Mitt Romney's Boys; Obama Debate Preview
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Tonight, the rematch. Can the president turn the race around? Is Romney peaking to soon? On the eve of the biggest debate of this election, I talk to the Romney boys.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look at my dad and who he is and what he stands for, he's a man of great conviction.</s>MORGAN: Plus a man who says the president is just like Muhammad Ali in his prime. Why he's not counting out Barack Obama. And policy meets religion. Does America care that Mitt Romney is a Mormon? Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son, tells me about his meeting with Mitt. Also, he's in every election up close since the '60s. Last time he was here, Dan Rather told me this.</s>DAN RATHER: Each of these campaigns is in a mode to be meaner than a mama wasp.</s>MORGAN: And "Keeping America Great" with one of the country's top entrepreneurs, Martha Stewart.</s>MARTHA STEWART: I am 100 percent American.</s>MORGAN: This is PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT. Good evening. Our "Big Story" tonight, 22 days to go until the election and 24 hours before the second presidential debate, a town hall at Hofstra University on Long Island, with undecided voters, if there are many of those left, asking the questions. CNN's Candy Crowley is moderating. This debate couldn't be more important. Let's look at the latest CNN poll of polls. Mitt Romney with 48 percent and President Obama with 47. Tonight the president is deep in debate prep in Williamsburg, Virginia, while Mitt Romney does his homework in Boston. And the candidates' top surrogates, their wives, are out on the trail, too. Michelle Obama getting a bit emotional today talking to college students in the battleground state of Ohio.</s>MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: But don't let anyone talk down your dreams and aspirations. You hear me? Don't let anyone talk down our country or our future. You all have every reason to be optimistic about what lies ahead for you.</s>MORGAN: Meanwhile, Ann Romney also looking to the next generation.</s>ANN ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S WIFE: Our children and our grandchildren cannot inherit this huge amount of debt and this legacy of debt. They have to have the same opportunities and freedoms that were given to us by the ancestors that sacrificed so much for us to be here in the most amazing country ever on the face of the earth.</s>MORGAN: Joining me now, four of Mitt and Ann Romney's five sons, Craig Romney, Matt Romney, Josh Romney and Tagg Romney. And just to show off again about my superior knowledge compared to most news anchors of who you all are</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very nice.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost.</s>MORGAN: I can do that. See? I can also get into your professions because I find this quite interesting. It's a private equity.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>MORGAN: Real estate, real estate, real estate, but about to go back to your real love, music production. Right?</s>CRAIG ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S SON: That's right.</s>MORGAN: Why that's interesting is that apart from the fact you all look a bit like your dad, obviously your dad's three and a half weeks potentially away from becoming president of the United States. Why when Americans are about to vote now is he the guy to do the most important thing, turn round America's economy?</s>TAGG ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S SON: He knows how to fix things. The country's got problems, big problems. He knows how to fix them. And the economy is hurting and we need somebody who knows how to fix the economy.</s>MORGAN: Josh, what people say is, yes, he can fix things. He can break them, too. When he was at Bain, as many jobs as he made, he also wiped out. That was the nature of the beast of being a venture capitalist. What do you say to that?</s>JOSH ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S SON: I'm not sure where you got your facts but --</s>MORGAN: I'm not saying that.</s>J. ROMNEY: Yes. You know, he's a guy who is in this to help people who are suffering under this economy. I mean you think right now there's 23 million Americans who are out of work or underemployed. You think there's a $16 trillion deficit. This is something, this is a legacy we can't pass on to the next generation. I've got -- my biggest concern is not my business but my five kids and what's going to happen to them in this America.</s>MORGAN: Craig, the other criticism your dad gets with his policies and those of Paul Ryan, his running mate, are they look after the rich, not so bothered by those at the poor end of the game. You know, they don't -- they don't want to hike up taxes for the rich. They think they should actually come down if anything. Why would your father care really about super-rich people not paying a little bit more tax? Why shouldn't they pay a bit more? Why shouldn't you? Like you're all</s>C. ROMNEY: You know, it's interesting. I ran into -- I have been touring around the country and had the chance to meet voters all over the place. I met a woman in Nevada who owns a small beauty salon and she came up to me and said, I have been in business for 30 years, these last four years have been the hardest I have ever gone through, and I'm struggling to keep my business going. She said, I need your dad to win or I think I'm going to lose my business. That's really what this is about. That's why my dad's in this race. He's out there for the small business owners who are struggling, for the 23 million Americans who are unemployed. He knows how to create jobs. He knows how to get those people back to work. And that's why he's in the race.