donny, you know, we'll call you. >> not so much. >> mike barnicle, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> well, it's time for "morning joe." but right now, it's time for our old pal chuck todd. how does charlie brown feel when lucy pulls the football away? ask mitt romney. every time he gets close to closing this deal, it gets jerked away. he's got the math on his side, but is that enough? plus, president obama hosted david cameron in a don't call it a state dinner. but it's the campaign centric guest list that has our attention this morning. and it's been 20 years since the first so-called year of the woman. this morning, how democrats are banking on woman candidates to hold control of the senate. it's thursday, march 15th, 2012, this is the "daily rundown" i'm chuck todd and the three hours tip-off to the ncaa tournament.

rick santorum is hoping the southern sweep finally gives him that clean shot at becoming romney's chief conservative challenger and he sure sounded like it yesterday. >> if we keep winning races, eventually people are going to figure out that governor romney isn't going to be the nominee. republican voters are overwhelmingly saying no. >> santorum has elm plambraced the candidate of evangelical voters. members of an evangelical church laid hands on him and asked him for prayers. >> one of my opponents recently said that it would take an act of god for me to win this primary. i agree with him. >> in the territory where 85% of the population shares santorum's catholic faith, he was put on the defensive about his statement that jfk's famous speech on catholicism made him want to throw up. listen to the change of tone when asked about it now.

>> what john kennedy did 50 years ago was he had to do what kennedy did in that speech, he did a lot of things he needed to do and should've done and did well, but he went far too far. >> santorum, of course, as you can tell has a new focus on delegates so he's making a play for some of the territory's 20. >> i was called by some of my colleagues in the united states senate. >> but he got into trouble for telling a spanish-language paper the territory should adopt english as its official language if it wants state hood. where does santorum expect to compete? those supporters have called for newt gingrich to drop out. santorum denies gingrich is the one hurting his chances. >> can i just refer you to the 50 other answers i've given on this question? the idea that congressman gingrich is stopping me from being able to win. well, i won kansas with 50% of

the vote. i think we're going to do exceptionally well in missouri, going to do exceptionally well in louisiana, we'll do exceptionally well in wisconsin. >> he left out one. santorum was not exactly optimistic about his chances in tuesday's illinois primary. >> illinois is not necessarily tailor made for me. it's a very, you know, it's a big urban population. that may be a state where delegate wise we could do very, very well and maybe not as well on the popular vote. >> actually, he's wrong about that. he's not going to do well at all on the delegate front because he didn't file full slates of delegates in the state of illinois. he could do pretty well in the popular vote, but the popular vote has zero impact statewide on any delegates, it's all done by congressional district and it's even more convoluted. you vote for the individual delegates in each one. this isn't an allocation deal. so if romney has the local mayor say on the ballot as his delegate, that's the guy you

have to vote for. convoluted in illinois, new york's the only other state to do it this weirdly, honestly. mitt romney is dismissing the idea, though, that he can't fire up the base. >> oh, and by the way, last night i got more delegates than anyone else. this is a process of becoming the nominee we're pursuing that in an intelligent way. some who are very conservative may not be in my camp, but they will be when i become the nominee, when i face barack obama. >> very optimistic there. challenged him on whether he had supported a national health care mandate in the past. romney did not seem to have a great answer. 9 1/2 months into his campaign. >> charlie gibson said that you had backed away from mandates on a national basis and you said no, no, i like mandates. >> you know, as you said, as you introduced this topic, people have looked at this topic a hundred times. more than a hundred times. time and again i've pointed out i'm not in favor of a health care plan that includes a national mandate. i do not include that.

