but if i'm going musicians, course, it's got to be -- >> zampier. mika, what did you learn? >> if you haven't seen the biden speech from friday, check it out. find it online. >> willie, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> time for "morning joe." stick around for chuck. one year after launching his presidential campaign, mitt romney expected to pass the delegate threshold today to go from presumptive nominee to, well, mathematically enhanced presumptive nominee. there's no title change, folks. the bigger question this morning, why is he choosing to celebrate in vegas with donald trump? president obama spent the weekend honoring america's troops, but today the summer campaigns heat up again. with it more democratic pandering about whether the president has gotten too negative too early. president obama says they're just fighting fire with fire.

more than a year after his tough union policies caused an uproar in wisconsin, governor scott walker down to his final week before a recall vote. so why is so little of the campaigning on both sides about the actual issue that started the recall in the first place? good morning from washington. it's tuesday, may 29th, 2012. this is "the daily rundown." i'm huck tochuck todd. let's get right to my first reads of the morning. guilt by association is the oldest form of political combat there is and it's often unfair. but when mitt romney heads to trump international hotel tonight in las vegas for a fund raiser with donald trump, designed to rake in $2 million, the question becomes is knowingly associating with a guy who at any moment can embarrass you just a bad judgment call? and is any sum raised from dining with donald worth the blowback? perfectly summed up this weekend by conservative columnist george will. >> the cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is

obvious to me. donald trump is proof if your net worth is very high, your iq can still be very low and you can intrude in politics. >> trump will have held three high-profile events for romney since his endorsement in early february. don't forget the birthday event for ann romney, featuring this cake. exactly for a candidate trying to downplay his wealth. and trump's birtherism isn't ancient history. this is what he said just last week, folks. >> i have something for you. my birth certificate. >> don't believe her. >> i'd like to see obama's. >> we have to be very strong. now that means bringing up reverend wright. and don't forget, reverend wright is not an old story. reverend wright calls obama essentially a liar. and i don't know why the republicans wouldn't be using that kind of stuff.

>> the guy buys into every conspiracy theory out there. what if the president showed up at a fund-raiser with a surrogate who criticized the mormon faith. or what if a celebrity believed that 9/11 was an inside job. mitt romney is hanging out with a conspiracy theorist and one who's hanging out on the fringe of the am radio, if you will. mitt romney was asked about the association in a gaggle on his plane last night and this is what he had to say. >> i don't agree with all the people that support me and my guess is they don't believe in everything i believe in. but i need to get 51% or more and i'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people. >> the obama campaign is making the most of romney's appreciation for trump and his unwillingness to disavow trump. the campaign is out with this new video, comparing john mccain's vocal correction of supporters who said obama was, quote, not an american with what they call romney's refusal to publicly condemn donald trump.

>> a candidate can't be responsible for everything that their supporters say. >> i really became friendly with mitt romney. >> you're fired. >> it's a total head scratcher what this is about. maybe this is about sucking up to trump now so they can tell him no to a convention speech later. but what does this bring them? the wrong kind of attention. it is just an odd decision that the romney campaign continues to make with somebody like donald trump who continues to embarrass campaign politics. moving on to the obama pandering, call it sunday morning quarterbacking. they are vocalizing what democrats are saying in private, that the obama campaign is going too negative too early and the president is engaging too personally in attacks which sideline the more optimistic message that could get him re-elected. david brooks, known for trading mutual admiration with the

president summed up the angst on "meet the press." >> i question the obama decision to go after and start negative. they have decided to focus on a negative way and this seems to me self destructive. i think starting negative distracts you from he should be talking about but also damages his personal reputation. >> time friedman, who is a golfing buddy of the president, echoed brooks when he argued in his sunday column that in going negative, the president is surrendering his presidential high ground writing, quote, barack obama is an oar rater but the worst president i have ever seen when it comes to explaining his achievements, putting in his comments, connecting with people on a gut level and there by defining how the public views an issue. the obama campaign argues that romney has been attacking the president for months. >> whatever happened to hope and change? now it seems he's just coming right out of the box with these old-fashioned negative ads. >> there's going to be a choice

