fan and knows his liquor. >> governor pawlenty is a man of style. >> what style. >> what about reporting? >> what about me? look at this. >> moving right along. >> you think i dressed myself here? come on. >> i'm going to enjoy "morning tim." >> "morning tim." >> what i learned really from the bud wilkinson book from jay, i love this line. the will to prepare is more important than the will to win. so there you go. with that -- >> that's loaded. >> way too early. it applies especially to people like me. >> it sure does. >> all right. >> yes it does. >> way too early. >> it is "morning joe" but now time for "the daily rundown with chuck todd." have a great weekend everybody. bye. >> bye. charities that make more money. the final hundred hours in michigan. can mitt romney's organization out fox rick santorum's moment?

today romney makes a last-ditch pitch to fiscal conservatives in detroit. and it's not just at any location. it's at ford field, home of the detroit lions. also this morning a "daily rundown" exclusive. former pennsylvania senator arlen specter speaks out and reacts to being in the middle of the republican presidential primary debate. does he think santorum is telling the truth about their years together? all that plus today's deep time into exactly how a brand new republican candidate could still get into the republican race and rack up hundreds of delegates. good morning from washington. it's friday, february 24th, 2012. it's "the daily rundown." chuck todd. a lot to get to. let's immediately get to my first reads of the morning. ahead of a critical weekend in this crazy republican race mitt romney will make his last best effort today to win over the skeptical, fiscal conservatives. romney will outline his plan for cutting taxes and spending to members of the detroit economic club. it's a much hyped speech and

it's now at ford field, home of the lions. last night speaking to members of eight detroit area tea party groups, romney played up his michigan roots once again reminding voters that he has a family legacy to uphold. >> i was born in detroit, harper hospital. our home was right around 6 mile and woodward, a place called palmer park. michigan has been suffering a one-state recession and that recession of course spilled out across the entire nation, that old saying as goes general motors so goes the nation. there seemed to be some truth to that. >> but look. as we've been outlining for all week romney has struggled to explain his opposition to bailing out general motors and chrysler in 2008 and now it's not just the obama campaign that's reminding michigan voters of the awkward facts. today rick santorum's campaign is trying to take advantage of it in this new tv ad. >> who's on the side of michigan workers? not romney. he supported the wall street bailouts while turning his back

on michigan workers. but rick santorum's made in the usa plan changes everything. it cuts taxes for michigan manufacturers. >> of course the ad doesn't technically talk about the auto bailout and owe mits the fact that santorum actually also opposed the auto bailout. still, it says santorum's tax plan cuts income taxes for all workers. what it's suggesting is what romney hinted at himself, that his tax plan will raise the taxes on at least some in the 1%. now, romney promised his new tax plan will cut all six current tax brackets by 20%. then of course he said that top 1% would be paying more but he hasn't said how. by the way, the problem with giving a speech in a 65,000-seat stadium is you have to fill it up. today the detroit free press reports the romney campaign scrapped two different plans to have romney stand in the end zone, speaking to guests seated in the stands. another would have had him on the sidelines near mid field. instead he'll be speaking on the 30 yard line trying to take

advantage of some camera angles there. interestingly way it's all being laid out. democrats and the united auto workers will counter romney's speech with a rally where they will use american made cars from a nearby parking garage to spell out romney let detroit go bankrupt. well, with the michigan primary four days away the romney campaign is doing everything they can to keep santorum, though, on the defensive. yesterday romney jumped on santorum for saying he voted for no child left behind legislation simply because he set his beliefs aside to be a team player. >> we saw it in this case, senator santorum explained most of the night why he did or voted for things he disagreed with. and he talked about this as being taking one for the team. i wonder which team he was taking it for. he said you got to take it for the team. well my team is the people of the united states of america. >> remember that was at the end of the debate, close to the end that santorum said that. in an hour-long interview with