i'd put a presentation together describing my health care plan when i ran last time. >> he is right on the national mandate. what romney has supported was the idea that he thinks state mandates in other states might be looking at adopting the massachusetts model, meaning a state mandate. and that's always been this issue here is this idea of is he in favor of mandates? on a state level, it appears so. the romney campaign is trying to fix this message problem. and they're doing it with money pouring big dollars into these primaries. romney and the super pac have put down on paper $3.2 million in ad buys in illinois. that holds the primary on tuesday. $465,000 in louisiana, and then yesterday, a big $500,000 buy, initial buy by the super pac in wisconsin. that primary's april 3rd. that is one of those -- one of those potential days the romney campaign hopes they can shut the door. romney and his super pac have spent more than $47 million on

tv advertising, that translates into $113,000 per delegate. that's compared to the $86,000 newt gingrich and his supporters have spent for each of his 136 delegates. and the $40,000 santorum and his super pac have shelled out for each of his 184 delegates. who has spent the most per delegate? you guessed it, it's ron paul with a per delegate price tag of $189,000. still, it's a lot cheaper than john -- in a first speech of a series of addresses, vice president joe biden will defend the president at a town hall in toledo, ohio. according to excerpts released by the campaign, he'll draw a contrast with the republican candidate saying we're about promoting the private sector, they're about protecting the privilege sector, we're a fair shot and a fair shake, they're about no rules, no risk, and no accountability. he'll use the president's support for the auto bailout to talk about his character saying "the president didn't flinch,

this man has a spine of steel. he knew rescuing the industry wasn't popular, he made a tough call and the verdict is in. president obama was right and his critics were dead wrong." this toledo event is the first campaign speech by either member of the ticket that didn't have a fu fundraising aspect to it. if you didn't know it was an election year, look at the guest list for last night's state dinner honoring david cameron and his wife. i know it's technically not a state dinner. at least 47 of the guests were bund llers of the obama reelectn campaign. that's nearly 13% of the entire guest list dedicated to the campaign for the first 2 1/2 years. many regular donors to the obama cause grumbled about the lack of perks they got including state dinner judging how this guest list was put together. apparently the obama white house heard those grumbles inviting top donors and bundlers to these events is not uncommon. but purists on the left might

say is that really change you can believe in? there will be some more hang wringing over that, but the obama think they take a one-day hit and move on. mitt romney is telling donors it's going to be a long, tough road and we're going to rough it out. romney's top fundraiser woody johnson was running interference. >> like winning football games, you know, you want to win them all. you try to win them all. and if you don't win them all, you think of like what could i have done better? and maybe there are some things that we could've gotten the message out in a more convincing way or whatever, but we're doing the best, i think, i know that he's doing the best he can. >> nbc's peter alexander, of course, travels with the romney campaign. and since they're here in new york city, so are you. >> nice to see you in person. >> how are you doing, sir? woody johnson says what a lot of romney supporters are saying privately. i was surprised on how he said it, well, he's doing the best he

can. that wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the romney campaign skill. >> i think what the romney campaign and a lot of his folks behind the scenes who don't want us talking about them on the air specifically says this campaign has to earn it again. that was the mantra in new hampshire. to go out there to these town hall meetings and put him in a position where he has to see what happens and be himself where he doesn't seem so forced like his cheesy grits statements and other situations he's been in. they tried to get that mantra back in ohio, it paid off with the help of money, as well. and they're hoping to refocus on that and focus on their message and not get stuck talking about other candidates -- >> in that one public interview he did. whenever they're in trouble -- and they only stick to this one media outlet, fox and the primary voters, i get it. but he seemed to really -- he seemed defensive. almost like he doesn't like to have to explain why he's struggling to beat a rick santorum. >> well, i think they're frustrated, they say, as they have said in multiple e-mails to

you and me both. they say the math is on our side. why are you even focusing on these other folks in the race? the simple fact of the matter is the difference between momentum and math and the narrative that continues to exist in this race right now. they're going to head to illinois. ironically the home state of their opponents, president barack obama. they go to illinois for a quick event on friday, they go to puerto rico where they're going to head after we're done talking to you and back to illinois. he has to continue racing around to states that they thought would have been delegate simple draws for them. >> did they ever think they were going to puerto rico? >> yeah, they were hoping for a couple of down days. >> you get a long weekend in puerto rico. there are parts of this job not a lot of fun, at least you get puerto rico for a couple -- >> as long as they get the ncaa tournament on television, i'll be just fine. >> that's what i hear. sorry about those northwestern wildcats, they're still 0 forever. well, romney's twin losses

