it's rick santorum versus rombo in the motor city, can the romney attack machine get their man back in the driver's seat, this is "now." joining me today, game changer and darling of the home box office network, new york magazine's john heileman and ed randle, that is a lover of cross words. se cup of the new york daily news and mr. sunday morning, huh hugo lingren, the home state and front-runner claim at stake in michigan. the washington post says, mitt romney faces major test in michigan primary and the detroit news said michigan key in gop primary. meanwhile, rick santorum has one not one, but two, but three state ads.

>> who has the best chance to beat obama? rick santorum. a full spectrum conservative. ♪ this romney is firing hiss mud at rick santorum. romney and his super pac, spent a staggering $20 million attacking fellow republican as. >> my favorite piece of that is rick santorum is the next george washington. mike huckabee adoors rick santorum. he has raised $4 million since last week. is he going to give mitt romney a real run for his money so? >> well, hugo and i were talking, if mitt romney was not the favorite son of a michigan governor. and you look at the michigan republican electorate, he would

not be the favorite tlrks rick santorum would be the favorite there. he has all the establishment backing in the state and has huge advantages, rick santorum is now in the spotlight and will receive criticism like he has not before. but i think it will be close race and the polls that have santorum ahead by 15 points are crazy. it matters in away more to them both than before. >> a new poll has santorum up 19 point s 34% over romney's 32%. this is a guy that raised -- >> do not get carried away by the polls. >> you know, i tend to do that. >> after south carolina, newt gingrich was ahead of romney in florida by 15 or 18 points, right? and romney blew that away. people have not focused in michigan yet, but they will and

we will see what happens. >> it seems that santorum has momentum still. i think that -- >> so did gingrich after south carolina. >> that mud shooting ad is awesome. although i think it runs the risk of painting mitt as pro gun in a way -- >> that could weirdly work well for him. >> it seems there's two schools of thought on santorum. one is that the issue is responsible for his recent surge the contraception issue. and i refuse to cone seed that point unless i can call it the rick santorum baby bump. >> that was a funny joke. >> i cannot believe no one has said that yet. i was at c pac who do you like right now and i got a lot of santorums. and i said if i asked you a week ago you would not have said that and they said that is probably true. we like him now because he seems

elect able. i think that winning colorado more so than missouri made him seem to social conservatives that he might have a chance. and i think that new sort of aura of electability, real or not is helping aid him. >> did any of those folks look at his last race in pennsylvania. >> these are 20 somethings, i do not think they care. >> at worst, he was a character. we had an opening of the constitution center in rick's last term and jon stewart was the entertainment and he said pennsylvania you guys do so much for national security, you have your former governor protecting uses from an attack from the front and you have senator santorum producting us an attack in the rear. >> the humor on the set today is

not -- >> you know, jon brings up the point that rick santorum is going to be criticized like he has not been before. let's look at this. >> the dangers of contraception, many in the religious faith have said it's okay, but it's not okay. it's a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to things the way they are supposed to be. >> this is rick santorum talking about the dangers of contraception. >> 98% of women use contraception. how can he be a candidate? >> how can be a senator from your state? he was an elected official from your state for a long time. >> he is a good camp painer.

>> that's a huge problem if ehe were to get the nomination. the scrutiny will be washington insider, too close to lobbyists, earmarks, raise the debt ceiling. a big government republican. and try to turn him not into the reliable conservative to romney. they will say he is not a real conservative and to try to muddy that water. that is where romney loses. if they muddy it up, that is a contest that romney can win. >> that is absolutely right. that is santorum's weakness from the right, i don't know that romney is comfortable exploipting that, he has not been a good, you know, barer of that message. >> he took down newt well know, and he zeroed in on newt and attacked him and he just folded up. it was a miracle. >> he is beginning to employ that strategy.

romney is trying keep it clean. let's tu take a look at an ad he did in new hampshire and an ad he is running in michigan today. >> we used to come here early on with our boys, played in the extre streams and went to the woods. >> i grew up in michigan, it was exciting to be here. >> that first ad is driving in the car talking about new hampshire being in his backyard and then the second is in michigan, and where he grew up. he has a house in california, utah, you can expect more driving in the car ads. >> he has a multitude of homes. >> that is not unlike mccain. >> that kind of ad clearly works, look at the clint eastwood chrysler ad, it was a nice ad and i'm guessing the voters in michigan did not see the one in new hampshire.

