captions paid for by nbc-universal television this sunday, we does he ever a winning message? he do the delegate mat beat mitt romney. >> the governor thinks he is now ordained by god to win, then let's just have it out. >> previewing the debate to the fall campaign, the social issues versus the economy. more than 200,000 jobs created in february, and who has the winning prescription for more growth? with us, romney supporter and chair of the governor's association, virginia's governor, bob mcdonnell, and maryland's governor, martin o'malley. finally, our political roundtable is here to talk politics and about something

else, civility. where has it gone and can it return? why the president called sandra after rush limbaugh attacks? he was thinking about his own daughters. >> i want them to speak their mind in a thoughtful way, and i don't want them attacked or called horrible names because they are being good citizens. >> we have a discussion with reverend al sharpton, host of msnbc's politics nation. and marsha blackburn, and ej dionne, and peggy noonan. good morning. another split decision in republican presidential contest held over the weekend, and the results showing a big win in

kansas for rick santorum, but mitt romney also won the delegate in wyoming's on going process, and he picked up delegates in the virginia islands and guam. romney is ahead at 377, and then santorum and gingrich and then paul behind. 48 hours of campaigning to go until the republicans put their mark on the race in the nomination, and here from the campaign trail is rick santorum. welcome back. >> great to be back. thank you. >> you want your shot to go one-on-one with governor romney. what tips the scales to get newt gingrich out of the race? >> you would have to ask him. we are going to keep winning and competing, and every since nevada we finished first or second in almost every state, but we have been there and other

than georgia, congressman gingrich has finished third or fourth, and that continued yesterday. eventually this thing will sort out, and we will have strong performances in mississippi here and in alabama. i even sent my daughter out to hawaii, and she is out there campaigning for us for this tuesday. >> would you like to see him get out after mississippi -- >> i would like everybody to get out if they could just clear the field. and the congressman can stay in as long as he wants, but the idea to make sure we nominate a conservative is to give us an opportunity to go head to head with governor romney at some point, and that will occur sooner rather than later hopefully. >> and let's talk about governor romney, and he is making the argument that the math is the essential unit, and you need 61%

of the remaining delegates to win this thing, and aside from the fact that nobody has the requisite number of delegates yet, and why should not the race be over and done with in advantage of romney? >> well, romney needs 50% of the delegates. on the current track that we are on now, the fact is what if romney doesn't get to that number? this is not a mathematical formula. the race has a tremendous amount of dynamics. there's a lot of states coming up that will be great states for us, like pennsylvania, and we have 72 delegates, and we should win if not all of them, the vast majority, and texas, last count i was up 30 points. remember, governor romney has been doing this for four years and he worked hard to make sure states moved up that were advantagious to him. and the news agency apportioned delegates that have nothing to do with the reality of where the

delegates are going to be. iowa, we barely won iowa by 40 votes, and we had their conventions yesterday, and nobody has that in their count, and they have us winning by one vote and that's not going to be the case when the delegates from the caucuses are elected. and also you also know, a lot of the delegates are uncommitted. while they may be, you know, for romney, a lot of the delegates can win and they are unbound. that's another dynamic. you have a whole bunch of super delegates. governor romney secured several of them, but they are not bound with their commitment. these are the kinds of things that can happen, and it can change as the dynamic of the race changes as we go on. >> if you look at the maps where the victories have been, you have to notice something striking. you are yellow on the map, and you are winning the heartland of the country right now, and it's almost like a presidential red and blue map.

governor romney is winning the coast, new england and the west with the help of mormon voters. how do you change that dynamic, including the fact that governor romney can say rightly i have won some of the biggest battle grounds in the fall, and how do you overcome that? >> well, i mean, obviously we have had to overcome a lot, david, just to be where we are now, and we have been out spent 10-1, and somebody who has all the wind to his back and can't close the deal, winning ohio, and michigan by the skin of his teeth, and both being out spent overwhelmingly, but that's okay, we have the grassroots support, and we have been slowing clawing our way back into the race, and we're in a great position right now as we go forward with states that are very favorable to us, and in favorable areas of the country, and i have got my home state yet to go. governor romney has had three of his home states already, and so

