mark:john: with all due respect to senator mark kirk-- ♪ mark: happy national corn on the cob day. in our lineup tonight, a stock, a straw. but first, a pick. the first -- aprila a pick six. mark, you were out there in in deer valley. is a romney -- in a romney

primary, who are the front-runners? mark: you have six residential hopefuls, and romney's core financial supporters. there will be a lot of people here that look at the faction. jeb bush is not here. i think people at this event are like a lot of people in the party, marco rubio, and c are the once they are looking at. john: i know there is no doubt romney has been interested in marco rubio. when he decided not to run himself, he made allusions to running in a new generation. i know that he likes john kasich an awful lot, the kind of governor he would like to get behind, especially if the party rallies behind kasich. john: there is no clear front-runner. -- mark: there is no clear

front-runner. people are kicking the tires. there will be jeb bush peopl e here. people are filtering out -- is it rubio, is it kasich? they want someone to win back the white house. who can beat hillary clinton? that remains to be seen. your washington post is the source they for jeb bush -- the source today for jeb bush turbulence news. italy has actions of drama -- it already has factions drama. john, is the current hand reading in and around jeb a curvekerfuffle ora a crisis -- a crisis? john: i think this is more turbulence than a crisis.

jeb bush seems to be taking control of it enough. the biggest problems he faces are not staff, but jeb bush problems. things that the candidate needs to resolve for himself, that staff has almost nothing to do with. mark: i will take three straws in the window and say why it is more than minor turbulence for jeb. we saw his performance earlier in the week. if you go into an international trip, and you don't fill the vacuum of news, you will get scrutiny. and that is what he got on his gubernatorial record today. it does not send a good signal for his brand. the last thing is, i cannot get any work done, because bush supporters, people on capitol hill are besieging me with questions about what is going on in the bush operation. the washington post story incited and entire new rams

ound today saying that it is not working. john: we are talking about the centrality of the mike murphy to these stories. probably the single most important person in jeb bush's world. that is a bad omen for jeb bush. tomorrow, the iowa republican party will decide if its famous straw poll forwill live and die. if the straw poll pushes up daisies and meet its maker, what are the consequences for the iowa caucus? mark: people in the establishment, as much as they want the straw poll, they say it would be worse for the nation to have a bad straw poll than no straw poll at all. they tried to turn the reagan dinner into a big candidate event.

i think this makes an even more unpredictable situation even more unpredictable. the good news for these campaigns is that no one has an organization. this gets them off the hook for having to build one in a hurry before august. john: this means nothing for the iowa caucuses. after the 2012 straw poll indiscreet tramp and victor, -- it's great triumphant victor michelle bachmann went on to place 5th, 6th? the fact that it is going away can only be good for the party. mark: it is good news for fox news in their debate in august. it is good news for stuff that both you and i love it -- the iowa state fair. they will be able to focus their attention on corndogs and tenderloins and the des moines register soapbox rather than trying to win at the straw

pollax. coming up a pair of president prospects picked a pepper. we will talk about the waler ker-rubio ticket. and then john sits down with rick santorum in the studio. it all happens after this word with our sponsors. ♪

mark: here at the romney romp in deer valley, i spoke with scott walker earlier today. i asked if he thought about joining forces with marco rubio. we started out on resonant obama -- president obama's decision to send more troops to iraq to defeat isis. >> it is good to the president acknowledge there needs to be more help. until they start lifting some of the research and -- some of the restrictions. we only have 3000 troops, so

that is certainly a good thing but we need to drop restrictions. you have air controllers who could be doing a job to help the sunnis, kurds, and others. we need to lift restrictions. mark: would it be smarter rather than doing it increment, to putally to put in a significant amount of troops? governor walker: it is about making sure any conflicts you are engaged in -- military insiders should be looking at that exact kind of thing. -- military advisers should be looking at that exact kind of thing. what we needed to get the mission completed? and get the resources not just to our own personnel but two other allies and region. -- to other allies in the region. just sending troops is not