>> and he is running attack ads against santorum. >> in a single session, santorum co-sponsored 51 bills to increase spending and zero to cut spending. and voted to raise his own pay. rick santorum, big spender, with a with a -- >> that was was the message that romney has to use against santorum. he cannot go through social issues. that was not particular tly effective as an ad. >> we will have talk on that in the next block when we discuss newt gingrich into the wild. the gop candidate and animal lover thought it would be a good idea to hold a facebook town hall at a zoo. what it can tell us about the state of his campaign.

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you are alive. >> okay. >> well, let me say this is a brand new experiment and i had no idea when we decided that we would do it that we were doing it from the san diego zoo. this is sort of part of my valentine's day to come out and hang out with elephants for a while and other kind of animals. >> newt gingrich is sliding in the polls but he is locking down the animal vote. that was a facebook town hall, he did not take any questions and it lasted approximate 3:50. >> i think it was smart, he was in front of elephants not

donkeys. >> what is going on with his ca campaign, can he duck and survive or is it unr acht veling. >> i i don't know that he cares about the polls, georgia does not look good for him, i think he will go as long as he has backing. >> it's important to note that that facebook town hall was shot by the campaign because national media was not invited to it. bring up the concept that he is running on vengence and ego? >> i do not see vengence >> this is personal for him, he is on a mission. he a is woman scorned. >> the best thing to get rid of

mitt romney is to withdraw and throw his support behind santorum. >> they cancel each other out. >> i do not see how it's different of most candidates running to basis of ego. kidding. the man loves a zoo. who doesn't love a good zoo. he loves elephants. at various times he has taken to him to go to the field museum, he likes to indulge. >> how many do you think a fundraiser has to pay to go to the zoo. >> that is, i don't know what kind of animal that is. he is excited about it. >> that's an old picture. >> oh, my god, he does love animals. >> he does. >> there's pieces of a campaign being waged insofar as callista is stumping for who on she would like to be president. opening remarks at cpac.

john? >> he has decided he has little money and he has had a hard time raising money. no one in the republican party wants to fund him. adelson thinks about writing checks for the super pac and he may write another oone. and he is competing this georgia and ohio ohio and that is it. >> and the san diego zoo. >> and the zoo. >> three new iran related developments, one related to the oil supply and one linking it to terrorists attacks. we will talk about when we have our next guest live on "now." ♪ my sunglasses. [ tires screech ]

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>> we had three developments around iran, sendi inin ining ss around the world. we have conflicting of iran cutting off oil to six eu nations and there's reports that they were involved in two bombin bombings. senator gillibrand, thank you for joining the program. >> pleasure. >> let's talk first about iran. there's a lot going on. the enrinched uranium rods of course you are serving on the senate armed services community, how is this changing the reaction to iran, we heard low ringing alarm bells but is it a pivot point?

>> we are greatly concerned about iran's forward movement toward nuclear capability and the problem is that iran is determined to create not just a threat to israel but to the united states. so many of us in washington have been working so hard on trying to put very serious pressure on iran. cripp citizensh crippling sanctions in fact to stop the progress. >> let's go to our home state of new york city. i know there's increased security concerns globally. we talked about the bombings, are you conditioncerned about nk city you pushed for more money for first responders, is this something that may effect the security situation in new york? >> well, we are -- we understand that there are unspecified threats and we are making sure that the nypd and fbi have all the tools they need to keep us

safe, make no mistake, there have been 14 terror attempts since 9/11 in new york city of course so i've been working hard to make sure we have the funds we need to invest in the programs that can for example detect a dirty bomb, no bomb can come across a bridge or tunnel to create a grave threat for nonew yorkers, i have been trying to get funding for the religious sites. often a site for a terror attempt. we want to make sure they have the resources they need to protect against a terror attempt. we are on alert and we will be making sure that we are ready and protecting our assets and protecting our communities. >> it's interesting that you mentioned new york's security, one of the things that was mentioned was that they were soft targets with security that was not as developed as the big

apple. to talk more about the religious debate and make a awkward but necessary histopivot to other i on capitol hill. i want to talk about the roy blunt proposed amendment to the affordable care act. the thing, the depth of this is amazing. it proposes that all employers can deny health care coverage when it's against religious beliefs and it's tacked to a energy bill, are you surprised some >> i continue to be stunned by the republican's attempt to allow bosses to determine what kind of health care their employees are eligible for. and the blunt amendment goes farther than anything in the last week. a employer could deny prenatal care to a single woman, mental

health treatment. it's crazy. so i'm very, very hopeful that we will -- we will be making it loud and clear that this is not what the american women stand for, american women expect access to basic health care and i believe we will defeat his amendment >> i believe ed rendell has a question for you. things like the blunt amendment, if they keep this up and keep putting different modifications in to what employers can or cannot offer, isn't the answer eventually for us to go to single payer medicare for all? >> i do believe the republicans are over reaching because obviously bosses should not make these decisions, but you make the point, if you want to bend the cost curve, you could open up a medicare for people to buy

