rundown with luke russert. have a great weekend, everybody. southern comfort. president obama hops over the potomac for some stops in the battleground of virginia. will he deliver new hope for virginia or will the president find that virginia is not for lovers? aches and bain. republicans push back hard on the latest campaign in romney's role in bain capital. everybody who has read the hi h hitchhiker's guide to fantasy knows 32. find out what bill clinton has to say about bain capital, the tax hike and much, much more. good morning, everybody. it's friday, july 13, 2012. let's get to the first read of the morning with the obama and romney campaign swapping bitter accusations about romney's

record at bain capital. the president sat down with an interview to say that romney's record is fair game. >> i do not think at all it disqualifies him, but i also think it's important if that's his main calling card, his basic premise is that i'm mr. fix-it on the economy because i made a lot of money. i think it is entirely appropriate to look at that record and see whether, in fact, his focus was creating jobs. and he successfully did that, and when you look at the record, there are questions there. >> romney continues his counter-attack in a new ad out this morning which he uses obama's own words in the 2008 convention in denver against him. >> if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters. if you don't have a record to run on, then you're paying your

opponent as someone people should run from. you make a big election about small things. >> now, when it comes to his own record, the president conceded he hasn't communicated his economic policies well enough but stopped short of saying he's made mistakes on substance. >> the mistake of my first couple of years was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. and that's important. but the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the american people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times. >> now, romney pounced on this

line saying being a good communicator is not enough, saying, quote, being president is not about telling stories. being president is about leading. so who is to blame for the sluggish economy? former president bill clinton weighed in with his own take in his exclusive interview with savannah guthrie on "today." >> i'm not sure both sides want the economy to get better. i know the president does, but i know senator mcconnell said his number one priority was winning the election. >> it sounds like you're saying the republicans are basically rooting for the economy to fail. >> i didn't say that, senator mcconnell did. senator mcconnell said his number one goal was not to get the economy going again, it was to defeat the president. i hope they're not rooting for it to fail. >> nbc senior political editor mark murray is here, and he joins me now. mark, what an amazing day yesterday. it really felt like the official first cannon kickoff, if you will, for this election. a lot of moving parts, though.

when it comes to barack obama admitting that he might not have been a good communicator and mitt romney hitting back on that, who can win that war? >> these are all really tough questions and it's why journalists like to ask them. what's your biggest regret? when you have no regrets at all, you think you're perfect. what president obama basically did was acknowledge i think the shortcomings his supporters have acknowledged, and also his retra retractors when it comes to communication. they weren't able to sell the health care law, they weren't able to sell what the stimulus was doing. one of the biggest things about the stimulus was the obama administration said this was actually going to create jobs, as opposed to the economy getting out of a death spiral, so they allowed that to count about how many jobs were allowed by the stimulus. he was pretty much acknowledging what a lot of people say, that they've had some communication errors. >> big news yesterday was about mitt romney's time at bain

capital. when did he actually stop managing funds there? the boston globe had a report there saying that mitt romney was listed on the sec filings after 1999 when he said he had walked away, and then fortune magazine said he had nothing to do with those bain funds after 1999. two reputable news reporting sources reporting very different things, giving fodder to those campaigns. it seems if this question is up in the air can only be positive for obama. >> that's right. the romney campaign was on the defensive all day. they were fighting back furious i ly. i look at this in a couple different ways. was mitt romney actually controlling the investments, managing the day to day stuff, when he left to join the olympics, run the olympics? the answer is no, that he wasn't doing this type of stuff at all. but when you look at the broader sense of bain and mitt romney, it's really hard to separate the two, and it goes to show you that mitt romney was still on these sec filings after 1999,

that he was continuing to get money from bain capital, so when you look at bain capital in the large view of things, it's really hard to separate the two and why this is such a tricky issue and a tricky issue for the romney campaign. >> beefsteaks now moving forward a little more. the romney campaign sent out a fund-raising campaign, and one lucky supporter will get a chance to meet mitt and his running mate. they had the breaking news that condoleeza rice was the number one person. i've spoken to folks that refute that a little bit, but we seem to be getting closer here. >> we are getting closer because he has to do it before the republican convention, but the fundraiser struck me this way. it doesn't seem like it's coming next week. if they said they were holding a contest every week, they would

