polls close in illinois at 8:00 p.m. eastern. we'll cover it all night. "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" starts right now. mitt romney may be on his way to a win in illinois tomorrow. but he is still not on his way to winning enough delegates to get the republican nomination for president. and that is very good news for the obama reelection campaign. >> for the men of 2012, things are getting wild on the campaign trail. >> mitt romney and rick santorum battling head to head for illinois. >> can rick santorum really win this thing? >> romney is ahead in the polls in illinois. >> likely republican voters in illinois favor romney 45% to rick santorum's 30%. >> rick santorum is nothing if not a fighter. >> governor romney's on the same page as president obama fon all of these issues.

unfortunately, mitt romney and barack obama are on the same pace. >> there are plenty of delegates out there for us. >> he is looking toward a brokered convention and planning on that. >> i don't think it's going to happen. it's never happened. >> it's just going to be a big, nasty mess. >> they have ann romney going after that female vote. >> republicans are getting killed with women. >> republican opposition to contraception is turning into dollars for democrats. >> it translates to activism. >> we need to get off that issue. >> welcome back, john. >> mitt romney's treatment of his family dog, it's so easy and delicious to talk about every time to just sort of remind you of something quirky in mitt romney's past. >> the story that has grown legs and just won't go away. >> the idea of putting that precious creature on the top of your car is inhumane. >> if you can't be nice to your dog, who are you going to be nice to?

>> you can't drive a car with a windmill on it. >> that's right. you can't drive a car with a windmill on it. because if you do, where does the dog go? mitt romney has a big lead in delegates but he may never win enough in the primaries to lock up the republican nomination before the convention begins august 27th in tampa, florida. and that is rick santorum's big hope. >> well, what i've said is that i think it's going to be very difficult as this goes on for anybody to get to that magic number. and what i'm going to do is continue to work hard to make sure that there is a conservative who's the nominee of this party. we cannot win this election. we've proven in the past when we nominate moderates or a twiddle dumb versus a twiddle dee, we

don't stand a chance. >> any chance the republican party will give the nomination to rick santorum when he keeps saying things like this. >> i don't care what the unemployment rate is. my campaign doesn't hinge on that. >> mitt romney saw his opening and he went for it. >> one of the people who's running also for the republican nomination today said that he doesn't care about the unemployment rate, that doesn't bother him. i do care about the unemployment rate. it does bother me. i want to get people back to work. >> joining me now are chuck todd, nbc news political director and post of "the daily rundown" and ryan lizza, named alec baldwin's favorite journalist in the print world. >> i didn't know we were going to discuss that. >> it means you're not steven baldwin, that we know.

>> alec did not choose his favorite tv -- >> political director. that's okay. >> but you're mine, so -- >> i want to go to this thing that santorum just said about -- you know if we don't nominate the conservative, we lose. we always lose if we don't go with the hard-core conservative. how accurate is he on that one? >> well, it depends on what you define as -- bush versus mccain? yes, they chose the conservative in that case -- >> the more conservative. >> the more conservative guy. but dole, they chose -- if you look at knit terms of when the final two were there and the party went with the more conservative versus the more moderate, there's a case to be made that at the time, whoever the more moderate one was, would go on to lose. dole, mccain, to some extent george h.w. bush in '92. certainly ford/reagan. i see where he's going with this to a point. it's not as bright lines as he

would like to make it because reagan as the example truly worked. >> is there a way to go into a republican convention without a nominee? >> yeah, sure. >> and then come out with one who can win? >> well, here's the thing about this. this all ends in utah on june 26th. the convention isn't until late august, right? something's going to happen in that period of time. if mitt romney doesn't actually get to 1,144, they're not going to sit around and wait for the convention to decide all this. everyone actually had to get together and be in the same place to decide the nominee. i imagine they're not going to let that happen. there will be e-mails and phone calls and there will be some level of figuring this out, sorting it out before late august, if we get our dream scenario. not to kill the dream here. >> what could they do, chuck, before the convention that we could in any sense take seriously as a declaration of who the nominee is?

