghans that are now a part of the security forces. So you go back to check that database and make sure it is accurate. That, in fact, you can evaluate the veracity of each individual, which is critical, because you have the folks who wander on the bases. And if they are not badged or verified, they now become suspect, and you have to be able to isolate them and move them away. But what NATO is trying to do is that, by 2015, one year after their departure, they have established a goal of approximately 300,000 security forces that have been trained. This clearly shows you that this suspension puts that on to a different time frame. It is something that is going to have to be evaluated come the time when the United States has decided or at least has declared that it is going to depart Afghanistan.

MALVEAUX: All right. General "Spider" Marks, thank you very much. Appreciate your perspective as always.

The Republicans keep asking, are you better off than you were four years ago when President Obama was elected? Well, we'll look at the state of the jobs and as well as homes, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome to Charlotte, North Carolina, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Today we turn our focus to politics and the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off officially tomorrow. It may become the most asked question of the presidential campaign, are you better off than you were four years ago?

Well, Vice President Biden was in Detroit today to speak to the AFL-CIO rally today, and he answered the question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do you want to know if we are better off? Well, I have a little bumper sticker for you. Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We are waiting to hear from the vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan. He is giving a speech in Greenville, North Carolina's East Carolina University. He's expected to focus on the question, are we better off now than four years ago. We will bring it to you as soon as it starts.

While the Democrats get their party started, we have new numbers on the impact of the Republican convention for Mitt Romney.

And Paul Steinhauser.

You always have the latest. You have the latest numbers.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Right there, right on the fingertips.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You are right, Suzanne. Did Mitt Romney get a bounce from the convention last week in Tampa? Some polling came out this morning from Gallup. Take a look at that. They are one of the first to ask that nationally. The question was, are you more or less likely to vote for Mitt Romney based on what you saw and heard at the Republican convention. Americans seem divided. 40 percent say more likely. 38 percent, which is divided, say they are less likely. 22 percent say, guess what, made no difference or they're unsure.

The other question they asked about is the big speech last Thursday night, his nomination address. How do you rate it? Well, 38 percent said excellent or good. 21 percent said OK. And 16 percent said poor or terrible. And about one in four said they didn't see it at all so they cannot answer the question.

How does that rate with the past convention speeches? A little lower -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: It did not wow a lot of people?

STEINHAUSER: We'll see more polls throughout the week. We are going to be trying to answer the question throughout the week.

MALVEAUX: And I am sure we will.

We saw the president in Toledo, Ohio, today. And they are out with a new ad hitting Romney on the taxes. Tell us about what the point of that is?

STEINHAUSER: It is all about the middle-class. And the ad is an appetizer for what you will hear at the convention that the Romney/Ryan ticket is not for the middle class, but, we, the Obama/Biden are.

Take a listen to the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD ANNOUNCER: The middle-class is carrying a heavy load in America. But Mitt Romney doesn't see it. Under the Romney plan, a middle class family will pay an average of up to $2,000 more a year in taxes, while at the same time, giving multimillionaires like himself a $250,000 tax cut.

So Romney hits the middle class harder and gives millionaires a bigger break. Is that the way forward for America?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: That ad now starting to play in the battleground states. And the Romney campaign pushing back, saying, wait a minute, the Romney plan would not raise the middle class taxes. Both sides are arguing over the middle-class taxes, and the middle-class, because they will decide who wins or loses the election.

MALVEAUX: Tell us a little bit about North Carolina. You have Paul Ryan, who is also campaigning here, trying to steal some thunder from the DNC before they officially start. But his message and his question about are we better off than we were four years ago, is this something resonating with the people, whether it is Democrats or the Republicans, is it gaining steam?

STEINHAUSER: It is age-old question we've heard in campaigns past. And that is why they, the Romney campaign, think they have the upper hand. And you played the sound bite from Joe Biden in the sound bite. It has been a big argument over the past few days. And you will hear Ryan ask the same in Greenville, North Carolina. And you'll hear the Romney campaign try to continue to say what they have to as long as it has mileage.

We had a poll last week, CNN/"Time," that showed them dead-even. A brand new poll from Elan University, conducted before and during the convention, indicated Romney with a four-point lead. But that is still in the sampling error, so it is still tied up.

MALVEAUX: Do you think the Republicans are successfully shaping the debate now that you have this question on the floor that both sides are responding to?

STEINHAUSER: They're trying to. But the whole mission now of the Democratic convention is to reshape the debate. The Democrats -- we were just talking to some senior Obama candidate officials and they feel they will get the message out effectively. And stay tuned, because we will find out.

MALVEAUX: It is just the beginning.

Thank you, Paul.

We will have more after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Medical news now, with 10 people dead from the Legionnaires Disease outbreak in Quebec. The provincial government says that there were at least 165 cases in total in Quebec City. They are trying to pinpoint the source of the outbreak, but are looking to the cooling systems in two large buildings in the city that might have been visited by the victims.

Of course, we are also looking at another story. Love handles could be as dangerous to your health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. That is according to new research from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention European cardiologists. They focus on folks who have the highest amount of fat in the midsection. And they found, if they are not overweight, they have a higher rate of dying from heart disease.