of all people glenn beck santorum tried to defend those comments. >> how can we be sure you won't take one for the team again on something this bad? >> because i'll be the team leader not a team member. this is something the president of the united states ran on. george bush ran on reforming the education system. this was one of his signature issues in the campaign. >> by the way, during that same interview santorum played into glenn beck's bizarre anti-obama paranoia. >> 62% of the kids who go to college with a faith commitment leave without it. i understand why barack obama wants to send every kid to college. >> oh, yeah. >> because of the indoctrination. absolutely. >> oh, yeah. >> santorum isn't the only republican, though, lashing out at the president, campaigning last night in washington state, newt gingrich said the president, quote, surrendered thursday when he apologized to the afghan government for the burning of korans something by the way george w. bush had done when he was president during a

similar incident. and then he went further. >> there is something profoundly wrong when the commander-in-chief refuses to defend the integrity and the lives of the people who serve under him and instead abjectly crawls to apologize. if hamid karzai the president of afghanistan doesn't feel like apologizing then i think we should say, good-bye, and good luck. we don't need to be here risking our lives and wasting our money. >> think about what gingrich just said there though. talking in a way of just withdrawing from afghanistan almost immediately. interesting way that he got there. finally, the pro romney super pac has an ad in michigan and arizona that retails the story of how romney helped lead the search for a colleague's missing daughter in the '90s. >> my business partner stepped forward to take charge. he closed the company and brought almost all our employees to new york. he said i don't care how long it

takes. we're going to find her. >> it's an amazing story and of course it's all true but the ad is recycled and it's nearly identical to the one the romney campaign aired in 2007 except for this one small difference. >> i'm mitt romney and i approved this message. >> restore our fufrp your is responsible for the content of this message. >> now of course by law campaigns and super pacs are not allowed to coordinate and in a statement to nbc restore our future treasurer charlie spy said, quote, we purchased the rights to the footage from its owner cold harbor films which did not entail interacting with the romney campaign 2008. now that's all factually correct. that's all following the letter of the law. of course the question is, is it following the spirit of the law? but let's talk more about the ad itself. we have questions that go beyond this issue of the blurring of the lines of super pacs and campaigns. one, why is the super pac running a positive ad? two, why isn't the campaign running this spot and why didn't they do it sooner?

why haven't we heard more about this story from the candidate this cycle? three, why is the super pac usually a dispenser of negative ads airing this positive biospot this close to a key primary? is it saying anything about the state of romney's campaign war chest? does it say anything about the state of romney's negatives in both arizona and michigan? are they so high right now that they need something to bring them down? all right. thousands of outraged afghans are protesting the u.s. and the burning of the korans for a fourth straight day. our nbc news correspondent was in the capital when gun fire broke out during one of her reports. >> reporter: right now the protesters have gotten out of hand. the afghan army is trying to stop them firing off warning shots but we nearly got stuck in the protests and we have to run. >> she joins me now live from

kabul. all right. what is going on and has this apology done anything to calm what was a growing protest movement? >> reporter: well, hi there, chuck. what we're seeing is still outraged afghans and the apologies coming whether from the u.s. president or the commander of nato forces isn't doing much to quell the anger here. i can tell you that there are certain mosques here in afghanistan on friday prayers where many people were afraid they would further fan the flames of violence, have them come out in riot, which we saw today. at one part, in one part of kabul. but there were other places. for instance our producer went to a mosque here during his friday prayers the mullah said do not go out there and protest. it's not worth it. the koran forbids you to kill anyone even if they're westerners. so what we see calming the afghan rage is actually religious leaders within the country. i want to point out one other