>> one of the things -- the rnc just came up with this. it says in their rules that any candidate to be considered for the nomination has to win at least five states, in some form or another, a plurality of five states. right now, ron paul and newt gingrich have delegates but are unlikely to get to the five states. what happens to the delegates? they're going to get back to us on that. but my point is, when i say that there is still a lot of parts to this process that we don't understand the rules -- you have what i would call a fragile, unstable nominating process -- rule process. i think if you're reince priebus, you're hoping beyond hope that somehow romney gets to 1,144. we've done the math, it is very hard -- if we go on to this demographic back and forth and santorum wins wisconsin, albeit

narrowly, and we have this back and forth like this, he's not going to get to 1,144. or if he gets there, he only gets there because unpledged, unbound delegates from iowa and minnesota somehow verbally agree that they will vote for him on first ballot, stand with him, all of those things. but he does -- santorum has no chance of getting 1,144. for romney, i hate to say, it's sort of a little better than 50/50. but that's it. >> what's the last state? >> utah. imagine if he goes into utah this close to sealing -- >> well, utah, we know he's going to get it all. the question are these state conventions. that's where this stuff -- this is the other media -- >> explain the state conventions rule. people think, you count the votes primary night and it's over. >> let's do iowa. a lot of media outlets have allocated delegates for iowa. no delegates have been awarded in iowa. that's why the "associated press" delegate count, frankly, is wrong. >> we do a different count from them.

>> we do a small conservative count because of these rules. you go there and it could be the paul people do better than they did on their vote, overperform. santorum's folks think they're going to do better at these state conventions. colorado is going to do this, minnesota, iowa, go down the list. and even in illinois, we're going to only have some of the delegates awarded, not all of them. >> on "the daily rundown" this morning, you made the case that a fractious, bitter primary battle like this is not very helpful to the republican party, using the 1964 example. i don't want anyone to get worried we're going into ancient history here. this lyndon johnson ad was able to do against barry goldwater after all the republicans had beaten up their nominee. let's watch this. >> governor rockefeller, before the convention, he said barry goldwater's positions can, and i quote, spell disaster for the

party and for the country. or this man, governor romney, in june he said goldwater's nomination would lead to the, quote, suicidal destruction of the republican party. so even if you're a republican with serious doubts about barry goldwater, you're in good company. >> you can write that one right now. >> first of all, people had long attention spans back then. i tend to think that quotes from your opponents in the primaries, they don't have that much impact in the general election because you have the video of hillary clinton attacking barack obama. sure, you can use that. but then you have hillary clinton standing right next to barack obama. you have the opponents endorsing them and going out there and saying new, positive things. usually overwhelms all the mean things they said about each other during the primaries. >> thank you both very much for joining me tonight. coming up, if your teen a snack, you probably have nothing to worry about -- unless you are

black in america. a former federal prosecutor will join me to explain exactly what the justice department can do in the case of trayvon martin. also here to comment on the case, the congresswoman who represents the district where the killing took place. congresswoman kor rin brown. we'll here from jonathan capehart on sirius xm radio. and mitt romney tries and fails to rewrite his mandates on health insurance. just might rewrite the entire health reform law. and later, how his opponents hope to make mitt romney seem very strange. it's an old story of a man and a dog. [ 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. ♪

florida law that you could not believe was actually enacted in the 21st century has been protecting the man who shot and

killed trayvon martin. coming up, we'll have a federal prosecutor here who will review that florida law and show us exactly what federal law can be used to override it. if you think that there's nothing that can be done in this case, you are wrong. stay with us. you're going to hear from a federal prosecutor about exactly what the federal government can and should use here to follow up on this case. [ leanne ] appliance park has been here since the early 50s.

