thank you. >> i also learned vanderbilt commodores beat harvard yesterday. i'm just exhausted. chuck todd starts right now. we'll see you monday. >> mitt romney hits the airwaves. for more interviews designed to seal the deal with the unpersuaded conservatives. off camera the question being raised is, is it a candidate problem or actually a campaign problem? team obama's 17-minute campaign ad docuga flchlt da whatever you want to call it goes live as both the president and vice president hit the trail. should we be reading something more into the fact that they held their speeches at exactly the same time yesterday? and new details emerge about the soldier accused in that horrifying attack on afghan civilians as president karzai says it's time to keep all u.s. troops on base. an odd way to fight a war. friday, march 16, 2012. this is "the daily rundown."

i'm chuck todd. right to my first reads of the morning. the president hits the road today spending his entire day raising money. first in chicago where he'll hold two events before flying to atlanta for three fundraisers that are tailored to the african-american business and entertainment community including at tyler perry studios where cee lo green will perform. the president has been dedicating almost a full day a week recently to fund raising as the campaign kicks into high gear while the president's financial advantage is big, team obama claims they are still trying to recover for lost fund raising time last fall in late summer during july and august during the debt ceiling debate. today by the way the first lady is also on the road raising money. yesterday at exactly the same time that the vice president was firing up crowds in ohio, the president was defending his energy policy in maryland drawing attention away from biden. and leaving the impression that the white house may be less ready to start the campaign at times than maybe the campaign team is. and though the president didn't

single out his critics by name. >> a loft the folks who were, you know, run k for a certain office who shall go unnamed may have been talking down new sources of energy. they must have been founding members of the flat earth society. they would not have believed that the world was round. >> well, in toledo, the vice president named names. >> mitt romney, rick santorum, and newt gingrich, these guys have a fundamentally different economic philosophy than we do. we're about promoting the private sector. they're about protecting the privileged sector. we are for fair shot and a fair shake. they're about no rules, no risks, and no accountability. >> in fairness this is a

standard role for vice presidents where they start becoming more of the attack dog while the president tries to stay a little more above the fray. but it was fascinating to watch the odd timing that biden's speech had been scheduled for weeks and all of a sudden the white house this week decided to have their energy speech at the same time maybe making sure that cablers had a choice of which speech they wanted to cover. last night the campaign premiered its white house biopick if you want to call it that. most notable in the film is the defense of the health care bill and it's led by former president bill clinton. >> it had been an issue that both parties had struggled with for more than three generations. this is a huge economic issue because we spent 17.5% of our income on health care. no other big, wealthy country spends more than 11.8% and almost all of them have better results than we did. >> the film focuses on the

president's republican critics and the tea party becomes somewhat of a scapegoat with this very raw portrayal. >> he knew he couldn't fix the economy if he didn't fix health care. and he wanted to bring washington together to share the tough decisions. >> kill the bill! >> but he faced a fierce opposition -- hostile to compromise. >> and the defense of the bill is made personal. >> i regularly told him, look. you don't have to spell this much political blood. >> but he knew from experience the cost of waiting. >> when my mom got cancer she wasn't a wealthy woman and it pretty much drained all her resources. >> look, figuring out how to message on health care is something that campaign in the white house had been struggling with ever since they got into this political jam when trying to get health care passed and it is the one thing, the stimulus,

the auto bailout, they're slowly recovering with the public. health care is the one item that is not. all right. romney starts his day with a campaign stop in the suburbs of chicago this morning and then he of course jets to puerto rico to attend a rally in san juan. illinois holds its primary tuesday and though romney is out fencing santorum in the state by a 5-1 margin this morning santorum's super pac is up with a new tv ad in illinois blasting romney. >> meet the real mitt romney. supported the wall street bailout putting america trillions in debt, raised job killing taxes and fees by $700 million, leaving massachusetts over a billion in debt. his health care takeover? the blueprint for obama care. >> romney continues to try to take his cause to primary voters yesterday by way of two interviews on fox news where he tried to take back actually that comment from his campaign that it would take an act of god for santorum to win. >> an aide said this week it will take an act of god for rick

