real democracy. this is a cause worth working toward. clarifies the real difference between two major parties. democrats want to use government to play a positive role in american life. republicans are content with a governing process that bends the system toward those who really deep down only want it cut spending and of course cut taxes for those with the most clout to begin with. it's simple. you're a progressive, interested in a get it done role for government, we have toibust filibuster. that's "hardball" for now. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts now. >> welcome to "politicsnation," i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, what job is willard mitt romney actually running for? that's not as silly as it sounds. because governor romney often sounds like someone who wants to sit in a board room, not the oval office. >> what i bring to this race is 25 years in the private sector,

having started a business, having led a business. i understand how the economy works. not because i debated it in congress, but because i worked in the real economy. >> that's his entire rational. i'm a businessman. i understand how the economy works. yeah, you sure learned a lot about firing people at bain capital. the question will soon come before voters, do we need another businessman as president? ? the last businessman we had was george w. bush. the first president to hold an mba. he told us, he would run a tight ship. remember that photo of him and dick cheney checking their watches? yeah, trust us, we have it all planned. just like clockwork. timed out perfectly. but it turned out he was the only modern president to actually lose private sector jobs while in office. so much for that business degree.

another major business man, president herbert hoover. did his corporate background help him run the country? he presided over the start of the great depression. homelessness skyrocketed. people started living in shantytowns call hoovervilles. so much for his business experience. here eat thing. running a business is not the same as running the country. because the goal in business is to make money. it is to make sure you win and your competitors lose. and that's not what we want from our president. and that's why romney's history at bain capital is such a focal point in this election. >>it making money, whether the companies they work in and made money or not was irrelevant. bain capital always made money. he promised us the same things he promised the united states. he will give you the same thing he gave us. nothing.

>> he'll give you nothing. romney's goal was to make money for him and his investors. that's fine. and he made lots of money. somehow this makes him more qualified than president obama to help all the people? his money makes him bolder? >> what president obama is doing is not bold. it's old. as president, i want it make the federal government simpler, smaller and smarter. >> what makes you think that's the case, willard? is it your work as governor? when you courageously led massachusetts to the 47th out of 50th in job creation? that simpler? smaller? smarter? president obama knows that romney's trickled down theory is dried up gop talking points. >> he's run a large financial firm and he's run a state.

but i think he has drawn the wrong lessons from those experiences. he sincerely believes that if ceos and wealthy investors like him make money, the rest of us will automatically prosper as well. >> joining me is bob shrum who ran against kennedy under 1994. thanks to both of you for being here. >> glad to be here. >> let me start with you, romney's career was based on making a profit at all cost. why would that make him a good president? >> it wouldn't. the fact is that three or four great job creating presidents of modern history, fdr, jfk, lbj, and ronald reagan to be fair, didn't have business backgrounds. but romney has a much deeper

problem. part of what bain did is venture capital, investing in startupes. that's why he talks about staples. but other part it did is what i call buyout, take over and take down. you grab a company, strippous the assets. fire workers, cut their benefits and take millions out for yourself thep the company ultimately goes bankrupt. that happened over and over again. you know what makes that spot you showed so powerful and i saw this in 1994, those guys are reagan democrats talking to other reagan and blue collar demuates and they crystallize this issue. and that is who will stand up for the majority of hardworking americans and who will stand up for the few. you worked in ted kennedy's 1994 race against mitt romney and kennedy's campaign ran an ad about mitt romney using people that he laid off at bain. let me show you that. >> you're not creating jobs.

you're taking them away from us. to put money in your pocket. >> he just wants to take money out of your pocket and put it in his. >> right. >> i would like it say to the people of massachusetts, if you think it can't happen to you, think again. because we thought it wouldn't happen here either. >> now bob, you wrote that play book that worked for ted kennedy against romney in '94. will it work today? is that play book too old? or is that play book, in your judgment, valuable to the president? >> i think it is valuable today for the president. i think that's why those ads are on. look, romney is of the few, by the few and for the few. we can talk about that, you and i and steve, but nothing is more powerful than those workers in their own words. bit way, romney people try to say we scripted that ad, which we didn't. my partner ted divine called me and said, these folks are great just talking, that's how we should do it.

