rundown." >> excellent. bye-bye. ladies and gentlemen, i don't stand here to claim to be the alternative to mitt romney. i stand here to be the alternative to barack obama. >> he surprised the romney folks by taking colorado. he extent diplomat gel any delegates last night. last night brought out the most passionate and committed voters. plus the white house signals it may be open to a compromise with catholic leaders over the parts of the health care law requires contraception. is there a way out of this political mess for the white house? it's wednesday, february 8, 2012, this is "the daily

rundown." let's get to my first reads of the morning. rick santorum swept three contests last night, but the story once again is that conservatives have rejected mitt romney. the people who make the phone calls, knock on the doors, will be the ground troops in the battleground states this fall you are not mitt romney republicans. in minnesota he finished an embarrassing third place last night with only 17% of the vote. santorum won 45%, ron paul came in second ten points ahead of romney at 27%. though the two highest profile republicans in the state, tim pawlenty and norm coleman backed romney, he did not win a single minnesota county. the missouri primary was a total beauty contest. last night's results won't affect the delegates one mitt, but still more republicans voted in the primary than in any other contests last night. they overwhelmingly picked

santorum. he beat romney in missouri by 30 points. santorum won every county in the state. and in colorado, are romney won 60% of the vote in 2008, santorum scored a true upset. santorum won 44 of 64 counties. turnout in santorum's counties was steady or slightly up while many of romney's stronger areas in the state -- overall turnout was down 24% in minnesota, with fewer than 48,000 cast ballots last night. romney got less than a third of the votes he did in 2008. turnout was down nearly 7%, about 65,000 cast ballots there, and with a major caveat, considering that the missouri contest was not binding and frankly something of a $7 million state-run joke, turnout was down, but the bottom line this was about the same problem romney has been facing this

entire campaign. just when it appears he's the nominee to be conservatives somewhere strike back, and last night it was in the colorado. and santorum celebrated his win. >> your votes today were not just ahead across the state of missouri and minnesota, but they were heard loud and louder all across this country. and particularly in a place that i suspect maybe in massachusetts they were heard particularly loud tonight. >> taking on romney's election night role, santorum focused his fire on the president. >> at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, you better start listening to the voice of the people. >> he thinks he knows better. he thinks he's smarter than you. he thinks he's someone who is a privileged person who should be able to rule over all of you. >> santorum may have said his

candidacy is about being the alternative to president obama, but last night he was all too eager for make the context with mitt romney, first off issues. >> health care, the environment, cap and trade, an on the wall street bailouts, mitt romney has the same positions as barack obama. and in fact would not be the best person to come up and fight for your voices for freedom in america. then he needles romney on his "i don't care about the very poor" gaffe. >> i do care about not 99% or 95%. i care about the very rich and the very poor. i care about 100% of america. >> romney tried to make the best of a bad night, mentioning santorum by name, which was not in his prepared remarks. >> this was a good night for

rick santorum. i want to congratulate senator santorum, wish him the very best. we'll keep on campaigning, but i expect to become your nominee with your help. >> he previewed the attack that he's a creature of washington. >> washingtonic will never be reformed by those compromised by the culture of washington. this is a clear choice. i'm the only person in this race, republican or democrat, who has never served a day of time in washington. >> and in what may have been looked like an awkward moment to some, he tried to neutralize the issue with the story of his father, george romney, who ran an auto company, a former governor and former cabinet secretary. >> my father apprenticed as a lath and plaster carpenter. he was pretty good. he could take a handful of

nails, stick them in his mouth and stick them out. on his money moon he puts aluminum paint in the trunk of the car and sold it along the way to pay for the gas and the hotels. >> obviously rick santorum talks about the biography of his grandfather, the coal miner, that's had some resonance with the blue collar base, rpg base, and you hear mitt romney trying to do this. he has struggled to talk about his own personal wealth and tried to create other narratives. last night was another attempt. finally the road ahead. we've had eight contests. romney has won victories. santorum has won four. delegatewise it's still romney. santorum's next stop will likely be michigan february 28th primary and republican electorate there that is a little blue collar with social conservative mixed in. on "morning joe" this morning

