Mitt Romney Makes His Case
COSTELLO: Twenty-three minutes past the hour. It was called the biggest speech of Mitt Romney's political career, but did his address to the Republican National Convention resonate beyond the base to voters, especially those who are still undecided? Romney's remarks were certainly long on family and criticism of the current administration.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in America? Many of you felt that way on Election Day four years ago. Hope and change had a powerful appeal. But tonight, I'd ask a simple question. If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's President Obama?</s>COSTELLO: So we learned more about Mitt the man, but what his plans for the country? Joining me now are Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Republican strategist Ana Navarro. Welcome to you both.</s>ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.</s>MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you. Good morning.</s>COSTELLO: OK, I'm just going to get it out of the way. So we don't have to talk about it anymore. Clint Eastwood. A mistake, Maria?</s>CARDONA: I think so. I think it was a huge -- what I would call a speed bump to the momentum of Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney's coronation speech. I think it was a big mistake. That's all we're talking about this morning. At least it was your first question.</s>COSTELLO: I know. But I wanted to get it out of the way. Because you're right, that's all anyone is talking about, Ana.</s>CARDONA: Yes.</s>NAVARRO: Carol, I think it was just the bad and the ugly. We completely missed the good part. And this morning has been so long and it's so early, and last night was such a long night, I was seriously just considering not showing up and having Maria speak to an empty space this morning. But, you know, I thought I'd show up for you.</s>COSTELLO: Thank goodness. Then you would have like tweeted me a picture of you sitting in a chair somewhere. Anyway, let's get down to serious business now. Ana, Governor Romney did show emotion. He teared up when he talked about his parents. Is he real now to voters?</s>NAVARRO: Well, you know, it really is a good start. It was quite amazing. I was amazed to see Mitt Romney emote. And I think the reason it was so amazing is because it's really the first time we see him show such human emotion, show some, you know, ability to cry, to get sad, to get nostalgic, to get joyous. So I think he went a long way. Look, Carol, was this the best political speech I've ever heard? No. Was this the best speech I've ever heard from Mitt Romney? Absolutely. And that's the measure he had to, you know, go against.</s>COSTELLO: Maria, Governor Romney tried a new tactic. Instead of slamming the president, he acknowledged that Mr. Obama is a likeable guy, but that it's OK to divorce him. Is that smart?</s>CARDONA: Well, I think that it is perhaps one of the only paths that Republicans have, especially in a race where they need to try to convince those independent voters who are actually willing to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt, who actually like him a lot more than Mitt Romney, and actually trust him a lot more than Mitt Romney, they are trying to give them permission to actually think about considering Mitt Romney, considering a change. But here's where I think they failed. They failed to really give us any details on what they would do. They failed to really fill in those gaps. It was continued criticism. It was continued focus on the things that they think were failures from the Obama administration. And they gave a real opening for Democrats next week to fill in those details on what we all know would be the failures of a Romney administration.</s>COSTELLO: Ana, I want to ask you that. Because I have talked to many Republican voters who want Mitt Romney to present a plan for how he would fix the economy. He said last night he was going to create 12 million jobs. He didn't exactly say how he would do that. But he did mention regulations and he did mention tax cuts.</s>NAVARRO: He mentioned tax cuts, regulations, trade. But, listen, a convention speech is a speech to present a big vision, to go big and to go bold. It's not for details. Details -- I agree he needs to flesh out those plans and present some details. Last night was not the night for that. Last night was a night for Mitt Romney to talk about his personal history, to show some human emotion, to talk about his big goals, to attack Obama some. To lay out a path and say, yes, I'm not going to compete with Barack Obama on likability. But he's likeable but he hasn't achieved the goals that he set out for himself. So now in these coming days, I hope that he does color in between the lines. I hope that he does give us the detail. But last night was a night to go big, and that's what he did. And I think it worked well for Mitt Romney.</s>COSTELLO: Ana Navarro, and Maria Cardona, thank you so much for showing up and sitting in the chairs. We appreciate it.</s>NAVARRO: Well, standing up would be even worse.</s>COSTELLO: I know. Mitt Romney taking his pitch for the president directly to you. But is everything he told you last night true? We'll put his acceptance speech to the test.