thing, chuck. i was actually impressed today by the afghan security forces out in full force here in kabul, anticipating a raging day throughout afghanistan. they made sure that the forces were out there to stop the violence and we did see less violence, at least here in the capital of kabul. there may have still been nine afghans killed throughout the country including back in the west of the country where many protesters were actually going after the u.s. consulate. chuck? >> two things, two quick questions, atia. one, has karzai, himself, publicly sort of accepted the apology and called for calm? two, you said it was the afghan security forces. so this was afghans sort of securing and trying to push back and stop these demonstrations? >> on the first part of your question, president karzai has called for calm. he's asked the afghans not to go out there and protest. but he's also asked for whoever was behind burning the korans as

well as other religious materials in bagram to be brought to trial. that is an unrealistic request. but he kind of in a way has to say that so the afghan people know that he was also offended by the religious books being burnt. as for afghan security forces, that's a very good question. because right now we're in the middle of a transition. u.s. and nato is trying to transition certain parts of afghanistan into afghan hands. kabul, province, and city is one of those areas. and those were the security forces i saw in the streets. those were the security forces that actually protected us today. chuck? >> that is a positive development. atia, thanks for your reporting. stay safe out there. well, while much of the political focus has been on the republican campaign trail you may have missed some important action around the beltway. so bring in kristen welker live at the courthouse. what did we miss this week in washington when our focus has been in other places? what you got? >> reporter: well, chuck, you know, as you mentioned, the

republican race has gotten a lot of attention, also the economy, high gas prices. we're noticing that social issues are also coming back into the national discussion in a big way. all of that was in play this week in washington and elsewhere. after months of bitter fighting over the payroll tax cut extension -- >> congress needs to pass an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance. >> i will be voting, heck no. >> reporter: the bill passed through congress last week and on wednesday quietly made its way to the president's desk. despite congress passing one of the president's top priorities, he still took a swipe at the body for what it hasn't done. >> now my message to congress is, don't stop here. congress needs to pass my plan to help responsible home owners save about $3,000 a year by refinancing their homes, their mortgages. >> reporter: and with social issues making national headlines lately, some high profile

governors are also embroiled in debates over gay marriage and abortion. maryland governor martin o'malley, a rising democratic star, is sponsoring a gay marriage bill, which is likely to become law. last week new jersey governor chris christie, a famous 2012 noncandidate, vetoed a similar bill in his home state. and virginia governor bob mcdonald, a potential vp pick, reversed course on a bill requiring women to have an ultra sound before an abortion. he now says such a mandate isn't the state's job. and the white house was alive with the sound of music this week starting with a blues workshop hosted by michelle obama. and, of course, president obama showed off those pipes once again. ♪ baby don't you want to go ♪ >> reporter: and a quick look ahead at next week, chuck. president obama will be hosting a meeting of the national governors association here at the white house and he'll meet with some democratic governors later today. chuck? >> that's right. kristen welker, thanks very

much. all right. next "the daily rundown" exclusive with the man the republican candidates can't stop talking about this week. >> arlen specter. >> because arlen specter. >> if we had said no to arlen specter -- >> arlen specter as chairman of the judiciary committee -- arlen specter. >> arlen specter. >> supporting arlen specter over pat toomey was a very torturous run. >> former pennsylvania senator arlen specter will be here to separate fact from fiction in his connections with rick santorum. plus, holding out for a hero in today's deep down we'll show you how there is still time for someone new to jump into the republican race and win enough delegates to create a contested convention. but first a look ahead at the president's schedule as kristen told you about, his big meeting today, with democratic governors. [ man ] predicting the future is hard.

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i've heard people say that they think arlen specter is a liberal. arlen is with us on the votes that matter. to move our agenda forward for this president and for the country. i'm proud to endorse arlen specter. >> well that, was rick santorum. endorsing his pennsylvania colleague arlen specter in 2004, an endorsement that became front page news this week after mitt romney used it to tie santorum to president obama's health care reform. but santorum says don't take his past support for specter at face value. he says it was all for the conservative cause. >> arlen specter was a senator who is going to be the chairman of the judiciary committee at a time when the most important issue that was coming up in the next session of congress was two to three supreme court nominees that were going to be available. and one and maybe two of them or maybe even all three were going to be out of the conservative