We are here in Charlotte, North Carolina, today. We will turn our focus to the politics and the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off officially tomorrow. No doubt the economy and the jobs, the biggest challenges that the president is facing in the campaign. Mitt Romney trying to give new life to the slogan made famous by Ronald Reagan back in the '80s.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president can ask us to be patient. This president can tell us the next four years will get it right. But this president cannot tell us that you're better off today than when he took office.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Question, are Americans really better off than they were four years ago?

As Christine Romans shows us, the numbers tell the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with jobs. The unemployment rate, 7.8 percent when the president took off. It spiked to 10 percent and is now back down. Both the numbers are too high. Both mean you feel uncomfortable but it's an improvement from the worst levels right after the Great Recession.

This is how job growth looks. 818,000 jobs were lost and this loss of jobs were serious and dangerous. Tried to get some momentum here and it's been about two years of steady, but not spectacular jobs growth.

Home prices, a really important gauge for how you feel. There was a double dip lower in home prices. Look here, you have stabilization when the president took office. The median price of a home $175,000. It's now up about 185,000. That double dip in home prices looks like it's over and the housing market while not robust is stabilizing.

Finally, let's talk about our national debt, because you heard a lot about this from the Republicans last week. This is the debt as a size of our economy. It was 54 percent of our economy when the president took office. As we tried to get out of that horrible crisis the spending exploded. By 2012, 72.5 percent.

A lot of different reasons there, but the biggest driver was tax cuts. Lots and lots of tax cuts that began back in 2001, which are now the Bush-Obama tax cuts, because the president was also cutting taxes for the middle class as well.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Right now, Republican vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, speaking at a campaign event in Greenville, North Carolina. This is at East Carolina University. He's expected to focus on this question, are we better off than four years ago?

Let's listen. REP. PAUL RYAN, (R), WISCONSIN & VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- fewer jobs. The unemployment rate in North Carolina is 9.6 percent. In 1980, under jimmy Carter, 330,000 businesses filed for bankruptcy. Last year, under President Obama's failed leadership, 1.4 million businesses filed for bankruptcy.

We have a very clear choice. Take a look at people that are having a hard time making their mortgage payments. 77,000 delinquent mortgages by the time Jimmy Carter left office. Under President Obama, three million.

So when you take a look at what we're going to hear in Charlotte today, the president can say a lot of thinks, and he will, but he can't tell you that you're better off. Simply put, the Jimmy Carter looked like the good-old days compared to where we are right now.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: That's why we have a very crystal clear choice. We can either choose to stay in the path that we're on, a path of debt, a path of doubt and decline, a path of joblessness, or we can get things turned around and elect Romney the next president of the United States and get America back on track.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: And that's what we'll do.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: After four -- I love you too, man.

(LAUGHTER)

RYAN: After four years of getting the run around, it's time for the American turn around. The man for that job is Mitt Romney.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: What is missing is leadership, leadership to see the problem and fix the problem. Mitt Romney is the kind of person whose entire life story tells us this is the kind of leader we need. Very few times before have I ever seen a situation where the man and the moment meet so perfectly. Look at what this man has done with his life. Look at the beautiful family he's raised. Look at the communities he's supported. Look at the tens of thousands of jobs he helped create. Remember the Olympics back in the late 1990s, when they were in Salt Lake? Remember the story of corruption, of bloated wasteful spending. Sounds familiar today, doesn't it?

(LAUGHTER)

RYAN: But what did they do? In Utah, they asked a man in Massachusetts to drop everything and come and save the Olympics. He picked up his family, he moved there for three years, he saved the Olympics. He turned it around. He made it an American success story. And we're all proud and better for it.

(APPLAUSE)

MALVEAUX: The stakes couldn't be higher. The Democrats are calling on Hollywood star power to get the vote out. Actor, painter and country music rocker, Jeff Bridges, about what he's doing at the DNC.

(SINGING)

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MALVEAUX: You know him as "The Dude" and academy-Award winning actor, but Jeff Bridges is also an activist and a musician. He's performing later today at the CarolinaFest. He's at the DNC to promote his campaign to end childhood hunger. Bridges called it a bipartisan issue, and told me earlier that he has a great example of bipartisan cooperation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF BRIDGES, ACTOR, SINGER, ACTIVIST: I'm a big admirer of James.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Yes, we had him on.

BRIDGES: And I was saying, now what an example. He's married to Mary Matlin (ph) --

MALVEAUX: A Republican.

BRIDGES: -- a conservative. That's a great example for our country. We're married to each other. We're in on this. How do we have a good marriage? How do we work on what we need to work on?

MALVEAUX: I think that's what everybody wants to know. I have to ask you about this. You co-starred with Thunderbolt in "Lifehood" with Clint Eastwood. What did you think of the chair routine at the RNC?

BRIDGES: I didn't see Thunderbolt's performance. So I'm looking for --

(CROSSTALK)

BRIDGES: I heard about it.

MALVEAUX: What did you think?

BRIDGES: I'm going to go look at it before I go back to my room. I'm going to check out Clint's performance. Bill Maher gave it a rave, I hear.

MALVEAUX: Do you think it was appropriate for him to pretend? It looked a little bizarre.

(CROSSTALK)

BRIDGES: I didn't see it. I had this vision of Obama doing this little thing with a puppet of Clint and doing a rebuttal.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't know if that will happen or not. That's where my mind went.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne. Thank you so much.