it's important for us to look to the future and see the opportunities that we have. that's how we get back in the race. if we can get a one-on-one, we have seen in the states where we have had one-on-ones, we have done well. >> why not come out and say what your super pac said, and that's that you want gingrich out? >> i am not going to tell people to get in or out of the race. i did not ask gingrich to get in and i will not ask him to get out. >> certainly an advantage for the president who is making the case of the economic recovery, and this is how the ap put it. the united states added 227,000 jobs in february again surprising economists with the breath and braun of the economic recovery, the country put together the strongest three months of pure job growth since the great recession, and those numbers, if you take a look since december of job creation, the pure number of jobs, it's at 734,000 jobs. is your point in this campaign to say, i can do a better job of

accelerating that recovery, and if so how? >> absolutely. just look at the energy sector alone, and the jobs that can allow for exploration of oil in this country and the 600 billion barrels of oil offshore, and the president said no to. alaska, no. federal lands, no. and the only place he is providing help is to brazil, and the brazilians rejected it. and of course it's going to have head winds as we head into the summer driving season. we are already looking at $4 a gallon in some places, and that's having an impact in the economy. energy alone, throw on top of that the implementation of obamacare and other high-cost regulations, and this president set a record on the number of high-cost regulations. i would peel every one of those that cost over $1 million.

and week after week, they would try to repeal the regulations. there's a variety of things the president is doing right now to hurt the economy that we can turn around and put the wind at the back of the economy and see dynamic and sustainable growth. most of the economists will tell you the growth under this president while it has been good certainly the last three months from the standpoint of employment, that the underlying growth numbers are not going to support dramatic job growth until we get that underlying growth number turned around. >> you can't tell americans who are feeling more optimistic, i should say, about the prospect that their eyes are deceiving them, and when it comes to gas prices, sure that hurts everybody but americans know it's republicans just like democrats that have failed to get any kind of leadership plan passed, and that's been going on for decades. >> well, somebody who is trying to open up exploration, and it's

hard to point the finger at republicans. republicans voted yes, yes, yes all the time. and certainly i have. and the president has voted no. so the idea of well you can't fix the partisan gridlock. there's no partisan gridlock. there's an ideology that says let's drill for oil in saudi arabia and brazil, but not in my backyard. it's pure politics. it has nothing to do with the best of the overall environment. it allows the price of oil to go up. all of this is the president's fault. it lays clearly on his table. >> let me ask you as well about some other issues, and when you take on governor romney. you know, your record, which has been debated as senator, you cast votes, of course, for a new entitlement under medicare, the prescription drug been it and a supporter of earmarks and a lot of people think is reckless spending, and you supported no child left behind, and yet you

say this about governor romney, and you said it during a conference call during the week. what you have with governor romney is somebody not somebody you can trust on the issue of big government. yet you casts votes that conservatives would clearly see as big government. >> well, i would just say this about the programs that you put forward. all of those programs were certainly the earmarks in the context of spending on appropriation bills where i never ever voted for an increase in spending on any of the appropriation bills. i was out on the floor voting always to cut spending, repeatedly, and consistently throughout my 16 years. on medicare prescription drugs, there were a lot of things, health savings accounts, which is a private sector reform of the health care system which i think is the most dynamic thing we can do, and i still believe it's the most dynamic thing we can do to lower health care

costs and put patients back in control, and of course the prescription drug bill itself has come in 42% under budget because it's a private sector model. while certainly there was a medicare prescription drug benefit it was done in a way that advanced the private sector of medicine and that's one of the reasons that i supported it, unlike governor romney who had public sector control of the health care system. the bills i voted for were private sector oriented programs. governor romney and barack obama are on the same place with health care, romneycare and obamacare, the same with a top down government control of the resources, mandates and of course now we know, thanks to an interview that you did and others, that governor romney actually advocated for the massachusetts model that president obama adopted with mandates, and then went on the campaign trail and repeatedly -- well, h repeatedly didn't tell the truth. he went out and misled voters that somehow or another he was not at mandates at the federal

level when he was. he said i did not require catholic hospitals to provide things against their conscience, when he did, and he said i did not provide free abortions under romneycare, had he did. he had big government solutions and then gone out and told the public that he didn't do the things he did. >> y are calling him a liar, about his possession that he didn't support a mandate at the federal level. >> which he did. >> he did? >> absolutely. he did. >> electability becomes a big issue. on health care, what is the line of attack you think president obama will use against romney that you think will ultimately kill romney's chances of being president? >> you know, why do you want to say you want to repeal a program

