Skip to main content

tv   The Daily Rundown  MSNBC  May 4, 2012 6:00am-7:00am PDT

6:00 am
>> given the rhetoric, it is going to be a horrific six months for america. >> but a really, really tough six months as you look at these numbers for american workers. >> the level of debate is pathetic, joe, right now. >> time to wrap it up. have a good weekend, everybody! >> it is way too early. >> "morning joe." we will see you on monday. stick around for check. >> job growth slows again. this time in april. the number is out. this hour shows nonfarm payroll is up. just 115,000 while the unemployment rate drops down a notch to 8.1%. we will find out what to make of these new numbers. get the first reaction from the white house right here. >> virginia isn't just for lovers but swing voters. the newest battleground state may be the most critical. both campaigns zero in on the commonwealth as new campaigns show the president ahead. two words to keep in mind regarding virginia.
6:01 am
gender gap. >> mitt romney condemning the planned the handling of the blind dissident. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. let's get right to my first reads of the morning. we start with april jobs report. unemployment fell 8.1%. that appears to be people because stopped looking for work. the economy added 115,000 jobs while the percentage of adults working or looking for work fell to the lowest level in more than 30, 3-0, years. after three strong months this report may not be enough to make marches sluggish numbers look like some sort of blip. every jobs report becomes more important. statements saying the april numbers confirm, quote, telltale warning signs that the recovery has stalled. moments ago, romney called the
6:02 am
jobs report very disappointing. >> we should be seeing numbers in the 500,000 jobs created per month. this is way, way, way off from what should happen in a normal recovery. it is a terrible and very disappointing report this morning. clearly, the american people are wondering why this recovery isn't happening faster, why it has taken years and years for the recovery to occur. >> in an interview with nbc's virginia affiliate, wavy, romney was challenged to respond to the white house argument that growth is slow and steady. >> the statistic they are throwing around is that there have been 25 straight months of private sector job growth. isn't that good? >> they are looking desperately to try and guild this very bad setting over the last 3 1/2 years. you have seen unemployment above 8% for 38 straight months. the president thinks that the
6:03 am
people of this country are feeling that things are going well. he needs to get out and talk to more people. >> the fact of the matter is, how the economy is viewed. it is this second quarter. a lot of times, historically, that is said. we do process information quicker. so we shall see. right now, we saw the las nbc wall street journal poll indicated that the country had viewed the economy as sort of flat-lined. the optimism had slowed. this report will do nothing to change that perception. to the diplomatic crisis over the faith of the blind chinese dissident, chen guangcheng after the start of a 24-time when the republicans said they were bungling. secretary of state was asked about it at a news conference this morning in beijing. here is what she said.
6:04 am
>> all of our efforts with mr. cheng have been guided by his choices and our values. i am pleased that today our ambassador has spoken with him again. our embassy staff and our doctor had a chance to meet with him. he confirms that he and his family now want to go to the united states so he can pursue his studies. >> clinton also said she was, quote, encouraged by this two-sentence statement from china's foreign ministry. quote, if he wishes to study overseas as a chinese citizen, he can, like any other chinese citizens, process relevant procedures with relevant departments through normal channels in accordance to the law. several chinese newspapers launched an insult on chen and the u.s. describing the dissident as a pawn of the united states. china's official news agency did not follow suit suggesting there might be disagreement in china
6:05 am
over how to save face in this crisis with both clinton and geithner on chinese soil. the chinese government, they say, has said they will accept his applications for appropriate travel documents and they would give his visa and family v. request priority. it follows a tense 48-hours where he in a beijing hospital surrounded by security answered a phone call from high man rights activist as they were meeting with republican members of congress. >> translator: i want to meet with the secretary, clinton. i hope i can get more help from her. >> a dramatic moment there yesterday afternoon. on the campaign trail, in virginia, romney lashed out at the administration saying the white house had not acted forcefully enough to ensure
6:06 am
chen's safety. >> if these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom. it is ai day of shame for the obama administration. >> on the hill, republicans even raised the specter of ttiananme square. >> america missed an opportunity in tiananmen. will this fail to seize the historic moment. >> "the new york times" reporting reported that senior u.s. officials privately are acknowledging missteps in the handling of the case. the white house, frankly, yesterday, looked flat-footed. >> all of our diplomacy was directed at putting him in the best possible position to achieve his objectives. >> but was the diplomacy rushed because clinton and geithner were coming to china? the full story isn't clear. did the u.s. put too much faith in what chen said to them.
