they say, look, we saw ann romney. okay now who is this very large guy from new jersey who looks like someone standing at the end of the bar, and my hometown. >> and as mark murray put it, he said it was very jersey of him. okay, you have those warm and fuzzy feelings, let me tell you about what we're doing. maybe that came across well, we'll see. >> i do think that he has a real authenticity about him. and -- even though he looks like an old paw, he doesn't talk like an old paw. he talked about principle and compromise. he talked about political people have to lead now and not just worry about getting re-elected. that goes to his party as much as it does to the democrats. and he knows that. >> he did sound like he was trying to speak to independents last night. and whether that fits romney -- maybe they don't care, either one of them. but this party doesn't do that often. >> you know, what you said at the outset is the important thing. we've been spending all morning long talking about this. the decisions are being ma

ann romney comes out swinging for being a stay at home mom. and look at the famous first ladies who jump into the debate today. >>> egg investigation. conditions inside one of the nation's most trusted farms. brian ross on the story. >>> and, arcade of dreams. a 9-year-old boy needs a friend. and a whole town conspires to make his day. >>> good evening. today, for the first time, we see and hear the man at the center of the nation drama that has raged for 46 days. george zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman accused of second degree murder in the death of trayvon martin. today, he appeared in court for the first time. abc's matt gutman has the latest for us tonight. matt? >> reporter: good evening, diane. we learned so much more about george zimmerman, the mystery man in this case. he spent his first night in jail last night, weeping for hours. and today, he and his attorney plan on a year-long legal battle. he shuffled in, shackled, noticeably thinner than in that old mug shot. george zimmerman finally emerging from the shadows, softly utterin

, i'm going to be sitting down with mitt romney and his wife, ann. and we want to hear your questions for the romneys, as well. so, send them to us, on twitter, using the hashtag, ask romney, or send them to me at abc news or yahoo! again, that will be monday. thank you, david. >>> and coming up, what you don't know about eggs that end up on america's breakfast table. and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with sym

ann romney was talking about choice. did she -- she -- did she not have to work or did she not want to work or did she choose not to -- did she choose to be a stay-at-home mom or did mitt romney's mormon faith make her say home. >> i think it is all of those things. the more conservative any religion is the more they put women down. the more fundamentalist they are, the more women are sec-class citizens -- >> yeah, michele bachmann's form of christianity, women are supposed to submit aren't they? >> if you follow the bible literally, women are not allowed to speak in temple and the mormons still stick to that. >> hello, queen bee. >> i have two things. first this business about the mom thing. i am a mom. i know how hard that job is. i am also a working mom. second thing, i think that the reason they are doing this is because they have nothing to throw at the democrats. second thing, i still want to know why you don't have a golden microphone. [ laughter ] >> i have -- this is my miv microphone. radio shack microphone and

at ann romney for being a stay-at-home mom. saying in an interview, the mother of five, ann romney, grandmother of 16, quote, never worked a day in her life. >> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying well, you know my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues. when i listen to my wife that's what i'm hearing. guess what? his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and, how do we, why we worry about their future. megyn: immediately after rosen made those remarks last night, ann romney took to her twitter account and for the first time ever, sent out a tweet that read as follows. i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work. but today rosen did not back down when given the opportunity and instead she appeared to double down on her comments. >> this isn't about whether ann rom

ann romney is an eloquent speaker. she effectively communicated his reasons for success in bids, government and life. this is like watching a late night info mer shl. from bob, they made a clear, logical compelling case of romney as a strong leader. the demonstrated success at every level as a caring human and a person who can unite others. they made a better case for ann as first lady than president for mitt. thanks as always for your comments. thank you for joining me on news room today. cnn news room continues right now with ashleigh banfield. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. and the human element can solve anything. so what i'm saying is, people like options. when you take geico, you can call

that was directed at ann romney. that may be true about it makes a lot of people upset to suggest that a stay-at-home mom who is not working outside of the home can't understand the economic issues being dealt with by others. >> here is the things. we are -- a stay-at-home mom, a woman in general has two economies to deal with. the microeconomy of her household. then the macro economy in the outside world. the real world. and there are certain aspects of that real world. what it means to be a woman business owner and what it means to battle a man who is trying to steal your trademark rights. what it means to struggle in that contest that i think hillary rosen was speaking to. we need to get away from the semantics and understand the sentiment of what she was trying to say. my mom has five girls, ann romney may have five boys. but my parents have five girls. i understand what it means to be a woman. i understand that work at home is working. but i think it is a bit unfair to really do this witch hunt against hillary r

