>> willie, what time is it? it's "morning joe." stick around for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. >> washington hunkers down while anxiety grips wall street. main street, president obama fails to call markets. will he now try calling congress back to work early. today it's fed chief's ben bernanke's turn to stave off another day of a panic selloff. on wisconsin, remember this scene from february? all eyes are back on wisconsin today where six republican state senators involved in that budget fight face recall votes today. is this a bigger referendum on scott walker and the republicans or on the sharpness of the teeth in what remains of the labor movement. the texas tea step. governor rick perry has been considering a 2012 run for months, signaled his intent on making it clear he is running on saturday in a speech in

saturday. that's the same day as the ames straw poll. the story is what's going on with our economy. let's get to my first reads of the morning. the president getting hammered. accused of hunkering down in a moment of crisis when a lot of americans are looking for anything from washington on the economy. wall street had its worst day yesterday since the 2008 financial crisis. the dow had its sixth one day loss in the index's history. it plunged by 635 points. the s&p fell 80 points, nasdaq tumbled 1 four points. the market lost 15% of its value in two weeks. today's fed meeting is critical as pressure moinlts for ben bernanke to consider fresh stimulus since you know it's not coming out of congress. as the stock market tanked, the president did feel he had to say

something. >> markets will rise and fall, but this is the united states of america. no matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a aaa country. >> take from "the washington post," dana milbank, this is obama trying to calm a child who has been bullied. they called for new ideas on the table. >> if i were the president, i would call the congress back in and say you're not having a summer vacation. let's have tax credits for r & d and hiring new pemployees. we need manufacturing jobs. we're the greatest nation in the world. we got to act like we're number one. we have to lead the world out of economic troubles. we are the world leader. we have to act like it. >> terry isn't alone on this, jon corzine, former new jersey

governor, former head of goldman sachs, he called on the president to call congress back. privately, we know the president is getting a lot of this free advice on this idea of bringing congress back. either focusing them on trying to pass the five or six job creating goals that both parties seem to agree on, free trade agreements, repatriating money, girch ideas like that. we know the white house instinct on this, when the chattering class of washington speaks in one voice, they move in the other direction, hunker down, eventually react to it but not right away. we'll see, underreacting is usually the political advice they take on this stuff in moments of crisis. john boehner and the second in command, eric cantor are trying good cop, bad cop routine. boehner says providing economic certainty must remain our number one focus. but frommeric kantszer, there will be pressure to compromise on tax increases.

we will be told there's no other way forward. i respectfully disagree. obviously, this was the signal he knows is -- was also sent by the s&p downgrade and knows that despite all the republican talking points pointing the finger at the president, the whole on this watch comment, he knows part two of this story is s&p is saying republicans are not compromising. that's also holding up. that's also why this downgrade happened, and he is aware that pressure is going to come. itle be interesting to say how boehner handles this. this week was supposed to be iowa and the nine candidates who are on saturday's straw poll ballot. perry stepped on aids. he intends to get into the presidential race. he'll make that clear in some form on saturday. may not be the formal announcement. he's speaking at the red state conference taking place in south carolina. get this, he'll make it clear on what his intentions are something like i'm going to get in this race.

i'll have a formal announcement in the next few days. he's doing two stops on saturday, south carolina and new hampshire all while the voting goes on in ames at that time. this could mean that second place becomes even more meaningless at ames, that the one person who gets first place out of ames will get a big bump. other than that, they get overshadowed the by the entrance of rick perry. total recall, since oregon became the first state to adopt state level recalls in 1908, recall attempts against legislators succeeded in triggering an election 20 times before january. six recall elections on the state legislative level are happening today in wisconsin. the wisconsin elections are a double referendum, governor scott walker and organized labor are both on the baltd. democrats need to pick up three seats. we'll get into more of this in a few minutes. if they get it back, it will show labor still has teeth left in the state that essentially is

