that last went for a republican in 2000. and it comes as he's begun to shift back to the middle. yesterday romney agreed with president obama, saying he quote fully supports low interest rate student loans, and the campaign held a conference call this morning targeting young voters. >> president obama gets an "f" for failing our youth. as i think many of you know, four years ago the president was able to fool a number of our college students into supporting his campaign. i think one of the biggest shifts in votes away from obama will occur in our youth vote. >> those comments come as a new harvard poll finds that, among 18 to 29-year-olds the president has a 17-point lead. that is six points higher than the one he had at the end of november. maggie, i'll go to you first on this. there's been a lot of discussion whether mitt romney was going to continue to throw red meat to the conservative base or and he was going to pivot to the center. this seems like sort of, as far as mitt romney goes, firm a line

in the sand as we are getting in terms of a move towards center. >> i think that's right. it's not a huge surprise. he's kicking off has campaign tonight in new hampshire, right? this is all general elections geared. i think they knew tralize the issue, i don't understand this ace tactical maneuver, interesting to see what buzzy thinks. >> i think that this is actually, this is obama's ground, talking about student loans is the democrats' ground, young voters is the democrats' turf. i don't understand wasting time not talking about the economy and not trying to define his own message. there's a what to do that and pivot toward the center. >> the youth vote, the president has it locked up. mitt romney is trying to appeal to young voters. my memory was jogged, i was reminded of the time that a

young voter asked mitt romney at a tonight hall, i believe it was, what do i do about my student loan debts and his answer, i hope you did a price check and are going to the cheaper college because the government is not going to help you. >> this is a matter of stopping the bleeding. obama's going to win the voyout vote by double digits. enormous margin in the youth vote in the 2008. romney realized he needs to keep it it within some sage margin, to make it up else where. >> does it undercut the president's message that mitt romney is agreeing with a piece of policy? >> i don't know if it does. i think it's clear that romney had no choice, the student loan issue is so emotional for young people. remember the brilliant piece of theat that hillary clinton did in 2008, on to the student loan issue, and she would stand up in crowds and find the person in the audience paying the highest

rate. she would say, do i hear 14%, do i hear 18%? do we have a 24% in the crowd? and it was a brilliant piece of politics because it got to people's sense of unfairness about those rates. >> and certainly, you know, the administration has made serious moves to tackle student loan debt, largely through the consumer financial protection bureau, taking on predator lenders in the student loan arena. >> romney, he's not going to be one of the house republicans. they pick every battle, every little thing a matter of intense, ideological principle. he's going to peck ing ting to battles and not give it away when he feels he can't win. >> speaking of ideological battles in congress, you've provided me with an excellent segue, buzzy. >> that's what i'm here for. >> talking about the tea party, and the idea, i think in some corners, the tea parties are the incumbents and the uncomfortable

position they are in, looking towards november. i want to read you this quote from gop committee man bill crocker on the tea party members. it's just -- lessons learned -- it's just learning that everybody who is in government is not evil, that we've got really good people in government. let's don't burn the barn down to get rid of the rats. number two, there's a way to get thing donz and a way where you can work hard and not get anything done. an amazing statement, coming from one in the tea party. let's not burn the barn down to get the rats out. is this just -- where does the tea party go from here? that's the question, in november. they are running as incumbents, they got nothing done, was their excuse for getting reeleaked? >> the issue is the counterrevolution has arrived. mitt romney's nobody's idea of a tea party. if you saw him at these tea party events his people would stand people here, the tea partiers would stand here and eye each other suspiciously.