bloc. arlen specter as chairman of the judiciary committee, we had a conversation. he asked me to support him. i said, will you support the president's nominees? we had a 51-49 majority in the senate. he said, i'll support the preside president's nominees as chairman. former senator arlen specter joins me now and of course switched parties to be a democrat in 2009 and lost a bid for re-election as a democrat. senator specter, thanks for joining me this morning. >> glad to be with you, chuck. well let's start with just walk me through your relationship with senator santorum going back to the days that he first ran for congress, first ran for senate. what kind of political relationship would you describe, would you ascribe that you had with senator santorum? >> we had an excellent relationship. when his campaign for the senate was in the doldrums in august of 1994, i put my whole campaign apparatus at his disposal. pat mahan was my executive

director in philadelphia and now a congressman from suburban philadelphia. i campaigned for him and i think i was very helpful, perhaps, determinati determinative. we have a good relationship. he supported me and i supported him. and the fact is, chuck, we never had a conversation about his support for me in 2004. it was just assumed. we had always supported each other. the issue about my backing the president's nominees came up after i was elected and the question was on my chairmanship. at that time i said, i would not apply a litmus test. i'm pro choice but i'd supported pro life nominees like scalia and rehnquist for his promotion to chief justice and santorum

and i never had a conversation. i never made him -- >> so you're refuting and saying senator santorum, his version of what he explained to mitt romney in the debate the other night is not true? >> that is flatly not true. we never had any such conversation. it would be improper to make a commitment on a vote before i knew who the nominee was and whether i thought the nominee was qualified. i've got a very strong reputation and a record behind that did not make deals like that. >> how important was santorum's support for you in the election against pat toomey? >> it was very important. not as important candidly as president bush's support. when the time came to advertise at the end of the campaign, we relied much more heavily on president bush, but senator santorum was helpful. when he ran in 2006, i came back

and reciprocated. we had issues where i could help him. he wanted my help on stem cells where i was a leader on embryonic stem cells. he came and said, arlen, how about cosponsoring a bill on adult stem cells, which was consistent with his principles. i said, sure, rick, i'd be glad to help. and i campaigned for him. and until this little brouhaha in the last few days, our relationship has always been cordial and good. >> would you be supporting him today in this primary if you were still a republican? >> no. no, i would not. i think that my support for him for re-election to the senate was based upon what he and i did as a team and on his seniority. but where you have senator santorum's views so far to the

right, his attitude on women in the work place and gays and the beastiality comments and birth control, i do not think it is realistic for rick santorum to represent america. >> let me ask you about governor romney's critiques of senator santorum for supporting you. are governor romney's critiques fair? i mean, we just talked about what santorum said, obviously governor romney has been hitting him for earmarks and hitting him for saying that his support for you meant you were the 60th vote and you were the various things. what part of those were factual and not factual? >> well, i don't think that senator santorum can be held responsible for what i did. i was often at odds with the republican caucus, and when i voted for the stimulus package took the lead on that in providing the decisive vote or

votes there were irreconcilable differences. listen, chuck, the political parties have been taken over by the extremes. a senator like joe lieberman, can't win a democratic primary. arlen specter couldn't win a republican primary. and i thought the president's health care plan was important for america and i supported it. and if former governor romney wants to give me the responsibility for it, i would take credit for it. i'm proud of the role i played on that legislation. >> are you supporting president obama for re-election? >> well, i'm an independent. i think on the current field that the president has a decisive lead. but i'm now citizen arlen specter. i intend to watch the campaign. i intend to make a decision on

