>> bain. >> bain. >> bain. >> bain capital. if we lost, they made money. >> mitt romney's business experience wasn't about job creation. >> romney tries to dig his way out. >> i don't dig graves from the side. but i probably dug a couple hundred graves. >> grave diggers. can he really feel their pain? >> over the long haul, mr. romney has had many more successes than failures. >> my income comes from investments made in the past rather than ordinary income. >> oh, i'm going to win. >> we begin as we await mitt romney giving an address on the deficit where he is due to describe a prairie fire of debt sweeping across the nation. and the speech in battle ground iowa this afternoon comes as new polling shows mr. romney not only tightening the race but indeed, leading the president.

in the new york times head to head match-up, romney now ahead by three points against the president. 46-43%. within the margin of error. perhaps even more troubling for the president, a new usa gallonup poll shows a 9-point lead on romney on who will help the economy improve. 55-46%. issue number one for voters is clearly a key campaign concern for the president. as he admitted today there is much more work to do. >> we were about joe biden. joe has a favorite expression. he said don't compare me to the almighty. compare me to the alternative. his theory is if you slash taxes even further, if you leave business, banks, whoever, to do what they want. then everything will be okay. >> after that, puppishing view of mitt romney's economic

general, the president went on to illustrate his ambitions for a second term. >> what i want to spend the next five years doing is re-creating that america where if you work hard, you can make it. regardless of where you come from. what you look like. >> and that expansive and empowering view was a key part of the president's graduation address monday at the all women barnard college here in new york city in what could be seen as a female favored campaign excursion. but if it is no surprise that the president is targeting female voters, the result of the new york times survey of women may surprise you. their poll shows mitt romney now leading among women 46-44%. fiv points since last month. the obama team has questioned that poll's methodology and they may be right with the gallup poll showing obama holding an eight-point lead with women.

but we have no doubt mitt romney took a moment to kick up his polished loafers, and wait for it. there's more. form he president george w. bush has at long last endorsed mitt humney very nearly outside of n rights forum. quote, i'm for mitt romney. bush told abc news this morning as the doors of an elevator closed on him. that's resounding, isn't it? going down, sir? let's bring in our triple tuesday panel. here with me in new york is republican strategist ron christie. former special assistant to george w. bush. in washington, political analyst richard wolff and david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones magazine and author of the best selling "showdown." do these suggest to you the president is regarded as weak or mitt romney as strong on the economy? which of those? >> i think the public probably has a very mixed opinion of both men at this point in time.

they clearly like president barack obama but they don't like that the economy has not gotten better faster. they don't like mitt romney all that much. but they like the idea of mitt romney. mr. fix-it. a business fellow who can come in and do a turn-around like did he with staples. not gst, the steel company where everybody lost their jobs. so in other words, the bottom line here, it is complicated. and people, voters will be sorting out these conflicting feelings over the next five months which i think we will see a lot of see-sawing in the polls as they go through that process which is why it will be quite tight up until the en. >> indeed. we're looking at pictures there of the stage in iowa where mitt romney is expected to speak. i have to point out that the polls also show that the enthusiasm gap is alive and well. 59% are enthusiastic about mitt romney. 88% enthusiastic for the president. a third of the gop say they want another candidate. why is that?

>> they need to get over themselves. we've selected our nominee. >> i understand that. >> why do a third of republicans want someone other than mitt romney? >> i think they're a third who would have wanted someone like rick santorum, someone who would have appealed to the base. conservative, pro-life. unwaivering in their conservative credentials. >> unlike mitt romney. ? >> their opinion, yes. however, as you note, there is a nearly 60% of republican who's are very much in favor of him. i think what will be important for governor romney is not just the republicans but the independents. governor romney and president obama are fighting for the independents. the independents, i believe, will be the judge and the decider in this race. that's who these folks are going after. >> it didn't take long for the obama campaign to send out an e-mail, quote, bush endorses romney. romney endorses bush era policies. i guess that was already in the drawer waiting to come out. >> they've obviously spent a lot of time trying to talk about the president that no one wants to talk about on the republican

