collective bargaining. maybe not. >> i am not speaking about the particular ballot issues. i certainly support the effort of the governor to reign in the scale of government. >> ahead, the ohio republican party chairman and nbc's chuck todd on the battle in the buckeye state. what smoke signal is herman cain trying to send with this web ad featuring his chief of staff, mark block? >> together, we can do this. we can take this country back. the body of moammar gadhafi buried in a secret location. what's next now for the new libyan government? good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. while the president's republican challengers have a family feud over taxes, president obama is out west trying to raise campaign cash in california today. he sounds as though he is having a hard time pumping up his own

spirits. msnbc contributor and managing editor, chris alyssa joins us now with the daily fix. listen to the president with the democratic faithful trying to pump up the crowd. listen to the way he sounded last night at a fund-raiser in las vegas. >> there is so much left to do that understandably, a lot of people feel a little disenchanted. a lot of people feel discouraged. that old hope poster is fading. it is getting dog-eared along the edges there. but i just want to remind all of you that we never said this was going to be easy. >> i am not sure that's the bumper sticker or the campaign theme you want. tell me what's going on here, chris? >> first of all, andrea, he has done this rif before. he usually does it with a bigger crowd and people yelling we

still love you. tone alley, when i first heard it, it made me think of hillary clinton in new hampshire before the 2008 new hampshire primary. she gets emotion and says, there is so much more we still need to do. >> that was at a coffee shop and it worked with the women in the audience. this was a different kind of rif. >> look, i guess president obama is a person just like the rest of us. i know he says he doesn't listen to the radio. i am sure he watches "andrea mitchell reports." i am not sure if he watches cable television generally. the wake of bad news, it is hard not to occasionally lapse into this isn't per effect. he also said, we have gotten 6

060% of what i said i would do done. that's not what you would put on the bumper sticker. >> take a look at the new poll. herman cain on top, still on top. 25%. mitt romney with 21%. look at the rest of the dropoff there. rick perry has gone all the way down. look at that drop for rick perry from 23% down to 6% in just a month. >> that is stunning, andrea. i wiould say the more important number for rick perry is not 6%. it is 15. that's the $15 million he has in the bank after he raised $17 million in the last three months. that's the number that's keeping us covering the speech he gave today, covering his campaign. that $15 million means that if he can find the message, he has struggled to find the message, he has the money to compete with

mitt romney. without message, money doesn't do you any good. >> the message today, of course, is supposed to be the flat tax. he did that interview with john harwood. we are going to move on to john for the rest of rick perry. thank you very much, chris. see you later. rick perry hoping that his flat tax can unflatten his sinking poll numbers. speaking to nbc cnbc's chief washington correspondent, john harwood, the governor brushed off concerns that the option the flat tax is a boon for the rich. >> it gives a tax cut across the board. >> for those at the top, it is hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of dollars for them. >> but i don't care about that. what i care about is them having the dollars to invest in their company. >> john harwood now joins us. first of all, the flat tax and what he is trying to accomplish with the flat tax.

he has an optional 20% flat tax. he keeps the standard deductions. is he making it two complicated to appeal to those who like 9-9-9? >> it is more complicated than herman cain's 9-9-9 for that reason. his attack is that herman cain has a new national sales tax. what rick perry is doing is proposing an enormous tax cut for people at the top. he is also ensuring that nobody gets a tax increase. there are many middle income that would get a tax decrease. nobody has their taxes go up. the deficit implications are pretty vast, although he says he is going to generate economic growth. >> what about what he had to say to you about rick perry being a fat cat? i want to play that. >> in 1996, when your adviser,

steve forbes was running on a flat tax. milt romney said it was a tax cut for fat cats. when you says that about your plan, what are you going to say to him? >> he ought to go look in the mirror. i consider him to be a fat cat. >> that's rick perry talking about mitt romney being a fat cat. i misspoke. now, he is calling for mitt romney to release his tax returns which romney's people say he won't do until the spring if then. is this going to become an issue? >> i don't know how successful he will be with the tax return issue. his broader goal is to try to cast himself as the guy who is the unflenching conservative who is bold and has the guts to pursue things that conservatives really believe in that other politicians are not bold enough to do. he is hoping that that will get some of the economic conservatives to join with social conservatives, which was the base when he entered the race, as well as some of those people animated by the birther issue, because he talked about

