former high school football player get his life back after finally being exonerated for a rain he didn't commit. you thought congress was out of control? here's a look at politics and punches ukraine style. >> and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where it has not gotten quite that bad. president obama went on attack this week from denver to des moines. is there a downside to confronting mitt romney this early with a negative message? chrysalis sysaliis sysaliis cilx in person. great job today on daily rundown. talk about the negative attack machine so far and this very strong speech in iowa.good strategy, bad strategy? >> there are two ways to look at it. on the one hand, traditional political wisdom is you don't necessarily want the candidate carrying the negative message. you would rather have the

surrogate, the spokespeople, the outside groups carrying the negative message. the president talks about leadership and his positive record. on the other hand, the white house has been very clear since he was candidate obama, not president obama, that they believe their best spokesman, their best person to elucidate the differences in this campaign is the president of the united states. at the end of the day, it's his job on the line. so he gets to make the calls. my guess is he's involved in this. he gets to make the calls how aggressive he is. this is pretty aggressive. >> let's take a look. >> when you're president, supposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. >> those of us who spent time in the real world know that the problem isn't that the american people aren't productive enough. why is he peddling the same

dae ideas that brought our economy on the brink of collapse? the last guy did all this. >> he famously declared that corporations are people. that speech was more like a cow pie of distortion. >> does he risk not being "presidential"? >> yes, you always have that risk when you go out and do what he's doing. at the same time, i tend to think the people paying attention right now in truth are people like you and i. i still think for your average voter, particularly an undecided voter, they're thinking about what they're doing for memorial day and what they're doing on their summer vacation, not thinking about president obama and the campaign. so i'm not sure all of this goes anywhere. i will say though it is striking a level to which the rhetoric is ramped up. i mean, it's the end of may. we've got -- there are many months to go before people vote. so we are at a point at which

the aggressiveness of the rhetoric on both sides is kind of at a labor day supposed to memorial day pitch. i still think the audience tends to be folks like us. i don't think your average undecided voter is dialed in at the moment. >> we'll see you later in the show. thank you so much, chris, for kicking it off. it's been only three weeks since the president formally kicked off his presidential campaign. it's already gone off the track not once but twice because of comments of top surrogates on "meet the press" starting at the top with the vice president himself. >> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual are entitled to the same exact rights, an all the civil rights and liberties. quite frankly, i don't see much of a distinction. >> i'm not about to sit here and indict private equity. to me we're getting to a ridiculous point in america. this kind of stuff is nauseating

to me on both sides. it's nauseating to the american public. enough is enough. >> nbc's david gregory is moderator of "meet the press," of course. as you pointed out on "morning joe" today, it's something you put in the mugs. >> a sip of the water. what will they say next? that's what i'm counting on for sunday. >> what's newt gingrich going to say on sunday. think he's got potential there? one reason why the campaign has been a little bit units back feet is that they have the surrogates have gone off message. how big a problem is this? >> they have. i think talking to the obama folks, they're not unhappy that this is a big topic du jour. >> jour after jour. >> that bain capital's in the news because they want to use this is against romney and say look, this is his chief qualification as a job creator. let's have that debate. there's a i don't want made to me today, it is their view that in among these up for grab

voters in key states, that a lot of people still equate financier with the folks who got us into the recession in the first place. so there's a lot of traction that the president might be able to have around this issue. >> and defining him not as a businessman who can fix a problem but as a business. >> but a financier. >> as a wall street guy. >> a lot of people certainly haven't heard of babe, don't understand what private equity does. there's a national education campaign that goes on through the debate. and let's be clear. i mean, the president does have a fine line here because if he wants to sound like an economic populist, he's got a lot of private equity guys that have given him money and b are on his jobs council and all the rest. cory booker was speaking some truth about the extent to which a lot of the democratic party relies on these folks, as well. >> how effectively do you think the romney campaign has been countering the bain attack? >> i don't know that they've done a complete job yet.

