election. >> ifill: we're not alone. with us are syndicated columnist mark shields and david brooks. welcome back we're glad to see you. what do you expect tonight? >> i expect history being made. i do. >> ifill: you're excited? >> i am. i'm excited. i think it's a defining moment, the biggest moment of mitt romney's public career. >> balloons will drop. before that we'll get to know something about the guy. as i said i think they have not done enough biography but we'll get a little autobiography that will be great. >> woodruff: we talked earlier about paul ryan's speech last night. how much did that sort of get the delegates fired up? >> paul ryan could have read the while pages of the phone book, they were excited. he delivered. he certainly in the room and i think beyond the room to conservatives in particular, particularly the sort of "wall street journal" economic conservatives, he -- it was enormously well received speech. >> ifill: aside from the nominee we'll hear from marco rubio then a mystery guest. >> woodruff: we know it's clint eastwood. >> senator and aiming knowledge movie star. we're also going to hear from people who knew mitt romney in church and some people who knew him in the community. i assume have just much better feel from the guy from the videos. this will be the night that is all about him. so far it's been a great convention for the party. what the party stands for, what its vision is. this is really more about the person. >> woodruff: bring in now very special guest, he is the senate minority leader, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. good to have you with us. >> glad to be with you. >> woodruff: you've been here since sunday how is this convention going? what do you see? >> well, there's the folks inside the convention, the folks beyond the convention. obviously we're pretty enthusiastic about our nominee, not surprisingly. the question is, how good a job do we do reaching the rest of the country. as all of us know this speech tonight is very important. it's not a bunch of attack ads it's mitt romney laying out his vision of where the country ought to go. i think most of the biography is probably been done by his wife and by paul ryan, although autobiography can sometimes work. mainly i think, the romney mission tonight is to layout where he would take the country. we've made the case against the current administration with great repetition in the republican primaries. all the survey indicates reluctance to rehire the president for four more years of the same. but people want to know who mitt romney is how he lived his life but where he would take the country. what direction would we go in, i think we'll see that laid out tonight. >> ifill: i'm curious about what makes up the republican party at this point. biggest thing that happened since the last election and mid terms is the rise of the tea party and influence it's had on people who are getting sent to washington basically they think they stop bad thing from happening. what do you think the difference has been. how has the tea party affected them. >> we won. the american people issued national restraining order in november of '10 said we've had enough of the borrowing, the spending, the fay over of health care all the rest, explosion of government that we saw on full display the first two years of the obama administration where they controlled all of the government. from our point of view it bought in to the party a lot of people a lot of energy, they were concerned about spending and debt. the mega issues hanging over our future. only thing if we don't solve that it would ruin this country for future generations. good politics is multiplication. it added to our broad base of support and i think put us in a good position to finish the job this november. >> senator, if mitt romney wins you could be running a body, majority of leader with maybe 50 republican votes or 50 or 51 or minority leader. i don't see how you get things like romney-ryan medicare plan or tax plan through the senate that's so evenly divided. how do we know this isn't all make believe that it will -- washington will be split down the middle. >> we know that divided government which is what we've had the last two years has frequently done very important things. think of reagan and tip o'neal aging the -- raising the age of retirement. and balancing the budget in the plate '90s. looking back at last year's really a missed opportunity when president went awol after he sign the the budget control act did not participate in getting an out come out of the so-called super committee which was a process that could have produced a result. in a new government if it's unified government, republicans in all three branches it will probably even be harder to get democrats to do what we know needs to be done to save the country. but there are a number of democrats in the senate who understand what has to be done to save our country, to fix it, to fix the mega problem. the sun sustainable growth of tilingments. i hope they decide it's important to get this job done no matter who wins the election. if the president manages to survive we'll have divided government, he won't own the place, maybe he'll have epiphany and more of an adult leadership that we got used to with reagan and o'neal that allows us to get a solution to the biggest problem confronting the few fewer of course that would be done on a bipartisan basis if he's still there. >> senator, 19 months in to the current administration you told marriage garrett of the national journal single most important thing we want to achieve is to make president obama a one-term president. if governor romney is elected what would be the single most important thing you want to achieve beyond making him a two-term president? >> thank you once again for miss construing what i said. what i said -- may i finish? >> of course you may. >> the rest of what i said was, that that was the goal in the next election but that there were two years to go. at the same time i was negotiating an extension of the current tax rates with the vice president during that very same period of time. my three appointees to the commission voted for it. the most conservative guy that i put on the joint select committee offered the democrats a quarter of a trillion dollars in new taxes on high income people, they laughed at him. we were ready to deal. having an election goal is one thing but in the even time we were ready to govern the guy who was missing, that went awol was the president of the united states. we'll see whether the american people want to continue this