my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i came to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over. [ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪ in florida and more than a dozen other states, you have the right to stand your ground. in 2005, florida was the first

state to enact a law pushed by the national rifle association using the concept of standing your ground in self-defense. author hayo, director of the florida coalition to stop gun violence calls the law, quote, a right to commit murder. for the last 22 days, george zimmerman has been hiding behind florida's "stand your ground" law. this is a 911 call placed by george zimmerman on the night that he shot and killed 17-year-old trayvon martin. this tape tells us everything -- everything george zimmerman knew about trayvon martin before he shot him. >> hey, we've had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there's a real suspicious guy by retreat view circle. the best address i can give you is 111 retreat view circle. this guy looks like he's up to

no good or he's on drugs or something. it's raining and he's just walking around looking about. >> okay. this guy, is he white, black or hispanic? >> he looks black. >> did you see what he was wearing? >> yeah, dark hoodie, a gray hoodie. he had jeans or sweatpants and white kitennis shoes. he's here now. he's just staring. >> he's just walking around there? >> now he's staring at me. he's got his hand in his waistband. and he's a black male. >> okay. >> how old would you say he looked? >> late teens. something's wrong with him. he's coming to check me out. he's got something in his hands. i don't know what his deal is. >> okay. let me know if he does anything. we've got them on the way. let me know if this guy does anything else. >> okay.

>> these [ muted ] always get away, he's down towards the other entrance of the neighborhood. >> which entrance is that that he's heading towards? >> the back entrance. >> are you following him? >> yeah. >> okay. we don't need you to do that? >> okay. >> but george zimmerman defied the police and continued to follow trayvon martin. the next thing we know is that more 911 calls started pouring into the police from witnesses in the neighborhood who were hearing screaming. >> 911, do you need police, fire or medical? >> maybe both, i'm not sure. there's just someone screaming outside. >> what's the address that they're near? >> [ muted ]. >> okay. is it a male or female? >> it sounds like a male. >> and you don't know why? >> i don't know why. i think they're yelling help, but i don't know. just send someone quick.

>> does he look hurt to you? >> i can't see him. i don't want to go out there. i don't know what's going on. >> so you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> what is your phone number? >> there's gunshots. >> you just heard gunshots? >> yes. >> how many? >> just one. get down. no, come here. >> is he no longer yelling? >> i don't know. jeremy, get in here now. jere jeremy, get up here. >> is he right outside? >> yeah, pretty much out the back, yeah. >> is he in front of it or behind that address? >> he's behind my house. >> okay. >> just stay away from the windows. >> i don't hear him yelling anymore.

>> today, the congressional black caucus called on the justice department to step in and conduct the investigation that the local police have so far refused to do. joining me now, congressional black caucus member, congresswoman corrine brown who represents the district where trayvon martin was killed and former united states attorney from new york, dan french. congresswoman brown, do you have the support of governor rick scott and others in the -- in florida for this kind of investigation? >> no. i have the support of the mayor of sanford, florida. and i have talked with him. i spent five hours with him and the city councilwoman and the mayor will be here tomorrow. and we have a meeting with the united states justice department. >> in washington? >> in washington. >> the mayor's coming up here for that? >> that's correct. >> has the governor said anything about that? >> i have not talked with the governor. >> dan french, you're a former prosecutor.

the facts as you hear them presented so far -- >> if you kill them, you can face life in prison. the justice department has the authority to investigate those cases in the interest of justice. i think in this case, you have that. certainly have -- >> let me stop you on that, in the interest of justice. that's a guideline phrase in federal law for federal prosecutors when they're looking at these different cases and they say, why this one, why that one? sometimes there's a -- in fact, community outrage, as in this case, is taken into consideration in what they call, in the interest of justice? >> that's exactly right. you could have a situation where the state asks you to investigate it or the locals ask you to investigate it. >> if they don't, you can still -- >> in the interest of public justice. that's all you need here. and the congresswoman has asked for an investigation.