that's what we did. thaents why it's so fourl. >> steve, romney came out with an ad, he slams the president on the economy, talks about plant closures and makes a plant closures really his point. watch this. >> virgin air was there for a hundred years or whatever. he just up and said, hey, we're done here. >> now, the problem with the ad is that it kind of skimps the truth. because it turns out the manufacturer was looking to work outside the united states. way before the obama administration came in. and in 2006, the company announced it was opening a plant in mexico. its parent company is not adding more u.s. jobs that were lost when the factories shut down. so i guess a little truth will get in the way, if somebody follows up the ad. but the point is, we will argue about the economy. go back and forth on the

economy. if you have a man who as governor, his state was 47th in job creation, sew said, look at my private sector work in bain. you go into private business to make money, not to provide jobs. then on top of that, people are laid off. is he putting himself in a corner here to argue this kind of background against a president who every month, even though not as much as we want, has added jobs to the economy? >> right. i think that ad that you just played is basic lay perfect microcosm of the broad mitt romney message this year. and the message boils down to, don't ask questions, just fire the guy at the top. basically, you're a voter out there, feeling anxious about the economy. do not consider context. do not consider what barack obama inherited. do not consider the back story. just look at who is running the country and vote that person out. the thing is, if you look at this historically, there is something to be said for that.

you live in the presence tense. not much collective memory or forsight. there is a powerful sort of instifrn there i think for the average swing voter to measure his or her even circumstances against what they were a couple years ago and say, have things gotten better or worse? that's what entire romney campaign comes down to is people making that judgment that it's gotten worse or that it is not getting better in vote obama out. and the challenge for obama is to introduce context into this race. whether it is about george bush, what he inherited. what he is a so-called job creator. it is about context. >> if that is the case, and i happen to think you're right, to a large degree, but bob, when we see what has happened this week with j.p. morgan chase, it is a jolting reminder of what happened. because all of a sudden, we began getting this very dramatic reminder that if we don't have regulations and if we allow

things that republicans have been saying, that we could end up going back to the same problem that president obama dug us out of. then when you have romney, calling financial regulation and attack quote, dodd-frank law is another example of presidential attack on economic freedom. burdensome regulation and enterprise. now, there is j.p. morgan chase that we know of and clearly everyone started getting a moment of, oh, here we go again, and remembering what that meant pl will people say, i remember what it was. i might have a short memory but this just happened. >> steve is right, events and obama campaign will have to create the context for this. look, romney want to go back to the bush economic policies,

wants to impose some draconian budgets cuts and same policy in great britain and led that country back into a double-dip recession. but the president all along has been determined not to let this be a referendum. that's what romney wants. he wants to make this a choice and give people big choices. we will hear about the auto industry bailout and romney's opposition to it. we will hear about cuts at the top and ep dorsing a medical plan as we know it, end the program as we know it. so we will get these choices. but the ads they have on now with the workers set this choice in a very dramatic way. i found the frigid air ad kind of pathetic and sad because it is a reflection of what happened because of bush policyes. but steve's right, the president and his campaign are going to have to make that crystal clear. i think they will over and over again. >> all right, bob shrum and steve corps knacky, thanks for coming on the show tonight to both of you. coming up, remember the debt

ceiling disaster that nearly brought the economy to its knees last summer? john boehner liked it so much that he is ready to do it all over again. plus, george w. bush finally comes out to support romney. but wait until you hear how he did it. president obama swings by the view for a little pop culture quiz. >> what is the controversial sex book that is on millions of women's bedside tables. >> he doesn't know. >> i don't know that. >> good. >> okay, next. >> i'll ask michelle when i get home. >> you're watching politician nation on msnbc. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more? then don't get nickle and dimed by high cost investments and annoying account fees.