identical to the one you put in place in massachusetts. and we will play the op ads he wrote to advocate for this. that takes the issue that that's the most potent issue in the 2010 election. the reason the republicans were able to make gains is because we had an issue that talked about freedom, and talked about whether government should be controlling your health care choices, should be allocating resources in the health care field, or whether we are going to be believing in free markets and choices and consumers, and governor romney and the state of massachusetts mandated every person in massachusetts has to buy health care, and he said it was only the 8% that didn't have insurance and that is n true. he goes out there and tries to misrepresent what he did in massachusetts because it's not popular. it's what he is doing for climate change. he put caps on c 02, and now that the climate changed, guess who changed along with it?

governor romney. you are looking at somebody that doesn't change with the climate. i stand for the principles that made this country great, and not governor romney's top-down control that will not make the kind of contrast with barack obama that we absolutely need if we are going to win the election. >> i want to ask you about the influence of your wife. i know i am heavily influenced by mine, and you talk about the influence she had on you. recently as it applies to the kind of language you used, and you backed away from kaulg the president a snob or the criticism of president kennedy, and what kind of political partner is she for you and how has that manifested itself here in the last couple of weeks? >> she is very direct. we have a wonderful and very special relationship. she watches everything that i do like ahawk, and, look, she's a nurse and a lawyer, and she knows how to communicate, and she also is a very, very

compassionate person. i think that she understands that i can get fired up and she can do, and sometimes i step over the line and she rightly comes after me and says rick, you have to go back and walk this back. you get a little fired up and you shouldn't say things that maybe, again, you said well you are calling the governor a liar, romney a liar, and no i am not, i am saying in this case he was not saying what was the truth, but to go a step further to say the person is a liar, and that's too far, and that was the case with respect to president obama and that comment. she's a very good governor for me and tries to make sure that i keep things in perspective. >> what about the broader influences on you, and people size you up and get to know you better, and what is who would you say is the biggest influence on you in the full range of your public life and your sense of purpose getting into the race and running for congress and

ultimately the senate? >> yeah, well, i mean, obviously, you know, family is always a big consideration, and it certainly was in getting in the race here tonight. this was not something where i am 53 years old and have been in public life for 16 years, and most of my working career i was in the senate and to get back into that after being out for five years and having a lot more freedom and opportunity and a lot more time to be with my wife and family, and i coached little league for three years and was doing more stuff where in a public life you don't have time for, and it was a hard decision for us. we prayed about it a lot, and we sought if it was the right path for us, and particularly because of the issue of obamacare and government control of peoples' lives, and i felt like it was a game changer for america, and we have a special needs little girl, and that weighed both ways, and i want to be home with her because her life is fragile,

but at the same time you have to go out and fight for the children who are in the margins of society and the government system around the world, they are not given the care and resources allocated, because the government does not see them as useful lives. there's a lot of cross currents here, and we made the decision that it was appropriate for us to step forward and try to, you know, layout a different vision for the country that we didn't believe anybody else in the race could do. >> senator, before you go, are you looking at a clean sweep on tuesday in the south? >> well, it's pretty tough battleground down there. i'm in newt's backyard and we have the mitt establishment, and we are within striking distance, and karen and i are here in mississippi today and we will be in alabama tomorrow and we will just hustle. >> we will be watching, and thank you foroming on the program. >>hank you, david. coming up, a preview of the

debate, and the big issues of the fall campaign. the top governors weigh in, and martin o'malley, and virginia governor and romney supporter, bob mcdonnell. later, our political roundtable. is the country paying a price for the lack of civility in the political dialogue? that's coming up later. [ male announcer ] this is the network -- a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions... [ beeping ] ...to bring all the right results. it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪

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joining me, martin o'mally and bob mcdonald. there is a developing story from overseas we're tracking this morning in afghanistan. a u.s. service member has apparently opened fire on afghan civilians in a village near a military base in southern afghanistan. an a.p. forecaster is reporting 15 bodies, including women and children. obviously as details develop on this, there will be more. governor mcdonald, you have a daughter who served in iraq. we know as both a policy matter and political matter, that these kinds of things can really start to shape public opinion about after all the country being at war, what kind of impact do you think this will have after the koran burngs burnings? >> we have so many men and women, ten-plus world on the

global war on terror. in iraq, afghanistan, and other places, doing good work. and yet one incident like this in the minds of the civilian population, who we're trying to win their hearts and minds as well as the battles against the terrorists in afghanistan, it's a sad situation. but i'm really proud of what our kids are doing there. >> unforeseen circumstances, governor, the debate over iran is heating up on the campaign trail with the president responding to republican candidates. these are some of the unknowns that could really affect this presidential campaign here in the months ahead. >> absolutely. there are many things that happen in this very tightly and interconnected world of ours that no one president can control. but what we all look for in the president of the united states is someone with steady, capable leadership, a calm hand at the helm, and president obama has provided that leadership. i think this latest incident

shows our involvement in afghanistan and iraq. i agree with governor mcdonald. so many young men and women are serving so honorably and so well. but incidents like this do happen in war zones. it's important we bring our toops home as soon as possible. >> let's talk about the economy as well. five months ago president obama said he was an underdog. you look at the job numbers and the trajectory of the course over the president's term here. the dark days of 2009 and '10 with employment up in double-digit -- 10% now, 8.3% now. over 700,000 jobs created since the end of last year. is he now the favorite, given the optimism about the economy? >> well, i think that there is no me important issue than the good news that we're seeing in our economy. president obama under his leadership, we've had 24 months in a row, of positive job grags every month. an auto industry that many

thought was going the way of the dinosaur, added 200,000 jobs. foreclosures have been driven down thanks to the president's leadership. the lowest levels we've seen in four years. i do believe the overriding issue in this race is jobs and the economy. and clearly things are getting better. and they still need to improve. and we could make it -- we need to accelerate our jobs recovery. >> governor mcdonald, you're supporting mitt romney, who is making a case that he could do a better job with economic growth. is the argument going to be more difficult to make if we continue on the path we're on with job creation? >> job creation and economic development is the issue in this campaign. americans ought to celebrate the progress that's been made. i give the private sector the credit for doing that. but we've lost 864,000 jobs since the beginning of this administration. 8% to 9%, 10%, that may be the best that barack obama can do. but that's not as good as americans really need. this issue, this election is about jobs, economic development, taxes, spending,

debt and defici i think on each of those issues, this president has really failed. we've added to the national debt by $5 trillion. and the unemployment rate being over 8% for the entire obama presidency, that's not a good record to run on. >> but it's become a choice. the question is whether romney has broken through with an economic message that says this is a distinctly different path and more aeptable path for americans. you argue it is not. >> it will be a choice between two alternatives. both these gentlemen have records. when romney was governor of massachusetts, a state that is pretty strong to create jobs in a new economy, instead under governor romney's leadership, they ranked 47th out of 50 states in job creation. so i think you're going to have a pretty clear contrast here. if you look at the presidential campaign, let's be honest, there's been a lot more time spent pandering to the extreme right wing idea dologss than

talking about jobs in the economy. rick santorum mentioned the word jobs not a single time. so i believe the president's looking strong. is strong. is focused on the economy. and that's going to carry him through this election. >> governor? >> i think that's a manufactured issue. i think the democrats don't have a m

roll back of women's rights. rollback of women's contraception and health. rollback of workers' rights. all of the things that take us back are not strengthening our economy and creating jobs. and i think that people start to see a pattern, david, emerging, in states like wisconsin, states like ohio, states like florida. and sadly, recently even in virginia, where these cultural issues are crowding out the things that really should concern us most. 7 out of the best 10 states are creating 21st century jobs in society. now, virginia, credit where credit is due, is one of those top states. the question is, whether we're making the right investments in jobs, education, more affordable college that will keep virginia in that top ranking in the future. maryland's there. we're making college more

afrtdable. we're creating jobs at twice the rate of virginia. these cultural battles that drive people apart are not helpful to driving us forward. >> do you think your counterpart here in virginia would be a good running mate for romney or would you cast him as an extremist? >> i think if you look at -- >> here's your chance, martin. >> if you look simply at job creation, while maryland's had a better rate of job creation than virginia, the truth is virginia -- >> this is false. >> -- ranks far higher than massachusetts did under mitt romney. i think governor mcdonald would be a better job creator. >> thanks for the endorsement. >> do you think he should be on the ticket? do you think he's formidable? >> i think he's a very skilled leader. and he does an able job as the head of the republican governor's association. >> governor, would you like to be president? >> no. i got the job held by jefferson and henry. i love being governor of virginia. but i do want a republican president who will get us out of