have to stop that pretty quickly if romney was rolling it out tuesday or wednesday. if condoleeza rice is the pick, i do have some oceanfront property in nebraska to sell you. >> i said yesterday to america, i will walk from washington to new york if that's the pick. in 2008, barack obama became the first democratic presidential candidate since lbj to care for old dominion. he could lose florida and ohio but still win an election term. the state's electoral votes are in his column. in this hour, the president kicks off two days of campaigning in the old dominion. nbc's mike vicara joins us from the white house. vic, how we doing? question to you. president obama, what's going to be his message, and republicans

are going to pounce on him next week for these defense sequestration hit areas. what's the response going to be there? >> they're already hitting him on the defense sequestration, and there are a lot of wrinkles to this campaign, a lot of wrinkles to this issue and a lot of wrinkles to the state of virginia. you said president obama won the state in 2008. going back to lbj, it is a state with shifting demographics but still some very staunchly conservative areas. we talk a lot about these collar counties around d.c. and northern virginia, how blue they've become. the tidal area where president obama is visiting today, a lot of strong democratic support but a lot of votes up for grabs there. other areas of va varirginia, t southwestern portion, what they call the south side. the president will be heading to the roanoke mountains later today. still a lot of staunch republican red territory.

they're spending a lot of money here already. our vote campaigns lose perhaps more here than any other state in virginia except television ads. you look at all the electoral votes and the nine swing states at first three counts being up for grabs. it all really does come down to virginia if you do it in certain ways. while the president certainly has the upper hand here, i think the politics average in virginia right now, he's up three. they're not going to be taking anything for granted. it's a conservative state in many ways, a conservative governor, conservative legislature, but he's going to be down in hampton road, virginia beach and roanoke today. >> luke? >> it's going to be fascinating to see how he talks about these defense cuts. michael vicara, thanks so much. we appreciate it. they reported lower second

quarter profits considering that bad bet they made earlier this year that cost billions of dollars. cnbc's own resident big whale, andrew, is here. andrew, what do we got today, my friend? >> you're right, jp morgan is the news of the morning, and it's all about how much money they made in the quarter, but more importantly, how much they lost in that bad trade. we've been talking about the london whale. they made about $5 billion, which is solid, but the big question is how much they lost in that cio group, and that number we used to talk about being close to $2 billion is now closer to $5 billion, and it could go up from there. but there is a bigger issue this morning, and i want to read to you from the statement that they made. real questions now about whether there was malfeasance inside a jp morgan, certain traders trying to hide their trades and the values of the losses they had. they said this morning that they recently discovered information

that raises questions about the integrity of the trader marks, the marks being the valuation, and suggesting that certain individuals may have been seeking to avoid showing the full amount of those losses in the portfolio during the quarter. what does this mean? this means we might be looking at sec and increasingly perhaps even criminal investigations. of course, there is going to be big questions about the management of jp morgan and risk, the ceo, what he knew and when he knew it. this is going to be the story of the morning. i should say, by the way, perhaps oddly enough, jp morgan stock right now trading ahead or up, rather, ahead of the market opening this morning. >> that is fascinating, andrew. almost four years later, we could have the first real criminal investigation in one of these big bangs. andrew ross sorkin, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate it. up next, both campaigns accusing

the other of lying about romney's business experience. how ugly will it get? and the peak's efforts hit a sta stalemate. we look at the president and romney's schedule today. . >> mitt romney taking the day off. ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today.

either mitt romney, through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the sec, which is a felony. or he was misrepresenting his position at bain to the american people. if he was lying to the american people, then that's a real character and trust issue.

>> damn. that was president obama's deputy campaign manager on the o offensive using the word felony while talking about mitt romney and the continuing questions over when he ceased control of bain capital. the romney camp is ready to respond. this directly from campaign manager matt rhodes. he said, quote, president obama ought to apologize for the out-of-control bhaehavior of hi staff which demeans the office he holds. let's bring in brad woodhouse from the bnc, shawn spacer from the ync. they're both wearing purple so maybe we have some bipartisan energy going on this morning. the story that drove the news cycle yesterday, mitt romney. when exactly did he stop managing funds at bain capital? boston globe said he was managing them in 1999, fortune magazine said no, they stopped

in 1999. who is right? >> let's just say what his lawyer said that we know now from reports that came out last night. he continued his private sector work unabated. his lawyer said that. he said that before an election ballot commission in massachusetmas massachuset massachusetts, interestingly, where he was trying to prove his residency to run for governor of massachusetts. his private sector work went unabated. mitt romney is a meticulous person. every hair in place, i's dotted, t's crossed. he's not going to allow his name to be let out as the shareholder, the managing director of all these things if it wasn't true. so he likes to take credit for jobs that were created all the way up until today as a result of his work at bain capital. he can't now say that he's not responsible for any of those things. >> okay, you cannot be physically in two places at the same time. he was in salt lake city.