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. last summer republicans held governor hostage at debt ceiling debate and took the economy to the brink of disaster. today speaker john boehner threatened to do it again. senator bernie sanders will have a response. that's next. [ facilitator ] what do you smell? takes me outdoors. sort of a crisp, fresh feeling. [ facilitator ] go ahead and take your blindfold off. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the febreze set & refresh. breathe happy for 30 days, guaranteed. [ crowd chatters and groans ] ♪ [ male announcer ] hunger getting to you? ♪ grab a ritz crackerfuls. made with real cheese and whole grain. get hunger before it gets you.

welcome back to "politicsnation." it's republican deja vu all over again. less than a year after holding the economy hostage in the debt ceiling debate, republicans are threatening to do it again. today house speaker john boehner made a direct threat against the

democrats in congress, against president obama and against the american economy. boehner said he would use the next debt ceiling vote to insist on massive budget cuts to bring down the deficit. >> when the time comes, i will again insist. my simple principle of cuts and reforms later than a debt limit increase. this is the only avenue i see right now to force the elected leadership of this country to solve our structural fiscal and balance. we can make the bold reforms and cuts necessary to meet this principle and i believe that we must. so 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. >> the real problem here, speaker boehner, whs when you held the economy hostage so you can hack away at the budget when we went through the debt ceiling crisis last summer. u.s. credit was downgraded for

the first time in history. stock indexes plunge between 5 and 7%. and disapproval rating for congress hit 87%, the worst ever. democrats haven't forgotten that. >> american people had enough of this brinksmanship. they want us to get things done. and it's pretty clear to me that the tea party direction of the republican party driving them over a cliff. >> that right. the american people have had enough of this brinkmanship. but republicans keep pushing, cuts, cut, cuts. the ryan budget calls for $3.3 trillion dollars in cuts to lower income in medicaid, food stamps, bell pel grant and job training. in 2011, slashing over 450,000 jobs from the public sector. today the unemployment rate is

at 8.1%. but if they hadn't made all those public sector cuts, it would be a full point lower at 7.1%. now is not the time for austerity but republicans can't stop talking about cuts. joining me now is senator bernie sanders at independent from vermont, senator, thanks for being here tonight. >> let me ask you, senator. do you think the american people want to see another debt ceiling crisis like speaker boehner is threatening? >> no. i think the american people regarded it as an outrage that majority leader over in the house, speaker in the house, actually is saying to the world, that america is not going to pay its bills. for the first time in the history of america, he is proposing that we default. that we not pay our bills unless we make draconian cuts on the elderly, sick and children and

poor. you know, al, we are in the mess we're in now because boehner and his friends helped to deregulate wall street, drove us into this recession, which was resulted in a significant decline of the middle class and increase in poverty. meanwhile, as i know you talk about often, the richest people in america are becoming richer. corporations are enjoying huge profits and what boehner and his friend want to do is give more tax breaks to the people on top, the 1%, while they want it make massive cuts to people who today are barely hanging in economically, who have seen a drop in the median family income. i that i is morally outrageous. i think it is bad economic policy. >> a memo put out a grf showing the real cause of the national deficit. based on information from the center on budget an policy priorities. policies from the bush administration, including the war in iraq and afghanistan, and

bush era tax cuts are projected to be the main source of deficits from 2009 through 2019. >> absolutely. absolutely. where were these deficit hawks when bush took us into two wars. would wars. afghanistan, iraq, forget to pay for them. where were the deficit hawks when bush provide tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country. on top of all that, al, we have seen a significant decline in revenue because of the recession that we're in right now. revenue is at the lowest point in comparison to gdp we have seen in 50 years. so these guys helped cause the recession, helped cause the deficit, now they say, hey, let's move it a balanced budget by cutting social security, medicare, medicaid and needs of working families. i think that is atrocious. american people have to come together and say, sorry, that

