butter anymore, he'll call on his experience from the '80s and mule butter into the country. >> margarine. >> thanks for the image. we'll see you tomorrow. stick around now for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. >> so just as rick perry was hoping to pull out of his funk, a front page story gives the campaign another blow. how long did he know about a racist name given to the family ranch? cain calls it insensitive. he has momentum so why does the campaign schedule look like that of a second tier candidate? and new reports that new jersey governor chris christie could decide within a couple of days. it's monday, october 3, 2011. i'm chuck todd. let's get to my first reads of the morning starting with rick perry. just as he was trying to slow the campaign bleeding on immigration, getting positive

reviews at a string of town halls in new hampshire here's the front page story from the washington post. he spent saturday arguing his record is solid despite a texas bill he signed giving children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates. >> i vetoed a bill for illegal immigrants to have driver's license in texas. i have sent over $400 million to the border of mexico in the form of texas ranger recon teams. i helped pass and signed a voter i.d. bill in the state of texas. i'm a governor. i don't have a pleasure of standing on the stage and criticizing. i have to deal with issues. >> so perry extended the get tough language to say as president he'd consider sending u.s. troops into mexico to curb the drug violence. >> it may require our military in mexico working in concert

with them to kill these drug cartels and keep them off of our border and to destroy their networks. >> again, that was saturday. all of that was over shadowed by this story. the washington post reported that a hunting camp perry leased with his father was called a racial slur painted in block letters on the rock marking the entrance. he said his father painted over the sign soon after leasing the property but at least seven sources said the name was visible at different points during the '80s and '90s. one worker said he'd seen it as recently as three years ago. the problem for perry was on one hand the perry campaign hoped to min mighty ducks the damage by blaming the story on the so-called liberal media trying to paint rick perry as somehow a part of the old south. but in came herman cain, the lone african-american in the republican race. here's what he said.

>> the n-word is probably one of the most vile, negative words in our culture and i just found it insensitive that they allowed it, that his family allowed it to be there for so long. >> here's how the perry campaign responded. mr. cain is wrong about the perry family's quick action to eliminate the word on the rock, but is right that the word written by others long ago is insensitive and offensive. this couldn't come at a worse time for rick perry, just as he's trying to show some sort of writing of the ship. new fund raising numbers likely to show a good haul for his six weeks on the campaign. good signs on saturday about how he was trying to get better on the immigration issue. he got good reviews from people that went in questioning perry. coming out stronger for perry and then this. it was herman cain that gave the post story more legs than the

perry campaign expected. speaking of herman cain, he picked up nearly 50% of the vote at the national federation of republican women's convention in kansas city. today at noon he'll be the latest hopeful that believes he has to meet with donald trump in new york city. the question we have with the cain campaign is he's in the midst of a book tour. he's at the point mike huckabee was at in the 2007-2008 cycle. huckabee at the end of the day looked like he was somebody that was looking for legitimacy and a talk show and to figure out how to make money, not trying to win the republican nomination. what's herman cain trying to do? is mike huckabee considered a successful way to follow a successful path or does he want to be a contender? maybe we'll find out. and finally, speaking of potential contenders, we could know within 48 hours if new jersey governor chris christie will be a presidential

candidate. jamie gangel reports that he's giving the run consideration. he spent the weekend discussing it with his family and top advisers but ducked questions sunday afternoon at a national guard ceremony. some believe he could build the organization and raise the money needed for a top tier campaign. yesterday a certain former presidential candidate urged caution. >> if governor chris christie decides to run, i wish him luck. i think there is a bit of a caution that always -- the swimming pool looks better until you jump in. the water may not be as warm as you think. >> while a lot of donors urging him to run on the republican side feel they are hearing what they want to hear, they are hearing he's leaning in. note this about chris christie. his political advisers are a lot of former rudy giuliani people. they have the experience knowing that they have had all sorts of

donors and promises about what a campaign successful campaign for a governor may look like. how did the rudy giuliani campaign turn out in 2008? remember this. chris christie in 2005 was urged to run for governor of new jersey back when a sitting governor was thinking of running. he took a pass then but it still meant he was a legitimate candidate four years later. all right. police in cities around the country are bracing for more anti-wall street protests today as demonstrations that began in new york are gaining momentum. michelle franzen is live in new york city for us. we are now hearing reports about occupy boston, washington, d.c. tell us about it. >> reporter: certainly the movement has taken off. they are in week three here the protesters are. you have die hard demonstrators sleeping here in this park a few