santorum to get the nomination. do you stand by that aide and what he said? >> no, no. >> of all people, it was rick santorum. >> no, i'd say, look. anybody has shot at becoming the nominee. >> and romney also admitted the drawn out primary fight, though, could hurt. >> the fight has been, some would argue, injurious to the party and perhaps even to the candidates. what is your view? is it helping you or hurting you? >> well, probably a bit of both but frankly a good spirited contest prepares us for what's going to happen with president obama. it's good to get your skin toughened up a bit. >> here is an interesting comment. romney made this statement about the improving economy for the first time. >> this recovery and i believe we're in a recovery mode finally -- >> you really think so? >> well, it's hard to know. no one can predict precisely what is going to happen in the economy but i think it is likely things will get better. look, no recession has gone on

forever. they get better. this has just taken much longer to recover from in part because of the policies of this president. >> romney makes another pitch to primary voters on sunday. he is scheduled to appear on both fox news and on "60 minutes." finally, rick santorum went to puerto rico to try to prevent romney from getting a landslide in picking up all those 20 delegates at stake in the territory's primary that takes place this weekend. >> how many delegates you going to take out of puerto rico, senator? >> as many as we can get. >> instead, all he has done is create more problems for himself though. he is scrambling to contain damage from an interview with a spanish language newspaper where he appeared to make adopting english a condition for statehood saying quote as in any other state you have to comply with this and any federal law and that is that english has to be td main language. obviously the u.s. has no such law. santorum is saying his comments were misunderstood. >> what i said is english has to be learned as a language and it

has to be -- this is a country where english is widely spoken and used. this is a bi-lingual country not just spanish speaking and right now it is just spanish speaking. >> also not a country. in a statement santorum tried to soften the statement with a mention of his immigrant roots saying, quote, as the son of an italian immigrant myself i continue to believe that english is the language of opportunity in america under statehood or the current status. by the way, in a new poll, 20% of romney voters say if santorum was the nominee they would vote for president obama. well, america's exit strategy out of its longest running war is far more complicated today just days after an american soldier allegedly massacred 16 civilians, afghanistan's president called for all foreign troops to leave rural villages directly influencing the federal security situation on the ground. before he left kabul thursday defense secretary leon panetta tried to reassure afghans and

americans to stay the course. >> we're on the right path. i'm absolutely convinced of that. the key right now is to stick to that path. and if we do anything precipitous, to back away from that, i think that in my mind would very well jeopardize our mission. david gregory joins me now. as much as the press is dominating our time and our lives it seems in our job the biggest news of the week is this. almost i think panic among supporters of the war in afghanistan here in washington and a realization that something is going to change. >> well, also, this is, i mean, beyond the game of politics we cover day in and day out this war is exacting a huge toll on the country, on our troops, on their families, on the psyche of the nation, on this question of what is america's influence abroad. it's a big deal. that's why i want to spend a lot

of time talking about it on sunday. and i think now you have the split about how soon we get troops out and it just goes to say we still have the same problems. >> think about that, what you just said. the split on how we get the troops out. there is no longer a split about this idea that we've got to have a presence there. everybody seems to be conceding it's time to go. >> you still have the debate. mccain and graham and others who say you have to make sure the hand of our commander on the ground is strengthened. but, you to what end? we're talking about ten plus years and the fundamental problems of a central government that is corrupt and at odds with the united states, a security proposition there that is not at all fluid and the taliban which is going to rule the country in some fashion is still not coming to pass and we're ten years plus into this. it is very difficult. >> it seems the critique of the president is that he does a poor job of selling it. >> to be fair to them, yes, we're in this ten plus years

they would say but you have to tie some of these things off as well as you can, give it all the investment we've made, or else the risk of further implosion is too great. and we have some responsibility and ownership going forward. what it looks like we haven't figured out but we have some responsibility. >> i want to shift back to the campaign because it is sort of striking. it seems as if the romney campaign has decided they do need to get the candidate out there a little bit more so they are doing the conservative audiences and then a "60 minutes" sitdown which obviously they know they had, this is one way of fixing quote a candidate problem. great piece in the atlantic that goes through maybe it's a campaign problem, too, that they don't, they're too tactical. they have missed essentially, they don't see the forest. >> i don't know what they're doing. he is becoming a fox news contributor in terms of interviews over there trying to reach a conservative audience and yet what he is selling is severe conservativism. it doesn't seem to be working with the base of the party. what he really wants to do it

