Christian Conservatives Meet In Tampa; Tea Party Impact On The GOP
WHITFIELD: Christian conservatives are gathering today in Tampa, Florida, ahead of the Republican National Convention. The event is put on by the Faith in Freedom Coalition led by Ralph Reed. Live pictures right now. This is being described as a mostly Christian right gathering. Several well known Republican leaders are scheduled to speak including Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Mitt Romney has had an uneasy relationship with conservative Republicans. When he chose Paul Ryan as his running mate, many on the right and in the Tea Party Movement cheered. As Republicans begin their national convention, Tea Party leaders aren't just watching closely, they are working to influence the decisions made in Tampa and beyond. Matt Kibbe is the president of Freedom Works. His organization works closely with Tea Party groups across the country and is committed to advancing the principles of lower taxes and less government. He's joining me right now from Tampa. All right, good to see you, Matt. If there's a way in which to kind of encapsulate how have you and the Tea Party leaders been working to influence the Republican Party, particularly on the eve of this convention?</s>MATT KIBBE, PRESIDENT, FREEDOMWORKS: Yes, you have a lot of activists that have become part of the process running for precinct chairman, actually getting on to the platform committee that happened last week. We brought up a delegation of Tea Partiers from all the battleground states and asked them to represent a crowd source document that we were calling 12 and 12. The top 12 issues Tea Partiers care about in this election. We want to make sure that the values of the Republican Party as best possible could reflect the values of the grassroots from the bottom up.</s>WHITFIELD: And are you satisfied that looking at the platform and what's been unrolled as the platform for this convention for the party that that work has been influential?</s>KIBBE: Yes, we really think that we had an impact and got the Republicans back to where they have historically been, what they've always said that they believed in. It's basic things like we have to balance the budget. We have to roll back the Obama spending spree. We have to repeal Obama care and replace it with a system that actually respects patients and gives patients control of their own health care. And we -- one of the things we accomplished was a peeling back the iron curtain of the Federal Reserve so that taxpayers, voters, citizens can understand the deals that go on behind closed doors with an audit of the fed language that we think is pretty important.</s>WHITFIELD: Were you feeling confident that the presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney, would be able to deliver on those things, or did it make a difference that his vice presidential pick became Paul Ryan and did that kind of seal the deal for your support?</s>KIBBE: Well, I think that the choice of Paul Ryan was an acknowledgement not just by the Romney campaign, but the entire Republican Party that they will win when they run on a set of ideas that have always been the core values that were the winning ideas for the Republican Party. Paul Ryan represents those ideas so now all candidates, not just president -- or, not just our Senate candidates, our House candidates. They all have to be comfortable defending the idea that we should balance the budget.</s>WHITFIELD: Matt Kibbe, the president of Freedom Works, thanks so much. Real quickly, what's your contingency plan with this storm approaching?</s>KIBBE: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Harry, can you give me an idea just quickly what your contingency plan is for this storm, if anything? All right, looks like we may have lost audio. All right, thanks so much, Matt. Be sure to stay with CNN for complete coverage of the Republican National Convention. Later on today, we'll have a special look at Mitt romney. "Romney Revealed" airing at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time that's followed by a preview of the convention itself. And our political team is in place for complete coverage all week long.