their last bastian of power. if they fail in this attempt, it's going to make democrats really nervous that labor is really a financially powerful ally for the future. as investors try to shake off monday's meltdown, they're looking to the fed to help stop the bleeding. beckie quick joins us. she brought andrew ross sorkin. he's author of "too big to fail" as well as the columnist of the new york times. >> becky, let me start with you, what do the markets want to hear today from ben bernanke? >> from ben bernanke, i'm sure the short term, the markets would like to hear he's going to step in and take care of everything and qe 3 is coming. that would be bad news for the long term. for the long term, they want to hear a whole lot of nothing that the fed is standing by. if things get worse, they will be there to pick things up, but i don't think the markets necessarily in the long term

want to hear that he's going to continue to print money. >> andrew, one of the story lines of yesterday had to do with bank of america. obviously you wrote the whole "too big to fail." bank of america feels like it's one of those entities that is too big to fail, but is it failing? >> i think it's too early to suggest that. what happened yesterday was we saw its stock drop about 20% over renewed concerns about the economy and how that would affect the bank. obviously those things are interlinked. the other aspect of it, at bank of america, on a relative basis, the other banks is probably the least capitalized. people are talking about whether they need to raise capital, what the cost of that capital would ultimately be, and as the stock drops, the more capital you actually need. so it creates a sort of perverse cycle. if you look this morning, the futures on that are looking up, so we might find a floor at least temporarily. >> i would be cautious. you got to watch the back and forth with this stuff.

andrew and i have been watching all morning long. every time i think i know what's happening, the market is moving in the opposite direction. >> becky, give me a sense, is the market going to open up or down. >> at this very second, i have to keep looking, at this very second it looks like we'll be close to 100 points. that's been a huge spread we've seen throughout the morning and overnight. it's a move of about 300 points. it's hard to say what's going to open at the. >> does the market want to hear anything more from washington, not just talk, but do they want to see the president bring congress back or this idea that they're going to pass at least a few of these jobs bills to show some sense that washington can do something? >> look, i think they would love to see lots of things. realistically, the chances they'll see something out of washington while everybody is on vacation are small. what they get from the fed is probably the thing we're going

to see most immediately. in the future, the super committee is a big issue. that's not something that's going to affect things in the immediate term. >> becky -- >> i loved your question today on twitter. should president bring them back, should the president bring back congress? that's something that would probably do wonders for the market. >> speaking apparently on ""squawk box"" you said could california pension fund, they might not go back into the market? >> i sweeted they're looking seriously at going back in. they stepped out and drawn down -- put a lot of money into cash. the market has come down so far, they're considering jumping back in. >> that would be a shot in the arm. >> yeah. >> i think you both kind of brought not great news but at least not horrible news. >> i think we can breathe a little bit. >> we will be watching. becky quick, andrews ross sorkin. if it's tuesday, you know what that means, someone is voting somewhere. today, a big somewhere, a high

stakes political fight in wisconsin. six recall elections could have implications for the future of the labor movement. we're going to live to madison next. is there something fishy going on in one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish? we're looking for the hidden political agendas in children's books. i'm not kidding. a look ahead at the president's schedule. some of this has been cancelled or postponed. reasons for which, i think we will learn about later this afternoon. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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well, remember those scenes from the wisconsin state house,

weeks and weeks of protest over the governor's plan to strip unions of their collective bargaining rights. a bill that ultimately passed the republican controlled senate. well, the fight's not over. exactly five months later wisconsin residents are voting in a series of highly unusual recall elections targeting lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. here's what's at stake. the republicans control the senate holding the majority, 19-14. six of those republicans are facing recall attempts. those are the elections taking place today. if democrats win half of today's elections, they'll be in a position to retake the senate. here's the rub. two dksz face recall elections next tuesday. the final word on who controls the wisconsin state senate may have to wait until that. j.r. ross is editor of "whisk politics.com" all i hear about is the lack of certainty about