the merits. i've had the unique opportunity to be inside of the caucuses of both the democrats and republicans. i agree with john kennedy sometimes the party asks too much so i'm going to evaluate the situation on the merits. >> are you still a democrat? >> yeah. yeah. you know, chuck, i started off as a democrat years ago, inherited my politics from my father, who was an immigrant and thought roosevelt was a great savior. i lived through the depression as a child. i became a republican to be elected district attorney in philadelphia which was a nonpartisan job trying to bring back the second major party and i feel comfortable as a republican. i thought a voice of moderation was very important inside the republican caucus. but when i had cast that vote for the stimulus, it was obvious that the republican party didn't have -- didn't want to have

anything further to do with me, and i'm comfortable as an independent and will continue to, i hope, to play an active role in public policy matters. i have a book coming out later this month and have some ideas on public policy and -- >> you know -- >> i would classify myself as an independent, chuck. >> okay. but still a registered -- very quickly i know you just did a long format show. i watched it about citizens united. so back and forth you were important in getting president bush's, two of those folks that maybe were the decisive vote there on citizens united, justice roberts and justice alito. any regrets? >> well, no. i don't have any regrets. i made those decisions contemporaneously and i'll stand by them. i appreciate your mentioning, i have a pilot tv program where i want to have a combination of argument, relevancy, brevity on major public policy issues.

it showed in the washington area a few weeks ago. going to be showing in philadelphia in a few weeks. i hope to get funding to talk about public policy. i think the public format is really in need of public understanding about what's happening with health care, etcetera. >> all right. senator arlen specter, thanks for coming on. and i would encourage folks to go check it out. i watched it online yesterday. it was a very good and interesting discussion. >> tell them where they can find it, chuck. >> i will. i got to go find the website and i'll tweet it out. >> okay. >> thanks for coming on this morning. well, will wall street end the week on a positive note? that whole 13,000 business has been an obsession all week. the market rundown is next. plus that humanitarian crisis is worsening in syria. pressure is increasing on assad to stop it. but first today's trivia question. which former senator's wife once owned a specialty pie company?

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stories making headlines, reports this morning that syrian government troops have resumed shelling rebel held areas in central syria. at least four people have been killed today. on the diplomatic front there is a major international conference on syria organized by the arab league that kicks off today in tunisia. the russian government is calling for an immediate cease-fire as the former u.n. chief kofi annan has been appointed as special envoy. the iaea is set to issue a confidential report today on iran's nuclear program just two days after the team returned from failed talks in tehran to continue and open up inspections there.

during an interview today on cnbc treasury secretary timothy geithner acknowledged the threat iran poses to rising gas prices here at home. >> when oil prices are getting stronger partly because of stronger growth, more reflection of growth, but obviously iran can do a lot of damage to the global economy. and we're working very carefully to try to minimize that risk. >> well, the opening bell just rang on wall street. time for the market rundown. okay. becky quick is here. what you got? freaky friday? witching friday? >> i know -- no a normal friday but we've been talking about this all week long, this 13,000 mark. it's a key psychological mark. again, i'll say the same thing i've been saying all week. today could be the day we actually close above 13,000 for the first time in about four years. now, we are only 15 points away and the market looks like it's going to open up by about 20 points so we're right within that striking distance. of course it's a long day before the closing bell actually rings. and, chuck, what you just mentioned, that sound from

timothy geithner this morning, the concerns about what's happening in iran, that's been playing out in the oil markets as well. and this morning crude oil is trading above $108, a huge concern. it's a real big question about what that's going to mean for gas prices at the pump. obviously consumers here at home are very sensitive to that. we'll be watching those numbers very closely all day long. >> all right. becky quick at cnbc's headquarters. thank you, becky. >> thank you. the deep dive is next. a good one. the daily rundown will be back in 30 seconds.

all right. we're less atlanta two weeks away from super tuesday of course and that is the day that usually winos the field down to one or two candidates, sets the stage for potentially the national convention. but is it too late for a new republican candidate to get in? we'll take a deep dive into the delegate count and primary deadline to get a sense of what's possible. here's some numbers you need to know. we have 2286 delegates available in order to get to the republican convention at the republican convention a candidate needs 1144 to win the nomination. the number of delegates bound to a specific candidate right now is just 113. and there are 1,250 delegates off the table. those are the delegates which cannot go to a new candidate because deadlines have passed or the contests themselves have passed. so now that you know the three magic numbers, a candidate needs to become the nominee, let's look at who could get into the race right now.