in alabama and mississippi may leave him ahead in the delegate count, but only increases the pressure to win the next set of contests and that starts this tuesday in illinois. joining me now is new hampshire senator, nice to talk with you. >> great to be with you. >> peter brought this up in his -- in his report just a few minutes ago that i'm sure you heard about how the romney campaign's mantra going into new hampshire was he's got to go earn it. he was very aggressive, town halls, you saw him doing a lot of hand-to-hand campaigning. that went away. do you think he needs to go back to that. go back to what worked in new hampshire? basically open himself up to everybody again? >> well, i think he's really strong when he does that. and he can talk to people one-on-one and also at those large rallies, did very well in new hampshire. and we've seen it elsewhere. so i'm sure they'll be doing some of those events looking at illinois and the other states coming up, and he does incredibly well in those types of venues.

and i saw it in new hampshire firsthand. >> do you think it's important that he stop talking about the math and start acknowledging that, yes, there's a chunk of conservative voters who are not onboard yet? >> actually, chuck, i think the math speaks to it all. he's got the only one in this race who has a campaign prepared to go the distance. just even in terms of organization and obviously the math's on his side too. and we've seen time and time again, he's the most electable candidate. at the end of the day, republicans want to beat barack obama and we're going to rally behind him. >> it's my understanding that you're going to be -- the romney campaign's asked you to travel to ohio on his behalf. >> yes. >> what are you doing out there next week considering there's no ohio primary? >> well, i'm going to be speaking to one of their largest lincoln day dinners and, in fact, speaker boehner will be there. and the campaign's also looking ahead to a key swing state. and that's one of the other things we've seen here. the states that are going to be pretty critical in the general

election he's doing well in. so i think that bodes well. that's why obviously the obama campaign team doesn't want romney to be the nominee. and if you think about the president's economic record, it mean, mitt has the best story to tell and to go against the president on the key issues. >> couple things i want to ask you about in the news is -- one is afghanistan. after this latest incident -- and, you know, you're hearing it from a lot of sides, perhaps the most prominent these days of governor romney supporters is donald trump who put out a youtube screaming essentially to get out of afghanistan as soon as possible. have you rethought your position on afghanistan? >> well, it's not a matter of whether we're going to leave afghanistan. we're going to leave, but it's how we leave. and i have confidence in general allen and our strategy focused on 2014. we cannot afford that country to become a launching pad again for terrorist activity for the taliban and al qaeda. >> right. >> and i think it's incredibly

important that we follow general allen's advice and the strategy we have set forth for 2014. >> i guess my question on afghanistan, though, is the footprint. we have shown that our military is capable of taking care of al qaeda problems essentially more nimbly now. using special forces, sometimes it's whether it's in yemen, pakistan, isn't that the future of this fight? and doesn't that sort of argue against the big footprint in afghanistan? >> chuck, that's the future because we've made such great efforts in afghanistan. so we can't allow afghanistan to go back to where it was because that will undermine what we've done and we've been able to make the great efforts we have because of the efforts we've had in afghanistan. i think people need to focus on that. and let's not forget where 9/11 came from. so it's a matter of how we leave afghanistan and we need to leave it in the proper way. >> and one more issue that sort of popped up unexpectedly yesterday. this "new york times" op-ed from this executive at goldman sachs.