he was in salt lake city running the olympics. at the same time in 2004, the democrats argued the opposite, that he was spending so much time in salt lake that he couldn't be a massachusetts resident because he had spent too much time running the olympics. now they're saying, no. so the facts are it is physically impossible to be in two places statement. he was turning around the olympics as a source of pride for this country. the fact of the matter is regardless, okay -- >> sean -- >> hold on. where mitt romney was, this is a total distraction of an issue. this president needs to start talking about his record, his issues and what's going on in this economy. >> this thing done by the obama campaign is pure distraction? >> absolutely. hold on, hold on. >> sean had his say. a distraction, boston globe reported this story. they did the report on the story. >> what do we have here? what is this? >> first of all, mitt romney

said before that same election commission in 2002, he said he repeatedly flew back to massachusetts to attend board meetings. >> that's not true. >> the fact checkers -- i tell you why we're talking about it, we're talking about it because mitt romney is a serial outsourcer of jobs. you want to talk about outsourcing, let's talk about outsourcing. the "washington post" said every one of your charges against the president with respect to outsourcing was a lie. every single one of them. >> so you acknowledge -- >> no, no, actually, it didn't. it said that the claim of the rnc is actually true. this is the biggest issue of outsourcing that this administration doesn't want to talk about. since this president has been in office, we have accumulated $5 trillion of new debt. we have outsourced that to the chinese to finance. they don't seem to have a problem with the chinese buying all the bonds so they can continue to spend money, and when we talk about bank

accounts, let's talk about bank accounts. let's talk about the bank accounts of the american worker who right now is trying to figure out how to make ends meet. >> go ahead. >> can you tell me why mitt romney had a swiss bank account? >> no, i can't. why are we concerned about that instead of the bank accounts of the american people? >> let's talk about that, though. in terms of tax returns, he said, when he was running for governor, going back to 1985, he's sort of a pack rat. why not throw it out there? it almost seems that because he won't be forward with it that it's better to take the heat, that the media is going to say every single day, that brad is going to say every single day that there is something there that would be very problematic. >> senator mccain and senator kerry released two years of tax returns. every candidate for federal office filed a financial

disclosure form. he filed multiple of them. he's released two years of tax returns. if he releases three, they'll say four. if he releases four, they'll say five. they want to talk about anything but this administration's record. >> what's wrong with the 12 that his dad released? >> because if it's 12, it will be 13. let's talk about transparency. why are you guys stalling on fast and furious? why are you claiming executive privilege for the department of justice? you guys want to talk about every issue and distract except for mitt romney -- >> let me tell you why this is important. let me tell you why this is important. mitt romney has said i should be president because of my private sector experience. but he doesn't want to talk about his private sector experience with respect to what does his tax return say about his private sector experience? what does the shell corporation in bermuda say about his private sector experience? >> the reason you know this is because he's disclosed it all.

>> we know this because he released one tax return which his attorney said was at the beginning of the time he started this thing. >> you guys like to talk about it when it comes to you. >> sean, you do get the last word here because i was informed before that the dnc lost the softball for seven years in a row by a single run. so part of the bet -- do you have some dnc garb? what is this? >> it's a mitt romney hat. put it on. america, we have it. brad woodhouse with a romney hat on. remember, ladies and gentlemen, when you make a bet, get used to that face. >> brad woodhouse, sean spicer, thank you so much. i'm sure this conversation will continue in the green room. coming up, road tripping with megan mccain.

plus, why the olympic uniforms have lawmakers blaming that on the hill. but first, today's trivia question. how many of the u.s. paper currency bills currently in production do not feature a u.s. president? the correct answer will get a shoutout from us. this is a very easy question again. if you can't get this one after the one yesterday, i'm going to get physical and mail it to your house directly. d standard in anti-aging. roc® retinol. found in roc® retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream. it's clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. now for maximum results... the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum to create retinol correxion® max. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. new roc® retinol correxion® max. nothing's better than gold.