that as well. reflate this balloon that as you just mentioned to chris callizza has gone down to much, much higher percents. >> why did he step into the birther issue? he did it with "parade" magazine. it is a set piece. you came back to him on it. he kind of backed off but didn't back off. he still wants it to be out there. is it a wink and a nod to the birthers who are hoping will join him in iowa. >> i think it is. i expected him to totally shut down that issue because parade magazine was interfering with the theme he wants to emphasize. that's this bold tax proposal. instead, he refused repeated opportunities to set the issue aside. he said it is a good issue to keep alive. said it is fun to poke president obama on this issue. now, he had enough of a sort of a light-hearted tone about him

that he may be able to argue later that he was kind of joshing. on the other hand, he was sending a signal to people who care about that issue. some of those people on the right that he understands where they are coming from and he is trying to get them to rally around him. >> here is what karl rove had to say on fox about that. >> you associate yourself with a nutty view like that and you damage yourself. i know he went and he is trying to cultivate as all of them are, donald trump to get his endorsement. this is not the way to go about doing it. it starts to marginalize you in the minds of some of the people you need in order to get the election. >> so, john, you gave him every chance to back off of it. he didn't. he is still leaving it out there. how much does that take away from the seriousness of his flat tax proposal today, at least especially according to the people that have very strong and passionate views supporting a flat tax? >> to the extent that you and i are talking about this, that

others on other networks and all over the internet are talking about this issue, it interferes with a message he is trying to strike. on the other hand, it is a different way of communicating to a different group of voters than he is communicating to with the flat tax argument. it was purposeful on rick perry's part. there may be some that wish he hadn't done it. it wasn't an accident. he is going to have to hope that karl rove is wrong. this is the kind of thing that will give a little spark to his campaign which has been flagging until that one last debate where he was very aggressive in going after mitt romney, which by the way, he says he is going to do the same thing at our cnbc debate in michigan on november 9th. >> a lot of people liked his debate performance. it is not reflected in "the new york times" cbs poll? >> he has to do something. he doesn't have much time.

ghe the guy has to run a perfect campaign for 60 days. look what happened with the birther comments. we will see if it plays out that way. >> exactly. john harwood, thank you so much. on november 9th, cnbc will be hosting a republican debate at oakland university. don't miss it. we will be there. larry kudlow is host of "the kudlow report" and joins us now. i know you like the flat tax. you had a great debate last night. let's talk about the way he has packaged this flat tax, 20/20/20, optional. . does it get too complicated because you can opt out of it. >> i don't think it does. i don't want too endorse or not endorse it. from the standpoint of all the flat tax programs, a lot have transitional opt outs. we have the regular code which is a monstrosity, and a flat tax, the alternative minimum

tax, 26 and 28. people can decide which code they go into. i don't know everything about governor perry's plan, but from what i gather the opt-out is a transition. the key point is simplicity, lower marginal tax rates and tremendous economic growth incentives. i think there is a competition in the gop to have flat tax reform. let the best person win. i find that fascinating and productive. >> what if it is not revenue neutral? >> that's an issue. i haven't seen the price-out from governor perry. my interview will be played tonight at 7:00 p.m. on "the kudlow report." we had a lengthy interview with the governor. i asked him specifically what were the revenue impacts, the jobs impact and what's the economic growth impact, in other words, the price-out? he didn't give me one. he said the campaign hadn't put one together yet. i think they need to do that. >> do you think mitt romney is

losing out in this debate with cain and perry going to outdo each other on the flat tax? does mitt romney have to get into this debate? >> i do. it is a shortfall in governor romney's position. the competition is hot and heavy. cain has his 9-9-9. perry has 20-20-20. newt gingrich who is surging in the polls has an opt-out of 15% flat tax. romney is going to have to deliver aid much bolder economic and tax reform plan. that's probably the weakest part of his platform right now. i think he is going to come up with something pretty darn soon. >> larry kudlow, thanks so much. "the kudlow report," of course, airs every weeknight at 7:00 on cnbc. with moammar gadhafi buried, what's next for libya? >> nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, joining us next. where is mitt romney on ohio's battle for collective

