always a good lesson. >> i learned that detroit is a window in to our future. and it's only halftime. and we have a lot to look forward to. >> that's right. detroit part of rock and roll. >> it is "morning joe." we'll see you back here tomorrow. stick around for chuck todd. rick santorum's last stand. republicans in three states cast votes today. caucuses in minnesota and colorado. nonbinding primary in missouri. santorum hopes to win at least two of the three and the romney campaign is nervous enough that it spent the last 24 hours trading fire on their one time iowa rival. catholic groups are blasting the obama administration's decision to require all employers, including church affiliated institutions, to provide insurance coverage for all forms of birth control. is this about gender mole ticks

or religious wedge issue that gets turned in to an attack on government intervention? and saying they won't fight with one arm tied behind their back, the obama campaign abruptly reverses course to their opposition of super pacs. let's talk about the $5 billion campaign we may be facing. it's tuesday, february 7th. 2012. this is the daily rundown. a lot to get to. prop 8 is in the news. syria. all sorts of stuff. i may talk faster. rick santorum's last stand. it's do or die time for him as republicans caucus in minnesota and colorado. and hold that meaningless primary in missouri where gingrich is not on the ballot. santorum is looking to upset romney and become part of the story again. in colorado, romney stayed focused on the president. >> he was on the "today" show this morning and he said he deserves a second term. can you believe that?

this president has failed, that's yes has to go. and we need a new president. >> but sensing santorum's momentum, the romney cam main went into overdrive dispatching surrogates to go after him in a conference call. >> he clearly has been part of the big spending establishment in congress and in the influence peddling industry that surrounding congress. and it's not a perfect conservative record by a long shot. >> a flurry of e-mails questioning santorum's conservative record. and of course santorum fired back. >> anytime someone challenges governor romney, instead of talking about what he's for, he severally attacks and tries to destroy. i don't think it will work this time. >> santorum spent the day making the most direct persistent attacks on romney. massachusetts health care plan. that he's trying to level at him for weeks.

>> governor romney on that vitally important issue of obama care is in fact the weakest candidate that we could put up. a rallying cry issue that was the center piece of the 2010 election that motivated people to come out to vote and give us an electoral victory. mitt romney is uniquely positioned to give that issue away. >> tonight's big lee aren't getting so much attention. here's why they should get a second look. they is morre proceejected deles at stake. and they gave romney's challengers an opportunity for a comeback. romney won minnesota in 2008 with 41% of the vote. colorado with 60%. but yesterday was all with playing a new pay no attention to those results from four years ago game. >> his tore he cannisitorically

to the one perceived to be the most conservativconservative. i think you'll see a clumping result, but certainly a place where other candidates will have a strong hold and won't be a walk in the park for mitt romney. it's a tough state. >> fact of the matter is romney won both states four years ago when he was considered the conservative stop mccain alternative. now of course santorum and gingrich splitting the stop romney alternative. finally in minnesota, caucuses begin at 8:00 p.m. about 672,000 voted in 2008 and in a caucus which does allow same day voter renlg vags. voters in colorado's caucuses, they begin showing up at 9:00 p.m., turnout in 2008 was about 70,000. and when the caucus only opened to registered republicans and a deadline to register that passed six weeks ago, expect only party activists. and for the first time, all four

candidates will be in different states to watch the returns come in. santorum is in missouri. romney colorado. ron paul, minnesota. and gingrich is in ohio. why? he's likely to come in third or fourth in both contests where his name is actually on the ballot. in missouri it's not on the ballot. so where is gingrich? in a super tuesday state. in a huge reversal, the obama administration is giving its blessing to a pro obama super pac called priorities usa and is encouraging democratic donors to give money to the organization. the president of course railed against the role of super pacs since these citizens united decision. two years ago he demonized these groups. >> millions of dollars into phony front groups. you've seen them. they're called americans for prosperity, moms for motherhood.

i made that last one up. they don't have the guts to say we're funding this, so they hide behind these front groups. you don't know who these groups are, you don't know who is uis funding them. these rulings are not just threat to democrats. they're a threat to our democracy. >> but now the white house has taken the calculated risk of this reversal deciding it's a losing proposition to put principle above winning. the democratic reported just over $4 million in fund-raising at the end of the year compared to nearly $50 million by karl rove's american cross roads and the pro romney group restore our future. that doesn't count the other republican groups including americans for prosperity. now, sunday in an interview with the "today" show's matt lauer, the president seemed to te telegraph the decision in hindsight. >> would i love to take some of big money out of politics?