</s>MORGAN: Tagg, let's turn to the debate. It's obviously crucial. I mean your dad had an amazing debate last week. I just don't buy into the, well, it was because Obama was weak and your dad wasn't that strong. Actually, I thought he was very strong, the best I've seen him debate. If he does that again, I mean, you guys are close to the White House. This is a huge night tomorrow night.</s>T. ROMNEY: Yes. I think the format is to make it tough for anyone really to win. I think it'd most likely be, you know, a draw. I mean you get -- it's a town hall format so --</s>MORGAN: Why are lowering expectations? Why --</s>MORGAN: Why not say, my dad is going to crush him?</s>T. ROMNEY: Pull off a Chris Christie. You know, I did enjoy watching him --</s>MORGAN: Yes.</s>T. ROMNEY: -- the last debate. I think it was a chance for America really for the first time to tune in for 90 minutes and hear Mitt Romney on -- from his own mouth, unplugged. Not -- no liberal media putting their spin on it.</s>T. ROMNEY: Yes -- no offense, but letting people hear and I think it was refreshing for people to hear what his vision was and what he thought as opposed to hearing what the other side thought his vision was.</s>MORGAN: Josh, one of -- one of the problems you have or have had until this point has been with women voters for your father. And yet today, we saw a poll come out in Gallup and "USA Today" in the swing states, two interesting statistics to me. One is your father's five points ahead clear in the swing states in this particular poll, 51-46, but more importantly, he's closed the gap to zero on the female vote. There's been a big surge in almost all the polls we've seen since the debate. So he clearly connected with women. But not all the women. Because we have a video here which has just come out today. This is an Obama promotable video, stars Scarlett Johansson, Eva Longoria and Carrie Washington. Let's watch this.</s>SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS: I want to talk to you about women.</s>CARRIE WASHINGTON, ACTRESS: And about Mitt Romney.</s>EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: Mitt Romney is for ending funding to Planned Parenthood.</s>JOHANSSON: Including cancer screenings.</s>WASHINGTON: He said he'd overturn "Roe v Wade."</s>JOHANSSON: We have Republicans trying to redefine rape.</s>LONGORIA: Trying to force women to undergo invasive ultrasounds.</s>JOHANSSON: If you think that this election won't affect you and your life, think again.</s>MORGAN: Social issues, I mean, I know the campaign's tried very hard to avoid having to go back over this ground, because it's contentious area and your father has made it pretty clear that he doesn't think it's as important as the economy, but a lot of women, women we just heard there, very high-profile women, it does matter to them. Your father may be president and they're worried that he's going to outlaw gay marriage, that he's going to, you know, flip-flop around on abortion, all these other things that you know he's been criticized for. What comfort can you give young women that think that your father is going to come after them?</s>J. ROMNEY: If we keep spending $1 trillion a year more than we take in, and we keep saddling this country and the future generations with debt, none of those things matter. I mean this election, you know, as I look at what people are really worried about, women and men, is the economy. It's people that are struggling to put food on the table, its people who are out of work, people who are looking to get a better step in life. That's what this election is about.</s>MORGAN: But also America, though, you know, I've read a piece from a British newspaper at the weekend which has been picked up a bit and people were surprised I took this view, I sort of outlined the fact your father could win and it may not be the big disaster that his opponents say it could be, that economically he may be with his credentials as a business guy, the right guy to turn things round. We shall see whether he wins to start with. But certainly, when it came to his principles as a man, as a human being, as your father, as a husband, as a grandfather and so on, I think he has impeccable credentials although his principled people you could probably wish to meet. In terms of his credentials as a politician, I think there is merit to the argument that he's fairly unprincipled. That he's a flip-flopper. What is the argument from the family, if you like, that he's not unprincipled.</s>J. ROMNEY: You know, we were able to see him as a dad. We were able to see his principles as a -- as a father, a husband, a grandfather, and we're actually able to see him as a leader as well. In the private sector and as governor. And we were able to see the way he led, which is very principled. He has strong principles, a very strong core conviction. He leads with them. And when you look at what he's done, how he's lived his life in every aspect, in business, running the Olympics, as governor, he's a man of great principle and obviously, there's a lot of people that try and tear that down and make that a weakness. When you look at my dad and who he is and what he stands for, he's a man of great conviction. MATT ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S SON I think, you know, it's about his record, too. It's very easy to parse people's words in a campaign election and say they have, you know, differing views today than they had a few years ago. He's very consistent but if you look at his record, that really tells a lot about somebody. And we've seen that from the time we were little and we know what kind of a good principled character this is, but I think everybody, and I think a lot of people got to see that during the debate, too. But people get to know that --</s>MORGAN: But clearly a lot of women watched it and were more impressed by him, or felt a better connection than they were before. Let's watch a little clip, this is great, from the new FOX show "New Girl."