she never said i respect ann romney. she never said what a marvelous woman who has beat breast cancer and is fighting ms and raised a family of five wonderful children. she never said one word like that. the so-called apology, with all due respect to ms. rosen, was a half apology. she started the phony war on stay-at-home moms. it was not contrite. i think there are people in chicago who are happy that hilary rosen has said this thing and has ejected this into the campaign -- >> oh, they have thrown her under the bus already. >> yeah, and in a 140 word tweet. you know, nobody has called -- >> well, they threw her under the bus a lot faster -- they have thrown her under the bus a lot faster than reverend wright. >> i repeat with a tweet, they should have called up debbie becauser man schultz, the democratic national charm who they instructed to put rosen in as a senior visor and say publicly fire her as a senior advisor but they don't do that because one of the person who coined the phrase war on women and probably used i

i'll give you this much ann romney is a better speaker than mitt romney. but i thought chris christie and ann romney both bombed last night. what do you think? 866-55-press? am i being too hard on ann romney. 866-55-press. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ but only current coverage will put you at the collision of tv and social media. we'll provide unsurpassed insight into the most buzz worthy tweets, posts and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct. septic disasters are disgusting and costly, but avoidable. the rid-x septic subscriber program helps prevent backups by sending you monthly doses right to your door so you will never forget to maintain your system. sign up at rid-x.com. ♪ >> i only stand here tonight as a wife, mother grandmother, an american, and make you this solemn commitment. this man will not fail. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. there she is ann romney

romney for not working part of a democratic game plan to make ann romney seem out of touch with ordinary voters? eleanor? >> if anything it was part of the republican game plan. ann romney is one of the most appealing people in politics today. she is not somebody that democrats are going to pick on as a target. and i think the president was right when he said spouses ought to be off limits anyway. but hillary rosen was saying she reignited a long simmering day bait between stay at home moms and women who work, and stay at home moms often feel disrespected. point she was trying to make is ann romney hasn't had a traditional job outside of the home where she's had to juggle work and family so can she relate to the problems of everyday working women in the marketplace today? it was ill chosen words, and the republicans jumped on them with both -- as well as they should, and but the gender got gap is still there and based on a lot of republican policies that even ann romney cannot do. >> you want to add? >> yes, the loud noises you heard in the background were alarm bells going off in the ob

, anne romney. we'll be right back. he wings. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. convention in a moment. bob schieffer, we have a new cbs news poll out today. it shows that about a third of voters have an unfavorable opinion of her husband, but another third have no opinion at all. this is a big opportunity for the campaign tonight. >> reporter: yes, that's why this is so crucial that the republicans begin to get their message out. i mean, think about it. mitt romney has been running for a couple of years now. we who follow politics think people follow this stuff minute by minute. they don't. fully one-third, one

and ann romney looked like a corporate wife. you know, the stories about struggles, hard to believe. she's a very rich woman. i know that in america. >> what does that mean? corporate wife? >> a woman whose husband takes care of her, she's been lucky and blessed in this life. it's not speaking for tremendous number of single women or married women. she's not speaking -- she did not convince me i understand the struggles of american women. >> is that the same speech you heard, brit? >> no. i think that is the single most effective political speech given by a political wife in terms of rendering her husband about women who may have had doubts about him warm up too, i think a lot of women would look at her a great many women, particularly mothers, married women, and find her admirable and credible. it was interesting to me tonight. seems to me the themes of the night were two-fold, one ann romney's speech which stood by itself. rest was, you notice speakers, younger generations, new leaders, a number of them politically successful

so the romney campaign placed a lot of the burden on ann romney to go out there and hit a home run and fix these problems that they've created for the candidate himself, and she did a very good job. she tried her best. but there are some deficiencies she just can't get past and it will take more than a clever line or a moment where she says i love women to fix these things. there are fundamental issues that are unfixable. >> but sam, i think the issue isn't just making an argument, it's telling the story, something that isn't known already. i think that's where she really failed. it's not about trying to explain a certain policy. >> no, but i'm not -- that's my point. a story can only mask certain things. at the end of the day, people look at the policy prescriptions and make judgments primarily on that. we get obsessed with story lines and presentations but at the end of the day you have to imagine this a lot of voters will look and say i don't like what he's doing with respect to women's health, with respect to contraception, and that's why they will vote against romney, not because

