won't wake up every day wondering if the president is on your side. >> this is not a distraction. this is what this campaign is going to be about. >> we have seen layoffs, cutbacks. >> i didn't hear anybody jumping to his defense, did you? >> what would a romney presidency be like? day one. president romney immediately approves the keystone pipeline. >> wake up. wake up, wake up, wake up. ♪ >> we begin this wednesday with just two days to go to a holiday weekend and the unofficial start of summer, but in the presidential race things are already heating up for a long

hot and relentless period of campaigning and while you might be dusting off the picnic basket today, mitt romney and the president were carb loading prepping for the race to the polls in november. for the president it was a commencement address to the air force academy cadets in the foothills of swing state colorado and the chance to tout his foreign policy achievements. >> you're the first class in nine years that will graduate into a world where there are no americans fighting in iraq. for the first time in your lives and thanks to air force personnel who did their part, osama bin laden is no longer a threat to our country. >> for mitt romney it was his chance to target a key voting group speaking before a group of latino small business owners in washington and opening with a familiar line of fire. >> sadly, president obama has

decided to attack success. it is no wonder so many of his own supporters are saying to stop the war on job creators. make no mistake. you won't wake up every day and wonder if the president is on your side. >> those remarks come as new polling shows romney facing a steep deficit with latino voters. the president with a huge 34-point lead among latinos, 61-27% according to a brand new nbc wall street journal and telemundo poll. what's more, just 26% of latinos view romney positively while 35% see him in a negative light. the president enjoys a healthy 35-point positive favorability margin. the polling also shows latinos more optimistic about the economy and the nation's general direction than overall voters. the challenge for the president may lie in the margin of

motivation. with latino voters showing less enthusiasm for the upcoming election by a gap of 13 points. let's get right to it and find out. our panel is with us. app amarie cox and in washington democratic strategist julian epstein. jose, if i can start with you, the president enjoys high favorability ratings, yet he hasn't managed to pass comprehensive immigration reform but i guess anything is better than romney's recommendation during the debates which you will recall he suggested people here illegally should self deport. >> yeah, and, martin, another added issue that i think tamps down the enthusiasm you may otherwise see amongst some latino supporters of president obama is that during these last three years there have been 1.2 million deporestations of

undocumented immigrants into this country and the vast majority according to the white house criminals but many who have been here and have roots in this country who do not have a criminal record, so we're not talking about small numbers. we're not talking about some pain and some aspects of this communities. we're talking about 1.2 million human beings that have been deported at the same time no real movement towards any comprehensive immigration reform. >> and also, jose, there doesn't appear to be much negativity in relation to the president because as we just showed in our polling, latinos are still overwhelmingly in favor of the president as opposed to romney. >> absolutely. and the president has always had the support, i think, of the overwhelming number of latinos in this country. i think that where as i think we can all agree that mitt romney and the republican party don't have a steep hill to climb, they have to climb mount everest, and

with not a lot of time left. but the other side of the coin, martin, is enthusiasm and voter turnout, and that may be, may not most difficult thing the president has to deal with. >> julian, as jose just says, is it an exaggeration to say that unless romney can somehow turn this around, then the latino margin is likely to deliver an election victory for the president if these polls stay the same up to the election. >> i think that's right. i think the latino margin and the african-american margin as well. the two things the democrats have to worry about are enthusiasm as ballard spoke about and secondly the democrats seem to be closer to 70% rather than 61. i think the two things going against the republicans now and romney in particular is the positions they have taken and opposition to legal immigration reform in the congress but secondly, and this is a huge issue, martin, the supreme court will decide on the arizona case