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do this. Don't do this.</s>MORGAN: We have to do this. I'm sorry.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think April is in love with your brothers.</s>MAX GREENFIELD, ACTOR, "NEW GIRL": Who isn't?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's the joker?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're such a spazz.</s>GREENFIELD: Yes. No, nobody gets rowdy like us Romney boys. Just a bunch of alphas. You know what I mean?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your dad doesn't drink. He's a Mormon.</s>GREENFIELD: Well, we don't drink the beers, Courtney. We just buy them to support American breweries. We dump them in the lake.</s>T. ROMNEY: That is great.</s>MORGAN: That's fantastic. There's a new Romney brother called Tug.</s>T. ROMNEY: Yes.</s>MORGAN: Who can replace Ben who's not here.</s>MORGAN: We have Tagg --</s>T. ROMNEY: I would have loved Tug --</s>J. ROMNEY: Tug and Tagg --</s>MORGAN: He clearly -- I mean he looks most like you and he's called Tug. So we're all assuming this is you there. How do you feel about this?</s>T. ROMNEY: This is --</s>MORGAN: That is occasion.</s>T. ROMNEY: I used -- it used to be every -- everywhere I went people would ask is Tagg your real name, and now the first question I get is, have you seen "New Girl?"</s>J. ROMNEY: We took a vote. We want to replace him. That guy looks like more fun.</s>MORGAN: I mean what is --</s>M. ROMNEY: Bring him here next time.</s>MORGAN: Well, people say, you're the One Direction of politics, only a little bit older, like a sort of political boy band. How do you feel about that?</s>J. ROMNEY: Not good.</s>J. ROMNEY: Not good at all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who's One Direction?</s>J. ROMNEY: Not good at all.</s>MORGAN: Finally, you are 22 days away potentially from seeing your family win the presidential election, it's neck and neck, anything could happen. You get there, you'll be at the White House, you'll be the first family. Have you begun to think about what that could be like?</s>M. ROMNEY: We really don't.</s>J. ROMNEY: Yes, I -- my --</s>M. ROMNEY: We compartmentalize this.</s>J. ROMNEY: We haven't even discussed what would be the next step. We're just talking about getting my dad here.</s>C. ROMNEY: To borrow a sports cliche, we're taking it one day at a time. We honestly are, though, I mean --</s>MORGAN: Do you feel, though, that there's been a real change since that last debate, that there's been an irrational reaction in your father's favor because of the way he performed and indeed, the poor way that the president performed?</s>T. ROMNEY: So much enthusiasm. We've been -- all of us have been on the trail a lot the last couple of weeks. And there was a dramatic uptick in enthusiasm as people got to see who the real Mitt Romney is and see how good of a person he is.</s>J. ROMNEY: I think it really started after he picked Paul Ryan as his running mate and people saw this elections happening, people started paying attention. From that time on, I mean, the energy at the rallies we're going to and people we meet, I mean, it's just -- it's amazing. It's just a ton of energy, a ton of enthusiasm.</s>MORGAN: The White House are briefing Obama is going to come out fighting, we're going to see a more passionate Obama coming after your old man head-to-head. How will he deal with that? You know him better than most people.</s>M. ROMNEY: We've seen him -- we've seen him in those situations. I think each one of us here has come to him head-to-head and very --</s>MORGAN: And what happens?</s>M. ROMNEY: Very aggressive as teenagers. And we usually get beat down.</s>MORGAN: So you think the president is going to beat you --</s>M. ROMNEY: A verbal -- a verbal beat-down.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.</s>M. ROMNEY: No, he's -- my dad is very good. He's -- he's got an incredible intellect. He has great principles. He knows his ideas and so, you know, he's been prepared. We are tough as teenagers but really, he'll do a good job. And I think it's going to be a good debate. I think, you know, my dad is certainly someone who is very witty and intelligent.</s>MORGAN: And by the way, where is Ben?</s>T. ROMNEY: He's busy being a doctor.</s>MORGAN: Is it something I said? I mean --</s>T. ROMNEY: No. He's treating patients, I think.</s>J. ROMNEY: Yes.</s>T. ROMNEY: Yes, he's in residency. So --</s>MORGAN: He hasn't defected to the Obama camp.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.</s>MORGAN: Because I'll ask --</s>T. ROMNEY: Not yet. Not yet.</s>MORGAN: Good to see you, Tagg.</s>T. ROMNEY: Nice to see you, too. Thanks for having us on.</s>MORGAN: Good to see you, Josh.</s>J. ROMNEY: Piers, good to see you. Thanks.</s>MORGAN: Matt, good to see you.</s>M. ROMNEY: Thanks, Piers.</s>MORGAN: Craig, good to see you. I'm just showing off again. I know that better than anybody else. The Romney brothers. When we come back, the man who compares Romney/Obama to Frazier/Ali, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, reacts to all of this.