quite a performance this morning. >> stop it with this. >> i learned that the republicans haven't yet figured out how to deal with their twin problems of skinny dipping and akin's comments. >> you said it on set that right now, the akin thing may it be overshadowing the sea of galilee. in the long run, skinny dipping at a sacred site, i suspect, will have -- could have long legs. >> a lot of memories. >> skinny dipping in a sacred site, the akin thing is a much more serious news story. a good day to be a democrat watching "morning joe." >> that was a really tough question you asked claire mccaskill this morning. >> i thought that was it the hard one that was my heat. that was me bringing heat. >> what i learned is that when you're really, really good, you don't need to perform. >> yeah. >> no laughing. >> i don't know what that means. >> you don't have to fake it.

>> supposed to be chasing i guess. i feel bad about myself. can you finish the show for me? >> that's it for "morning joe." >> what time is it right now? >> now it's time for a is very special all new action-packed episode of the daily rundown" with chucking. >> mitt romney and paul ryan, they're going to campaign in new hampshire together today. answer questions about their medicare plan, raised by president obama this weekend. this is a new romney ad, attacks the president's welfare policy. remember when this race was going to all hinge on the economy? so that should be the lead story, right? then there's this. republicans are starting the week in a bad way. the favored senate candidate in missouri may have doomed his party's shot at taking back the senate with those comments been so-called legitimate rape and pregnancy. is there enough time to find someone new? what he consider stepping aside, the national impact may be felt in the presidential race, as well. plus, congressional shenanigans

in israel. an incident that involved republican lawmakers drinking and even some public nudity. it happened just two weeks after congress's debt ceiling debacle which led to the downgrade of america's credit rating. good morning from washington. it's monday august 20th, 2012. i'm chuck todd. right to my first reads. let's start with the presidential race. in just over hour, mitt romney and paul ryan will team up again for a ton hall in new hampshire campaign is touting today's event at and anslum college as romney's 100th town hall meeting. on the agenda, they want to take on the medicare issue, explaining their plan on medicare to new hampshire where about 14% of residents are 65 or older. on saturday at a retirement community in florida, ryan introduced a new surrogate to the medicare fight. his 78-year-old mother.

>> this is my mom, betty. like a lot of americans, when i think about medicare, it's not just a program. it's not just a bunch of numbers. it's what my mom relies on. it's what my grandma had. >> well, in new hampshire, to prebut the romney/ryan visit, the president pushed back, insisting his policies have expanded coverage in medicare. >> you'd think they'd avoid talking about medicare. given the fact that both of them have proposed to voucherize the medicare system. but i guess they figure the best defense is to try to go on offense. >> and he said romney and ryan want voters to "pick up the tab for tax cuts for the wealthy." >> his new running mate, congressman ryan, put forward a plan that would let governor

romney pay less than 1% in taxes each year. governor romney and congressman ryan will be here in new hampshire on monday. so you can tell them if you think this is fair. >> what he's referring to is the ryan budget which does zero out taxes on capital gains, most of which made up romney's tax burden. romney's plan would only eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends for those making less than $200,000 a year. by the way, in a friday news dump, we learned that ryan paid a 15.9 effective tax rate on just over $215,000 of adjusted gross income. his tax burden in 2011 was higher at 20%. by the way, romney and ryan will have one tv interview today. and you know what they're going to be asked about, this next story. missouri republican congressman todd akin was favored to one one of the highest profile senate races in the country. now akin has set off a firestorm

and republicans are scrambling to contain the damage. in an interview with a st. louis tv station, akin was asked whether he supports an abortion exception in the case of rape. this is how he answered. >> it seems to me first of all from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. i think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be in the rapist and not attacking the child. >> it's that phrase legitimate rain that touched a nerve and democrats pounced, circulating akin's comments for all to see. missouri senator claire mccaskill tweeted the following. as a woman and former prosecutor who handled hundreds of rape cases, i'm stunned by representative akin's comments about victims. she also released a statement that said "it is beyond comprehension that someone can be so ignorant about the emotional and physical trauma