ain't going to happen. >> you make arguments based on facts and facts matter. if we look the the fact that it hadn't been for the stimulus planes it put something out there, would he be in worse shape. but today romney said stimulus was a mistake. look at this, senator. >> president obama started out with a near trillion dollar stimulus package. the stimulus wasn't just wasted, it was borrowed and wasted. >> now he had a different tune four years ago in his victory speech in nevada. romney was singing a much different tune about the stimulus. watch this. >> today i announced a plan which i'd like to see enacted within the next 30 days to provide stimulus to our economy on short term basis as well as long-term growth for the american economy. >> so change in, let's say the

song he is singinging senator? >> absolutely. but here is what is are interesting. apparently he is not concerned about the over trillion dollars we wasted on the war in iraq, a war we never should have gotten into. on the other hand what the stimulus package did in my state is create over 6,000 jobs when we needed them the most, rebuilding our infrastructure, putting money into head start, child care, and helping us deal with numerous problems. so if you create jobs with the stimulus package, i guess it's a bad idea. if you are prepared to waste money on war in iraq, that's just great. >> senator bernie sanders, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> still ahead, president obama hit the view and talks about what life is like inside the white house. >> you got a bunch of people around who are always laughing at your jokes and thinking you're funny and all that stuff. michelle is like, this guy?

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last week slamming president obama's endorsement of marriage equality and they keep tripping over themselves when they try to explain why. just listen to the head of the

republican national committee, this weekend on meet the press. >> you believe that gays and lesbians in america deserve equal right. >> i think they regard equal rights in say, equal rights in the workplace. as romney pointed out numerous times. hospital visitations. i think for the sake of dignity and respect. >> wow. he thinks employers should not be allowed to discriminate against gays and lesbians. seems basic, good position. but gary sergeant of the washington post point out that stance could put him at odds with his own party. the senate is going to hold hearings soon on the employment nondiscrimination act. the bill bans discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, and gender identity. and lots of republicans oppose the legislation. including willard romney.

back in the '90s we supported a similar bill but had flip-flopped on it by the time he ran for president, the last time. >> sponsor the employment nondiscrimination act. do you support it? >> at the state left, i think it makes sense at the state level. >> you said you sponsor it at the federal level. >> i would not support it at the federal level. >> he wants the federal government to ban gay marriage. did he think we wouldn't notice the hypocrisy? nice try, but we got you. so did the country that came in 17th place. let's raise the bar and elevate our academic standards. let's do what's best for our students-by investing in our teachers. let's solve this.

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embarrassed or are you on their ring tone? >> i'm definitely on on their ring tone. >> so who's going to win? >> oh, i'm going to win. >> that was president obama having a little fun with the women on "the view." whatever you think of his policies, one thing is not up for debate, the man has charisma and knows how to commit with the america people. he is well liked. joining me now is msnbc contributor and author of "who's afraid of post blackness" what it is like to be black now and erica pike reporter for real clear politics. thank you for joining me tonight. >> you know, toure, right wing people complain with b these appearances, but they are the reason why he does it. how did he do? >> i think he did very well. there was a lot of self afacement, like talking about michelle making fun of him and

maria and sasha and michelle all jumping on top of him and having a roast at his expense. it makes him seem like, i'm down to earth, not imperial to all of you. you know i'm brilliant and powerful and alpha, but it is nice to see him pull it back. here i am with my family. i'm a regular guy. you get made fun of by yir wife and your kids, so do i. >> and his how they thought about his singing at the apollo the night he did the al green song. >> i'm definitely not on their ring tone. when i turned 50, malia and sasha and a bunch of my friends and michelle, had this sort of like a roast. a little private roast. each one of them read something. malia and sash had written out why i'm such a wonderful dad. and they had this list. it was so sweet. and one of the items on malia's list was, you are just the right amount of embarrassing.

you're embarrassing but not too embarrassing. >> you want it embarrass yourself a little bit and sing here? >> no, i must -- >> you have one fan. >> i know. i got to say that i was a little meager out there. >> he also talked about how the first lady pokes fun at him. let me play that for you. and i want you to tell me the politics of joking about his wife and kids joking about him. let me show you how the first lady and the president. >> tell us one of the things that you would say -- >> well, the big-ear jokes. >> she cracked up at correspondents own the big ear jokes. >> oh, yeah. big nose jokes. all my funny habits. she can imitate me. >> what funny hab snits. >> just little stuff.

