romney gained the tax code. he basically picked his own tax rate and accountants played around with deductions to hit the pre-determined rate near 14%. would you take it? meanwhile, romney won't explain the specifics of his tax plan for you and me. americans. >> we bring down rates, we limit deductions and exemptions to keep the code and encourage growth in jobs. >> and the devil is in the details. what are we talking about? mortgage deduction? >> the devil is in the detail, the angel is in the policy which is creating more jobs. >> tax cuts for the rich do not create jobs. this is the top marginal tax rate from 1948 to 2010. you be the judge. it's gone down quite a bit. here's unemployment over the same period. it's very hard to argue lower taxes do anything worthwhile for jobs, but romney's plan is even worse than this. not only will rich people get tax breaks, the only way to pay for them is on the backs of the middle class and everybody else. every wage earner out there. you can serve up a little more can't

liars, like romney, are pro-foundly bad for this country. >> the romney lie in the romney ad, that's about as ugly a lie as you could possibly do with videotape, isn't it? >> lying politicians like mitt romney. the one word that best describes that assertion is lie. the lying romney campaign. today, mitt romney staked his campaign on that big lie. mitt romney has left us with a choice. he's either a liar or what george will would call, a bloviating ignoramus. >> tell us what you really mean. >> yesterday, mitt romney closed his speech with a reference to martin luther king jr., which brings up the uncomfortable memory of the 2007 campaign when he was talking about his father and martin luther king jr. let's look at that. >> i saw my father march with martin luther king. >> my dad marched with martin luther king. >> did you actually see your dad march with martin luther king? >> no, i say that in a figurative sense. i try to be as accurate as i can be, and the -- if you'll look at the literature or the dictionary, the term "saw" includes being aware of inthe sense that i've described.

some righties are being critical of romney and some are asking where the real mitt romney has been all along? let's start with david brooks. he called the comment a country club fantasy. it's what millionaires say to each other and reenforces every negative view people have about romney. it remains important for the country that romney wins in november unless he chooses to step down and we can get the ryan/rubio ticket we deserve. on the flip side, you have the romney cheerleading squad. who is leading the way? rush limbaugh. he's so excited, he's come down with a case of gold fever. >> this is such a golden -- this could be the opportunity for romney and for that campaign to finally take the gloves off and take the fear off and just start explaining conservatism. this is a golden opportunity and we know romney has got it in him because of what he said to these people. >> eric ericson is also on board. he wrote, the romney campaign should double down on what he said. they should own it. meanwhile it's causing headaches for republican seats across the seat. scott brown said today, that'

what mitt romney's tv ads say about women, or what mitt romney, himself, says? >> do i believe supreme court should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. >> no matter what mitt romney's ads say, we know what he'll do. >> in an interview with "rolling stone" magazine president obama was asked if he believes mitt romney will try and undo roe v. wade. "i don't think there's any doubt," the president said. "we know the current supreme court has four members who would overturn roe v. wade. all it takes is one more for that to happen." the longer mitt romney stays silent on this issue the worse he looks. this is an issue of leadership and character which i think he lacks. at least richard mourdock, as much as i disagree with him, has the guts to stand up and say what he believes and then stand by it. the same can never be said for mitt romney. get your cell phones out. i w

romney. if he exploits the debates to his favor and increases his standard beyond that of obama, he will fit right in. the bad news, romney has to beat obama to do it. and what a big night for politics, history and our bloled country. that's "hardball" for now. "the ed show" starts right now. >>> good evening, america. welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 43 days until the 2012 election. only nine days until the first presidential debate. mitt romney thinks it's fair to pay a smaller tax rate than americans who earn $50,000 a year? you like that? this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> what's your big idea? >> freedom. >> now we know. mitt romney loves freedom and he loves his low tax rate. >> you think it is fair? >> yeah, i think it's the right way to encourage economic growth. >> tonight, richard wolf on mitt romn romney's definition of fair and dean baker on romney's ability to game the tax code with chinese investments. >> my expectation would be in the crunch in october, governo