6:07 am
did chen put too much faith into assurances from both governments and have a change of heart after speaking to his wife and friends. it was interesting to hear what secretary clinton said when she said, she is encouraged now that the u.s. ambassador, meaning gary locke and u.s. ambassadors were able to go back and meet with his doctors and with chen. a lot of this felt rushed, simply, because they were trying to figure out a deal as clinton and geithner were coming to the country. would things have been different if they didn't feel the pressure of the meeting. finally, virginia, virginia, virginia, it is the most important swing state. 2012's florida and ohio. the president travels to arl toto arlington, virginia today. on saturday, at virginia common wealth in richmond. romney has spent much of the week there with events in
6:08 am
chantilly and portsmouth. if he loses virginia, both he and virginia's governor acknowledged the path would get harder. >> this may well be the state that decides who the next president is. >> i would say most would say it is a tough path for a republican to win the presidency without winning virginia. >> in a new washington post poll, the president leads by seven points, 51-44 among registered voters. romney has a lead. president obama has a ten-point lead among independents. mitt romney has an edge against the northern virginia exurbs, one of the swing parts of northern virginia. the money in this presidential election will be spend in 17 swing markets where bush won in '04 and obama won in '08. three of them are in virginia.
6:09 am
will the message that virginia's governor is trumpeting help romney run? >> when we took office, times were tough for virginia's families. together, we focused like a laser on jobs and our economy. the result, the lowest unemployment rate in over three years and thousands of new virginia jobs. >> mcdonnel welcomed romney to the state yesterday this way. >> welcome to the state with the lowest unemployment rate in the southeast. >> it is a tough. it is a weird, mixed message. what would virginia's unemployment rate be without the federal government in the specter of, oechlh, say, theon. sg. >> in pittsburgh, romney and santorum have the long-awaited private meeting. santorum ma
6:10 am
santorum. it looks to be a vehicle for him going forward. we are going to have much more on vary have and all this stuff and those swing battleground media markets, i will tell you about later. let's go right to the big story of the morning. while the unemployment number us going in the right direction if you are the president, it is for the wrong wreereasons, apparent. mark zandi is the economist for moody's annal lis tick. what do you make with the fact that 100,000 jobs added doesn't keep up combined with the fact that there are fewer people in the jobs market? >> it is soft, disappointing, not as soft as it looks. this is a result of payback for the warm, winter weather. december, january, february, we got 250,000 jobs per month on afrm average. that's above what the economy is producing. in march, april, and may. the reality is, it is somewhere in between. 175, 200,000 jobs per month.
6:11 am
that's what i expect we will see in the summer, fall months. that isn't boom times but enough to get unemployment moving further down. that would be okay. >> let's talk more about the shrinking labor market. last month, you thought one of the bigger factors that hasn't been reported on very well is a lot of retirements. so the baby boom generation is simply moving from being in the labor market to not being in the labor market. that has contributed to the lowering of the amount of people in the workforce. is that the entire story here? >> no. you are right. demographics is a big part of the story. another part of the story is the expiration of the emergency unemployment insurance program in an increasing number of states. i this i it expired in nine states in april. there are a number of older workers who were on an unemployment insurance as they lose those benefits, they are going to retire. so i think that's what we are starting to see in the data.
6:12 am
they are starting to retire. they are not counted as unemployed. this lowers labor force and the rate of unemployment. that dynamic, if i have got this right, that is going to be in place through the early part of next year. that is going to put further down ward pressure on unemployment and it wouldn't be at all surprising if it were below 8% by the end of the year. >> last question. when you look inside the numbers here, the sectors that look like they are the healthiest and then the sectors that you are concerned about? >> well, manufacturing is going great guns. it is a high-paying sector. mining, retail, health care doing very well. the weakness, local government local government is under tremendous pressure. leisure hospitality, transportation, that's weather related because of the warm weather early in the winter. >> you expect transportation to
6:13 am
pick up in the summer? >> i do. we were overly optimistic. the numbers looked great in the winter. now, we are overly pessimistic, because of the payback from that effect. we will see the reality this summer and fall. i think the reality is job growth that is close to 175,000, 200,000 per month, which, again, is not great. it would be great if we saw more than that. that isn't too bad. >> mark zandi, moody's annal lis ticks. thank you, sir. straight ahead, we will get team obama's take on that brand new jobs report. delaware democrat, chris coons joins me next month. we have a lot to talk about. still to come, after more than a decade, the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind, khalid shaikh mohammed gets ready to face a trial. he heads to arlington today.