in june. the arizona case is the most anti-immigrant, anticivil rights measure we have seen in decades. if it is upheld, it will allow not just arizona but states throughout the south that pass laws that provide for the indefinite holding, indefinite detaining of anybody of color and other kinds of miss treatment if they don't have simple papers proving their legal status. >> right. >> that will sharpen the debate beyond anything i think that we have seen. >> okay. anna marie, romney spent a great deal of time on education during his remarks. i would like you to listen to something he said. listen to this. >> as president i am going to give the parents of every low income and special needs student the chance to choose where their child goes to school. for the first time in history federal education funds will be linked to the student so that

parents can send their child to any public or charter school of their choice. >> anna marie, he says he will offer school choice to every student, no word on how he will do that, and this coming from a man who when he was governor in massachusetts caused student fees for higher education to go up by 63%. >> yeah. it is interesting for him to double down on this as a candidate. i think especially actually in relation to latino vote for his wishy-washiness on the dream act that is obviously important to latino voters to allow access to public higher education. you're right, like federal education dollars are not the dollars that are primarily spent per student in every state. money is usually comes from the states for education. he may want to change that. federal involvement in education hasn't turned out so well with the no child left behind act, so it is interesting also this is a case where the conservative line

of not interfering with states is muddled with panhandlering and that's what romney is doing here and i am not sure if voters will fall for it. >> i am not sure the department of education can afford. >> yeah. >> i was going to tell you guys that, yeah -- >> go ahead. >> i was going to tell you there is something that mr. romney has not been wishy-washy on and i hate to correct you, he has not been wishy-washy on the dream act. so far in this presidential campaign he has been clear he opposes the dream act, even the most limits versions of the dream act and has not been wishy-washy about that. >> she was making the point -- >> no you it seems there may be. >> jose, we understand that marco rubio is speaking at the conference where romney spoke just a short time ago. do you think that choosing this man as his vice president might well enable romney to at least reduce the gap between him and the president in relation to

latino support, latino voters? >> that's such a tough question to answer. >> you're the man to answer it. >> i will tell you, couldn't hurt him with latino voters because he really has very little to go on so far. martin, on the telemundo nbc and wall street journal poll we came out with, there is interesting numbers that i think should be sprinkled into this conversation with our friends here because one of the things i find interesting among many is that 49% of the latinos that are polled say that they feel that their children will be worse off than they were in this country versus 45% that believe that children will be better off. add that to the fact that they say, for example, that in gas prices obama has been better dealing with gas prices, 11% versus 49%, who think he is actually been detrimental to dealing with price of gasoline. these issues that are pocketbook issues that deal very directly

with the day in and day out existence of so many people in this country will have a lot to do with voter turnout. they may like the president. they may feel his heart is in the right place but if my gas prices are taking a big chunk out of the daily budget and i think that the economy and the future of this country is going to see that my children don't have it as well off as die and many don't have it very well off to begin with, i think that's of concern. >> julian, going back to romney, he said today that minority children suffer the most as a result of failing education. while promising every child can flee a failing school, he gave no word on how he might fix that school. i mean, again, this is a man who throws out these statements in big areas, financially big areas, and also areas demanding real thoughtful policies and he just tosses it out and no one seems to challenge him or ask him what does that mean in practice? does he plan to fix failing schools? does he even have a strategy to

do so? >> yeah, as i said before, these kind of proposals are only a slightly better way of reaching across the racial lines than singing who let the dogs out to a bunch of african-american children. i think that's right. the republican plan has no provisions for any -- to fund any of these things. in fact, the budget that he has supported, the ryan budget, actually calls for cuts in most of the programs that would do exactly the kind of thing he is speaking about. just to go back to mr. ballard's point again, at the end of the day with hispanic voters i think that romney cannot run away from what the republican position has been on legal immigration and it is not going to be able to run away from the arizona case which i think is going to be a huge shot over the bow to every hispanic american in this country and republicans can't run away from that. democrats will hang a lantern on that every time they get, every chance they get, so i think that gap will widen.