in this election. mitt romney has been running for president for, well, many years of his life and been very critical of this president's tenure, of this president's policies. and we're certainly happy to talk a little bit about mitt romney and his record. >> let's keep in mind it is mostly taking place in the acela corridor by folks who haven't seen any polling data in the midwestern industrial states. team obama will argue they needed to fire up their own base and running against someone helps them do that. speaking of bain attacks, the romney campaign is out with a counter attack. it's a web video meant to muddy the waters on bain by listing the companies that received money from federal loans that went belly up in the obama administration years. >> more than $16 billion have gone to companies like solyndra that are linked to big obama and democrat donors. obama is giving taxpayer money

to big donors, and then watching them lose it. >> this message that obama is hostile to job creators is one romney will push at events today in colorado and nevada, two very important western swing states, by the way. we'll have some numbers in those states later this week. part of the nbc battleground polling. while romney is set to become the presumptive presidential nominee in texas tonight, the drama to watch is in the crowded race for the state's senate seat. nine republicans are vying to succeed 19-year senate veteran kay bailey hutchison, including lieutenant governor david dewhurst, former state solicitor general ted cruz, form er daily mayor and craig james. dewhurst has served in the state's number two job nearly a decade and has the backing of governor rick perry. some conservatives believe he has avoided bare knuckle confrontations and drawn high-profile opposition from a

conservative club for growth. they have saddled him with with this, quote, toxic label. frankly, folks, this ad is the best example of what's going on inside the republican party right now. take a look at this ad. >> "the dallas morning news" says dewhurst has served as a moderate republican. >> "the houston chronicle" says dewhurst is considered a moderate. >> a moderate at heart says "the texas observer." >> remember, that's a negative ad in this primary. cruz, labeled the next great conservative hope by the national review, has risen on his image as a conservative revolutionary on the strength of his personal story and secured a boatload of endorsements from national tea party types. >> in the u.s. senate race, i support ted cruz. >> ted cruz in texas. >> we need to make our numbers grow. we need to communicate to every american and invite them to join this fight for freedom in 2012. >> i joked that i think he's too smart to be in the u.s. senate.

>> still much of the state's conservative establishment is backing dewhurst and he's trying to use that support to suggest carpet baggers are interfering in the race. >> i think the people of texas are more interested in what texans think than what a group of self-serving special interest individuals in washington trying to hand pick their u.s. senator by saying nothing but untrue things about my record. >> the already ugly battle escalated friday when dewhurst began running a radio ad claiming cruz supports amnesty for illegal immigrants. >> these d.c. guys are amnesty supporters. they want cruz to vote their way. >> oh, he owes them big time. >> cruz fought back saying dewhurst is race baiting, desperately using his cuban background against him. dewhurst has poured more than $12 million of his personal fortune into the race. the crowded primary is airing 11th hour ads against tom

leopard, running third and trying to take advantage of the nasty fight between cruz and dewhurst. the top two finishers will be force sbeed a runoff. a runoff has never been held so late in the state of texas. that's why the dewhurst folks do not want to be in a runoff. they do not know how they win that small, small turnout july 31st. four house incumbents have serious challengers. there are another half dozen competitive open primaries worth watching including the free for all for nine republicans for ron paul's seat. polls in texas close at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. remember, two time zones in texas. the other big story around the world frankly is taking place in syria. at least seven nations, including spain, britain, france and italy are expelling syrian diplomats from their capitals, part of a outcry against the civilians massacred in their homes last week. i have to say obviously right now in damascus, you have kofi

annan meeting with the syrian president assad. any hope that this peace plan is going to get resurrected? >> reporter: well, if you had to look at the number of people killed not only just in the past 72 hours but over the course of the president's observers on the ground the evidence suggests, no, it is not working. not because the observers aren't doing their job but because it hasn't stymied the violence. that was the objective of the peace plan was to get the violence to a low level and ultimately to get a dialogue started between the opposition and the syrian appellate. what is happening is completely the opposite. there's more killing, more violence. the syrian military continues to shell cities and rebels continue to attack syrian soldiers. so the evidence on the ground suggests that the u.n. peace plan is faltering. as u.n. officials have told us, it is the only game in town so they have to keep pushing it ahead with the hopes that it will at some point get some traction. >> that seems actually not to be the case. "the new york times" out with a