brought on by rape." in full damagen control mode, akin himself put out a statement saying in reviewing my off the cuff remarks, it's clear that i misspoke in this interview and it does reflect the deep empathy still held for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year. note he did not retract his assertion that rape victims are likely to become pregnant org explain the phrase legitimate rape. later he then tweeted to be clear, all of us understand that rape can result in pregnancy, and i have great empathy for all victims. i regret misspeaking. of course, he still didn't backtrack on his policy belief. on whether rape victims should have access to abortion. now, within hours, republicans from mitt romney on down the ballot were scrambling to distance themselves from akin. romney press sect andrew saul said this govern romney and dongman ryan disagree with

mr. akin's statement and a romney/ryan administration would not, oppose abortionings in instances of rape. >> dennis rehber, i find his remarks to be offensive and reprehensible. there is no such thing as a legitimate rape. congressman jeff flake tweeted this, i oppose abortion but exceptions must be made for cases of rain, incest, and to protect the life of the mother. congress's ache kin's comment was wrong. stair ral steelman piled on tweeting the remarks about legitimate rape why inexcusable, insulting and embarrassing to the gop. the race is now far from a sure thing. this morning, mccaskill previewed what we'll hear from her as long as akin remains in the race. >> i know there's a lot of

chatter nationwide about what congressman akin said. i know you all are talking about this in the context of the presidential, but for the state i love, i hope this is a moment where everyone who hasn't been paying close attention, this statement is kind of a window into todd akin's mind. >> and while this won't change the calculus in missouri on the presidential level, it's a national headline that could drive an even larger wedge between women and the gop. just as president obama is trying to galvanize women on the subject of rights on the subject this weekend. >> he's made his choice. but what choices will women be left with in paul ryan would get rid of planned parenthood funding and both romney and ryan backed proposals to outlaw abortion even in cases of rape and incest. >> in the swing states of virginia and colorado, democrats have rode success with the gender gap thanks to reproup

rights issues. some anxious conservatives are calling for akin to step down voluntarily. there isn't a lot of time. under missouri law, he's got till 5:00 tomorrow afternoon to do so freely, no penalty, no fines, no anything, no paying for new ballots. there is a second deadline though of september 25th which is the sixth tuesday before election day. but that one is a bit messier. it would require a court order and akin would be responsible for the ballot reprinting costs. from what i understand in talking to republicans they want to see how this plays out, but from folks that know and understand the akin political operation, they say the idea that akin will somehow be driven out of this race if you think that, you don't know todd akin and you don't know his political team led by his spouse. finally, as if the republican brand on capitol hill wasn't bad enough, another story for the congress behaving badly file. in august, 2011, let me set the

scene, just two weeks after helping create the debt ceiling steal mate which lost the u.s. its aaa credit rating and after one of the most politically excruciating times in the history of washington, a group of house republican freshmen basically took a frat party to the sea of galilee. as first reported by politico, they were on a house visit to the israel, private junket paid for a non-profit offshoot of the pro israel labby apac and decided to jump into the sea of galilee including kevin yoder who admitted did he so without a bathinging suit. he released a statement, after dinner i followed some members of congress in a spontaneous and very brief dive into the sea and regrettably, i jumped into the water without a swimsuit. for any embarrassment i have caused for my colleagues and constituents, i apologize." nbc has confirmed that house majority leader eric cantor who was on the trip but not present

for the hijinks, chastised the members the very next morning. on a lighter note, there are not many skinning dipping stories that don't begin with, well, we were drinking. on a more serious note, this is sort of the idea of you want to understand why people have this negative view of congress. it is incidents like this, and the timing of it, again, the most serious are conflict we've had in washington in a very long time, had huge economic ramifications and two weeks lat later, they're letting their hair down. some of these guys are in some tough races. some in primaries. ben quayle was involved in this incident. it's one of those, it's a messy thing. maybe all of them are thankful for todd akin this morning. together not a good day for the republican brand. today's new hampshire stop will be romney and ryan's first joint appearance in new england. they've released a new campaign ad, not talking about the economy but hitting the president again on the issue of

welfare reform. take a listen. >> since 1996, welfare recipients were required to work. this bipartisan reform successfully reduced welfare rolls on july 12th, president obama quietly ended the work requirement, gutting welfare reform. >> that has been fact checked to death. and the work requirement is still there. joining me now nbc's peter alexander following the romney campaign in manchester. peter, i know 100th town hall appearance. we know that on the airwaves they're talking about welfare. town halls are talking about medicare. the issue missing is the economy. >> yeah, i think you're exactly right. that's what the people we talked to as they file in want to be talking about right now. they say they're looking for someone, at least the republican supporters of romney and ryan who they think can bring the economy back to the place they want it to be in right now. you can see the scene that's set up for an event that will start in about an hour from now. this is some high production