side. it is striking and ron must feel this personally as i know lots of people in the bush administration do. that their policies have been adopted, certainly on foreign policy. also on economic policy. but they have given no credit as the bush administration. because he is still the former president bush is seen as being too toxic in this environment. and alienating figure. and that i think is a difficult legacy for many people who served in the bush administration. >> david, romney is testing his economic message today in iowa. where the des moines register reports 5.2% unemployment and 13,000 jobs created in the last year. so my question to you, why on earth would they want to go back to bush era policies as describe by richard wolff just now? >> nostalgia? i can't -- maybe ron can tell us. i can't tell you why. this is what is kind of odd with our economy at this moment. it is really a swiss cheese

economy. where there are great holes and there are also some good pockets of growth. the obama talks about this openly. not one national election but ten, 12 local elections in those swing states. right now iowa is doing pretty good. you think virginia is doing pretty well economically. some of the swing states are doing better than some of the red states. but, if you look at that, i don't know why they go to iowa and view this doom and gloom. i guess they think the iowa voters, still the bob dole type of republican who hates deficits. that's so not what happened during the bush years and romney's policies don't really address this, as you know. maybe it is the best he has at this moment. >> does it hurt you at all having been involved in the bush team? that the romney campaign steals bush era policies on foreign affairs, steals ideas on the economy, but gives you no credit what so ever? >> i think imitation is the best

form of flattery. i'm sorry. i do. >> why don't they admit it? what's the problem with admitting that actually, they're taking policies that george bush and yourself crafted with the rest of your team and why would they admitted that publicly? >> now you give me credit. i think it is very clear that in foreign policy, much of what governor romney has spoken about would be a continuation of what my former boss has done. if they want to give him credit, give him credit. ? so plan wars that run paid for? >> no, come on. making sure the united states after 9/11 hasn't been hit again. >> sorry? what has the president done? >> i give barack obama full credit. it is a continuation of the bush administration. so barack obama, actually -- >> actually ceased the war in iraq. that's not a continuation. >> it is a failure. if you see sectarian violence in afghanistan is back up. that's a failure. >> i think we have drawn down

over snowe i think if you accept if the american military were there for a millennium, there would be sectarian violence. >> i would be the first to tell you given the violence, we should get out. it's been a failure. get out. >> we know mitt romney talks about a prairie fire of debt and how he will lead us out of this debt and spending crisis. he never, ever mentions taxes. he never mentions taxes. i know he's being consistent with his guru mr. paul ryan and he has tied him with speaker bain here of course will be allowed a congressmen to be raised anywhere. does that mean the only way the deficit gets resolved is by hammering the poor and people who rely on government assistance in some form? >> he does talk about tax. he talks about -- >> cutting them. >> cutting them on top of the extension of the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. cutting further on the wealthy. people like himself. he is stuck with the ryan play

book, the tea party play book. they can't get off a dime on revenue so they can't do something like the simpson boles commission. or these moderate plans. if he is be going to talk about any of that in material of deficit reduction and he wants to expand the military, basically he will have to shut down the epa and the fbi and the fda. the "washington post" said this about the ryan budget. eventually there is no government left except the bloated defense department. and i think this is something we'll see debated more fully. maybe in the fall. the white house will not let this policy disagreement escape voters' notice. >> okay. do stay with us. i would love to have your opinions in the next segment. we'll have much more straight ahead. stay with us. >> now this one you may not know. >> i'm hoping that you don't, as a matter of fact. what's the controversial sex book that is on million of women's bed side tables?