no one is calling mitt romney stupid. >> mitt romney is drowning in stupid people. they work for his campaign, they send clint eastwood out on the convention stage, they contribute money to his campaign. they ask him incredibly stupid questions at his fundraisers when we now have on tape. but as that same tape proves, the very stupidest person in mitt romney's life tonight is mitt romney. >> well, okay, but that was like 24 hours ago, which is like a year ago in this story so i forget about that part. what i meant to say is no republicans are calling him stupid. but wait, i guess a few are. so some are calling him stupid, but not all of them. but they will, all be calling him stupid around 9:00 p.m. on election night. tonight, nate silver of the new york times blog's forecasts that on that night, president obama will win 305 votes and ploim has a 75% chance of winning the election. >> that was a long lonely piece of tape. he was not for romney at the beginning. it was the establishment types that were for romney. rush was hoping for someone real and conservative and

the romney campaign is not disputing that that video is of romney. my job is not to worry about those people, i'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. the romney campaign is not disputing that that video is of romney. they issued a statement prompted by the recording, quote, mr. romney wants to help all americans struggling in the obama economy. as the governor has made clear, he's concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent upon the government. the 23 million americans struggling to find work. mitt romney's plan grow es the economy and moves americans off government dependency and into jobs. also republican party chairman is not only defending the remarks tonight, he's saying that mitt romney was on message when he made these remarks. the obama campaign issued their own statement. the campaign manager says, quote, it's hard to serve as president for all americans when you have disdainfully written off half the nation. in terms of how we got this information today, got this fo

this is the romney pre-game show. will mitt romney be held accountable for lies and distortions about president obama's record? we got a sneak preview of what happens when mitt romney is forced to tell the truth. a fox affiliate here in denver asked romney to explain what paul ryan could not, how he plans to pay for $5 trillion tax cut by only eliminating deductions. >> there's an option. you could say everybody is going to get up to a deduction and you could use your home mortgage deduction or others, health care deduction and fill that bucket, if you will, the $17,000 bucket that way and higher income people might have a lower number. >> at least the plan has a name. it's the bucket plan. mitt romney will cap deductions at $17,000 for all americans. is that good for the middle class? do the math. for rich americans, the cap, it just might be lower than that. he was very vague on that point as well. the big problem with romney's bucket plan besides being hilarious is it would only cover $1 to $2 trillion of the $5 tr

the names against romney changed, anybody but romney. electorate different, more mormons in arizona. >> right. >> but in terms of his conservativism, it looks loo a lot like florida, see the same kind of pattern emerging and romney a double-digit lead like he ended up with in florida. >> we should also point out that on advertising, basically the only people advertising are folks on behalf of romney in arizona, a much more even split in michigan. also might explain the poll numbers. finally, let's talk about satisfaction with the field. i still think it's pretty striking that 41% of republicans in michigan and 48% of republicans in arizona are not satisfied with this field. that's not good this late in the process. >> no. no. this reflect the division that's been going on since day one on the republican side, as there's been this weak front-runner in mitt romney and somebody else every week sort of emerging as the challenger. and the republican reasons, the big names stayed on the sidelines, they weren't into this. and at one point or an

vote for mitt romney? the romney campaign is in serious trouble. but you do what you've got to do in these situations you've got to put one foot in front of the other and they have decided the way they're going to get out of these problems and the way they're going to take these steps is going to be baby steps. welcome to america? seriously, who's making the decisions in this campaign right now. >>> okay. best new thing in the world today. specifically, it is the best new thing in mitt romney's world today. it was a chance for him to get on television without having to answer questions about what he said at that fundraiser. he got that chance through the magic of time travel. also known in the tv world as a pretaped interview. >> so as you know, we have a huge show today. >> yes. >> we taped an incredible interview with presidential candidate governor mitt romney and his wife ann which we're going to show you today. >> that is a person named kelly ripa and a person named michael strahan. they are teasing forward with mitt and ann romney which they

mitt romney knows that. so mitt romney has delegated the crisis management of his nugent problem to ted nugent. who today, tried to explain himself to friendly interviewers. >> if it wasn't for the federal government, my life would be perfect. bottom line is, glenn, i've never threatened anybody's life in my life. i don't threaten. i don't waste breath threatening. i just conduct myself as a dedicated we the people activist. i'm a nonviolent guy. i don't threaten. i wouldn't waste my time threatening. i've never threatened anybody's life in my life. i certainly wouldn't threaten the life of the president or anybody in public office or anybody anywhere. >> i'm a black jew in a nazi clan rally. >> that guy knows something about damage control. and the only thing about ted nugent that seems to bother the romney campaign is nugent's claim that romney solicited nugent's endorsement. ted nugent announced his endorsement on twitter after a long heart and soul conversation with mitt romney today, i concluded this go