the tea parties lost the struggle in the presidential -- >> what happens if you look at the ticket? you have moderate mitt romney at the top what does that do for their chances, in terms of which way the house will go? i will play the sound bite heard around the world, john boehner speaking on a fox interview that will air today. let's listen to that. >> there's a 2 and 3 chance that we win control of the house again but there's a 1 in 3 chance we could lose. i'm being myself, frank. we've got a big challenge, we've got work to do. >> that is a change, as politico reported today, from boehner's previous position, which was confident that the republicans would keep the house. >> it is. i'm a skeptic, though. i tend to think this is something of a front, in terms of fund-raising and it is trying to gin up the base, because there is a concern with mitt romney at top of the ticket, so far, depends who you talk to, some think the base will rally around hip because of the dislike of president obama and a lot of concern privately among

republicans focused on the congressional races that this will sort of dampen turnout. the speaker's confidence they're going to ho ing ting to hold th. they could see the majority slim down. there are a number of seats, especially in places redistricted, like new york, seats in play that might not have been otherwise. >> you see the tea party, people who really sort of had no business getting elected wind up for one term in office and a lot of those are the most flamboyant tea party candidates who will likely enjoy alan west while you got him. >> to people on both sides of the aisle, enjoy alan west while you got him. boehner outlined why the party might be in trouble. 50 members in tough races, 89 freshmen running for re-elections and 32 districts in states where there's no presidential campaign being run, we call these orphan districts. take 18, california, illinois, new york, where we're not likely to do well at top of the tick

the and those districts are vulnerable. we have not focused too, too much as yet on the congressional races and how they play out for whoever is in the white house. if the house goes back to the democrats and the senate stays blue, that's a major change for the white house in terms of the policy they can enact. conservative groups are rafrpg ramping up, $17 million spent in 12 states. i want to play sound from a new claire mccaskill ad that's out. >> they're not from around here. spending millions to attack and attack. but what they're doing to claire mccaskill is nothing compared to what their special interest agenda will do to you. they want to end medicare as we know it. claire fights to protect it. >> jodi, how is the white house looking at these congressional races, do you think? >> well, their whole strategy, since the beginning of the year, has been to run against congressional republicans, to demonize them. it was interesting, because when

i started reporting on the obama white house, you would hear stories of the president bashing congressional republicans privately and there was a little, oh, i can't believe he said that about that group of people. now they're completely open about it. they're demonizing this group of people, playing off the sense of discontent that i think really settled in around the debt crisis period, the sense of exhaustion that americans have with these constant budget battles and banking on the fact that this will help them in the campaign. it is a negative strategy to run on. what we haven't heard as much of from president obama is a kind of affirmative vision of where he wants to take the country. >> hard to probably calculate that vision as well when you don't know what congress is going to look like, right? >> very hard -- >> put the policy proposals out there, whether they get executed is a different matter entirely. >> absolutely. when you look back at the sort of like gleaming tab blow that they put in front of us in 2008.

i think it is necessary to have a discussion of the more positive place you want to take the country to. >> take the country to a happy place, president obama. coming up, as the supreme court gets set to hear argument on arizona's controversial immigration law, new scrutiny how the legislation could affect the gop politically. we'll discuss with ken cuccinelli next on "now." [ 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 --

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that is not consistent with our value as a nation, it is not consistent with constitutional values. >> that was senator durbin talking about the impact arizona's immigration law has had on hispanics living in the state. the senate is having a hearing, 24 hours before the issue heads to the supreme court. joining us now, virginia attorney general, ken cuccinelli, running for governor on the republican ticket in that state next year. welcome, mr. attorney general, to the program. >> good afternoon. >> so i want to start with the arizona immigration law, mr. cuccinelli, and i want to sort of recall a comment that you made in 2010, in a legal opinion, you wrote, my opinion that virginia law enforcement official -- officers including conservation officers may, like arizona police officers, inquire into the immigration status of persons stopped or arrested. and i guess i want to ask you,

when is that not racial profiling? >> well, let's be real clear that -- that position is well known to law enforcement across the country. the only people surprised by that explanation of the law are people who are not in law enforcement. the law enforcement officer can come up to you and ask you anything they want. but you don't have to answer it. so it's in that contexas that that part of my opinion should be understood. they can ask you these questions whether there's a law like sb-1070 or not, and you are not obligated to answer those questions. >> do you think a law like sb of 1070 encourages racial profiling, though? >> no, not at all. i mean, that's been the schtick on it. i think that an all or nothing approach would be better, meaning this is going to be our standard operating procedure for anybody that we arrest or anybody we pull over.