value. they have about six sets of bleachers set up, the big banners, america's comeback team, in the distance a giant jum bro tron like you would see at a football stadium. this is the type of event that you likely see ending up in campaign ads or introductory videos ta may at the convention. the questions that they answer here, they were hoping would drive the conversation today, focusing on medicare and welfare and the economy. but of course, it will be trumped by other conversations. there is an interview being done by a local affiliate today that will likely address the questions of the sea of galilee event and the akin comments. i suspect that is obviously what these guys do not want to be talking about at the end of this day. >> they're doing their town hall meeting 48 hours after the president was there. as we showed you the math, those four electoral votes in new hampshire could be a lot bigger than any other state going on every one of them matters. peter alexander, on the beat for us with romney. thanks much. well, it's damage control day

for the republican party. that much is clear as we told you, the republicans are not having a good branding day. up next, we'll talk to two capitol hill veterans about the political consequences of congressmen behaving badly and this issue in missouri. plus an unconventional role. with one week to go to the start of the republican national convention, why should we care what this guy has up his sleeve. apparently he thinks we should. first a look ahead at the president's schedule and mitt romney's schedule today. as we told you town hall president, for mitt romney and the president has some regional interviews today, plus a campaign dinner for some contest winners tonight. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction

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i have to say i woke up this morning, saw these headlines and said of course, it's always august we have these crazy stories. august recess, keeping things quiet on capitol hill. that doesn't mean congress counsel republicans can't spark plenty of noise this weekend. the big one todd akin's comments about rape and reports of, well, shall we say a boozy and at least for one member of congress naked night of squiming in the sea of galilee. joining me to talk about some of the fallout, former congressman martin frost of texas and tom davis of virginia. the stories on one hand, tom, can get conflated together because it's house republicans. it's congress and it's a branding issue. the republican party looking out of touch with women, with frankly with the voters by partying it up on a boozy

private junket. >> it's as much about congress as it is about republicans. >> this time, okay. >> but congressional ratings went down to 10% last week. so you know, i just think it's a pox on everybody's house. the missouri remarks were unfortunate. but i think they've been -- everybody's cut those, ras off at this point. romney separated themselves. .other candidates. >> i'm curious. you heard scarborough this morning. joe thinks, martin that romney's got to come out and say akin has to get out of the race. it's not -- that's not something you would expect from a mitt romney. >> no, quite frankly, you don't expect that from a presidential candidate. todd, i went to school at the university of missouri. i'm with the missouri-based law firm, and this is a serious story. akin could lose this race. missouri is a lot like my home state of texas in that they are conservative but don't want to be embarrassed. akin is an embarrassment for them right now. this puts the race in play. claire's got a real shot.

>> they have 24 hours for him to voluntarily leave, tom. and then they can easily find a candidate, probably go get sarah steelman who already tweeted, i think she's smelling that opportunity. they have a more complicated way to go. you've seen this before. forcing people off the ballot is no easy task. >> it's because they all think, hey, i'm different. i can do this. >> well, and it may be september to see how this plays because i'm sure in akin's mind, this is a pro-life state. the webster decision came out of missouri that we can get past this. remember toricelli they got out right before the deadline. >> the guy in montana that the sort of had it the weird haircut thing this he got him out. >> there are ways. >> it's very hard to do. 24 hours it's hard to get done. >> you could alienate an important constituency in missouri that is the foundation of the missouri republican party right now, pro-life republicans. >> even pro-life members, leaders are speaking out against

this is. >> somehow he's being shoved out. >> they're stuck with akin. he's going to be their candidate. it may even switch -- may determine the outcome in the senate. i feel sorry for the republican party but not that sorry. >> what about the jaernd gap ramifications? you know the obama campaign wants to use this. i think the fact that romney went out and put a statement out so early tells you, they seem to be concerned. these planned parenthood ads, you live in northern virginia, they're all over colorado too, very microtargeted. >> but it's still august and it's still about the economy. we have the job report coming up in a couple of weeks. that will refocus this thing i think in time. it's a different issue for todd. he's going to have to try to -- >> does he become the sharron angle, the christine o'donnell? >> they didn't bring else down. they only hurt their own races. >> they determined the control of the senate. >> akin could still win. >> you can't write off the