that person would have to have a few things working. name recognition, support from the conservative base, and i've already gone through some sort of vetting or scrutiny, some of the names floated out there that could pull this off mitch daniels of indiana, jeb bush of florida, paul ryan of wisconsin, and of course chris christie of new jersey. that's what's possible. now let's talk about what's realistic so late in the game. we'll look at this from a post super tuesday perspective here. there are three ways for a brand new gop candidate to get to -- get some delegates and maybe get to the magic numbers. you have three categories of delegates here. states where the filing deadlines haven't passed yet. there are delegates that are going to get allotted at state conventions. that's our second category. the third one is the rnc does have something of, a version of super delegates. not nearly as many as the democrats did four years ago, but over a hundred of them. so let's take you through the totals. here are some key filing deadlines as you will see. march 7th day after super tuesday nebraska, probably not

real but who knows? if romney loses michigan that's what some folks are talking about. there are three giant states that i look at. march 23rd to me is the most important deadline for any potential new candidate. i think you'd have to show up on the ballot in california, on the ballot in texas, on the ballot in new jersey. three fairly large states where you can accumulate a decent number of delegates. 491 delegates that somebody could file for a primary post super tuesday and be able to contest. now let's look at the number of delegates. remember there are some caucus thaes have already taken place and as we all know now in these caucuses they're not bound delegates. there is a whole state convention process. well, in this process, there are another 423 delegates you could go in now, colorado, santorum won it but he didn't actually get any delegates that night. iowa of course is one of those. by the way, you'll notice indiana, illinois, and louisiana, they allot some delegates via their primary and then they allot more delegates

via their convention process. that's why you see states on both of those. and so that takes us to the super delegates. 120 of them. they're sort of party leaders. much smaller number of these folks. but some of them have already endorsed mitt romney, some, a couple maybe endorsed newt gingrich and rick santorum. but they're always up for grabs so to speak. so that brings us to our total here. right? the 491 delegates that you could get in primaries if you filed, if you got into the race sometime between now and super tuesday. another 423 delegates you could go and see if you could get at state conventions. and another 120 of those national -- let me add two more here. those two, it's the two huntsman delegates. huntsman actually won two delegates in new hampshire. we have talked to both of them. they are uncommitted and that's what gets us to this 1,036 number. it's not enough obviously to get the majority and get there but it is enough you could see realistically how a new

candidate could come in, get a lot of momentum, win 50%, 60% of these suddenly have 500, 600 maybe on the outside 700 delegates at the end of this process and then suddenly you would have the brokering part of this, probably take place late june early july. now of course whatever happens here, it's going to be determined on what happens on tuesday in the michigan primary. we wanted to walk you through there. there is a path to get enough delegates to be a major player if somehow for some reason whatever is left of the republican establishment decides mitt romney can't get this done. all right. our friday political panel will be here next. plus i'm sharing a new little feature. we're calling it my weekender wisdom. three things that i didn't know when the week began that i think i know now. and a programming note for you, this sunday on nbc's "meet the press." rick santorum will be david gregory's guest. plus two governors, a couple we haven't heard from in a while. california governor jerry brown

and arizona governor jan brewer will also be on the show. check your local listings. first of course the white house soup of the day. it's friday. it's always nonmeat. this is a good one. wild rice vegetable. this is one i would go get. i'm always looking for the lower calorie, lower carb. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. i habe a cohd. i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! thank you! 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.