report about the yemen solution, that the united states is trying to negotiate with russia and that maybe putin and medvedev have an open mind about this idea of keeping the assad regime partially in place if assad will agree to go. sort of similar to what happened in yemen, where the regime stayed but the ruler left. >> reporter: well, you know, chuck, one of the things people are talking about today is the fact that this incident could have been a tipping point in the syrian conflict. some very strong words coming out of the russian foreign minister, which many people interpreted as russia slowly distancing itself from the assad regime or at least president assad himself. so there is now in the eyes of many a possibility that if russia changes its position, distances itself a little more from the syrian president, there could be an opportunity where the international community could offer president assad at least an opportunity to step aside, make way for somebody else to assume power and begin a process of transition. not necessarily as quickly as we've seen in other arab

countries like egypt or elsewhere, but in the course of yemen where the president steps aside and ultimately paves the way for a new government over the course of several years. >> you're in cairo, i want to ask you about the presidential election and overnight reports that one of the runoff -- basically it's being split. some might argue too simplistically into a muslim brotherhood candidate, islamist candidate versus an insider, former mubarak candidate, if you will. it was his headquarters that was attacked last night. tell me more about it. >> reporter: absolutely. late last night as the results became official and people were angered by the outcome that they were really out of all the choices, 13 possible contenders, five serious front runners, narrowed down to two. couldn't be any more polarizing between this islamist figure and the former mubarak prime minister. people took to the streets denouncing both really. really the action took place outside the headquarters of the former prime minister. there people vamgndalized the

office. but he also galvanized some of his protesters into tahrir square, people gathered there denouncing the military for its attempt to manipulate or what they see as an attempt to manipulate the outcome or the results. so people here are very angered. between these two candidates, they combined to have half of the vote, which means that half of the egyptian people that elected did not want either one of these two president. so you get a sense of why they are angry that these two are the ones in the runoff. >> welcome to runoff politics. it happens in this country and happens over there. ayman thanks very much. up next, risky business. what is the upside for mitt romney cozying up to donald trump? and still to come, the recall rivalry. wisconsin governor scott walker sparked a national debate over union rights for public workers. where's all that outrage now? first a look ahead at the president's schedule. as you can see, it's medal of freedom day. a lot of interesting folks going

to be receiving one today. always a great ceremony at the white house. worth tuning in. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. we'll be right back. i was pushing my kids in a stroller when i had my heart event. and i've been on a bayer aspirin regimen ever since. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i know if i take my bayer aspirin i have a better chance of living a healthy life. that bringing you better technology helps make you a better investor. with our revolutionary new e-trade 360 dashboard you see exactly where your money is and what it's doing live. our e-trade pro platform offers powerful functionality

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well, for some reason mitt romney is betting on donald trump to bring in big donors at a las vegas fund-raiser today. as we've been asking this morning, is the cost of associating with trump worth it? joining me now, former democratic senator from arkansas, blanch lincoln and former republican congressman from virginia, tom davis. i got you both here. tom davis, i want to start with you. you're the republican of this pair. what -- can you explain -- can

you figure out any upside mitt romney is finding about associating with donald trump? >> money. >> he can't raise money without donald trump? >> he could raise it but this is additional money and this is a money game and he's behind the eight wall. that's the only rationale i can see to it. i don't see the political rationale particularly, yeah. >> you know, this is just a field day for democrats. the obama campaign out with a video. it's understandable they're just having at it with this, because they have been hit with some guilt by association charges in the past. >> i think it's sensationalism. that's, unfortunately, a lot of what captures things. and i think other than money, like tom says. it's sensationalism to the campaign. >> can this guilt by association stuff work in politics? >> yeah, but it's way too early, chuck. in september, october, this will be forgotten. >> which is what the romney people think? >> i think so. >> that's what they're gambling on. senator lincoln, let me ask you

this. a lot from the president's favorite columnist, but are you uncomfortable with the tone of the obama campaign? >> i think most americans, myself included, want to see us really talking about these issues. we see that we're at a crossroads. we know that economically we've got this one shot opportunity to put our economy back on track. i think people really want to talk about the issues and they want to see us creating jobs. >> but do you think the obama campaign is on the right tact or wrong tact? >> well, i think they have to match whatever is out there in many instances. you can't go unanswered and you have to get your own punch out there. as i said, i tend to really want to see us talk about this country and the things that need to happen, putting it back on the economy and really, you know, talking about educating our kids. you know, they're not glamorous issues, chuck, and that's one of the reasons -- >> that goes to this, though.