romney was wrong. governor romney has been wrong. no matter what he tries to do tonight, he's been wrong. when you're commander in chief you have to be steady. you don't get multiple choices to get it right. the president was strong. that was a commander in chief there. we thought governor romney was unsteady and fairly reckless in his language. >> how surprised were you at the new agreements that you got with governor romney tonight? afghanistan specifically. >> it's his fourth position. you can't trust him. he'll have a new position next week. this president has one position. he's going to end this war in 2014 in part because we've ses mated al qaeda. you look at governor romney you saw a politician not a commander in chief. i think that's going to worry people all across america. >> on what is the new afghanistan agreement between president obama and mitt romney, i want you to think about it as you're in a unique situation as having been a campaign techtition and work in the white house. with just looking at it tactically is it th

that is something that the romney campaign approved, that governor romney now owns. the ad that was put out by priorities usa is not an ad on behalf of the obama campaign. it wasn't put out by the obama campaign. it was not funded by the obama campaign, so there's a fundamental difference. i find it somewhat ironic, to say the least, when you think about the fact that -- you think about the fact that newt gingrich is out there defending governor romney. what level of dante's political hell has newt gingrich and mitt romney entered? >> this is what i find so confusing, why would newt gingrich go out there and talk about welfare when he knows he has to talk about an ad that admittedly isn't true, i mean how stupid is that? why would he do that, what's the upside of doing that? >> you know, this campaign, it is the most puzzling campaign, to me, the romney campaign. there's no message. we're now about what 90 days out, there's still no focus. you could literally walk down the street of any major city or small town and no one can tell you what governor romney is running

romney won the debate. last night romney was more skilled. it doesn't change the policies. >> ezra, will the strategy work in the next two debates that heavy here? will this vague strategy work with foreign policy and the next debate beyond that? >> i think that the obama team is going to be more ready for what romney's able to bring to the debate than they were in this one. they'll be prepared for romney to walk in and tell his credentials. romney will change up his strategy. in general first debates are lopsided. the incumbent tends to recover a little bit in the second debate. whether we'll follow that trend line is anybody's guess. >> thank you, ezra. appreciate it. now to the third person on stage at the debates last night, you. yes, you didn't have a vocal response, but let me tell you, every moment people like you were chiming in. twitter reports today that it was the most tweeted event in u.s. politics generating over 10 million tweets in 90 minutes. perspective, that means just six years, but now some critics say that the twitter exp

mitt romney. >>> a couple of new polls out. the new nbc news "wall street journal" poll -- >> polls -- >> polls indicate -- >> we've got months of this. >> this is the first full week of the full-on campaign. round one of the general election. >> i'm probably going to need a helmet between now and november. what do you think? >> a poll out today shows the president up. >> 42% of registered voters have a favorable view of the president -- >> this is a snapshot in time. >> does 29% see romney in a favorable light? >> president obama leads by ten points in the enthusiasm gap. >> the likability factor is part of all of this. >> and the trustworthy thing. >> romney has a lot more baggage than the president. >> i wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. >> i know the president likes to attack fellow americans, particularly those successful like my dad. >> the "new york times" poll shows the candidate lost in a dead heat. >> i'll use my energy to help the american people go to work. >> everywhere he

romney loses. 50-100,000, mitt romney loses. how do you win a state when you loose every single income bracket in the state? oh, again, mitt romney wins among the wealthiest sliver of the electorate. that is the only group that mitt romney won that is the only group of voters mitt romney won in michigan or in ohio. he lost the primary or at best tied with voters in every single income bracket in both states, except for the wealthiest sliver of the electorate. how do you win a state when you were only winning the wealthiest sliver and losing everything else? ah-ha. mitt romney is not just appealing to the rich people in these states. he is inspiring the rich people in these states. turns out mitt romney's candidacy is driving up voter participation by the richest people in the country. this is amazing. in 2008 in the republican primary in ohio, the proportion of voters in that primary that year that were making over $100,000, 21%. that was 2008. 21%. this year, 30%. of the electorate is making over $100,000. those are mitt romney

romney." in lakeland, florida, the headline is, "romney tries to soften damage." in dayton beach -- excuse me, in daytona beach, "romney battles video fallout: candidate defensive over controversy." in colorado springs, "romney trying to control damage from controversy." marshalltown, iowa, "bad gets worse for romney." philadelphia, "mitt versus moochers: can this campaign be saved?" asheville, north carolina, republican candidate mark meadows says, "i'm not romney." lynchberg, virginia, "video fallout proves taxing for romney." detroit, michigan, "romney's 47% remark: will it sink his campaign?" andrew kaszynski at buzz feed has been doing these roundups of swing state newspaper's front-page headlines. so it's a great way to get a snapshot of how things covered in the national press are actually translating on the ground, where the voters who will decide this election will actually be reading about it in their local paper. and the romney campaign's media problem becoming a national problem,