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get a free balcony upgrade when you book now. limited time offer. some restrictions apply. back in this day in 1868 andrew johnson became the first ever sitting u.s. president to be impeached by the house of representatives who voted to impeach johnson for high crimes and misdemeanors. the senate trial lasted 11 weeks and johnson escaped conviction by a one-vote margin. the story of course became one of great stories in john kennedy's book. i've totally blanked on the book. profiles in courage. thank you very much. all right. after a few weeks of keeping a

low profile a re-energized newt gingrich is stepping up his criticism of president obama and mitt romney. listen to gingrich yesterday describing this week's debate and getting laughs at romney's expense. >> it surprised people when i used the word cheerful. i think partly because the other guys used all these fancy words. actually wasn't sure what resolute meant. >> you'd think he would know the resolute desk. our friday political panel is here. welcome to you. wow, newt gingrich is back. he's fun when he's on tv. the problem is the last three weeks he hasn't been on tv. >> hasn't done anything. the gingrich show had been sort of on hiatus. >> right. he is the one, he still doesn't have a campaign. he still is doing really well in

the reality show. the problem is the ratings are down and nobody is watching the reality show anymore. if he keeps getting clips like that here, that's his campaign. >> robert, it's interesting watching santorum. there is a campaign apparatus around santorum. >> barely. >> but there is one. >> sure. >> knows modern political warfare. >> sure. >> there was never anybody around newt. is there another comeback in newt? >> no. i think he realizes that and that's why you see the funny newt coming out. there's been an interesting arc in his aspirations. he was the thoughtful, deep thinker during the debates. then he became very angry and bitter a couple months ago. now it's the newt that is funny. i get the impression he knows he's not going to be the nominee so he is saying you know what? what i'm going to do is be myself. i'm retired. i'm having a lot of fun. let's just have fun with this. >> just to give him his hit and help him at washington speakers bureau apparently here is another newtism from yesterday

on romney. >> newtism. >> to use his phrase he's not a severe conservative but he's at times severely distanced. in addition i'll tell all of you, he raised taxes. >> he went through this whole thing. i want to ask you about santorum right now and whether the democratic operatives, are you guys truly starting to dig into santorum or not? >> well, it's just like a boy scout. you have to be prepared no matter what the scenario is. obviously the race dynamics have changed over the last couple weeks. and santorum has given romney a run for his money. of course you're going to be prepared. they both have achilles heels. they're slightly different. you know, santorum is way out of the main stream on social issues. romney hasn't connected with the american people. but at the end of the day it's going to be the same strategy. it's who are you fighting for? who's obama fighting for versus who the republican nominee is fighting for. >> michael, i want to shift gears a little bit. you had an interesting cover

story, devoted to this issue of the i decide, basically -- >> on the cover of "time" magazine -- we had a spanish word. never a spanish sentence. two words makes a sentence here. >> fair enough. >> obviously the power and this fear among republicans and you had marco rubio talking about it. it's all tonal. do any of them think though they actually have a policy problem? >> you know, they probably do have a policy problem but it pales in comparison. if you get past the tonal problem you can begin working on the policy problem. you can't do it the other way around. you know, we saw just in the arizona debate i thought it was amazing that coming out of florida where you saw romney and gingrich all appealing to latino voters. >> in different ways. >> but they were all speaking the language talking about i'm pro legal immigration, not antiimmigration. that was the rhetoric out of florida. we walk into arizona and they're just fighting every battle as it

comes. walk into arizona and romney's line is the arizona law is a model for the nation. that's a totally different message than i'm pro legal immigration coming out tonally. and it's going to hurt them. there is no doubt it's going to hurt them in the general election. whether they can pull back from if in future cycles is a different question and whether the actual issue set marco rubio has for the dream act but not for citizenship or i'm for the dream act but we can't have chain migration is a different conversation. the tonal one is the one they have to get over. >> are you shocked you didn't have a mitch mcconnell and marco rubio? i've heard mitt romney desperately was trying to get senate republicans, go cut a deal with obama on immigration before the 2012 election. are you shocked that that never came to fruition? >> you know, it's more than just those three players. because there are many -- >> they could have been. marco rubio could have done it sure. they could have pushed it. mitt romney was right to think that. a year ago we never would have thought mitt romney would have the most conservative position on immigration issues of any candidate who's ever run and he