the obama campaign will argue, tom, they didn't feel that they had much choice. they had to engage early. they had to fire up their base. >> they have a couple of problems. their base isn't there like it was, particularly among young people. they're the ones that have dropped out of the labor force. it's just not going to be there so they're going negative. it's a long way from hope and change at this point. >> go ahead. >> i was just going to say seniors as well. i think seniors are an important target we should be focusing on. >> and there seems to be none of that. >> you're both known to be fairly centrist politicians. i think this perfectly sums up the politics of 2012. this is an ad running in texas against david dewhurst. >> "the wall street journal" says dewhurst supported an income tax for texas. >> moderate tax-raising david dewhurst, wrong for texas. >> wrote against dewhurst on may 29th. club for growth action is responsible for the content of

this advertising. >> tom, you've seen the other ad that says "the dallas morning news" says that he's a moderate. all that was missing was the evil voice. really? >> this is the ideological sorting of the party's left and right. >> where is it happening -- it's not happening on the left as much. >> there are two primary races in pennsylvania, two more moderate democrats -- >> it's not naerly what we're seeing on the right. >> i think the republican party is having this tug of war within itself. look, most of these districts and states now are either red or blue. they're not even purple. this doesn't work in a purple area. >> you were on the front lines of an ideological fight. >> was i ever. >> but you made it back. you beat it back. at least one-half of it. >> i did. >> and not in the general. >> but it weakens you so -- >> i was just going to say this is -- and then what does it do, does it explain why so many senators will privately say, oh, i could do this, i could do this but never will publicly have the

guts to say it? >> i don't know. i think that's the problem. what happens is when you run against the moderates and the moderates are no longer there, all you have are extremes. that's what you see in other countries, with the extremes out there, you don't have the people that really want to bring everybody to the table and say let's solve this problem. let's -- you know. >> so we need more moderates in egypt too is what you're saying. >> chuck, what's happened is the middle has given way. as money has moved away from the parties because of campaign finance, it didn't disappear, it's gone out to the extremes. >> do you think if you moved money back into politics, you'd move some of this and matt rate a little bit? >> absolutely. now the money is away from the parties. >> tom davis, blanche lincoln, thank you both. wall street is kicking off a short week that ends with a big moment. the jobs report. the market rundown is next. first, today's trivia question. who was the first american to win a nobel peace prize? folks, it's easy but i figure it's vacation.

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and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. one piece of potential developing news, we may have some news of what the judge may say to the jurors in the edwards trial. the minute we have something, we'll bring that to you, but we're minutes away from the opening bell. time for the market rundown. becky quick is here. all right, short week. everybody wants to get may behind them. so what's going on? >> right now it by about 90 points for the dow. that's pretty significant because there's not a whole lot of good news out there today, chuck. the market at this point is shr slugging off bad news out of greece, out of spain. and the spanish bond market and stock market have been in a little trouble, showing some of the pressures there from what's been happening with that ongoing euro crisis. we just got the numbers for home

prices and the headlines look kind of scary. for the end of the first quarter home prices were at the lowest levels we've seen since before the housing crisis first started back in mid-2006, but there are better signs if you dig through the headlines talking about how in many markets prices rosemont over month from february into march. kay schiller themselves were on and said don't worry about it, it looks like things are starting to improve a little bit. again, 90 points it looks like we'll open up. but the big number is coming up on friday when we get that big jobs report and that's what everybody is waiting for this week. >> the only thing is everybody has got such low expectations that maybe that helps it. who knows. >> that's right. >> thank you, becky. up next, with one week to go until the wisconsin recall election, governor scott walker's career is on the line. but could a fight that galvanize labor unions end up back firing on democrats? a defying chris christie takes on the federal government over sports gambling. why 49 other governors -- or 48

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with one combined serving of fruits and vegetables. new capri sun super-v. wisconsin's governor scott walker has been under siege from democrats and big labor opponents for more than a year. but it appears he could come out on top after all. we're doing a deep dive into wisconsin's recall election, now just a week away. remember all this started with those massive protests that erupted after governor walker signed a bill sharply curtailing collective bargaining rights for most of the state's public union employees. at the time democrats and labor accused of governor of overreaching. they launched a recall effort against walker, his lieutenant governor, a bunch of state senators, one of whom who has since retired. the latest polls show it may we the democrats that may have overreached here. the first shows the governor holding a five-point lead, 50-45 over milwaukee mayor tom barrett. the second shows governor walker

holding an eight-point lead, 50-42. even internal democratic polls that have been released only show walker -- still show walker up, have him up three. now walker, how has he taken the lead? he has seen a coalescing of republican support, particularly in terms of finances. the republican governors association launched its seventh ad in support of walker pushing its total spending in the wisconsin race over $6 million. double what the dga has spent. it's given the governor a significant lead in the ad wars. instead of a referendum on union rights and government power, the race has become more and more focused on the economy and jobs. in other words, the same thing every other race is focused on. even walker's opponent, mayor barrett, has put out ads that seem to reflect the changing narrative. >> scott walker is playing tricks with job numbers because he didn't like the real ones. doesn't wisconsin deserve the truth before the election?