at a percentage of income and it would create a low cost not for profit model that is an option for people. but million until we get that far, we have things that will make a difference and it will increase competition, telling insurers that they cannot drop coverage because of pre-existing conditions matters. and that is why this debate about the blunt amendment is offensive, they are saying women are not eligible for preventive care i cannot think of anything more against america's women's health and well being. >> if we look back to last week, the word fumble was thrown around when describing the white house's response as the bishops have come out and rejected what a lot of people see as the white house's compromise on the message it has galvanized the left. we have polling that shows that

obama was not hurt at all among the catholics, i wonder, you know, what is the feeling among your colleagues in the senate about how this plays out? >> at the end of the day, we are fighting for america's women, we are fighting for them to be eligible for affordable birth control. basic health carely really. about 99% of america's woman have used it in their lifetime. so you are talking about basic preventive health care for women. and polls are overwhelmingly showing that they support the president's decision. this decision was a very, very respectful and reasonable balance. it was a compromise that i thought was more than reasonable. so, we are on the side of america's women. we are on the side of giving them equal access to basic preventive health care and again, no boss should determine for the employee what kind of medicine she should be eligible for. >> thank you, senator kirsten gillibrand for saying what we all think, which is the blunt

bill is crazy. coming up. organized labor versus the gop. the president is planning to meet with union buster, governor scott walker, we will see how their futures are twinned. next on "now." ♪ we were skipping stones and letting go ♪ [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen.

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you are looking live at the tarmac in milwaukee where president obama is expected to be greeted by scott governor. it will be a meeting of the union booster and the union bustebust er arie, welcome to the program. >> greetings from the sixth floor. >> so close and yet so far away. let's talk -- let's bring everyone in here and discuss the union question here. scott walker hopefully will give the president a warmer welcome

than jan brewer did. obama has criticized walker's law. we had a -- there was a lot of talk about unions collective bargain and labor rights, the conversation has changed to one of income inequality and the rights of the working poor. scott walker said he thinks this whole recall effort is evidence -- depending to outcome, it will sort of be tea leaves for what happens in the presidential race. i wonder to you degree you agree with that, in terms of this issue being one that is discussed throughout 2012. that of the unions. governor i want to go to you. >> i don't think that it will be discussed much but it helped fire up the progressive base. the union base in many states. it got them, their mojo working.

you know, their juices flowing and i think they will carry that into the presidential election and you'll see an enhanced turnout and you'll see guys that started to vote republican with the bushes and those guys had a wake-up call and they will be voting democrat this year. >> we talk about santorum's appeal in the rust belt. indiana was the first rust belt state to enact a right to work law. romney hit santorum hard on this position. we know romney has his feelings about auto workers and so forth. i want to bring you in here, you have an article here about president obama's chances in 2012 and as does john heileman. you feel it may not be so bad come november for him? >> his numbers are improving, he is leading romney from anywhere from five to eight points, his

approval rating is back at 50%, he is doing better in the swing states and the economic numbers are better for him. consumer confidence is up. he is looking like a much, much stronger candidate in 2012 than he looked like in 2011 right now and his numbers are improving particular in those heartland states like wisconsin, where they thought he would have trouble. >> before the new jobs numbers, his disapproval was 47% and his overall national approval rating, 50 points up three points since january, and disapproval is down two points to 43%. >> the 50% number is a huge number. one thing is true, your approval rating on election day is your vote share. if you are over 50%, you are in good shape. and the interesting thing, the column that i wrote was quoting

someone smarter than me about the political director for clinton, who made the observation here -- >> chuckles. >> not smarter than ed rendell but smarter than me. he went back and looked at an interesting truth, since reagan, if you are running for re-election, the key period is between september of your third year and march of your fourth year and if you have the path, all the presidents that ran for re-election in that period of time, all were at the 42% approval but the paths were different. for the ones with their path moving down, they did not get reeelected and moving up got re-elected. and that is good for president. he has marched up to 50 now, and it's a good sign he is headed in the right direction. >> and nate silver has a piece

in our magazine this weekend that touches on those points that john made as we. and makes an additional point which is the swing states where obama need to do well is where the 1% is scarce and he can go hard left in those places and score a lot of points. there's talk how santorum is a great candidate for him to go against, he is teed up against romney as well in those places. >> he has been consistent. you were talking to howard dean in your story and he had look, there's more to do as a progressive but he has found a winning message and he is sticking to it. >> dean was talking about how occupy wall street changed the conversation by focusing in on income inequality. and that obama would owe a debt to occupy wall street. he said two points, number one, democrats are more energized to