6:14 am
president obama is going to be talking about student loans. we are guessing he is going to talk about the jobs report too. john calipari comes to the white house too. [ male announcer ] away... is as much about getting there... ♪ ...as it is being there. ♪ [ birds chirping ]
6:15 am
away is where the days are packed with wonder... ♪ [ wind whistles ] ...and the evenings are filled with familiar comforts. find your away. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you, visit gorving.com. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy,
6:16 am
the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader.
6:17 am
as you just heard, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1%. what does that mean for the economy and the election and the issue of workers stopping to look for work? joining me now, democratic senator, chris coons of delaware. your first blush reaction? you have to like the unemployment rate drop but the fact that less people are looking for work has to be
6:18 am
discouraging. >> it's great to hear the unemployment rate continues to drop. this is our 26th straight month of private sector jobs growth. we have to do better. in the congress of the united states, we can and should do more work before the election in the rest of this calendar year to pass bipartisan bills that will help strengthen jobs growth. i know president obama wants stronger jobs growth, so do i. so do all of us in congress. there are things we can and should take up and pass like the transportation bill. it came out of the senate with a strong bipartisan vote but sits now there. >> given that the one sector of the economy other than government workers, which has been consistently down ward trajectory and a little bit of a drag on the unemployment rate,
6:19 am
transportation sector was a negative, lost jobs. >> that's right. >> you think that will be an impettis to get the house and senate to come together and get something passed. >> i really hope so, chuck. the manufacturing jobs news has been very competitive. i do think we are making good progress in that diron the senate, the two-year, $109 billion transportation bill is something that's been endorsed by the u.s. chamber of of commerce and the aflcio. it managed to get out of the senate and is languishing over in the house. it is my real hope when we get back to work this month, the house will take it up and pass it so states and municipalities and counties all over the country can get folks to work this summer. the projected estimate was that that bill, if passed, would save or create up to 3 million jobs. as you mentioned, chuck, construction has been
6:20 am
particularly hard-hit. these are developments that would make our country competitive for the long run. >> i want to switch subjects to china and the apparent deal the chinese government has agreed to allow chen guangcheng to study abroad and that the u.s. will expedite a visa for him. do you feel everything had been rushed in the diplomatic discussions between our embassy and the chinese government and its handling this week simply because of the fact that secretaries xlin t secretaries clinton and geithner were headed to the country. >> i think the circumstances around this activist ending up at the embassy and having a path coming to the united states are very difficult. i have to take the secretary of state's representation that what they were doing in the embassy, which is an inspiring moment. a chinese activist seekses
6:21 am
refuge in the united states embassy. what the secretary and others on behalf of the administration have said is that he very strongly wanted to stay in china. so they did their best under tough circumstances to continue to put human rights at the top of their agenda, though secretary geithner and clinton have lots of other issues to deal with. human rights must be at the top of our agenda in a working relationship. they negotiated what they thought was the best path forward. the last few days have been very disappointing. the chinese apparently did not keep their commitments. i am pleased if the ultimate outcome is going to be that chen and his family will be able to come to study and to safety in the united states. >> are you concerned things got rushed simply because clinton and geithner were headed there? >> well, i can't speak to that. the one trip i made to pakistan and afghanistan was a great window into just how hard these
6:22 am
circumstances can be. i landed in islamabad and pakistan with three other senators. it was literally the week that an american had been taken hostage by some local extremists in a province in pakistan. we had a brand new ambassador. i got to witness very difficult and hur read negotiations to free ray davis, someone who had worked with the united states government. i have some window into how difficult these negotiations must have been with the chinese. i believe that secretary clinton has done a good job and ambassador locke has done a good job for standing up for our efforts and i support their efforts. >> senator, thanks for coming on this morning. >> thank you. how will wall street react to these new job numbers? the market rundown is next.