who is going to actually show up at the polls. >> absolutely. we're talking about an unprecedented number of elections in wisconsin. we don't go to the polls in wisconsin in august. how do you know what this is going to look like. it's amazing me to talk to my sources and have them tell me, i look at my poll numbers, the ads that are running, what i think is going to happen. you know what, i don't know what's going to happen. i've never seen this before in wisconsin politics. >> usually some ways that you look to try to judge what turnout might be has to do with absentee ballots or early voting. what have you seen numbers-wise on that front and what does that suggest? >> well, you're seeing some surges in places, some clerks are talking about near presidential turnout which would be really unusual. most people talk you don't expect that. you're seeing pockets of surging. the question is who are the people motivated to go out and vote? we know democrats are angry in

wisconsin. they are motivated, unhappy with scott walker and republicans in general. they want to send a message. conservatives are pretty contents right now. they have a budget they like, they saw collective bargaining changes go through. it's harder motivating somebody who is content. can the conservatives get up for one day and go to the polls. that's the huge unknown we look at this morning. >> what have you seen surrogate-wise. i know the memo went out to scott walker to basically say keep as low a profile as you can over this period during this recall campaign? are other republicans trying to help these state senators? how are they doing it? on the other side, have you seen high profile democratic involvement beyond the labor movement? >> well, we saw this weekend, the congressman from nominee falls out campaigning. paul ryan has not been very

profile in these elections. democrats trying to tie the state lawmakers to medicare proposal and trying to throw that negativity upon the lawmakers who have nothing to do with medicare. herb cole has been campaigning. tamly baldwin has been doing stuff, she's talking about running for u.s. senate. russ feingold has done things. he's been talked about as a possible recall candidate if scott walker is recalled next year. democrats are energized right now. they are sensing an opportunity. the question is can they deliver. if they don't, what's that say for the movement and their chances next year? >> i've seen reports $30 million has poured in. i assume a lot of this is outside the state? >> yeah. put this in perspective, okay. wisconsin history, the most expensive state senate race we've ever seen was $3 million. of these nine races, five have

eclipsed that number. a sixth will probably eclipse that number as well. this is really an unusual amount of money being spent. i think the governor's race last year was maybe $37 million for state-wide campaign. we're looking at possibly $40 million when this is all said and done. a lot of outside money. we're wisconsin, a union affiliated group, pulling in money from unions, club for growth, americans for prosperity, major players on both sides turning out and pouring money into wisconsin. >> reading everything you're saying to me, it sounds like you'll be surprised if democrats don't succeed today? >> you know, if my powers of prognostication were good enough to tell you what's going to has been, i would tell you who's going to make money off the ponies. my best guess is between two and four seats. i heard predictions that democrats -- i've heard people say they can win one.

i've heard people say they'll win all six. it comes down to luther olson in central wisconsin and alberta darling in milwaukee. these are pretty republican districts. those are the swing seats. >> all right. j.r. ross. one of the great ways to follow all things having to do with wisconsin politics. it's where i look. thanks for coming on today. still ahead, we'll take you live to the opening bell on wall street. will the selloff subside today? online dating, online shopping, online gaming. how about holding a political nominating convention online? we'll talk to a leader of a group who wants to do that. today's trivia question, special one from mr. greenfield since 1980, how many non-incumbent republicans have won both the iowa caucuses and ?

and friday. we'll have a special prime time edition of "the daily rundown" on ames at 6:00 p.m. iowa is expecting us. >> chuck todd and "the daily rundown" crew will be with us. >> that's matt strawn with a special request for the state fight song. we played the song from the other side. grandpa, my late grandfather, i apologize to you and iowa state alum. we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. so, why would you let something like erectile dysfunction get in your way? isn't it time you talked to your doctor about viagra? 20 million men already have. with every age comes responsibility. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex.