santorum says he plans on planting his flag in michigan. >> we're really excited about that, also headed to ohio. super tuesday will be a very, very big day for us. we have organizations developing in every one of those states, but we think michigan is a great place for us to plant our flag. >> one thing about arizona, winner is take all, michigan is not. the other guy last night was newt gingrich. in some ways he had a rough night, third in colorado fourth in minnesota and not on the ballot at all in missouri. awkwardly while the other candidates were responding to results, gingrich was talking about ohio. >> we have been crisscrossing the state, started in cincinnati, went to dayton later this evening we'll go to cleveland.

>> still for them anything that stops mitt romney hats proven to be good for romney an santorum could very well be on their way. last night both gingrich and ron paul, who also had a disappointing night, chose to look on the bright side. >> we came in second in nevada, we came in second in florida, first in south carolina. i think we're going to do very well on super tuesday. we're going to compete very intensely in arizona and michigan. so i think everything's got to figure out their own campaign strategy. >> the straw vote is one thing, but there's one other thing called delegates. yeah. there's other good news, too. it's an ongoing caucus over on the east coast, i think it's the state called maine? >> rick santorum didn't win any-day-old gates technically, but surpassed romney, and with

me to break it down. chris cillizza and jonathan martin. here's my favorite tweet from overnight. so i far mitt romney has won every day that hillary clinton has won and he's lost every state that hillary clinton laos. i know it's an apples to oranges comparison, but there is some, shall we say apples to pears in that statement? >> florida didn't matter in 2008. hillary won there, and barack obama smartly didn't go there. for whatever reason, mitt romney campaigned in minnesota and campaigned in colorado -- >> he raised their importance. >> dropped mailed in minnesota, was doing radio interviews and tried to say yesterday there's no delegates these don't count. i think there's a lot of merit to that argument. this is like having in the middle of the baseball season an

exhibition game. you draw a lot of fans, sell out tickets, but it doesn't count. yet we all cover it and enable it. >> there's a difference -- >> when the romney campaign engages, they don't help their cause when they say it doesn't matter. >> but we do see some fundamental differences, even if an exhibition game you know whether somebody has a curveball our not. >> and talent on the field. >> and it's clear mitt romney still has a problem with conservative activists. that's who showed up last night. >> it's remarkable that we're this deep into it and if we talked about this two months ago, rick santorum will have won more votes than anyone else in the race, we would have fallen over. this was not possible. the problem continues to be, chuck, both have problems. mitt romney clearly will never be the conservative choice. the question is does she eventually wear them down enough, already, we'll be with

you, because we dislike barack obama more than we believe in your conservative t or rick santorum's problem is he had a good night last night, now what? no one else has a now what when you say in march he'll probably win here, here and here. it doesn't mean they can't. you just -- there's no way of knowing. >> there's two story lines in this race. one is, jonathan, mitt romney, he takes two steps forward and 1 1/2 back, as chris has pointed out, the alternatives can never catch fire. they never can sort of rally the conservatives to their side. >> we're at this fascinating moment where romney has never seemed stronger. it's hard to see when you gain out the next couple months at how-day-old gates are apportioned and come to any

conclusion beside romney is in a strong place. on the other hand last night was so revealing in the sense of yes, there's no del gates in play, but there's also clearly very little organic support for mitt romney among the most conservative limits. >> unless he's on television bashing someone else. there is not a big mitt romney base in any state. >> by the way, you know, in a weird -- we're not saying they're coordinated, but i find it fascinating that santorum basically has signaled to newt gingrich. i'm going to go fight in michigan. you can have arizona. it's a bit of a two-front war. that's go where you can beat him. >> and santorum is betting, even though michigan is another one of these romney home states, that these blue collar social conservatism can play there. >> i agree 100% with jonathan's