6:23 am
what is it going to cost you to own a piece of facebook's billions. will you like the stock? how many people have been awarded the nobel peace prize while serving in the united states senate. the first correct answer gets a call on friday from us. the answer is coming up. we will be right back.
6:24 am
pull on those gardening gloves. and let's see how colorful an afternoon can be. with certified advice to help us expand our palette... ...and prices that give us more spring per dollar... ...we can mix the right soil with the right ideas. ...and bring even more color to any garden. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. lay down a new look, with earthgro mulch, now three bags for just $10. is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain. two pills can last all day. ♪ ttd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the typical financial consultation ttd# 1-800-345-2550 when companies try to sell you something off their menu
6:25 am
ttd# 1-800-345-2550 instead of trying to understand what you really need. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we provide ttd# 1-800-345-2550 a full range of financial products, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 even if they're not ours. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and we listen before making our recommendations, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so we can offer practical ideas that make sense for you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck, and see how we can help you, not sell you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ♪ nespresso. where there's a grand cru to match my every mood.
6:26 am
♪ where just one touch creates the perfect cup. where no one makes a better cappuccino, latte, or espresso than me. and where clothing is optional. nespresso. the best cafe. yours. breaking news this morning with chen guangcheng, the chinese government approving him to study abroad and expedite his visa. khalil shake mohammed, the admitted mastermind behind the attacks will be arraigned friday at a military tribunal at guantanamo bay.
6:27 am
he has mocked the tribunal and says he welcomes the death penalty. massachusetts senator, scott brown, is getting a helping hand from another northeastern moderate this morning, maine senator, susan collins will endorse her colleague at a press conference at brown's boston headquarters, in a tough battle against elizabeth warren to keep his seat in a traditionally blue state. a crushing blow. star closer, mariano rivera tore his acl while shagging fly balls in kansas city tichlts painful to look at. could be a career-ending injury for the future hall-of-famer who said this was probably going to be his last season. >> facebook announced it plans to sell shares for $28 to $35 each in the anticipated ipo. we will get a little market reaction on that. jackie deangeles at cnbc will tell us how the market is going to react to the jobs report.
6:28 am
they sort of had priced this? ? >> let's get to the jobs report in one second. i am going to start with facebook. you mentioned that price range between $28 and $35. that values the social networking giant at up to $96 million. that is a little under the expected $100 billion range which was a little bit of a surprise. we are looking athe a pricing date set on may 17th and trading on the nasdaq on the 18th. in the meantime, you did mention the jobs report. the future is pointing to a lower open on wall street after that release this morning. the number coming in at 115,000 below expectations. with those revisions that we saw from the previous month, unemployment declined to 8.1% in april from 8.2%. not a great number. not a great report. the mark kits could take this as an indication the fed might move forward with qe-3. samsung battling apple with the galaxy s-3, the new smart phone.
6:29 am
it has a bigger screen and lighter than the iphone. we will see if this can put a dent in some of the iphone sales. >> samsung, they are a hot company. the romney campaign reacts to the new unemployment report. talking tough to china and what's really behind that resignation of romney's foreign policy spokesman. romney cease senior adviser joins me next. why governor bob mcdonnel might be a short-timer on the v.p. list. i will explain when we come back. for three hours a week, i'm a coach. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers.
6:30 am
we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. free-credit-score-dot-com'sur boargonna direct you ♪ts ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™.