>> don't forget, julian, there is always the etch-a-sketch. jose, i am sorry, we have to go. we don't have enough time. thank you so much, jose diaz, anna marie cox and julian epstein. thank you all. stay with us. more ahead. >> we just released a poll that says that if you were to run against president obama he would beat you easily with the hispanic vote. you wouldn't even get 25%. >> just wait. we'll get that quote out there where you say i am mechanics an american and i will do a lot better. ok! who gets occasional constipation,

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more on the tightening race for 2012 and new polls showing potential storm clouds for the

president. the big picture, our new nbc news wall street journal poll shows president obama with a 4-point lead but that lead is tlinging. the president had a 6-point lead last month, and in battle ground florida the sun is shining on mitt romney with a six-point lead over the president in a quinnipiac poll. and less than two months ago it was flipped. when it comes to the economy, the president's approval rating has also slipped to the lowest level since december with signs like these it is no wonder, then, that mitt romney wants to seize whatever advantage he can and play that little old community organizer card in an exclusive interview with mark h. >> it has been exclusively in politics and as a community organizer. those are fine areas of endeavor. right now we have an aeconomy in trouble and someone that spent their career in the economy is

more tuted to help fix economy than someone that spent his life in politics. >> anna marie cox is back with us from minneapolis and can we're joinedly chicago tribune columnist clarence paige. good afternoon. mitt romney appears to be taking a page from the sarah palin playbook playing the community organizer card. i guess he would like voters to think the president just stepped into the race from the streets of chicago and never has been a commander in chief for four years. >> that dog didn't hunt that well four years ago. i doubt that it is going tom back with much more of a prize this time. one thing that hasn't been mentioned in the discussion so far is the excitement fact for. i think that's a big difference right now. we look four years ago, obama had the excitement factor on his side. john mccain was having trouble rallying his own base and was playing defense to a large degree from the very beginning.

this year that flipz. barack obama is running against his own record to some degree with the folks not satisfied with the economy right now, the big issue, and on the right we have seen the tea party excitement and -- >> clarence, you can't possibly be suggesting that the word excitement can be used to apply to a man like mitt romney. >> you spoke out just in time to interrupt me, martin. i was about ready to say that romney has the same problem that mccain had four years ago, rallying his own base and that what we're finding is in the last few days we very seen republican leader who is are pleased that the party has come together as well as it has because when you look at you will athe opposition, romney had over the last year, remember anybody but romney movement? >> i absolutely do. >> the one candidate to the next. >> 54% of people during the primaries were looking for an alternative to all of the candidate who is were strung before them. >> and a lot of them would love to have one now, but for republicans their biggest rallying point is barack obama.

for barack obama his biggest ally as far as help with the hispanic vote that you just spoke up, the black vote, young people, folks who are disen chanted with the republican side his biggest ally is the disarray. >> romney in the interview looks quite agitated. i mean, i haven't seen that much sweat on a candidate i think since, well, richard nixon in 1960. what happened to slick mitt here? look at him. he has only been asked to explain bain. he looked as though he is having a nervous breakdown. >> well, you know, i think that bain might be causing him a little bit of nervous breakdown. that's something that hasn't been mentioned either. i think there has been obviously many sm missteps using bain as a political tool against romney. it is funny. all of these surrogates for obama including cory booker may

have muddied the waters a little bit but when obama was asked i think he made the clearest argument about why that's a legitimate topic and why it will ultimately hurt romney he was involved in business for so long. he was a money maker, not a job creator is the way to put it. there is nothing wrong with being a money maker. i don't think that you can argue romney's role in business was to create jobs. it was to create profit which in a very tang jeshl way does create jobs but that's not what he was doing personally. that's not what a businessman can do anyway. >> when you are watching him talk about baip, he comes out in a cold sweat. >> right. >> that appeared to be a physiological expression of why he has problems talking about bain. >> he does have problems talking about it and part of me wonders is if it is because he knows what his job was and that it was not necessarily to help out the work working class, to give people jobs who didn't have jobs, and indeed that's not the

function of capitalism frankly. capitalism functions smoothly when you don't think about people, when you don't think about people's needs. it is politics where people's needs and people's desires and people's hopes and dreams make a difference in what the decisions you make are, and that's actually why i think people know, maybe some people know, and it is the president's job to convince people that it is a politician that you need to create jobs. if this was solely about increasing our economy, if it was solely about simply making more money, then someone like mitt romney might be somebody that you would want. i don't think that's what it is about. >> indeed. thank you so much, both of you, for joining us. >> thank you. >> stay with us. much more ahead. >> that's okay.