we know that the chief of police and the mayor seemingly want a meeting with the justice department. the justice department has the authority to investigate. and i predict tomorrow you're going to hear or soon thereafter that they're going to investigate this case. >> the law that florida enacted in 2005 is depending on what the witness situation is, a license to kill. if you don't have witnesses who can contradict your story, it sounds like there's nothing you can't get away with. >> the thing is there's no good ending to this. we have a baby who's dead, any parent's nightmare. in addition to that, the young man can never, ever tell his side of what happened. and clearly you have -- i've been listening to the news and you're seeing that you had -- this person was a self-appointed -- clearly he had not gone through the training of a neighborhood watch because the

police asked him to stand down. he did not. and five minutes later, this boy is dead. >> could you see this coming? "the orlando sentinel" did an article saying in the five months after this law was enacted, there were at least 13 shootings in florida where self-defense were claimed. only one of them was actually armed. that's just in the first five months after the 2005 enactment. >> listen, i think there's something wrong with this underlying bill. >> yes. >> and as we speak, he still can have a gun. do you understand? >> yeah. >> because he was not arrested -- now, if this happens on a police force, you automatically ask the police officer that he get a desk duty when the investigation is going on. that is not even true with this case. that person still has the right

to carry a gun and have the license that have not been revoked. there's something wrong with this picture. >> dan french, take this case out of florida, bring it to new york where you used to be a prosecutor, new york state law. what would happen? >> in new york and really in the vast majority of states, there's something called the duty to retreat. >> duty to retreat, in self-defense? >> in self-defense. and then if you ultimately are charged with a crime, it's an affirmative defense that you did self-defend yourself. florida's really turned it on its head. >> so the question of what you did in self-defense becomes an issue if you're charged with a crime in a place like new york state or 30 other states? >> correct, correct. it's an affirmative defense that you bring at trial. florida flipped it around. so in florida, if you stand your ground and you kill somebody, in this case, if that's the claim, they stood their ground and they killed that person, before the police can bring that case, they have to demonstrate there was probable cause to believe that

your conduct, the force you used, was inappropriate. they took it a step further under florida law, that's a hearing that has to occur before you get to trial. a judge will sit and decide whether your force was appropriate. so they've turned that entire system on its head, or at least how it is in most other states. >> completely empowering the man with the gun? >> it shifts the burden. it puts the burden in a different place. >> but, come on, this young man was visiting his daddy and was walking home from the 7-eleven. he was not doing anything. in america, you're not safe to walk your streets home and the police ask you to step down, you did not. this case has not been handled properly so that the person told the officer, well, he was the aggressor. but my question to you is, well, what was he doing?

why did you pursue him? he was walking home. was he committing any crime? no. >> well, we know -- >> there's something wrong with this. >> we know from this tape everything he knew about trayvon martin. and this is it. he looks black. that's it. that's everything he knew. from what you're hearing in these tapes, dan french, do you see the elements to make a hate crime case here because that's the only thing he knew about who he shot? >> there's only two elements. they couldn't have written a more simple federal statute. if you commit a crime, you willfully do it, you injure somebody or kill them because of their race, that's a hate crime. if you kill them, you face life imprisonment. it's that simple. in the u.s. department of justice, the attorney general has the right to investigate that case in the interest of justice. i think in this case there is an interest in justice in doing so. the congresswoman has asked for this. the black caucus has asked for

it. more importantly, the mayor of that city flying here tomorrow to talk to the justice department, i think you're going to see the justice department turn around and investigate this quickly. >> before you leave tonight, could you take some time to brief congresswoman brown about the hate crime statute. take that to the justice department tomorrow. >> my mother said she thought we was past this. >> should be past this. should be long past this. i really want to hear what they say about the hate crime statute in the justice department. thank you both very much. >> thank you. we have much more to come on this case. coming up, what the local police chief said about trayvon martin. mark thompson of "make it plain" and jonathan capehart will be my next guests. ok! who gets occasional constipation,

diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ male announcer ] aggressive new styling. a more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine. and a completely redesigned interior. ♪ the new c-class with over 2,000 refinements. it's amazing...inside and out. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services.

crispy granola, layered with creamy peanut butter or rich dark chocolate flavor. 90 calories. 100% natural. and nature...approves. granola thins. from nature valley. nature at its most delicious. monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro.