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chief operating officer. he joins me now. elliot, let me start with the goal of americans elect. one of the things that it seems, is it the goal to get a third party movement? or is it the goal to get more serious choices on the ballot besides the two major parties? >> i think you touched at it, as you mentioned before, at americans elect.org we will be holding the first nonpartisan online register which every voter can be a delegate. the ticket is going to be on the ballot in all 50 states. what you refer to is an important distinction. we are not a third party for a second nominating process. nominating process that every american can be involved in, so that we can get our politics back on track and give every american voter more of a voice in this important process of our democracy. >> aren't you technically trying to become a political party in order to get this ballot access? right now, i know that's the goal, to get ballot access,

because once you do that, if you build it, the idea is, then suddenly potential candidates will come. >> we're going about getting ballot access. we have had great success thus far. of the total of 2.9 we need to get across the signatures. the ticket that comes out of americans elect will be a nonpartisan ticket, meaning that two individuals of the same party won't be able to run on that ticket. the ticket will be one that has to reach across the political space. you can have a republican running with a democrat, a democrat with an independent. the only thing you can't have is a party based ticket. party based politics that seem to have got us in our current position, one of political dysfuncti dysfunction. >> a few things on the ballot access front. the california deadline, you guys filed enough signatures. when do you find out if you find out if you qualified for the california ballot. >> the people of california have come out in huge numbers for

this, at the end of last month, we began filing 1.6 million signatures in the state of california, which is the largest ballot access initiative or petitioning initiative in the history of that state, as far as we know the history of the country. we'll find out if those signatures are certified. they will be in september. we'll be on the ballot in california. >> how is it people will nominate -- do candidates have to nominate themselves or can they say they're not running and have other people nominate them for, in this convention? >> the technological innovation that you alluded to before is obvious. the real thing going on here is a political innovation. at americans elect.org, we're taking party functions and making them delegate functions, functions of the delegates who join. any ledgestered voters, voters will be able to draft candidates, develop a platted form of questions the candidates are required to answer and discuss and debate the rules of the convention. in effect, americans elect.org,

we are flattening this facet of our democratic process. >> you're forcing them to come up with a platform, an approval process, in essence, once you come up with a platform, aren't you creating a third party? >> that's what is great. it's not a traditional platform that is prescriptive, it's a platform of questions. those questions are derived by the delegates. the questions are questions the candidates will be required to answer. not a platted form that deals with politically expedient issues but deals with the crucial issues facing our country right now. >> elliot ackerman of americans elect. we'll be watching in cement to see how this ballot access stuff goes. thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me. we're minutes away from the opening bell. we'll bring you that live, plus perry's plans, how the texas governor could be the game changer on saturday without participating in the ames straw poll. then there's this. >> vote for a change.

vote duck. left wing, right wing, a fresh bill on capitol hill. >> the surprising political messages that could be found if you read between the lines in your kids books. "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. oh, just booked a summer vaycay. ooo. sounds pricey? nah, with the hotels.com summer sale, you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting... wow, i'm blown away. you look great. hotels.com summer sale, save up to 30%. and get a free kindle. hotels.com. be smart. book smart.

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man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. bottom of the hour now, the opening bell just rang on wall street. one day after the dow dropped 634 points and lost 5.aft5% of value. it's opened up about 80 points is the initial run there. we shall see. it has been going back and forth. looked like it was going to be a big open. now it turned out to be a small open. who knows. it's one of those erratic days. what ben bernanke says is going

to have a hume impact. ongoing riots in london turned deadly after a man shot in his car. the violence forced british prime minister to deploy 10,000 police officers to contain ram pant looting that has led to 525 arrests. the riot started over the weekend after the police shot a man under questionable circumstances. the remains of 30 u.s. service members are expected to land at dover air force base sometime around lunchtime today. there will be no media coverage because the individuals have not been identified and therefore permission has not been asked of those families. the attack is the deadliest on u.s. troops since the war began. don't be surprised if a lot of important officials are there to great these heroes. congress is closing the books on the house page program. after 175 years, leaders say budget cuts and technology have made pages obsolete. they won't completely disappear from capitol hill.