>> is that how you left -- >> if there is a bowl of peanuts. i will grab the peanuts, then shake them around and pop one at a time. she with a make ma llia and sas laugh, doing this thing. >> it is funny and humanizes them. but what is the politics of this? "the view" is watched bay lot of ladies around the country. what the politics of seeing him talk to comfortably about his wife jokes on him and his girls. what is the politics of this. >> he is reaching a huge demographic and women by going on the show. it shows he is relatable, he loves his family. so he can reach out to a lot of people that way. on the other hand, i did talk it a couple of republicans today on capitol hill who suggested to me that going too far with this somehow diminishes the role of the presidency. so today, while president obama was on "the view", we had mitt

romney in iowa giving a speech on debt. and he is trying to show that he is never going to be a celebrity. we all know he is not as smooth as the president. but he is trying to show more serious side. you can't beat them, then do the other thing. so that's kind of where the politics play. the president's likability numbers in polls are much higher than mitt romneys. but when you rate them against each other and president obama versus mitt romney in a head to head match-up, right now they are about even. >> that's probably appropriate. the president talking to women about the women in his life. and romney talking about debt. the debt he is going to cause in our lives if he is president. but toure -- >> to your point, about talking to women via "the view", get the way he interacts with women in his life. he was calm and cool about it. it was a nice way of presenting himself. and smoothing over anything that

might be out the there. >> i hear what erin is saying, but the politics of it, if people feel have you a sense of love and bonding for your family, that you are naturally going to be concerned about the nation's debt and economy. you have young children that will have to live and deal with there. >> we will talk about jobs. we will talk about debt. we will talk about iraq and afghanistan through all this. but the beer test is always super important in every election. and this guy is likeable to men, relatable to women, liked by women as well. so right there, that is a difficult thing for mitt romney to deal with. >> now, erin, i saw where whoopie goldberg even teased the president about accidentally forgetting to escort the first lady off of air force 1. but look how whoopee got him on this.

>> is that how come she got left for a couple of seconds when you were getting off the plane? >> oh, did you see that? that is a classic example of -- you know, dumb husband screwing up. because i -- i thought she was behind me. >> this is what happened, okay. you know how the president gets off the plane. and then he got this far and went -- oh, and had to go back and bring michelle out with him. it was really great. because he forgot she was with him. >> she is just standing there looking at me like -- >> now, erin, is that diminishing or something that everybody can see him laugh at himself and he is comfortable in his own skin. >> it might be a little bit of both. i mean, as i said before, there are two sides to the coin. again, mitt romney is not that smooth. and so he can't -- he can't have the same kind of reaction that obama can. yeah, sure, it is relatable. it goes back to what we are talking about before. yes. the president knows how to be

self depricating in an appealing kind of way. >> now, the real answer to this is, the beer test as you say, is important. but you also have to have policies to go with the likability, and i think if he has the policies, and can remind the american people of the progress made, and reaches out in a way that is real, i think that that's the combination. but just passion the beer test alone is not going to win the election. >> no, just being super nice loveable guy who exudes charisma is not enough. you have to have the policies that you said. you have to have the first vision thing as the first george bush found out. you have to have the plan for america. if mitt romney cannot lay out a credible plan for america and convince us he can make that happen, then the likability will crush him. one thing that will happen is the republicans want to keep doing the intellectual flopping that, you see in the nba, someone gets touched and they go

flying. oh, my gosh we he is on "the view." that's horrible. sno no, it's not. we have been doing this for year. george bush was on the arsenio hall show. >> i don't want it leave it without fairness. only did whoopee get the president, the president got barbara walters. barbara walters admitted she took thing out of white house. >> look at this. >> you know that occasionally if i've been fortunate enough to go to the white house wsh, i take a paper napkin or two. >> you steal our stuff? >> she is a clepto. >> i saw it on national heritage. >> make sure you watch -- >> you know that you take stuff. >> you can see secret service are all like -- >> after the program -- >> watch that girl. >> waun't to cover our -- we want it recover our stolen items. >> that was funny.