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libyan officials say that the body of moammar gadhafi was buried in a secret location at dawn this morning. the interim government has promised an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, a task that will certainly be a lot more difficult now. nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel joins us now. they have to prove their bona fides. is it really a moot point? >> it is a nonstarter. this investigation isn't going to go anywhere. i think everyone knows by now how gadhafi died, that he was killed by the rebels after captured alive. there were many calls for

investigations after the be libyan rebels were killing what they called mers naries. these were sub sa hair ran africans, black africans working in tripoli and other places. some were mer sin naries and some were not. i remember seeing mass graves dumped in the streets. i don't know if they were actual mercinaries. the new government has not investigated those allegations and seems unlikely they will investigate gadhafi's death either or at least not investigating very seriously. >> how difficult is it going to be to create rule of law, a justice system, civil society, to say nothing of free and fair elections? >> oddly enough, on the ground, there is a degree of rule of law. there has not been looting on the street, markets are open. society functions as normal but

there is not really a government. you have each city administering its own affairs. the people of misrata are very loyal to misrata. their role in the revolution and the same is true in zentan. there is not the kind of blood-letting and chaos that we saw in places like baghdad. what they are going to need to do now and starting now is to form a truly national government and hold elections and they say that is supposed to take place over the next eight months. >> richard, what about the inspiration to the dissidents in syria? they are now asking for protection. there really was an immediate reaction after gadhafi was found and killed. this could inspire the revolt against bashir alassad. >> they started on the streets across syria, dissidents started chanting in favor of the rebels in libya. they were using some of the same slogans in syria that the rebels were using in libya.

they said bashar, you are next. watch what happened to gadhafi. what's important to note is what has happened over the last few days is that diplomatic problems after the united states pulled out ambassador, robert ford, and the syrians did the same thing, effectively withdrawing their ambassador to washington for consultations. this is an escalation. ambassador ford was such a dynamic figure. he was seen as a hero on the ground to many in the opposition in syria. he went out personally, drove to the protests, drove to the funerals for some of the activists, didn't tell the syrian authorities where he was going, didn't ask their permission, which the syrian authorities have not been giving to foreign diplomates and just went. there is one famous picture when the ambassador arrived at a demonstration and the protesters came out and lifted up his car

and were carrying flowers and olive branches and gave him a very warm welcome. his being pulled back is a blow for them. >> that's a blow. the administration has been saying, this is why we had him there, to be the link to the dissidents, telling conservatives and critics on the hill that they weren't accommodating the assad government, to the contrary. he was a real hero. they say they pulled him out because of threats, personal threats to his safety from the regime and that they are not withdrawing him, which would mean cutting relations. >> that there were specific threats to his safety. his convoy was attacked once. his residence was attacked. the embassy was attacked, mostly because of the ambassador's personal profile. not only did he go out and visit dissidents. he also kept posting messages in favor of the opposition on his facebook page.

i would assume the embassy was getting specific threats regarding his safety. >> thank you so much, richard engel. a real hero. >> inspired a lot of people in syria and a lot of people said, that is what the united states should be doing, that he personally improved the image of the united states in syria much more than a lot of our efforts out of washington. >> indeed. thanks, richard. great to see you. thanks for being here. why isn't the president, thee, getting any credit or enough credit, perhaps for his foreign policy? from republicans, politico's rog roger simon joips us next. >>. >> here are tips to op tim misz your small video content. choose the right place to host it. third-party sites like youtube will help maximize total view. keep it less than three minutes

and aattach a text transcript. for more, watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. m's discovering that livig healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups. we are now printing on the back sides of used paper and we switched to fedex cause a lot of their packaging contains recycled materials. tell them what else fedex does. well we're now using more electric trucks and lower emission planes. we even offer a reusable envelope. now, can't we at least print on the back sides of used paper? what's the executive compensation list...? [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. [ chuckles ] you think that is some information i would have liked to know?