i would. unfortunately, partly because of supreme court rulings and a bunch of decisions out there, it is very hard to be able to get your message out without having some resources. >> last night, jim massena said it more bluntly writing we can't allow for two sets of rules in this election whereby the republican nominee is the ben fesh ar fesh area of unlimited spending. neither will attend fund-raising events, but the group includes hhs secretary kathleen sebelius, she spent eight years as executive director of the kansas trial lawyers association. so some big money will. senior advisers david plouffe and valerie jarrett also will be dispatched. that send as signal to democrat he can donors and down the ballot. that's been the real concern here. and that's where the obama

campaign 4had been receiving program. house and senate democratic super pacs are expected to be massively outspent and they were the ones hoping barack obama would give the blessing to this. but they'll get grief. voters n about campaign finance issues. the republican candidates are hitting the decision to require all health insurance plans to cover birth control. many catholic organizations had hoped for an exemption. at the white house yesterday, jay carney suggested the new rules might include some wiggle room. >> churches, houses of worship are exempted from this policy. we will work with institutions to try to implement this in a way that assures that the coverage is provided. and that attempts to allay the concerns that are there. >> the white house wouldn't address some details like for instance would the morning after pill be something that these institutions could exempt from

plans that they have covered and only have more traditional forms of birth control. those among the issues, though, that haven't been decided and how this gets implemented. still republicans are having none of it. rick santorum has lashed out about it yesterday in colorado. >> that's just a bunch of poppycock. i mean, that's just ridiculous. mr. president, we're not that stupid. the catholic church has been arguing and negotiating this for a year. and the administration is saying it's just a misunderstanding, it's just a bunch of bull. >> mitch romney's campaign blasted the white house, as well. >> they have to provide for their employees free of charge contraceptives, morning after pills, in other words, and the like at no cost. think what that does to people in faiths who do not share those views. this is a violation of conscience. we must have a president who is

willing on protect america's first right, a right to worship god according to the dick he at a times of our own conscience. >> romney took a similar step in 2005, requiring all massachusetts hospitals including catholic ones to provide emergency contraception to rape victims even though some view the morning after pill as a form of abortion. for the first time in a month, mitt romney is facing a serious challenge from rick santorum. peter alex an did he ever is wi with the romney campaign. you have the romney campaign suddenly they wanted a lot of attention to neff they have. nevada, a caucus that doesn't know what they were doing. but they want you to pay no results to the results in minnesota. >> i think it's a very good point. first of all, as many people who has voted in nevada, they used

to fill up the stadium back in the day with more folks participated. but here in conversations i've had with romney senior advisers, they're saying hold on, let's limit expectations today. we think rick santorum will very likely win in minnesota today with some of the buzz surrounding him there. but what's most remarkable is what's going on behind the scenes. while we've heard romney, i was at his event last night just outside denver huignore his rivals. they're going right after rick santorum. tim pawlenty putting out a statement saying rick santorum is a nice guy, but he simply is not ready to be president. so they're trying to say we're focused on president obama, but behind the scenes just trying to chip away at rick santorum. >> they don't want to go 1-2

tonight because it would only push the story line that conserve testifies are looking for anybody other than mitt romney particularly in cause causes states. peter alexander in colorado where they do expect a victory. thanks very much. now to foreign policy. france is joining the uk in pulling its ambassador from syria one day after the united states shut down its embassy in damascus in response to the escalating violence. >> we have concluded that we need to suspend operations at our embassy in damascus in light of the fact that we have security concerns about the safety of our personnel. >> eamon, the russian foreign minister is get something sort of welcome? did i see that in your writing? >> that's correct. tens of thousands syrians welcomed him in the streets of damascus. i don't think he would have gotten that same kind of welcome about if he visited other parts

of the country. but many people welcomed the russian veto on saturday because it protected help or shielded them from what they perceive to be western and foreign interference in their domestic affairs. so he was arriving in damascus against the backdrop of more violence across the country. the message that everyone wants to know, what did the russian foreign minister deliver to the syrian president. there's some speculation that he's trying to hammer out a time line for a transition to democracy, new constitutional reform, but no indication as to whether will is an agreement on this time table. this against the back crop of more violence as we were saying in the city that has become the epicenter of the uprising. tens were killed overnight in more raids. eyewitnesses reporting tanks moving in to other parts of the city and many are afraid that more violence could be coming because they see the u.n. veto as a green light for the assade.