we've just seen that under florida law, you can stand your ground in self-defense and shoot and kill anyone you want, especially if there are no witnesses, simply by claiming self-defense. jonathan capehart and mark thompson will talk about the risk that that law puts on black men day in and day out.

shh, shh. did you hear that? it sounded like the chocobeast. the what? half man, half beast. he'll stop at nothing to sink his fangs into people who steal other people's chocolate temptations. but you guys have nothing to worry about, right? [ man ] aah! [ campers screaming ] nice job, chocobeast. thank you. [ male announcer ] six indulgent layered desserts at 150 calories or less. temptations. it's the first jell-o that's just for adults. who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription.

[ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are, or may become pregnant or are breast feeding should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate, possible increased risk of prostate cancer, lower sperm count, swelling of ankles, feet, or body, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing during sleep, and blood clots in the legs. tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. talk to your doctor today about androgel 1.62% so you can use less gel. log on now to androgeloffer.com and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news.

you live in a country where your teenaged son can get as and bs in high school, be well-liked by his teachers, never get in trouble with the law and run out to buy a snack during halftime of the nba all-star game and never come home because someone decides he has the right to execute your son.

you can be forced to stand by as your son's killer tells the police the story that fits the new so-called self-defense law that allows the shooter to get away with murder or manslaughter. that's the country you live in, if you are black in america. joining me now is jonathan capehart, msnbc contributor and opinion writer for "the washington post" and mark thompson, the host of "make it plain" on sirius xm radio. jonathan, you wrote, one of the burdens of being a black male is carrying the heavy weight of other people's suspicions. and it never ends. >> it never ends. i remember when my editor finally read my piece, he said that he liked it, it was very good and very important. and i said, well, i felt compelled to write it because i could have been trayvon when i was his age, when i was 17. and i still could be because

people have all sorts of suspicions. growing up, i was told -- given a serious list of don'ts. don't run in public lest someone thinks you stole something or you're up to no good. don't run in public with anything in your hands. and the other one was, don't talk back to the police, which is a universal rule for anyone that anyone should follow, but for african-americans and for african-american men in particular, your life is in your hands if you talk back to police. >> mark thompson, that's the way it's always been with police, the rules that jonathan capehart's mother gave him were smart ones for dealing especially with urban police in this country. but this was not a police matter. what are your callers on your radio show saying about it? >> well, this is one of the rare occasions -- tonight we talked about it on the show for two hours. i took nothing but calls and allowed people to express

themselves. it's one of the occasions where i had unanimity among my audience. everyone agrees this is frightening. this is terrible. people were very, very passionate and upset and compared it to so many other cases we've seen before, johnny gamage, sean bell, oscar grant. but the difference in all of those cases is these were police officers. this was a civilian which probably makes it more like cases we've heard many, many years ago. this was a murder. but even the difference there in the case of emmett taeal, you hd a young man who was accused of violating one of the racist social morays of that era. what did trayvon martin do? he did nothing. he was just being while black. he was just there and he had to die for th this is a very, very painful ordeal.

>> we just heard in the previous segment on the audio tape of the 911 call the one thing that zimmerman knew about him. he looks black. that's all he needed. he looks black. >> he looks black. he looks suspicious. he's up to no good. i think he might be on drugs or something. you hear all those things -- >> or he might not. the only thing i know for sure is he's black. i don't know anything else for sure. >> right. and that's what troubled me so much about that 911 call, zimmerman's 911 call. i kept thinking, but that could have been me. i'm just walking down the street with a bag of skittles and on iced tea and suddenly i'm suspicious, up to no good, must be on drugs or something. >> and, mark, this is a kid who's on his way back to his father's home in a gated community. so one of the lessons here is, yeah, it could have been jonathan capehart and you just don't have any idea where this might or might not happen. >> all of us who have children -- i have a little boy. anybody who has a little boy that plays football has a

picture just like the one we've seen of trayvon martin in his football uniform. and i thought about that, that could have been my son. and so not only are we dealing with the suspicion, but we're dealing with the reality that, is there anything we can do to protect our children to make sure this doesn't happen to one of them. i think we have to resolve ourselves to do all we can to do just that. >> let's listen to trayvon's mother this morning with matt lauer on the "today" show. >> what do you think he was reacting to? >> he was out there reacting to the color of his skin. he committed no crime. my son wasn't doing anything but walking down the sidewalk. >> mark, he was reacting to the color of his skin. >> i think the -- your last segment was excellent, lawrence. i think that that really made the case for this being a hate crime. i hope that meeting in washington tomorrow is successful.

