represent when it comes to the great majority of men and women in uniform. >> will the pictures provoke more retaliation against u.s. forces? secret service is play dates was national security compromised? plus, violence against women. the white house targets republicans for opposing reauthorization of the 1994 law. coming up here, top white house adviser valerie jarrett. mitt romney ticks picks up more endorsements, but why is rick santorum still not on board. >> we'll talk to his top adviser john brabender. a tiradefry omni supporter ted nugent puts mitt romney between a rock star and a hard place. >> our president and attorney general, our vice president, hillary clinton, they're criminals. we are patriots. we are brave heart. we need to ride into that battlefield and chop their headses off in november. >> should the candidates be held

accountable when supporters go rogue? plus, it's official. the 2012 campaign has gone to the dogs. and good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. president obama won't officially accept the democratic nomination until september, but mitt romney is showing up today at the site of the democratic convention in charlotte, north carolina. and today, romney's campaign has parked a bus out in front of the president's job training event site in ohio. chris cillizza is an msnbc contributing editor and managing editor of post politics.com. the games begin. a little bit of a silly season, as well. what is the point in the president and his team today twin efforts, first rolling out their latino effort for support as well as really highlighting this legislation on domestic violence against women. >> right. i mean, i think the goal, we call it bracketing in politics which is you just make sure that

something, your bus, a surrogate of yours is at all these events because what they want to do, the romney team is they don't want barack obama to get glowing local press particularly in swing states, north carolina and ohio both very contested states or likely to be contested in november. you want to make sure your side of the story makes it into that local news story, into that local newspaper story. does it matter in and of itself? no, but in the broader scheme oftings, you want to make sure the coverage in those states tells your side of the story, and i would say certain months more of this is what we have to look forward to. >> at the same time, mitt romney still refusing to release the taxes, more of his tax returns. and he was questioned about it by larry kudlow on cnbc last night. >> why not release your tax returns? why not go back ten years? >> well, we've had people run for president before and they've

released two years. john kerry released two years of taxes. john mccain released two years of taxes. i've released one already, put the estimate out for the next year. we'll have two years of taxes. >> of course, the point should be why not do what your father, george romney suggested doing in 196, which is releasing a dozen years of taxes when he was running for president. >> yeah, you know, andrea he's in a little bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation i think here which is every day that mitt romney doesn't release his tax returns, he's going to get questions from the media and certainly from the obama campaign about what he's hiding, why is he not releasing them. he and his people know, however, that if he does release ten, 12 years, it's going to give the democratic party a huge amount of fodder to pick through things and use what they find to cast him as out of touch. remember are when he released his returns during the primary season after the south carolina primary for 2010, what they showed is he makes a lot of

money, $42 million between 2009 and 2010. almost none of that is from income. almost all of it from bonds and investments. he has swiss bank accounts, offshore accounts, all of that stuff from the fact he doesn't make a salary to the fact he has a swiss bank account paints him as exotic, other, different than the finances of the people he needs to vote for him. that's what they're scared of. >> he seems to be in an interview with breitbart.com, he was channeling hillary clinton back from 1992, her interview with matt lauer. this is what he had to say about what he's anticipating. >> there would be an effort by the quote vast left wing conspirator work together to put out their message and to attack me. >> that, of course, is a replay with a twist, of course with what hillary clinton. >> vast right wing conspiracy, yep. and you know, andrea, look, he's

right. the democratic party will do everything that they can to paint a negative picture of mitt romney for voters. of course, the republican party and the aligned conservative groups will do the exact same thing to paint a negative image of barack obama. you know, the thing i find most fascinating what we're talking about a tiny sliver of people who are actually undecided, somewhere between 7 and 12% of the electorate. you'll see billions of dollars spent on 7 to 12% of americans. it's stunning. >> thank you very much, chris cillizza. we've got months to go. and vice president joe biden today led a white house event trying to push for reauthorization of the violence against women act. legislation that he helped sponsor when he chaired the senate judiciary competitive. the bill has 61 senate sponsors including leading democratic women despite opposition from some republicans over an amendment to protect immigrant women subjects of abuse. valerie jarrett, white house senior visor chairs the white house council on women and girls