has made this -- made arizona viable for the democrats. because he is so far from where most people in this country are on this issue. >> you've had some experience in this. this normally, i mean, it seemed like rubio was perfectly positioned to be the guy, he was a tea party favorite. but with some establishment credentials. i mean if anybody could have been the face of cutting this deal it would have been him. >> absolutely. he has the most credibility no question about it. let me go back for a few moments. back in 2005 john mccain and george w. bush were warning the party and saying look. we have a major structural political problem here. from a tonal standpoint we have to do something about it. the tea partiers back then, the arch conservatives back then were saying are you nuts? we need to build a fence and throw them all out. that type of language is obviously very divisive. marco rubio speaks to that in the context he could be the bridge between to your point the conservatives but also the moderates in the party. >> all right. stick around. got a fun little feature i want you guys to comment on after the

break. which former senator's wife once owned a specialty pie company? this is kind of like jeopardy here. the answer is arlen specter. his wife joan spent more than ten years as the owner of joan specter's desserts where her specialty was the candy apple walnut pie. we'll be right back. you're watching "the daily rundown only on msnbc. right. but... home security systems can be really expensive. so to save money, we actually just adopted a rescue panther. i think i'm goin-... shhh! we find that we don't need to sleep that much. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ♪ geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ♪

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it's friday. want to share three new pieces of political wisdom that i've picked up this week. things that challenged my thinking at the start of the week. this week, it's obama's iowa slump. lugar's not so sweet home and connie mack's brawling back. bring back the pack now. here's what we learned about

lugar. he could not answer the question of a u.s. senator running, of what home address was on his indiana driver's license. seemed to me like unrecoverable. >> yeah. i mean, look, senators always have this problem. rick santorum did in 2004. it's always an issue when members of congress come to washington, d.c. they have a home here, but really don't have a home back in the state. my understanding is that he used his senate address, his brother lives on the farm. it's very, very messy and politically, very nieve. >> tom daschle, when he uttered the phrase, i'm a d.c. resident. you spent a lot of time in iowa. >> i register showed paul and romney leading the president. i talked to some folks privately. there's something going on here that despite the president

recovering in every other battleground state, he didn't here. is is it because republicans were attacking him in the state. >> republicans spend six months attacking the president in iowa. the second, ron paul is beating the president by the most. ron paul is not going to be the nominee for president, but is there more work that needs to happen in the state? absolutely. there are a lot of roots. something that's really in the president's favor. >> our third one, golden name. son of a u.s. senator. great grandson of a famous baseball brawler. i thought could be the instant front-runner and really challenge bill nelson, but boy, what did we learn? >> 1992, got in a bar brawl after reportedly taking jaeger the , this is very 1992.w belt. >> when you're in a head lock --

>> and in the process, broke his ankle. >> charlie chris former right hand. this was a pretty sophisticated piece of research. george lemieux then calls him -- the charlie sheen. >> and trying to build a narrative here. this is a kind of thing that depends on how he plays ilt on the stump. it's still early. >> shameless plug. >> monday, karen finney and i will be hosting a new show, 1:30. democrats and republicans talking about arizona and michigan. xm. >> come on. >> inside the beltway. >> my shameless plug is my dad celebrating his 69th birthday this weekend. he has more energy than a 25-year-old so he'll be hiking a mountain, skiing, canoeing. just wish him a happy birthday. >> the photos are better, so go

to time.com. michael grove did profiles of more than a hundred in phoenix. >> very nice. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." we'll see you back here on monday. the big primaries. junior tuesday. up next, chris jansing and company. have a great weekend. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes?

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