exhibition games, but i was struck by -- santorum, he was really good in that speech. i felt like it was a speech after iowa. >> very accessible. >> he's kind of a natural. the closest thing the republican party has to a pop you list. he has a good story to tell, a nice sharp contrast. if he could get the money in the organization, he is more disciplined messagewise and a better fit than newt is. >> how about with the hit, too? >> how about where we're -- what issues we're talking about right now? i mean -- if we're talking about social conservative -- the issues right now, the catholic church is mitt romney? no, it's all santorum. >> even if you do have candidates picking their battles newt will still get, what, 15%, 18%. if you're santorum, how do you win michigan if you're trying to be the home state boy --

>> the question is -- >> nobody expects him to do well. >> but after last night, though. >> if romney wins and santorum is within five points does it -- >> is it a moral victory. >> i continue to come back to the point jon made. we need actual beginning he was vulnerable. we definitely know the answer is yes, but to whom? you can't beat somebody with nothing. romney is not the greatest candidate in the world, but he is something. >> you know, it's just like the general. we know president obama is vulnerable to a republican challenge, but we node mitt romney is vulnerable to a challenger, but it may the -- >> the great thing about romney is he doesn't have to run against the ideal conservative choice. >> sheldon adelson and foster freeze, what are they doing? how close is their checkbook to their right hand?

>> all right. jonathan martin, dean and lewis. >> cillizza and martin, here all week. there it is. up next we'll hear directly from the romney campaign. how do they plan to than this thew yaism gap. is romney prepared to fight a two-front war? plus president obama scores a major endorsement from one of the country's most vocal unions, into a the deep dive the organized union. but a look at the president's schedule. doing a little politicses today inside the democratic party. democratic caucus retreat. today my journey continues across the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance.

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tonight we had an opportunity to see what a campaign looks like, when one candidate isn't outspent 5 or 10 to 1, by negative ads imputing their integrity. romn romney's greatest attribute is i have the most money and the best organization. he won't have that in the fall, is he? just when it looks like mitt romney might put himself in some space between him and the rivals, a clean sweep to santorum. eric, let me ask you this -- any regrets on even sending governor romney to colorado last night, sort of raising the profile of three states that yesterday you guys spent a lot of time reminding reporters don't actually reward delegates?

>> well, first of all, chuck, our campaign would like to congratulate rick santorum on the victories. they were impressive, and i know mitt romney placesed a call to compliment him personally, but i think there were two takeaways first we're in a delegate contest. viewed in a light, nothing has changed. mitt romney constituent has a 3 to 1 late. the delegate count today is the same as yesterday. the second is the eventual nominee of our party will lose some contests. john mccain lost 19 states on the way to the nomination in 2008. the difference between mitt romney and the other candidates is we believe we have the organization, the resources and the stamina to go the distance and win the contests necessary to skew the delegates. >> you mentioned three things,

but you didn't mention message. that seems to be a problem at least with the conservative base, because one thing about last night that i don't think anybody can deny was the diehard republican voters that trudged to the caucuses and that beauty contest in missouri. these are the folks you want in october if you're the nominee, making phone calls, knocking on doors. would is it a struggle still to win them over? >> i don't think it is at struggle. some of the same concerns about mitt romney and conservatives were raised before new hampshire, before florida, before nevada. in each of those contests you saw that he won broadly, i think the real message from last night is that unlike what newt gingrich tried to persuade us of, which is this is a two-person contest, it's actually a race between mitt romney and a divided field. whether you're talking about rick santorum or newt gingrich,

they're really two peas in a pod. longtime washington lectors who never really left washington after their legislative careers ended. if you nominate one of them to go against barack obama in the fall, the choice will be between two washington insiders, two people who haven't had any real economy experience. we think the brighter contrast, especially with the economy looming so large, is to nominate someone like mitt romney who has spent the bulk of his career in the private sector. >> you talked about it's romney versus a divided field. are you concerned if it's mitt romney versus a conservative alternative that you can win? because every time it seems there is a gravitation to one, even for a few days, in south carolina that was newt gingrich, in iowa it was rick santorum last night that few days was rick santorum. can you beat back a done serve tiff alternative? >> let me address the conser