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mitt romney is speaking live right now in des moines, iowa. his first time in that state. the speech as the banner behind him reads, cutting spending. let's take a listen. >> the children we love. now you know also, this is not solely a democrat or a republican problem. the issue isn't who deserves the most blame. the issue is, who is going to do what it takes to put out the fire? the people of iowa and of

america have watched president obama for nearly four years now. much of that time with congress controlled by his own party. and rather than putting out that spending firk he has been feeding it. he has spent more and borrowed more. the time has come for a president, a leader who will lead. i will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno. we will stop borrowing unfathomable amounts of money we can't even imagine from foreign countries we're never even going to visit. i will work with you to make sure we put out this spending and borrowing fire. a lot of people think this is a problem we can't solve. i reject that kind of can't do defeatist talk.

it's wrong. what has happened here isn't complicated. washington has been spending too much money and our new president made things worse. his policies have taken us backwards. almost a generation ago, bill clinton announced that the era of big government was over. even the former mccain worker like president clinton was signaling to his own party that democrats should no longer try to govern by proposing a new program for every problem. president obama tucked away the clinton doctrine in his large drawer of discarded ideas along with bipartisanship and transparency. it's enough to make you wonder if maybe it was a personal beef with the clintons, but probably that, it runs much deeper than that. president obama is an old school liberal whose first instinct is

to see free enterprise as the villain and government as the hero. america counted on president oba obama. he bailed out the public sector, gave billions of your dollars to company of his friends and added almost as much debt to this country as all the prior presidents combined. the consequence is that we are now enduring the most tepid recovery in modern history. the consequence is that half the kids who are graduating from college can't find a job that uses their skills. half. the consequence is that retirees can no longer get by on their savings and social security. the consequence is that the length of time it takes an unemployed worker to find a job is the longest on record. that's why even those who voted

for barack obama are disappointed in him. disappointment is the key in which the president's reelection is being played. americans will not settle for four more years of the same melancholy song. we can and must do better than that. >> that's mitt romney welcoming the applause to his speech there in iowa. our panel is back with us. ron christie here in new york. richard wolff and david corn in washington. you heard mitt romney talking there and blaming the president. once again, he is unfortunately untruthful when he says that democrats held the house for almost the whole of his presidency. that wasn't true. and ron christie conceded that as well here. what did you think of him saying this president has loaded debt? i thought it was president bush who was responsible for the prescription drug benefit? i thought it was president bush responsible for two unpaid for

wars and president bush who ushered in massive tax cuts. >> both presidents have increased the debt. what is interesting is what romney romney suggests he would do differently. andes standing there in front of a banner saying cut the spending but his own plans would blow a massive hole through any balanced budget approach box massively increase the deficit. because he has proposed huge across the board tax cuts and increasing in government spending. and all we know about his plan to balance the budget, he says cannot be scored because he won't release those details. all we know is an overheard conversation and a private fund-raiser where he talk about closing loopholes like mortgage deductions for second homes. that will go nowhere near closing the deficit that his budget would make worse. so you know, he had a few one liners there but the biggest joke of all is that the very thing he is talking about, he would take us further and further away from. you know, the voters will have a choice and his choice, he may have identified a problem but

his solutions are no better than anything we've seen. in fact they're worse. >> that's fair. >> of course it's not fair. it is truthful -- >> what did you hear that would substantively reduce the deficit? >> first of all when he says we need to stop spending money in washington, he's absolutely right. no, i'm actually going to give you the truth. the percentage of spending to gdp is 24%. the average post world war ii average of gdp spending is 21%. we are spending far too much money in these times. so when you say -- >> how is mitt romney going to increase the size of the military and shrink everything else and control the deficit? i can't work that out. sorry. go ahead? >> and he is going to cut taxes. how does he close the deficit by cutting tax across the board and increasing spending? >> we've seen from every major tax cut, martin, in 1960, 1980, 2001 to 2003. every time that the government has cut spending and cut taxes, there is more revenue flowing