however, racial profiling, when it happens, and let's face it, we always have to be on guard for it, in law enforcement, when it happens, it can be dealt with on an officer by officer, case by case basis. the federal government, in the case of arizona, though, came in and said, effectively, this will always result in racial profiling and you know, there are bad police officers, but overwhelmingly, they're not. and they're going to use discretion as they have it now appropriately. >> let me ask you, though, there's a lot of talk about the solution to our illegal immigration problems. an interesting report in the "wall street journal" today saying that mexican immigration to the u.s. has hit net zero. a quote from the professor of public policy at usc, we've turned the page in terms of migration. we haven't turned the page yet in terms of policy. are we not creating solutions for problems that don't exist? >> well, each if you accept that

math, obviously, there's millions and the numbers vary depending who you ask, people who came here illegally who are still here, and let's face it the reason that, again, taking the numbers as reported that we've hit net zero because of our economy. these folks don't come here overwhelmingly just to break the law. they're coming here because they're seeking opportunity. they're breaking the law in how they go about it, but their goals aren't bad goals. everybody wants to be able to find opportunity for themselves and their family, but as a nation, we have to guard our borders, we have to be able to secure our country, and we have to be able to govern our own immigration policies. this has been a bipartisan failure, not just the president -- under president obama, it was failure under president bush, to measure or even pursue those goals. i think where this administration has stepped it up, in negatively, i mean, stepped it up a level beyond the

bush administration's failure, is in going after a state like arizona. south carolina and some of the others that have put some bills like sb-1070 in place, where all states are seeking to do is fill the vacuum. arizona is frustrated to the point because the federal government isn't doing what everyone, including the federal government acknowledges, is its job. states have always had a cooperative role in law enforcement with the federal government. >> let me ask you a question, because you are running for governor, and as we talk about how the republican positions on immigration are either hurting or helping the party, you have a presumptive republican nominee for president, effectively trying to walk back the incendiary statements he's made about illegal immigration, stumping with marco rubio, a lenient, if not democratic proposal, regarding the dream act. you have polls showing the republican party is getting hammered among the hispanic population. do you think, taking the positions that the republicans have on the earn of immigration,

is helping party move the ball forward and is good for you in november? >> well, first of all, realize, there's a wide array of positions within the republican party. i mean, what i consider to be a failure under the bush administration, they probably didn't see as a failure. their utter inactivity, in terms of addressing illegal immigration. frankly, the obama administration has been more aggressive than the bush administration at least with respect to criminal illegal aliens, by which i mean people who not only come here illegally but break other laws. >> we dough no -- >> i.c.e. has set up a good program and bush didn't. we have a wide array of positions within the republican party itself. >> i want to open this up to the panel. we have reihan salam joining the panel of the national review, and i'll throw a question to you, we can certainly keep talking to the attorney general here, by all means. but you know, we're looking at where the republican party is among latino voters. even in a state of arizona,

traditionally gone red, the president is trying to turn it blue in november. a new poll shows for the presidential race, president obama at 40%, mitt romney at 42%. undecided, 18%. >> yeah i think it's worth noting that jan brewer behind the law received 28% of the latino vote in arizona. whether or not one endorses very strict immigration policies at the state level, you know, the idea that this necessarily will lead to an enormous backlash among latino voters, it's more complicated because this is a diverse population which oftentimes, when you look at how latinos vote vis-a-vis income, affluent latinos tend to be somewhat more inclined to vote for republicans or similarly a religious split with latino evangelicals. the immigration is not the sole issue that latino voters are focused on. >> we'll refer everyone back to

the fox news poll last month, obama winning the latino vote by 56 points, 70% to romney's 14, t staggering numbers. >> mitt romney has to have those kids voting for him or somebody else. i don't know who's going to make that up. >> doesn't it depend on the composition of the nonlatino vote? >> he needs somebody else coming in. >> it's not necessarily true winning 28% of the latino vote will be a disaster. >> it's a problem. >> it's close to being a disaster. >> in some states. >> it's not an unmitigated disaster but a disaster. let's bring back the attorney general here. i want -- let's talk about mitt romney's position on immigration. >> talk about degrees of disaster. >> or degrees of disaster, your phraseology, not mine. let's listen to what mitt romney said yesterday, as far as immigration and immigration policies. >> i anticipate, before the november election, we'll be laying out a siris of policies that relate to immigration and

