Politics

Over the past four years, the presidential narrative has shifted for African-Americans like Louisiana state Rep. Patricia Haynes Smith of Baton Rouge.

"I'm 66 years old," said Smith, at an event Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C., for black state legislators here for the Democratic National Convention. "And before 2008, I didn't think I'd live to see a dream come true."

Good evening from Charlotte, N.C., where Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz gaveled the convention to order promptly at 5 p.m. ET. in Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena.

Schultz, who is also the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said that throughout the next three days, "we will demonstrate we need to keep President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden four more years."

Hispanics were a major focus of the program at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Democrats, beginning their convention in Charlotte, N.C., are hoping to capitalize on their current advantage with Hispanic voters.

Robert Siegel and Melissa Block report that as the Democratic National Convention gets underway, the other running record of Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is taking the spotlight. Debate over his reported marathon time has become a popular subject in the blogosphere. Ryan misstated his over four hour time as being under three hours.

On Wednesday, Elizabeth Warren will take the national stage when she speaks at the Democratic National Convention. Audie Cornish spoke with her about the origin of the now infamous "you didn't build that" phrase, the state of the economy and her close Senate race in Massachusetts.

It's been a momentous year for the LGBT community. At the Democratic National Convention, delegates are voting to approve a platform that includes a gay marriage plank. This follows President Obama's announcement in May that he supports gay marriage. These developments, on top of other support from the administration, have led gay and lesbian donors to step up their contributions to the president's re-election campaign this year. Audie Cornish talked with gay delegates and fundraisers about what this year has meant for them.

The Democratic National Convention began Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C. Robert Siegel talks with Mara Liasson about the day's events.

Julian Castro is the 37-year-old mayor of San Antonio. And on Tuesday he will make his national debut as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention. Audie Cornish talks to him about his Latino heritage, the possibility of post-racial politics and whether he sees a presidential run in his future.

Are you better off than you were four years ago?

As Mark reported earlier, that's the question Republicans want Americans to ask themselves as they head to the polls this November.

The question was brought to the forefront after Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley was asked that question on CBS' Face the Nation.

Any sandlot ballplayer knows the value of batting last in baseball, but what is the value of doing the same when you're running for president of the United States?

It has long been a tradition of our presidential election system that the party in the White House holds its nominating convention after the opposition party. It is as though the challenger gets to make a case, and the reigning champion gets to respond.

Tonight we will commence the response portion of that program.