the first lady or ann romney? jimmy kimmel with a simple experiment and it caught our eye. >> we asked people what they thought about last night's first lady debate between michelle obama and ann romney. as you probably know, there's no such thing as a first lady debate. >> reporter: but that didn't stop people from answering. >> who do you think won the debate between ann romney and michelle obama last night? >> i have to say michelle obama. she really did a lot better. >> who do you think won the debate between ann romney and michelle obama. >> >> definitely ann romney. i think she's a classy lady. >> anything she said during the debate in particular? >> no, i just like how she looks. >> who do you think won the debate last night between ann romney and michelle obama. >> michelle. >> why? >> i love her. >> was there anything in particular she said that spoke to you? >> no, in general, i just saw a little bit of it, to tell you honestly, i had something else going on, so i didn't see the whole debate. >> reporter

she will give us her take on ann romney. did she successfully appeal to women with comments like this? >> you are the hope of america. there would not be an an america without you. tonight, we salute you and sing you your praises. [ male announcer ] if you have to take care of legal matters. legalzoom has an easy and affordable option. you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support, backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i cano anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la lla la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything solutionism. the new optimis these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male anno

bill: that is ann romney and tape. ann romney is here live in a matter ever moments with her reaction and the work involved in raising five children. a wild police chase taking a dangerous turn when a suspect points his gun at police officers. watch this in minutes. is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. do about medicare and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us, but they never really listen... listen...it's not just some line item on a budget; it's what i'll have to live on... i live on branson street, and i have something to say... [ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation

let's start with ann romney. here's another moment. >> this is important. i want you to hear what i'm going to say. mitt doesn't like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point. >> there was a big headline in "the new york times" today, gene, that suggested -- or questioned whether she might have overshadowed her husband. does he in a way, have a tough act to follow? >> well, he does have a tough act to follow. look. this convention, as far as i'm concerned, really is about mitt romney's speech. it is -- it will be his introduction to many americans who haven't really heard him give a speech, who this guy wants to replace the president. they might be thinking about voting a different way. it's his chance to make that first impression on a lot of people. and so the bar is set very high for him, i think, and i'm not sure -- he's not warm and accessible by nature like she was last night. so it's going to be a tough act for him. >> let's talk a little bit about -- >> chris, if i could jump in on that.

a lot of pressure on ann romney tonight. but i think she's the best advocate he has. >> pelley: bob, thanks very much schieffer: you bet pelley: our cbs news prime time coverage begins at 10:00 tonight, 7:00 in the west. before ann romney speaks tonight, she will talk to us about what she calls the dark times in her family's life. and there's something familiar on mars. when the cbs evening news continues from the republican when the cbs evening news continues from the republican national convention. t freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood. yeah, and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. yep. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? so testing is one less thing i have to worry about today. great. call or click today and get strips and a meter free. test easy. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build u

just how critical is ann romney to the romney campaign? just now is our national political correspondent jim acosta. tell us a little bit more about ann romney. don't mess with -- >>> democratic strategist unleashed what widely considered the romney campaign's best asset and for months mrs. romney told cnn's piers morgan she's had a job. >> it's my job and a great job with making sure people see the other side of mitt. >> even then you knew these moments would be fleeing. >> with raising five boys it's tough billing on the campaign's website. >> i miss having all of them under my roof. >> and she's a natural on interviews responding to rosen on fox news. >> look, i know what it's like to struggle. namely her health struggles as her husband has detailed time and again. >> she was diagnosed with multiple skreres onnis and most recently with breast cancer. yes, she now lives a life of privilege. >> ann drives a couple of cadill cadillacs. >> and she reminds where her family comes from program. >> it was demonstrate individual of the tweets in