record of basically not accomplishing anything, but we were red me to deal and of course, politically as the leader of my part in the seven add i'd like to have a new president. >> ifill: also have senate majority. what happens between now and november that allows you to get to that? what are the states that you're watching most carefully and how much what has occurred in missouri in the last week or two changed that formula? >> we have a lot of opportunities. as a result of having a really bad year in 2006, there are a lot ofemocrats up this year, 23, only ten republican seats. we have two incumbents with serious races i'm confident both will win. we're almost entirely on offense. and places like north dakota and montana and nebraska. we'll see what the final chapter is and missouri. and also in ohio and wisconsin and virginia and florida. probably enough we have very competitive race in deep blue connecticut, deep blue hawaii and fairly blue in new mexico. there are plenty of opportunities out there to net the now seats that we need to have a majority. >> woodruff: do you think missouri still salvageable? the final chapter i hope has not been written. >> ifill: thank you, senator, mitch mcconnell. now to the highlights of tonight's proceedings. for that let's go down to the floor to jeffrey brown, jeff? >> brown: hi, judy, we're getting to get things going, a little slowly today. but it's starting off at 7:30. right now down on the floor here people are green each other, remember that a lot of this is convention, people have been meeting each other all week, they have been at parties, doing all kinds of things now wait for the big event. i've been talking to people asking them what is it that they want to hear. what are they looking for they tell me they still want to hear mitt romney tell his story. one guy just told me that only thing he's afraid of is that it's going to be hard to top what happened last night with the speeches from condoleezza rice and paul ryan. >> woodruff: and jeff, sorry, we were joined by a guest here up in the sky box. tell us, when you talk to the delegates is this convention meeting their expectations? some of these folks have come to many, many conventions. >> brown: they certainly say -- they universally say that it is. they have been to a lot of these things, there's a purpose for them, it's partly for the party, of course, to show their colors, to get the energy going. i think there is still some questions. people say to me, off cam remarks say, there's still wondering about this guy, mitt romney, whether he's going to lead the party. still want to know more about him. want to hear more of his story. that's what they're looking for tonight. you are the thermometer on the floor, can you gauge the excitement? >> the balloons are above, gwen, they're ready to go. the stage over here has been expanded so that will allow mitt romney and his family no doubt to get out more info the crowd. and so -- there's a guest speaker, i think i heard earlier you two give that away. i'm not sure that that was such a good thing, guys. but you did it already. i think down here people know that is coming as well. >> ifill: stake out a spot, very crowded, don't move. we'll be back to you. now for now you here we to go contrarian view of all of these proceedings democrats have robust rebuttal team here including the senate majority whip, dick durbin of illinois, welcome, senator. >> my first republican convention. >> ifill: what are you doing here? >> i was sitting out there with mitch mcconnell he said he had this roll in democratic convention, do you get some unusual stares as you walk around. trying to stay respectable distance away from the floor. to acknowledge the grand old party's annual proceedings. but we're making sure that just in case, off chance someone makes a misstatement about president obama's position, there's at least someone here in his defense. >> woodruff: we heard senator mcconnell whom you saw outside say that what's happened in washington, the gridlock, fact that there hasn't been progress on a budget, hasn't been progress to bring the debt down is principally on the president's shoulder that it was the president who walked about and that he's looking forward of course to having a president romney come in because that gives republicans a chance. and the country a chance to move ahead on these questions. >> i'm afraid mitch's analysis ignores three important events. two direct efforts by the president to negotiate with john boehner in terms of deficit reduction where john just walked away. third through vice president biden where representative cantor said he was walking away. as a former member of the simpson bowls commission that at the end of the day 11 of us voted for it in bipartisan fashion including republican senators, but not one single house republican. paul ryan voted against the same ton bolls commission. last night i listened to his speech he was chiding the president nor at asserting the report. paul ryan told him, no. >> ifill: as you watch this unfold this week close up, what have you identified as the greatest threat to barack obama's re-election that you of seek here. >> i can tell you that a convention is made for true believers. you'll see it tonight in tampa and next week when it comes to our convention in charlotte. the most important audience though is not in this hall or in charlotte. the important audience are the uncommitted voters, independent voters who are really making a final decision about which of these presidential candidates will be best for the country and for their families. and for the future of our country. i think that is what remains to be seen. i have been listening to the speeches, i understand the republican point of view. next week you'll hear quite a different approach. we're focused on middle income and working families, the facts are there. many have written about them, they have fallen further and further behind, struggling paycheck to paycheck they want to know which party is going to give them hope they will have an american dream for their children. >> do you think if he became vice president would work with democrats and work with your colleague on piece of legislation, the he strike that you way? what was he like? >> that's my impression. i think he's type of person that really -- may see things differently. honest analysis from his side of the table. at the end when he voted no i wasn't sure, there are several things that came in. all three of the house republicans onesimo ton-bowles were up for election in their caucus. the new tea party members newly arrived. notion of proposing revenue increases to these new tea party members was not a very smart thing to do when you're up for election in your caucus. secondly of course it did have revenue, many signed the pledge, they know what happens when club for growth shows up in republican primary. and finely, there was really an appetite on republican side for what they call entitlement reform. deeper cuts in medicare and medicaid. that makes some of the criticisms of what president obama has done savings in medicare really hard to understand from a party that's called for even deeper cuts. >> we're only days away from charlotte yet the american electoral where only 32% thinks they were better off before president obama got elected. 