they have some successes to point to in his individual record in private equity and can talk about bain from that point of view. i don't know they feel they're necessarily going to win the bain referendum or want to do that. what they want to do is say he had experience, yes, in a private equity firm where there was job creation at some companies. they've got to set that apart. i think it's difficult because you have this binary choice. on the one hand it's about -- the idea that private equity is bad and is vulture capitalism which is also not true. so if voters are just given those options i think they'll be dissatisfied. >> at the same time, the romney camp is really running with its hands tied behind its back in one respect. they don't talk about massachusetts. they don't want to talk about his role as a massachusetts governor. >> i mean in some ways they do and they will. but they're going to have to

because the president's campaign will focus on a couple of things. one, is this a guy who gets you? you know as a middle class voter? two, what's his vision for the economy and three, okay, so if we try some of his ideas, how did it work in massachusetts? they'll make the case it was not -- didn't go very well. so he'll be put on the defensive about that as we move forward. >> on "meet the press," we already talked about one of your big guests. >> newt gingrich debatesing govern martin o'malley of maryland. on this bain question, where the race stands, what are the rules of engagement here as we move forward and so we'll talk about an it. we've got michael louis and maria schreiber talking about. >> one of my heroes, maria. >> words of wisdom to college graduates. so it will be fun. >> and michael louis who has written some of the great books. >> thank you is, happy memorial day weekend. for more on the president's political strategy, i'm joined by the national press secretary for the obama campaign.

ben, thanks for being with us. talk about where the campaign stands heading into the memorial day weekend. head to head numbers virtually tied. the president not really not being able to break through that 48% ceiling that i've been talking about with chuck todd for a couple of days in our nbc/wall street journal poll and all of the polls basically. is that a ceiling? will you have trouble getting through to that magic 50% number? >> i don't think it's a ceiling. we always anticipated this would be a close and competitive election given the historic challenges facing the nation when the president took office. mitt rommy's been out there over the course of the past year making his case. the president engaged in campaign rallies for the first time a couple weeks ago. people are going to compare their economic records and visions. a president who we're losing 750,000 jobs a month when he took office, businesses have created more than 4.2 million private sector jobs. manufacturing was in decline. the auto industry was on the

brink. gm is the number one automaker in the world again and compare that to the tenure as a corporate buyout specialist that romney is highlighting and claims he was a job creator but we know his goal was profit maximization. it had a severe impact on middle class families and communities across the country. >> the president was campaigning in iowa as you know an the state fair last night. and one of the memorable lines was talking about cow pies. i mean, he's trying to get down with the farmers of iowa, or is this something that crosses a line? some would suggest it's not really presidential. >> he was addressing governor romney's term a few days ago, that there had been a prairie fire of debt spreading across the nation. the question is, how we got there and what the president's done about it. he's put a $4 trillion deficit reduction plan on the table, signed $2 trillion of deficit

reduction into law already and compare that to mitt romney who has proposed $5 billion tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires very similar to the ones that drove the deficit in the first place as well as two unfunded wars. the fact is, governor romney has attacked the president for setting a timetable to withdraw troops from afghanistan, said he would have left 10,000 to 30,000 troops in iraq. we'll put those records head to head. in addition to romney's record in massachusetts where debt increased by 16% and he left massachusetts with the largest per capita debt of any state in the nation. >> i wanted to give you a chance to take a shot at one of their next strategies which is to campaign and fund raise with donald trump. do you think there's any problem with mitt romney campaigning alongside donald trump because of the birther issue? >> well, you know, this is -- this is an appropriate match for a candidate who said that he liked being able to fire people.

but it does raise the question, donald trump has become the birther in chief. i can put the president's birth certificate on my forehead and mr. trump wouldn't accept that the president was born here in the united states. and it raises a question that's come up before during this campaign as to whether governor romney will embrace the extreme voices in his party or stand up to them. >> ben lebalt, have a good weekend. and romney's trump cashed. more on that soon. romney campaign adviser kevin madden joining us next. plus, the plan who confessed to etan patz placed on suicide watch today. new developments ahead.