leadership and joins me now. thank you very much. first let's talk about the violence against women act. why should it be reauthorized? what is the best argument for why this is an important part of the agenda? >> because it provides the best tools that we have to protect victims of domestic violence. just to give you a little bit of data, andrea, right now, three women a day dais victims of domestic violence. one in three women sometime in their life will either be victims of rain, violent entassault by an intimate partner or stalking. one in seven men will also fall into that category. so we need to do everything that we can do to protect victims of domestic violence. today at the white house you mentioned the vice president had a forum highlighting why this act is so important. he had stakeholders from the law enforcement agencies around the country including the attorney general, had he victims of

domestic violence who told their stories about how ill equipped they were to handle it before the violence against women act was passed. one woman mentioned that her husband stalked her. she had no support system. there was nos hot line to call. the police weren't trained on how to handle her husband. they simply told him to walk around the block. if you look at how much has happened in terms of providing these very important tools to victims, that's what the violence against women act does. today the president signed a presidential memorandum setting forth the federal government, the largest employer wants to be a model workplace. people who are the victims of doe domestic violence don't leave the violence at home. it spills over into the workplace affecting their productivity, it affects their safety. we want to make sure we're doing everything the federal government to make sure we do our part to put an end to violence. >> what the republicans would arguing is why not simply reauthorize this if this is so

important? they argue the amendments are political. can you respond to that. >> they're very important. the act was passed back in '94. as you mentioned, the vice president was one of the original authors. he said there's always room for improvement. we have reduced domestic violence by 60% since the act was passed. those an additional provisions are so important. everybody in this country should be protected. why would we put anybody in harm's way? >> as you know, the issue of gender has become a huge issue, and it's much to the president's advantage so far coming through the primary season. ann romney made this comment at a birthday party or rather at a palm beach fund-raiser. she was referring to hilary rosen's comment and she said it was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother and that was a defining moment and i loved it. i know the president has said that the families should be off limits in this campaign but hasn't ann romney emerged as a

key defender surrogate advocate for her husband on the gender issues? he has said that he listens to her and that she tells him rely that the issue women care about most is the economy, getting good jobs for their kids and themselves. so at this point, since she seemed to be taking such pleasure in what what hilary rosen said, what's your response to that. i agree completely with what will president obama said last week. it's tough enough to be a spouse of an elected official. they should be completely off-limits. and the focus should be on the candidate. so i agree with the president and i think that if you look at what president obama has done to fight each and every day to improve the quality of life for women and girls, that's the metric which i think is important. >> let me ask you about the secret service investigation. i know that you and the president, the white house are waiting for the final investigation to decide what to do. the white house has expressed

confidence in the director, mr. sullivan. at the same time, how disappointed are you and the president that he even the known facts that the agents would have been going to a strip club and participating in that kind of an environment, we're not saying anything illegal was done but just the optics of that, is that the way they should be behaving when representing the president of the united states abroad? >> again, andrea, i would repeat what the president said earlier in the week which is that he has an enormous amount of respect and confidence in the secret service. he has enormous respect for director sullivan and the fine work that they will do each and every day keeping the president, his family, many others safe and sound. he also said though that if it turns out as a result of this investigation that the facts are true, then, of course, he'll be angry and very disappointed. he would also mention director sullivan took swift action and he has encouraged a rigorous and thorough investigation.

let's wait till that investigation has concluded. >> and on the subject of ted nugent, i know the white house jay carney said yesterday we're not going to be going after surrogates. but this man has again today he's attacked debbie wasserman-schultz on the glenn beck radio show. he has gone after the president for years going back all the way to 2007. hillary clinton, members of the supreme court. the romney campaign has simply said that divisive language should be deplored. but they have not disavowed him and his endorsement. what do you think they should be saying about in this? you guys jumped in and disavowed hilary rosen immediately. >> andrea, we're going to do what we think is right for us. i'm not going to comment on campaign matters. what i do think is what the american people are interested in is what are we going to do to move our country forward and build an economy that's there to last, to make sure everybody gets their fair shot. you mentioned that the president

is out today visiting a community college. it's so important that people have an opportunity to be trained for the jobs of tomorrow. not the jobs of yesterday. working with the private sector, making sure that people have the skills they need to compete in this global marketplace. i think that's actually what the american people want to hear about. >> valerie jarrett, thank you very much. thanks for joining us. >> great to see you. have a great day. >> you, too. the obama administration today trying to contain the fallout from newly published pictures showing it soldiers posing with the body parts of taliban suicide bombers. here's more of what defense secretary leon panetta said a few moments ago in brussells. >> this is war. and i know that war is ugly. and it's violent. and i know that young people sometimes caught up in the moment make some very foolish decisions. i'm not excusing that. i'm not excusing that behavior.