i can say i've known one or two people that have taken stuff out of the white house. but we don't have to talk about it on the show tonight. thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. just when you thought willard's republican support didn't get any more tepid, here comes george w. bush on an elevator, no less. we'll explain. and, this republican lawmaker in colorado single-handedly blocked a same sex civil unions bill on the verge of passing the union's attack against marriage. we're live in denver with the bill sponsor. stay with us. [ female announcer ] e-trade technology can help make you a better investor. our new e-trade 360 investing dashboard shows you where your money is, live. e-trade pro is so usable you'll actually use it. and our apps are the ultimate in mobile investing. become a better investor at e-trade. the day starts with arthritis pain... a load of new listings... and two pills.

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welcome back to "politicsnation" and a story i think really needs national attention. we talk a lot on this show about how voting matters. and our elections matter. and i want to show you why. in 2010 elections around the country, republicans took control of one or both legislators in 16 states across the country. 21 different state houses and he is notates went republican. it was a huge shift in power. since then we've watched those

state legislators pass an unprecedented number of extreme bills. from union busting to voter id laws and nonstop assault on abortion rights. but what's happening in colorado this week may take the cake. folks, you got to hear this story. meet colorado republican speaker of the house frank mcnaulty. he is going to amazing lengths to stop the state from giving even the most basic rights to same-sex couples. by sipg el handedly blocking a bill to legalize same sex civil unions. the bill cleared the state senate and looked like it would pass the house. with support from republicans. willing to break ranks. but he filibustered to block a vote. democratic governor called for a special session to pass the bill and last night the one man wrecking crew, mcnaulty killed

it again. by sending it to the state veterans and military affairs committee. also known as the kill committee. where conservatives predictably rejected it with the party line vote. republican speaker of the house effectively killed a civil rights bill and 30 other pieces of legislation in the process. that's democracy at work. thanks, speaker mcnaulty. way to go. joining me now from denver is the bill's sponsor, colorado state representative, mark farn dino who is hopely gay. and david serotto, columnist for salon.com and morning radio host at kkzn in denver. i think it is sarota, i mispronounced it. thank we maine start with you, what's your reaction to the

house blocking this bill? >> i'm really disappointed by what happened, both tuesday night and yesterday. the speaker went to extreme lengths to stop civil uniones from becoming law. it went law that three committees in the house getting support from at least three, in those committees, three republicans. we thought it would be between six and ten of the 33 republicans supporting civil unions. but the speaker put the house in recess, wouldn't allow us to have a debate on civil unions on tuesday. and killed 30 other bills that same night causing us to do go to special session to deal with the mess that he created. >> sew killed 30 bills. not only your bill, but 30 bills. >> yeah, he killed many bills. and a lot of those that we today deal with this special session around job creation, $20 million water project. unemployment insurance reduction that could reduce small business

rates around 40%. he didn't care about what damage he did. he just wanted it make sure at the end of the day we wouldn't vote on civil unions because we knew it would become law in colorado bp. >> now, david, one of the witnesses that spoke against the civil union bill, at yesterday's hearing, was a lawyer for the alliance defense fund. and he tried to use the slippery slope argument. let me show you. >> civil union laws absolutely undermine the case for marriage. make no mistake about it. a vote for this bill is a vote for same-sex marriage. in every u.s. jurisdiction where civil unions or domestic partnerships have been enacted, those who advocated for their passage subsequently rejected them as inadequate and demanded that marriage be redefined. >> his argument is not, this isn't really civil unions that will lead it marriage. your reaction it this? >> this is what speaker mcnaulty