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mitt romney's new apprentice is the donald himself. the romney camp is trying to use

donald trump's star power to attract big donors to a fund-raiser next month. how smart is it to buy into some of trump's past birther comments though? remember this? >> he may not have been born in this country. three weeks ago, i thought he was. right now i have real doubts. i hope some day he can produce it because i think he's toying with the american public. >> i always say like i was really smart. you know why? because if you believe that obama should be giving his birth certificate, press goes crazy like you've got an iq of 13. >> joining me now, kevin madden from the romney campaign. well, accuse me of having an iq of 13, but what does donald trump besides a lot of publicity, some of it negative? you can raise money without donald trump. why do donald trump? what does he draw? >> he's made it clear why he was

and is supporting the governor's campaign. a lot of it has do with his focus on the economy and making sure that china plays by the rules in international trade as well as making sure that we can grow the economy. that we can tackle things like the deficit and spending which are suffocating our economic growth right now. i think that's why he stated when he endorsed the governor why he was going to support him. i think that's one of the reasons that he -- that's one of the issues he brings to the table. >> doesn't that tag you with the whole birther stuff which he's never fully divorced himself from? and after finally acknowledging the birth certificate, then he arred going after the president's school records what is that all about? >> what's most important to remember is when you support somebody running for office that you are signing on to their views. governor romney made very clear he disagreed with comments like that, every single time it's become a topic of conversation whether it's in the media or in the blogosphere. he disagrees with that.

>> he'll stand up next to donald trump and disavow that. >> he'll stand up to next to trump and talk about why he wants to be president, why he believes that the economy needs to be turned around. the policies we need to put in place to turn that around. anytime the subject goes off of that where governor romney would disagree, he's going to make that clear just as he has in the past and in the present and in the future. >> john hauntsman is the latest to say they're concerned, a number of republicans are concerned that mitt romney has been too hard line on cheyina. >> i think many americans particularly in the states hurting economically because of china's practices places like ohio believe we haven't been tough enough on china. when they see governor romney talk how we would declare china a currency manipulator on day one in order to make sure we started playing by a level playing field in international

trade, i think they're very supportive of governor romney on that position. romney stated very clearly that's something he would do. there will be people who disagree. governor romney firmly believes strongly on that issue and makes sure he pursues it. >> i asked colin powell about how he's hard on russia who considers himself a friend and admirer of mitt romney's. he has not yet endorsed in this race even though he endorsed obama last time around. this is what he said when i asked him about the russia comments from mitt romney. >> i think he needs to think carefully about these statements. they're now on the wall for people to see. let's not create enemies where none yet exists. >> well, governor romney does think very carefully through the issues and makes very clear, he talks with a lot of folks who offer a great deal of input before he makes decisions and pursues policies. in this particular case, governor romney was very clear he believes in many ways russia is not working in the best

interests of either economic freedom or political freedom sometimes around the globe and that we have to make sure that we're very clear about some of the differences and disagreements that we have when pursuing either bilateral agreements or multilateral agreements on policies on policy pursuits around the globe. >> finally, kevin, cow pie? i asked ben labolt at obama headquarters whether that was presidential. >> look, what i like about it is that president obama has engaged us on an issue that is terrible for president obama and where the american people and voters are judging him harshly which is on the amount of federal spending that is taking place under president obama's watch. the deficits that have been piled up. so i think it's great because it offers us an ability and offers governor romney a chance to offer a very distinct contrast on what he would do as president. the positions he would put in place in order to make sure we're not overspending that we only spend what we take in and not piling up federal deficits

the way president obama has and really hurt our economy. so, i think when they engage on that issue, i say let's have that debate. >> kevin madden, thanks so much. >> always great to be with you. >> have a great holiday weekend. >> you too. up next the politico briefing. first day six, still no verdict in the edwards' corruption trial. while the jury continues to deliberate, today edwards and his daughter left the courthouse to observe a minor league baseball game down the street. edwards faces six counts of using campaign donations to hide an affair. if convicted he would face up to 30 years in prison. the wheat in every mini-wheat has gotta be just right. perfect golden color. rich in fiber. my dad taught me, and i taught my son out there. morning, pa. wait... who's driving the...?