this certainly is a hate crime. he said he was black and he was suspicious simply because he thought he was black. and as far as this "stand your ground" law in florida, we might need to question whether or not that's even constitutional. i know we have a second amendment, but i don't know that anyone has a right just to kill someone based upon their own judgment. >> let's hear from trayvon's father, what he had to say about this. >> to call mr. zimmerman the victim is a slap in the face to me and my family. it's a slap in the face to our community. my son was being attacked. he wasn't the aggressor in this instance. the sanford police department is trying to make george zimmerman out to be the victim.s clear, tn martin, who's dead in the grave. >> jonathan, he's making a reference to some of the things the police chief has said after

the fact about this saying, well, what was trayvon doing? this is the kind of thing that you're faced with after these incidents. you know, in the black community, you don't really have these questions. you can kind of -- you have a feel for who was up to something that might get them in trouble and who wasn't. >> right, right. and it just sort of boggles the mind how -- that someone as known to the sanford police department as george zimmerman is, who's made 46 calls to the police department since january 1st, 2011, to know and understand that this is a guy who has them on speed dial, a guy who, you know, is a wannabe cop. i don't know if they knew he had a 9 millimeter weapon. but they did know enough to hear on the phone when he got out of his car, knew enough to ask "are you pursuing him"?

when he said, yes, the police officers said, we don't need you to do that. and of all the lines that george zimmerman crossed in that incident on february 26th, that is the one that is the most egregious. no citizen should refuse an order like that, especially if that citizen has a gun. a 9 millimeter weapon when the person you're going after is 11 years younger than you, 100 pounds lighter than you and is only armed with a bag of skittles and an iced tea. >> mark thompson, that's why i had a former federal prosecutor to come in here tonight and ask him, point-blank, what would you do with this set of facts? and he would file a hate crimes prosecution based on the evidence he's seen so far. >> i think that needs to happen. swiftly, i think the authorities down in florida, including bill lee, they need to do a little bit more to assure people that this gentleman really is

isolated. when you don't do this and isolate someone like him, it continues to convince people that this is institutional racism. the authorities have tried to make certain excuses for this gentleman. there are reports they tried to get witnesses to change their account of what happened. witnesses who said they heard trayvon screaming, where they attempted to turn them around and make them say that it was zimmerman who was screaming. that needs to be addressed swiftly. and if bill lee won't do it, i certainly hope the justice department will. >> i got a very perceptive tweet today from one of my twitter followers saying the local police department is now invested in zimmerman's story and we can't rely on them from this point forward because they've invested in it already. >> no. >> we're not finished with this. we are finished with it for this segment. but we're not finished with this story. jonathan and mark, thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. coming up, mitt romney

continues to have trouble rewriting his position on the individual mandate that he imposed in massachusetts. you have to just see this amazing powerpoint presentation on how to enforce health care mandate that is mitt romney did. that's going to be next in "the rewrite." vironment. or zero dependency on foreign oil. ♪ this is why we at nissan built a car inspired by zero. because zero is worth everything. the zero gas, 100% electric nissan leaf. innovation for the planet. innovation for all. energy in america. planet. we've got to protect the environment. the economists make some good points. we need safer energy. [announcer:] who's right? they all are. visit powerincooperation.com.