this malaise. so what i do want, though, is a president romney, who will have a -- >> could you help on the ticket? >> i'm going to be. i've beentraveling for him already. for the ticket, that's for you pundits to decide. i can be a help to him in making sure people see a difference between a president romney and president obama. >> we'll leave it there. governors, thank you very much. nice talking to you. >> thanks. coming up, in the wake of the heated rhetoric in the birth control debate, president obama this week made a plea for civility with his daughters in mind. where has civility gone in politics. what are the costs to the country at large. plus my key decision questions for 2012. and for this week, our political roundtable is here. [ female announcer ] the best things in life are the real things. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit.

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we're back with the political roundtable. joining me, wall street journal columnist, peggy noonan, and host of msnbc's "politics nation," reverend al sharpton, and marsha blackburn. welcome to awful you. we heard from senator santorum, and to look at my own key questions for the political week as we face them, can they expand their appeal? you saw the map. can romney extend it in the south? can santorum expand it beyond

the base of support he has right now in the party? romney, it seems to me can he make the math become the momentum? he is in the middle of a very difficult ten days in the math, and for president obama, what we have been talking about as well, is he going to get credit for an improving economy, or will be he tagged with somebody who is not recovering the economy quickly enough? that's our back drop. peggy noonan, start us off. how do you see the race right now? >> i think that you still have to say that mr. romney is the one whose fortunes everybody watches because he's still the frontrunner. others have risen and fallen and come and gone, and i think the race is romney, who has a way of grinding it out and staying, not doing the up and down, but just staying. and santorum, who is coming up and he has a close poll in illinois, and who is holding on and who is trying to break

through as the not romney, and he is trying to make it a two-man race and we'll seehere it goes. the odds are with romney, but life is interesting. >> right, forgive me for interrupting. congresswoman, if you look, you have a split. you are a woman in the south in tennessee where santorum did well, and romney has two contests coming up but he is losing the part of the party even though he is still the favorite? >> i think this race is capturing the attention of the american public, the democrats and the republicans, who want to see where the republican party will shake out. people in tennessesaid newt was the candidate of the tea party, and romney is the party of the establishment, and they say what we want is somebody to focus on the jobs and the economy and listen to us. listen to me, and don't yell at me, but listen to me.

>> where do you see it? >> i think romney is still the probable winner, but i think the challenge that he has, he has to deal witthe base, and he has to deal with those at the extreme, and at the same time come with a broad enough vision for the american public after the primary is over, and i think that's the kind of delegate balance he has not been able to strike yet. people are more concerned about jobs and the economy than they are things like the blunt amendment and all, and where we get past the heated rhetoric and deal with the broader picture, i think that will tell the outcome of the election. >> ej, romney wants to run and he wants to be quite formidable, but getting through the primaries is the obstacle? >> the biggest obstacle for romney comped to what they did for obama four years ago, is

hillary clinton forced obama to appeal to whi working class voters, and this primary is forcing mitt romney to keep going back to the base. i think romney emerges with two problems. he's the favorite, obviously, although this is such a strange race, and the pundits are wrong week to week. and romney has overlapping groups, and that's not the biggest deal even though this could cause him problems because turnout might be depressed among them and he will have to waste sometime rallying them, when would like to appeal to the middle of the road voters. and the thing is romney can win the voters earning over $100,000 a year, and especially earning over 200,000 a year. frank bernie, in the "new york times" this morning, said romney is starting to look like a

walking dollar sign and that's what we has to stop. right now obama is doing well enough in the white working class vote to win, but it's only march. >> i have been eluding to this throughout the program. we had the moment this week with the president at the press conference talking about why he called sandra fluke, and he did it for his daughters. and he asked where civility had gone. olympia snowe talked about how polarizing congress is and that's why she wants to leave, and reverend you talked about it down south in montgomery during your march, and this is one of the points you made that had such residence. >> we are not each others enemies or each other's competition or adversary. if we lock on like we did coming out of highway 80 and cooperate rather than compete we can make american great for everybody.