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one that they can't control which is the economy. mitt romney's been able to focus on it almost every day since he wrapped up the republican nomination. a lot of democrats feel like they see obama veering from issue to issue which leaves the president looking less consistent on the core issue of this campaign which is the economy. then romney, issue two is fund-raising. nobody thought six months ago, nobody thought romney would be close in fund raising with barack obama much less beating him. when you factor in all the outside money, republicans could win the money wars which was not something democrats braced for earlier. and then this whole issue over the past week about the debate over bain capital. which democrats feel is a real liability for mitt romney. then you had several democrats, the mayor from new jersey coming out and talking about this issue and other democrats harold ford junior, others weighing in on it, which basically caused some division inside the democratic party over a core issue, which is a distraction for the obama

campaign. >> was jim messina's trip the campaign manager's trip to capitol hill to meet with senate democrats a hand holding, a message session, advice session? what are you gathering from the hill? >> yes to all three. it's making sure they get on the same page. there's been certainly some tension between democratic leaders and the obama campaign particularly over fund-raising. democrats on capitol hill want to see the president helping raise money for their efforts. they want to control the senate, they want to win back the house. there's been frustration there hasn't been more commitment from the obama campaign, and so this is part of an effort to make sure that they can get on the same page, that they can explain what the president's doing as far as his re-election campaign and try to keep peace. because what will happen if you have these downturns in the campaign where you're not doing as well as you might have a month ago, everybody in this town tends to wring hands and get nervous about it. it try to make sure they have

relationships which hasn't been that solid for the white house. >> and then you've got a couple of democrats like joe manchin in west virginia, a couple of them running as far as away from the president as they can get. >> right. you see this now. it's not a huge number but it's a handful of democrats particularly in rural areas, swing states, more conservative regions in the country who don't want to run on the obama record. they feel he might be a little too hostile to business than some of his rhetoric is a little too hot when it comes to talking about the rich tax rates, corporate america. and they don't want anything to do with that right now. they're trying to figure out the right mess and for their own re-election. again, not that uncommon when president bush was president, you would always have a couple of republicans that distanced themselves from him. again just shows there's certainly a segment of the democratic party not that the comfortable with this approach. one of the things that strikes me when you talk to people around the president and in that campaign is how open they are

about how this is going to be political warfare. the days of feel good politics from '080 over. they think it's going to be an election decided by a point or two, hand to hand combat, a different message in every state. it's going to come down to your ground troops and down to a lot of negative advertising to really damage your opponent. >> we're seeing that already. jim, thanks so much. have a great weekend. >> have a good day. up next, proven innocent. a star high school football player gets his life back but at what cost. brian banks tells his story next. and new help for veterans trying to keep the roof over their heads. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ sighs ] [ announcer ] all work and no play... will make brady miss his favorite part of the day. ♪ [ upbeat ] [ barking ] [ whines ] that's why there's beneful playful life, made with energy-packed wholesome grains... and real beef and egg.

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as we head into this memorial day weekend, some members of congress are trying to protect military families from abusive mortgage lenders and helping them stave off foreclosures. elijah cummings is the ranking member of the oversight and government reform committee and

congratulationses are in order. the house passed your bill. it moves onto the senate now, is that correct. >> yes, i'm elated about it. because our veterans and ordinarilies need protection and this is going to provide them from protection from being foreclosed upon while they are at war and when they get back. and the other thing that the legislation done is that when a soldier regretfully dies, his widow will be protected from being foreclosed upon. this is very, very significant. >> and what are the penalties here? what is being done in what's written into this legislation to actually make sure that these predatory practices stop? >> first, we have a provision that says they cannot discriminate against them. but if they do, for each time that takes place, we raise the penalties from 55,000 to $110,000 for each incident. and then for each subsequent incident, it has gone from