first priority is to secure the border, and yet we also have substantial visa programs in the country. how we adjust our visa program to make it fit the needs of our country something i'll be speaking about down the road but i don't have anything for you on that at this stage. >> mr. attorney general what do you make of mitt romney's position on immigration? are you confident it will be in line with what you think needs to be done combat illegal immigration in this country? >> you know, i expect that, by and large, it will be, yes. let me comment, he's only spoken to it very vaguely there, the visa side of this. you know, only about half of the people here illegally came across the border illegally. the other half came legally and overstayed visas. we do have what amounts to a bureaucratic nightmare in our immigration system, which also penalizes -- and this is the worst part of it. >> penalizes people trying to play by the rules. to the extent he's willing to

aggressively address that, neither this administration nor the bush administration even gave any serious attempt at that. and, frankly, i would appreciate seeing that the attempt to make it easier and smoother for people to play by the rules at the same time as he lays out policies for how he intends to police the border and make the nation more secure from an immigration standpoint. i'd like to see those two go hand in hand and most republicans would. would thing -- a lot of people focus on some of the tough rhetoric that comes out of republicans, myself included, focusing on the rule of law, but at the same time, a lot of people like me also want to encourage legal immigration and we want to have our system work for those who are playing by the rules. i think it's important for mitt romney to make sure that those things go hand in hand. >> attorney general ken cuccinelli, thank you for joining the program. we'll be talking about immigration much more in the coming months, and we hope to

have you back. after the break, more or on the horse race, how 2012 is shaping up for the republicans in the house and senate. we'll take a look at all of that. plus much, much more next, on "now." time for the "your business" entrepreneur trend of the week. cleveland attorney andrew samtoy had an idea to boost small businesses. a call goes out on social media, consumers are armed with $20 to descend on a local small business. idea's caught on and cash mobs are being organized around the country. watch "your business" sunday mornings 7:30 on msnbc.

[ male announcer ] while others are content to imitate, we'll continue to innovate. the lexus rx. why settle for a copy when you can own the original? see your lexus dealer. dick cheney yesterday warning team romney not to pick a vp based on political cal clat al clags calculation but pick someone who is competent. do you think team romney takes the advice? >> i think they're going to exhaustively crunch this. i was up in their office last week, and you could see the wheels start turning, and they're going to look at this from every possible angle. i think it's a classic romney exercise in extreme data analysis. >> extreme data analysis.

perhaps extreme conservative. >> dick cheney is looking to his own experience. he had been head of the vice president search and he turned out to be the ideal vice president. at assessment then was that george w. bush struck voters as youthful, as tempestuous, and the thought that dick cheney balances out those concerns. mitt romney does not project the same kind of aspect. >> not quite tempestuous. >> his vice is eating cereal, whereas bush's vice happened to be alcohol from formative years. i think the vice president that he's likely to choose, one that he wanted to reinforce the message about his campaign, the kind of governance he's going to bring to the country will be different. >> someone who practices the art of fire eating and can juggle. >> i quite like that idea. >> someone with tempestuous side behavior. president obama tackles college loan debt in a pair of key swing states. the push campaign business or

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specifically. unemployment rate there is 9.7%. both houses of state legislature flipped from blue to red in the 2010 midterms. president obama, the candidate, has a lot of work to do there. president obama, the president, is proposing some programs that would fit with his broader policy fabric, if you will. >> you know, since the beginning of this administration, i've looked at schedules that the white house sends out and i've been like, wow, he's going to north carolina, again. he announced that iraqi troops were coming nome december, where did he do it? ft. bragg. >> insteed. >> so interesting how much time he spends there. i think that's part of the story of this campaign. my colleague had a great story documenting this the or day which is that there are a lot of presidential trips essentially politic until nature and that that line really is disappearing in this administration. >> i think that in her piece, in jackie's excellent piece, which was i believe this weekend, she talks about a recent trip to florida, which included a