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and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. your favorite patient is here! [ dad ] i choose great taste. i choose boost. the endorsement of candidate barack obama by general colin powell at the last election was a surprise and an important affirmation. general powell's military stature and his republican service at the highest levels of government were clearly of benefit to the obama campaign. this time around mr. powell whose written a new book on leadership has yet to declare his hand, but we have had some i think lightning of where he may stand, particularly on the issue of foreign policy. listen to his response to mr. sean henne of fox news. >> as a military guy, i think when somebody goes out and

apologizes repeatedly as he has done for this country, and you have served this country with such distinction that that would bother you, and that's where i i understand could of -- i don't understand colin powell. >> first of all, he is has not gone around the world apologizing for everything. i take exception with that. i don't think we have enough time to get into the details of that. >> i am so sorry. the four star general disagrees entirely with your assertion. then earlier today mr. powell went a step further calling into question some foreign policy adviceors tapped by romney and keying in on one of the candidate's most questionable statements to date. >> for example, when governor romney not too long agoed the russian federation is our number one geo strategic threat, well, come on, think. >> come on, mitt, think. stand up straight. stop talking non-sense. you just have been disciplined by the general. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up.

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it is plumbers versus private equity, the godfather versus spicolli. here are the top lines. you look good. >> romney thinks he has a trump card. >> we have heard a lot about business from the president. >> i think the republicans have to fight fire with fire. >> if you feel like you deserve protection under then dangered species act. >> that doesn't mean the the private equity guys are bad guys but it no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber and by the way there are a lot of smart plumbers. >> it is crony capitalism on steroids. >> governor romney not too long agoed the russian federation is the number one threat. >> i must break you. >> think.

>> i am not interested in relitigating the past but i don't want to relive it either. >> rabbit hunting ain't fun when the rabbit got the gun. >> a rodent and rabbit hunter. >> if mitt romney asks to you run as his vice president. >> that's a conversation i need have with my wife before i have it with you. >> you made one pizza. that doesn't qualify you to be president. >> who ordered the double cheese and sausage. >> right here, dude. >> you're doing great. you look terrific. >> you're out, you're free, you're rehabilitated. >> there was ugliness to some of the things being said about president obama. >> i find him one of the most divisive figures. >> that's a term being used. >> somebody goes out and apositively jierzs repeatedly as he has done for this country. >> he has not gone around the world apologizing for everything. i take exception with that. >> let's get right to our panel. karen finnie joins us from washington and james peterson

from lehigh university joins from us philadelphia. good afternoon to both of you. karen, i want to ask you about reproductive freedom and we also want to point out that you are a board member of the naril epro choice america that strongly supports abortion rights. however, a new gallup poll suggest there is may be trouble for the movement, just 41% of americans self identify as pro choice. that's a record low. >> yes. >> what do you make of this, karen? >> if you look at another part of the poll, i think what we're seeing is it is the label that people are not comfortable with and seeing that in a lot of places. in the same poll it continues to show that support for women's rights to choose is still at record highs, so that's been consistent, remember, we've had all of these person hood measures and a number of other measures about six times in a number of different states in the last couple of years and every time voters have come out and reaffirmed their support for pro choice issues, so where as