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comments against first lady michelle obama. the secret service officials are downplaying the significance of the report, saying it was a bad joke made by someone who should know better. the officer in question works in a unit that facilitates official motorcades throughout washington, d.c. and has been placed on administrative duty. republicans and democrats on capitol hill have found something to unite against, the u.s. olympic uniforms. they are expressing outrage over the u.s. uniforms that are going to be at the olympics right there that were made in china, urging new american-made uniforms be prepared. john boehner simply said the u.s. olympic committee should know better, but harry reid has some more scathing words. >> i am so upset that i think the olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. i think they should be embarrassed. i think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again.

if they have to wear nothing but a singlet that says usa on it painted by hand, that's what they should wear. >> remember, the u.s. olympic committee does not get any government money, so they issued a statement that said, quote, unlike most olympic teams around the world, the u.s. olympic team is privately funded and we're grateful for the support of our sponsors. finally, police in riot gear broke up about 200 protestors in los angeles last night leaviwit people being arrested. they thought they were associated with the national movement, but that has not yet been confirmed. megan mccain's great american road trip. what did she discover as she criss-crossed the country to break through stereotypes? we're live with the details next only on "the daily rundown."

syrian activists say 200 people were killed during heavy government shelling on a farming village in central syria yesterday. if confirmed, this would be the single deadliest event since the syrian uprising began. some 16,000 people are thought to have been killed since the conflict started in march of 2011. joining me now is nbc's ayman modine who joins us from cairo. it seems like the violence is swirling at a rapid rate. >> it does, and it would be the third such atrocity taking place this summer. according to activists in the city of vitempsa, the pattern is e eerily similar. the people with the tanks surrounded the village, and as people were trying to flee, the

government's loyal armed thugs went street to street, killing people in close range. the united nations has confirmed there was killing in the village. they cannot confirm the atrocities took place on the scale that was reported. they are condemning it, and all indications so far is that it could be one of the worst bloodshed moments of this uprising. luke? >> there are some interesting deaffectid defections of syrian residents defecting to iraq. what is the latest on that? >> the two defections you made note of that, one is the high ranking diplomat, and the other, the syrian official part of the inner guard, the inner circle, if you will, of president assad. they have both said this tide is

somewhat shifting, but in terms of any kind of international defenses, the same road goes to the united nations and that road is being blocked. they still stand by the peace plan which most people say has already failed because it failed to stop the bloodshed, so there is no clear diplomatic end in sight at this point. >> a man amondine from cairo, we appreciate it. stay safe. two strangers on opposite sides of the political spectrum turn a road trip looking at a new book inside cities and states that typically get the red and blue treatment in the political world. joining me here in the studio is nbc contribute tore meghan mccain who co-wrote "america,

you sexy bitch." you went to redding, connecticut, dearborn, michigan, all around the country. we often just stereo type these places. there are a few swing states there, but if you're from texas, you're a diehard republican. if you're from connecticut, you're a yellow dog liberal. what did you learn personally just about people in individual cities around the country and their lack of a desire to be branded so much? >> when we interviewed literally hundreds of americans on this trip, and what visurprised me mt was people's hesitancy to claim a party. we met a lot of independents and if we met people who said, i'm a republican, it was followed by but. i'm a democrat, but. i don't feel like d.c. is representing me. which is really surprising, because it's easy to forget that maybe politicians aren't representing america exactly the way they want to be represented.

>> do you feel from what you learned out there that there is just a tendency in this town to kind of slice it, dice it, label it and say, these folks are red, these folks are blue. we're going to put all our efforts into changing the minds of a few and that that mentality prohibits government trying to work that might think differently, saying they're all in it for the fight, to a degree? >> you would think there are no moderates anywhere at all and there are no republicans. if you're a republican you're all these things and if you're a democrat you're all these things. i know the average american doesn't feel that way. >> you went on this trip with michael ian black, but he had this to say about you, which i thought was fascinating. quote, the thing i'm learning is that when one member enters political office, the entire family enters with him or her. when you run for office, it's not enough that you're open to