blocks from wall street. their message of discontent over big government and social inequality and the economy as well as corporations is resonating nationwide. over the weekend, rallies held here in new york and that came after more than 700 demonstrators were arrested for disorderly conduct and charges of blocking the roadway as they made their way across the brooklyn bridge and blocked traffic that day. many protesters say they believe the new york police department allowed them to go on the bridge just so they could make the arrests. but the nypd released their own video showing officers warning those demonstrators before the protest started that if they didn't leave or if they blocked the roadway they would be arrested. as you mentioned this movement is spreading to cities around the country with rallies and protests being held in los angeles and boston and even in portland, maine, over the weekend as they try to get

momentum for this movement. chuck, they are also starting to see -- they are grabbing the attention from more main stream folks and also from major unions. they are expected to throw their support and backing behind them in a major rally this week. >> michelle franzen with the latest on occupying wall street which could turn into other cities today. with less than three months to go, it would be 93 days until the iowa caucuses from today. chris christie is exploring what it would take to put a national campaign in place. a decision is supposed to come within days or hours. charlie black served as john mccain's top adviser and has been involved with many presidential campaigns. if iowa joe goes january 5 it's 93 days from today. he may say something by wednesday which puts us at 91 days. how do you do it? >> it would be difficult. first of all, governor chris christie would be a great

candidate. he would be the best speaker in the race and he has a great record as a decisive leader. that said, a national campaign is an immense challenge. you have to assemble the infrastructure of a campaign, the national staff. the lawyers and accountants and i.t. you have to have an organization on the ground and early primary states. i have told prospective candidates to plan three months to get your infrastructure up and running. people will be voting in three months. i will be surprised if he does it. he does have smart people advising him who have run campaigns. >> when you look at it, unlike previous candidates who have gotten talked into late races, the people that he's turning to for political advice are ones

that have not the greatest experience. >> i disagree on that. the people you're talking about also worked in the successful bush campaigns. they also assisted john mccain in unsuccessful campaigns. they have broad experience. i think some of the wealthy people in new york and some of the conservative intellectuals pushing chris christie into the race haven't had experience in presidential campaigns. the other point is you have to have a strategy. if he gets in the race he'll get a bump, a honeymoon in the polls. he'll be first in the national polls which is irrelevant. what's the path to nomination? >> who is he? is he the conservative alternative to mitt romney or the establishment alternative? >> he has to be the establishment alternative with his record on gun control, views on immigration, even civil unions may disqualify him in iowa. nobody's ever been nominated without winning iowa or new

hampshire. i don't believe he can compete in iowa against perry, michele bachmann and maybe romney. he has to win new hampshire. guess what? mitt romney is the king of new hampshire. he has a solid base there. it will be difficult to beat him. even with jon huntsman in there it's tougher. if huntsman gets traction, he's the moderate conservative, alternative to the conservative romney. look, the people around governor christie have to be telling him it would be very difficult. >> i imagine with the experience of john mccain being written off for dead and coming back for the nomination you will never write off a nomination. this f you were with rick perry what do you feel the prospects are? >> it's difficult. he's had several bumps in the road. the latest episode is unfortunate. i know rick perry. there is not a racist bone in his body. his record as governor of texas

proves that. this is unfortunate. it is a legitimate issue in a presidential campaign. he's got to get past these things. he's got to go to iowa and grind it out, organizing on the ground in iowa. this can be cured by winning iowa. i don't believe governor perry has much chance to win new hampshire. >> that's the experience of the perry folks. they hunker down and go block by block and do old fashioned blocking and tackling when it comes to campaigning. that's why folks shouldn't write him off. >> they should not write him off. but he has a serious challenge from michele bachmann in iowa. she's been there longer. has been to more towns, knows more people. she could win iowa. >> one more thing before you go, watching herman cain, whenever he's had a chance to take a shot at perry, he's taken it. he took personal offense to this story. it gave the story legs, made it harder for the perry people to