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promise? roger simon is chief political columnist for politico. you make the point today that he dopt seem to be getting another credit? certainly, the republicans are all over him. barack obama, by necessity, not by choice, has really become a wartime president. he has had success in it. as you said, we killed osama bin laden, the embodiment of evil. we won a war in libya. we are pulling out of iraq. we killed al awlaki. yet, his republican opponents don't mention any of this. it used to be the republicans that are the strong war party. they have sort of switched back to their isolationist roots and the democrats have become strong

on defense. >> in your column, on political, you quote, jfk saying, domestic policy can only defeat us. foreign policy can kill us. the point being that the stakes are so much bigger. domestic policy and the economy can defeat barack obama. >> absolutely. i am not saying that foreign policy will trump domestic policy by november of next year but there are two things to keep in mind about that. one, the very best thing that barack obama has going for him is the republican field. it is really a weak field. republicans agree. you can see that by the roller coaster poll. it is not just who is ahead this week or who is ahead today but who is ahead this hour. >> secondly, eventually, there will be a matchup between barack obama and one republican. americans are going to have to

make a choice about who is going to protect, who is best able to protect this country. that, think, is where barack obama's record in fighting terrorism will help him. >> roger, thanks so much. roger simon from politico. the search for survivors goes on in turkey live from the quake zone. the latest fight over union bargaining rights is playing out in ohio. the state's republican party chairman and chuck todd out there discussing it next. this is andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] succeeding in today's market

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>> my job is to bring up issues that americans care about. it is my responsibility to ask the tough questions, no matter who is leading the country. they need to be held accountable and have unique access to the president, his advisers, the candidates and members of congress. i better use that access for a greater good. use it for people who can't get

through the white house gates and people that can't be heard. the american people deserve answers. jooerks. earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? topping the headlines on andrea mitchell reports, a cdc advisory committee is recommending that all 11 and 12-year-old boys get vaccinated against hpv. the cdc is urging young girls to get the shot to prevent cervical cancer. that sparked concern that the government would take next step

and try to force girls to take the vaccine. turning to baseball, the texas rangers could be on the verge of their first world series title in franchise history. they took game five last night, 4-2 after mike napoli broke a tie with a double in the eighth inning. game six takes place tomorrow. if you missed it last night, these are the northern lights, incredible pictures making a rare appearance. the aurora borealis is normally only seen near the north pole but thanks to a massive storm, could be seen as far south as mississippi. turkish authorities continuing to search for survivors from sunday's devastating earthquake. the death toll has risen to 432. today, rescuers did find a two-week-old baby, her mother and grandmother and pulled them out of the rubble from one of the 2000 buildings leveled in the tremor. michelle franzen is in turkey

and joins us now. is there hope for more people to be rescued. >> there is, andrea, tonight they are still working around the clock here. you can see behind me that they are working in this area. this is the area where little baby adra was found earlier today. crews are still continuing, hopeful that they will find more people. they also have recovered more bodies in this area and others. as you mentioned, only two weeks old, pulled from that rubble earlier today after spending 48 hours trapped beneath the rubble. a short time later, her mother was also pulled out and then again, the grandmother pulled out. all are said to be doing well. the baby is in an incubator. it is a very critical day here, andrea. we are in the third night here. temperatures are expected to be freezing. also, we have had the addition of rain today and crews are trying to reach people as soon as they can. when you see stories of these rescues, it also gives families hope but it also makes them nervous knowing that their loved