state. there's a reason that we all think. >> there's a red state. >> the races are very close in missouri. claire has two races. she lost narrowly, wonnai narro. it's been going republican for president but not by very much. this may put the missouri back on the board. >> if you were at the dccc today, the sea of galilee story, is there -- do you overplay it, underplay? is there a danger.overplaying? >> i let the press run with it, i stay out of the story. let the press run with the story. >> i would have my members put out statements keeping as far as they could and isolating the individuals. >> look, these private junkets paid for and i understand what apac is doing. should elected officials be doing these? >> sure. >> well, it's one way -- >> defend it. >> well, do you want taxpayers paying for it? how else are people going to get around the world and understand? >> i guess that's the other half of this. >> fully disclose.

>> better private money than taxpayer money. >> the aspen institute does this also. not just apac. >> these can be very educational trips. they're worthwhile. claude pepper told a great story about why he traveled. he said he was a young senator in france and they said go over to munich and see hitler. he saw all the armaments. fet with fdr and became the other of lend lease. >> there it is, claude pepper. member of congress, claude pepper. thank you. stock market creeping up to a five-year high, folks. no one seems to be paying attention to that one. the market rundown is next. plus wikileaks founder julian assange had a message for president obama today. first today's trivia question. how many states have never elected a woman to the united states senate? tweet me the answer at chuck todd @daily rundown. the answer is coming up on "the

daily rundown." hey, frankel. [ lenn leneed to care oer n wy m thr e

marie callender's gives you a way to make any day a special occasion. new mini cream pies for one. real whip cream and a cookie-crumb crust. marie callender's. it's time to savor. it's a lot on the radar this morning. stuff we didn't get in we'd like to get in. julian assange speaks out. the donald's claim of a surprise convention role. but first, let's focus on the chairman of the joint chiefs can of staff in afghanistan today. he's meeting with afghan leaders in an attempt to stop a surge in these insider attacks. general dempsey's visit comes one day after yet another nato soldier was killed by an afghan police officer. sunday's attack is the ninth so-called green on blue shooting in the past 11 days. wikileaks founder julian assange is demanding that president obama end what he calls a war on

whistle-blowers. he made his first public appearance in two months speaking from the ecuadorian embassy in london. >> i ask president obama to do the right thing. the united states must renounce its witch hunt against wikileaks. bradley manning must be released. >> bradley manning, of course, is under detention right now and under investigation for apparently leaking confidential information. finally, the donald is going to tampa. republican convention organizers won't say why he's going. or exactly what he'll be doing there. apparently he's not going to really be speaking but they promise he'll somehow be a part of the opening day schedule. which means if the donald is involved, it's sure to be something spectacular. let you decide how to define the word spectacular though. meanwhile, the democratic

national committee announced rahm emanuel and former virginia governor tim kaine will be part of a long list of convention speakers in charlotte. we expect the full list of speakers for them to be released today. all right. the crisis in europe shockingly revving up again. could cause some trouble for the markets. but we're minutes away from the opening bell. market rundown, becky quick is back. becky, are we going to have a foob-year high of the market? can you explain? >> very close. there's an old market add daniel that you sell in may and go away. if you lis bed to that this time around, you are a sucker. the market has done a stealth rally. the dow up almost 10% from the beginning of june and the s&p 500 is up by just over 12%. you're talking about impressive gains that happened with europe in the backdrop this whole time. europe, the idea has come and gone that europe's in trouble. the problems have not been fixed. but with the ecb and fed stepping in, there's an

expectation something will get taken care of. we are sitting right near five-year highs. if you weren't paying attention and sitting at the beach, the market has been on a run. there are questions as to whether that rally can continue. a few other stock stories. lowe's, the home improvement company came out with earnings today of 65 cents a share, a nickel slight of what the street expected. this is not an overall gloom and doom for the sector. last week they had strong earnings. it's a stock to be watching today. and we've got a washington story for you today. bear with me for a moment. et nat buying could ventory for $5.6 billion. this is a big washington story because this is going to add about 5 million members to etna's roles. many of these people are medicare or medicaid patients. you can look at in that the president's health care law is going to stick with the integration of medicare and medica medicaid. etna saying this is what they