but neither do i want these images to bring further injury to our people or to our relationship with the afghan people. >> with me now is retired army colonel jake jacobs, vietnam veteran, recipient of the congressional pedal of honor, an msnbc military analyst. thank you very much for being with us. this is avoiding, of course, and it's 2 years old as pa net tats said, they had appealed, the pentagon had appealed to "the l.a. times"" not to publish the pictures. what is your take away from all of this? >> well, first of all it's a failure of leadership clearly. there are always opportunities to do the wrong thing in a difficult situation like war. but good leadership will prevent almost all of it from happening and that requires that leaders both enlisted and officers spend all of their time down with their troops and foster an environment in which this sort

of thing happens infrequently or not at all. asking "the los angeles times"ing to refrain from publishing these photographs is nonsense. i mean, first of all, they're not going to not do it because it sells newspapers. and second, it's a disingenuous thing to ask in any case because they know that the "los angeles times" is not going to do it. for the l.a. times part, there's a bit of sangty moneyny involved here, too. you can always behind the notion of keeping the public informed. not necessarily public needs to see pictures like this. so there's a little bit of disingenuousness on both sides but asking a free press to refrain from publishing things that don't necessarily have a negative impact on the state of the nation is a silly thing to do. >> now, i'd love to turn the page if you'll join me on a

better example of what our soldiers really do the in field every day and back in the vietnam war, your war, the medal of honor is going to be awarded to army specialist leslie sabo. it has taken so long, mother's day may in 1970 that he lost his life. why does it take so long to honor someone who was so courageous in battle? >> that's t that's a very interesting question. you have the requirement after something is accomplished for people to actually see it. and they have to be able to write it up and it has to wind its way through a very maze-like bureaucratic structure. think of all the people who perform valiantly for the united states of america in combat and nobody wrote it up. people saw it. they themselves were killed. the paperwork as in this case was put through the system and was lost. you'll recognize that everybody

who ever served in combat knows that people perform valiantly in combat not just for the country but for each other and for everybody who is recognized, there are dozens, hundreds, thousands of men and women who sacrificed for us who were never recognized. it's just difficult to get paperwork through the pentagon, quite frankly. >> and jack, just hang with me just a moment. i just want to on the record say what the white house described how sabo rushed into a flanking force to draw fire from other american troops. the north veet nat meez had to retreat. he was replying ammunition. a grenade landed nearby. he picked it up, threw it, wounded are the blast and from enemy fire he continued to fight, storming an enemy replacement throwing another grenade. that explosion silenced the enemy but ended his life. he will be honored next month at the white house for his service

and sacrifice. >> we're very, very lucky to have young men and within who are willing to sacrifice for each other, sacrifice for the nation and who recognize that you're not a real person until you realize that you're doing it for other people, that there's something bigger than yourself. that's one of the things that military service conveys, that in fact, you're not doing anything for you. you're doing it for other people. >> as you so beautifully exemplify yourself. thank you very much. >> my great pleasure. >> for your service. thank you for today's report. up next, the changing battleground for the fall campaign. a political campaign, not war. plus, new details on the unfolding secret service scandal and electing a president. french way. ted koppel previewing his story for tonight's "rock center." "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

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do so at their own peril. as daily show's jason gerald discovered in a fake focus group last night. >> just who are they? to get inside the mind of a typical woman voter i sat down with political strategist, ted divine. >> women in this election are particularly motivated by the rhetoric they hear. >> i'm going to stop you here. >> sure. >> i think it's a little embarrassing that it's two guys here talking about women with no women present. >> so i assembled representatives from some of the leading women's groups. the national organization for women, emily's list, eleanor's legacy, girls for gender equity, and the league of women voters. >> how important is it that women are heard? i'm going to start with you. >> democratic strategist tad divine joins me now. let's talk about women. >> oh, god.