scrutiny. you have to think about any member of your family, their personal lives. it all becomes fair game. it's fascinating, because you see the caliber of candidates now that are in office. i talk to a lot of people in their 30s or 40s who are very successful and you say, why don't you run? they go, not a chance. do you think we're going to see a lack of candidates moving forward because the scrutiny is so difficult not just on the person running but the wife, the kids, the husband, the kids, even if you had a dog on your roof 25 years ago? >> i think especially with women. women don't want to be put through the sexism and scrutiny that you inevitably get put under. what's fascinating is where we document everything. everything is on facebook, everything is on twitter. so what happens 15 years ago when someone runs for office and there's a picture on facebook of them drinking in college. that's the world we live in.

you have to be a perfect person in order to run for president. >> from your conversations, do you feel people around the country will be more forgiving in 15 or 20 years. if i had this conversation with my friends, i would say if people aren't forgiving about facebook messages when they're 18, 19 and 20, then we will have nobody running for office here. >> i agree. i think our generation has a lot more open-mindedness when it comes to this sort of thing. i think for whatever reason, older people vote and think you have to have a perfect life and be a perfect person, putting your dog on the roof is going to be under scrutiny, something you did in high school is going to be under scrutiny. it's not a world i want to live in. >> meghan mccain, thanks very much. we appreciate it. up next, our political panel. can romney get out of this gathering storm over bain? first, the white house soup of the day, roasted chicken and vegetable. that's a very classic one for friday. not too adventurous. oh mirks goodness!

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to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. piling on. add former president bill clinton to the list of prominent democrats calling on mitt romney to release more tax returns and explaining why he has all those offshore accounts. >> i'm a little surprised that he only released a year's worth of tax returns. that's kind of perplexed me, because it's the first time in, i don't know, more than 30 years than anybody running for president has only done that. you know, it's typical, i think. we all release 10, 11 years, and i think senator mccain released over 20 years of tax returns. that, i think, has been -- that struck me as a little odd.

>> here we have the ladies' brunch panel today. michelle bernard is president of the women's center for public policy, and former senator blanch lincoln, democrat of arkansas. ladies, welcome. >> thank you. >> let's talk a little bit about this, mitt romney's tax returns, his business experience. it seems to be light of fodder for president obama. he said this this morning on cbs. >> it is not that he is disqualified because of what he's done, it is if that's your main claim. so if he doesn't talk about the fact that he's been governor of massachusetts for four years very much. >> or running the olympics. >> then i want us to make sure that we know what your theory is about how to grow the economy. and that is a question that i think most americans want to know as well. >> liz? that's how it's being said. barack obama going for this in the jugular.

>> i think what's interesting here, look, this is a central rationale for mitt romney's candidacy. look at my experience, i know how to get the economy jump-started again, i can do this, he can't. so because of this, i think the president going after him on bain and going after him on the economy kind of makes sense. what i'm struck by is it took the romney campaign this long to hit back and figure out how to counter these criticisms. >> i want to ask miss lincoln about that because to me it was almost shifting, that romney's strongest point is, well, i ran an economy, that's my strongest point. it turns out these ads are making inroads here, and this conversation hurts mitt romney.

>> i think it's important. i think people are ready to know what it is these two candidates are going to do to create jobs. this election is about jobs, it's about the economy, and they don't want to just know what kind of desk he sat at, they want to know what he did. and i think it's relevant when you talk about taxes. that's all anybody talks about right now. are we going to increase taxes, are we going to decrease taxes? what are we going to do with taxes? i think those are all important and relevant issues to the voters out there, and they're ready to hear what voteboth campaigns are going to do to create jobs. >> can he win on that strategy? >> it's not a winning strategy. first of all, mitt romney needs to grapple with the fact there is absolutely nothing wrong with making money. that is the american dream. it's almost as if he is ashamed that he has been successful. it is the american dream to make money, to be able to take care of your family, to be able to live the way you want to live. he needs to get away from that and release his tax returns and

give us an effective way for how he's going to make the american dream possible for everyone that lives here. >> i want to play a clip that president obama said his biggest mistake was his first few years in office. take a lyisten to that. >> the mistake of my first couple of years was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. and that's important. but, you know, the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the american people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times. >> senator lincoln, you were a casualty in the 2010 elections. was it bad policy or bad messaging like the president just said? >> i think you have to realize there is a balance out there in