in reading it, senator, and you're somebody that got elec d elected -- you were seen as a tea party favorite. and i'm reading this op-ed and i'm thinking, boy, this is what the tea party folks first got upset with. the idea that the goldman sachs of the world had their access to government, got bailed out. simply because they were trying too hard to make money. and i'm also reading and thinking this is what the occupy movement has been arguing about. that all goldman cares about and the other big banks is making money sometimes at the expense. were you getting angry? >> well, i get angry when i think about bailouts. bailouts not only for the private sector but also obviously for the car companies. i don't think that's the right direction for us. and that highlights it. i think that's what part of the anger was from the tea party movement, but also just anger about what's happening here in washington with the fiscal state of this country. so that's what makes me angry in thinking about we shouldn't be subsidizing industries or bailing out industries. >> when you read -- going back

to the op-ed itself, when you read some of the accusations that this executive was making that goldman was doing, did any of it strike you as sort of -- you're a former state attorney general, you're thinking maybe we ought to investigate something here. maybe we ought to go and get -- whether it's the justice department or states ought to do this. did any of what he wrote in there trigger the prosecutor in you? >> well, i can tell you, obviously, as a prosecutor, you know, no one was stronger in going after wrong doing than me. but one op-ed from an employee doesn't necessarily trigger an investigation. but certainly, we want a fair playing field for everyone and we don't want to be in a position again where taxpayer dollars are used to bailout goldman sachs or anyone else. >> all right, senator from new hampshire, a surrogate for governor mitt romney. thanks for coming on this morning. >> thanks, chuck. well, with women's issues dominating the headlines, 2012 is shaping up to be a record-breaking year for women candidates for the u.s. senate. democrats are hoping women will be the key to keeping control.

they recruited quite a few women candidates this year. of course, later, today is march madness. no, not the republican primary race, it's the first real day of the greatest weekend in sports. the ncaa first and second round tournament play. we'll look at the politics of the president's picks. swing states, with the man who gets the bracket scoop every year. a look ahead at the president's schedule. check this out, he's delivering remarks on energy today, the president. basically simultaneously with when vice president biden is delivering the first non-fundraising related campaign speech. kind of an odd decision. stepping on biden? you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. i'm michael b, president of creative digital imaging of bangor, maine. we have customers all over the united states. we rely on the postal service for everything that we do. the eastern maine processing facility is vital to our operation and our success.

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for two decades since the first big year of the woman ushered in 24 new women in the u.s. house, tripled the number of women that serve in the united states senate. this year, democrats are seizin republicans have brought to the forefront. from birth control to women's preventive health care, and now democratic women are accusing the republicans of a proverbial war on women. check out this new online ad that's making the rounds. >> it's an assault on women's health and freedom. and republican candidates for the u.s. senate all across the country are pushing extreme legislation that threatens health care for women. it's time to end the culture wars and get to work for the middle class. time to elect more women to the u.s. senate. >> former arkansas senator blanche lincoln was first elected to the house in 1992. that year's year of the woman four years later became a u.s. senator. she joins me now. senator lincoln, nice to see

you. >> thanks, chuck. glad to be with yo uh. >> when i look at the -- first, we're going to take this total political map. look at the map here. and when it comes to the road to control for the united states senate for the democrats, if they keep control, it's going to be because they elect more women to the u.s. senate. here are the number of women running for reelection starting with dianne feinstein, debbie stabenow, and look at the women candidates that may end up the democratic nominees in wisconsin. tammy baldwin, shelly berkeley, elizabeth warren in massachusetts. there was some talk of recruiting shelly pingry in maine, that didn't happen. it does seem clear to me that democrats realize this is their road to stay in control. >> well, democrats realize it, but women realize how important it is. and i think with as many polarized candidates and polarized issues in people that are out there in this campaign

season, women tend to buck that trend. they are more fair-minded, they are even tempered and that's what people need to realize in washington that folks are willing to buckle down and get work done. >> as a woman candidate running in the early '90s and, you know, i'd say almost a full generation ago. what were the obstacles in the south that you face that you think women now are not facing. >> well, i think regionally it is different as a woman. but i also think that back when i ran first and started my campaign in 1991, i was a young, single woman. and there were multiple challenges there. not only being a woman, but my age was as much of an issue as my gender. you know, people's curiosity about me. well, you know, here i am at almost 30, why am i not married? why am i not starting a family? what's my interest here? you know, just a real curiosity

about why a young woman would want to run for office and fight hard for the things that she feels like are important to her state and to her congressional district. so there was a lot of curiosity out there back then. >> it's interesting, in '92, one of the linchpins, if you will, that motivated a lot of people to run for the u.s. senate that year in particular, i'm thinking patty murray, barbara boxer, and dianne feinstein that year that california had their senate seats up were the clarence thomas hearings. and there was this polarizing effect. gender -- a major gender gap there where there was a lot of anger among women in the democratic party that democratic men put were the deciding votes to get clarence thomas confirmed. this year, do you see a similar thing in this conversation we're having about birth control as having that kind of motivating factor to get women candidates over the top? >> well, i think that is one of those issues, but i think it's most important. look at education.