romney. what is his budget? where are his tax returns? there's still this giant question mark that hangs over all of these questions, where he says, oh, it's not my -- it's not his budget and i'm not going to tell you what the answer is. you're just going to have to figure it out. that's just not good enough. >> let's listen to the way that joe biden handled the day after this thing he said yesterday, where he used the notion that the romney people wanted to put you back in chains. he went off-script, ad libbed a little something. everyone said, hey, wait, that rhetoric's going way too far. a lot of crazy, fake outrage about it. let's see how biden handled it today. >> i know i am sometimes criticicriti criticized for saying exactly what i mean. it's not going to change. but let me tell you something. barack obamaoes exactly what he says he's going to do. you don't have to worry about barack obama changing positions midstream. >> joy, as much as biden may have misspoke when he used that phras

mitt romney released his taxes. it turns out he has already disqualified himself from being president. >> i don't pay more than are legally due and, frankly, if i had paid more than are legally due, i don't think i'd be qualified to become president. >> tonight the epic campaign day that ended an epic campaign week with former ohio governor ted strickland and the nation' ari melber. a full analysis of romney's sketchy tax return with david cay johnston. and bernie sanders joins me to look at paul ryan's attempt to fool people at the aarp convention. >> the first step is to repeal obama care because it represents the worst of both worlds. >> and tom aiken is forced to answer for his illegitimate rape remarks for the first time. >> they say a lot about how he views thing. >> good to you have with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the dynamics of the presidential race changed this week and there's no turning back. for the next 46 days the two candidates will be dealing with the fallout of the reaction of what hap

it has also been a good night for mitt romney. mitt romney winning in idaho. winning in virginia where only he and ron paul were on the ballot winning his home state of massachusetts in vermont and squeaking one out in ohio. these are the of all states won throughout the country up to and including tonight. you are seeing some streaky patterns there, and in terms of regional favorability for these candidates, but right now, it is still a good night for rick santorum. had mitt romney lost ohio to mr. santorum, i think that it would have been seen as a spectacular night for rick santorum. the states that he won the night included north dakota, tennessee and oklahoma, but in the end, not ohio despite having been close all night. this has been a heck of a night. super tuesday tonight, and we are waiting for some of the results from alaska. which, you never know, might end up being definitive at any point. >> and sarah palin voted for newt. >> did she? >> sarah palin voted for newt so anybody who tells newt to get out, she will be all worked up about that. >> well,

is mitt romney among those? we'll never know since he refuses to release his tax returns for the years before he was running for president. >> do you think that this renews the pressure for romney to release more returns? or is just harry reid having fun with this whole thing? >> no, i agree with harry reid. i mean, we've got a candidate for president, mitt romney, writing off half the country, and calling them victims and dependent on government, because supposedly, they don't pay income taxes. well, they pay state and local taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes, and mitt romney, who has invested overseas in the cayman islands and has money in swiss bank accounts, and in bermuda, and won't release anything more than a year and a partial year of his tax return, has the nerve to call half of america victims? it's -- >> i think another key point in all of this, the man who hosted that fund-raiser back in may in boca raton has apologized to mitt romney, and it's now out there, of course, everyone was told that this

what is romney going to do? and what they saw across the ideological spectrum today what they saw was december preparation. and that is a dangerous place to be. because when the media filter starts to refract everything they do are they being desperate? are they off their strategy? are they losing their heads? you are in a downward spiral that can be very damaging to you on every possible level, in terms of fund raising, in terms of your standing with voters, with the press. this is a very delicate time for romney. he made a situation in the world. in this election much worse than when he started out today. >> and joy, the bipartisan criticism came from what he had to say, it's being called a strikeout. and when you see a batter strikeout a couple of types in a row, the third times it becomes the expectation this is the guy who strikes out. >> i elections are a comparison. i think romney has gone into this thing from the beginning thinking this is just a referendum on barack obama. so if i just keep shining the