the senate page program will continue. don't worry, donors. call your senators. texas governor .rick perry has been flirting with supporters for weeks now. will saturday be the dame r day he finally makes a move? maybe not. he's sure to make his intentions known this weekend when he attempts to steal some of the iowa straw poll thunder by speaking at the red state conference in south carolina and on the same day traveling to new hampshire to meet supporters. carrie dan is joining his not yet campaign. carrie, a two state swing on the same day for a noncandidate. sure sounds like an announcement schedule to me. i think that's what everybody got everybody's tongs wagging. >> that's very much the case. rick perry had long planned to attend this red state conference. it's in charleston, south caroli

carolina. he's going to be sharing the stage with governor nick haley, no accident there. also with jim demint, a conservative stalwart in the senate who is a king maker himself. he's going to go to new hampshire, a house party with a state representative who he met with austin. i'm told that state rep encouraged perry to come. he's glad to oblige on the day of the iowa straw poll. >> there's other reporting out there that indicates what he says on saturday may not be the official announcement, but sort of the announcement that lets people know when he's actually announcing. i know that sounds confusing, but there were lots of rumors yesterday. you were tracking down in texas some reports in the austin paper about a houston announcement next week? >> there's some reporting that we can look at the middle of next week for something more formal in texas. also i can't imagine the good

governor going to south carolina and new hampshire without swinging by the hawkeye state on his way back to texas. keep an eye early next week early on iowa. i got to tell you when i was tracking this down yesterday, i talked to one person who laughed and said this is classic rick perry. he already planned to go to the south carolina event but he's hitting the two other primary states while all of his other competitors are in iowa duking it out. it's kind of like an ncaa tournament bracket where they're all duking it out, the michele bachmanns and tim pawlentys, they're trying to become the number one seed. and here's rick perry, the number one seed overall who's having a slam dunk contest by himself and grabbing the headlines so on sunday morning when we all wake up, we're going to be talking both about the winner of the ames straw poll as well as rick perry, whatever he has to say on saturday. >> suddenly, the glen gary, glen ross rule has moved up a notch, maybe there's no second place,

no steak knifes for second place. carrie dan tracking rick perry in texas. thanks. >> thanks, todd. >> see spot run as a republican. harold in the purple states. are there hidden political messages in the kids' books shelves. is ideology lurking in the bedtime favorites. one political writer says he's seeing secret messages in some of his kids' favorite stories and the books you have in your home too. contributing writer for roll call. i don't call you a con spearcy theorist. what are you seeing here? what do you think is definitely a political message in some of these books you're seeing today and what may be zenltszle? >> duck for president, i think this is the result of lack of sleep. we have a newborn in the family, you can relate that sometimes you read books and see other

messages. "duck for president" it's a great story about a duck. he wins an election on the farm. he runs for governor and eventually runs for president. if you look back, his initial election on the form, he puts in voter registration requirements including valid i.d. this outs him as a republican. this is an age old battle where democrats say this is a fight going on now where democrats say you shouldn't have these restrictions. i'm not saying the author meant this, but this could be -- >> the last line of this, when duck is in the oval office, he sits there and exasperates and says something about -- >> he realizes that being president isn't all it's quacked up to be is my paraphrase of the book. >> he enjoyed the campaigning more than governing. >> you brought other books? >> there are other books that the messages are harder in the right number of elfanltsds. we have a train, red train, on

fire, full of kids, in desperate need of help. to me, some people think this is a republican caucus and john boehner trying to keep this caucus in line, keep the tea party conservatives in line and trying to get this on the right track. >> when was this book written? >> 30 years ago. >> maybe it's goldwater republicans. >> another classic "go dog go" a blue doing in a car, where are they going? why are they going away so fast? the blue dog, democratic caucus has been decimated. in the elections, they are retiring, losing. where are they going? apparently not back to congress. >> i think you spend too much time worrying about the blue dog. you are reading a lot into that one. >> the last one, this could be prophetic. who sank the boat. if anything captures the 2012 elections, it's the phrase "who sank the boat." unfortunately for republicans,

