good deal. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, peace agreement. that's what it looks like tonight. when day broke this morning, the president was facing an uproar in his own party. prominent democrats were protesting the way he handled the issue of church organizations being forced to pay for birth control. tonight he stopped the hemorrhaging. he's won agreement with democrats and pro-obama voices in the catholic church who were opposed to his initial position. while republicans wage war on him and the catholic bishops are not party to today's deal yet it was a very good day for the

president at the end of a very troubling week. and it's our top story tonight. plus what's the damage report from this hard fight? we'll ask the "hardball" strategists. also, look out, mitt. here comes rick. mitt romney and rick santorum address cpac today. the conservative political action committee. mitt said all the right things, but many conservatives suspect he's just mouthing the words. santorum, on the other hand, sounds like someone who means what he says. that's a big problem for mitt. and anti-immigration fever. did a mississippi state representative really introduce a bill to change the name of the gulf of mexico to the gulf of america? finally, let me finish with the president's timely political savvy. we start with the deal president obama made today in that fight over birth control. melinda henneberger is with "the washington post." and cynthia tucker is a political columnist and now a professor at the university of georgia. thank you for joining us. it's been a turbulent week. but today president obama

announced he's changing that hhs rule on contraceptive coverage. let's listen. >> under the rule, women will still have access to free, preventive care that includes contraceptive services, no matter where they work. so that core principle remains. but if a woman's employer is a charity or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan, the insurance company, not the hospital or the charity, will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge without co-pays and without hassles. >> without hassles. timothy dol said his organization, that's the church, the organization of catholic bishops, sees initial opportunities in preserving the principle of religious freedom after president obama's

announcement today. so that was a positive note. the archbishop added while there may be an openness to respond to our concerns, we reserve judgment on the details until we have them under hand. sister carol keyan, president of the catholic health association, she says she's satisfied with the president's actions. "the framework developed has responded to the issues that we identified needed to be fixed." melinda, you have been covering this with great compassion and zeal the past couple of days. the president blew the whistle on this fight. the president decided a week ago this thing had gone too far. he was simply looking for time to get someone to come up with a solution like we found today. >> i think this is fantastic for everybody. i think it is a classic win-win. and it's terrific that on principle and on politics, i think he really did the right thing. of course, there are still going to be critics. there are republican critics of the president who would never have been satisfied, but for

people for whom this really was a matter of principle, this really was about the first amendment, i think they can be very pleased that the president listened to their concerns and acted on them. >> basically, the solution is that instead of mandating that catholic institutions like colleges, universities and hospitals and charities, that those organizations be forced to provide health insurance that covers birth control which offends their religious scruples, religious beliefs and principles, now the government will simply say in those cases where there is objection, cynthia you pick up here, that the government under this new law will mandate that those insurance policies will cover bird control. so it seems like an incredibly amazing arbitrary way to solve something, but it seems like it solves it. >> the insurance companies have to provide the contraception, which seems to be the difference here.

and that's fine. if rational people are satisfied with this, it is, as melinda said, a win-win. i think sister carol keehan signing off on this is a really big deal because she was a supporter of the health care law all along. it preserves what president obama was trying to do, which is make sure that contraception is readily and easily available. this means that women don't have to dole out a co-pay if they want the birth control pill or other contraceptives. and for some women, that's a big deal. chris, i think the biggest deal of all is, this will help curb the abortion rate. >> yes. >> for those of us who are tired of the abortion wars, if you really want to curb the abortion rate, make contraception more easily available, and this does that. >> of course, it was all a question of what role the churches were willing to play. they didn't want to be the ones

to put their imprimatur so to say on birth control, but liberal catholics were pilling to say the federal government has a right to do what it does in these cases. they control health policy. under interstate commerce clause. there they go. here's tim kaine, one of the many democrats caught in the middle of this. he's a former chairman of the democratic national committee. he's running in a very tight race in virginia for the united states senator. he pointed to some of the problems in that rule, but now he supports the president's latest iteration of it which was announced today. let's listen to governor kaine. >> my only concern was that a church or a church affiliated institution not be required to do something or purchase a coverage that violated religious doctrine. that concern has been conclusively solved by this compromise. >> now u.s. senator bob casey of pennsylvania who is strongly pro-life and distinctively so said, i'll review the details of today's announcement to determine whether it strikes the right balance. he's a bit hesitant here.

how do you read that? the fact that he's not ready to sign on? is he waiting for the bishops? >> i don't think. maybe i'm reading into and it i don't know for sure. it sounds like he wants to know every detail before he makes a statement that he didn't have to walk back, but i think that most people where bob casey is seem to be pretty happy with this deal. >> let's go to the recalcitrant holdouts and they very much have a political right to do so. the republicans right now, we want to quote right now representative fred upton. he's the chairman of the commerce committee. he's been designated by speaker boehner to take charge of this issue from the republican side. house speaker john boehner said he's not satisfied with the president's actions so far. in a statement he put out today, quote, the catholic church and others in our nation's religious community are not yet convinced the president's mandate doesn't constitute an attack on religious freedom. the house of representatives will continue to work toward a legislative solution.