with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaids, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease

and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. hello? [ sea ] hello, this is the sea calling. [ laughing ] [ sea ] what's the last romantic thing he did for you? ohh, i don't know... ummm... did you have to do that to me? what counts as romantic? is somebody watching me somewhere? like emptying the dishwasher? [ laughing ] is this your mother? ♪ ♪ 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. ♪ make that new stouffer's steam meal so tasty. actually, the milk from my farm makes it so creamy, right dad. ah, but my carrots have that crunch. it's my milk in the rich sauce coating the chicken and the pasta. boys! don't you think stouffer's steam perfect bag should get some credit? my carrots. my milk. my carrots. my milk. [ female announcer ] new from stouffer's. farmers' harvest steam meals for one in the steam perfect bag seal in all the goodness. they taste so good, we'll bet the farm on it. nestle. good food, good life. carrots! creamy!

romney would already have the republican nomination locked up -- >> we need someone who's going to make this a central issue in the campaign because they can, because they oppose government-mandated health care, they oppose whether at a state or federal level government taking over one-sixth of the economy. this is what governor romney did as governor of massachusetts. this is what he advocated that barack obama do as president. and unfortunately president obama listened to him. >> romney's tortured attempts to rewrite his position on health insurance mandates continue. >> people are circulating a clip of you back in the last campaign during an abc news debate in which charlie gibson asked you a question about national mandates and you seemed to back them. i'm going to play you the clip and then give you the chance to respond. here it is. >> you backed away from mandates

on a national basis. >> i like mandates. the mandates work. >> beg your pardon? i didn't know you were going to admit to that. >> let me tell you what kind of mandates i like. >> the ones you come up with. >> here's my view. if somebody can afford insurance and decides not to buy it, and then they get sick, they ought to pay their own way as opposed to government paying their own way. that's an american principle, it's a principle of personal responsibility. >> charlie gibson said you 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 100 times, more than 100 times. i have allowed and agree that a state should have the capacity, if it wants to have a health care mandate, we had that in my state -- >> why did you say that there about a national mandate? >> time and again, i pointed out i'm not in favor of a health

care plan that includes a national mandate. >> yeah, but the problem is mitt romney also pointed out that he, in fact, favored a federal mandate on "meet the press" in 2009 in the thick of the debate over national health care reform. >> the right way to proceed is to reform health care. that we can do as we did it in massachusetts, as white and bennett is proposing doing it at the national level. we can do it. we can get everybody insured. >> there's mitt romney sponsoring the bill by widen and bennett. the key provision of that bill was the individual mandate complete with a tax code-enforced fine. romney was actually in favor of using more enforcement mechanisms than just taxes to force people to buy health insurance in massachusetts. here is his powerpoint presentation in 2006 of how the massachusetts health care mandate would be enforced. >> we're going to mandate that you have insurance.

how do we mandate it? i won't spend a lot of time on this other than to indicate that we're going to insist that everybody be covered one way or the other and that those who don't comply have certain problems, they're going to lose their personal tax exemption. we will withhold any of their refund, keep it in an account at the state level which we'll be able to tap if they go to the hospital to get care. driver's licenses won't be provided to people unless they show their health insurance coverage, and so forth. >> whoa, no driver's license without health insurance? and romney was cool with that. that's way beyond anything president obama and the democrats contemplated in their individual mandate. in fact, as i have pointed out repeatedly, the obama health insurance mandate is something of a mirage. there is no real enforcement mechanism in it. there is a very, very small tax

penalty of a few hundred dollars in the obama plan. but what if the penalty isn't paid? what if you refuse to pay that little tax penalty? you know, it's one thing to give me a parking ticket. it's another to make me pay the parking ticket. what is the federal government's power to make you pay your penalty for not having health insurance? the answer is virtually none. the obama law addresses this in two ways. first, in the section called waiver of criminal penalties, it says, in the case of any failure by a taxpayer to timely pay any penalty imposed by this section, such taxpayer shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty with respect to such failure. so there it is. the penalty for not paying the tax penalty is no criminal prosecution or penalty at all. but just to make sure the irs doesn't get any crazy ideas about pursuing noncriminal

penalties against you, civil penalties like garnishing your wages or a lien on your property, there is this section of the health care law -- limitations on liens and leviel. the secretary shall not file notice of lien with respect to any property of a taxpayer by reason of any failure to pay the penalty imposed by this section or levy any such property with respect to such failure. the evils of the individual mandate will be presented to the supreme court of the united states next week in arguments made by the state attorneys general who have brought the cases to overturn the law. we will discover next week whether any of the justices have read the law closely enough to ask the question, is a mandate really a mandate if it doesn't have a real penalty? [ tom ] we invented the turbine business right here in schenectady.