vote now than in 2011 and number two, the latino vote would break for obama big. and obama is leading by 45 points. which is nine points better than he did in 2008 against john mccain. that can help him in states like colorado, nevada, new mexico come the fall. >> the one unpredictable factor here and gospvernor we talk abo this a lot. the unemployment numbers. how much preparation, messaging, how much can you sort of set up a bull work against an economy that is just very -- it's up and down. it's weak, it's volatile, it's you know, the trend lines we are not sure where we will be in the summer. >> as long as the trend lines are going up. when ron reagan got re-elected the trend lines were going in the right direction. if they keep doing that the president is in good shape. but that could change. i mean, there were economyists

that will say, it will be bumped up to the mid 8s and so it could turn around pretty radically. >> and the cbo is -- >> congressional budget office >> are pessimistic about the third and fourth quarters. if it now turns south again for obama in the summer or early fall the impact could be greater, like we thought it was getting better and now we are going down. that could hurt obama at the end. >> the best way to protect against that is not just talk about the fairness issuehammeri. republicans have been for infrastructure, let's go, and put people to work in the factories. >> and i think the manufacturing efforts at master lock plants are important and that resonate as lot. >> the president will be doing an event with scott walker at

the master lock factory in milwaukee. we are looking at a live shot right now. you have been quiet here as we are talking about obama's strength going into november. >> i love jobs for master lock, ma that is grmeat, but it's a smal amount, if you go after job and you say make a manufacturing boost, why not keystone. if that was a small number of jobs, i mean, why -- that is going to be something that he has to explain in a general election when whomever it is says, are you for jobs or politics? you have to be -- you have to kmo choose sides. >> it's interesting that we have forgotten about keystone, it's been more about birth control pills than keystone as a media conversation. it's interesting. we will be bringing you back for more, much, much more after the break when we discuss republicans who are working on

redraw the political map in the south. is it the secret scandal of 2012 politics? when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from?

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no, we make the power that makes the beer. so without you there'd be no bud? that's right. well, we like you. [ laughter ] ♪ as as states redraw their political maps could president obama find himself at a disadvantage in key swing states. it's becoming one of the great cover ups. you had a great piece discussing what is happening in a lot of these republican led states, there are 18 or 20 of them depending on your math. basically, their trying to redraw them as majority/minority s states and cut down the minority vote or the power of the minority vote. >> to put redistricting in perspective, the lines will last

for the next ten years. republicans control the process in 20 states and democrats only control seven states the rest are home to independent or divided government states. the republicans have a big advantage down south where they control everything which is a year from years past. democrats used to control those states. and what republicans are doing with redistricting now following the 2010 election is trying to draw as many democrats as possible into as few heavily minority districts as possible. to maximize republican turnout elsewhere and turn the republican party into the white party and the democratic party into the quote unquote black party and ensure that there are republican majorities in all of the south include engine in crucial swing states for the next decade. >> let's open this up to a

broadbroad er discussion: this seems to be doing it along racial lines and the effect that it could have on 2012 seems as bold as it has been. >> it's brutal. and it will have an effect in the eje -- the elections but people will vote for the president no matter what. but many states have passed difficulty voter id laws that will make election day havoc for older senior citizens and minorities who do not have photo ids. >> there's two things. number one, it could hurt the president by creating a system of racially polarized government. that hurts president obama who won 35% of the white vote in

south carolina. and i talk about this in my article, racism is a big part of the party but with the voter id laws, half a dozen southern states have passed laws to make it more difficult for minority democrat voter to vote in 2012 that could hurt the president. >> the president is exiting air force one right now to talk to scott walker. you have folks in congress that represent different districts and that makes compromise harder and harder and this seems to make the problem worse. what does this mean broadly for the american political system. >> it gets better. >> hugo? >> i guess it gets worse. this opens up opportunities for, you know, enlightened political leadership. it's a bad situation, but you

have a chance for minority candidates to do some good. i'm not supporting what is going on. but i think that like, this is happens, you know throughout political history in the united states. redistricting is a battle all the time. and it's going on and on and on. and with data process and some of these tools, they can do it with more precision and it looks nastier, but it's the same game over and over again. >> what i do not understand, because it switches depending on who is in and out of power, you would think that there was a process where it says this does not work. >> you said before that this is a bipartisan phenomon, it has gone on for hundreds of years. they do the same thing that arie is talking about. they are trying to build reliable republican districts and democrat districts and in the south it looks worse because of the racial element to it. but the idea of both parties