terms of policy. people need to know, and they need to be told continually the policy never is perfect. people's expectations are that whatever is going to come out of washington should be perfect. it's not. it's never going to be perfect, it's always -- it's never a work of art, it's always a work in progress. and there is no doubt that you have to tell the story. we could have used a little help telling the story about health care. health care was the right thing to do, and was it perfect? no. do we need to continue to focus on it and figure out how do we correct the things we didn't get right, how do we extend the things we did get right? but you've got to tell the story. people have to understand. and their lives are so busy right now trying to care for their families, keep their job, working out there. they need to hear from their elected officials about what it is they're doing and how they're doing it, but their perspective more than anything. >> what struck me about this

interview, though, he's right there next to the first lady. he's sort of admitting fault. it's selling barack obama in the personality in a way to get the mom vote because of that. >> he's selling his family. people like michelle obama. when you think about the first lady, her image is very different than what we saw four years ago. she's doing all this child obesity work, she's good with the kids. it's not just a way to reach out to walmart moms but to reach out in general. one of the things the president does quite frequently is he always invokes ronald reagan. and i think one of the things that was missing on the statement he gave to cbs news this morning is it's not just the messaging. he was very effective when he came to office in terms of talking about what he inherited from the bush administration. he needs to be more effective, though, in giving us the vision for the future. ronald reagan gave us the shining city on the hill.

>> we have to answer the trivia. we asked, how many of the u.s. paper currency bills currently in production do not feature a u.s. president? the answer? two! alexander hamilton is on the $10 note and benjamin franklin on the $100 note. benjamin franklin's mom was born on nantucket island. the $100 bills are currently not in circulation. they haven't been printed since 1945. do you have a political question that you think should be on the show? e-mail us at nbc.com. we'll be right back. we have to go to break. arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol.

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it all sounds great to cut federal spending, but you cut federal spending and state spending has to go up or you're going to have to cut police, you're going to have to cut firefighters, it all connected. >> let's bring back our panel. we were talking about the

president's ability to communicate effectively. opine on that. >> i think the challenge of this story started in the beginning, the beginning of his tenure. when he came into office, he was dealing with t.a.r.p. and then they passed the stimulus. in the american public's mind, it was all one thing. they never really explained what the stimulus was. if they had put a green construction hat on everybody who had been working on the stimulus, it would have been perceived as a jobs bill. he needs to say, this is what we have done, whether or not you agree with us, the american public doesn't think the federal government works.

this is what we have done. >> it's not just messaging, it's telling a story, it's engaging or investing or having the american people invest themselves in what this is all about. small businesses, for instance, they are the number one job creators, they are the engines of the economy, and whether it's access to credit, or whether it's this overwhelming amount of regulations that are put on them. 4,200 new pending regulations in the pipeline, small businesses are having a difficult time. and they are the ones. i mean 60% of the existing sk i in this country are small businesses. >> you think the president doesn't use his messaging prowess to say that he's on the side of small business? >> think about the tax credits the small business got in the health care bill, nobody ever talks about that. there's just a lot more of the

stories that can be told. >> in terms of messaging, i think he has been very effective in explaining to us what's wrong with congress. i think he's been very effective in explaining what he wants to do and the fact that there is so much gridlock, the congress says if it comes out of the administration, the answer is no, we are willing to suck the life out of the american economy just to get barack obama unelected. quite frankly that's a problem for him right now and it's a problem for mitt romney as well. it's a snapshot in time, but we need to see that shining city on the hill. >> you said the economy's a rising vp story. was that a distraction balloon let off by matt rose? >> i think they have had a really bad stretch. so changing the narrative, i think every political reporter out there when they got mitt's

vp, they had kind of a heart attack. >> a shameless plugs will have to wait. >> monday morning, i'm guest hosting michael mcconnell's radio show. >> investment heroes, walmart, great upsell company, number 4 in investing in u.s. jobs. >> have a great weekend. coming up, chris jansing, coming up. here's a look at your weekend forecast. we are going to see a lot of areas with a chance of rain,

really across many locations of the country. temperatures are going to continue to soar as we go throughout the weekend, 90s, in the mid 90s from the middle of the country all the way to the east coast. have a great weekend. it kills weeds to the root, so they don't come back. roundup. no root. no weed. no problem. without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese.

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