seems is be a more formidible candidate as a fiscal conservative and somebody who is a little more moderate to try to shore up the erosion support among independents. he's got two big problems. one he can't quite figure out how to pacify conservatives enough to get them to coalesce around him and i don't see any strategy to do the big things in the general election which is to get an economic message at a time when people are more optimistic about the economy, to deal with the fact that latinos are fleeing the republican party and that independents are souring because of how negative the race has become. he has two distinct but very big problems. >> it doesn't seem like he doesn't know how to land the plane and what is he selling? >> i don't know what he is selling. he's saying the economy is getting better but should have gotten better faster. if boston really wants to have the debate about how much more quickly the economy should have recovered, it is a very weird looking kind of message. >> and then you have a problem with the republican party itself because if then the economy is less on the table, then that takes away the whole point of

why romney fgs the guy and instead you have a party that says no, no. we need an ideological -- he is not a charismatic candidate. he isn't setting people's hearts on fire. we know that. and the republican party and more generally. he is by biography a turn-around honest with a lot of business acumen. the recovery feels less exigent, less dire and more long-term fundamental then it is a real debate about the future -- >> what is coming sunday? >> a lot of afghanistan, and we'll talk campaign, romney supporter john mccain is on. special round table as well. >> and george clooney. >> george clooney. how did i not mention that? he talks politics a little bit. >> he's been pretty serious this week. >> all right. david gregory. thanks. presidential re-election campaign began in ernest this week and today i is back on the road. kristen welker is in atlanta with that. and this week's highlights. ms. welker, what you got?

>> good morning, chuck. it is a day of fund raising for president obama. he starts off his day in chicago for one campaign event then he comes here to atlanta for three more. the big one as you mentioned a star studded event hosted by tyler perry tickets going for $35,800. but there was also a lot going on this week in washington and here's a look. in washington bipartisanship is often a hypothetical but not this week at least for a few minutes while the house was out of session and the senate passed a popular transportation bill and resolved to take up a house backed small business bill. hope you didn't blink though. the partisan fireworks started right back up again with top senate republican mitch mcconnell claiming democratic senator chuck schumer plans to highlight wedge topics like immigration and women's issues. >> the democrat in charge of strategy over there is sitting up at night trying to figure out a way to create an issue where there isn't one.

not to solve our nation's problems but to help democrats get re-elected. >> there was a little back and forth between white house strategists past and present. karl rove of the george w. bush white house took a shot at the obama campaign for burning through its cash at a higher rate than bush 2004 did but the obama team pushed back saying they are building a larger grass roots effort than bush did. while the re-election campaign takes care of the grass roots president obama has been reaching out to his fellow world leaders calling the south korean president lee myung-bak on wednesday to kick off the free trade agreement between the two countries ahead of his trip there next week. if this week's visit with british prime minister david cameron is any indication, we might expect a few attempts at diplo humor. >> it has now been 200 years since the british came here to the white house under different

circumstances. they really lit up the place. >> i am a little embarrassed as i stand here to think that 200 years ago my ancestors tried to burn this place down. looking around me i can see you have the place a little better defended today. >> and, chuck, a little later on this afternoon i'll interview cee lo green who is going to perform tonight at the big fundraiser about his efforts to help the obama campaign rally african-american voters. >> well, i just ask if he is more atarry ai and if i am more box. thanks very much. the deadly crackdown on protesters in syria is in the second year. how is arab spring going there? how the federal reserve became a political pin yachta from the left and the right. i know it's the federal reserve but trust me. it is worth our deep look. the president's schedule, a funneled raising day. you're watching the daily rundown on msnbc. i'm walt gale,

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the u.n. special envoy to syria kofi annan now estimates more than 8,000 people have died since the popular uprising in syria began last year. despite repeated calls for a cease-fire from the international community including the arab league the onslaught against civilians continues today. we have the deputy international editor with "time" magazine and in the upcoming edition "time" takes an exclusive look at one man's journey out of syria. bobby, always good to talk to you. i know you're working on a bigger piece sort of the arab

spring, a year later, where are we? let's dive into syria. where are we in syria? it seems there is an uprising but it's leaderless. >> it is that. and it is quite some distance from the arab spring now. i think we need to start looking at syria as a separate story. the uprising began as an offshoot off that arab spring last year but now it's turned quite bloody and looks much more like a civil war between the forces against the government who are hopelessly out manned and out gunned by a very brutal regime that has no problem killing hundreds and thousands of its own people. >> it's interesting what you just used the phrase civil war. do you believe it's a civil war now? if a reporter walks in there, when reporters somehow sneak into syria, is that what they're witnessing, a civil war?