was saying the entire time. not really focusing on what bill was but throwing out an argument to the base of the republican party. and i think frankly, there is exactly why the republicans are trying to double down on opposition to civil unions. they are trying to rile up their base. they are desperate in a swing state like colorado to get out the vote among social conservatives. and so, when a bill like civil unions comes up, simply saying that same-sex couples deserve equal rights under the law, they will take that and try toe extrapolate it in order to fire up their base. that's what this is all about. base politics. >> david, what's going on out there. if the senate passed, if it looked like the house would pass and republicans breaking rank, i mean, this is blatantly anti-democratic, doesn't care? >> apparently they don't care. and they are essentially citing old votes from years past on ballot measures in which the voters here in colorado voted

against gay marriage to say they don't want to go against the will of voters. they are also making crazy argument, speaker mcnaulty is saying, like romney is saying, we can't deal with issues like equality under the law for lbgt couples because of the economic crisis. what is strain bj that of course, is why should an economic crisis shoe sm how make us unable to extend equal rights to every american. what it really is, is dog whistle politics to the republican party. >> even when you look at the fact that state representative bj nichol, who is a republican, broke ranks it support this law and he says it was about supporting the rights. she said it was about supporting the rights of colorado. listen to her. >> i thought about it a lot. i simply believe that giving the legal rights that i think these folks ought to have, as i've

said in the past, they are coloradoans too, and i believe they deserve to have the same level rights that the rest of us do. >> when you look at the polls, coloradoans overwhelmingly support the rights, 75% support either civil unions or full marriage rights for same-sex couples. representative ferrandino, with the polling, do you think there is a way of coming back around and getting around this speaker or is this just one of those things that we are going to have to deal with at the polls and he would no longer be speaker? >> well, you know, for this year, we're done, unfortunately. yesterday it died in the state affairs committee on a party line vote. so we won't see this again this session. i would just point out that even

in the republican base, at their state assembly, 46% of republicans voted for civil unions to have that in their platform. so republicans even support this. and we have three courageous republicanes who voted in favor of civil unions. at the end of the day we have an outpouring of people who support this. they are angry about how the process was done. it was undemocratic. it thwarted the will of the majority of the members of the house of representatives and i think they will be working hard it make sure that there's a different leadership in the house come when we get swaorn i next january. >> let me ask you quickly about colorado and the national vote. do you think that president obama or willard mitt romney has a shot at carrying colorado this year. >> i think it'll be very, very close. i think that this kind of issue in the legislature highlighting the base of the republican party's position on an issue like this is not going to help mitt romney. but i think it'll be a very,

very close election. frankly, i'm a little nervous that will be as close florida in 2000. >> thank you both for being with me tonight. we'll be right back.

nation." next stop, weaken dorsments for presidential candidates. remember how rick santorum buried his endorsement for willard in an e-mail released in the middle of the night. for 12 paragraphs santorum talks about the differences he had with romney. he didn't endorse romney until the 13th paragraph of the e-mail when he finally grudgingly said, quote, he has my endorsement. just a week earlier newt gingrich offered a back-handed endorse many of his own. >> you know, this is not a choice between romney and reagan.

this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical leftest president in american history. >> compare all this to how romney himself endorsed the man who beat him back in 2008, john mccain. >> i am honored today to give my full support for john mccain's candidacy for the president of the united states. today i'm asking my delegates to vote for senator mccain at the convention. this is a man capable of leading our country at a dangerous hour. >> folks, willard's had it pretty rough this time around. but today it got just a little bit worse. this morning, former president bush spoke at his own presidential center in washington. abc news chased him down after the speech, trying to get him to comment on the election. the former president jumped into an elevator and as the doors closed on him, he blurted out, quote, i'm for mitt romney. yikes, not exactly the left