>>> anne romney is reacting to a dnc video that shows her dancing a show horse. ann romney who trains with show horses as part of her therapy for multiple sclerosis took offense to that. >> this guy right here has the answers for fixing the economy, all these attacks will try everything. they will throw spaghetti on the wall. >> the dnc said the ad was misinterpreted and they will not be using ann romney's horses again. >>> so imagine this, imagine trying to sail around the world, the entire world all by yourself for three months. it's not easy, but i met a man who tried to do it. he tried to do this, too. amazing pictures of him standing on a keel. we'll have the exclusive interview coming up. my volt is the best vehicle i've ever driven. i bought the car because of its efficiency. i bought the car because i could eliminate gas from my budget.

but what he offered them was very, very different from ann romney. tough love. >> our leaders today have decided it's more important to be popular. to be popular. to say and do what's easy and to say yes rather than to say no, when no is what is required. tonight, we're going to choose respect over love. see, we're not afraid. we are not afraid. we're taking our country back. >> reporter: and christie gave them red meat, too. >> we believe in telling hard-working families the truth about our country's fiscal realities. telling them what they already know. the math of federal spending does not end up. here's their plan whistle a happy tune driving off a cliff. >> reporter: christie in your face style put the mood to this party personal right now. confrontational, a little ticked off, maybe, looking for a leader. so when mitt romney emerged to join ann earlier, how many of them were still wondering, is he the one? pressure on mitt. next up, he loves grunge rock and could be america's vice president. all about paul ryan next. you know why i sell tools?

wife, ann romney. two fascinating women and strong advocates for their successful and ambitious husbands. at the bottom of the hour we'll bring you a special of "the journey of ann romney." she tells our own gloria borger that some people have the wrong impression of her husband. >> there are a lot of charges about your husband. one of them is that he's somebody who has no core. that he's been on both sides of a lot of issues. >> and that's just to me like the most false charge there is. because i know his core. >> what is his core? >> honesty, integrity, decency, intelligence, conviction to doing the right thing. for me i've seen that in everything he's done. and he's exhibited it in every way that he's lived his life. >> more from mrs. romney at the bottom of the hour here on cnn the in the meantime the first lady, michelle obama, spoke with our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. she says her husband, the president, is dedicated to helping all americans. >> what i can tell you about my h

also ann romney has a wonderful opportunity to -- i was thinking before how will we know ann romney's speech was a success? we will know if at 1:00 in the morning at the bar at the hyatt hotel delegates are looking at each other and saying, we did the right thing. we picked the right guy. that's how we will know. bill: you think it's that immediate reaction? >> it will take two hours for people to say, that was it, that was it. i get it, this works. bill: what is her biggest challenge tonight? is it the message, is it the way she relates to her husband? is it the way that she tells the american people how he took care of her some 14 years ago when she was on the lowest point of her life? depression, breast cancer, ms, all the challenges she has faced as a human being? >> i think probably the biggest immediate challenge is just don't get too excited, and don't get too intense, and don't get any stage fright, just relax, go out there. this is what i think she wants to say. she knows mitt romney better than any human being in the world. they've been married for 42, 43 years. she has been

it's not that he's talking about ann romney about women, it's that he's only talking to ann romney. why is it when half the electorate is women, he goes to his wife exclusively. >> how about saying he was going to get rid of the department of education. >> he said that's dynamite. it's the politics that he's worried about. >> why would he say i want to consolidate or reduce the impact. >> i thought he was off the record. >> education, as it happen, i've looked at the poll numbers, it's another huge area where there's a gender gap. >> i'm not being judgmental, but i can be. ask any guy who the kids teachers are. the mother tends to be aware of every teacher. has an attitude about them. who are the teachers again? >> i'm staying silent. i don't want to get in trouble with my spouse. >> today, after we have gone through four or five days of hilary rosen, the republicans are in no better shape than they were. >> thank you very much. when we return let me if i thinkish when why what's good for latin america is good for the united states. i was very impressed. things are looking up south

up first, ann romney defends her choice to stay home and raise her kids. presumptive republican presidential nominee mitt romney went full force for women's support this week. romney blames president obama for the recession that has placed so many women out of work. meanwhile a firestorm erupted over one cnn analyst's remarks that romney should stop citing his wife on women's issues because she quote "never worked a day in her life," and therefore doesn't understand women's economic concerns. the remarks prompted ann romney to post her first tweet saying: "i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work." >> will anne romney help her husband win the women's vote? >> she is trying but you can't put a burden on a wife to lift mitt romney out of the sinkhole is he is in on women's issues. >> she may have some ability to help because i think more and more women are feeling that women on the left are judging the choices that they are making, the choices they make, if they choose to stay home, maybe they are not the right choices.