look at just the, you know, job creation, the issues that are really critical. i think most women, voters as well as candidates, you know, see the issue of women's health as an issue to deal with. but it's not the only issue. i think that controversy really for them really is who is really debating this issue and where is a woman's perspective? it's not that women know more or that they're smarter, it's just that their perspective is critically needed. and when you've got a panel of five men, you know, in a congressional hearing, that's not getting a woman's perspective. but women's perspective on everything from small businesses and job creation, you know, to education, to energy, and so many other things. women do a lot of the details out there. and i think what they do in their homes and in their jobs really has a lot to offer in moving this country forward. and i think that's what women out there want to hear about. and that's why they're glad to see women candidates. we're also losing some great women senators, kay bailey

hutchinson and olympia snowe. so there's a real need to have that perspective. it's not differebetter, it's di. >> somehow the united states senate is out of whack as far as population is concerned. good to talk to you. thanks very much. >> thanks, chuck. >> market rundown is next, plus, final frenzy. former illinois governor rod blagojevich is on his way to prison this morning and we'll share with you his defiant parting words. but first today's trivia question. barbara mikulski is about to become the longest serving female member in all of congress both house and senate. who currently holds that title? who is she about to surpass? the first correct answer will get a follow thursday. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

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other stories making headlines, u.s. officials say the man who crashed a stolen pickup truck in afghanistan yesterday was trying to kill marines who had gathered to meet defense secretary leon panetta. this comes days after an american staff sergeant allegedly killed 16 afghan civilians. the suspect -- that suspect, by the way, has been moved to a detention center in kuwait angering some members of the afghanistan government. well, look at this. former illinois governor rod blagojevich is on his way to denver to begin his prison sentence. that's a photo of him on the plane this morning. but before he left, he couldn't resist the microphones one last time. actually, one more time. >> i believe i always, always thought about what was right for the people and i am proud as i leave. i am proud as i leave and enter the next part of what is a dark and hard journey that i can take with me the sense of -- the

sense of accomplishment and the real belief that the things that i did as governor and the things i did as congress have helped real ordinary people. >> you've got to understand, blagojevich called the press, promised he'd go at 5:02 eastern right on the mark there central time. so that he could make all of the local news and maybe that they would take him live in chicago. the man is a showman. i bet you he's the easiest prison interview of any man in the media to get once he starts serving. time for the market rundown. cnbc's jackie deangeles is here. are they going to take another hit today? and what about the overall market for me? >> good question, chuck. and good morning to you. a slightly higher opening on wall street. the dow closed up by just 16 points, but still to the highest level since december 31st, 2007. meantime, as you mentioned,

goldman sachs is in damage control mode after that scathing "new york times" op-ed by the departing executive greg smith. he was a former goldman executive director. and he stated that the environment at goldman is as toxic and destructive as he had ever seen it. lloyd blankfein sent out a company-wide memo stating that smith's statements didn't reflect the company's values or culture. and we're watching shares of madison square garden, we saw them fall on news that knicks coach d'antoni resigned. the stock closed down 1.6%. the split was reported to be mutual. mike woodson has been named the interim coach and he led the team to a victory last night. don't take your victory lap just yet. >> as willie geist said, i hope people save their receipts on the jeremy lin jerseys. march madness at the white house. we're back in 30 seconds, politics of the president's picks.