>> i've heard speculation turkey is trying to put together their own coalition and are willing to help the rebels in syria? is that going anywhere? >> reporter: that's a very important question because turkey ruptured its deals with syria. they've been housing the free syrian army along its border, essentially allowing the free syrian army to operate from inside turkey. today the turkish prime minister addressed the parliament. he said turkey was going to lead an initiative to try to bring friends of the syrian opposition under one umbrella, try to fund them perhaps even support them logistically with some weapons to carry out more attacks. so certainly turkey is trying to be at the forefront of trying to help the syrian opposition in exile. gulf arab countries have withdrawn their ambassadors. so you get a sense of the

international pressure being stepped up against the syrian government. >> all right. thanks very much. you know what we have to say here at the daily run down. if it's tuesday, someone is voting somewhere. but why is missouri spending millions on a meaningless race? senator roy blunt joins me next. plus the battle brewing within the republican party over whether or not extend the payroll tax cut. and still to come, an appeals court gets ready to issue a ruling on california's controversial proposition 8 about gay marriage. how will this affect the legal battle over same-sex marriage and are we headed to the supreme court? but first a look at the president's schedule. he'll be speaking at the white house science pair today. i'm al ways looking out for i'm al small ways to be more healthy. like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c.

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today's primary won't award any delegates. the whole exercise amounts to a $7 million statewide opinion poll with no margin of error that's good. roy blunt is a romney supporter and republican conference vice chairman. and he joins me now. i've been calling this the missouri primary since it's only republicans showing up. let me ask you, how big of a waste of money is this primary today? >> i suppose elections are never a waste of money, but the republican house in missouri voted overwhelmingly not to have the primary. the senate for some reason tied 16-16. so we're having this primary

today. it won't direct any delegates, but it is an election and there are candidates running and it costs just as much to have it if people get out and vote as if they don't, so i voted absentee. i hope people vote in the primary. and of course i voted for governor romney and i hope others do, too. >> are you concerned that governor romney could lose this and that it's one of those catch 22, you don't want to take seriously because it doesn't award delegates but now you are and therefore santorum could beat in you a one-on-one? >> i think rick santorum is the only person that put money on tv in missouri before today and i'm sure that's the only state in america that's happened, where the tv money was spent by the santorum campaign and nobody else. so we'll see what happens. a month from now, missouri allocates those delegates at caucuses. i think there are two other nonbinding caucuses today, so really not much happens this month until the end of the month with i think arizona and

michigan you willy send delegates to the convention. but it does seem to me that we need to get this process moving on. i think everything that's happened up until now has probability been a good thing for republicans at the end of the day, the charges that have been raised, the challenges that have come up. need to have nls answers to the. so the the process moves so, but apparently today in a way that won't allocate a single delegate to the national convention in any of the states that are doing whatever they're doing. >> neither saturday with nevada. we could play that game all day. >> no delegates saturday either? >> that's right. let me ask you this. one of the hits to the romney campaign has been putting on santorum has to do with the fact that he secured earmarks. you have made no apologies about your opposition to earmarks.

the last number i see shear 22 earmarks in 2010 that totaled $22 million. do you think this earmark attack by romney is unfair on santorum? >> rick santorum is a friend of mine, as is ron paul and newt gingrich. and i'm for the guy i think can do the best job as president and is the best most likely to be elected presidented. i think a lot of things will be said during this campaign that won't necessarily add up at the end of the day. i haven't looked at what rick santorum did regarding specific pieces of legislation. but i think he's a good person. i think he did a good job advocating for the things he believed in and i'd life to see him as part of a romney administration in some way. so we want to be careful here. however, talking about that, this is not like attacking vulture capitalism. there have been plenty of things said in this campaign, things that will matter will be the

ones said in the fall when we start talking about the obama economy and the difference in a vision of the country where the government will run everything and people are still going to have opportunity. >> you don't think this hit on santorum is a pretty fair one. >> i haven't really paid much attention to it. >> on the payroll tax, republicans seem split again about whether on do any deal or just finish it off. are you part of this -- john cornyn said he wasn't for, but he didn't want to give the president ammunition to blame any economic dip on congress, so he wants to just get it out of the way. is that where your head is at? >> that's where the members appear to be. i've been pretty strongly out there on the contribution to social security needing to continue to be made, but there are lots of other things wrapped up in this thousand. the how we pay doctors under medicare, the president's

managed to wrap this into a very complicated package. and i'm not sure he wants the solution. it's clear republicans want a solution in the house and the senate. i don't know inthat i'll vote f the final bill, but if the payroll tax doesn't continue to be where it is now for the rest of the year, i'll be surprised. however, i do think that not paying in to social security is not the right way to go. and it hasn't impacted the economy in the way the president said it would. it's now become a tax issue rather than whether we're going to pund social security the way we ought to fund it as opposed to borrowing the money and spending money and taking money from general revenue. and i think the president wants to be needlessly complicated. >> i'll have to reach it there, nor. senator. >> good to talk to you. >> missouri or missouri. depends where you're traveling in the state.