$110,000 to $220,000. it's very serious. we take it very serious and hopefully the banks will. there have been quite a bit of abuse of our service members. it's been very unfortunate. another thing the legislation does, if a person leaves the service with 100% disability as a result of injuries suffered in combat, then they will have a year where banks can't foreclose on them. again, here we are celebrating memorial day and remembering all of those who served our country, but we've got to make sure that we take care of them. they should not have to be fighting for their homes while they're fighting for us abroad. and so i think there is a very good thing. they'll go to the senate and it's my understanding that there's a very good chance that it will it be included in the final legislation. >> again, congratulations to you. it's rare that we see real

action and real protection for our service members and their families. >> and real bipartisanship. >> hallelujah. thank you very much. congressman, have a great holiday. thanks again. and 33 years to the day after 6-year-old etan patz disappeared on his way to school on a way that brought national attention to missing children, a suspect will be charged. 51-year-old pedro hernandez told police exactly how he did it. snipe hernandez described to the detectives how he lured young etan from the school bus stop at west broadway and prince street. with the promise of a soda. he then led him into the basement of the bodega, choked him there, and disposed of the body by putting it into a plastic bag and placing it into the trash. >> it is a stunning turn of

events in a case that has been marked by decades of false leads and dead ends. police insist despite hernandez' confession, they'll still investigate trying to corroborate because there is no dna evidence. ron allen is live in new york with the latest. we understand hernandez has been taken to bellview and put on a suicide watch. we should remember, what is going on for this poor couple, the parents of etan patz and what is the sort of the emotional torture they're still undergoing? >> reporter: well there's some word his parents are here at the courthouse. we've not been able to confirm that. we do know mr. hernandez is ill and is going to be arraigned at the bedside, at his bedside at bellview hospital. we don't know what his illness is. there are reports he has various psychiatric problems. there was a report he's suffering from some kind of cancer. again, all that is not clear. hopefully we'll learn more this afternoon. we hope to learn more detail

about exactly how he is linked to this case. this is a case based solely and largely on his confession, a 3 1/2 hour confession according to ray kelly. the police say there is little hope of ever finding the boy's remains, little physical evidence that will link this man to this crime and it's also very stunning because over the past years, he's never been a suspect in this case according to police. and there are at least two other people who were considered suspects, one as recently as last month. there was a basement in a soho building that was essentially dug up in the hopes of finding etan's body. that workshop belonging to another man who was then aid to be a suspect. again, no relationship between that person and hernandez now charged with this crime. >> ron allen with the latest from the courthouse. thank you so much. and former high school football star brian banks burst into tears in court after a judge threw out the rain conviction that cost him five

years behind bars and may well have derailed his one-time dream of playing in the nfl. banks was exonerated after his accuser was secretly videotaped admitting she had lied about the incident. brian banks and his attorney justin brooks joins me now. well, it's -- i saw the "today" show interview and wanted to talk to you because i was so struck by your philosophical approach to all of this. you have lost so much of your life and your dreams. yet, you're ready to move on. brian, first of all, we're so glad and relieved that justice has finally been served. >> thank you. thank you much. >> do you think it's still possible to recapture your dreams after these years? can you go back? you were a star player from a star high school team. and you had everything at your feet. and now, how do you proceed? what do you do next? >> well, you just keep moving forward. it's been a long journey for me.

it's been a lot of downs than ups. but i'm just hopeful. you know, i've been working real hard at training ever since october 1st of last year, just putting a lot of effort on the field and the gym and trying to put my past behind me. and receiving that great news yesterday just only amped me up so much more to want to follow my passion and dreams in pursuing the nfl. i just feel good. today is amazing day. the first day since yesterday that i'm free and i couldn't ask for more. >> take me back to the moment when you faced your accuser. it was on facebook that she first contacted you. and take me through what happened when she acknowledged that she had made up the story. >> well, when we finally agreed to meet at this private investigation office, i really didn't know what to expect.

my hopes were that she and i can come to some understanding that there was some wrongdoing that took place that day. and i only hope that if given the opportunity to have her show, i just wanted the truth to come out. that was my only concern. and it happened. and here i am today a free man. >> justin brooks, as an attorney, how could this case have been so mishandled that without any evidence, brian was told to plead guilty? >> yeah, this is an extraordinary case. it's actually the first case that the california innocence project has taken on where our client was already released from prison. and you know, we're a law school clinic at california western school of law. and we don't have a lot of resources. but brian's case was so compelling when he came and talked to us and said you know, he was really serving a life sentence under this sex offense.