6:31 am
6:32 am
given its potential impact on the 2012 election, today's jobs report is as much of a political document as it is an economic one. eric lindstrom, senior adviser to the obama campaign joins me
6:33 am
with the numbers. good morning. >> good morning, john. let me read you how bloomberg news is framing this jobs report. they note that with the additional job gains this month plus with the revisions in february and march, that for the first time president obama can now say he has created net plus jobs, meaning 5 million jobs that were lost during the bush/cheney years, have been put back. how do you react to that? >> well, i have a different perspective, chuck. i think i the obama campaign should thank its slogan from forward to backward. this is an extraordinarily weak monthly jobs report. the president promised in this single term of his he would turn around the economy. he has failed to do that. his policies have not made things better. the fact that the unemployment rate ticked down is not because
6:34 am
we have robust jobs growth. we have very weak jobs growth. the reason the rate ticked down by 0.1 of a point, people are so discouraged they are dropping out of the workforce all together. >> how do you respond to the fact that all the jobs lost have been replaced? we are basically back to even considering the hole that he began with? >> i don't think americans feel that way, chuck. i think americans are still coping with a very bad economy. this is just latest in a string of bad economic data that has come out, whether we are talking about gdp growth or jobs. the numbers are not there. we still have 23 million americans that are unemployed or underemployed. i can't think of a more fitting back drop to the kickoff of the
6:35 am
pre president's re-election campaign than yet another dreary economic report. we got word out of great britain, the u.k., that they are now in a double dip recession. the policies that cameron put forward are similar to what governor romney is endorsing, cut cap and balance. are you concerned, is governor romney rethinking this idea of contracting the size of government given what that that has done in europe, in particular, great britain? >> one thing we can say for certainty, we don't have to look to other countries as a measuring stick, one thing we can say for certain president obama's plans haven't worked. mitt romney has put together 59 specific proposals covering regulation, fiscal tax policy. people can go to mittromney.com
6:36 am
and learn more about that. it wasn't too long ago that the president said he measures progress in this country by how many good jobs we create, jobs that pay good wages so people can buy cars and pay the mortgage. by his own measurement, about i his own standard, he hasn't lived up to that promise. his policies aren't working. i think americans are going to deliver their verdict on the economy in november. >> so no rethinking as far as cut cap and balance is concerned given the impact on great britain. >> no. we have two challenges, chuck, that confront us. one, of course, is turning around this economy and mitt romney has experience in turning around broken enterprises. the second challenge is putting it on sound financial footing. this is the first president that has ever given us a $1 trillion
6:37 am
deficit. he has done it three times and is on track to do it a fourth time. we need a change in our fiscal policies and economic policies. i want to talk about richard grinnell. i know where you were on him. i know you hired him an were trying to keep him, have him stay on the campaign but it seems that one of the things he was disappointed in is that his job description had shrank? was he told he was not to speak on the call. >> i have a lot of respect and admiration for rick grenell. he was supremely qualified to be the foreign policy spokesman. he did decide for his own reasons that his effectiveness was going to be compromised. he made a decision to resign.
6:38 am
as far as that conference call, we featured our foreign policy advisers. it was not a call where the staff was encouraged to be speaking with reporters but where we wanted to put the focus on our foreign policy team. let me say this about mitt romney when it comes to hiring, he looks at the qualifications but does not consider race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. if you are curious about his hiring record, go back and look at his four years where he spend as governor. the hallmark of his appointment process was bringing in the best and most qualified people. >> you said he resigned because he thought his effectiveness had been compromised. is this having to do with the fact that some social conservatives appeared to
6:39 am
publicly be going after him? >> i don't want to speak for rick. i will say that, of course, there were voices of intolerance that expressed themselves during this debate. that was unfortunate. mitt romney has confronted those voices of intolerance. he did it last october on stage at the value voters summit and denounced some of the poisonous language that is being used by some of the same people that had criticized rick gren nel's appointment. he has a record of taking on intolerant voices. it led to the resignation of a person we thought would have been a fine foreign policy spokesman for us. >> eric fehrnstrom coming here from boston. thanks for coming up. >> thank you, chuck. our friday political panel joins me next, the single most
6:40 am
important swing state in this election. plus, a kentucky derby surprise. you have to wait until the very, very end of the show to get it. it is a fun one. especially for you political junkies. we have got it on good authority who is going to win and a program of this sunday on abc's me "meet the press" an interview with joe biden. this is more appropriate for cinco de mayo. you guys kill me on twitter. chipotle chicken tortilla. we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna. 3% back on [ friends ] road trip!!!!!!!!!!!!
6:41 am
[ male announcer ] get 1-2-3 percent cash back. apply online or at a bank of america near you. ♪ apply online or at a bank of america near you. so i test... a lot. do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood. yeah, and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. yep. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? so testing is one less thing i have to worry about today. great. call or click today and get strips and a meter free. test easy. you'll also care about our new offer. you get access to nurses who can help with your questions. and your loved one can get exelon patch free for 30 days. if the doctor feels it's right for them. it cannot change how the disease progresses. hospitalization and rarely death have been reported in patients who wore more than one patch at a time.