romney did -- governor romney was terrific last night. he did all the things he had to do to get back in this race, and i am also mystified at the president's strategy. you know, chris, i'm a good sports fan. in fact, i even do sports tv and i write -- >> i know you do. >> and there's a great sports analogy. when you play the perfect defense when you have a lead, when you try to sit on the ball in basketball when you have got a lead, when you play conservative, what often happens is you lose the lead. and i can't for the life of me believe that that's what they did, but that's the only explanation. they told the president, don't be confrontational. they told the president, be above it all, act presidential. but the one thing that gets me when i was running for re-election as mayor and when i was running for re-election as governor and even d.a., i had a passion for what we'd accomplished. i had a passion to explain where we didn't accomplish something, why we didn't, what the roadblocks were, and he could have done that without being aggr

romney raised taxes, created romney care, appointed liberal judges. then ran to the left of teddy kennedy in 1994. this is not a conservative republican. he is not going to win the nomination. then became a moderate to run for governor. i think what's really striking about last night is that three out of four republicans once again repudiated mitt romney. then with romney care, for example, included state-funded abortions. it's pretty clear. he's not truthful about his record in massachusetts and his background. he's not truthful about his pac which has his staff running it. >> i have to ask you, are you calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> you're calling mitt romney a liar? >> well, you seem shocked by it. yes. i mean, what else can you say? >> most of that was from the past 24 hours. gingrich is just warming up. if he can't get the nomination, he wants to make sure mitt romney, he ain't going to get it either. next weekend a group of conservative power brokers, i really love this story, including james dobson, tony perkins and gary bower are going

romney is the owner. romney is the ceo. romney is the chairman. >> so their argument at bain is he was out doing the olympic thing. in fact, he was probably playing a little bit of golf along the way. we didn't have anything to do with the operations. but on the paper he's the man, correct? >> that's pretty much what they're saying, yes. >> great reporting. great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. let's turn to the national press secretary for the obama campaign, 2012. well, there's a lot for you guys to talk about. you're going right at it. how do you respond to the romney campaign's defense of the candidate today? >> well, you know, mitt romney is holding himself to a double standard because he claims credit for jobs created by the companies that bain acquired. but he won't accept responsibility for transactions that he was involved in for companies that shipped jobs overseas and went bankrupt with workers losing their jobs and their pensions and their health care benefits. so he's furiously trying to extract hi

romney has a 29% chance. and as of tonight, 7.7 million people have already voted and that includes the president who cast his own ballot today in chicago. we'll have much more on the early voting later on in the show. but we start with tonight's lead. mitt romney's mourdock mess. senate candidate richard mourdock's god intended rape comments are now threatening to undermine mitt romney's careful effort to appeal to voters as moderate mitt. desperate to hide the extreme republican positions on women's health, romney is just wishing and hoping this will all go away. but someone forgot to tell the press corps this morning in ohio. >> governor, do you wish senator mourdock would pull that ad? >> thank you. have a good day. >> you, too. >> that's me? >> have a great day. >> thank you. have a good day. but please don't ask be about god intending rape anymore. this is awkward for mitt romney after all at this hour romney's ad endorsing mourdock is still running in indiana and the campaign has no plans to pull suppo

the wall street journal, "romney

how to take on mitt romney. win or lose here tomorrow night, he's a much weaker candidate than just weeks ago. and that's because the obama campaign has been taking notes on mitt and has a blueprint they think for beating him. and the man florida republicans love to hate. former governor charlie crist. tonight here on "hardball." on his former party. on whether president obama will carry the sunshine state come november. and finally, let me finish with newt versus romney. revenge is the italians say is a dish best served cold. we begin with romney's negative assault on gingrich. and with me here in miami are the two pros. already taking this town by storm. morning joe's joe scarborough and mika. i was at your event this morning at the deli. and those people were lined up, what, at 4:00 this morning to catch you. >> there were some very colorful characters there. >> was jackie mason there? >> jackie mason. also the miami herald reported that strippers were there. >> okay. >> not strippers. women of the night. tha

romney hood. according to obama, he's the guy that raises the taxes of the middle class, cuts the taxes of the rich. and this is how obama wants to you see this coming election. it isn't about how are things going for you. it is about who are you going to trust? who is going to look out for you? this guy, he calls romney hood, is going to take from you and give to the rich. looking at the romney tax plan, by the way, fair look at things. those in the top brackets do get a bigger percentage tax cut off their bigger income and their higher rates. those at the bottom get 2% cut off the lower rates and against the relatively skimpy incomes. his plan, romney's would take from the regular people, in other words, and use that money to reward romney's rich supporters. it is all true and he is romney hood. the only question is why it took so long for someone to call him that. joining me tonight is howard fineman of the huffington post and nbc analyst. joe klein of "time" magazine. two smart guys here. romn