they might not like the label, they still absolutely believe that access to abortion in this country should be available for women. >> indeed. professor peterson, no matter what the real significance of these poll, the usual suspects are bound to pick on it as yet more evidence that the republican party just doesn't have a problem at all with women voters. take a listen. >> we're going to have a fight overwhe overwomen's health. give me a break. >> women don't care about kbra sepgs. >> the so-called war awomen. >> there is no war on women. >> entirely created, entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain. >> that was speaker boehner imploding. professor peterson, the most recent poll shows a 15-point gender gap in favor of the president. so if speaker boehner is right and there is no war on women, where aren't they all flocking

to mitt romney's side. >> because of the war on women. i mean, listen, here is the thing. people are disen chanted with labels which is why you get this pro choice and pro-life 3450u6ment and some people consider pro-life to be against the death penalty and they don't want to be associated with labels because they associate with the labels as politic as usual. they may not want to admit there is a war on women. when we look at the stat chutes and different shats they're trying to roll back the reproductive rights. here is the thing. that extremist movement on the right does affect the ways in which people identify with certain labels. even though it is extreme and as karen point out they're being defeat it is pulling our country to the center or more to the right here. >> i want to hear your response, both of you, on a slightly different subject. earlier in the broadcast i drew attention to general colin powell who was on yesterday and he actually had to basically

scold hennetie for suggesting that the president has been going around apologizing which of course he has not, and thank heavens someone on fox news albeit general powell actually said that. karen, what was your reaction? >> that was just delicious. i do like general colin powell, i have to say. i mean, really, come on. for sean hannetie to think he will get someone of general powell's disingsz and honor to play that gut politics shows you how low he is willing to go. i think the general of course'sness answer was per you would expect, distinguish and had very much so from the perspective you would expect, as a military person. he expressed his concerns both for who the real threats are by the way since we're not still in the cold war, but also the overall sort of tone and ten or of the language. >> yeah. professor peterson, he said, come on, mitt, think. is that a bit too much of a

challenge for mitt romney on foreign policy specifically? >> he understands that a lot of mr. romney's thinking goes on amongst the people that run his campaign, not necessarily in mitt romney's mind, but it is wonderful to see this exchange. it let's you see, one, that general powell is not going to be sort of caught up in the politics and this is part of the reason why he got out of politics a little bit early, and part of the reason why he has never heeded the calls to run for president is because he doesn't want to deal in the politics of distraction. >> karen, i have to ask you, the last time around colin powell, general powell, endorsed the president, president or then senator obama, and which way do you think he will go this time around? >> well, he said that he is going to hold out it sounds like waiting to see who mr. romney chooses as the running mate. >> i wondered if that was the case, too. >> i think he said as a republican he owes that to his party and i respect that greatly. my gut says that he will likely endorse president obama again because if you listen to the way

the general talks, he more likely supports more of the world view and it is foreign policy view and the military view as well as on domestic issues in the way that the president talks about. >> professor peterson, do you agree with karen? >> i do. she is right here. what general powell is most interested in politically is foreign policy and i think one of the things you can argue least with in terms of the obama administration, especially coming from the right, is the obama administration's foreign policy and the different successes they've had there and i think general powell will be very much invested in the ways in which president obama is deeply invested in ending the war in afghanistan and the fact that he got osama bin laden and all of those things are things that general powell will i think endorse and ultimately put him on the side of the president for the upcoming election. >> dr. james peterson and karen finney, thank you both. much more ahead. >> i use a phrase to the daily commentary, people are not that stupid. that's like saying when you are