>> what do you know about women? it was a great bit but a beautiful parody of the darrell issa is hearing or the nonhearing of the gender wars hearing. let's talk about how the white house has been playing this issue and how it's changed the battleground. how does the women issue change the prospects for team obama and what we all believe is going to be a closely fought race by the time we get there in the fall? >> it's an advance for president. we've seen it in the national polling, he has a real advantage with women. women are listening to him because he's talking about economic issues first and foremost but also a whole set of issues that governor romney in the course of the nominating process came up on the short side of. as long as he can keep that advantage, he's got a really gud chance of winning the general election. >>ing in 1994 you and bob shrum managed to defeat mitt romney by ted kennedy defeating romney in the senate race by using in that campaign, as well. >> in that race, andrea,

noncollege chabed working women in the polling were the target group. and we really focused on then them. one line of attack were layoffs of women like them working women in places like marion, indiana. the second was his record at bain with the 40 top managers hired, only one was a woman. >> republicans are using the layoffs of women the way they compute the recession layoffs during the obama tenure to take a counterattack against the president. >> that's a pretty grossly misleading figure considering the fact that this country was losing 750,000 jobs a month when he was sworn into office. he's got a strong case to make with women on his policies on the advance that is this economy has made under his leadership, 4 million jobs created in the last two years. as long as he makes the case strongly and contrasts his position with romney on issues that women care about -- >> where is the president vulnerable? >> well, the president is

vulnerable if the economy goes down. it's that simple. if the economy continues to grow and shows real job growth between now and the election, he's going to achieve clear victory. if we have jobs reports with less and less jobs between now and november, if you know employment goes up instead of down, then he is vulnerable. >> tad divine, thank you very much. and up next, the politico briefing. when supporters go rogue. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msmbc. sweetenr with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart ways to sweeten. same great taste. splenda® essentials™. energy in america. same great taste. 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.

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today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing from ge capital. but i also get stuff that goes way beyond banking. we not only lend people money, we help them save it. [ junior ] ge engineers found ways to cut my energy use. [ cheryl ] more efficient lighting helps junior stay open later... [ junior ] and serve more customers. so you're not just getting financial capital... [ cheryl ] you're also getting human capital. not just money. knowledge. [ junior ] ge capital. they're not just bankers... we're builders. [ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business. in today's politico briefing, surrogate wars. more controversial comments today from a presidential candidate supporter. this time rocker ted nugent. a romney supporter and the self-described motor city madman. in march, mitt romney and his son tag both welcomed nugent's support but nugent has been known for years as a hater of barack obama who uses violent speech against the president and other democrats most recently at the nra convention this past

sated. >> we've got a president and attorney general who doesn't even like the constitution. we've got four supreme court justices who don't believe in the constitution. if you can't galvanize and promote and recruit people to vote for mitt romney, we're done. we'll be a suburb of indonesia next year. our president and attorney general, our vice president hillary clinton, they're criminals. they're criminals. >> we with braveheart. we need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in november. >> joining me now is politico's maggie haberman. the romney campaign really did not distance themselves very much, they didn't mention ted nugent by name given repeated opportunities. we were calling all last night and our garrett haake was there talking to them. they said that divisive language is not a good thing. and now today, ted nugent has

acknowledged this was on glenn beck's radio show. give a listen. >> yeah, we actually have heard from the secret service and they have a duty and i salute them. i support them. and i'm looking forward to our meeting tomorrow. i'm sure it will be a fine gathering backstage in oklahoma. >> so they are taking you seriously. >> you have a meeting tomorrow? >> yes. >> so ted nugent is going to talk to the secret service tomorrow. it's not a formal investigation we are told by the secret service. they're just following up on the violent things that he said at the nra convention. where do we go from here? >> i think this is not going to go away for mitt romney. on the one hand, the democrats were looking to get away from the rosen controversy of last week which became a much bigger deal because president obama weighed in on it. once you have the secret service speaking to noou gent it guarantees this is going to stay in the spotlight. a lot of people are arguing this is a moment like the limbaugh