6:42 am
the most common side effects of exelon patch are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. the likelihood and severity of these side effects may increase as the dose increases. patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more side effects. people at risk for stomach ulcers who take certain other medicines should talk to their doctor because serious stomach problems such as bleeding may worsen. patients may experience slow heart rate. thirty days of exelon patch free for your loved one. access to trained nurses for you. call 1-855-999-2399 or visit exelonpatchoffer10.com.
6:43 am
the new washington post filled with good news for president obama. 50% of virginia voters call themselves dissatisfied with the policies of this administration,
6:44 am
putting pressure on the white house to win over the most crucial state in november. john, i want to first go quickly and talk to virginia in a minute. i want to go quickly to these job numbers. you cover this story outside of washington. you hear these stories of the workforce is shrinking. where have you seen it in the midwest? do you see it? do you see upticks in manufacturing? >> the uptick in manufacturing is real. it is real in michigan. the auto sector is booming. in illinois, caterpillar is hiring again. they were opening up. so that is real. at the same time, there are a lot of people who are discouraged, who have given up looking for work. that's the one hall park of this
6:45 am
recession, the length of this unemployment. there are people thats lo the their jobs at the beginning of this recession and very likely will not work again. >> liz, this is the challenge for the president. on one hand, he can say, look, it was the worst recession since the great depression. what does the romney campaign say? this is the worst recovery since the great depression. they are both powerful arguments. >> they are both spinning the numbers the way they need to. the fact of the matter is, there is a disconnect between the overall number. the unemployment number is going down but the people in the midwest are not feeling this recovery. romney is playing to that component, those that are still hurting in their pocket books and obama is playing to those that are necessarily seeing the bigger than green sheets on the
6:46 am
horizon. >> this is part of this whole split a little bit here. when you look at the president's poll numbers, he simply is stronger in the states where the economy is better, virginia, right there, colorado is another one, these states and even where you see his numbers coming back in places like michigan. again, it is almost because the economy is getting better and he is benefiting that. where is romney stronger? places like florida, ohio, et cetera. >> it is all about where voters are focused on. if it is simply a referendum on the president and the economy and how the economy is doing, it is still a 50/50 proposition. if you bring romney and this comparison and the choice into the mix, then the president is starting to look better. >> i want to jump into this virginia poll. what was striking to me about it, john yang, simply, "the washington post" did a nice little comparative of the breakdown between mccain/obama and romney obama. basically, everything is matching. margin of error here or there.
6:47 am
undecided vote, a little bit larger, except one place. women. huge gender gap. >> you are seeing that more and more in the campaign. a week ago, a couple of weeks ago, with are it really was women's week where each campaign was trying to out do each other talking about how great they were for women and how bad the other guy is for women. virginia is going to be a huge battleground. i was there four years ago, election night four years ago. when i sa you some of those rural counties, sort of down south, not just northern virginia, going for obama -- >> you knew something was going on. >> we are going to take a quick break, go to the white house right after the break and talk to alan krueger, counsel of economic adviser chair and talk about the just released numbers. first, trivia time. how many people have been awarded the nobel peace prize while serving in the united states senate? actually only one got it while serving, new york republican
6:48 am
elihu root. former senators, including president obama, were awarded the nobel peace prize after leaving the senate. you are watching the daily run down only on msnbc. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. a living breathing intelligence bringing people together to bring new ideas to life. look. it's so simple. [ male announcer ] in here, the right minds
6:49 am
from inside and outside the company come together to work on an idea. adding to it from the road, improving it in the cloud all in real time. good idea. ♪ it's the at&t network -- providing new ways to work together, so business works better. ♪ if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com.
6:50 am
♪ [ lauer ] this is our team. and unlike other countries, it's built by your donations, not government funding. and now, to support our athletes, you can donate a stitch in america's flag for the 2012 olympic games in london. help raise our flag, add your stitch at teamusa.org.
6:51 am
mitt romney and republican leaders in congress have pounced on this morning's jobs numbers calling them disappointing. romney said they're, quote, way off from what the u.s. needs to recover. joining me is alan krueger chairman of the president's council of economic advisers. mr. krueger, good morning. >> good morning, chuck. >> two straight months now of essentially job growth that only covers the population. what do you say to that? >> you know, these numbers are volatile. every month i say the same thing. they move up and down. what you want to do is take a step back. look at where the economy is headed, where it's coming from, over the last four months we've added over 800,000 jobs. and the recovery is continuing.