conservative record in a moment. first i'd like to go to the contest and the shape of the contest in the months to come. we've been saying from the very beginning this is a fight for delegates. it's not going to be decided early on. we never believed that the nominee, whoever that nominee is, we think it will be mitt romney, will secure the 2ke8 gas he needs to go to tampa until sometime in the late spring, probably april or may as for people who have questions about mitt romney's bona fides, look at what he did as governor. he did this in one of the bluest states in the country. >> yesterday i was talking about russ shrever, and we are going

back and forth on this issue. contraception cover aage in massachusetts, you said, yes, he vetoed that bill, but he did talk about in his hard of hearts, he believed in emergency contraception for forhospitals only catholic church. >> this was a big fight. there was a bill proposed by democrats in the legislature that would have made plan b, which is emergency contraception broadly available, including in catholic hospitals. mitt romney vetoed that bill. it was then overridden, so it became law over mitt romney's objection. the statement he made with respect to his heart of hearts, he said two things. he believes that rape victims should have access to plan b contraception, or information on where to get it. now, that latter part of the

governor's statement is consistent with catholic practice. you'll find the catholic hospitals do provide information on where rape victims can get emergency contraception, so there's nothing unusual about the governor's statement in that regard. final question, eric. if this is a campaign over the next month or two that's about social issues, not about the economy, does that hurt your candidate? >> well, i don't think it's going to become a campaign about social issues. if you look at the polling that's been done, chuck, what is foremost on the minds of voters is jobs and the economy. even though we had some job growth in january, if beer still above 8% unemployment, we have many millions of people who have grown so discouraged that they have left the workforce entirely, that will remain the focus of our campaign. but look, we're happy to talk about social issues as well. as i said, mitt romney was a conservative in the toughest

place, fighting for traditional marriage. every action he took as a governor he stood to the fo sapgtity of life. we'll continue to talk about that. >> arizona and michigan both must wins? >> arizona and michigan are big states, big primaries where are there are lots of delegates up for grabs. we like our chances going into both those states. we'll be fighting hard, will make a special effort. as i said, this is a fight for delegates and there are delegates up for grabs. >> eric out of boston this morning, thanks for coming on. >> thanks, chuck. well, what can we expect in wall street today? a market rundown is next. plus the contradeposition compromise, how the white house is trying to put out the fire with catholics over birth control and insurance coverage. plus let the games begin. michelle obama challenges jimmy fallon to a fitness competition.

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opening bell just rang on wall street. time for the market rundown. brian, what do you got? >> we were positive for most of the premarket. we weakened right at the end so we'll open basically flat, may even go negative. 9 waiting game continues in greece. they're just blowing through everything, cancelling meetings left and right. so a mixed bag to start with. spring added 160,000

subscribers yet reported a wider loss than expected. why this is interesting is because they subsidize the iphone so much that they can't make money. it's just a fascinating dynamic. they're growing their business, but not making money, because they're paying appear so many. disney's interesting dynamic is espn saw lower ratings and frat advertising, and the only movie which did well for disney was "the muppets" which i contributed too. mcdonald's january sales across the world were up and better than expected. that stock is opening at yet another all-time high. >> so, brian, do you sit there and sing are you a man not a -- >> no, i'm more of a me-nom-a-na guy.