why couldn't mitt romney have picked him? why couldn't romney pick him? because bob mcdonnell blew his chances when he became governor ultrasound, right? forcing medically unnecessary ultra sounds on virginia women and forcing them to pay for it. yes, bob mcdonnell blew it, and so mitt romney instead went with the budget want guy, with none of that baggage. except paul ryan is not just the budget want guy. budget want guy.. in addition to his sponsoring the ban on all abortions and the most popular forms of birth control and most invitro fertilization in the country, he has also supported a federal version of bob mcdonnell's virginia forced ultrasound bill. he sponsored a federal bill to force women seeking an abortion to undergo a medical procedure regardless of whether or not they want it, regardless of whether or not their doctor thinks it's the right decision, but just because the government says you have to. the latest nbc/wall street journal poll has mitt romney losing women to president obama by 15 points. so i guess now is as good a time as any to

- >> i would say ann romney as well. >> ann romney, too. if you pick someone like pawlenty or portman, the immediate reaction is those are good, solid, experienced choices that know their way around the national campaign trail. the sooner, the better, because the country will think that that's a good solid choice and it will reflect well on governor romney's judgment. if you pick somebody that's more of a surprise, i can understand the logic of waiting until closer to the convention so you sort of electrify the convention but there are pros and cons to both of these and again, no one knows except the inner circle of the romney campaign and they ain't talking. >> they ain't talking but they sure were leaking last week because there did, governor rendell, seem to be a strategic leak about condoleezza rice and maybe to just test what the conservative republican response would be. i'm told that it was at least seriously considered that she did so well in park city, utah, that there were people very close to mitt romney who thought this could be

mitt romney says he supports education. i thought he supported ryan plan that cuts pell grants by $170 billion. we'll sort it out right now, this is "the ed show, let's get to work." >> congress needs to keep interest rates on student loans from doubling. >> the president is leading and mitt romney is following. >> i fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans. >> van jones of rebuild the dream on the progressive movement to end the war on the poor. and the economic victims of the romney budget. >>> another big brand dumps alec, and now they may have a big problem with the irs. robert greenwald is here to explain. bill o' reilly joins the scare. >> do you know robert reich? i. >> i do -- >> tonight former labor secret robert reich is here to respond. >>> and the player formerly known as ron artest is in trouble for in assault. should he be tossed from the league forever? >> i got emotional and excited, if was unfortunate that james got hit with an unintentional elbow. >>> good to have you with

let's get behind mitt romney. the damage that is being caused now could be certainly detrimental in the general election. i can talk even specifically, rick santorum taking on mitt romney regarding health care and basically saying that there is no difference between what mitt romney, passed and signed as governor of massachusetts, and what right now is before the supreme court of this country. and he made for those conservatives out there, i think, a very easy argument as to why they should not get behind mitt romney. especially those, andrea, who are hell-bent on repealing what they refer to agency obamacare. >> how many times, a good point you make. how many times have we heard rick santorum on the stump saying that the whole health care issue would be denied to the republican party with mitt romney as the nominee because he could not make the argument effectively against the president's health care plan. he's going to have to take back a whole lot and that makes the very awkward to see what kind of announcement

mitt romney in portsmouth. [ chanting ] >> romney! romney! romney! >> thank you. what a beautiful day. what a wonderful opportunity to be here. thank you for that great welcome. thank you, senator, portman, i'm delighted as well we're going to see a new congressman? where is he? right over here. thank you, doctor. where'd he go. we're going get you elected. appreciate the chance to be with you today and to spend some time and talk about the course ahead for our great nation. we face some extraordinary challenges as you know. and you've gathered today not just to listen to a couple of people to speak but to think about the future of the country that you love and to ask yourself how it is that america is going to be able to face up to the challenges we have. i can tell you i'm 1100% confident we're going. know the american heart. i've seen the people of this country. i believe in you, and i believe in america. [ cheers and place ] >> now as the senator said it's been an interesting day. i had a debasement i enjoyed it, i've got to be honest with you. i got to ask th