what else did you think i was going to deep dive today? get your brackets out. march madness starts 2 1/2 hours from now. basketball's first fan president obama, of course, is even getting visiting prime minister david cameron into the game. >> was our president helping you follow the game? >> he was giving me some tips, he's going to help me fill out my bracket. >> and he's going to teach me cricket. >> that's the deal. >> i don't understand what's going on. >> yesterday, the president was informed apparently to follow cricket you need five days to

see a whole match. the president may be good for tips, but he's been pretty spotty when it comes to picking the final four. he started strong as a candidate in 2008. got 3 out of 4 right. since then, he's been 0 for 8. coming up empty in his final four. both in 2010 and 2011 i think it's proof he's got his mind on other things. the president unveiled this year's brackets with andy katz hoping for a little redemption this year. >> the last two years you've gone kansas. >> they broke my heart each year. i want to point out that last year i was doing great through the first round and it was all downhill from there. >> well, i sat down with andy right after he talked to the president. and we broke it down. >> this is a tradition like no other. you interview the president every year. >> that's right. >> when he does his bracket. you've cornered the market on this.

all right. first of all, how many champions did he pick? i'm confused here. >> he picked two because i have the original bracket. i have these tucked away -- >> look at this. >> i have not had the other previous three sign. maybe i should. but i've got them tucked away in a drawer at home. he initially went with kentucky, and then we -- about an hour or so before, there was a bit of a switch. a late -- >> because they send you the bracket in advance so you can have a little bit of it ready to go. >> yeah, because we're under a time crunch. obviously the president only has x amount of time to do this. so we have to have the first winners filled out. we usually get this bracket about an hour before he's going to come into the room and then we were told, you know what? he's not decided yet on the title game even though it initially says kentucky, he ended up switching. >> first let's look at his final four, which the final four two are pretty much everybody's final four. north carolina, kentucky, but he went with his two number one seeds missouri out of the west

and ohio state out of the east. if memory serves, he had ohio state in the final four last year, that didn't work out so well. >> he went with missouri over michigan state because he loves guard play. >> is it okay that i'm a hather right now. we're upset about how things have gone. >> he loves tom izzo and draymond green, but went with the guard play of missouri over michigan state. >> the tournament, right? >> and we taped this before the news from syracuse. >> how early did he pick these out? >> in fact, he went multiple times, switched his pick with syracuse and wisconsin. you can see he's crossed off. >> going back and forth. >> so he was ready to actually take them out beforehand and went with ohio state over syracuse. >> you know what's fascinating, you and i got to watch the first game of the year together because so did the president of the united states. pretty much the coolest thing i've done on this beat and maybe one of the coolest things --

watching a basketball game on an aircraft carrier. not just any aircraft carrier, but where we believe bin laden spent his last seconds on this earth. michigan state north carolina, i have to say, i just did the old eye test, you're the professional here. it didn't look close during warm-ups, one looked like an nba team ready to go, one didn't. and, of course, the game itself played out that way. but wow, michigan state, tom izzo, once again they're the fourth number one. >> he does this every year where he'll play the rugged schedule early, north carolina and duke back-to-back, no one does that. but they keep getting better and better and their win over ohio state in the big ten tournament title game sort of push them into the number one seed spot and i think gave everyone around michigan state the optimism they can get to the final four. how about the bookend for the president? he goes to that game on the carl vincent and then he's in dayton with the prime minister. >> unbelievable. i want to -- i want to show you my final four because i don't

think anybody really cares except you. i'm an izzo guy. i love the guy and respect what he does every year. >> you're going against frank? >> i'm going against -- i have missouri, i was so tempted to say they could lose in the first round, but they'll lose in the second round, i think, and vandy, which is -- >> did you see that before? >> i out early because something's wrong with the big east this year. they're not as good as they were last year. >> i would buy that. and i had the same final four and i hedged on vandy. now i think syracuse will lose and not get to the elite eight against either vandy or wisconsin. >> i love to try to pick up sets, it's stupid, that's why i don't win these pools anymore. my highest seed new mexico state, what do you think? >> i like it. maybe a push -- maybe a little bit more may have an affinity -- >> it is. you know why? it's guard play and