write it off as the liberal media coming to get a southern politician. mccain benefitted from people like mike huckabee who didn't like romney. how much does that benefit romney that herman cain and santorum, michele bachmann all have a problem with perry, not romney now. >> perry entered the race and became the front-runner although he never was. he was first in the national polls. if romney becomes the front runner they will all pile on romney. that's the way the game works. >> let me ask you about cain. do you believe he can be a top tier candidate? >> he can. >> but he doesn't -- >> he's a friend of mine, a capable man and a capable campaigner. he doesn't have the infrastructure or the fund-raising infrastructure that he needs to compete 93 days from now. >> if you're going on a book tour for october does that mean you are a serious candidate for president? >> i think he's a serious candidate for president. i think herman has been running

basically on free media and the book tour is a good way to get free media locally and nationally. he needs staff and organization on the ground, fund-raising infrastructure and just like governor chris christie it's late to put a national campaign together. >> charlie black, a veteran of the republican campaign. thanks for coming. >> thanks, chuck. >> congress returns today to another phase of the budget battle. expect the unexpected. will democrats and republicans take a break from beating each other up to join forces to beat up china? and how does president obama best position himself to hold the white house for four more years? chris matthews is here to discuss the great debate he says is going on among democrats. fis first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. ♪

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while the super committee will be back at work tonight with just seven weeks to agree on a plan that reduces deficits by a minimum of a trillion and a half dollars but skeptics say just because there are fewer people at the negotiating table doesn't mean issues get easier. >> one reason why i didn't want to go on the select committee is the budget process is just broken. the fact that we have a select committee is testament to the fact that congress doesn't budget our money at all. 12 people in congress are not going to cut a backroom deal that's going to fix all the fiscal problems, nor should they try. >> blanch lincoln is from

arkansas and john sinunu. hearing him say that he was writing off the super committee. they can do the minimum they can do and that's it. >> i think it is unfortunate are there has to be a super committee. i agree that, you know, the regular process should be there. >> you think now there has to be and we are stuck with it. >> the problem is everybody wants to get to the finish line but nobody wants to start the process. the process is difficult. using the committees, having the debate, everybody being willing to say, okay, you know, what i want is on the line, too. i mean, it hasn't been happening for years. >> the new york times has a funny story today. sometimes pet projects are pet tax breaks. senator mcconnell doesn't want to give up a tax break for thoroughbred race owners. funny, a senator from kentucky doesn't want that. senator kerry doesn't want small beer makers to get rid of a tax

loophole. think sam adams. congressman cantor is with small beer makers. senator schumer is worried about nascar track improvements and doesn't want those tax credits gone and senator wyder is worried about toy wooden arrow makers. >> don't tax me. tax that guy. >> is that a children's book i can read? >>s s it makes clear the problef using the tax code to make policy. using the tax code to try to benefit one company, one industry, one kind of activity. that's the broadest, most powerful argument for tax reform. >> you think, okay, a tax break. this is how you end up with a tax code that's just with all sorts of loopholes. >> without question. it's also for better or this case worse a way to try to show your constituents you're doing something. that's why we ended up with so many earmarks. but in the same way the targeted

tax breaks, you increase someone's deduction. you give them a better depreciation schedule and you can go home or to the constituent and say, i'm doing something. i'm getting something done that will help create jobs, help investment in this kind of business or industry that's important to the state but at the end of the day you have made the code more complex, costs of compliance and when you try to reform or simplify it's a nightmare. >> don't you think paul ryan is wrong? it almost makes the case for why you have to have a super committee to squeser folks? >> we have a crisis on our hands. we have a recession. we have to do something about it. we've got to figure out that we have to see corporate tax reform and i think it's important to say, you know, everybody's things have to be on the table. >> we keep hearing that. everybody's saying that. the president says it. boehner says it. nobody does it. >> you're right.