>> i think so. i think you're seeing a -- it's a war, no question. both sides are armed. one side has an overwhelming force and the other side has relatively little but it is a war and it is kinetic. the rebels are getting some help and support from outside sources from turkey, from qatar, from other arab countries. and civilians, innocent civilians are being caught up in the cross fire. it smells like a war. it looks like a war. it is a war. >> you know, i was struck this week. the reason i asked that way, i was struck this week by comments that david cameron made in the joint press conference with president obama. he was the hawk it sounded like on syria. president obama was very cautious in the words but david cameron seemed to draw some lines and said we're going back to the united nations and we can get the russians and chinese onboard we can move ahead but if we don't and it deteriorates into a civil war, that is the consequence of inaction by the

u.n. he doesn't want to call it that yet but it sounds like the minute he does then maybe does that mean okay. the western world has to help? >> well, the western world -- he is trying to get to a place that worked in libya. he is trying to get the same kind of international consensus in the united nations and outside that allowed the british and the french and the americans to essentially participate in the civil war. it was a civil war in libya. in syria that's much more complicated. the russians and chinese don't want to get involved and don't want anybody else to go in. there are other elements. this is a case where we'll see countries in the neighborhood play a much bigger role. turkey is playing an extremely large role and i suspect it will get bigger and bigger. the gulf arab countries want to get involved and in some ways already have. this might be one where the western world has to provide some kind of support services but essentially take a ringside seat. this is something that might be best solved locally.

>> and when you're looking, let's go up to 30,000 feet and we don't have a lot of time, the arab spring one year later, where are we? >> i think we -- the big winners in the arab spring have been islamist parties across the region across north africa and the arab world you see islamist parties rising to power wherever free elections have been held. but that's not something to be alarmed about because these parties have had to change the way they think and behave and look at the world. they are conservative and will always be but they are much less radical than they used to be. they have evolved with the times and now face the responsibilities. they are no longer in the streets shouting for the fall of the regime. they are the regime. >> bobby, always appreciate you coming on. thank you, sir. >> any time. well, it's nothing else to describe it. it actually is a quadruple witching friday on wall street. doesn't get any better than that, right?

our rundown on the market is next. plus not so sweet home. while indiana senator's political headache on residency just became a full blown migraine. first today's trivia question. which 19th century president banned wine and liquor from the white house? tweet me the answer at chuck todd and at daily rundown. first correct answer will get a follow up friday from us. the answer coming up. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. to the perfect swisssh. it's about zero weight, 100% more nourishment, which means hair that's not weighed down.

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other headlines a bill moving through the arizona state house would require women trying to get reimbursed for birth control drugs to prove that they're taking them for a medical reason. the bill is nearing passage in the republican-led legislature. the debate over women's health is also heating up in

pennsylvania. governor tom corbett defended the mandatory ultra sound bill moving through his state house this week. >> wouldn't change it. as long as it's not obtrusive. i don't want to make anybody watch. okay? because you just have to close your eyes. but as long as it's on an exterior, not interior? >> talking about the mandatory ultra sounds. we'll talk about that more later in the show. new york congressman gary ackerman is retiring after three decades on capitol hill saying redistricting did not play a role in his decision. house minority leader nancy pelosi said ackerman will leave a legacy of leadership and commitment. and indiana senior senator dick lugar has hit a big bump on the road to a seventh term. the county election board ruled that lugar and his wife who maintained a residence here in washington for over three decades are ineligible to vote in their home state. the 2-1 decision significant blow. less than two months away from a tough primary challenge lugar is appealing the ruling. by the way, it is not

unconstitutional to live outside a state and serve that state as a u.s. senator. apple's ipod 3 hit stores today and analysts predict they'll sell more than a million in the first day. cnbc's becky quick is here. she does not yet have her ipad 3. don't call it ipad 3. >> just ipad. >> 2 1/2 kind of like the naked gun 3 or something? >> whatever we want to call this thing i don't have one. >> more importantly it's quadruple witching friday. whatever that means. >> this is your favorite. you've been waiting for this. quadruple witching is the day when the contracts and the options expire on both stocks and indexes. today is that day. usually it adds to a little volatility both today and yesterday. right now we'll see what happens. looks like we'll only open up by about 25 points or so. but, chuck, probably one of the key issues we're following at this point is what happened with consumer prices for the month of february because we did see a bigger than expected spike. it was an increase of 0.4%.