three-pointers. you know what they remind me of? south carolina state, all they did was shoot three pointers didn't make a single basket and beat texas, right? >> we like new states coming into the ncaa tournament -- >> what's your final four? quick? >> it's the same as the president. >> of course it is. >> but i went reverse, i have kentucky over north carolina. >> well, there it is. you're not running for reelection. >> no. >> the president clearly needs to carry north carolina. >> but i don't need to carry kentucky. >> right. >> but i guess i will anyway. >> andy katz, forget the masters, it's you doing the brackets with the president. how you have figured this scam out, i don't know, but it's fantastic. good to see you, sir. >> thank you. up next, a special new york edition of our political panel. we're going to talk a little bit more about the goldman op-ed. first the white house soup of the day, no leftovers from the beef wellington, instead it's roasted red pepper and tomato, buffalo wellington. [ male announcer ] the draw of the past is a powerful thing.

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the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love. anger and frustration over wall street and the government bailout of wall street sparked two mini revolutions in the last few years. in this week, more fuel on the fire when departing goldman sachs executive greg smith wrote a "new york times" op-ed saying, "it makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off." reaction to the op-ed continue today landing on the front page of the "new york times." joining me now to discuss the impact if any of this op-ed is anchor of "way too early" and "morning joe" is willie geist. becky quick, i want to start with you. it's nice to have you here. >> great to see you in person. >> when i read that thing, i was like, okay, i know there's an

initial new york reaction, wow, what's going on inside goldman? and i saw it as, boy, this is just confirming everything the public thought about wall street. and why they were so angry and throw in the fact that goldman and the government are so interconnected so it makes the tea party mad. it just to me throws just a lot of fuel on this fire. >> i would agree with you. it throws a lot of fuel on the fire, gives conspiracy theorists something to really kind of go back to once again. but i -- i think it's been overplayed and i think it's unfortunate that this is going to get out there in this way. we can talk with these guys that little bit more about that too. i agree it feeds right into that. >> is there something to this? is goldman -- >> here's my concern about it. it sounds like a disgruntled employee. and i know that's the wall street spin on the whole thing. we had a discussion about it around the table this morning and steve liesman brought up this point. i would feel differently if this was a thing leaked out to a reporter at the time who did a lot of confirming and finding both sides of the story and

reporting it out. i don't know a lot about this gentleman, i don't know what happened there, but taking it just as a letter itself it seems to me like a disgruntled employee. >> almost like a -- how you feel about wall street. a ha or if you're a defender of wall street, disgruntled. >> well, i don't think you'll find many defenders of wall street outside new york city. this is a wall street town. but i think that it does feed into the kind of larger opinion about what's happening on wall street and this kind of grind between main street and wall street and that people want to demonize wall street and they want to be validated in their opinions that they are taking advantage of them. and this kind of feeds into -- it feeds into that kind of rationale. >> if the headline here, though, chuck is wall street is greedy, that's not much of a headline, is it? goldman sachs or any other wall street firm is not running a charity or civic organization.

they're in the business of making money. the details might be unpleasant to a lot of people, but it shouldn't come as news to people that there's greed on wall street. >> greed is growth if everybody is winning, that's one thing, becky. >> sure. >> what this felt like was, you know, all right. let's take this. so you had the fed who kept interest rates artificially low because they didn't want a recession to happen. people borrowed money, there's so much loan out there, and all of a sudden goldman took all this risk and said, hey, let's say money off this. a and all of a sudden it blew up in everybody's face and all the access to goldman has, we can go down the line, it's bipartisan when it comes to goldman's ties. and look what happened. >> you know, you could say that, and i -- to charles' point to about this is how the rest of the country is going to read this. it's probably true and it's probably unfortunate because they're not going to look at the actual details. and why was this a letter to the editor instead of a fully reported piece that gives you