issue that mitt romney could have used to push away some of the more rhetorically radioactive people within his party. he did not choose to do that. i think the longer this goes on, the harder it is going to be for him not to especially because both sides are playing up this issue of grievances of what a supporter or faux surrogate says. >> maggie, it seems to me looking back at what he said to kmox radio when first asked about ted knew jept's esendorsement, what tag romney immediately tweeting out how cool it was that this endorsement came through, they saw the or wanted at least were very pleased by the endorsement because they wanted to establish their bone nan fieds with the nra crowd having assaulted the assault weapon back when he was governor of massachusetts. this was very much mart part of a strategy. >> the mitt romney speaking to the nra is part of his strategy. he is now in the post primary period trying to coalesce

conservative who's remain very leery of him. he is reluctant to offend them in any way and is not condemning the language because then it would confirm some suspicions that some conservatives have that he perhaps is not truly that conservative. i think this is going to become something that will stay with him. he will continue to get asked about it in media appearances. i don't think he's going to be able to avoid it. >> maggie, thanks very much. coming up next, will congress launch its own investigation into the secret service scandal? senator charles grassley joining us. stay with us. [ man ] hmm. a lot can happen in two hundred thousand miles... are you guys okay? yeah. ♪ [ man ] i had a great time.

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>> government officials are interviewing as many as 21 women linked to the secret service. prostitution scandal to see if they had access 0 sensitive information. at the same time, some of the agents involved have agreed to take polygraph tests to help the investigators. iowa senator charles grassley is the top republican on the judiciary committee and has been briefed by director sullivan. you've been told what happened. what can you share with us about

whether sensitive information regarding the president's security and the security of his traveling team was potentially compromised? >> i have no reason to believe there's been anything compromised based upon what mr. sullivan told us that there are certain protocols set up for the secret service to follow those protocols to make sure that doesn't happen. and he feels like those protocols were followed in this instance. but you want to remember, he briefed us 24 hours ago. he's only been into this thing for about three days at that point. he's going to dig deeper and deeper. so you know, as of now, we don't think so. but i think you want to remember that you aren't at the end of the investigation yet. >> well, do you still -- do you have confidence, the confidence that the president has expressed, actually mitt romney whose also had protection for

months from the secret service that he has pressed director sullivan to get to the bottom of this. >> is your question about confidence in the director or in the secret service? >> at this point do have. i'm going to be to following this thing for a long period of time. the reason i have some confidence at this point or confidence at this point is because a question i asked him yesterday that's kind of a benchmark of whether i think people are thorough and open and transparent, i said are you going to involve the inspector general, the department of homeland security in this investigation? and he will said i already have. so that shows me that as at least as i know most inspectors generals, they have their own staff, they have their own protocol they follow. and we -- i would assume that we're going to get to the bottom of it, and make sure that there's no short cuts by director sullivan.

>> your colleague senator collins said yesterday that she would find it very unlikely that this is an isolated incident, given that so many of these men and military as well went to the bar, that they were so -- it was so widespread. she found it unlikely that this was a solo actor. what is your impression? >> well, she may be right. if she is right, it's going to bring a black mark to the whole secret service because for 150 years or so, i think they've been a pretty respected organization. and. >> highly respected. >> i have a lot of confidence in them. highly respected. but when i do so many investigations and so many different agencies, you kind of get up against a culture. now, to this point, i wouldn't have suspected this to be a culture in the secret service. and i hope it isn't. but it opens the door of that possibility. and then when you've got that sort of a culture, even as bad as this is, it's difficult to

change those basic cultures but one thing that does help is that willful heads don't roll in a bureaucracy, you know, that has something wrong, you know, nothing's going to change. i think you'll find that these people, their heads are going to roll although he can't make that determination till he's done with the investigation. >> finally, senator, do you think this is something that transsens politics? is it fair as some republicans are already starting to do to try to blame the obama white house for this incident on this trip? >> i think the -- i think what we have to do is look at the overall issue here. and when it comes to the protection of the president of the united states whether he's a republican or democrat, it should be totally nonpartisan. >> thank you so much, senator grassley. i know you're going to follow all of the leads. and imagine a presidential election with no political ads? as france gets ready to vote in their elections ted koppel