into the federal government. >> voodoo! >> you don't -- >> david, let's just -- >> a little history here. in 1980 ronald reagan cut taxes. and then because of deficit concerns that david stockman and others had, had a years us of tax hikes to downer that action. so it is simply not true that if you cut taxes, you get economic growth and everything is good. look what happened during the bush years. we ended up without that happening. >> did you want to throw in a position as well? >> yeah. let's just take most important american that you are people have here. the jobs record. over eight years of president bush. a net total of 1.1 million jobs created. that compare to 20 million plus jobs under president clinton. 10 million jobs under president carter in four years. so as a jobs record, it's a measure of the economy, cutting tafls did not lead to more jobs or a jobs record to be proud of. >> yes, it did.

>> hold. on you cannot say that cutting taxes repairs the hole in the budget. it doesn't lead to increased tax revenue unless you believe in the very voodoo economics that the first president bush thought was crazy. >> voodoo economics? that is the best you can come up with? i'm trying -- if you'll let me respond to the facts, thank you. if you actually look between 2003 and 2008, the percent ang of jobs that were created in that span was the highest we've had in american history. if you look at the money in the treasury was the highest. how can you suggest to say, no, actually it is not going on reduce the deficit. it is not going to put more revenue in there when you all know that's true. the fact of the matter is we did have a financial recession in 2008. that did actually eliminate a lot of the jobs. to suggest between 2003 and 2008 -- >> you're just cutting him out of the record. >> i'm addressing that we had five solid years of sustained growth due in fact, a, cutting spending and b, reducing taxes.

>> in those five years, you did not create as many jobs as barack obama has. >> barack obama, he's had net 2 million job lost for his presidency. >> after taking a big hit on the bush-cheney financial crisis. >> listen, we'll have a fight very soon again. for the mole, thank you so much. >> always a pleasure. >> next, another one bites the dust. stay with us. >> i guess it's impossible to control all the media. unless of course you're rupert murdoch. he is one beautiful man. >> i couldn't agree more. it's very important to understand how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards.

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of the beloved newspapers rebekah brooks has been charged along with five others including her husband charlie on three counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. intentionally obstructing the long running investigation of the phone hacking scandal at the news of the world newspaper. brooks who could face jail time if convicted called the investigation a, quote, expensive side show at a press conference today. that ever present question, will this scandal stop overseas or land here in america? stay with us. the day's top lines are college up. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink?

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experience wasn't about job creation. it was about wealth creation. >> donald trump is here. he has a bone to pick with cher, rosie o'donnell and president obama. >> fight for a seat at the head of the table. >> mitt romney once lost $2 billion. then he found it in another pair of pants. >> if they knew the facts, i think they would feel a lot differently. >> i'm sure there are a lot of people who would have that it was a good thing. >> like watching an old friend bleed to death. >> other hill tear just pranks by mitt romney. >> mitt romney cut the brake lines of his lab partner ted's car. >> every addition i ever made happened between my bell why you button and the middle of my thighs. >> who is gary powers? >> we need the full name. >> what is the controversial sex book that is on millions of women's bed side tables? >> i'll ask michelle when i get home. >> we elected the right

president at the right time. >> the year i graduated, music was all about michael and the moon walk. no moon walking today. jp morning an is one of the best managed banks there is. >> it really did take on a whole lot. >> the taxpayers, middle income families that end up holding the bag. >> these banks are ensured, backed up by taxpayers. >> my daughter sent me a text saying something like, you're the bomb. >> who will win? >> i'm going on win. >> let's get right to our panel and they most certainly are the bomb. professor dyson is at georgetown university and an msnbc political analyst and goldie taylor is managing editor. professor dyson, a new day, a new ad directed at mitt romney. how this will play, sir? >> i think it plays very well. obviously, you know, president

obama and his team have decide that had they have to go aggressively after mr. romney. to hit him in one of his vulnerable parts, so to speak. here is a guy who has bragged about being able to do with the government what he has done in the private enterprise. if he's done this in private enterprise and private industry, and there are people who are suggesting that look, at the expense of my livelihood, you were able to cut jobs, to secure your bottom line, and then to move forward. this will be the same kind of thing going on parallel in the government and what, by implication, the obama team is suggesting is that it will be at the expense of working people, middle class people, and blue collar workers who will face the most severe consequences of romney's approach. and i think it is an effective ad. >> why has romney chosen to focus on the economy? when in fact, he was an abject failure at job creation when governor of massachusetts. he took them from 37th to 47th by the time he left.