34-minute speech to talk about the buffett rule, which some said is a campaign piece to begin with, at florida atlantic university, between -- sandwiched between three fund-raising trips to the area. the question is, how much of this is sort of obvious political campaigning and is inexcusable, if the american taxpayer's on hook for it? how much is, the president isn't going to get anything done in washington, this is part of the politics inevitable, he has to campaign to get re-elected to do something in 2013? >> i think this is the line blurring, as jodi put it, was well done. that having been said, this is something every past president, recent past president, there's an issue about it there were issues about it with clinton and george bush. the difference here is the president campaigned as so not that way initially. >> right. >> i think it called a lot of attention, when he turns out to

do things that are shocking political, that a politician behaves in a political way. i don't think it helps him in trying to seem bigger. >> it's harder for him than for other presidents to say this is how everybody does it. >> right. >> he's not supposed to be everybody else. that's not how he ran. >> i remember a speech the president gave in s. as a candidate and he stood up and said the problem with clintonism is that it's a permanent campaign and that there's no line between campaigning and governing, and he scolded the clintons in almost moral terms for that. >> we know that compared to president bush, bush attended 97 fund-raisers during his election cycle. president obama hit number 100 march 1st, according to the always accurate mark knoller in the white house. i want to ask a little bit, in terms of how the campaign minds that may or may not affecting the white house strategy, and we

have a little full screen of who's where. in chicago you have david axelrod, he who likes dropping the phrase kabuki theater. jim messina, stephanie cutter the deputy campaign manager. in washington, david plouffe and valerie jarrett. who is calling the shots? are there two distinct operations, jodi in. >> of course, in terms of they're careful to obey the various legal rules and whatnot about separation, but i think that after the 2010 midterms the white house really re-engineered itself internally for re-election. for example, goals of 100 events of this demographic and there were spreadsheetsen side the white house in which people ticked off how many they were doing. so it's funny, because often when you have a campaign headquartered in one city and then the president in washington, there are all of

these questions, will they coordinate well together? there will be a disconnect? nobody is asking that this time around. >> many of the folks were in the white house and moved to chicago. i don't know was that a look of dismay or agreement when jodi mentioned the spreadsheets ticking off the demographic groups? >> i have so much rhythm it's uncontrollable and i can't help move bmy body. when you look at north carolina speech and sort of trying it to reach out to the youth vote, one of the fascinating things that happened this week is that mitt romney didn't take the bait, that is, he also said, yes, i favor extending this provision for student loans, despite the fact congressional republicans have pivoted in the other direction. what you're seeing is a replay of the debate concerning the social security payroll tax and the reduction in the social security payroll tax. many principled conservatives said, wait a second, some point we need to move this so that

it's going to cost taxpayers somewhat less, but there are others who said, look, the economy's very grim, this is not the time to do that, we should punt on that, at least for now. that proved to be the more politically sensible strategy. and it's funny to me that the obama folks expected mitt romney to repeat that error, given how costly it had been during the social security debate. >> that's, i guess, the thinking that thus far mitt romney's operated in a sort of, you know, it's fear-based decision making, to a certain degree, i don't want to alienate anybody on the far right. >> or he's a massachusetts moderate, who the messaging coming from the obama campaign whether or not he's an extremist or massachusetts moderate is fascinating. he's proven to be deft. >> we've discussed this messaging conflict. >> the question is, though, we look at the immigration law that the supreme court is going to take up and the real notion of immigration reform, and you have

budget proposals, like paul ryan's, which are extreme positions fundamentally that one will have to take. i think a lot of folks would say, if mitt romney wraps his arms around that stuff, that's going to hurt him in terms of appealing to moderate voters. >> medicare, mirrors the president's position in his budget. a good reason why represent ryan chose the exact same medicare growth rate as president obama chose in his last budget proposal. about to the extent people are thinking politically, you see that on the obama and certainly on side of his republican rivals and that his republican rivals have been shrewder in some respects. nanny vulnerabilities are neatly symmetrical with the president's own vulnerabilities. cuccinelli talking about immigration enforcement, very aggressive on the part of the obama administration. that has alienated the prids's supporters. >> he has a lot of ground to make up. an interesting dance that the white house is doing. we've talked about this more,