without the stuff that we make here, you wouldn't be able to walk in your house and flip on your lights. [ brad ] at ge we build turbines that power the world. they go into power plants which take some form of energy, harness it, and turn it into more efficient electricity. [ ron ] when i was a kid i wanted to work with my hands, that was my thing.

i really enjoy building turbines. it's nice to know that what you're building is gonna do something for the world. when people think of ge, they typically don't think about beer. a lot of people may not realize that the power needed to keep their budweiser cold and even to make their beer comes from turbines made right here. wait, so you guys make the beer? no, we make the power that makes the beer. so without you there'd be no bud? that's right. well, we like you. [ laughter ] ♪

. some republicans believe the mitt romney campaign is in some ways a rerun of the al gore campaign for president in 2000. republicans did everything they could in 2000 to make al gore seem kind of strange. and rick santorum is now using the gore-bashing playbook on mitt romney. and nothing makes mitt romney seem stranger than romney's dog. >> quite frankly, i'm not sure i'm going to listen to the value judgment of a guy who strapped his own dog of the top of the roof of his car and went hurling down the highway. >> i say, what the heck was he thinking putting the dog on the top of the roof? >> the family dog is one that resonates with some people. if you can't be nice to your dog, who are you going to be nice to? >> as far as the dog issue, i

would say the issues of character are important in this election. we need to look at all those issues and make a determination as to whether that's the kind of person you want to be president of the united states. >> joining me now, dana milbank. dana, issues of character, rick santorum answers with a straight face that the dog is a serious issue of character. >> we know rick santorum has talked about man-on-dog in the past. so he takes this issue very seriously. >> but you saw this coming. you wrote a column -- what was it, january, entitled "mitt romney's al gore problem." did you think it would take the form of a dog? >> you know, it does in so many different ways. i liken it to, he looks like a person and he sometimes acts like a person, but every once in a while, you realize there's a glitch in the matrix and he's not like everybody else and he's a bit of an alien. we had that with gore. we have it going on with romney now. his son just mentioned it in an

offhanded way. but whenever you see somebody who's not involved in politics, the first thing they want to talk about is, what's up with romney and this dog? >> you are a very attentive dog owner. >> i am. i go almost nowhere without her. >> what do you think dog management tells us about someone's ability to manage the executive branch of the united states government? >> look, there's something like 40% of american households have dogs. a larger number have had them before. people in america tend to treat their dogs like their children, in some cases, better than their children. i brought this shot of people who have special dog seat belts to keep them secure in the car. and i think that for american pet owners to see the animal treated in that way would say -- not is he going to treat the nation like the dog on the roof of the car or treat the democrats that way. it says something's a bit off on this guy. >> what dog owners are looking for, i assume, is some sort of

respectful relationship both ways between man and dog, sort of well-behaved dog under the control of an owner that respects the dog and doesn't do things like throw the dog on the roof to drive to canada. >> true. and then explain the reason why it was okay was because it was an airtagt container. to me, that seems much worse than putting the dog on the roof -- >> whenever you try to make this sound better, there's no way to make it sound better. it's the kind of story you get away from. >> i don't know how you get away from it. everybody loves to talk about dogs. it's going to happen over and over again. every time somebody writes a column about a dog in our newspaper, unfortunately -- >> and you have no biases about this? you call them as you see them with dog owners? >> look, i remain neutral as a journalist. i do have a dog who is a dog against romney and insists on making herself present whenever i discuss the issue. >> she's made that very clear. >> very clear to me.