he had a life of registration. he was being monitored. he couldn't get work. and when he showed me the video, i thought this case is just far too compelling to pass on. >> brian, when your lawyer the first time around said to you these are your choices, that you would be facing a jury and i don't know how to quite ask you this question, but i guess the way it was put to you was that as a black man facing a jury in a case like this, that you could we'll be convicted. and he said she said case. and spend years and years, decades in jail. so you decided to plead guilty because it would get you a lighter sentence. what went through your mind about the justice system in coming to that conclusion? >> you know, at that age, it was hard for me to comprehend. today it's still hard for me to comprehend how you can have one decision where it's you know

possibly be a minimum time in prison. then there's another scenario where you can face life but there was no scenario where there is an option of the truth actually being told. and it just was hard to understand and it's still hard to understand. i actually till even now being free ask why. and. >> and that's really the message of this case. 95% of cases are adjudicated by plea and guys, every day are in situations like brian where they're sitting in lockup they're having to decide whether i roll the dice and go 0 trial and risk going to prison for the rest of my life or take a deal where i'm going to get out in a few years. and he was a teenager without his parents' advice sitting in lockup making that decision. >> it's an extraordinary story. i'm so grateful to you for bringing it to us, justin brooks. brian, congratulations. enjoy the freedom and i give you so much credit for your attitude, your lack of feelings

of revenge. i don't know among us could have that kind of grace and spirit. but you clearly have some faith. >> thank you. >> thank you and so much luck to you. >> thank you very much. and up next, trail mix with ruth marcus and reed wilson right here. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this is lois. the day starts with arthritis pain... a load of new listings... and two pills. after a morning of walk-ups, it's back to more pain, back to more pills. the evening showings bring more pain and more pills. sealing the deal... when, hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. it can relieve pain all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lois... who chose two aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

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wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. i'm tamron hall. coming up in just 15 minutes on "news nation," president obama according to a new report is broadening his attack on mitt romney beyond bain to romney's record as governor of massachusetts. plus, the company you keep. nbc's first read calls donald trump an inmistakable surrogate for mitt romney but trump is once again bringing up the president's birthplace. he shares the is taken, trump in two days. will he say anything before then? >> it has been a wild week in politics from cow pies to black

mam baz. here to help us out, ruth marcus, editorial writer with "the washington post" and reid wilson from the national journal's hot line. ruth, i know you're an attorney. and we just interviewed brian banks and just the fact that so many you know young teenage boys and girls are faced with these terrible choices, no good legal counsel and the way our sentencing and plea bargaining works out, they have a terrible choice to plead guilty to something they didn't do. >> it's terrible. and i think it actually reflects a larger problem about access to justice and you know, if we were, god for bid, accused of a crime or sued, we'd be able to access attorneys. that's very, very difficult for most people. it's just not affordable. and especially when you're younger, you're faced with choices that affect your entire life. >> well, we talk about this.

it's important to keep in perspective. it's an important lesson for all of us. then to politics, from the important stuff to the ridiculous stuff. what about this crazy week in politics? we saw newt gingrich re-emerge. he was here on the set with chris matthews on "hardball." >> he's never going away. >> let me play just a little bit of newt gingrich talking about the criticism of mitt romney earlier in this campaign. >> does he tell the truth about you? >> no, but he did what he had to do. >> so end justifies the means, we get the best man that way. >> it's not that. go back and look as the what obama did to hillary. these are tough fights. you throw the kitchen sink. >> is that what we're reduced to? >> this is what -- you know, newt gingrich being newt gingrich. he speaks the truth. he doesn't bother to sugar coat what was an ugly primary and it was. i'm surprised by how well the candidates all seem to getting

along now. gingrich is going to go stump with romney. santorum is on board and not making any problems. you know, this is sort of like when hillary clinton was full steam for president obama. and you know, ended up nominating him at the convention or at least moving to nominate him by acclamation at the convention. everybody's getting along now. this is why those constant stories about how a base is going to be split are always overplayed every four years. >> yes, and i do think that gingrich gave us a great title for a book about the 2012 campaign which is kitchen sink politics, because that's what we're seeing. as with the kitchen sink, yes, they're getting along now. everything's fine. i don't think that the issues with the base are the issues that linger. but and chris played it in his clips last night. the things that the candidate said linger even more than ever. so the best indictment whether or not you agree with it of mitt

