'Meet the Press' transcript for August 31, 2008

MR. TOM BROKAW: Our issues this Sunday: John McCain picks an unexpected choice for his running mate.

(Videotape)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): I am very pleased, very privileged to introduce to you the next vice president of the United States, Governor Sarah Palin.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: Can this little-known Alaskan governor help pull Hillary Clinton voters to the McCain camp? And how will this duo combat the Obama-Biden ticket? We ask the national co-chair of the McCain campaign and the governor who will be host to this week's Republican convention in his state of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty. Plus, Senator Obama makes it official.

(Videotape)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): I accept your nomination for presidency of the United States.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: Did the weeklong Democratic show in Denver give the Obama-Biden ticket a boost? And how do the two presidential tickets stack up on the major issues facing the next administration? Our political roundtable weighs in: the anchor of CNBC's "Closing Bell," Maria Bartiromo, who interviewed Sarah Palin last week; presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; NBC's chief White House correspondent and host of MSNBC's "Race for the White House," David Gregory; NBC News political reporter Andrea Mitchell; NBC's political analyst who worked on McCain's 2000 presidential campaign, Mike Murphy; and NBC News correspondent traveling with the McCain campaign, Kelly O'Donnell.

But first, Hurricane Gustav is threatening the Gulf Coast, as New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin issued this dire warning.

(Videotape)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN: This is the mother of all storms. This is the real deal. This is not a test. For everyone who is out there thinking that they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: That would be one of the biggest mistakes you could make in your life.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: Let's go live now to New Orleans, where Weather Channel meteorologist Jeff Morrow has the very latest on the track of the storm.

Jeff, what do you have for us?

MR. JEFF MORROW: All right. Well, good morning there, Tom. Basically what we're looking at is a weakened hurricane at this point. It crossed over Cuba last evening; in fact, some of the damage reports coming out of Cuba were quite substantial. This was a 150-mile-an hour-hurricane, Category 4, when it crossed over western Cuba, but now it has left that country behind and has emerged into the Gulf of Mexico. The track now still seems to be narrowing and it looks like it'll probably make a landfall here somewhere in south central or southeast Louisiana during the day on Monday. But it looks like it may be slightly weakened. That's what people are hoping here. But still, nobody's taking any chances, particularly with what Mayor Ray Nagin just said last night, as you reported. A lot of folks are getting out of town. Mandatory evacuation orders are now coming up here for Orleans and Jefferson Parish, right around the city. So folks are heeding his advice. I think if the mayor wanted to somewhat scare people into leaving, it may be working, because a lot of people have been leaving town here. The hope is that this hurricane continues to weaken as it moves to the north, but we don't know that for sure yet. It's a wait and see here as we head through the rest of today and head into Monday. Tom:

MR. BROKAW: All right, Lee Morrow. We ask you to stand by in case we need an update in all of this.

And joining us live from here in St. Paul, the site of the Republican National Convention which is scheduled to begin tomorrow, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

Mr. Governor, welcome. Some good news in all of that. If it is weakening, here's the Pioneer Press this morning: "It's On...For Now." What are the contingency plans?

GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R-MN): Well, Tom, first of all, our thoughts and prayers, of course, are with the people of the Gulf Coast. And the folks who are organizing the convention are thinking of contingencies ranging from mildly altering the schedule, all the way to fundamentally changing the convention and everything in between. So they're going to monitor this very closely and make changes as appropriate. Of course, we're not going to have a big party or festival here if there's problems or concerns facing the Gulf Coast.

MR. BROKAW: President Bush was scheduled to be here tomorrow night to address the convention in person. We're hearing that he is likely to stay at the White House, which seems to make a lot of sense.

GOV. PAWLENTY: Of course. It wouldn't be appropriate to have the president here if his time or attention is needed responding to or preparing to deal with the crisis in the Gulf Coast, so we understand that.

MR. BROKAW: But there's no chance of calling off the convention because you've got to proceed to get his name on the ballot, among other things, John McCain.

GOV. PAWLENTY: The convention has to go forward in these four days. It's really a question of what does it look like and it may have to be converted into something that's more focused on the hurricane, on Gustav. We'll just have to wait and see as the terms and conditions on the ground dictate them.

MR. BROKAW: I don't want to stress the weather metaphor too far, but we had a thunderstorm of epic proportions last Friday when John McCain unexpectedly announced that Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, would be his running mate. We want to begin with that here this morning, if we can. To borrow a phrase from your profession, the legal profession, let's you and I agree that we can stipulate certain things, OK? She is a conservative and pragmatic politician. She's been tough on corruption in Alaska. She's popular with a winning style and personality. But the fact is that she has been governor less than two years and before that she was a mayor of a town with a population of less than 7,000. Her candidate at the top of the ticket has the bull of a constitution--has the constitution of a bull elephant, but he is a 72-year-old man and a cancer survivor. She will be a heartbeat away from the presidency. This country is engaged in two wars, it's facing a resurgent Russia, a rogue Iran, a financial crisis that may be the greatest since the Great Depression. I think our viewers want to know what's in her background that prepares her for dealing with all that and the possibility that she would have to step up into the Oval Office?

GOV. PAWLENTY: Well, first of all, I think Senator McCain, of course, one of his main attractions and assets and strengths that he's a maverick with a record of reform. She's a maverick with a record of reform. And if you look at her background and I know her a bit as a fellow governor, she's an individual who is smart, she's strong, she's capable, she's dedicated, she's diligent and she has executive experience. She's functioned as a governor, she's the commander in chief of a national guard, she's a former mayor, she's the former chair of an energy commission in Alaska, which is one of the more high-profile issues and operations in Alaska. She's deeply involved in the energy issues, which is really one of the foremost national security issues we have in our country in terms of its connection to transference of wealth to places like the Middle East and Russia and Venezuela. So she is somebody who I think is very capable to be in the executive position. And one last thing, Tom, she's running for vice president. She has as much or more experience as Barack Obama, who's running for president.

MR. BROKAW: But Barack Obama has been before the American people for more than 20 months now. He has debated 20-some times against some very tough opponents. He's participated in one-on-one interviews around the world. He's been vetted, in effect, by the American people, and in most national polls he continues to lead your candidate by a small margin. But people have made some judgments about him and they've not had that same kind of exposure to Sarah Palin. Let me just ask you, quickly, do you think that she would be better on the economy than Mitt Romney, who was a successful entrepreneur and governor of Massachusetts, or better on terrorism than Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania, who also ran Homeland Security? Or better, in a lot of matters at the national level, than Joe Lieberman, who is John McCain's close friend from the Democratic Party who's been supporting your party?

GOV. PAWLENTY: Well, one of the objectives here is to be able to relate to and understand and meet and address the needs of average Americans, blue-collar Americans, people who are struggling economically, people who have had a tough time in life. That's a big part of the concern in this election, our economy. It helps to actually have lived that life or walked that walk. And so in addition to her role as governor, being somebody who is dealing with the economy successfully, by the way, in Alaska, she's also somebody who has, has a background, that's, you know, lived the life that, that we talk about. We talk about people sitting around the kitchen table and balancing a budget with a family and having to worry about meeting--making ends meet economically. She and her family have actually done that. I would say that's pretty good preparation for understanding and relating to the economic needs of average Americans.

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