the champion of my life, my sweetheart, ann romney. ann romney. ann romney. >> reporter: but this week, the always upbeat mother of five let something slip. the campaign is taking a toll. she thanked supporters for their prayers. >> and i can't tell you how much i appreciate that because the days are long, the road is hard and the trials are there. >> reporter: one of those trials -- her battle with multiple sclerosis. now, in an interview with "entertainment tonight," ann talks about her struggle behind the scenes, those long days before the super tuesday primary in march. >> i was quite fatigued and i knew i couldn't quit. i didn't tell anybody i was tired. >> reporter: but she kept going. >> i start to almost lose my words. i almost can't think, i can't get words out. i start to stumble a little bit and, so, those things were happening and i thought, oh, no, big trouble. >> reporter: in just the week leading up to super tuesday, ann romney visited five states, attending more than a dozen events with her husband and two on her own. a grueling sc

and ann romney is really a positive asset. she is an amazing woman given all that she's gone through. the personal, very inspiring story dealing with her illness, m.s., breast cancer, raising a wonderful family, having this great relationship with her husband. about a year or so ago, i went out to iowa before the iowa caucuses, spent some time with them on that bus. i saw that working relationship. we don't often see it on television. this is a wonderful love story that they've had that is truly inspiring. >> it's interesting, john, because the -- do you think it was a mistake for the campaign, for the romney campaign, to focus -- they focused so much on the economy earlier on and didn't develop a narrative about who mitt romney is? >> they made an early strategic decision to almost forget mitt romney was in the race. but to say he's had his chance, he's been there for 3 1/2 years, 4 years, make your vote solely on whether he has kept his promises and he has turned the economy around. if you think he has not, here i am. elect

let me give you ann romney's reaction. let's watch what she had to say. >> what was your personal gut reaction when you heard her say those words. >> she should have come to my house when those five boys were causing so much trouble. it does sont easy. [ laughter ] >> this is what is so interesting about this. my career choice was to be a mother and i think all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make. other women make other choices to have a career and raise a family. i respect that. that's wonderful. but there are other people that have a choice. we have to respect women in all of those choices that they make. >> justice ana kasparian how do you respond? >> politically speaking it is brilliant. the romney campaign took what rosen said and completely twisted it. she said nothing disrespectful about stay at home moms all she said was ann romney had no place talking about the economy when she doesn't have to work and she is married to a very rich man. so they are twisting the words. >> the think th

show." >> ann romney: stop it. this is hard. you want to try it. get in the ring. this is hard.

. >> definitely ann romney. i think she's very classy and a wonderful lady. >> anything she said during the debate in particular? >> no, i just like how she looks. >> who do you think won the debate last night between ann romney and michelle obama. >> michelle. >> why do you say that? >> i love her. >> was there anything in particular she said that spoke to you? >> no, in general, i just saw a little bit of it, to tell you honestly, i had something else going on, so i didn't see the whole debate. >> reporter: that's because there was no debate. but voters have seen and heard a lot from both wives who are the not so secret weapons for each campaign. >> we've got to keep working to fix this. we've got so much more to do. >> i love you women! >> reporter: and just this week, both willing to take on the unexpected. ann romney with the women of "the view." >> at one point, when he didn't think he was being heard, he said that he was not sure he wanted to come on with us, because we're high risk and sharp tongued. >>

ann romney and then chris christie. he was mobbed supporters and cameras as he got a lay of the land to figure out what this venue is going to be like. he's expected to rip up the crowd. he is generally pretty good at whipping up crowds. we will hear from him and tomorrow we will hear from vice presidential nominee paul ryan. he was there for a big sendoff rally. >> this is not an ordinary election because it's not an ordinary time. we have a big choice to make. we are not just picking the next president for a few years. we are picking the pathway for america for a generation speaki. >> speaking of pathway, which pathway will isaac take? mitt romney was asked about hurricane isaac. >> i hope that they are spared naming destruction. >> that is the sentiment shared by everyone. it is certainly possible. we could see additional changes in the convention schedule that's not anticipated. they are not ruling anything out. a lot will depend on what happens with isaac. >> tonight's convention lineup is what dana is talking abou