trying to paint romney as severely conservative and moving away from that he has no core message, ben. >> it's an opportunity for romney, because there is -- right, as they push him on being a clone of the house republicans, every time he moves a little to the left, this wasn't a radical socialist proposal to maintain the existing lending rates but we're talking about it, because it's interesting. he can pick his spots to break with the house republicans, they understand full well that that's the deal. and that it's going to happen as long as he sticks with them on big stuff. and he can again and again use these moments to differentiate himself and move to the center. >> it does raise an interesting question about a potential romney presidency, too, which is that he has no established relationship with his party's leadership. >> and nor does he have an appetite for the sausage making of politics or even state governance. as the catholic church weighs in on policy from the white house and gop, new concerns about the intersection of faith and politics. we'll discuss with "the

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it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com. much has been made of the alleged war on religion this campaign season. is the real battle within the catholic church? joining us now, washington post columnist and msnbc contributor, er e.j. dionne. >> it's great to be with you. i admire what you do. hello to my friends on the set. >> the warmest exchange on the show. we'll bring you up here and sit here permanently. >> i hope so. >> i want to follow on a column that you wrote in "the washington post," talking about the mod rate and conservative wings of the church. we have talked a lot about the conservative wing of the church, specifically the u.s. conference on catholic bishops, their role in the debate on contraception

and federal mandates. but an interesting thing happened last week, the u.s. conference on the catholic bishops sent several letters to the house committee saying that the paul ryan budget was not a moral document that it ignored the poor and the needy in society. a really interesting moment for not just catholics but the u.s. in terms of how the church is weighing in on social policy. you make the case that that was sort of an effort to appease the more moderate wing of the catholic church or catholics. >> i guess i'll prove i'm catholic by saying that i think the church's job in politics when it's doing it right is to make everybody feel guilty about something. and i think it's supposed to make -- it makes liberal catholics think harder about issue like abortion and assisted suicide and conservative catholics think harder about issues like social budget cuts. this week we saw both sides of this. you had the strong condemn nation of the republican budget,

particularly cuts in food stamps. on the other hand, you had the statement that came out of the vatican pushed i think by the conservative bishops here, condemning or criticizing the leadership conference of women religious progressive groups of nuns. i think the concern among the liberal catholics not that the church has abandonedite social teaching, it still there as the letter on the ryan budget shows, it's that the emphasis has changed more toward questions such as contraception mandate as the bishop's conference has become more conservative over the last 20 years. i think you are going to see a struggle and argument inside the church, not so much about the fundamentals, as about where will the emphasis of the church be. i think progressive catholics want them to be saying more than they have, along the lines of that letter on the republican budget. more about social justice. >> i thought it was an interesting moment, paul ryan and john boehner --

>> sorry. >> we'll end the segment there. when talking about the catholic church and you know the sort of tension between progressive wings and conservative wings, i thought it was an interesting time, insofar as speaker john boehner, paul ryan, both catholics themselves, having to defend themselves against the church. and the question i posed, when we talked about it last week, why is there no space in republican policy for the poor and the needy, give than those are fundamental teachings of the church, or that the u.s. conference of catholic bishops is saying this is not a moral document? >> i challenge the prem es ise, there are different attitude what are the best attitudes for alleviating poverty? 19780s, the catholic bishops were more left of center that didn't lead to a situation in which u.s. catholics voted month lit cali with reagan. the positions of nuclear freeze,

the confrontation with the soviet union and a wide array of other questions i don't flow if it was all that salient. depends on which domains are you talking about. people take their religious identity seriously, some more seriously than others and some take them seriously in some domains rather than other domains. there are many catholics that say i do take my cues on social issues from the catholic church. i argue that progressive catholics, i'm not sure that they are embracing their progressive positions, because there are catholic bishops who are telling them that paul ryan is a dangerous extremist rather than often types because they are public employees, because they a gal therrien liberals who by the buffett plan is a great idea. it could be catholic social teaching in some broader sense, but again, that's what's at work here, different domains, different issues. >> let's talk about the catholic voting bloc. 25% of the electorate is catholic. a swing group is white catholics