nobody wants to start the process of putting things on the line and voting for them. they put them in at different times. you know, for a state with thoroughbred racehorsing and small beer -- you know. am i not going to vote for those things? you have to be put on the line to make sure that people need to have things out there. >> one of the things that makes a difference in members' minds is the idea of fairness. so if you go back to earmarks, there is a big reluctance for any one member to engage in unilateral disarmament. i'm going to swear off earmarks. >> mcconnell hated the idea. he felt it gave the executive branch too much power over spending money. >> it gets clear that everyone is going to give them up. for a lot of them it's easier. in the same way with tax

provisions if there is an understanding to do reform and everyone's brakes or loopholes are going away, there is a lot lower level of sensitivity. >> there is a memo that's already come up. when the bowles-simpson commission came up with a proposal that didn't include the mortgage deduction. yet everybody was like, well, no, you can't touch that. shouldn't that go, too? >> in this day and age you have to be careful. when you're talking about the issue we've got now which i think in the next several weeks you will see another set of foreclosures that's going to be devastating. you've got to look at the integral part that home ownership means, i think, to the economy and pulling ourselves back up off the ledge. >> but can't you make the argument with every one of these. it makes sense and you start hearing more things. >> that affects everybody. when you're talking about jobs in specific states.

i mean, people for ages have come at farm subsidies. if it was a perfect world and every other country gave up subsidies, every farmer across the globe subsidized. >> could you sell getting rid of farm subsidies? >> i think you can reduce them dramatically, but in a way that people realize it's going to happen across the board. it's going to happen fairly and that minimizes, doesn't get rid of, but it minimizes the potential backlash. in the same way if the super committee stepped forward with a bill that got rid of the deduction and members saw, everyone taking a hit, we are all losing, it has a greater likelihood to pass. >> maybe that will help. senator lincoln, senator sununu, great to have you here. the big fat greek mess is getting worse. stocks tanked overseas and probably here today. and should the president's path to re-election veer left or stick to the center?

chris matthews will be here to break down the president's options. he has a special to work on later this evening where they will discuss it. plus, what republicans are doing that makes former president bill clinton go, quote, crazy. first, today's trivia question. who is the only u.s. president to have been a prisoner of war? tweet me the answer. the first correct answer gets a follow monday from us. at adt, we get financing from ge capital. but they also go beyond banking. we installed a ge fleet monitoring system. it tracks every vehicle in their fleet. it cuts fuel use. koch: it enhances customer service. it's pretty amazing when people who loan you money also show you how to save it. not just money, knowledge. it's so much information, it's like i'm right there in every van in the entire fleet. good day overall. yeah, i'm good. come on in. let's go. wow, this is fantastic. ge capital. they're not just bankers. we're builders. they helped build our business.

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u.s. figures are slightly lower after a european and asian stocks fell sharply. kayla joins us with the rundown. how bad will it be? >> we thought it would be worse. futures have come up a slight bit. they are in the red. the s&p looks to open off about six points.

the dow off 64 and the nasdaq down about 18. the key reason for that is yesterday we did hear from the greek finance ministry that said they were going to miss the deficit target they had set for the end of the year. that's really, really big news. we were expecting austerity measures to come into play here and help greece out. investors aren't feeling great this morning after a rough end to the third quarter. this is the first day of the fourth quarter and investors are quick to hold companies accountable to the underlying numbers. we saw kodak, the household film name of old trading off sharply on friday. it's up slightly this morning, but just slightly above a buck in trading there so that's a name to watch. we have august construction spending. we'll see ifbac banks are lendi to new building projects. we have manufacturing data. both numbers coming after the open today. >> thank you, kayla.

don't take my kodachrome away. we'll be right back in 30 seconds. welcome back to "the daily rundown." other stories making headlines. officials in yemen are pushing back on reports that al qaeda's top bomb maker was killed in a u.s. drone strike on friday. american intelligents believed ib are a ham al-asiri was traveling with the two terror leaders who died in the attack. leon panetta is pressing for

renewed peace negotiations in separate meetings with israeli and palestinian leaders. he said earlier in an interview he thought israel hadn't been this isolated in a long time. work continues this morning on the washington monument where engineers are assessing the damage from august's earthquake. bad weather kept the team grounded yesterday. they are up there with ipads and all sorts of things to find little cracks everywhere. president obama called in to a syndicated radio show on friday for an interview that ran the gamut from foreign policy to the economy and jobs. >> if you are a small business american or a large business person go out there and hire. you know, take a bet on america. because the fact of the matter is that we have incredible workers out here. er they are more productive than they have ever been. they are looking for a chance and there is a market to be had as long as people start getting more confidence. >> radio host and msnbc

