continues on the republican nominee for vice president. and we want to focus on mitt romney's running mates. we're asking to hear from republicans only. here are the numbers. tomorrow we will focus to hear democrats only. who should mitt romney pick as his running mate? a couple headlines this sunday morning. and from the weekly standard go for the gold is this editorial by bill crystal. the headline from this weekly standard editorial, go for the gold, mitt. you can join the conversation on our facebook page and twitter. our guest on c-span's "newsmakers" is senator john cornyn. he is the head of the senate campaign committee and one of the questions mitt romney's running mate. >> whoever helps governor romney the most win the votes he needs to win i think that's certainly my focus but i like a lot of the names that have been mentioned. certainly rob portman from ohio is a very important state marco rubio from florida tim pawlenty who i think a lot of people have a lot of affection and high regard for. and i would add governor mcdonl from virginia a very key state could be a help to the ticket. so i'm for whoever helps governor romney get elected president because that's what is going to be needed for us to change the direction of the country. >> our guest on "newsmakers" the head of the republican senatorial campaign and 2012 politics. from our facebook page many of you already with your points of view saying mark joining us from guam. we're hearing from republicans only. caller: i was at the republican convention in guam back in march and i had the pleasure of meeting marley's son who came out here. he has to go with paul ryan and here's the reason. to be honest if you -- the popular vote is very close. but with the electoral college to be honest i think we've got a problem. and we put paul ryan on the ticket, it's to get out and vote. that's why we won so many seats two years ago. it's to get more voters out. if you put paul ryan on the ticket, you activate the tea party. they're going to be very, very activated and that's going to get more votes out for us and paul ryan is the guy. because the tea party it's economics, spending, tax cuts. i really think paul ryan if we want to win. host: joining us from guam. and jim says paul ryan as well. bob mcdonnell was interviewed tover weekend here in washington, d.c. he was in richmond for redskins training camp so you'll notice that in the background but was asked about his running mate and his name which continues to come up as we heard from senator cornyn as a potential vp pick. >> what would you bring to the ticket? >> well i'm not going to talk about that any more it's all speculation. governor romney is within probably a couple of days so i'm going to leave all of that up to him. i'll do whatever i can do to help him win. my biggest job is to help elect more republican governors around the country and to assist governor romney in winning virginia to get the greatest country back to work and out of debt and to craft a coherent energy policy. so i told him i will worning on that. whatever else, i'll let him comment on that. >> what are the chances in virginia? >> it's a dead heat. the president did a good job four years ago. he had an uplifting message. i think that the pt is a good family man, he's worked hard but a lot of the policies just haven't worked. >> again we're asking to hear from republicans only who you think mitt romney should select as the republican running mate. our phone lines are open. good morning. caller: i'm calling for arizona. host: go ahead. caller: can i speak my piece? i think mitt romney should choose ron paul as his running mate. i think they would make a good team. and ron paul has a lot of experience in politics. so i think they would match up greatly. host: thanks for the call. bill from arkansas. republicans only. who do you think he should choose? are caller: i've been thinking about it a lot and yonchings paul because primarily the age. not that he has not had experience. bob mcdonald is my pick and two things. one i think it would help in virginia. he vrs popular there. he has done a lot of things as a governor that has helped that economy and not only that he is a military veteran. i like the fact that he has been in the military. neither obama nor romney nor biden have been in the military. and i like that. my second pick would be rubio. i like him also. i think either one of those would be good and romney would be benefited. host: next up is cal from tennessee. caller: good morning. and thank you for taking my call. historically speaking if you look at all those republicans who have been elected as president, they've always had a big state on their ticket. that's why marco rubio. if you look at george bush he was from texas that was a big state. you still like to have texas roots. go back as far as that goes. ronald reagan for example from california. so you're going to need somebody like that who can help carry florida so he can get elected. host: thanks for the call. from our twitter page. politico out with its convention preview on one side is the republican nominee mitt romney what republicans need to do and how tampa won the republican convention. the other side is a look at the president and how the democrats are preparing for the convention in north carolina. available on line with politico. we are partnering with politico during the convention and their post convention program congress be seen and heard here on c-span television and radio. more scheduling information on our website. alex on the phone from phoenix. good morning. republican line. caller: good morning. i think governor walker should be the pick. host: why is that? caller: i think because he survived the recall and therefore he would be the most energetic and also that would bring wisconsin's 10 or 11 electric torl votes on to the republican side. and on top of that governor walker would start a debate about whether there should be any government unions. host: thanks for the call. over the last couple of weeks we have been tracking some of the potential vp running mates as they've campaigned for mitt romney including in wisconsin congressman paul ryan who has been mentioned. weekly standard has him as one of their top two picks along with mario rubio. looking at mitt romney's trip to israel,. >> we see if we clear a pathway on in nation in debt despair and decline a future where our children have a lower living standard severing that legacy of leaving the next generation better off. it doesn't have to be that way. all we have to do is take those great principles that built this country