thanks for coming on. what can we expect on wall street today? plus that religious rift. we'll do the deep dive into wths contraception controversy. but first, today's trivia question, between 1904 and 2004, missouri correctly picked the presidential winner in every general election but one. name the year and the candidate ma missouri picked incorrectly. piro.obert over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

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time for the market rundown. becky quick is here.

what's going on today? i'm a little out of it in your world. >> i finally get to surprise you. looks like we'll open down by about 17 or 18 points on the dow, but the big news is that ben bernanke, head of the fed, is going to be headed to capitol hill once again. he'll be talking to the senate this time and you remember last week, he went before the house side and he said that the economy was coming back frustratingly slow. well, then the next day, we heard from the jobs report and that number was much better than expected. so the big betting here if you want to call this big gambling is whether or not he'll being a knowledge that that jobs number could have changed the outlook overall. it has a lot of economists raising their expectations for growth. the question is will ben bernanke address that, as well, and how difficult of a position does that put him in when he's talking about keeping interest rates at incredible low levels all the way through 2014. that's the big news that we're handicapping here today. we did get earnings from coca-co coca-cola, and it

earnings better than expected. and this could be a difficult one for ben bernanke to address is that coca-cola looked at stroll i'm volume up in emerging markets and north america. we wondered if those volume numbers would come down. so far coca-cola at least is really hanging in this. >> people have to keep working, need that caffeine. >> right. >> becky quick, thank you.

welcome back. california's ninth circuit court of appeals is expected to rule on proposition 8. the california ban on gay marriage. pete, does this ruling actually change anything? and the reason i ask is there's been an expectation that prop 8 would make it way to the supreme court. what if anything could the ninth circuit say today that would change that path? >> you know, i'm sure whoever loses here will ultimately try to get to the supreme court. but based on how it's written, the court may or may not want to take to the u.s. supreme court. so what we'll be watching for is does the court of appeals write a really broad ruling that says states cannot ban gay marriage, period, broad, sweeping. that would make more likely the supreme court would take it. or will the court as i think is more likely, and this is just a guess, write it more narrowly. and say for example a state like california that gives all the

civil union benefits of marriage, but just doesn't use the word marriage, there's no good reason for the court to make that discriminatory decision. about it does that, then that's not as sweeping. any say the for example that doesn't give civil unions under the logic of the decision if that's the way it comes out would not have to grant gay marriage. that i think would make it less likely the supreme court would take it. but to answer your question directly, the ruling today won't immediately change anything because the court will likely if it does strike down the ban on gay marriage prop 8, it would put on hold on it while the other side appeals. the other side which is the backers of prop 8 could either appeal to the full ninth circuit or try going to the u.s. supreme court. my guess is they would try it on go to the full ninth circuit and hope to get a more favorable ruling. so wouldn't change anything immediately, but based on how it's written, it will be very important in terms of teeing the issue up potentially for the

supreme court or maybe not. >> so you do expect the full ninth circuit to hear this first before it gets to the supreme court? >> this is a lot of guesswork here. but if as is widely expected the court today strikes down prop8,, that is to say degrees with the trial judge to said it's unconstitutional, it seams a more logical step for the backers of prop 8 would be to go to the full ninth circuit and hope they can get a more favorable ruling or at least a split that would show the supreme court that there is some disagreement here before they then try to get to the supreme court. but no matter what happens here, i think we can assume that will would not make to the supreme court this this year, the court has already filled its calendar. so the earliest is next term or maybe the term after that if this indeed is the case that the u.s. supreme court wants to take and it might not be. >> we will be checking in with you throughout the day when the actual ruling comes down. pete williams in our washington newsroom this morning. thank you, sir. well, as we told you at the

top of the show, the obama administration is under fire from catholics on both sides of the political spectrum for its decision to rare all employers, even religious affiliated ones, to provide insurance coverage for contraception. how much of a liability will this be for the president politically some joining take t ian, welcome to you both. george, let's start with you. the administration has been making the distinction that this ruling is-of half the country is already living under this and over half of catholic affiliated organizations have been living with state rulings similar to this for years. so why be up in arms about this. >> a couple reasons. first of all, will it's make clear, it's not just catholics who are up in arms about this. there are jews, the orthodox churches. many evangelical protestants who are deeply upset about this because it's for the just a