ones are there and many of them are holding vigil in the areas they are waiting for word. in the meantime, there are still thousands, two are homeless or displaced from their homes. they are seeking shelter. a big rush for aid here. a lot of people are complaining there isn't enough aid, not enough blankets, not enough tents. aide workers are doing what they can. it is short of a situation of the miraculous recoveries coming out also juxtaposed with the destruction and some of the despair people are feeling. >> michelle franzen, thanks so much for your reports on this terrible scene in turkey. thank you. back here in the states, mitt romney got to ohio today as republicans are trying to fight off repeal of the state's law limiting bargaining rights of public workers. the state's republican party chairman was quoted saying, we are glad to have governor romney's help. our volunteers have been working very hard on these issues. the governor is coming to thank

them. when they got to the state, romney made it clear he is staying out of the fight. >> i am not speaking about the particular ballot issues. those are up to the people of ohio. i certainly support the effort of the governor to reign in the scale of government. i am not too terribly familiar with it but i am certainlily supportive of the republican party's effort. >> kevin de wine is the chairman of the ohio republican party. thank you very much. is that a waffle? is it acceptable for him to come to ohio and not take a position on this major issue, the most important issue facing the state with the referendum coming up in november. >> it is good to be with you, andrea. i don't think it is. that's not what we asked him to come to ohio. what we have done at the ohio republican party is ask every one of our presidential candidates to come to ohio and participate in some sort of grass roots events, where they would have the opportunity to press the flesh with the gop

family. it worked out on governor romney's schedule to make it today. we took him to a victory center where he had the opportunity to interact with better than 100 folks who have been volunteering their time in support of issues 2 and 3. we were able to accomplish exactly what we were after. i will tell you, these victory centers, these numbers that we have been able to produce over the course of this campaign have been nothing short of phenomenal. we will hit better than 1 million phone calls through the course of this campaign. we will knock on better than 100,000 doors in support of issues two and three. rightfully so. i think governor romney saw an opportunity to come to thank some of the grassroots folks in high high, that heel rely on next year should he be the party's nominee. >> don't you think that people in ohio, those at least who favor continuing this law and don't want it repealed have a right to know what mitt romney thinks about this issue if he wants their support to be the republican nominee? >> yes, look, i think the

governor has spoken on these issues. or at least addressed whether or not what his take and his position was this morning. that's fine with us. our intent was to make sure. >> basically, he said he had no position at all. he said he doesn't know what to think about it. he hasn't had a chance to study it. >> that's okay with us. what we were trying to do here today was spend -- what we have end v invited all the candidates to come to ohio to do was to react with the grassroots of the party. we accomplished and i think the governor accomplished what we were all trying to get out of the visit. >> what about this new quinnipiac poll that says 57% favor repealing the collective bargaining law. doesn't that show you are falling behind? >> it has been a rough campaign. the other side has had benefit

of emotion and money. the grassroots of our party has made better than 1 million phone calls, knocked on 100,000 doors. we see a lot of energy and excitement at the grass roots level. sure, we are in a spot where the voters are going to see side whether issue two passes or fails in two weeks. if it passes and stays and becomes law, the local governments and schools will have more tools to use to manage their work force and affairs. if it fails, andrea, the local schools and local governments are really going to be faced with two options, that is either some sort of massive tax increase or some sort of massive layoff that we think is avoidable if issue two is passed. >> finally, what about rick perry and the birther issue? he seems to be kind of trying to have it both ways, wading into the issue and saying he is sort of joking about it. he has reopened this whole birther issue. is that a good idea?