reports on the differences between the american and french elections for tonight's edition of "rock center." take a listen to one of the students he spoke to about the graupd game in france and what they've learning from watching america. >> we've been advocating for you know, more america in french election for two years. we've been pushing this, you know, let's do what obama did for two years. so it's tough exercise. >> ted koppel with nbc's "rock center." it is great to see you, great to see you with "rock center," of course. what did you learn? it's such a different style of campaigning. first of all, a shorter campaign. we don't have the ads. you don't have the piles of money involved. but it can still get pretty nasty. >> the first thing i've got to do is correct your introduction ever so slightly. i understand those three young men look like students, they are in fact the three young men who are running the candidacy. >> really. >> of francois hollande, the socialist candidate who is is currently in the lead and may

very well become the next president of france. what's amazing about it is the three of them met at m.i.t. and harvard. and they really have gone top school on the obama candidacy of 2008 and are now trying to apply everything that they learned in the united states on the french campaign. >> well, in going to school on this, of course, hollande, the socialist candidate lucked into this because of the scandal with the man who had been the front-runner, dominique strauss-kahn but at this point, sarko sarkozy, you have an edgy experience with sarkozy. we've covered him in summits and other encounter. he is an edgy guy. that personality gets in the way and there's a real awkwardness with president obama between him and the french president. we know of several snubs in both directions. i wanted to show a little bit of the clip of your introduction. >> sure. >> watch this. i think you're going to enjoy

it. american reporter, that would be me, is about to get quiet lit but firmly rebuked by the president of france. that would be him. good day, mr. sarkozy, i say. >> mr. president says he dismissing any prospect of further conversation. before i addressed you as mr. sarkozy because my french colleagues told me that when you are here. >> it's not still president? >> no, no. >> i am still president. >> of course. they told me when are you here as a candidate as a political candidate, it is inappropriate, i apologize if. >> no, no, no. >> i said the wrong thing. >> no problem. >> is it not correct? >> it's perfectly correct, please my name is nicolas. >> no problem. >> my friend nicolas and i. >> perfectly correct. you know, i was told that when they -- when sarkozy hosted the

allies at the normandy commemoration, that there was so much antagonism na in fact, president obama really snubbed him, would not have dinner and then left shortly before mrs. obama and the girls went to the palace for lunch, so did not share a meal during the bilateral talks in paris because of all the tension between the u.s. and france. >> as you can imagine, this has nothing to do with tension between the united states and france. it has to do with what happens during a french election. and that is, even the president of france, when he is engaged in a political event is not supposed to have any advantage over everyone else. so my french colleagues had told me, look, when you're talking to him at a political event and that's what that was there, do not refer to him as president sarkozy and what follows in fact, on that piece and folks who watched tonight will see it, is we have a bunch of french

reporters all saying bonjour, nicolas sarkozy. he was edgy i think because that's the way that he puts reporters, americans and others, you know, on their heels a little bit. and it, woulded with me. i wanted an interview. didn't get it. >> it's a wonderful vignette. we look forward to the whole report. don't miss it. thank you so much, ted. >> i have to mention one thing to you. this idea of doing interviews with you in one city and me in another city, what a ridiculous idea. not good. whoever came up with that idea? >> i don't know. we have to fix that. >> all right. >> next time in person. tonight, "rock center" brian williams at 9:00/8:00 central. we'll be right back. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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pay a visit to rocker ted nugent, a visit and interview after some incendiary comments made by the mitt romney supporter. he said in part "if obama becomes president i'll either be in jail or dead." nugent says the meeting will take place tomorrow. and why mitt romney is still taking heat for nugent. plus, breaking news on a bizarre story out of texas. a mother is gunned down as her child is ripped from her arms and kidnapped. police have now identified a nurse as the suspect behind this awful murder. >> "time" magazine is releasing its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. a group ranging from world leaders to comedians to athletes and fill lan low piv-- matt lau great choice. also a number of politicians including marco rubio written

about by jeb bush.tell us why marco rubio? >> it's an election year as you know. while our eyes may be trained on the current candidates, i think the pares spend a lot of time thinking forward, who are the rising stars of the party. when you say rising star in the republican party, marco rubio's name always comes up. >> i love the pairings. cecile richards from planned parenthood as another one of your choices written about by sandra fluke. >> that's right. cecile richards i hardly need to tell you how planned parenthood came to the foreof the public conversation this spring. we thought sandra fluke was in a perfect position to talk about cecile's advocacy on behalf of women and reproductive rights. >> and kristin wiig, is there anyone on "snl" who has been more iconic and more various in all of her talents in the characters she plays? >> i think bride maids" was the only movie i saw twice last

year, reason enough to put her on the list. she is really a trail blazener comedy and has had a huge year. >> it's a great achievement. we always look forward to the list. the time 100. thanks so much, radika jones. >> and will rick santorum endorse mitt romney? that's next. ogressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions,