who do not go to church regularly. how does this play out in 2012, the church and its positions sort of seem to differ on various issues? >> catholics must be inspired by the holy spirit because they almost always vote for the winner. but the real reason they almost vote for the winner is because the catholic population reflects, to some degree, the diversity of the country. it's a large latino component, 10% of catholics are african-american. and catholics are your classic swing group. there are a 40-40-20 group. 20% swing around quite a lot. a lot of catholics vote other parts of that identity. he cited public employees. i say rich catholics vote republican because they like tax cuts. i think where the church teaching comes in, it asks people to question themselves about whether they're thinking

of a broad enough agenda. for example, to those wealthy catholics who might be inclined to be conservative, it says to them, but wait a minute, we catholics have always had a special concern for the poor and left out. we had a special concern for immigrants. what are you going to think about that? i think for more liberal catholics what you mind is, they tend to talk quite a lot, even if they're not sure of the state can outlaw abortion they talk about what we can do to reduce the number of abortions, which, by the way, often involves helping poor women with kids. so i agree, it's not monolithic, the church's influence is sometimes indirect, but i think that the question is, how does he get people to think about these issues? >> e.j. dionne, every member of my catholic family appreciate the fact you said catholic voters vote for winners. >> great to be with you. thanks. >> california gets set to vote

on whether to abolish the death penalty. the latest state to do so. details are next in "what now?" [ female announcer ] did you know the average person smiles

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welcome back. time for "what now?" voters in california will be able to decide in november if the death penalty should be abolished in their state. ben, i'm going to go to you on this first. if the california measure passes 725 inmates on death row will have their sentences to convered to life pout parole. 100 million in savings would be used over three years to investigate unsolved murders and rapes. what's interesting, the number of folks once death penalty

advocates that have signed on 0 this. >> people have read story after story of innocent people condemned to death or sentenced to president. people knew in the abstract this statistically has to happen but it's sunk in, how flawed the criminal justice system is. ardent supporters of the death penalty became less ardent and people on the fence moved a little. there's a massive sea change but a real sowing of doubted. >> economically, it costs the state disproportionate amount of money to execute people than keep them in jail. >> that's an argument that was always made. clearly something has changed in the last few yeared that ed ths referendum would be headed this. >> reauthorizing violence against women act. rick scott vetoed more than $1 million in aid for rape victims. a missouri candidate has never heard of the bill. violence against women, this is

the season the year of the woman? we keep saying that. i think it actually is. rick scott, sexual assault awareness month in florida, not best timing to kill $1.5 million in aid to rape crisis centers. >> the stories, it seems like a democratic strategist's dream, right. >> they were sitting in a room with a chalk board and said, what scenario can we concoct to prove that there really is a republican war against women? these would be two great items in support of that argument. >> we talk about social issues. at state level, folk are complicating for the republican party on the national level. >> rick scott favored steep cuts to computer science programs at the university of florida program. we recognize women are taxpayers, kind of a perhaps a slight majority of the electorate, and that shapes their concerns. >> so far as comparison between women and caterpillars was not the fairist, and computer is in

the same bucket for me. am i a democratic strategist. >> caterpillars, this is entirely new to me, but i'm going to have to read up on this. >> we have to end it, thank god, maggie haberman will be back for more tomorrow. thanks to reihan salam, jodi, maggie and ben. see you back here tomorrow, noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific. find united stats at facebook.com/nowwithalex. andrea mitchell will have the president's remarks live. what's with you? trouble with a car insurance claim. [ dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

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the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. "andrea mitchell reports," primary day in five states. giving mitt romney a chance to cement his control, pennsylvania, delaware, rhode island, connecticut. why is this man getting a free ride at taxpayer expense? delaware could be the end of the road for what some are cawing an