so i don't know what to make of that. this is all a combination of church belief, religious belief, background, ideology, and good old-fashioned politics. maybe they don't want to walk it back, their objections, so quickly. they want to give the president still a bit more heat, at least for the weekend. >> i think it's more ideology and politics than anything else. let's remember, john boehner is against the entire affordable care act which provides the larger context for this debate. so he doesn't want women to be able to get contraceptives without co-pay or any of the preventive care that people will get without co-pays through the affordable care act. but you know, i think that's a dangerous position for republicans to take. most women, according to polls, support the idea of making contraceptives broadly available without co-pays through insurers.

and i see republicans just widening the gender gap if they continue to insist that they are against this. >> linden, thank you, and cynthia. coming up, mitt romney tries to win over conservatives in cpac. rick santorum was a hero today. he gave them the old-time religion and they loved it. wh? nyquil (stuffy): just reading your label. wait! you relieve nasal congestion? tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no... nyquil (stuffy): dude! anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.

welcome back to "hardball." two highly anticipated speeches today at the conservative gathering in washington known as cpac. rick santorum seemed to revel in

the social issues that are his forte. let's listen to santorum then romney. >> we hear those same voices today. that we should no -- that we need to compromise, do what's politically reasonable and go out and push someone forward who can win. i think we have learned our lesson. and the lesson we have learned is that we will no longer abandon and apologize for the policies and principles that made this country great for a hollow victory in november. >> this election is not just about getting more votes, defeating barack obama is only one step towards our ultimate goal of saving america. of course -- [ applause ] of course, we can defeat barack obama. that's the easy part.

believe me, november 6th will be the easiest day our next president is going to face. >> newt gingrich also gave a fiery speech just moments ago. there's a new poll out that shows santorum surging nationally. catch this. what kind of momentum does he have going into the next few weeks? mark halperin was in the middle of it all. he's msnbc's senior political analyst and a "time" magazine editor at large. david corn is the washington bureau chief for "mother jeans" and a political analyst here for msnbc as well. gentlemen, let's look at the polling. this is from fox news. it has some fascinating findings. the poll was conducted from monday through thursday of this week. that's through last night. in the first two days of this week, romney has a big lead. his closest opponent is gingrich. santorum, a distant third. look at the numbers for the last two days. wednesday and thursday of this week shows santorum surging,

doubling his vote practically, and gingrich collapsing. look at the numbers on the right. santorum is now tied at 30% with mitt romney and gingrich is, again, a distant third. david corn, this is stunning. it shows -- what a boring word -- volatility. this is a national poll by fox and it shows what happened. this guy wins three primaries and all of a sudden, the entire people in the country, the republicans like lemmings? they just all of a sudden say, oh, is that the word from the big boys? i guess we're all now for santorum. >> it's a shiny object. >> why are they doing it? >> if you look at the numbers, mitt romney dropped 5 points, bit but newt dropped 10 points. we get back to the same story we've been talking about since last summer. what happens to the nonromney vote? and the volatility is like going from newt, basically stampeding to rick santorum after those wins. if you sort of factor it in and took a poll today, you'd probably see even more running from newt to rick santorum. so mitt romney stays at about 30%.

the other people are running around trying to figure out where to go to find that non-romney. >> mark, a lot of people who watch this show are progressive. and they're looking across the aisle figuratively at the republicans saying, what the heck is going on over there? democrats are for obama. they were fairly consistent the last couple elections. this party seems to be like a yo-yo. they go all over the place. and it seems to change. what happened tuesday night? they got the headlines. by wednesday and thursday, the republican party is a different party. it's more of a santorum party than ever before. because of the news? >> they are not engaged in the election very much. we see that in the turnout numbers. we have a front runner in mitt romney, still most likely the nominee. he has a lot of weakness. he has a ceiling on his support. florida, he was able to shatter that. and it's possible that going forward, unlike in the three states on tuesday, if he spends

the money he did in florida, has the performance level he had in florida, last tuesday will just be like a bad dream for him. but it's also possible that santorum can keep this going and finally be at the right moment a musical chairs, the guy who sat down in the chair at the right time when the music stopped. >> here he is going after his nemesis romney, numerous times throughout his speech at cpac today. let's watch. santorum's argument for why romney would be bad for the party this year. here's his case. >> we're not going to win this election, ladies and gentlemen, because the republican candidate has the most money to beat up their opponent and win the election. we won in 2010 because conservatives rallied. they were excited about the contrast. we always talk about how to get the moderates. why would an undecided voter vote for a candidate of a party who the party's not excited about? >> here's romney by the way