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low prices, gnome what i mean? even miracle-gro potting mix. you want one? three. three? uh, it's okay. see for yourself. walmart's got just what your garden needs. backed by our low price guarantee. yard well done. house minority leader nancy pelosi sent a letter to speaker john boehner today asking him to bring a bill to the floor that would make the bush tax cuts permanent for those earning less than a million dollars a year while allowing them to expire for those making over a million. sounds reasonable. they're set to expire at the end of the year and pelosi's request comes just a day after the non-partisan congressional budget office say that allowing them all to expire could lead to another recession. john yar moth is a democrat from kentucky and a member of the budget committee and joins us live from louisville. good afternoon, sir. >> hello, martin. >> is there any chance the bill

nancy pelosi wants to see will see the light of day given that it would require some measure of compromise from republicans? >> it is not likely, martin. we had almost the exact same vote in the budget committee. i introduced an amendment to eliminate the bush tax cuts for everybody making over a million dollars a year and every republican voted against that and every democrat voted for it, and so i suspect what we'll see is speaker boehner would say, well, we'll bring a bill to the floor that will extend all the bush tax cuts including the high earners and make that permanent, and which is a non-starter for democrats. so he is not going to dare bring that bill just on what he with call middle class tax cuts. there is no way in the world. >> right. the problem with the speculative projection like the one from the cbo is that republicans will say this report proves that the bush tax cuts must be extended while democrats will say it proves massive spending cuts will hurt the recovery. who wins this argument?

>> well, that's a good question. i don't know who wins the argument. what we have been saying all along when you're talking about reducing the deficit is that you have to have a balanced approach. more importantly, there is a lot more frequent conversation these days about the need to actually separate the short-term demands of the economy and needs of the economy and the long-term challenges of the deficit and economists from across the spectrum are saying we actually do need to be spending more money right now and actually reducing the deficit down the road. we can't cut government spending right now. everybody says that will hinder the recovery and possibly drive us back into recession. >> unfortunately -- >> unfortunately congressman paul ryan doesn't listen to any of these economists because last night he called the president, and i am quoting him, a failure. mitt romney says, as you know, the president has fanned the flames of what he calls a

prairie fire of spending and that just isn't true. take a look at this chart which shows the growth in federal spending under president obama is the slowest it has been in nearly 60 years. far less than it was under president reagan for the man paul ryan mentions in virtual every speech. the whole point i am making here is that ryan's claim that the deficit is overwhelming and spending is out of control is utterly inaccurate when you look at the facts. >> absolutely. well, chairman ryan's entire economic outlook is faith based economics. it basically ignores reality and facts and evidence and relies on the ideology that he is committed to. we see this every day in dealing with him on the budget committee, and all you have to see it that he was going to cut taxes, cut the top rate to 25%, and in his budget, and the republican budget, and then that was going to promote growth

where he with actually doubled the total revenue of the government over the next ten years. he doesn't say how that's going to happen. he doesn't offer any backup to support how it could happen, but he just believes it will happen. if you cut taxes on the very wealthiest people that all of a sudden all of this new revenue is going to appear. it just is smoke and mirrors. that's all it is. >> or some people would say magic. >> magic, yeah. >> let's look at part of a web video put out by mitch mcconnell which appears to be little more than a promotional tool for his own intransdience. >> mitch mcconnell offered a plan that puts the burden directly on the president. >> he is starting to turn the screws on the democrats on this and it will be interesting to see what he can get out of it. >> i am also dealing with a jury member that said his number one goal was to beat me. >> there is not a word in that

three minute production about kentucky or even the american people with tea party favorites thomas massey winning the election to run for the open seat in your state's fourth district, and do you think mcconnell is hearing footstep from his right? do you think he is feeling panicked? >> i don't think there is any question about that. there was an article in the national journal that talked about possible challenges to him for his leadership position and he is obviously running scared. this was one of the most bizarre ads i have ever seen a politician put forward. as you mentioned, not one word about kentucky or kentuckyans and all about his power and the tag line is refuse to be defeated, and it is talking about mitch mcconnell refusing to be defeated and it is just in terms of an ad that's all about power and all about influence and not one iota about governing, it is pretty astounding, but, yes, i think he is running scared in terms of his leadership position and the

victory last night by massey in the fourth district who was supported aggressively by senator rand paul is another indication that mitch also sees his pre em mention in kentucky slipping as well. >> i am sure you're right. thank you for joining us. >> next, elections in egypt has the country takes its first small steps towards democracy and sue has the market wrap. >> good afternoon, martin. what a turn around on wall street. we were down almost 200 points earlier this morning and now we're very close to unchanged, maybe we'll go into the green. the dow is down about 12 points on the trading session and the s&p has turned positive. it is now up better than two points and the nasdaq is up 12 points on the trading session. a decent bounce for facebook finally, up better than 3% on the trading session. it is trading at 32.09. that's it from cnbc. first in business worldwide, and we're back in just a few minutes