apply it to the problems of today and save america. that's what mitt romney is about. he understands what it takes to create jobs to grow businesses to get the economy growing. the man in the white house -- i rest my case. >> congressman paul ryan in wisconsin. a preview in the "washington post" of a new book called the 18 day running mate. mcgovern, eagleton and a campaign in crisis. the piece is called how not to pick a running mate. george mcgovern just turned 90 this past month pictured with the senator who was dropped from the ticket and replaced by sergeant sliver. going on to lose to richard nixon winning only massachusetts and the district of columbia again the book titled the 18-day running mate. next is eugenea. caller: good morning. tilled pick condoleezza rice. and the reason is because i feel she is very knowledgeable. she has been in the white house for four years. she knows her stuff. she knows the foreign policy. and i feel that she has first-hand experience. so i think she should be the candidate. host: thanks for the call. you can weigh in. send us an e-mail and on our facebook page. many commenting on our question this morning. we caught up with marco rubio late last month in las vegas, nevada. he spent high school years in nevada before graduateding and spending much of his adult life in florida. >> that's what selection is about. is a choice between two very dramatically different views of the roll of government in america. and by the way, the roll of america in the world. it's consequential it matters. that's what you're working for. and not just working to get rid of somebody. you're working to replace somebody with someone like mitt romney who understands what has made us prosperous in the past and understands what will make us prosperous in the future as well. host: on the campaign trail in nevada. pamela on the phone, kentucky good morning. caller: i think it's the basic things we need in the vice president are honesty and common sense and an emphasis on fiscal policy. and so therefore if i could pick my dream candidate would be mitch daniels or squot walker deerks mint, and mcdonald in that order because of their criteria that i selected. host: you know that mitch daniels is going on to become president of purdue university. so essentially his conversation has been taken off the table. siveragetsdz so scott walker. host: ofpblgt caller: thank you. host: if you're tuning in or listening on c-span radio, our question from republicans only your pick for the vice presidential nominee. steve from missouri. gorge. caller: good morning. honestly, i don't care who gets this and gets the presidency who does america good. or anybody else. host: dean naples florida good morning. caller: good morning and thanks for c-span. i am 92 years old and i belong to the republican club here in florida. and i would like to see marco rubio selected. i think he is smart and i think he is patriotic and honest and good. and i think he would help mitt romney get elected. host: thank you for calling. 92 years old. thank you for getting up early to be with us. caller: i feel that they should choose herman cain. or michael steel. since they're trying to choose someone, michael steel is on tv with a good opinion of his. i'm a black person i feel they should have a black person on there. if they choose marco rubio they're simply choosing him because he is hispanic and want the hispanic vote. they had herman cain in the lead as the vice president and if they think that they can get some black votes why don't they choose michael steel or herman cain. st: thanks for the call. andy from san diego. good morning. caller: i like -- good morning. i like john mccain. he's easily the greatest man i've ever had the honor and privilege of voting for. he has tremendous foreign policy experience. of course he wore the uniform. i think he would make a terrific -- in helping mitt romney with a job that really takes more than one person. host: ok. thanks for the call. linda from rapid city, south dakota. good morning. caller: good morning. my pick would be lieutenant colonel allen west. because we're going to be hitting a crisis soon. and i really feel that we need someone who be would be able to handle a crisis and i think that would be him. that's my pick. >> host: thanks for the call. and legislator rain on the phone from new york. good morning to you. caller: i agree with the gentleman that a couple of calls ago who said that he thought a black running mate would be good. i believe we need to get a person of color. we need to use obama's strategy which is to appeal to groups of people he came out with same sex marriage agreing with that. i believe he did that to get the gay vote. the mandate of the catholic church which i thought he was shooting himself in the foot with. emblazend liberal women. i think we need to adopt his strategy and appeal to groups of people like i would like allen west or even a black woman. we just need to defeat this regime because i'm afraid what will happen to our country if we have four more years of this. host: thanks for the call. done richie a regular viewer and tweeter has this point of view. this headline. >> a lot of people do point out that probably there was an egg and it became a chicken. >> but it wasn't a real egg so the chicken thing first? >> oh, my god. this you don't see every day. >> that's going to be used. >> i'm from ohio. >> when you are running together. >> senator rob portman. >> you are on fire. >> you want to hear the chicken laying the egg? >> this is a man -- >> there dwro go. >> he's on my side. trr chicken comes first. >> and at one point in the past had been considered for vice president. >> from cnbc and you can catch that exchange also on the website as they took a look as the potential running mate. we'll leave it there. texas republicans only this morning go ahead. caller: thank you. i think it's a long shot but i do believe that i think he should pick dr. ron paul. and the reason is it would mitigate the youth vote is all out for ron paul. i'm a 28-year-old unemployed man. he's against the war on terror, the war on drugs. which is the hugest fiscal concerns of our united states government. and i think it would be a wise choice, a courageous choice. it would -- he as doctor so you automatically have an ob/gyn to help dismantle the president's affordable health care act. host: thanks for the call. this on our twitter page. not really. we do this from time to time because we thought it would be i want resting to hear from republicans on who the g.o.p. registered voters think mitt romney should