think is happening. a lot of things are lapping and it's great to see you again. it looks like you're tan. i hope you got rest too. >> we'll see. the this is our last week before the craziness truly begins. becky quick. next, my conversationings with virginia senator jim webb on his biggest regret, his journey in and out of the democratic party and why he's retiring after just one term. plus, just when we thought the partisan polarization couldn't get worse, new revelations about the deep divisions in this country. courtesy of the "washington post." you're watching the dal "the da rundown" only on msbc. their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ]

the sweet reward, making a delicious choice that's also a smart choice. splenda no-calorie sweetener. with the original sugar-like taste you love and trust. splenda makes the moment yours. ah, the exit interviews. back now our on going receivers exit interviews with departing lawmakers. virginia senator jim webb is walking away after one term in the senate leaving an open seat in what used to be traditionally republican territory before running for office for the first time in 2006, webb served as a

combat marine in vietnam. then the navy secretary under president reagan. also a journalist, filmmaker, author and full disclosure, my wife worked on his campaign in 2006. unlike some of his senate colleagues, webb told me that frustrations about gridlock and partisanship did not play into his decision to leave. >> i came here from a different journey. i spent about half of my time in public service. i was a committee counsel in the house. i used to put 20, 25 bills through the floor of the house. i spent five years in the pentagon, one as a marine and four as an executive. i knew what to expect in terms of the tempo in the congress and i into you that the senate is the place designed to slow things down. i see the senate really as not that the different in terms of the way that it approaches things than its ever been. i think what's happened is the country is so-calcified right now, and in its reflected in the

lack of a lot of things that are not getting done here. my family, you know, were roosevelt and my parents' family were roosevelt democrats. i'm more of and drew jackson democrat. i was very proud to have served in the reagan administration. my hope, when i decided to run, was that we could bring more working people into the democratic party back to the democratic party rather than the democratic party continuing to build its base on kind of raw interest group politics. we really haven't done very well on that. how in the name of the lord can the democratic party, the party of andrew jackson, only be getting 28% of the white male working class vote because of the interest group politics in the democratic party, that particular cultural group doesn't believe the democrats like them. i've been saying that for six years. affirmative action as originally

designed was under the 13th amendment in order to assist african-americans who have had a unique journey with respect to the united states government. when immigration laws changed in 1965 and ethnic divisions in the country began to change, these programs were expanded to the point that all different racial groups other than the whites have a place at a table basically by quotas. and what does that say to the white working person? and my answer is, keep affirmative action for african-american who are in need but the rest of it, hey, welcome to america. everybody deserves an equal shot. if you could say that, you could change the political formula in this country in very short order. daniel patrick moynihan was my senatorial prototype. he spent a good portion of his life in the academic world and in my case in the writing world. he was comfortable serving

republican president and when he ran, he decided to run as a democrat. and i just -- i think he was as his wife described to me, he was the original square peg in the round hole. >> when i left the marines corps, i just decided that i would never walk on anybody else's treadmill, that i would find one thing that i really cared about it and do it as well as i could do it and find the next thing and do that. that's really been -- i don't have a career path. i announced for the senate nine months to the day before the election. >> in case you're wondering, we had audio issues with some parts of the interview which is why we edited just the responses from senator webb there including the question i had to him explaining the affirmative stance. another couple of clips we want to play. his anger over foreign policy was one of the reasons he left the republican party and ran for the senate as a democrat. so i asked him to grade the president on foreign policy.

>> well, one of the successes i think has been what's happened and what's being called the pivot top each asia. we put a tremendous amount of energy into this. re-establishing the relationships at the top level of government in japan, korea, vietnam, thailand, singapore and changing the formula in burma. but in terms of presidential authority, i have taken the same position with president obama that i took with president bush, and that is that the president of the united states has an obligation to come to the congress when we are going to introduce military forces into different countries. >> you think he should have called for a vote on libya on the intervention? >> libya is a classic example. we had no treaties directly in effect, had no had a vote of the congress no, americans at risk. this was not a situation of an imminent attack on americans or an american military people.

and this went on for months and months without getting the consent of the congress based on what was called humanitarian intervention. that is a very vague term that can be misused. i think that the congress post- 9/11 congress has abrogated its historic responsibilities in terms of providing the proper balance of power between the executive branch and the legislative branch. >> and finally i asked senator webb the question i posed to many of the departing lawmakers. was there any one vote he would want back if he could do it all over again. >> my great regret on that is that i believe the whole health care issue could have been handled differently by the administration and over here. i think the way that the process was put forward without a clear set of principles from the administration caused a lot of fear in the country. we had seven different or five different committees boiling up 7,000 pages of contradictory information. it at a time. >> so you regret the vote.