and he knows that out there, there are many firms like the firm where 700 people were laid off and lost their jobs. why would you focus on that? >> he hasn't focused on the economy because that's the only way he will be elected president. he has put all his chips on him as an economic steward, an economic manager who can create jobs and get the economy back on track. that's his entire campaign. what is interesting is the obama response. because romney, because he doesn't have much to defend in massachusetts. he doesn't call himself governor romney. he is putting himself forward as the candidate of the -- the private sector. so what obama is doing is taking a leaf from karl rove's campaign textbook. karl rove pioneered the idea of go after your opponent on his strengths. not his weaknesses. you remember they went after john kerry on his war record. so if obama is going to go after

romney, it will be on his strength which is supposedly the jobs that were created at bain. they want to tear that down at the beginning of this campaign so as voters pay closer attention, they're not going to be believing romney is a job creator. >> it has always struck me that romney has been perplexed as to what to do. his singular success was health care but he can't talk about that. but if he focuses on joks, his record is not as good. >> you know, i have to agree with jonathan here. this is the only house within he can find any kind of refuge. every other house that there is within the republican party is on fire for mitt romney. when it comes to bain's socially conservative. my grandmother would call mitt romney one of those go along to get along kind of guys. you just don't know which mitt romney will show up today. i just think it is mentally and physically impossible, for

instance, to be pro gay adoption one day and then starkly against gay adoption the following day. who did you talk to overnight that would change your very core value in that way? so i think that is his dilemma. he really has to stay in this economic house. if barack obama is successful with setting that house on fire, there is no way that mitt romney can be elected president. >> professor dyson, romney's version of bain seems at odds with what we know about investment fund managers. he was not about job creation. he was focused on wealth creation. bain makes money regardless of whether they create jobs. that's right, isn't it? >> no doubt. it is the bain of his existence or the bain of those people who have to bear the brunt of their opportunistic economy. that's what he does well. and with regard to what then, the reality is what obama has to do is expose this as a weakness.

it is an ostensible strength. if you are what you're doing is beating up on poor people and they have no chance with you, the only people who fare well are those wealthy and at the top, it is not about job creation. it is about wealth creation. sometimes wealth creation come from contracting a particular subsection of the market and then exploiting it for the creation of wealth for your clients. so he is serving clients on a very serious and strategic fashion. the question is, who will be the clients as he moves from a business enterprise paradigm to a governance paradigm. how is he able to reach out to citizens and not treat them as mere clients? >> here's the problem. even newt gingrich said that at some point, mitt romney is going to have to sit down with an independent journalist and answer questions or even do a press conference and answer questions about bain. yet he refuses to do so. he hides from the media on the issue. >> he will have to answer those

questions. not every answer will be unpersuasive. i'm not one of those people who hates private equity guys. >> in some cases, and he is pointing to these examples of staples and sports authority. some of these company really have prospered. but as michael eric dyson pointed out, that's not what they're in it for. what they're in it for is to extract as much wealth for their investors as they can. to me this campaign is about the difference between a financial capitalist, mitt romney, and a human capitalist, barack obama. human capitalists invest in people. in education. in health care. in construction jobs. real people to work. financial capitalists, all that they're interested in, is letting the magic of the market go to work by giving the wealthy as much money as they can through tax cuts with the assumption that that will work. the problem with their theory is that it was tried over the last ten years with the bush tax

cuts, and it failed. so financial capitalism has failed. human capitalism which goes back to abraham lincoln, investing -- >> fdr. >> all the way through. human capitalism is what built america. so this is the philosophical dilemma. >> if i may say so, that is a brilliant definition. thank you so much. next, are republicans steering us toward another debt ceiling debacle? stay with us. >> the gentleman that just defeated senator lugar said something that i found disturbing. i am totally against any compromise. our world views are irreconcilable and we just have to keep fighting until somebody wins it all. and if that were the view, there never would have been a constitution. there never would have been a bill of rights. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