>> we cut waste and fraud and our reforms have saved taxpayers more than a billion dollars. and by reducing taxes, we helped employers create more than 30,000 jobs. >> that mention of reforms shows you how the governor has tried to frame this recall and the bill that started it all. he doesn't talk about the fight it took to get it passed, he talks about the economic results. governor walker summed it up at a debate just four days ago. >> the things that this election was supposedly about, the reforms, are things they don't talk about anymore because they're working. >> republican governor bob mcdonnell is chairman of the republican governors association and he's traveling to wisconsin today for an event with governor walker. but he's here this morning before jumping on a plane at national. good morning, governor. >> good morning, chuck. >> all right. let's -- you don't want to presume anything one week out, but governor walker, democrats are releasing poll that say show governor walker ahead at this point. so there's just an argument about what's the margin, is it three points, five points, seven

points? what's your advice to governor walker, assuming he beats back this recall, about how to unify the state? >> well, first, i admire scott walker because he's been a stand-up guy. he said, look, we're in trouble in wisconsin. we have a $3 billion plus budget deficit. we've got to get our fiscal house in order without raising taxes. we've got to focus on job creation. and he said it's going to be painful, but he did exactly what he said he was going to do during the campaign and now the results are coming in. 25,000 plus new jobs. >> some of the tactics, i just want to start with the tone because i think the critique here of governor walker and why there was such a backlash sometimes was less about policy and more about tone. >> tone is important in politics. i mean i think you've got to be able to stick to your principles and try to do it as much as possible to bring people together. but there's no easy way, chuck, when you've got a mess like that in a budget, and i had knit virginia -- >> i don't remember protests at the richmond state capitol.

>> well, i smiled a lot while i was cutting all that money. >> you know, you're having to deal with democratic controlled state senator. >> sure. you know, wisconsin is a little bit different status. it's the hot bed of public sector labor unions and also the birth place of the republican party, so it's a very polarized state to start with. but i'd say scott was very honest and matter of fact about what needed to be done. the bottom line is the reforms are working. your question is what does he do after he wins, and i believe he will. it's all about get out to vote. people have already decided. now it's about who gets who to the polls. i think scott wins narrowly. and then i do think he understands that his job is to govern. when campaigns are over, you've got to bring people together and govern, even the people that disagreed with you. >> are you surprised that it's no longer about the recall? governor walker is not running

on the process and the democrats -- instead it looks like a regular old governor's race. how did that happen? >> the recall process isn't just do you like or not like scott walker and then let's recall him. the wisconsin process is different. you have to put up somebody else -- >> you have to run a regular campaign. >> what are the issues in wisconsin? same as the national. it's about jobs and the economy, it's about taxes and spending. scott walker has had the guts to do things that barack obama won't do and that's lead and be honest about the fact that wisconsin was broke, just like america is in debt up to our eye balls in $15 trillion. you can't get there and create solutions without some pain. he was honest enough to do it and now it's working. >> well, one of the things he's running on is saying, hey, look at wisconsin's unemployment number. you always love to talk about virginia's unemployment. >> i do. >> and you do so sitting next to

mitt romney, who is campaigning saying, no, no, no, no, no, the economy isn't getting better. that mixed messaging that's going on between republican governors in the states and the nominee, doesn't that end up benefitting president obama? >> no. >> why shouldn't he get -- why should you get all the credit and president obama get none in the state of virginia? >> because i would say we're doing pretty well in virginia. we'd be doing a lot better if we had president mitt romney. >> so you'd be at 3% unemployment? >> look what obama has done to energy policies. i'm an energy rich state and i've got a president and administration that is constantly undermining us on coal, natural gas, offshore oil and gas, nuclear. i can't find one pro-energy policy this administration is coming up with to help us. we'd be a lot farther along in that sector. the permits, the regulations,s anti-business mentality -- >> we let regulations slip and we end up with that type of oil spill that we had in the gulf. >> well, the point is that's