>> you are not going to see us talking about the birther issue in ohio. our focus in 2010, 2011, 2012, is to talk about the things that are on the hearts and minds of 532,000 ohioans that are unemployed. that's jobs and the economy. we are not going to be distracted by those issues. we are going to be talking about jobs and the economy and really the fact that president owe ba aca ma came and promised a recovery that never happened. he came not far from where i am sitting today and promised a second stimulus bill that he can't get democrat votes for, that he hasn't gotten one democrat co-sponsor for from high high. i think the people are sick and tired of being political props for the white house and are interested in finding a republican or presidential candidate willing to talk about

jobs. >> you think that rick perry should stick to his flat tax or some other economic issue and not reopen the birther issue. that was a mistake? >> what we are focused on here in ohio is talking about the number one issue on the hearts and minds of people. if we are not talking about those issues candidly, we are off message. i have a white board that has those five or six words on it. if our candidates aren't talking about those issues, at least for the people of the state of ohio, the republicans, independents and right-thinking democrats if we can drag along with us. if we are not talking about one of those five, six issues, we are off message. >> on message is a must-win state. chuck todd is out in ohio. host of the daily rundown. you are going to be moderating tonight's big debate on that ballot initiative. off message, on message, rick

perry, take it from there? >> that was an interesting decision by rick perry i think he is seeing some blowback from some of the establishment wing of the party. this was supposed to be his reboot. he stepped on his own campaign reboot by voluntarily. it was one thing to have that interview in "parade" magazine which may have been conducted three years ago which you could arguably say he was in that period of a funk. here he is on the night before he is doing it, asked again, you would assume he would have taken it as an opportunity to brush it off and he didn't. >> what about this ballot issue and how it is revving up the labor movement? it has been on the back heels in a number of states. they really seem to have some momentum for repealing this ballot initiative? >> i think it was interested what kevin dewine just said. he said the other side has used a motion. he is right. whether you look at the ad campaigns and obviously, i have

been cramming for this over the last couple of weeks in doing this and watching the campaign unfold. labor has been able to turn this so far into a referendum on how he feel about firefighters and cops. it is a reminder that they did a carve-out when trying to restrict collective bargaining rights, they did not include firefighters and cops. scott walker nearly got his win. they fought off the recall effort just close enough in the state senate. they didn't lose control. it was close. it fired up labor to a point. at the same time, they ended in a steal mate. in ohio, you are seeing when you have firefighters and cops involved, that could pull at the heart strings in a way i don't think the business community realized how powerful that was. >> how important is ohio? >> well, you can't ever underestimate ohio. we know the labor movement, very

strong here, pouring a lot of money in. the business community doing the same. it is interesting. the obama campaign is looking for different ways to get to 270 electoral votes without high high. you wonder if these polls are correct, if this ballot initiative goes in the favor of labor in this case, do they rethink and start feeling better about ohio. the president's numbers are just poor all over the industrial midwest underperforming where he was four years ago. that's why they are looking toward a north carolina, virginia, different ways and models to get to 270. they are never going to ignore ohio. the numbers are too close. >> chuck todd would never ignore ohio. you are there to moderate that big debate tonight. so thanks so much. >> i didn't know mitt romney was going to be here. i hope he comes by tonight. he ought to stop by columbus, just two hours away. >> thanks, chuck. good luck tonight. tackling the tax code. how is rick perry's flat tax plan going over with

conservatives. that's next right here on andrea mitchell reports. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun. see? he's taking his vitamins. new one a day vitacraves plus omega-3 dha is a complete multivitamin for adults. plus an excellent source of omega-3 dha in a great tasting gummy. one a day, gummies for grown-ups. to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details. yeah, maybe not.

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hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. the controversial vaccine is back in the headlines. the government this time is recommending that boys as young as 11 years old get the vaccine. it is our news nation gut check. in the next hour, congress will vote on whether to award the nation's first african-american marines with the highest civilian honor. their story is part of our american history that few people have ever heard. i will talk with marine corporal stephanie smith about the marines. for conservative groups like

freedom works, tax reform begins and ends with scrapping the tax code for a simple flat tax. does rick perry's proposal meet that tax? >> what do you think of this 20-20-20 proposal and how he structured it with an opt-out and with the standard deductions still in? >> we are thrilled that fundamental tax reform is now again part of the national debate. it disappeared for a few years when our chairman, steve forbes, ran in '96, and our our chairman, dick armey, was pushing a flat tax back in the '90s. herman cain has brought the debate back. rick perry has brought the debate back. he left some exemptions in there so it is not a pure flat tax. i think it is the sort of compromise that you might actually get moved through congress. >> what about the whole question of fairness, of progressivity and helping those that need the help in the middle and the lower