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help raise our flag, add your stitch at teamusa.org. on an historic day in egypt polls were open for an extra hour to accommodate the high turnout for the presidential election. after decades of you a her to tarian rule, thousands formed long lines across the country to vote freely following 30 years of president mubarak. it pits pessimists against secularists. we are joined live from cairo, good afternoon -- or good evening, sir. >> reporter: good evening, martin. >> who is expected to win's in end what kind of government do you think will ultimately prevail in egypt?

ror repo >> reporter: well, martin, those or two $2 million questions. no one in egypt will know this. the polls, something new in egypt, free polling, polls have been completely inconsistent with who were the front runners would be. one thing safe to predict is that there will not be a clear winner in the first round. these elections are scheduled it take place over two rounds, if indeed, none of candidates win an all out majority in the first round. so it is safe it say in the next 48 hours by will see the two front runners emerging and then next month in middle of june we can expect there to be another round to determine the future president. the second question also very important, what powers will the president have. right now there are conflicting, you know, if you will, reports about the powers of the presidency. it is based off really two things. there are a set of rules that the military council has put in place that they want the next president to abide by but there still is a functioning constitution in egypt which the

president will also be committed to. so the question of the powers of the presidency, are still very much up in the air and that will also be very questionable about what type of government egypt gets in the months ahead. >> nbc's amed mojidin, thank you so much for joining us. eel we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. but they haven't experienced

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has mitt romney running neck and neck with the president both at 47%. is this a state therefore that campaign is beginning to be very worried about? absolutely, martin. i think they're concerned about this state, a handful of other battle ground states like virginia, north carolina, which president obamacareried in 2008. and which as you point out, polls now show have really narrowed when it comes to the race between the president and mitt romney. so their strategy is to really barn storm quite hard in this state. president obama has been visiting frequently, this is his second visit in the past several weeks. the campaign is also running some attack ads against mitt romney, bain aides, attacking romney's record at bain capital and they are also flooding this area with grass roots volunteers who are out trying to get people not only to donate to president obama's campaign but also garner

more support. colorado is one of these key states president obama won by 9 noints points in 2008. he wants to hold on to it. why? because if he wines this state this year we won't have to win other states like ohio or florida. this is a state they would lick to hold on to in 2012 and they are working hard to do p t. but so is mitt romney. it is likely to be close right up until election day. >> right. kristin, we hear romney is closing the gap with obama. they were around the same last month, around the 40 million mark. that is a new push, isn't it, by democrats fund-raisers plans with bill clinton, sarah jessica pa pa parker. what else is the president's campaign doing to keep up in this race for money? >> reporter: martin, if you speak to senior officials with the campaign, they will tell you that their largest concern are those republican leading super pacs which you just mentioned. it is the big unknown here.

so what they are doing in part is trying to fund raise as much as they can, reminding supporters that they're behind in some senses, that there's to some extent a myth that president is this money-making machine when it comes to fund-raising. and also, they believe they have the stronger grass roots efforts, as you say, they are pulling out a lot of big names. for example, ben harper will perform at one of the campaign events later on to might. so we expect to see more of that. martin? >> ben harper is fantastic. wish i was there. thank you for joining us. >> reporter: thanks. >> thanks for watching. do join us tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern. but dylan is here to take us forward. dylan, what you got? >> i can think of no one better, dylan, suited than to offer this fine nation the last word. other than lawrence