done. and i agree, we needed to slow down after that. now it's done. but this administration still won't let us drill offshore and use america's god-given natural resources. i think that's wrong. >> both the "washington post" and "wall street journal" criticized you for not vetoing a bill that had to the with the virginia assembly and state senate passed a bill and you signed that it would have prevented state troopers from knowingly arresting a terror suspect that might be detained in a military retention facility. what was your reasoning for signing that bill? >> no, it was just a statement of principle that we're not going to do anything to violate the constitution of the united states, the constitution of virginia with detentions. obviously during the second world war -- >> has this happened? >> no. >> then why pass the bill? >> it was overwhelmingly passed. >> i saw that. it was bipartisan. where did this come from? >> it's a mere statement of principle. one delegate put this, there's some concerns that were raised about the defense authorization act and whether or not it could

lead to some overreach. i am 100% in support of doing everything we need to do in order to combat the global war on terror. we ought to treat these people, these terrorists like enemy conbattants so they don't have the same rights as american citizens. >> the editorial board says this rollover hardly speaks well of your potential as a vice president. >> i'm not campaigning for any office. all i can say is as a veteran myself and having a daughter in iraq, i'm going to do everything i can to make sure the terrorists aren't accorded any harbor in virginia or anywhere else. i'm going to do everything i can to help them win virginia. thank you, chuck. up next with our panel, mitt romney's surrogate struggle and the governor's gamble. chris christie takes on sports gambling. first, the white house soup of the day. it's a good idea. it's called spicy vegetable. hopefully it's more than just pepper. don't forget, you can always

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they became the first explorers to reach the summit of mt. everest and live to tell the tale. a lot of action going on at everest the last couple of weeks for you climbing folks. i know you've been following that closely. i know it's not easy finding good political surrogates lately. the romney campaign is having to do a lot of explaining about some of their supporters. mona is a contributor to msnbc.com.

bill burton is a former deputy white house secretary. and ann is with the "washington post." okay, let's start with donald trump. mona, i'll let you attempt to explain the rationale. tom davis came up with the money rationale. what good does come out of this for mitt romney? >> well, you know, he may be taking the view and he did say something along these lines that, well, you know, somebody endorses me that doesn't necessarily mean i endorse them, which was the ronald reagan approach in 1980. it doesn't quite work here because he's doing appearances with him and fund-raisers with trump. so it's a little mysterious. and i think that romney over the last couple of weeks has really had a series of home runs. he's been doing very well. this is a misstep and i can only conclude that it might be that he is afraid that conservative voters out there like trump and believe that trump is a conservative and therefore he doesn't want to -- >> that's the other thing. when did donald trump become a

conservative? >> he isn't, that's exactly it. >> he just buys into the conservative conspiracy theories, right? >> the guy is a tax raiser, a huge donor to democrats. the notion that he represents conservative republicanism is absurd. nevertheless, earlier this year there was that brief little flurry of talk about him running and so possibly romney feels he doesn't want to ail yep 8 people who like trump. >> bill burton, bill maher is one of your large donors at priorities, usa. if the president appeared with bill maher who has said some tough and some would say hateful things about the mormon religion, would you expect the president to appear with him? >> i wouldn't expect that. the key distinction that's in your question is that mitt romney is choosing to actually stand next to this guy who espouses some of the most hateful theories in republican politics right now. it's not even conservatism. it's this fringe ideology. and also -- >> if you can call it that.

>> if you can even call it that. also, why would you spend time standing next to somebody whose phrases made him most famous is "you're fired." >> and it does seem, ann, i have to say, i saw -- today you see a concerted effort both by the romney campaign and crossroads trying to turn the private equit discussion and say let's look at the investments the obama administration has made. let's ignore this. we know this doesn't poll very well but maybe you won't like this either. i think potentially an effective muddying up of these waters. >> muddying up of two waters. on the trump question you have to think maybe people won't notice the trump event so much because we're going to talk in colorado first. good luck with that, exactly. yes, exactly, the bain attacks last week, this is the answer to that. we're going to talk about private equity for bain. we'll talk about public equity. interesting noncoordination by crossroads. >> by the way, the ads were almost identical. >> and rolling out on the same day, but it all happens in