contributor michael smerconish joins me now. what did you hear from the president that gave you some sort of confidence that he knows what he's got to do for his re-election? >> i liked his balanced approach. one of the questions that i put to him, chuck, was asking whether he thought in order to address the debt it needed to be a situation where we had all spending cuts, whether we had all tax increases or some sort of balance therein. i also asked him if it were going to be a balance between the two what would the proportion be. he never answered in percentage terms but he continued to speak in balanced and measured tones. relative to 2012, which is your question, i think that's where he needs to be. i think he's got to appeal as you and i discussed in the past to the moderates, independents who, in the end, are going to call the shot in this election. >> you're channelling david pluff. he believes the president, beg the reasonable guy in the room

at the end of the day will win the argument with independents. but he's got this other issue which is the perception of a leadership deficit. how do you feel like he's dealing with that now? i feel like the messaging isn't what it needs to b. i looked at a new york times survey in terms are of what do the american people think needs to be done to address the debt and i think by a 71% margin the american people said it needs to be a combination of all factors. it can't be one way or the other. they are not resonating with the american people. they don't appreciate the fact that he's saying the things that they are at least telling pollsters they most want to hear and the intransigence on the part of the gop house which is a real factor in terms of what we are talking about hasn't crystallized in the minds of voters. >> you hit on this point.

he's got public opinion on his side but he's not been able to take it and get his way in congress. >> i think the president has been torn and on different days has gone in different directions as to whether he's going to take that approach that you and i have discussed or if he'll placate the base. this is something i wish he'd done that i never got to discuss. time always runs short. there should have been an up or down vote on simpson-bowles. here was the debt commission that he empanelled that came up with a lot of solutions that i think would have made sense to the american people. but they couldn't get it voted out of committee so it fell by the wayside and now we have the so-called super committee. >> you were the first person to ask a question following the

announced killing of al-awlaki, the american-born terrorist in yemen. what did he say to you about the issue of al-awlaki's american citizenship and whether it had a role in what the u.s. did in targeting him. >> i did a poor job and questioning him on the subject. i asked about the operational side of it. i asked whether he had given the order and he didn't give me an answer to that either. the whole debate over the conditional ti of taking out an american citizen was not yet percolating. man, if there is one regret i have i wish i had asked him on that specific issue. >> his ans gave you that answer. the fact that they won't talk about any part of the operation because they don't want to talk about the issue of targeting an american citizen which is -- >> look, i think this is an issue that probably is raising

eyebrows in academia. i think it is an issue -- >> that's right. >> people are standing on the side of the president. >> all right. michael, good to talk with you. >> good to see you, chuck. >> well, as you heard michael and i talking about, the heat is on for president obama. msnbc's chris matthews will take a closer look at what the president's 2012 strategy should be. a special edition of "hardball" tonight live at 7:00. mr. matthews joins me now. chris, i want to first play for you a sound bite of president obama in an interview on friday talking about the american people. here's what he said. >> you know, this is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft and we didn't have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades. we need to get back on track. i still wouldn't trade our position with any country's on

earth. >> i just saw your eyes rose up when you heard the word "soft." why? >> well, because you have to be careful. i just talked to my son who's an actor. i was talking about chris christie's appeal. i have been trying to get at why is he hot now? he may not be hot in two weeks. i thought it was because he was ticked off. not just at the government like some people are on the right, but ticked off the way things are going. in a way, he's not saying keep calm and carry on like the president seems to be saying. he's saying, i'm ticked off. but he talks to you, not at you. the president sounded like he was talking at us there. >> like the professor. >> at us. like we have a problem and he wants to tell us about it. a little less mr. spock, a little more captain kirk is called for. why do we like captain kirk through all those "star trek" stories?