6:52 am
we have a long way to go. given how deep the hole was. given the problems that were building up over decades but we're headed in a much better direction now and i think this report is further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal. >> but why is it a slow growth? >> you know, the first quarter we had the best job growth that we've had since 2006. so, i think you need to step back and kind of put these numbers in context. they move around. it makes a lot of sense i think to look at a moving average, if you will, of the data coming in. and i think we also have to recognize that given the severity of the recession, given the nature of the financial crisis, this recovery has faced a lot of headwinds and in spite of those headwinds we've now had 26 months in a row of private sector job growth, we've had 11 quarters in a row of economic growth. the residential construction sector has shown growth over each of the last four quarters
6:53 am
for the first time since 2005. so, there are signs that the economy is healing from these very deep problems. >> can you really write off, though, the shrinking of the labor force as only demographics? >> certainly a major factor in labor force participation over the last decade has been the aging of the workforce demographic trends. but, you know, we're focused on job growth, that's really what's most important. there was a jobs deficit even before the recession started. we weren't creating enough middle-class jobs in this country in the 2000s, even before the recession, so that's what the president's economic team and the president are focused on. >> so, you believe there are some discouraged workers out there. a lot of it's demographic's but this drop-off is discouragement. >> you know, if you look at the drop in the unemployment rate, chuck, since august, the unemployment rate has fallen from 9.1% to 8.1% points, one percentage point drop, mostly due to more people finding jobs.
6:54 am
so, these are indications that the economy's moving in a better direction. there's a lot of work left to be done. president proposed a strong package of job creation proposals in the american jobs act. congress has acted on many of those proposals, but there's others which would help such as if congress had acted on the president's proposal to give state and local governments more money to retain teachers and first responders. that would help the economy. and these numbers today indeed we see further reductions in schoolteachers. >> all right. alan krueger, chairman of the council of economic advisers for the president. thank you for coming on this morning, happy jobs friday. >> nice to see you chuck. let's bring back our panel today. liz, i wanted to go back a little bit of politics, watching bob mcdonald yesterday. >> yes. >> talk so highly of the virginia economy. does that actually hurt him in the veep-stakes?
6:55 am
in a weird way. mitt romney looked awkward as they were talking there. virginia's economy is doing well and it's all thanks to the government, let's presetend it' not. >> you are hearing others saying the same thing. there's this huge disconnect because in effect they are in conflict with romney and romney wants folks to believe in the swing states, rightly wrongly, that the economy's not improving and yet the governors are looking out for themselves. >> nathan, tomorrow the president kicks off his campaign rallies and he's picking out columbus, ohio, richmond, virginia, our partners at smart media group noted which media markets went from bush to obama in the battleground states. guess what, 2 of the 17, just 17, in the 12 battleground states, two of the 17, columbus and richmond. >> there are no accidents when it comes to the president's schedule and it's clear that virginia not only the presidential rales bce but the control of government, if you told me who would win the senate
6:56 am
race in virginia, it would give you a good indication of who is in the senate. >> and a shameless plug, john, go. >> huntsville, alabama, is going to barnard, my niece. >> is she going to put the hat on? nathan, go. >> congratulations to the dallas dragons, my high school won the state wrestling championship, 5-a, congratulations. >> go. >> happy 2nd birthday to roxie englewood, my 2-year-old niece. >> and mine is to a longtime political pundit, huge horse racing fan, his kentucky derby pick is bodemeister, and all of that stuff, anyways, because he wants to win some money since bodemeister is one of the favorites. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown" and coming up next is chris jansing, have a great kentucky derby weekend.
6:57 am
here's a look at your weekend forecast. once again thunderstorms throughout the northern half of the country especially through the northern plains as we go throughout our saturday. we're going to be okay in areas of the deep south, temperatures will be very warm. we're in the 90s and upper 80s in many locations. west coast looks okay as we go throughout your weekend forecast and even into sunday, the only areas of concern will be the midwest with more thunderstorms. [ clang ] my house is where plants came to die. ♪ but, it turns out all i was missing was miracle-gro potting mix. it's got what a plant needs. even plant food that feeds them for up to 6 months. you get bigger, more beautiful plants. guaranteed. who's got two green thumbs thanks to miracle-gro? uh, this gal. boom! everyone grows with miracle-gro.
6:58 am
6:59 am