that tells us that inflation, the prices that consumers are paying, you and i are paying when we go to the grois store and other places that they went up. the biggest reason was the spike in gasoline prices we've seen. and so that has a lot of people pretty concerned at this point. 0.4% comes after a gain of just 0.2% for the month before. gas prices are going to be the key. chuck, you saw what happened yesterday. there was this reuters story out saying that the spr was going to be opened, that the united states and britain had agreed on something. the white house came out and knocked that down but we saw a whole lot of volatility with oil prices as a result. right now it looks like they're trading at $105. >> i had april 1 in the spr poll. thanks very much. why ben bernanke became the guy everyone loves to hate. that's next in 30 seconds.

today's deep dive takes a closer look at the federal reserve chairman ben bernanke the man at the center of the debate over how to generate economic growth and political punching bag for candidates on the campaign trail. >> if this guy prints more money i don't know what you all would do to him in iowa but we'd treat him pretty ugly down in texas. >> the gentleman with the federal reserve ben bernanke -- >> would you re-appoint ben bernanke? >> i would fire him tomorrow. >> bernanke a republican first appointed by a republican president in 2006 nominated for a second term by the current president a democrat has been at the helm during some of the most

tumultuous financial times in the 99-year history of the fed from bank bailouts to quantitative easing bernanke's actions have been seen as overstepping by conservatives and falling short by liberal economists like paul krugman. the opinions from both sides of the aisle have made bernanke a polarizing and because of his position an unpopular figure. look no further than mitt romney telling cnn in 2009 that bernanke was doing a, quote, good job but singing a different tune during the 2012 debates. >> would ben bernanke have a job in your administration? >> no, i'd be looking for somebody new. i'm -- i think ben bernanke has over inflated the amount of currency that he's created. >> bernanke takes most of his public heat on capitol hill. one of the most memorable moments happened just over a month ago with the familiar face. >> mr. bernanke, if you don't mind, would you tell me whether you do your own shopping at the grocery store? this argument that the prices are going up about 2%, nobody believes it. the fed is going to

self-destruct eventually anyway when the money is gone. why can't people save, put this in a mattress? good to see you again. >> the full breakdown of who bernanke is and how his policy detailed in the latest issue of the atlantic a comprehensive cover story peeling back layers of economic thinking and policy making by a man who has already been "time" magazine's person of the year. the author of the piece has reported on finance and the fed for over a decade and joins us from princeton where the fed chairman was once chair of the university's economics department. thanks for coming on. >> good morning, chuck. >> it was largely your piece felt like a very sympathetic piece. here is a man who never thought he was entering the world of politics when he was getting involved with the fed and doing what he was doing, his life's work and studying the economy and you paint him as a person that was best prepared to handle

this financial crisis. explain that. maybe it's the contrarian. here is a guy who came in at the peak of the bubble. he didn't see the crisis coming and that was, you know, a mistake on his part but once it came he's brought us back from 10 1/2% unemployment to 8.3. the economy is growing again. there is very little inflation. we're doing okay and, you know, i'm so astonished. rick perry calls him a trader. newt gingrich says he is the most inflationary fed chairman in history. he has one of the lowest inflation marks ever. he's got a lower public opinion rating than members of congress. i can't believe that. i didn't think anybody had a lower public opinion rating than members of congress. the guy is basically doing a great job and he hasn't taken a day off in six years so that, you know, the feeling that animated the piece was what are

people looking at here? >> you know, if reading the piece, in reading the piece the other conclusion i felt like you were trying to get to but it wasn't what you were writing about, you were writing about him, was that he was put in a position because congress was so polarized. and so he did things maybe that the federal government should have done but couldn't. is that fair? >> you know, because so many other parts of the government have become dysfunctional, he's really been a lone ranger. for instance, because the congress has been unable to form a long-term plan to get the deficit under control, because they've been unable to get housing going again and the foreclosures worked out and figure out what to do with fannie and freddie. it's been up to ben bernanke to try to get the housing market going again. you know, something not in the story but kind of cute, i talked to warren buffet and he said are you kidding? if it wasn't for this guy maybe

two or three others would be selling apples on the street. and, you know, yeah it's, you know, he's been the one guy down there who's going to work every day and got something done. >> the one part though that seemed left unanswered and he didn't seem to have a good answer for you on was whether what they're doing with the housing market is the right call. >> well, you know, i had skepticism about that too and there's two ways to look at it. one way is we're not going to recover until housing recovers. housing is still weak. there are so many people under water that story we've been reading about and so on so give them a push. and the other way to look at it is we don't want the government tilting the scales too much. if you help housing you're in effect hurting everything that's not housing. and you're pushing more dollars into housing and isn't that how we got into trouble? partly that is. at a certain point you have to