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rick santorum is no longer running against mitt romney but he is still not endorsed him. joining me is john bender, senior strategist for the santorum campaign. good to see you. i think you're in philadelphia from looking at the skyline. >> absolutely. >> have the two men met? have they talked it over and talking about endorsement? >> they have not talked yet. i talked a little while ago to the campaign manager for mitt romney and we started to float a few dates where maybe a meeting could take place and in fact coincidentally that meeting may take place in philadelphia. what a great place to start a winning campaign for the fall would be where america started. that meeting will take place the

next two weeks probably. hoping to get schedules matched and i am sure there will be a lot of things discussed and it is made clear to us that governor romney would like to have at least a discussion of a possible endorsement at that time. >> you're talking about a possible endorsement at that time. it is the city of brotherly love, so what about a little brotherly love from rick santorum toward mitt romney? what is holding him back? you've had the house and senate leadership coming behind him endorsing, the governor endorsed yesterday afternoon, senator toomey, the presidential primary next tuesday. will rick santorum endorse before the pennsylvania primary? >> i don't think there will be endorsement before the meeting takes place. the senator won 11 states. he has a large following, over 200 thousand national contributors, and i think he feels it is important to have a discussion with mitt romney to make sure the conservative wing of the party will certainly be represented if you will in a romney administration, so there are many things to talk about,

but senator santorum has been very clear. the goal right now is to beat barack obama. he is going to work very hard to help do that as well as help take the senate back, control the house again, and i think you will see rick santorum as an active participant campaigning this fall but we need to make sure there is things that have to happen first to make sure that he is wanted by the romney campaign and that we're going to talk about the issues that conservatives think are very important. >> is he looking for a big role at the convention, specific issue demands? >> i don't think there are any demands other than rick santorum wants to make sure we're going to do two things, beat barack obama and make sure we follow many of the conservative values and tea party principles of taking back washington, taking back the government, and that governor romney is committed to those. i would say as rick santorum's advisor, i think it would be helpful to that process if he did play a major role at the convention and i think most people would agree with that.

>> we're about out of time. if you were running things, what do you think the mitt romney campaign ought to do about their supporter ted nugent and some of the things he said? should she disavow him strongly? >> i think it is unfortunate in any campaign when you have a large campaign you will always have supporters that say inappropriate things and everybody wants you to take personal responsibility. ted nugent is his own guy and will say his own things and i think it is greatly unfair for that to be thrown onto governor romney. it is not like something he said and he has run a respectful campaign and i think people should take governor romney for who he is not for his supporters are. >> to be continued. thank you very much for joining us from philadelphia. that does it for us and this addition of andrea mitchell reports and my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next. >> just a short time ago the secret service said they will pay a visit to ted nugent.

they will interview him about his comments and nugent just spoke with glen beck and we'll play his latest comments and why mitt romney is still being criticized for not coming out stronger against what nugent had to say. breaking news out of texas, an absolutely horrific story, a mother is gunned down as her child is ripped from her own arms in a kidnapping. police have identified a nurse as the suspect behind this kidnapping and murder. a crushint hanging over us. hindering economic growth. it's time for some common sense -- people in congress who'll come together and put partisan politics aside. not with radical schemes that gamble with america's future. but with a plan that requires washington to balance the budget the right way -- protecting the priorities of america's families. tell congress to pass a common sense balanced budget -- now. sign the petition at center-forward.org.

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now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. hi, everyone. news nation is following breaking news after an anti-obama rant from mitt romney's supporter ted nugent. nbc news learned the secret service will interview nugent about his incendiary comments that were made. here is part of what the rocker said at the nra convention last weekend. >> i tell you this right now. if barack obama becomes the president in