income people? doesn't the flat tax really favor the rich? >> i would say the opposite. i think the flat tax achieves all of those things. i think the american people know that the current tax code i part of the problem in washington. because it is a 60,000 page catalog of favors to powerful special interests, that's how you get the current situation where warren buffet pays less than his second, as we hear or g.e. pays zero taxes when they have income. they are the powerful ones. they hire the lobbyists and lawyers and get the tax code manipulated to favor them. get rid of all the deductions these big corporations have been paying for years to get into the code. you throw them out and you level the playing field so that everybody has to pay the same rate. on top of that, on the progressivity, what rick perry has done is include a $12,000 personal exemption. a family of four earning 50,000

dol still paying zero income tax. the family of four earning $100,000, their effective rate is on the second half. it is not until you get up into the millions where you approach an effective tax rate of 20%. i this i this tax code has hit all of those buttons, still progressive. it eliminates the unfair loopholes that everybody hates and brings in the revenue. and, it is optional. that's an important point. this has been tried in hong kong, for example. optional flat tax. the people love it. i would rather spend five minutes filling out my taxes on a postcard than spending 26 hours on average the americans have to spend. >> what about the herman cain tax. he is trying to amend that proposal. we have yet to see all of the details. do you still have concerns he would be adding a 9% state tax on top of state and local state taxes? >> i am glad that herman cain forced the debate with his 9-9-9

plan. i do have concerns about the national sales tax that's added. i think the flat tax is a much more sound position to be in. when you start with a new tax, you find lots of new taxes to raise. >> thank you very much for joining us today. what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next. stay with us. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus. upgrade your ride. that's a plus. rewards with no blackout dates so you can redeem anytime. and it's easy to redeem your points online. already a gold member ? just select gold plus rewards in your profile and start rewarding yourself now. just go to hertzgoldplusrewards.com to join. hertz gold plus rewards. journey on. gives you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash.

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>> which political headlines will make news in the next 24 hours. you looking west, young man? >> you bet. two big things. we mentioned at the top of the show the president is raising money and doing the tonight show, always interesting and republicans criticizing him. she going on a late night comedy show when jobs are not where they like them to be, but

obama -- >> we see them going on late night shows all the time. >> andrea, double dealing is not anything new in politics. >> consistency is the goblin of small minds. >> exactly. president obama will be in denver, colorado. this is the third stop. he is raising money, but also doing official events and promoting the american jobs act. colorado is a huge swing states. democrats won a very competitive senate race there in 2010. it didn't go as republican and obama carried in 2008 and he will have to carry in 2012, particularly given how much he is struggling in the industrial midwest. ohio and michigan and pennsylvania. the west. the mountain west states are critical. that's why he is stopping there. >> and student loans. he will be announcing student loans similar to the small piece of the jobs act he is trying to

do bit by bit. >> absolutely. >> thank you very much. we will see you tomorrow. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online and at twitter tweet tweet mitchell reports. >> in our next hour, president obama's team slamming the plan saying it would give a special break to those at the top. dylan ratigan talks about perry's plan and perry makes another comment about president obama's birth certificate. the "huffington post" releases perry's grades from college. we will show you what they uncovered. a new hpv vaccine controversy is and this involves boys as young as 11. "news nation" is minutes away. me to make our floor

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mitt's rant. right now from mitt romney. >> i consider him to be a fat cat. it doesn't matter to me what anybody says about this. i know what will work. >> to president obama. >> it's a good issue to keep alive. donald has to have some fun. >> rick perry trying to claw his way from the lomb of the polls while trying to introduce the flat tax rate and he claims it will create jobs to get the country out of debt. we will look closer at the plan. the government recommends hpv vaccines given to boys 11 years old. why critics say the vaccine for boys promotes sex and homosexuality. sorority rapists, the frantic search police say targets middle age women who are members