say the economy is on its knees or legs again and let it walk. the fed recently said they'll be full speed ahead through the end of 2014 they think. >> right. >> my suspicion is they're going to start putting the brakes on sooner and that would be a good thing because, look. thankfully the economy is beginning to walk. >> did you get a sense just what he's become politically, you know, i mean, appointed a republican -- pretty good -- i'm not quite sure what he is. >> i think he has become the fafs the bailouts, you know, look at t.a.r.p. the republicans were the ones who voted that down and that was proposed by a courageous republican secretary of the treasury hank paulson. and, you know, look how popular that was. and even after it was passed and that was a very successful piece of legislation in my mind. but i think bernanke has become the face of the bailouts along with geithner. he's been the one guy whose

handly has been at the tiller throughout this period and you say bailouts. nobody has a good feeling for bailouts. you know, so he's the guy with the bulls eye on him. >> do you think he wants a third term? >> i think he so much wants to come right back here to princeton and, you know, put on a tweed sport coat and go back to the classroom and that's my guess is that's what he'll do. his term expires in 2014. >> you don't think he -- you think if obviously he is not going to get reappointed if romney is president. >> no. >> you don't think he'll -- we know that. you don't think if president obama wins a second term he asks for a third term or vice versa? >> you know, if we're in a renewed crisis, something really bad, and obama really feels like he needs him and it seems bernanke, to bernanke as though his work is not done but if it is sort of a continuation of the present where the economy is continuing to improve and the real crisis stuff is over, you know, at that point, i think

obama is probably going to want someone new or be satisfied with someone new and bernanke by then will have gone through just incredibly tumultuous, pressure packed years. in that which is the likeliest scenario he'll retire. >> give the man his thanksgiving back. the cover story in "the atlantic" a great read. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. our friday political panel is here next. we've already got them seated. plus i'm sharing my weekender wisdom or who knows what you want to call it. a few big things i didn't know when the week began. first the white house soup of the day. we think they're rolling out something special for st. paddy's day, cheddar beer soup. [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient

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i run because i am convinced this country is on a perilous course and because i have such strong feelings about what must be done and i feel i am obliged to do all i can. >> this day in 1968 senator robert f. kennedy announced he was running for the democratic nomination for president. he announced from the senate caucus room the same place his brother john announced years earlier and he was assassinated less than three months later after winning the california primary. think about this. march 16th of the actual presidential year when you announce your candidacy. oh, how times have changed on that front. mitt romney is fighting to win their hearts. each primary race exposes romney's campaign weaknesses. here he is moments ago on the president's just released campaign docuganda. >> so-called documentary about

president obama is now on the internet. you can take a look at it. it is about 17 or 18 minutes. mr. guggenheim said that he could find nothing wrong with the president, nothing negative to say in this documentary. it is obviously an informercial. i'll give you some help. you can give a call to some of the moms having a hard time paying for gas. >> joining me now is democratic strategist tracy supple and the rest of my panel. welcome all. how are you? can you imagine if a presidential campaign had started now? that would be no fun. what would you be doing? it was interesting to hear mitt romney just now because we were all just bringing up this other quote he said yesterday on fox about the recovery. take a listen. >> this recovery and i believe we are in a recovery mode finally. it's hard to know. no one can predict precisely

what is going to happen in the economy but i think it is likely things will get better. no recession has gone on forever. they get better. this has taken much longer to recover from in part because of the policies of this president. >> the first part of that, if you were the obama team it sounded like you said you wanted to put it in the trailer to the informercial documentary campaign whatever you want to call this. absolutely. >> you were very pleased to hear that. >> sure. he's commending the efforts of the president. he's commenting on the likelihood and the hope of an economic recovery. >> i don't think he was commending the president's efforts but talking about a recovery. >> in romney speak he was going pretty far. >> when you hear that, that's mitt romney basically looking at, hey, you know, i look at facts and the facts are we are in recovery. that's the mitt romney -- love him or hate him. >> the politics have changed. it used to be the obama team was trying to tell people things could be a lot worse and now it's the romney team saying, well you know things could be