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the national debt and the grid lock on capitol hill over tax and spending are all front and center today as cnbc's fiscal summit in washington. treasury secretary tim geithner defended financial reform and former president bill clinton urged both parties to put aside ideology and get something done on deficit reduction. then just moments ago, speaker john boehner made it clear there must be cuts. a lot of them. but not one penny in new revenue. >> let's start solving the problem and let's start solving it today. we can make the bold reforms and cuts necessary to meet this principal and i believe we must. just so we're all clear, i'm talking about real cuts and real reforms. not tricks and gimmicks of giving washington a pass on grappling with the spending

problem. >> congresswoman barbara lee is a democrat from california. i'm delighted to say she joins us now from capitol hill. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. happy to be with you. >> thank you. congresswoman, speaker boehner along with his side kick paul ryan voted on a budget last week that will devastate everything from meals on wheels to transportation and respite care for the disabled. is it speaker boehner's contention that the only people who can hem us reduce the deficit are the poor and the disabled? >> sure, martin, i think the facts speak for themselves. for example, when you look at a $33 billion cut to the food supplemental assistance program just to feed hungry families, and when you look at the fact that they're protecting really the defense industry and the oil industries and the millionaires and billionaires, i think that speaks volumes in terms of who they think needs to pay. who wins and who loses. >> paul ryan said today, he doesn't expect any real

solutions during a lame duck session. but there are plenty of options, are not there? we could reduce subsidies to massively successful oil companies. we could close corporate tax loopholes that allow companies to evade taxes. we could even introduce the buffett rule. but no, boehner prefers to hammer the poor. that's his single note melody. is that right? >> that's exactly it. and market, i have to say if i had a crystal ball, i would predict that they would really try to force once again another shutdown of government. they would want an 11th hour deal. and they're doing this once again to protect millionaires, billionaires, the defense industry and the oil industry. when you look at the fact that at every opportunity now, they're trying to break the deal that they already made in terms of the automatic cuts. why? once again, it is to protect those who they look out for all of the time. not the middle income individuals and families. not the poor, not the working poor. but it is of course, the millionaires and the

billionaires will. >> allow me to pay something that president clinton said today about democrats and how they differ from republicans. listen to this. >> our party's problem is, we are always reluctant to give up the gains of the past to create the future. that is a different problem. but we have a lot of people in our party who will not be drummed out if they depart from the conventional wisdom. >> do you agree with that? >> well, i think first of all, you know, we're here. and i have to speak as a member of the house in terms of what our agenda is to try to create jobs. that's high priority. when you look at the fact that we have a transportation bill that can't even get past. this is good for republican district and good for democratic districts. we need to pass that. we cannot even get a compromise with the republicans for that. democrats are going a long way and many of our efforts to make many compromises, but it seems to me that the republican tea party congress just intends to dismantle government.

>> it does appear that way, congresswoman barbara lee from california. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> stay with us. much more haefld first, hampton pearson has the cnbc market wrap. >> health officially not a lot of wealth creation on wall street today. between modest gains and losses. as we check the averages, it looks like this right now. you see as a matter of fact, the dow down 51 points. the s&p down 6. the nasdaq down a little over 8 points. that's it from cnbc first in business worldwide. more from barne wake up!