public. >> you guys -- >> but you know what, but the obama campaign can count on people like "the washington post" to run stories on the front page about romney's high school high jinx. >> that was been amazing story. but it took romney three weeks to come up with this line of defense. >> it seems to be potentially his most effective line of defense. here's rudy giuliani, who went on sunday shows. this was not, i'm sure, what the romney campaign wanted him to say. >> i was comparing what i thought was my far superior record to his otherwise decent record. but the numbers weren't as great. that's all part of campaigning. this is a bhoman who ran a significant business, made into it a tremendous success, which used to count for a lot in america. >> ann, look, rudy giuliani had issues with mitt romney. it took him forever to even climb. maybe we shouldn't be surprised. and the idea of calling him a

romney surrogate is a bit of a stretch. >> he's a republican. >> all it did was give him fodder for new ads and videos about romney's record. that isn't helpful. >> you have to imagine the romney campaign is saying let's let our less enthusiastic surrogates not go on tv. on the other hand, this is the time when everybody needs to have seemed at least to have coalesced around him. so they have got to have him out there some. >> and there is a popularity to rudy still. >> and people pay attention to him in middle america. he's not like some of the other surrogates who people have no idea who they are. he now thinks mitt romney had a decent record. >> does romney need to fix this a little bit? >> well, it looks like giuliani went to the cory booker school of surrogates. >> i think they pay more attention to their own press clippings. >> exactly. those egos. >> speaking of egos in the northeast corridor, i want to talk about what could be the biggest potential showdown with the federal government that any

governor could have, that could have wide-ranging effects on tax revenues in this country. trivia time, though. we asked who was the first american to win a nobel peace win a nobel peace prize? the answer was teddy roosevelt in 2006. you're watching "the daily rundown." i've always looked up to my brother.

he doesn't look like a heart attack patient. i was teaching a martial arts class and it hit me. we get to the emergency room... and then...and then they just wheeled him away. i had to come to that realization that "wow, i am having a heart attack." i can't punch this away. i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to you doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a fighter and nowadays i don't have that fear. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook.

let's bring back our panel. this was almost missed over memorial day weekend. governor chris christie of new jersey is trying to get atlantic city's economy back. and he wants to have a fight with the federal government or sports gambling. here is a bit of his press conference from last week. >> i saw somebody at the giants game this past weekend.

and i said great win. he said yeah, well, the giants didn't cover and it blew my parlay. gambling is illegal in new jersey on sports as far as i can tell. i don't think any of us are of the illusion that betting on nfl games isn't happening every week in new jersey. let's get that economy out from underground. >> there are 40 other governors who are secretly rooting for chris christie. they are tired of doing cuts. they don't want to have to deal with raising taxes. gambling, online poker there is federal laws. christie is challenging to stop them. this fight could end inputal politics. >> these are desperate budget times for the united states.

he has a big center, atlantic city. he is putting gubernatorial priorities ahead of vice president aspirations here. >> nobody wants to talk about this. >> for moral reasons and specific reasons. this is not going to be popular in nevada. they have the right to do this. >> they think having sports book is a tourist attraction, if you will. already vegas feels as if popping up of casinos everywhere has eroded some of their appeal and they think this would be the last straw. >> this certainly gives you another reason to go to atlantic city if you needed one. the presidential politics here are very tough for him. knowing the leaders there are so angry about it does a lot of damage to chris christie's hopes. >> one of the conversations we don't have is we expanded gambling too much. it has become a social norm. >> it's all very regressive

taxation. it is poor people who can't afford it. but we do have examples of governors around the country who are doing the reforms that need to be done to get out of debt like scott walker and mitch daniels. those should be the models. >> they are looking for revenues. >> they didn't resort to this. >> shameless plugs. >> over the weekend i did watch for the first time the movie "waiting for superman." it is a fantastic documentary that everyone in america should watch, so plug. >> mine is the column today on mitt romney. >> as we wait for the john edwards verdict to come in our coverage waiting. it's a nail biter. coverage has been very good. >> john grisham who couldn't have written a better script about jurors. this is really sleazed out.

that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." coming up chris jansing. wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. you do a lot of kayakingno. whoooa i'm in a river. what are some good kayaking words? like...rapids? look, i'm going through the rapids. ok. i'll take it. new offers in new places so you can try new things. sync your american express card with facebook, foursquare, and twitter to find savings.

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