>> at a time when the country was in a recession and people were talking about this other stuff. so i think that could have been different. >> do you regret. >> i voted with the republicans 18 times but in the end, i voted for it. i thought we do need to move forward. we need to find different ways to work with these issues. we could have had a smaller more focused package and the country would have been a lot more comfortable with the process, as well. >> that was my interview with retiring virginia democrat jim webb, some blunt talk about the democratic party, health care, white working class vote among other things and, of course, congress and its role in having to do with authority on war. don't forget, you can see the full version of that interview and all the others in our exit interview series. it's on our facebook page. check it out. six down, much more to go on those exit interviews. we'll be having them throughout the rest of this year. our political panel will be here next to kick off the week, but first so many of you love and

hate today's white house soup of the day. a little spicy vegetable. does that mean the president's going to spice it up, the relationship with the press today? you're watching the daily rundown only on msnbc. [ female announcer ] the power of green coffee extract is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy with a new starbucks refreshers™, in three ways. natural energy from green coffee extract, only from starbucks.

the chasm between republicans and democrats has never been wider according to a new study conducted by "the washington post" and the kaiser family foundation. the deep divide is producing, of course, this nasty campaign, angry voters like this weekend, look at the scene in the state of florida. >> yes, let's keep obama in there so he keeps ruining our country. >> let's get inedly so you can put a few more million in a swiss bank account. >> at least he didn't steal it from us as the taxpayers which obama has done. >> there you go. there's the fight for florida

right there. but those divisions are just part of the story. let's bring in our monday panel. dan balz, "washington post" author and author of the take and michelle bernard. and kasie hunt it, the national political reporter for the associated press who is usually on the romney beat gets a little brief respite for a couple days this week until the real thing we begins. dan, i want to focus on your study here, what was interesting about it, allegiance to parties. put up a couple graphics. in 1998 when you guys first did this, less than half of republicans and democrats felt a strong allegiance to their party. now that number is two-thirds. an amazing jump. 65% republicans feel a strong allegiance to being republican. 62% of democrats feel a strong allegiance to the democratic. that is amazing jump and sort of problems this idea it's almost tribal in the way people feel about political parties. >> it's fascinating. we used to talk about

polarization as if it was an afliction of the elites that elected officials had it. >> and the public didn't. >> and that the public didn't like it. what we're seeing in this study is this is going mainstream at this point. you can see it from what we just saw from the clip down in florida. the passions that people feel, if people say i'm a an democrat or republican, they feel that more passionately than they did before. >> michelle, look at this next number in this change from 1998 version of what the republican party was to what it is today. government controls too much of our daily lives. in 1998, that was 39%. we had a democratic president, republican congress. 2012 that number almost doubled, 63%. this is what defines the republican party more than any other issue. >> absolutely more than any other issue. i think it's going to be striking between now and election day in november to see these two competing visions of what the proper role of government should be in our lives. again, just like the clip we

just saw about with the people fighting in florida. people have very, very -- they have and mossity towards big government. but the people on the other side who believe in that government should be the safety net for us, feel just as strongly. >> and casey, in the breakdown so the post came up with five categories with republicans, i'm sure you looked at the five categories and said that's why mitt romney struggled. here they are, the largest chunk of republicans describe themselves as members of the tea party movement. then it was the old school republicans, mitt romney's base, if you will at 22%, then religious values voters at 21bers, window shoppers people interested in the republican party but not fully ensconced and the smallest group the pro government republicans if you will. you look at that. this explains why rick santorum got traction and mitt romney struggled. >> and why the primary was as dragged out as it was. you saw this on the road after the paul ryan pick, as well. you saw some excitement from these groups of conservatives and republicans that haven't necessarily been that excited