>> a democrat saying that, and it could be a republican as well, and it's a very important message and how does it ultimately resonate? >> i think the problem is we have to be mature enough to say we can be passionate and have firm feelings, but we don't have to poison the atmosphere. i learned that in my own atmosphere. i used to say things in what i felt about them. as my two daughters got older, i started worrying about what i was saying, because they would question me. it's not cute to just exacerbate things, and you could be right and doing wrong or saying wrong. i still march and protest, and be passionate, and the ultimate goal should be to bring people together in the country to make progress, even if we disagree how, we don't have to be disagreeable. >> i think what we have to remember is what was just said,

agreeably disagree. make your point, because when the rhetoric gets too loud, it's like i was saying, voters are saying don't yell at me and listen to me and give me the facts. they want to be well-informed. they are seeking to be well-informed. that's why you have seen the rise of so many grassroots organizations, and it speaks to ej's point as to why the pundits are wrong, and voters are going to sources and getting information, and they want us to respect them and give us the opportunity to represent them. >> i talked to june lewis, a civil rights leader recently, and he says it's something particular, racists or obama or something else that brings out hatred of obama, and there are plenty of others on the left that use inflammatory and corrosive language. is there something there, peggy? >> i think one of the big

problems with discourse in america is the way -- forget left and right for a second, it's the way women are being spoken of. women in public life, women in politics, and women in policy questions. it seems to me that women who have been rising to positions of authority in the past 20 years rose at the same time as the internet. and the internet was a sort of wild west where anything could be said. and i think it came on to actually infect our entertainment life, our political life and journalistic life and what is said on radio by commkau immediateens, and it sounds like this is a war on women. we have to stop it. i feel like the grown-ups have to step in. i wish the president had had a real sister soldier moment and not just called somebody with whom he was politically sympathetic that deserved his sensitivity, but said wait a

second, guys, left, right, center, it's getting horrible for women now, and let's stop. >> you know, i wish what rush limbaugh said, it was not that he called her bad names, and he said she should put sex tapes out. i grew upn a very politically diversed family, where wements . i had an uncle, and when he died his kids asked me to do the eulogy at his funeral. i wanted him to rise out of the casket and tell me, i knew you would be quoting somebody like that some day. remember, there are people we love who have different views. >> yeah, and we are debating

within our families, and you do it in the spirit of love and friendship, and knowing that at the end of the day you are never going to really agree, but you are going to celebrate the freedom that you enjoy to have that debate. >> i think that's where the key is going to be in the leadership. i agree with with john lewis, a lot of this is race. i certainly agree with peggy that the anti-woman spirit is out there, but it doesn't mean that everybody that disagrees with you is a racist or those that are on the other side are race debater. i think that that's where we have to come together. on the show, i came with lou on education. there must be an area where we can show opposing views can come together for the good of the country. >> and it's the deal to legitimize the other side, and

that happened to bush and it happened to obama, and we talked about freedom under assault. both sides, this is a big component of it. >> respect for women is the biggest things we have to address at the moment. words like slut and whore don't belong in any debate in america. >> and it would be as if somebody said don't buy their product, it will poison you. somebody said don't buy their pcoffee doesn't have vitamins... unless you want it to.

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we're back. final minutes with the roundtable. i am looking at the trend tracker here, and it's on point to discussion of santorum winning kansas, and obama making a big play for women voters as we havebeen talking in the last segmen segments. and al, the march you did on friday to commemorate the '65 march. and truman called the march a silly idea that would not have much impact, and this is what dr. king said here on the program. >> first i would say the march was not silly at all. i would think that the march did more to dramatize the

indignities that negro people face in the south more than anything else. i think it was the most powerful and dramatic civilized protest that has taken place in the south, and i think it could well justify the cause put in it. >> what is the message today? >> the message is, the new law being put in place, and there has been no established reason to change the law, and there is no widespread fraud that has been in any way documented, and we do not believe that we should have millions of people disinfranchised. it has a disproportionate impact on seniors and we think it violates civil rights of people, and we sought to not just commemorate 47 years ago, but

continue today to fight those issues. >> congresswoman, alabama and mississippi, who gets the advantage there as you see it? >> i think the polling is showing the race between santorum and romney is tightening up. i think, again, economy, jobs, number two issue is national security, protecting this great nation, and female voters are going to be about 52% of the vote. >> interesting. we will be watching. thank you. before we go, a quick programming note. you can watch the press pass conversation on the blog this week, and we talked to mark conversation on the blog this week, and we talked to mark halperin, and john hei -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com