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the president today welcomed the champions of the major league soccer, the l.a. galaxy,

to the white house. and as well as with all the teams that visit, the president had a sense of humor. he talked about david beckham. >> i gave david a hard time. i said half his teammates could be his kids. we're getting old, david. although you're holding up better than me. in fact, it is a rare man who can be that tough on the field and also have his own line of underwear. >> nbc's kristen welker is live in the white house. kristen, the white house was all abuzz having mr. beckham land there, i guess. >> certainly a lot of buzz here surrounding that visit. sometimes i think the president gets the most excited -- >> kristen, you can concede that you were excited, too. >> i was excited, too, okay, i admit it. i was excited. i pointed david beckham right out as soon as i saw him. a very exciting moment, to be fair.

but you heard the president have some fun with them, teased david beckham for his underwear line, admitted the fact that the president said, look, i know these cameras aren't all for me. probably a little bit of truth in that. but one of the best parts about this visit, martin, is these soccer players after that photo op and after getting all those accolades really gave back and they participated with the first lady in a soccer game for kids in the south lawn. so they gave back to some of their young fans today. >> aside from the soccer players, we learned the president is going to meet wednesday with congressional leaders, including speaker boehner and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. can we expect any progress out of that get-together? >> look, there's not a whole lot of hope for progress, especially given the fact we're in the middle of this election year. president obama will sort of personally press those congressional leaders to act on some of his economic priorities which we've heard him talk about on the road, talking about

things like tax breaks for small businesses as well as help for homeowners, which are struggling. but martin, remember, these were some things that were part of his jobs bill, and of course that didn't pass through congress when it went through congress earlier. so i've spoken to some aides on the hill who said, look, we're open to hearing what the president has to say but we want to him hear come to the table with some new ideas. for example, there's been a lot of debate over a bill that would lower student loan rates. a lot of fighting over how to pay for that bill. so republicans on the hill are interested to see if the president has any new ideas for that that could potentially move the ball forward. also the issue for rolling back the military. so there are a lot of sort of sticking points and a lot of things they want to be able to come to the table over, but it's not looking pvery hopeful. it should be noted, martin, these meetings are very rare. they haven't had one since february. as you know, there is a lot of turmoil reported out of grooet

tod grea greece today, out of europe in general. >> they seem relatively frosty because these two haven't played golf or been in touch for a while, and there are some pressing issues, like you say, the student loan issue if it comes up, if it's not resolved by the first of july. >> and remember the climate for which this meeting will be set. the president has been on the road for quite some time pressing congress, hammering congress for basically being a do-nothing congress. so now they're going to go to the table and the president is going to have to, in some way, urge them to work for him. that's going to be tough given all the rhetoric we've heard from him on the road. >> thank you, kristen welker. we're very excited, and particularly for david beckham. wheel be right back. if you made a list of countries from around the world... ...with the best math scores. ...the united states would be on that list.

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with ron paul finally accepting the inevitable and extending his campaign, mitt romney can head unchallenged and unencumbered for the election in november. but the road ahead could be more challenging than the last six months, and that's because all of us will be trying to figure out who mitt romney will choose to be and how he plans to run against the president. it was shakespeare's hamlet who said these immortal words to ophel ophelia, god has given you one fate and you make another. or in mitt romney's case, another and another and another. we've already seen him pivot towards the center, and it's hard to imagine that as he panders to voters, he'll ever again describe himself like this. >> i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> but the real fear for romney, as evidenced by the two-minute

video about the collapse of gst steel in kansas, is that his past is about to come back and haunt him, filling the vacuum between now and the convention. of course, he may try to redefine himself for the umpteenth time, but like hamlet, he may be forced to admit the brutal truth. i am very proud, revenge ful, ambitious with more offenses at my back than i have thoughts to put them in. thanks very much for watching. matt miller is in for dylan ratigan and he's here to take us forward. good afternoon, matt. >> love all the literary elusions. we're going to understand the significance of california's latest meltdown. we're going to do a very rare and innovative cable news