contraceptive mandate. it's a mandate that includes abortion inducing drugs and sterilization. and that cuts across a lot of religious divides in america. i think this has brought people's attention to the fact that you've got a government that is claiming the right to tell religious organizations that they must roy a service which their own teaching claims is immoral. this is a constitutional new step that i think has creates the an enormous fuss it's also quite likely a violation of the restoration act passed in the 1990s. so a lot of people upset across a lot of the spectrum on this. >> you just brought up one of the issues when you said it's not just contraception, it's beyond that. the white house yesterday, jay carney, they seemed to be saying

just wait to see how we eve implement this. if the morning after pill is allowed to be exempted, will that calm the fears of some? >> i don't think there's a 50 yard line here. i think the mandate itself is the problem. there will undoubtedly be an attempt to try to find a 50 yard line of the sort you describe, but the bishops of the united states on the catholic side of this, and this is before we get to mormons, evangelicals, orthodox jews, et cetera, are in this to fight it all the way. >> you've been critical of a couple things. do you think the overall decision is a mistake, but also the way they handled it politically? >> both of those. and your viewers should know george and i disagree a lot of the time and we've had differences in print now and again. and i think that one of the reasons and i think the administration is surprised by this, a lot of liberal catholics

who have no objection in principal, do believe the church has -- and not just the catholic church -- has legitimate interest here in defining some of the basic rules for its provision of social services. there are enormous religious networks in this country. we would have a much less durable safety net for the poor without the religious institutions. and i think the administration did a couple things wrong here. i think they misread catholic opinion, but i also think they have given reassurances to some people inside the church. my understanding, president of the catholic health insurance who stuck her neck out to assume the affordable care act which i applauded at the time said, look, we need some accommodation here and they decided, no, we're not going do that. i believe they gave some reassurances to archbishop dolan. you don't give reassurances on the one side. the one place george and i might

differ is i do think there has been and may be a 50 yard line -- >> what is it? >> i think it's defined by what hawaii tried to do in a circumstance like this, where you do not require the religious institutions to violate their own religious precepts in this case on contraception, but you do provide a way for employees of hose institutions to get that coverage themselves at little or no cost. and i think that's the way around because you've got a religious liberty interest that the church legitimately has. you also have an interest in employees who want contraception coverage to get it. there has to be a way not to violate the church's basic rights on this. >> as a 50 yard line, the hawaii way of doing this? >> i've discussed that with several of the people previously mentioned in the program and chairman of the bishop's ad hoc committee and the hawaii

compromise is a mondnonstarter. >> i think there are a lot of catholic organizations who could accept a version of the hawaiian compromise. but i believe there is room for that. >> politically the other argument that was made to me was, okay, we're basically going to make somebody mad. women's groups mad about not providing contraception for nurses at catholic hospitals essentially. or we'll make leaders in the catholic church upset. and it was a no win situation and they went with women. >> i think the thing that strikes me about this is how this has struck a kind of tribal nerve in catholicismcatholicism. the catholic church has been beaten up and i think catholics are tired of the government and others beating up on the church. that's in my view one of the political facts behind this

rather extraordinary reaction across the catholic spectrum. >> are are you going to be surprised if it they don't for the just come up with some sort of -- they're standing by it thousand. do you think they'll pull back on this? >> i think if you're a political consultant, you sometimes tell a politician you may have messed it up the first time, but if you revisit this, ulg get into more trouble. so i wouldn't be surprised if they try to avoid revisiting it. but i think that there are so many people who have been their allies on a lot of questions, notably in the provision of health care and social services, who said to them, look, this puts us in an entirely untenable position. we want to keep providing these services. you've got to do something for us. if i were the president, i'd call cecile richards, sister carol, bring them in, say i got a problem here, help me figure this out in a way that honors the rights you both care about and let's see what happens. >> i wanted to keep this going, but i can't. thank you for very thought until conversation. and we will continue this

coverage throughout the day here. up next, if you can't beat them, join them. the political panel will be here to talk about the president's super pac super flip-flop. but first, the white house soup of the day. loaded potato because, hey, they're throwing everything in to the campaign pockets. the multibillion dollar fight, the nuclear arms race that everybody feared will happen is going to happen. the employee of the month isss...