romney and bain capital came from the mouth of newt gingrich. we saw it last night. i suspect we'll see it again. >> arguably with hillary clinton and barack obama, there were less ideological difference between them and their branches of the party. it was easier for them to come together than there is between the far right and the tea party republicans and their grievances against mitt romney's record in massachusetts. >> i think that's right. the republicans have really been in a sort of a period of self-reinvention over the last six years. they're sort of searching for an identity as a party. we're seeing the disparate factions fighting with each other. they fought between rick santorum and the more social wing of the republican party, mitt romney and the more fiscally conservative wing of the party. that's a battle not settled and not going to be settled for quite awhile. >> ruth, i want to ask you about "the washington post" poll, the divisions among racial lines among voters. it's interesting and disturbing at the same time.

the poll shows the question was, who do you most advance -- who do you think most advances your family's economic interests. and it was mitt romney over 58 to 32 over president obama among white families and among all other voters, there was a very different split. does that tell us this is going to be a racially motivated campaign more so than it was four years ago? >> i don't necessarilily think more so than it was four years ago. i think it reflexes a continuing problem the democrats have had with white men in particular lower income more blue collar white men in particular. and that has been a special problem for president obama. it was a for him hum vis-a-vis hillary clinton four years ago. it continues to be a problem with him now. i think that is actually one of the explanations looking at those close numbers why we see the bain capital and the vampire, he's a vampire who suck your blood and take your job and

destroy your pension because they're not going to ever win that vote. but they really do want to try to mitigate some of that gap. >> we have to leave it there. thank you so much so much. have a great weekend reid. >> thanks a lot. what political story will make you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing things happen. to me, that's the membership effect.

which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? we'll see a little action on the road this weekend. the candidates, the surrogates. >> it's slow because it's memorial weekend. the candidates are doing things regarding memorial day. joe biden will be at west point delivering a commencement address. then on monday mitt romney and john mccain in san diego. a huge community based around the military there. so it will be, though, a slow weekend. the candidates, the president, the vice president and mitt romney, they'll all slow down this weekend and pick back up.

don't worry, political junkies. there will be plenty more. >> there's always a memorial service in town. we assume the president will be attending that. it is a moment to think about all of our service members and to thank you and see you next week. >> thank you. >> as we think about memorial day and all those who have sacrificed so much, today, this moment with vice president joe biden acting almost as a grief counsellor to military families who have lost relatives. he was speaking about the loss that he dealt with and how he dealt with the loss of his first wife and child in a car accident nearly 40 years ago. >> the call said my wife was dead, my daughter was dead, and wasn't sure how my sons were going to make it. i remember looking up and saying, god, i was to god myself. you can't be good. how can you be good?

after a while you'll see somebody you may have an interest in and you'll feel guilty as hell. you're going to feel this awful, awful, awful feeling of guilt. but just remember two things. keep thinking what your husband or wife would want you to do. there will come a day, i promise you, and you parents as well, when the fog of your son or daughter or your husband or wife brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. >> a good thought to keep in our hearts and minds with that in mind. we think of all of our troops and their families and those who stand guard every day so that we may live in peace. happy holiday weekend, everyone. we'll be back on tuesday. enjoy your weekend. attempt robb hall has a look at what's next. >> a beautiful ending to your hour today.

thank you so much for bringing it to us. also coming up in the next hour, president obama according to a new report is broadening his attack on mitt romney beyond bain to romney's record as governor of massachusetts. we'll talk about the strategy. plus, the company you keep. your parents always say it's important. nbc's first read calls donald trump a, quote, unmistakable surrogate for romney. and donald trump is once again bringing up president obama's birth place. romney shares a stage with trump in count them, four days. will he say anything before then? and a lot of people are hitting the road this holiday weekend. some of us are surprised to see gas prices so low, they're now down 17 cents from last month despite the prediction that we would be at the $5 mark. 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.

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