dividing up districts to hold seats is a long-term ideal and it's horrible for the country and congress, it has created to a large extent the most polarized congress in history. it's a hundred years of redistributing. this is where we are. we have no overlap between the parties. >> and the worst part, if you are an incumbent, you are not worried about the other party beating you of course you are worried about somebody from your base running good night you like hatch or bennett. >> it makes the only competitive elections primary elections everyone is trying get to the further right or left to get re-elected. >> ain the end they call come back to the center anyway. >> the thing that is horrible about this is you have in texas for example parts of the country where the minority population has increased and yet their

congressional power has decreased because of redistricting. >> it is worse this cycle than in past cycles. almost all of the new voters were gained by hispanic and african americans but when they gained four new seats in congress, three of them wept to white republicans and now you have a situation where texas is diverse, it's a majority/minority state but there's been an effort to surpress the minority vote so white republicans main the majority in texas and hispanic democrats and african american democrats are disinfranchised, this is happening across the south. the south is getting increasingly diverse but the districts are being drawn in a way that white republicans are holding on and strengthening their majorities in there were states. it's creating a system where a number of minority lawmakers told me, that there are echos of

segregation here. they believe the south is resegregating and that is what is disturbing this cycle. >> thank you for joining us from the sixth floor and sharing your wonderful reporting wisdom. arie's book, hurting donkeys is out in paper back. purchase a copy. new york niknicks guard jermey n wowed last night. we will have more next on "now." coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," iran's nuclear advances for real or for show? we will have a reality check from iran and talk to a top nuclear expert here and we will talk about terror attacks around the world, is iran responsible and what will israel do. my employees are like family. and, i want people that work for me to feel that they're sharing in my success.

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welcome back, it's time for

"what now?" lin, jermey lin's three-point shot with a last second remaining to clock lifted the knicks to victory. a lot of talk about jermey lin and his skills. >> the defender backed off and when lin is as hot as he is you do not back off. >> it was a tie game, if he would have gone around him did -- >> that is what the guys in the middle are supposed to do. >> governor ed rendell, you have been drinking early in the day. >> we know the president watched highlights of lin's game and jay carney said he was pretty impressed. >> pretty impressed. >> lin and the president are basically the same size. >> and harvard graduates. >> could the president have made that shot? >> you know what i think he could have. i have seen him play. >> do you see geithner making those shots some he could have

done it too. >> not to make it heavy. because i love a good sports -- i am wondering how long it will be before we sort of tebow jermey lin who is another self described christian, i'll be interested to see how he is discussed. >> we will wait. >> i think that lin is the tebow of pro basketball. >> a little more humble. >> he is not as hot as that. >> let's -- i don't know about that. let's talk about best in show. pekingese won best in show at the westminster kennel club, the obama campaign used it to court dog lovers. politico tweeted yesterday, if you googled the words

westminster dog show, some of the time you would get directed to an obama campaign website created for the best in show annual event that mocked romney for strapping his dog to his trunk on a family vacation. >> i think that newt is behind this. >> it is amazing. >> it is amazing. >> we have to make a point about dogs. >> it not a dog. that was not a dog. i'm a huge fan of the show. it was not a dog, it was a ewok, it's under ten pounds, it's not a dog, it's a snack. >> governor rendell is with me on this. >> let's have a photo of the governor's dog. >> oh, that is a dog. >> that is a good looking dog, but half the weight of my dog. >> maggie may is named after the rod stewart song >> and a great song that is. herman cain has turned down

dancing with the stars. >> i got an e-mail from the bachmann team denying reporting that she will be on the dancing with the stars. >> i hold out hope that newt gingrich >> from your lips, alex to newt's ears. >> thanks again to john, the governor rendell and a spicy show. that is all for us now. i'll be back tomorrow with a power house lineup. we will have michael steele and melissa harris perry and bloomberg business week josh te tearengle and until then follow us on the good old fashioned twitter machine. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. hello andrea? >> thanks so much, alex. and i agree, that is not a dog. more to come. we are watching the latest of course on a more serious subject from iran.

plus, the republican showdown in michigan. we will be talking to rick santorum's new press secretary and joining us gabby giffords aide who running for her seat. that i could smoke de for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms.

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could've had a v8. right now, on alert, iran claims major nuclear advances, a day after the u.s. navy stared down gun boats in the strait of hormuz, payroll about face, house republicans hand the president a big victory. >> games would stop and we would get this worked out. >> plus, made in america. president obama is about to talk about manufacturing jobs in milwaukee, live coverage coming up this hour. and the battle for michigan,