enough if we don't lift restrictions on those who are already there. mark: you support free trade and giving the president fast-track authority. you don't normally agree with him, what he you agree on this? governor walker: i think it is important to have a level playing field. aren't workers can compete -- our workers can compete with anyone in the world. i think in the end, one of the things imported to whomever is that the republicans controlled house and senate. if this president were to give them a bad deal, they should hold him accountable. mark: tax reform is a big issue for your party. no one thinks this will happen under this resident or congress. -- president or congress. people have talked about lowering rates. when you talk about changing the tax code, and if you have plans for that, what would you want to

do in terms of contribution to the overall pie of people paying taxes? would you like the wealthiest to pay more would you like everyone to pay the same who would be the winners and losers in a walker tax plan? governor walker: we cut taxes all across the board. people in the middle tax bracket had rates go down the most. we want broad relief, but also the biggest relief in the middle of the bracket, where people are hurting the most. i look at what wasn't reagan -- at what president reagan did. that was certainly a great model. if i was a candidate, we would have more complex plans along the way. mark: who would pay more, though ? governor walker: what we look at is getting rid of loopholes. when you can reform the system,

ideally lowering rates is what we want to do now. mark: lowering rates, getting rid of the polls. -- rid of loopholes. it raises the questions -- would you want middle-class people to pay less? governor walker: yes. mark: would you want the wealthy to be paying more? gvoogvernorvernor walker: i don't think it is a question of who pays more. we are competitive overseas. i think we can bring those jobs back and get americans back to work. mark: so loopholes -- what do you think about mortgage auction -- mortgage reduction? do you think that should be scaled back? governor walker: i think having people being able to live the american dream is important, and having a home is an important

part of the. -- part of that. i am not ruling anything out. in terms of general parameters i think what we have done in wisconsin is reduced the tax bite to billion dollars, -- the tax by $2 billion. overall, it puts more money back in the hands of the consumer and job creator. it creates a stronger economy. mark: anytime you talk about tax orreform, you are saying it is not front and center to scale back but you are hoping for it as an overall talk. governor walker: i think home ownership is in it for part of living the american dream. i worked on my first jobs coming out of college, leaving might senior year -- leaviny my se nior year to work the american red cross.

for those organizations to do good work is as just as important to any tax code. mark: the clinton presidency what wasn't the best and worst thing about it? governor walker: they worked with the house and senate on getting a balanced budget. that was certainly good. and certainly the piece left over from president reagan. certainly the scandals were the worst part. we have seen with the e-mails and contentlinton cash, and all that, people are wearing that we will get these scandals again. -- people are worrying. i have a lot of folks that i know from college, certainly my best man, who worked with me for years. there is a wide array.

we probably have 5 couples that we know since converted. mark:-- since kindergarten. mark: what place would you like to go in the world that you have never been? governor walker: i would like to be to australia. places there look epic that i have never seen before. mark: it is hard to figure out. some people are saying that one way to staynd out is to form a ticket. what people are talking about is you and senator rubio forming a ticket. with that interest you? -- would that interest you? governor walker: i do like marco rubio. we have similar positions on foreign policy. when it was his birthday, i sent

a nice tweet "marco, happy birthday from one 40-something to another." mark: if scott walker and marco rubio announced in december, we are going to run as a ticket, do you think that would be a gimmick, or something that voters withould say, that is a strong team and makes sense? governor walker: i have heard others make that suggestion. i think marco is a great candidate. if we get in, we will see where things take us. we would have to arm wrestle over who would be the top of the ticket. mark: governor, think you very much. enjoyed you rdar day, and enjoy canada. one of your many jobs. john: when we come back, rick santorum. ♪

john: joining us now is presidentailial runner up, rick santorum. he will probably not be skeet shooting but we can always shoot bags here. rick santorum: iva question, -- i have a question someone just called you on your phone before we started. who calls you not knowing that you are on television? john: my first question for you -- yesterday, president obama announced he would send 450 advisors or more to iraqw. the basis of obama foreign policy is arm the iraqis and to the fighting. why is that not working? rick santorum: isis is gaining

