Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL)
- Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) served as the governor of Florida from 1999 until 2007 and was the first Republican governor to be reelected in Florida. He is slated to speak at the Republican National Convention on Monday, August 27. Although he will be speaking on the same night as the party’s vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, Bush publiclypushed for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to get the nod.
- Bush madeheadlines in June for questioning the GOP and its Tea Party wing for moving so far to the right on issues including immigration and deficit reduction. He said that in this era even his father, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan would struggle in politics today when there is no compromise between the parties.
- Learn more about Bush's tenure as governor here in a piece written as he left office.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, where he has served the state of Arizona since. McCain, who has endorsed Mitt Romney and will be speaking at the convention.
- As a veteran and POW of the Vietnam War and the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain often voices his opinions on military and defense issues. He recently said, in reaction to upcoming defense cuts, that he doesn’t think President Obama understands the importance of defense and has not shown leadership on the issue.
- He is also widely known for his support of campaign-finance reform and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better known as the McCain-Feingold Act. He has spoken out about his feelings on the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which effectively overturned parts of the McCain-Feingold Act, saying on his last Meet the Press appearance, “I think there will be scandals as associated with the worst decision of the United States Supreme Court in the 21st century. Uninformed, arrogant, naive.”
Roundtable: Todd, Brewer, Wasserman Schultz, Murphy
- NBC Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd’sinterview with Mitt Romney for an MSNBC documentary, “Mitt Romney: The Making of a Candidate” aired Friday. NBC's Political Unit wrote in Friday’s First Read that although Mitt Romney has had a tough summer battling everything from tax return battles to Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) “legitimate rape” comments, Romney is still within reach. They wrote that according to a Romney adviser, “The race has been stable over the past couple of months, but that polling shows Romney -- after the Ryan pick and the welfare attacks on Obama -- has narrowed the gap with the president.”
- Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) has been in office since 2009. Recently, Brewer has been in the news for an executive order she signed, which denies benefits to illegal immigrants they would qualify for under President Obama’s Dream Act, as well as for her state’s controversial immigration bill which received a split decision from the Supreme Court in June. Watch her last appearance here.
- Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz(D-FL) is the chair of the Democratic National Committee. She has served as DNC chair since May of last year and as the representative of Florida’s 20th Congressional district since 2005. As one of the surrogates for the Obama re-election campaign, she’s been critical of the Romney/Ryan campaign as she was on Piers Morgan Tonight. Wasserman Schultz is also among the Congressional Democrats joining Vice President Joe Biden in Tampa during the Republican National Convention this week.
- Republican strategist Mike Murphy wrote in Time magazine this week that Mitt Romney needs to appeal to swing voters in his speech at the Republican National Convention. He must “paint a vivid picture” of a Romney White House and resist simply attacking President Obama because “the audience Romney needs to win isn’t the one that will be cheering on the floor of the hall in Tampa. It is the audience that will sit listening, warily, in living rooms across America.”
Follow these guests on Twitter:
- Frm. Gov. Jeb Bush: @JebBush
- Gov. John McCain: @SenJohnMcCain
- Chuck Todd: @chucktodd
- Gov. Jan Brewer: @GovBrewer
- Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz: @DWStweets
- Mike Murphy: @murphymike