he's a recognizable human being. mr. spock isn't. mr. spock is smarter. but captain kirk is us. chris christie right now at this split second in political phenomenon is us. he's ticked off at the woman who called in. somebody giving him a hard time for where he sends his kids to school. that's fascinating to me. there is a touchiness for the american people, an edginess and the president connects with that now. i'm not saying he won't in a year or six months, but i'm trying to figure out what connects in a way that mitt romney probably never will and probably rick perry never will. a connection with regular people. >> you know, you are debating tonight an ideological debate. >> three things. the main thing is go left or center. >> go left or go center. if you look at the polls, you know, i have a theory that what makes chris christie more effective potentially against obama than romney is what? that the country doesn't want as

much of a change as it does stylistically. who provides the best change? is the fear that romney is too much like obama? >> i think you're right. center right. the sweet spot probably further right than most liberals would say it. they never get it right. a little bit over to the reagan right. secular, not social issues. and the tone has to be discussed with what's going on. it has to be discussed with the way things have been going on the last couple of years. i don't think an incumbent can discuss it unless he has somebody else to blame. i think chris christie has this, i have driven through traffic, why not get bridges fixed? why don't people obey the no turn on left? why don't they obey the laws. angry at the cab driver who cut

you off. angry at behavior that needs to be corrected leadership. the country wants somebody to straighten this out. >> we have talked about this -- >> the government wastes a lot of money. obama never says that. wastes money. that's what people feel. >> you have been a believer and said, at some point you have to tell the public who to blame. >> yeah. >> republicans are saying it's big government. >> it's a number of things. >> and president obama is trying to put the blame on the republicans. who is he going -- >> nobody will buy a simple solution today. people were skeptical about the right and the left. it's a number of things and they know industry has done a lot. they can see automation in every job taking over. >> we have a person in the room where five years ago there was 13. >> they know romney is wrong when he says corporations are people, too. no, it's a profit making

operation. when they fire people or had 2.0 they had it everywhere. they say, let's applaud that. nobody's applauding it. bottom line, nobody will trust corporations to make human decisions. romney can't sell that being capital will save your life thing and the right wing can't say government isn't the solution when we have hurricanes and needs. >> you have michael moore and mark penn. when i think of those two -- >> michael moore will say go left, young man. penn will say go down the middle. a little to the right in fact. and then randall, right down the middle. then we have bernie sanders. the trouble with the network is i turn it on and we have bernie sanders on every hour and a half, jim mcdermott and then barney frank on. the left loves to talk. they don't have general elections to face.

they can come on time a after time and sell the left. on fox they sell the right. we know the election will be decided by the ohio suburbs, the cleveland suburbs, philly suburbs. >> and the i-4 corridor. >> it will be down the middle in florida. winter park. it will be decided in chapel hill, no, that's democrat. >> raleigh. >> we know where the election will be. if the democrats think they can win colorado and lose ohio, keep working on that one. >> all right. chris matthews -- >> michael bennet will win and sharon brown lose? come on. >> i'll tivo or watch it live or both. >> thanks, buddy. >> the special edition of "hardball," the great democratic debate is live tonight at 7:00 eastern on msnbc. everybody from michael moore to mark penn. can't get better than that. up next we kick off the week with a powerhouse panel. first, the white house soup of the day. this is just a running gag.

of course it's chicken noodle. every day until you lose confidence in us, in our ability to tell you what the white house soup of the day is. i have lost confidence that we know what the white house soup of the day is. this is "the daily rundown" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] starbucks via® is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. ♪ it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via® ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via® taste promise. look for it at starbucks stores and where you buy groceries. all your important legal matters in just minutes. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business... protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

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well, as we have been reporting, rick perry's campaign is pushing back on yet another damaging story, arguing that a number of claims in the washington post on the racist name given to a family hunting camp are incorrect and inconsistent. the washington post's chief correspondent and author of "the take." karen finney is here from the dnc and ramash pinuru is a columnist at bloomberg view. welcome to all. happy monday. rick perry's response to this, at first i think would have come something like what we saw in

red state from eric erickson who went after the reporter and said she was fanning racial flames out of context. hugh hewitt said no detailed reporting on what the seven saw and when they saw it is included and call it a drive-by slander but cain gave it legs. >> this was a carefully reported story, not a drive by slander. >> how long has the post been working on it? >> six weeks or more. >> basically since he was thinking of becoming a presidential candidate you have been working on the story. >> well, we wanted to see what paint creek texas was like. stephanie went down and began to talk to people. >> and stumbled on the story. >> and then went back and talked to a lot of different people, did a lot of phone calling. it took a long time to put the story together. we wanted to be sure we had what we had. >> do you buy the fact that if it wasn't for herman cain, perry