other stories making headlines. in syria president assad's forces are pushing deeper into areas held by the opposition, killing dozens again even as russia trying to broker peace talks and the fighting meanwhile, a dozen countries have withdrawn am bass endorse or envoys from syria. the european union says it will intensify sanctions. conservative supporters on the ban on same-sex marriage are considering their next move after an appeals court ruled that prop 8 is unconstitutional. attorneys have two weeks to decide whether to appeal to the larger ninth circuit or go

directly to the supreme court. and after beating ellen degeneris in a pushup contest she went head to head about jim can fallon in a white house decathlon. let's pick up the action. >> we're all tied up. potato sack race for all the marbles. >> good luck. you're going to need it. ♪ i have to say, that's risky, jumping up in a sack like that. anyway, it's been a tough few years for teachers ease unioning, even the big swing state of ohio where governors

are cutting budgets, today the second largest teachers' union, the american federation of teachers is endorsing president obama. joining us is randi weingarten, president of aft. she got up very early on the west coast. >> nice to see you, chuck. >> let me start with your decision. what's been intriguing about the obama administration, arne duncan over at the education -- secretary of education is that both aft and naa haven't been miami with a lot of the decision made by president obama. so why are you endorsing him? >> the bottom line is this is a choice between we very different economic policies between the obama administration, president barack obama and whoever the republican nominee is going to be. the bottom line right now is the

economy matters more than anything else. we need to make sure that people have a fair shot to access the american dream. so there's no choice when you think about that. >> so this isn't about education policy. >> this is about economics. in terms of education, as you said, chuck, there have been some differences. where we don't differ is on the commit xhnt to give -- we differ times on how to do it, and we've not been shy in talking to the obama administration on that. we think that you have to actually focus on teaching and learning, listening to frontline educators, giving them the resources they need, as opposed to strictly focusing on measurement, testing and accountability, but bottom line here is president obama has been fighting to create jobs for americans, fighting for the investment in education, and ultimately if we don't turn this around so that americans can

rebuild the middle class, can have access to a fair shot in the economy, then we're not going to have the america that we want. >> are you participating in the recall fight in wisconsin? >> our affiliates are, yes. >> do you think that -- do you look at that political battle there and do you say this is the time to do it? why not wait until scott walker is up for reelection? >> well, look, the issue is every single day in wisconsin fewer jobs are created. there's more unfairness, and the people in wisconsin -- not people nationally, but people in wisconsin, when you that you can to them, they are saying they don't like the way their state is operating, same thing in terms of people in ohio. what you saw in this, throughout the states is this amazing overreach by republican governors, newly elected republican governors who instead of actually trying to solve

problems, getting 350e78 bulk to work, make sure the public service was the best it could be just pointed fingers and blamed people. we know times are tough. sometimes we have to do more with less which is what people in wisconsin public workers tried to do. they said we are willing to cut our benefits even though we need it to live on, but what walker tried to do is, instead of simply bargaining, he wanted to take their voice away. >> so you feel the recall process is the only way to go. >> the folks in wisconsin, again walker attempts to say everyone is from the outside is trying to lead this. any minute you spend in wisconsin, you see it's the folks in wisconsin saying enough is enough. >> let me ask yo this, the role of labor, what labor will play in the president's reelection. how will the spend your money? will you good i have it so supers? do it yourself? what is the strategy for the

election year? >> we can never connell peet with what corporate donors are doing. the biggest asset we have is our members. who are hugely committed to voting and the democratic problems. so what we do is that we talked to our members, just like we have done in the last six months, which has led to this endorsement. member to member communication, communication in education with members and their families, meetings, things like that. that will be our process this time. because the stakes are outside. >> you'll probably operate outside not get into the super pac game or contribute money to another super pac collectively? >> i'm not saying -- i'm not precluding that we'll contribute

or not contribute to super pacs, things like that, but our primary way of any kind of engagement in elections is the discussion between teachers and other teachers. bus drivers and teachers, college professors, public service workers, nurses, that's who we are and that's would we'll doing. >> very quickly, since you're in los angeles, how do you think the superintendent has handled the situation at the elementary school there, where they essentially dismissed or fired, transferred everybody out of that elementary school who was there during the sex scandal. >> like, everyone -- our local union in l.a. is supporting the superintendent this situation in that school is just unspeakable. ultimately they need a time-out, which is what is going on right now. the rest of the staff was