better. >> how do you do that? >> you can't really make that kind of argument and be persuasive on the campaign trail because it's too nuanced. if you look at all the polls that came out this week, the strength of romney's candidacy is the belief by voters that he's best prepared to help the economy improve. he can't cede that point even by a scintilla to obama that obama has the economy improving. it sounded as though he was trying to walk away from what he had just said when he was saying well of course there is always going to be a recovery but his message was off and if he doesn't, he can't cede that ground or he'll lose the foundation for his campaign. >> it strikes me, i was just hearing and was always thinking imagine the financial crisis moment, lehman collapses and mitt romney is the republican nominee in 2008. that would have been a different, you know, suddenly the turn-around artist, a fix it guy, that would have been a good

asset to have for the republicans at that time. fair? >> that is always his strongest part in theory. that is his main credibility. that's his, you know, key thing to ride into the election on. so had that been the case, perhaps it would have been different. but the problem we all know and have seen, you know, molly's great piece for example, romney can't capitalize on this. >> it's funny you bring this up. i want to talk about this atlantic piece. it was interesting. i was trying to get this issue. is it the candidate which quietly romney folks say, hey, there's not much we can do about the candidate? or is there some blame here for the campaign? where do you go on this? >> like every candidate romney has some strengths and weaknesses and he's got more weaknesses than a lot of previous republican front-runners but not as many as his opponents in the republican primaries. but it is also true the campaign has made some serious mistakes. and i think they have mismanaged expectations at every turn of this primary cycle.

a few days before every primary he loses. his campaign lets it basically be known. we have a real shot at winning this thing. >> that's the thing. if they can win they do want to shut this down. i mean, do you blame them for trying to figure out a way to shut it down? >> well, they've got to deliver though. we have been writing for a long time about romney's money and his machine. and what we have learned is that the machine is really paper mache and that is where the flaw is. they need to-ds -- the turnout 51% evangelical christian right now. either he has to win more of those people over or he has to change the mix of the turnout by having a good outreach voter to voters program. >> illinois should help him a little bit. wisconsin is going to be an interesting test. all right. before we go to break trivia time. we ask which 19th century president banned wine and liquor from the white house. you guys got this one pretty fast. he is a pretty unpopular guy for some people. the answer rutherford b. hayes

between 1887 and 1891 president hayes and his wife lucy did not serve their guests alcohol. the president and mrs. hayes didn't know how to alcohol. the president and mrs. hayes did no how to have a good time. thanks to bobby for that question. you can send in question ideas. i'll take them. ahh, one.

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it's friday. three new people have information i picked up this week. a little sarcastic this week. let's bring back our panel now. tracy, i'm going to start with you. i really thought the republican party had gotten the message about contraception, and i think the republicans in d.c. have, but stop having this conversation. let's talk about energy. apparently the arizona republicans and pennsylvania

republicans didn't get this message. >> it's disturbing. the ultimate question is what is this going to do to their turnout? are you going to see women, even within the republican party, saying hands off, women's reproductive systems, we're doing okay with that. it's the idea that have so far lacked coherent messages or focused on other things like moon colonies are suddenly about women's health. >> i really thought this would be the week to get them to follow the leaders. >> it's interesting that the party establishment is not rallying behind the establishment candidate. a lot of people looking ahead to the battles of 2016 thinking even if romney wins the

nomination in the end, they're not going to lose by having hung bac back. >> and apparently i picked the underdogs. they both went down. you, however, gene cummings picked correctly. >> virginia. >> they moved on. chaka smart. he knows how to win the games. he had a lot of players from last year stay. he had a unit to work with. >> shameless plugs. you first, tracy. >> hero of the week, greg smith. some people offering him a job. >> interesting. >> i've got an article explaining why chuck and tracy are dead wrong about this contraception issue and how it's going to play into i this. >> by the way, there's a reason there's no gender gap for rick santorum. because his pro life women are

more behind him than mitt romney. >> my shameless plug is the ploom be bloomberg news. we have an interesting point about how santorum with no organization is winning. he's getting the indiana abortion groups. he's getting the churches working for him. >> that's it for this edition of the "rundown. coming up next, chris jansing and co

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good friday morning. i'm chris jansing. the obama team is ramping up to full campaign mode today. exhibit one. the president is attending five fund-raisers in two states today. and finally after a bit of hype and some video teases, the full 17-minute docu-ad by the obama campaign was screened at 300