could have played the, hey, i'm a victim of the liberal media card? >> absolutely. once cain gave the story legitimacy among conservatives and republicans, that's much easier for the rest of the media to pick up the issue and not just have it be media versus perry. it's now the media with cover cain versus perry. >> karen, you have david axelrod saying campaigns are like an mri for the soul. time will tell whether this comes to reflect him or not. >> right. >> when i saw this about rick perry, there is a lot of old south, new south. >> right. >> and what somebody growing up with didn't think was racially insensitive to somebody not from there looks racially insensitive. >> here's what was surprising to me. putting aside obviousness of how racially insensitive and outrageous the title of the place is. if you are thinking of running for president, you better do your own homework on yourself a

lot better than clearly was done here. it's not unthinkable that a reporter would want to go to paint creek and see what's there. check it out. the excuse that it was painted over with white paint is so ridiculous. >> i can't get over -- why not get rid of the rock? >> good question. >> ultimately, the painting over -- that's the part i'm stuck on. why not get rid of the rock? >> here's what i have to say. as a strategist what stuck with me is that's bad staff work. >> unprepared. >> or was there a thought that it may send a signal to one group of people and we'll deal with the other signal to other people. >> there is door number three which is this is in the past, you know. it's just not something that's come up in previous campaigns, i can't imagine it will come up now. >> just to follow up on something else, i would not put it past -- i would not rule out the possibility that republicans

think it's unfair and this ends up hurting cain rather than perry. it hurts perry because people think he's not electable and they have doubts but people will think cain took an unfair shot. >> the race card gets played. >> the story over the weekend, that's the problem. >> stick around. i want to talk about president obama, chris christie and bill kkt wh kkt wh clinton when we come back. our question, who is the only u.s. president to have been a prisoner of war? it's andrew jackson. he was a teenager when he was captured by the british during the revolutionary war. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk.

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i go crazy every time i read the conventional wisdom which the republican narrative, there's so much better at narrative than we are. give it to them, we are. of course, it's easier to have a narrative if you know the

stories always the same, government is evil, taxes are bad, that kind of stuff. >> let's bring back our panel. dan, karen, around ramesh. this was the 20th announcement of clint-- anniversary of clint announcement. it seem bill clinton didn't quite get into today's politics as much as i think some of us thought he might. >> i think this was a weekend for all the clintonistas to reminisce and talk about how they want history to be written in the future. >> karen finney, you were there. obviously what the situation today and what president obama probably came up at the public panels. what can you share? >> actually at the speech president clinton did on saturday, his message actually was sort of a little geared towards everybody. he reminded the crowd, i was down, they said i was dead, then i came back up and it was about hard work and a lot of people staying committed to doing the

hard work, and all of us in the audience thought that was a little message to not just president obama but also to democrats saying, hey -- >> buck up. juf to -- >> you have to suck it up. >> is president clinton right that republicans are better than narrative? >> i don't think so. i think right now the narrative for the president obama has to involve the words 9% unemployment. clinton had the economy working for him in '92, had the economy working for him in '96, obama doesn't. >> chris christie, is there enough time for him to get the nomination? >> i don't believe he's going to get the nomination if he runs and i don't believe he's going to run. >> why wouldn't he get the nomination? >> he's starting too late. he paekeaks the first day. there's a reason people have to get into these races early. >> you kept bringing up rick perry, no staff work there, didn't figure it out. >> is this a warning sign to chris christie? >> absolutely. it's exactly what david axelrod

said, it's an mri. >> do you have any indication, we're in the reporting competition business. how close is he? >> would i tell you? >> you would tell the world. >> i think we get a decision sometime by perhaps the end of the week or the weekend. >> all right. shameless plug time. >> the mighty fighting illini of the university of illinois are 5-0 after a heroic comeback on saturday against -- >> it was quite the game they didn't cover. >> stephanie street and the amazing crew at the clinton memorial library did a fantastic job this weekend. many thanks from all of us who really had a great time. >> kept out too many press. >> my bloomberg view column tomorrow is on why paul ryan is fighting his party on health care. >> all right. well, all good. happy monday, everybody. that's it for this packed edition of "the daily rundown." coming up next, chris "jansing & co." justice stephen breyer is among her guests. a supreme court justice.

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