both sides of the story? and i hate to say this is just a disgruntled employee because i wish i could tell you about what was happening inside. >> on the campaign trail yesterday, you know what i found fascinating? both santorum and newt gingrich, not mitt romney -- not barack obama, both santorum and newt gingrich yesterday, charles, attacked mitt romney for raising money on wall street. it was almost like they didn't cite the op-ed, but wall street is a dirty word right now with both bases of the party. >> absolutely. and you can never go wrong by bashing wall street. and you can never go wrong about bashing new york in that sense. everybody comes here to raise money, but wall street, the fact that people are really, really, really rich in this town that can put, you know, make mitt romney seem like a poor person, that is a real thing, and you can always go to that if you need to go to that. >> and it adds to the whole out of touch aspect and it's been a contention of mine that maybe we in the media never did a good

enough job at understanding the great recession because washington and new york didn't get hit as hard. >> and mitt romney's here right now as we speak raising money in new york city. it was interesting to hear him say yesterday an interview with fox news when he was asked about all these perceived gaffes he's made talking about the owners of nascar and the nfl. and he looked at megan kel and said, look, i've made a lot of money in my life, i'm a rich guy, there's nothing i can do about this. >> hang around, i want to talk about romney a little bit more, especially on the health care stuff. after the break, trivia time. we ask senator barbara mikulski is about to become the longest serving female member of all time in the u.s. congress. who has held that title before her? the answer edith norris rogers as a republican from massachusetts, rogers served for 35 years, the longest congressional tenure of any woman to date. mikulski will surpass rogers on saturday with 12,858 days of service. she served, of course, both in the u.s. house and won a senate seat.

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you have been making some gaffes governor. you have been talking about football and knowing nfl owners. nascar, you talk about how you know some racing owners. you talk about ann's two cadillacs and people say he's so rich he can't relate to the rest of us. why do you keep doing that? >> guess what? i have made a lot of money. i've been successful. i'm not going to apologize ffr that. >> it's interesting to me the day after primaries, he's careful. last week you got him. that was one of those talking to donors. the conversation about that post

super tuesday argument. but the issue of -- does ream need to say you're right, i have a problem. >> now he's talking about how rich he is. we have e gone so far down this narrative path that he's an out of touch rich guy that it's impossible for him to come back. we were talking it last week to mike murphy who helped romney run in massachusetts. we said we have made a conscious effort to drop all that stuff. don't put him out in jeans. put him in a suit. you're a person guy. you can fix the problems. don't get cute with the campaign. just be who he is. >> they are so far down this jeans and no tie thing, this is what they do. i have to say every time i see it now, i think of al gore. just like al gore, romney is taking too much advice. >> the problem is not that mitt made money. we don't have a problem with rich people.

we have problem with not being able to relate to people. the fact that mitt has no narrative. he doesn't have the narrative that says i have an experience in my life to make me able to relate to people in all different parts of the income stra strata. that's what a lot of people have had. you take ross perot and a lot of rich people in america. think say, i wasn't always wealt wealthy. i can relate to you being raised poor. i can relate being working class. he has not done the things that a lot of people would see as relatable. >> is he popular with the wall street community or just acceptable? >> we have some big donors on our show come on. we talk about this stuff a lot. they were not early supporters.

they didn't say this is the most electable, but there wasn't this ground swell of support that he was their guy from the beginning. >> this connection issue, i think he has a narrative. i think he's been afraid of some of them. he's been afraid of the governor narrative. and it's always about not making people upset on the right. >> but i have always said you can be wealthy. the kennedys were wealthy. you can relate to people. he's not that guy. >> shameless plugs? >> obama up in the polls. >> 4:40 today. va vanderbilt playing harvard. harvard is not an underdog. the story is not sellable. >> is that cliche? >> we wish we were of the south.

. >> i'm enveehouse of your twitter following that i'm going to plug my twitter. >> it's too long. >> i can't change it. it's too late. >> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." up next, chris jansing. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. mitt romney has spent the last 24 hours here in new york city trying to reassure big donors he can lock this nomination up. but there are questions about whether he can connect with another gaffe about his wealth. >> megan, guess what. i made a lot of money of i have been very successful. i'm not going to apologize for that. i know the dnc tries to push this out. >> analysts a