select. tomorrow our question will be focusing just on democrats. wing it is instructive and informative to hear what the other side is saying. tomorrow we'll have a chance for the republicans to hear what the democrats are thinking about. the front page of the boston globe is a look at the piece by brian bender. caller: i recommend olympia snow from maine the senator who just retired. she would bring a lot of democrats on board. she's a moderate. but more fiscally conservative. she knows how to get things done. she's -- they wouldn't work together but she would bring a lot of drabts on board. i know they love her up here. host: thanks for the call. front page of the houston chronical. joe on the phone from new mexico. good morning. caller: i think we need either condoleezza rice or marco rubio for vice president. host: why is that? caller: well, i think we can win with them to tell you the truth. host: ok. we'll go to karl next in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: i've been thinking about this and i finally have some sort of a name marsha blackburn from tennessee. what we really need a moderate female that the democrats cannot attack unless they want to kill the women's vote and who has some knowledge of things going on and can sit into the vice president seat without attracting a lot of attention from the left. and i think someone along the mold of marsha who you listen to her she talks sense she's not overbearing she's not a radical attack dog or anything like that. so some female in our ranks that could qualify under those terms i think would p great. host: thanks for the call. our question this morning who do you think mitt romney should select as his running mate? one name also often mentioned is the former minnesota governor and one time 2012 presidential candidate tim pawlenty. >> americans who are hurting and who are in need, need more than speeches. they need results. that's what we're trying to articulate or to represent to the people of the country that governor romney has a better way. that president obama's had his chance it didn't work and now we need somebody who is committed and knows how to get this economy moving again. host: that was tim pawlenty. going back to the editorial go for the gold. saying paul ryan and marco rubio. their two picks for mitt romney's running mate. next up is jeff on the phone from arkansas. good morning. caller: i think paul ryan would be the best vice president for mitt romney. host: why is that? guest: because i think he's a good worker. host: thanks for the call. next up david, florida. good morning to you. caller: good morning. my recommendation would be ron paul for vice president. i say that a little treppedly because i'm not sure what benefit necessarily him as vice president would be but the question is this morning for vice president. but i think the -- he could reach out and bring a huge voting block to his side with all the ron paul supporters as you know the thousands and thousands of people that show up at these rallies needs something, some encouragement to move over to romney and if romney could reach out in some way and in this case be vice president or possibly another capnet position. but i think he needs those and he needs ron paul supporters to be positive on his side. host: thanks for the call. jack heely has this story. on the floor of the senate we heard new attacked by harry reid against mitt romney and his taxes. politico writes.even if he lackn ronnie's failure. that is from politico.com. on the phone, good morning. caller: i would like to recommend governor sarah palin. host: why is that? caller: she has the in-depth experience and she is a woman. host: thank you for the call. an exclusive. how her husband became completely debilitated by a depression and explains the status of his recovery and when he might return to congress. about we're asking you who you think mitt romney should alleged as his running mate. some of you send in your e-mail. host: "the washington post" has this editorial on mitt romney's tax returns. it is called "a hole in the balance sheets." host: wayne is on the phone. good morning. caller: i think mr. bush would bring energy to the campaign and help carry florida. there is also a hispanic support connection there. it would certainly draw further needed contrast from the republican view. host: thank you for the call. from "the washington post." host: jan it is on the phone from grand rapids, michigan. good morning. caller: i would like to recommend allen west. he is from florida. he is in the military. he is a black conservative. the tea party would support him. and i would love to see him in a debate with joe biden. host: thank you for the call. senator robert portman is one of those names often mentioned. he campaigned for mitt romney. once the nominee is selected, and irrelevant video related will also be posted at c- span.org. here is senator portman. [video clip] >> barack obama promised to turn things around. we gave him the ball. he fumbled lowball. it is now time to give the ball to mitt romney. he can do it. our destiny can still be great. this country can be the american century. we need new leaders. host: center rob portman on the campaign trail. all of our video on our web site. holley is on the phone from alabama. you're on the air. go ahead. caller: i would like to add sarah palin. i think she would add to the ticket. host: why do you say that? caller: i like her. i think she will do what she says she will do. host: thank you. you are on the air, robert. caller: i just want to say that i think rick santorum would be the best choice. host: ok. thank you for the call. by the way, it in "the washington post." host: this weekend on book tv, the history of louisville. american history tv features a special series at 5:00. here is a preview. [video clip] >> the most historic a steamboat of the steamboat era. she is the oldest operating mississippi-style steamboat in the world. it was the beginning of an american revolution. it was the first time you could go down the river and bring cargo back. the steamboat was a developed. they literally took on cattle and barrels of whiskey. all kinds of goods and things. there would bring them back upstream. that was never possible before. the ohio river was a highway. the very best possible highway because you had automatic motion going down and then you had to fight your way back up the river. there were maybe a few dirt roads around. there is nothing connecting one part of the country to the other. they would find where they could port. there would pick up the needed supplies and go to