transferred, was not fired, but they need to have -- we need to make a xwrij with parents and create trust and ultimately see what really happened in terms of that school. so the union is supporting the superintendent's decision. the rest of the staff is not been fired, but they have been transferred to other facilities. there's a new staff coming in right now to really try to start anew in that school. we have a special relationship with kids. we cannot in any way hurt that relationship. that safety of children comes above anything else. >> randi weingarten, thanks for getting up early this morning. >> thanks, chuck. >> nice talking with you. up next, the white house trying to repair this rift with religious institutions. and mitt romney trying to bridge what's looking like a big

enthusiasm gap. our hump day political panel will be here next. the white house soup of the day, i'm guessing this is what they're serving in boston today -- chicken noodle. soup you need to sort of recover. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. what do you get when you combine the home depot with this weekend? the cure for cabin fever. because with... get-it-done savings on everything we need... ...we can turn this weekend into a fresh floor... ...or an updated bathroom... ...or a brand new look. so let's hit those orange aisles - and make today the day - we make a big difference - no matter how big our budget. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get more project for your money - like this valencia vanity, now just 199 bucks. i had[ designer ]eeling enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪

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the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic.

for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ you lawmakers on capitol hill are piling on blasting the white house for a new rule that forces religious and faith-based employers to provide insurance coverage for all sorts of contraception. >> i'm sure the concerns of my constituents in new hampshire and citizens across this nation who see the recent rule issued by the administration for what it is -- an unprecedented, unnecessary affront to religion outs liberty in our country.

>> sara taylor-fagan was the political cal director for the bush 43 without and erin tanneda is with the center for american progress. let me start with you. politically, this is what republicans mitch mcconned i thought was interesting, he did this before, using the senate floor to keep this going. the white house clearly on the defensive with this issue. >> i don't think they do a very good job at all with managing these -- it seems the white house is just praying no one notices. where are the surrogates defending them? instead you get people like kelly ayotte just blasting the white house. >> you were at the white house. this has been a constant issue with the white house, whenever they have to make a tough decision, they do a poor job of

explaining the decision, and now they're trying to figure out how to come up with a compromise without compromising. >> well, i think the politics is overstated. if you look at polls, the majority of cath likts support this. cad lick women sharply support this. men are more opposed. they're not going to vote for the president anyway so i think the politics have been misunderstood, but the president has gone out and gotten surrogates. i think senator shahin will be leading efforts. so i think they are getting surrogates out there, and i think there's a big difference between the washington conversation on this issue and the conversation in the country. >> you look at this from both perspectives? what do you think? isms the challenge for barack obama is the catholic church is not backing down. they are not backing down.

they are out there defending religious free. it's very rare you see catholic bishops encourage the priests in the parishes to stand up and read a letter. that happened a couple sundays ago, so i think the challenge is the church more than the partisan politics. if you described this as being about women and their access to contraception. if it's about government, scherra, intervention or govern takeover of something or another, that seems to fire up independents as well. >> i agree, but i think the issue is there's been a lot of talk about rimplgs on liberties. so i think the religion outs liberty issue kut both ways. >> you spent time in pennsylvania, and that's where a lot of people like to look.

>> i think a lot of people are still thinking of these issues in terms of former governor bob casey. that's not the pennsylvania of today. i think voters think about this very difficultly i6r789s catholic voters, you look at the last five presidential races, they have largely gone with the winner by a narrow margin president when you're talking about a close president yap race, attacking the administration for fossing them to -- that's a real challenge. >> if you look at this polls, that's what we're talking about, contraception -- >> that seems to be where the split is, but i want to move it to presidential politics. if this is the debate, listen to rick santorum last night. does anyone speak with more passion in the republican party than santorum?