about mitt romney yet. >> dan, the democratic party you broke into four groups, god and government, mostly the minority groups largely made up of african-americans, hispanics, very religious groups and pro democratic. urban liberals, college educated whites, the agnostic left at 24% which you described as young voters and 13% of the do it yourself democrats. who are those? >> there's a similar group in the republican party. these are people who in many ways seem out of sorts with the party they identify with. >> but they're not ready to be republicans. >> they're not ready to be republicans and still call themselves either democrats or republicans. but in attitudes, they are less like the party they identify with than any of the other groups. >> independents that, study coming out tomorrow. was it a bigger chunk of voters self described independents? >> it's a big chunk. as with all things, when you

separate out, there there are a lot of people who call themselves independent who are in all practical ways functional democrats or functional republicans. >> when we come back, we'll talk a little bit about todd akin. trivia time. we asked, how many states have never been represented by a woman in the united states senate? the answer, a majority. 27. five states, though, could send their first woman to the senate this year. connecticut. hawaii definitely will. both mom nominees are women. new mexico, nevada. women's underrepresentation in congress will be discussed on "now with alex wagner." your political trivia question e-mail us at dailyrundown@msnbc.com. we'll be right back. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains.

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>> we have 100 senators. only 17 are women. if america is 50.8% female, why are so few women in positions of power? i'm alex wagner. join me and some of the most influential women in politics and media for a special edition of "now." whether it's health care, equal pay, or jobs, "now" is a time to talk about women. bringing back the panel, dan, michelle, and casey.

we're going to talk todd aiken. mike murphy, republican consultant extraordinary air just tweet thissed wlsh "moments like this when a bafoon candidate needs to be sack and dropped off at the state line make me miss the old-time bosses." in the day when there was a political boss, casey hunt, stuff like this, he would end up needing to spend more time with his family. that's not the modern party. we expect to hear from them. you have new information. >> looks like romney is probably expected to take a question today on this. he has an interview with wnbr who has a town hall, and we could see reporters put this question to him on a rope line. we'll have to wait and see. expect to hear pretty strong condemnation from governor romney. >> moments like this, it's easy for us to talk about deadlines and candidates themselves. it's a different story. >> for candidates this is not the kind of thing that he is going to want to step aside for. he will say i apologized, i misspoke, et cetera, et cetera. he will want to move on.

>> this is his belief system. this is not a skanldz in his mind. this is not like, you know, having an affair or something like that. >> he knows it's a political misstep, clearly, or they would not have issued that statement last night. on the other hand, it is something that he seems to believe, and, therefore, it's very hard for him to really take it back. >> michelle, pressure from the republican -- the republican party, which is now the nominee, if you will, romney and ryan, it could create new pressure. >> mitt romney has to create pressure. this statement did not come from mitt romney. it didn't come from paul ryan. if you look at the totality of everything we've seen to the damage to the republican party's image or their brand when it comes to women over the last year, mitt romney has to say something. i mean, literally to say legitimate rape, you know, a few weeks ago we had a -- a few months ago a state senator, wisconsin state senator said that money was more important to men than it was to women. we have trans-vaginal procedures

in virginia. >> the obama campaign is advertise. this is not just about the battle of the control of the senate. shameless plugs, beyond what we've been doing. >> i have to get -- >> you going to keep it going? >> shameless plug to the polling team at the "the post." and folks at the keiser family foundation. >> i couldn't put it down yesterday morning. it was fascinating. ms. hunt. >> shameless plug for my colleague steve peoples who has been nominated as potentially one of the sexiest reporters in washington by fishbowl d.c. >> wow. who put the shameless in the plug? >> shameless plug. i want people to take a look at it. i moderated a debate between james carville and carl rowe. it was must-see tv in dallas. have you to look it up on the internet. >> sounds like fun. we'll see you tomorrow from new york. guess what's coming tomorrow night. we have numbers coming. coming up chris jansing and company. she'll speak to the obama

campaign's ben labolt and barbara comstock. bye-bye. >> here's a look at your business travel forecast. off the eastern seaboard today. we'll give everyone a chance of some showers, but that will be about it. not many of us will see a rain-out today. new york, boston, and d.c., a chance of some afternoon showers. hit and miss. we will see some breaks of sunshine. even atlanta, detroit, chance of showers for you. the heat remains in the interior west, and also the desert southwest. enjoy. i am going to become facebook friends

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