43% say the president deserves to be re-elected. temp us, what went wrong and what is going to be different? >> we've had i think a wrenching experience in terms of our economy. i don't think anyone anticipated going in that this would -- this recession would last so long and be so painful. so many people would be unemployed and under employed. it is a transition in our economy, important transition and i think doing our best to come through it but the notion that returning to the old bush economic philosophy, having government step back in areas like education and training, i don't think the key to the success is the 21st century. i trail around illinois, i go to businesses that have been successful, still hiring. i know what they're looking for. skilled people, come to the workplace ready to work with the skills for the 21st century that will involve our schools, going to involve our government. making certain that kids from working families like mine have fighting chance for that kind of training and education. >> >> woodruff: senator dick durbin, thank you very much. we'll let you go back out take some more of those funny looks you're getting from people. >> i'll now prepare for my escape, i thank you very much. >> woodruff: see you newscenter 5 wine in charlotte. >> yes, you will, thank you. one of mitt romney's top surrogates both his 2008 campaign and this one his oldest son. tag, gwen and i spoke with him just a short time ago. >> tag romney, welcome to the "newshour" coverage of this convention. >> thanks for having me on. happy to be here. >> woodruff: big day, a lot of pressure on your dad especially, how is he dealing with it? >> he's doing great. the real pressure was tuesday night when my mom spoke that's when he was the most nervous. first ever prepared political speech. so to have her get up there and knock it out of the park like that was -- sure made all of us happy. raised the bar for him. >> woodruff: it was interesting she spoke before a group here in tampa she said, you are seeing so many people you know like going to your own funeral. >> we have 120 relatives in town from couple different families. lots ever friends we haven't seen in a long time, people from the olympics, just been really fun experience to see all these people. like "this is your life." >> woodruff: maybe more like wedding than a funeral. >> ifill: you are supposed to be character witnesses for your dad. that is it that people really need to know the most that they don't, misconceptions they that have right now? >> i think people know how good of a business person he was, and how good he is at fixing budgets turning things around, lot of people don't recognize because they know how good of a person he is. it's obviously we're his family, we love him. but he spent his life not only as a good father and husband, but very generous in his helped many people in their lives very quietly off camera. not political talking points, because he genuinely wants to help people. that's the side of mitt romney maybe hasn't come out as much as i'd like. but i think you'll maybe see more that have in the next few months. >> ifill: he has said, i am what i am. he seems to resist this idea that he should be held like a piece of beef but that's your job, isn't it? >> my job. he doesn't like to get out there try to -- he's taught that when you do something good you don't stand up and brag about it you let the actions speak for themselves. i think he's lived his life that way and not going to change because he's running for office. he's done a lot of great things, he doesn't like to talk about. that's why i'm here. >> woodruff: there's so much conversation, tag romney, about how much more he should reveal himself. in fact i think former florida governor jeb bush said today, he needs to reveal more about himself. do you think too much is made of that? what do you think? >> i think so. really what we want to do is get in there get the job done. the reason he's running, and very goodman, there are lots of very good people and reason he's running is because he is in the position to do something about the challenges that our nation is facing, he thinks he can get the 22 million americans back to work. create 12 million jobs in four years. get the gdp growing again, help solve the big issues that are facing us. help us fix the broken education. those are the reasons he's running, that is what he wants to talk about. what age he was when he learned to ride a bike. >> ifill: will we learn more about him from tonight's speech? >> i think you learned a lot about him when my mom spoke tuesday night. she opened up, told more stories that have been told in the past. i expect he'll talk a little bit about, don't know for sure, talk about his mom and his dad the role they played in his life. and i think see a little bit more revealed than he has in the past. >> ifill: i watched your dad watching your mom deliver the speech that you just referred to, i was trying to read his face, i don't know him well enough. but you've talked to him about this moment, what did you say he's going through? >> you know, this is a surreal experience for all of us. none of us expected ever to be here. didn't plan on having this happen. but he's doing this for the right reasons. he's not doing it because he wants to -- he really is doing this because he feels like he's in position to help fix the problems that america is facing. as a result of that, he's not worried about winning or losing, it's not weighing on him, not nervous about those things. just doing the best that he can and as a result he's pretty relaxed i think. he's in a good place. >> ifill: you said you don't plan on having this happen. i understand not being prepared for the moment but if you run for president once then twice you were never planning for this to happen? >> i mean, most of our lives i was 24 when he ran for