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ri mchlr ichri ringo. and the rest as they say is history. about about face for president obama after blasting the supreme court's decision allowing unlimited donations, the president is now embracing have pac money. last night the top bundlers were encouraged to support a super pac. here is the president obama in 2010 decrying that very funding. >> with all due deference to separate of powers, last week the supreme court reversed a century of law that i believe whether open t will open the floodgates for special interests. including foreign corporations. to spend without limit in our elections. mike and he wouchael feldma democratic strategist.

perry, and anna, covers politics for the financial times. welcome all. okay. you said i should have seen this super flip-flop coming. why is that? >> first of all, president obama and his campaign didn't set these rules, they are just playing by them. i don't think this is a surprise. billions of dollars will be spent in this cycle. for the president to unilaterally disarm and allow karl rove and the koch brothers and others to raise hundreds of millions of dollars and spend them on negative ads without allow allowing his supporters to defend him would be political malpractice. >> and the fact is will this, which is so far in calendar year 2012, on at beingtack ads on prt obama, all of them have come from super pacs. clearly this was the decision they made. >> right. they had no choice but to fight

fire with fire. buts unfortunate that having come out so strongly against super packs in the past, that the president has to do this this u turn. and it will be difficult for him to explain it. and i think it will be difficult for many democratic donors to give to the super pacs with such a cloud hanging over them. >> and that's of course been what priorities usa has been complaining about. the house and senate side for democrats also have been complaining that basically the tip lar head of the party has been trashing these, so donors didn't think held get anything in return. and now they're dispatching valerie jarrett who is the business liaison, david plouffe, kathleen sebelius, the most promise meanent health care per. >> the big problem was obama was

not doing anything and he still himself will not go to events. but they can heal super pac gain money because they've raised very few dollars compared to karl rove. so they need to reduce the disparity. >> the one thing that strikes me about this, though, is it's also going to help the republican side raise a bunch more money, it legitimizes hair strategy, ask does it not? >> no. first of all, i wrote a check to priorities usa shortly after it was formed and i hope others will. this is about defending the president and getting their message out. and the thing that will bring more democratic donors to the table now, not just to defend the president, is the fact that karl rove and the koch brothers will try to take this election away from the president. that's what will motivate big donors to come to the table even more so than the president's re-election itself. >> can any of you give me an example of a political race that

was decided on fund-raising? >> ultimately, no. >> decided by, no, but could you make the argument that the trajectory of the race has been changed by super pacs. >> but do voters react to it. >> no. >> people like the fact it was a more grass roots campaign. he can't say that this time. >> the grass roots donor -- >> that's the difference between a super pac and -- >> grass roots donors are dough donating in record numbers. >> stick around, i'll talk about the most shocking tv ad i've seen in the last couple of months. it's in the michigan at some. right after the break. between 1904 and 2004, missouri

correctly picked the presidential winner in every single general election but one. the answer was 1956. the only time in a missouri got. the country picked dwight eisenhower but they went for adlai stevenson. wake up!

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thank you, michigan senator debbie spendit now. you borrow more and more from us. your economy gets very weak. ours get very strong. we get jobs.

thank you debbie spend it now. china bashing, i've said it before, 20 years ago this japan bashing in primaries can be effective because people have a fear of losing their job but that was something else. >> right. i don't know what people were thinking about this. not only is it racist but it's just a bad ad. there's nothing good to say in the republican party as well as the opposition side has been slamming this ad. it's a negative for him, i think. the other thing is how many rice paddies are there this michigan? >> a former member of congress, former head of the intelligence committee made a lot of enemies, nope as the biggest atlanticer sometimes when it came to the congress side of intelligence stuff. he's standing behind it saying, hey, he doesn't believe it's racist. we're showing a woman who learned english and is doing a good job learning it. >> he is standing by it.

this is what they have to do on some level but i don't think it's general election wise it's not a good ad, not a good message. >> fred davis, he -- that's his thing, to make the viral buzz ad and, guess what, we're talking about it. >> sometimes going viral is a bad thing. >> you think in this case it was? >> it hurt him. it's shameless. it was shameful. because we're talking about it does not help the hoekstra election. >> i'm going shameless plug to the bone marrow registry that can help save lives. >> very nice. i like that. >> my old colleague has done a good job in the old republic and his new blog. >> i agree. >> a lot of misinformation out there about the keystone pipeline. get the facts. a lot of information as this debate continues. people should actually get the facts. >> there you go. some serious shameless plugs here. we'll leave it there. that's it for this edition of

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