today romney lost this argument. the bur pro of labor statistics announced a provision to its jobs count from march of 2011 to march of this year. the revised number incdes an additional 386,000 jobs. this mns morthan million joavenedince president obama took office. the bottom line here? there are more jobs now than when the president took overor george w. bush in january of 2009. thasn ofne mattacks on e president. and now, it's off the table. romney isn't in a position where he can afford to lose any of his weapons. i think he's scrambling big-time. all the polls show that. on a personal note i can't wait for the debates. one of the lines bng used by reicrinohe conservatives is that mitt romney is just this great debater. i mean, he is a great debater. can somebody remind the american people, and i'll do it right now, that we have a smart guy on our side? president oba, let me remind you, is a fierce competitor. he will prepared. nohoisia he knows his accomplishments and he knows exactly where he wants to take thi

the people that voted for romney and higher education voted for romney. the rural people with a lot less money. but there's a passion deficit here. it's so apparent. and i wonder. am i right? are we watching a totally different race right now that we're going to see in november? the race now is who turns you on. the race in november is going to be how do we beat obama, if you're a republican. it doesn't matter who's running against him. how do we beat him? >> i think electability, absent passion, is a transaction. and i think that's what's occurring in the republican process right now. the voters are engaged in a transaction with mitt romney coming to accept him as the nominee, not necessarily being passionate about him. when you move into a general election, i don't think enthusiasm is going to drive the outcome. >> they've got enthusiasm. it's getting rid of obama. >> i think that republican voters will unify around the nominee on the question of getting rid of the president, denying him a second term. now, in a perfect world, you'd rather have passion

mitt romney will restore the work requirement, because it works. >> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> that's the new ad released by the romney campaign today. romney repeated that message at a campaign stop in elk grove village, illinois. >> if i'm president, i'll put work back in welfare. we will end a culture dependency and restore a culture of good, hard work. >> this is yet another example of the cognizant dissonance of mitt romney. he claims that the problem is that president obama hasn't created jobs. then claims that people just don't want to work. but maybe this isn't surprising from a millionaire who has referred to himself as unemployed. >> i should also tell my story. i'm also unemployed. >> but back to romney's welfare boondoggle. by now you know two things are a good bet when mitt romney launches a new line of attack against president obama. one, it's probably not true. as reuters clarified today, the purpose of the federal waiver is to empower states to improve the system. the directive from the health and human services department allows states to the pursue

romney did -- governor romney was terrific last night. he did all the things he has to do to get back in this race, and i am also mystified at the president's strategy. you know, chris, i'm a good sports fan. in fact, i even do sports tv and i write -- >> i know you do. >> and there's a great sports analogy. when you play the perfect defense when you have a lead, when you try to sit on the ball in basketball when you have got a lead, when you play conservative, what often happens is you lose the lead. and i can't for the life of me believe that that's what they did, but that's the only explanation. they told the president, don't be confrontational. they told the president, be above it all, act presidential. but the one thing that gets me when i was running for re-election as mayor and when i was running for re-election as governor and even d.a., i had a passion for what we'd accomplished. i had a passion to explain where we didn't ak plir something, why we didn't, what the road blocks were, and he could have done that without being aggres

mitt romney appreciates and admires the work and the ideas that paul ryan has done but mitt romney has his own plans. >> mark halperin, you brought up a little-known e-book called "game change" and the phrase being bandied about in the world of political media is that this in fact may be a game change as well, this pick of paul ryan. what do you make of it? >> it might be and just like the pick of sarah palin, it's not clear if it ends up being a game changer, which side it will be a game changer for. paul ryan could help mitt romney make up the small lead that barack obama has now and help him put wisconsin in play and redefine the race, or he could cost mitt romney so dearly with senior voters and other groups in wisconsin and in florida and pennsylvania and iowa that he contribute to his losing the race. we have to see. >> it's an either/or situation, you're saying. maggie, it's very rare that both sides greet this political news with such fervor and so many broad smiles, yet both democrats and republicans were very happy about paul ryan as mitt romney's choice for vp. i guess the q

romney. maybe it is because the romney camp said it would take an act of god for santorum or gingrich to win. god seems like he wants to make it happen. all right. let's look at the big board. according to nbc news, here's where the race to the 1,144 delegates stands. mitt romney leads with 419. rick santorum swek 184. newt gingrich third 136. ron paul is way behind with 34. the romney campaign political director rich beesen distributed a memo saying santorum and gingrich trail by margin that's cannot mathematically make up. rick santorum did not try to fight math with math today. >> pretty sad when all you have is to do math trying to go out there and win it on substance and on what americans want to hear about. we're a long, long way from over and you know what i suspect if we keep winning state after state after state we'll be the nominee. >> according to nbc mitt romney needs to win 48% of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination and rick santorum needs to win 63%. the only thing