>> those are the outrageous reaches, when you give government power, they will wield that power. you have tosh careful about any administration giving them this kind of power and control. >> he's going at the government takeover's spect on this. >> i can't underestimate what a golden issue this is for rick santorum. if he was talking about this in his 2006 race, he still may be a sonar. it's a big issue for him. we saw in the speech last night it was one of his best speeches to date. he owns this issue. from a inkly it's lucky it's come up now. >> is it good for mitt romney? >> it's not. you look at the overturning of the gay marriage ban in california, when we're talking social issues, it's good territory for rick santorum and newt gingrich, but not for mitt romney.

>> and absolutely, this whole conversation is good for the president. but when he says any administration, he's talking about a romney administration, talking about the fact that mit massachusetts governor had a law like this and did nothing about it. >> it has been coming up. stick around, we'll talk more about the presidential race. trivia, we asked how many women who served as governors went on to hold cabinet level positions and who are they? i thought it was more than three but it's only three. christine todd whit man, kathleen sebelius and janet napolitano. [ male announcer ] take the fixodent 12 hour hold challenge. apply fixodent once, and it holds all day. ♪ take the fixodent 12 hour hold challenge. guaranteed, or your money back. ♪

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let's bring back our panel. sara taylor fagan, i want to

start with you. is last night anything -- can you read last night's results as anything other than conservative activists just not sold on mitt romney? is there another way to look at it? >> i think conservative activists are definitely more pro-conservative candidates f. you look at romney's performance he's done well among broad conservative voters. as we get into primary states, arizona, michigan, you'd expect mitt romney to do well. >> does he message to them better? i couldn't believe when he had fin strom on -- that's been the issue. i had something say, if he would just spend a few days wooing conservatives, maybe they could get excited about something. >> yeah, that time will come. he's looking toward the general. and perhaps he got bested in colorado. perhaps he should have spent more time on santorum, put some money there, you can debate whether that was the right decision or not. but he needs to get past these primaries. he's looking toward the general election. he needs to be doing that.

>> shira, he's already talking about april or may is when we have this wrapped up. the direction that his numbers are going in the general election, that's not good for him. time is not on his side in this primary fight as it was in previous years. >> there's trepidation among republicans about how long this contest could go on. i don't think many people agree with newt you could have a brokered convention. they do run a risk if they keep pushing this fight past april into may. that's a problem more so on the money side of things because they're spending all of this money and they have to come back and fund raise again. it's a tricky calendar. >> it seems the president is benefiting. you have a country who would like to consider an alternative for the president but they're not crazy about romney and you have a republican party that would like to consider an alternative but they're not crazy on their options. >> he needs to get through threes primaries. the problem is he's not the best messenger. >> do you buy that, he's too

focused on the general in a weird way? >> i don't. as you look toward coalition that gets you 51% of the vote in november, you have to appeal to a wide swath of voters. >> you think he needs a leader? >> what i think he does need to do, though, is come up with a better message on his success. he is still too tepid with about his own success. >> stop talking about his dad. >> if you can't beat rick santorum in these states, how are you going to beat barack obama? >> good question. go fast. i'm in trouble. >> we have massachusetts an g march that coakley talking about the great health care plan. >> all right. i'm heading out to ohio to cover some races. >> the early vote. >> congressman kiss initch's re-election, the toughest of his career. >> that's going to be fun. >> despite what iowa football player kurt warner says, eli manning deserves to be in the hall of fame.

>> did kurt warner say he doesn't? >> i saw it on facebook. >> we think both of you deserve it. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." up next on msnbc, chris jansing. shazi: seven years ago, i had this idea. to make baby food the way moms would. happybaby strives to make the best organic baby food. in a business like ours, personal connections are so important. we use our american express open gold card to further those connections. last year we took dozens of trips using membership rewards points to meet with farmers that grow our sweet potatoes and merchants that sell our product. vo: get the card built for business spending. call 1-800-now-open to find out how the gold card can serve your business. what is this shorty? uh, tissues sir, i'm sick. you don't cough, you don't show defeat. give me your war face! raaah! [ male announcer ] halls. a pep talk in every drop. i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy.

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