in this book, the donkey did not sink the boat, it was a tiny mouse. we'll have this fight next year. >> a small minority of one party. i got two on there, grace for president i love. an incredible explanation of the electoral. >> otto runs for president, it beats up on negative campaign running. read, ames, fire, our supertuesday panel joins us for a look ahead to this weekend in iowa. what about the calls for the president to maybe bring congress back to respond to the wall street chaos. that's coming up. why not "soup of the day"? french onion, you know, the french, they have a aaa rating now, but i say, you put cheese on any soup, it's aaa to me. we'll be right back.

>> my fellow americans, our long national nightmare is over. >> well, that was our flashback. if yesterday was the flashback of the resignation speech. ford was sworn in at that hour just minutes after richard nixon's resignation became official, becoming the first u.s. president who was never elected to the office of president or vice president, and the tumultuous nature of american politics seemed like it only began then and it hasn't ended since. the obama white house's pattern in the past has been to tune out the washington chatter and react to it on its own timetable. with unemployment in double digits, almost in double digits, the markets in free fall and growth stagnant, is that the best strategy? dee dee myers, former press sect

for president clinton. >> dee dee, terry came in here and said he ought to bring congress back. i'm not implying terry got this from bill clinton but i heard this from a lot of democrats, both from the obama world and clinton world, if you want to say there are two worlds in the democratic party, and there are, both suggesting he ought to do something like this. what say you? >> a grand dramatic gesture sounds like a good idea, but you better have something concrete you want to accomplish. to bring congress back, have more gridlock, more debates that don't go anywhere, to have another standoff about whatever it is you're talking about, would be bad for the president and the country. on the other hand, if has a clear agenda and he can get it passed, it would be a way of saying i expect more from washington. >> dana milbank wrote a rough

column, saying the president had to come out and say something yesterday but he didn't have a lot to say that was new. but they were sort of caught between a rock and hard place. >> i think it's really difficult, because what can the president do? right? i mean, he does have an opportunity to show it's a leadership moment. he has an opportunity to show he's a leader. >> on what? that's the issue, on what? >> that's the issue, just how much of an impact, just what can the president do to impact the markets? what can the president do to impact job growth or the standard & poor's decision? he is caught between a rock and hard place, i think. >> watching them go back and forth on this, i know in many ways they say we are judging them too much. this is august. this is one of those moments because a lot of people are paying attention, because the 401(k)s are dwindling before their eyes. if not this grand gesture, can

you just wait until congress getting back? >> i do think we tend to overfocus on these things in washington. the country is focused because of the meltdown on wall street not only affected people here but people around the country. the worst thing the president could do would be to make a grand gesture that led to nothing. i think that would compound the problems he's facing right now. it is august, we're heading into mid august. we know this is a time where people tune out. if the markets stabilize, i don't think it would be a huge deal to let it pass. >> people tune out, but people act weird politically. >> particularly right now when you have a republican presidential field salivating on what's going on in the markets. not saying they're being crass, but there is an opportunity there for a challenger to obama to seize upon this and use this to paint him -- >> they need to be careful, cheerleading about the economy. >> of course. look what they're saying. they're blaming him.

none of them are presenting their own -- none of them are saying what they're going to do. >> hang on. i'm going to go to break. trivia time, we asked dee dee, since 1980 how many nonincumbent republicans have won both the iowa caucuses and the new hampshire primary? the answer none. guess what? it ain't happening again. >> it doesn't look like the odds are very good. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ♪ yes! ha ha!