2.0, romney from the primaries, romney, who has changed all these positions, that is a connective tissue with all the other ways that he is coming down to the right. >> speaking of mitt romney, the presumptive republican presidential nominee is now speaking at an ohio coal mine, there to highlight how his energy policy differs from that of the president. it's interesting because we are talking about the big issues which is fiscal policy, budget, social programs, the american social safety net, women's issues, social issues, and the two folks running for the highest office in the land are talking about wind energy, which certainly is not an unimportant thing, but if you talk about what's on the mind of voters, i don't think -- >> well, in iowa, it's a big deal. there's a lot of wind farms and jobs there. >> exactly. if you talk about winning iowa, that's a different story entirely. i think ari, to your point, patricia, to yours, too, on face value, i understand how conservative women or single working women may think paul ryan is trying to clean this up, he really cares about fiscal prior

today, romney at 37. 37 in south carolina is a good number for romney. if he builds that out, if he does well in south carolina and florida, i think the ceiling may disappear and you'll see romney rise above it. >> thank you very much. that's "hardball" for now. up next, "your business" with j.j. ram berg. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! pure adrenaline. whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

the romney's charity, with the romney's money, supports a lot of conservative causes that the romneys support. cnn did a report on this the other day, finding out that this foundation has supported like pro-gun groups and the conservative think tank at stanford and some medical stuff. but they also support to the tune of $10,000 in one year alone a group called the massachusetts family institute. the massachusetts family institute is an anti-gay group based in boston, massachusetts, that advocates all sorts of anti-gay causes. and that explains that if anybody is gay, well, you should quit that. "we encourage the healing of individuals who wish to change their choice of lifestyle through the work of exodus international, love won out, and parents and friends of ex-gays and gays." and how do these recommended groups from the romney-funded organization propose that you do that? they promote magic therapy by which you can be cured of your affliction. like our old friend, richard cohen advertised. >> another technique, bioenergetics, designed to help clients release memories stored in the

romney by seven points. 52% to 45%. and the public predicts the president will be re-elected. 63% think he will win in november. just 33% think mr. romney will win. folks, that's big. very big. in late summer polls of past elections, the public accurately predicted the winner in 1996, 2000, and 2008. and in 2004 they called the race a tie when it turned out to be a razor thin election. all of this is bad news for mr. romney. and good news for the president. joining me now is michelle cutter correspondent for news week, daily beast. and patricia murphy. thank you both for joining me. >> hello. >> michelle, let me start with you. the president has focused on fairness and romney's record. it seemed to be pulling off in the polls. is that the message in 2012? >> the polls are telling us that romney cares about the rich and they're not convinced that if he were president he could do a better job with this economy. that's a disaster for him because his whole message is i could do a better job with this economy. i think the dr

is it the romney there last night or the romney in the past? do you think he really believes that 2014 is it? or he asks the generals again, do we stay longer? >> we're probably going to end up with some sort of a residual force, but right now close to 70,000. if we end up with 10,000 or 15,000 in afghanistan, it's not the end of the world. i think it makes sense if we can get a situation where americans and afghans can work together and train together. the biggest problem with afghanistan is people we're training are killing the americans. >> and, willie, that really is -- i did not go to any military colleges, but if you were actually training people to turn around and kill you, that's a bad sign you need to get out of the country. >> i audited a class at west pointe once. >> here we go. we were doing so well. coming up live -- >> what about the giants? we're going to talk about the giants. >> we're going to keep going here. senator john mccain will be here onset. and also romney's sparring partner and debate prep, dr. brzezinski will join us

mitt romney's fine. keep talking about binders, and mitt romney will win in a landslide. >> all right. so the more discussion that is had on this subject for democrats, instead of discussing more substance, like employment of women or a real jobs plan, might this hurt democrats? >> well, governor romney says women have been hurt by the economy. let's look at how we got this bad economy and what is his plan? his plan is the same as former governor bush. tax cuts, not investing in education, not investing in health care, not investing in ideas that move the country forward and innovation and math and science. that's the real issue. what i find interesting about binder comment is that the people around governor romney didn't bring to him any women. he had to go to a binder to find them. what does that say about the people he has around him? the main point is to look at the facts. what is the record? trying to find governor romney's position is like trying to nail jello to the wall. just on choice, if i coul