making a case, using an unusual term here, describing himself as "severely conservative." forget compassionate conservative. i've never heard someone call themselves severe. here he is, mitt romney defending himself. >> i fought against long odds in a deep blue state, but i was a severely conservative republican governor. i understand that the battles we as conservatives must fight because i have been on the front lines and expect to be on the front lines again. now here's cpac. i know you guys understand that. this gathering's always welcomed me and you've consistently supported me. not because of my rhetoric, but because of my record and my experience in that deep blue state. >> what do you make of that? i thought it was a little arch today. what did you make of romney on defense clearly? >> that falls into the category of trying too hard. severely conservative? when he ran for senate, he called himself a moderate and a progressive. if you watch santorum's speech and romney's speech, they both

used the word we a lot. we conservatives. when santorum said that it felt real. when romney said it, it felt defensive. he had to explain why he was a conservative. saying where his conservatism came from. well, santorum got out there and said, we're conserveties, we don't like the health care bill, we don't like the government. and it was authentic. it was integrated with the audience. it's two very different uses of the word "we." romney after five years of campaigning, he still hasn't convinced this lot that he's one of them and that showed today. >> i guess despite the new orleans music out there, mark, he hasn't exactly built up the jazz aspect of his personality, has he? >> look, he has, although he talked in more personal terms today. this is a brand new speech for him. it was not his normal stump speed. we'll see if he uses it going forward. he took on directly his massachusetts record. first, we pride ourselves in

trying to be able to read the room at an event like this. i don't think either of them had a performance that's dramatically going to change the triple digit tree of where this race is i think headed towards michigan and arizona in a couple of weeks. santorum was very good. i thought he could have been better. romney was pretty good for this audience. he's not jazzy, he's never going to be. he has to take on his massachusetts record as a candidate for the nomination and the general election. think he was smart to do it today and i think he did it pretty well. and he does have a better story to tell there to conservatives than the general coverage of him would suggest. up next, what did michele bachmann learn from her campaign for president? that's ahead in "the sideshow." she got a little funnier, actually. you're watching "hardball." funny ha, ha. not funny crazy.

back to "hardball." now for the sideshow. first up, when president obama's campaign released their campaign music play list, you might have wondered about the campaign tunes of his potential republican rivals. the group americans united for change has some suggestions for mitt romney. let's listen. >> you've been embarrassed for him on the campaign trail. now bring some of mitt romney's most krirnl-worthy musical hits. recorded with co-star and running mate gordon gekko. ♪ oh secretive swiss banking laws ♪ ♪ for massive bank accounts >> you'll get the songs that touched your heart. ♪ should past positions be forgot and never thought abouon♪

♪ so once i was a moderate it's past and gone ♪ >> go to romney gekko. make sure you have your gold card and start spending. >> wow. that's courtesy of the democratic leaning group that has made a point of aligning mitt romney with the fictional wall street character gordon gekko. next up, michele bachmann, the former presidential candidate, took to the stage at cpac yesterday and talked about her days on the campaign trail. ones she said could have used a do-over, she said. let's watch. >> running for president of the united states is really one series of humiliations after another. i learned three things when i was running for president. first of all, i learned where john wayne was born. that's very important. and then second, i learned the day that elvis presley was born. these are vital issues to our republic.

and third, i learned, never forget the three things that you learned. very important when you're running for president. >> the last one was in reference to rick perry and his forgetting of that third reason, the third agency he wanted to get rid of. read between the lines. legislation from mississippi sparked outrage early this week. the bill from democrat steve holland says, "for all official purposes within the state of mississippi, the body of water that is located directly south of hancock, harrison, and jackson counties shall be known as the gulf of america." no more gulf of mexico? really? holland's office is faced with a barrage of callers asking just that question. holland is now telling the host of angry critics it was just a joke. apparently holland came up with the ruts to draw attention to a number of republican-backed state bills he feels are too harsh on illegal immigrants.

holland says he's tickled that his satire was lost on so many people. some of his republican colleagues were less than amused by the trick if it was a trick. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. online datrvices can get kind of expensive. so to save-money, i found a new way to get my profile out there. check me out. everybody says i've got a friendly disposition and they love my spinach dip. 5 foot ten. still doing a little exploring... on it. my sign is sagittarius, i'm into spanish cheese, my hairline is receding but i'm getting a weave. (falsetto chorus) getting a weave. who wants some ronald tonight!? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. i'm al ways like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. splenda® essentials™ are the first and only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. mmm. same great taste with an added "way to go, me" feeling. splenda® essentials™. get more out of what you put in.