ground and most poorly is not losing territory. -- most importantly is not losing territory. this is an organization that wants to form a caliphate. they have that islamic declaration to recruit people in this country and around the world to join them. unless we proved that that caliphate with legitimate, -- is illegitimate, we need a plan in place to call that out. john: you may say it is very political what they are doing. it seems to me a ahrdhard sell that we need to put more puts in the ground back to iraq. rick santorum: we have seen two attacks in this country already related to isis operatives

calling to attack citizens of this country. the longer that isis is controlling that area and it looks to be on the offensive, the more people will follow them. that means more people in america will follow them. that means more incidents here not just around the world. john: let me shift from isis to iowa. the fate of the straw poll. you said you will purchase of -- you will participate. rick santorum: i do not say about go, -- i did not say i will not go. john: would you be happy if they kill it? rick santorum: it is up to the voters to make what is the best decision for the caucus. if it is additive-- john: but if they kill it off you want be disappointed. you want say, -- you waoon't say

i was looking forward to going. rick santorum: i ended up winning the caucus. why? because i focused my attention on what mattered which was winning the caucus. john: you mentioned your very important victory was not clear at the night. you said you should be the front-runner there. you spent a lot of time in iowa people know you there. we did a focus group with iowa republicans. we talked about a variety of things. one thing we talked about was you. i want to play in video and get your reaction to what the iowa republicans said. john: crystal, you are not interested in rick santorum? >> he didn't win. so why would i put all of our energy behind him again? what is different this time than last time?

>> with santorum and huckabee they are too conservative for the country. as soon as they leave iowa, they're done. john: those are i what republicans. -- are iowa republicans. what is different this time? rick santorum: i didn't win until 3 weeks later. i won 10 other states, even though there party leadership outspent is 10 to 1. we needed to get disaffected democrats, folks in the middle who are in a middle america who are seeing their wages flatline income falling, and want a political party addressing that. we are not talking about growing parts of the economy that employ people, the 74% of americans who

don't have a college degree. i am the only one talking about having pro-worker immigration policy. there was a pro-worker immigration group that rated all the candidates. there was only one that got an "a" and that was me. we have an economic platform that will not only unite america, but win this election. john: another different thing this time around, is that as things currently stand, you would not be invited to the debates. fox said we will have a 80 table, -- have a kiddie table, before him -- table a forum for under top 10 candidates. rick santorum: it is not about

me or anybody else. it is about the people of america and those in the early primary states paying the most attention to seeing everybody. john: being in a forum with these "second tier" candidates. is that sufficient for you? or would you want to have everybody on stage in primetime? rick santorum: there are a lot of wonderful, quality candidates. terrific records inside and outside of government. in some cases they are just starting their campaigns like i did a couple weeks ago. those campaigns should be given on equal footing if they are legitimate candidates for president. there may be 14, 15 maybe even 16 candidates. if you want to use national polls as are metric, take the average and do 1, 3, 67 etc.

then do the even numbers and back to back to get 2 events rather than one. john: chris wallace talked to you about immigration. he pressed you on the question -- what would you do with the 11 million? verifying is fine, but there are still 11 million here. deportation, what? rick santorum: i would not use any different standard than what the previous administrations used. what we need to do is in force and verify across all districts. two, we needed to track people who come into this country through visas. the greatest number of people who are in this country illegally are those who i'm told came in through the visa system legally and stayed too long. john: i'm sorry we don't have

enough time for the question. i would like to hear more from you another time. ♪

john: in washington, it is the congressional baseball game. for updates and stats, head over to bloomberg politics.com. mark: tomorrow we have john

kasich and double interviews. if you are here at the romney retreat, it is about 2-3 hours d ifference. we say to you sayonara. ♪

emily: jack dorsey takes his place as interim chief executive. welcome to a special breaking his edition of "bloomberg west" from san francisco. ♪ breaking news, a big shakeup at twitter, just in the last hour, dick costolo is stepping down as ceo. cofounder jack dorsey stepping in. the stock surging on this news. investors have been callin