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we are back with the panel, and introduce a new member of it. dee dee myers and liz sidoti and my friend from over at comcast, and sorry, buddy, you lost out on the other conversation with the president, but let's start with 2012 and rick perry is saying, look at me, i'm not in ames, because i have made

second-place irrelevant at the straw poll fair. >> well, he is infastant front-runner if he runs. >> what? >> he is a tea party's dream in many ways. >> david brody of the christian broadcast network called him tea evangelical, and it is a good one. >> and they were trying for chris christie and mitch daniels and if you look at the profile candidate, rick perry fits it in a long way, and he has a positive record on economic growth and so forth, and in many ways he has the gravitas, but he has the texas swagger which he has to shake off. >> and dee dee, the excitement that you heard in the conservative intellectuals about rick perry that you heard about chris christie, and they like him and respect him, but then they sit there and say, weak

governorship, and not that impressive. >> well, they will like him just fine the way they liked george w. bush and that is the threshold to prove he is the front-runner, and he would be top tier, and it is bachmann and romney and perry as of next saturday. if he raises money, top tier and maybe front-runner. >> and if you are tim pawlenty and you realize that rick perry is doing this, and they know what they are doing, and they are moving up the announcement a few days and announcement of an announcement, and announcement, but two states in one day means you are an active candidate and that makes second place less relevant. >> well, it makes much of the people in the field less relevant, because what perry is bringing to the thing -- >> the wedding is not everything, but the only thing. >> well, once he has proved that he is credible with the social issues with the national prayer day, and then h e is going to

come in to promote job growth, and he is going to say, i'm the whole field and i have the whole package and nobody has my charisma and we will see that, because some of the texas job growth can't be credited right to perry. >> well, it is a head game and he realizes that, and he realizes if he plays this game and plays it well, if i'm mitt romney and tim pawlenty, i'm shaking many my boots right now. >> many of the candidates are being asked about rick perry and this is what jon huntsman said. he said, well, he has never run before and he will find that running for president is a grueling never-ending exercise. and dee dee, he is an expert now at 49 days, and that is more about how jon huntsman feels about running for president than rick perry. andp huntsman has not been able to get any credit at all, and someone that the conservative intellectuals are interested in the guy, but the rest of the country does not know he is in the race. and when you say texas swagger,

that almost works in his favor, because you have a president who does not swagger at all, and this is a stark contrast. >> he is bush-like and knows where he stands and the macho alpha-male thing which arguably the country could be wanting for right now, but one thing that is interesting about rick perry is that he looks like the president if you will and has the gravitas. >> well, i don't know about that. >> and liz, i e talked to a lot of the republican pollsters who say, rick perry in dayton, ohio, and rick perry in the suburbs of des moines and they are going, well, he is the type of guy that i buy all of this potential upside and uniting the party, but also he has 44% written all over him. >> i think that is true. he has to get through the primary first, and honestly, he is coming in like mitt romney has a huge advantage when it j comes to money and the establishment is not all behind him, and they are looking at the

options, but this is a party na has a record of nominating the next guy in line and the guy who has lost before, so romney, you are starting to see that he's realizing that he can't take for granted the front-runner status. >> at some point he has to start acting like a primary candidate, hnd he and he has not done that. >> and the calendar is forward, because if bachmann wins iowa and romney new hampshire, then you see that texas got moved up with little fanfare. >> and super tuesday, and he has a whole way of getting a whole lot of delegates, but the question is, does he squeeze bachmann out? because he can't do this with her strong. >> and he outraises her on money. >> and i read tina fey's bofoxy pants, because you should read it on sarah palin. >> well, you are beating the

crap out of us guys on that. shocker. shameless plug. >> how about i have just been thinking about dr. bernadine haley who died. great, great champion for women's health and leadership, and true pioneer. >> and nonelected political world. >> exactly. >> and robert tranor? >> 36 years ago richard nixon resigned and we are a better country because he did, and it is also my birthday. >> happy birthday, and best to the bern teen healy family. that is it for the daily rundown and we are taking the show on the road to iowa and a special prime time edition will be from the ames straw poll. coming up is chris jansing & company, and at 1:00, don't miss "andrea mitchell reports." [ male announcer ] it's simple physics...

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good morning, i'm chris jansing and let's start with a live look at the market boards and 30 minutes into the trading day, you can see a little bit of