ahead. can you smile like that. look over there. smile now and say -- >> i'm not vikki. >> say i'm a buzz kill. what did you learn, mike? >> marketing nightmares are upon us. mika brzezinski got an iphone. >> they won't give her a new one. this is terrible. >> no, they won't. >> i don't get it. >> fix this problem. >> what did you learn? >> gm, $7.6 billion in profit and comcast up in profits. >> i applaud you. >> we're winning. all right. i applaud you, mika. it's way too early, mike, what time is it? >> it's time for "morning joe," but right now it's time for chuck todd and "the daily rundown." apple, fix it. labor pains, mitt romney hits rick santorum. and a history with unions, might be a weak spot for santorum in a primary, but is it an attack

that could hurt romney in the long run? and with just over a week before the michigan primary, gm posts it highest profit ever $7.6 billion in annual profit. how does the company's new success impact mitt romney who says the government's auto bailout was a bad idea? plus, on capitol hill, looks like the deal might finally be done. negotiators had to hammer out a last-minute deal. not just on the payroll tax extension, but also had to deal with something regarding pensions in the federal government. but will rank and file republicans try to block it? that's coming up next. good morning from washington. it's thursday, february 16th, 0 2012, this is "daily rundown." my first reads of the morning. mitt romney is playing up his roots. >> gosh, i got lots of old friends there. there's an old high school -- we lived across the hall from each other. chuck and others from grand

rapids. any other old girlfriends here? oh. have to be careful. >> and pointing to endorsements by state officials today, he gets the formal nod from governor rick snyder who will endorse him in farmington hills. romney has struggled to effectively target rick santorum. and over the past 24 hours he set up an argument with santorum over labor unions. the attacks on unions haven't been good for republicans in the industrial midwest. think about governors walker and kasich and their standing right now in the polls, but they are good primary politics among republicans. and in grand rapids last night, though romney's apparent target was the president -- >> i call it crony capitalism. we've got hundreds of millions of dollars for labor bosses for his campaign and he's paying them back in any way he knows

how. i'm happy to take on union bosses before and i'm happy to take them on again. >> but romney's actual target was santorum who the romney campaign labeled yesterday "big labor's favorite senator." the romney campaign hopes to make -- of what they believe is santorum's mixed labor record as the senator from pennsylvania which he's been forced to explain himself to republicans. here was santorum in january's nbc debate in new hampshire about his labor record. >> i have signed a pledge that i would support a national right to work. it was mentioned last night when i was the senator from pennsylvania, i didn't vote it because pennsylvania's not a right to work state and i didn't want to vote for a law that would change the law in pennsylvania. number two, what can unions do? as mitt mentioned, they can do training, but also a lot in the community. i've worked with a lot of labor unions in philadelphia and other places to do a lot of community involvement work and they try to participate like a business does.

>> look, a little history lesson here, republican senators from the rust belt and the midwest for years sort of walked a fine line on being mad at labor bosses, but not bashing unions themselves because they always needed and wanted the support from as many union members as they can. obviously the rhetoric's heated up particularly with this fight that republican governors have had with the public sector unions, and it has made -- it makes it beating up on labor and labor unions good republican primary politics. now that's why romney has spent sort of methodically the last 48 hours talking about his record on labor and then, of course, they're trying to pivot now and use that as a contrast with santorum. it's actually a difficult thing they're trying to do this week. anyway, let's move to romney's super pac continuing to hit santorum on the air as a washington insider. >> who has the right experience? mitt romney helped create thousands of jobs. >> rick santorum is called the

ultimate washington insider. >> romney rescued the olympics. >> santorum was in washington voting to raise the debt limit five times. >> well, last night, santorum responded to what's now two attacks from the romney super pac. >> the establishment has always been for romney. that's who is backing them. it's certainly funny that governor romney sort of attacked us as the insider. we're going to be out here talking about the issues instead of, you know, what seems to be this reinvention of the candidate every couple of weeks. >> a little breaking news here, santorum's super pac, which is known as red, white, and blue, the one funded by foster frese, they are apparently about to purchase a large buy in michigan. now, the hits on santorum, so to speak, aren't just coming from the romney campaign. last night, again, santorum was glittered, this time in michigan.

we can assure you that the secret service never is denied to a major presidential candidate. santorum is expected to hammer home that blue collar -- to make the contrast clear between himself and mitt romney, santorum released four years of tax returns from 2007 through 2010, his private sector years, that santorum who filed jointly reported their highest income in 2009 when the couple made more than $1.1 million, in 2010, the last year they filed, their effective tax rate was over 28%, that's compared to the 13.9% tax rate that romney who made a lot more money 20 times of what he did paid that same year. now, last night santorum was quick to point out that contrast. >> for me, i felt very successful in making money, also was very successful in paying taxes. you know, i do my own taxes and maybe i didn't have the -- used

all the deductions and exclus n exclusions i could have. but i was trying to be as straightforward as i could in paying the taxes i thought i owed. >> and romney on the way, much of his wealth has been accumulated. >> i don't know if i have any dividend income maybe a couple hundred dollars of interest income and no capital gain income to speak of. i don't have any income that would come from investments or wealth. i mean, almost 90% plus of the money on those tax returns i went out and earned. >> now, for santorum, it's pretty clear, he made a lot of money based on being a former senator. but when you compare it to the gingrich tax return or the romney tax returns, there's no comparison and allows him to make the contrast he made last night. finally, a the economy improves, romney has responded to the news that suggesting without the president's intervention that the news would be getting better and faster. here's how he's done it.

>> we welcome any good news on the jobs front. but it is thanks to the innovation of the american people in the private sector and not to you, mr. president. >> i care very deeply about the auto industry. i want to make sure we have good jobs not just for a few weeks, but for many, many years. >> will that message -- he had a hard time that the recession would have been worse if he had done nothing. now on obama's three-day swing, it started in wisconsin, of course there's a big fund-raising day in california today and washington state he has a public event. we've heard what sounds a lot like a general election message on the economy and it's a lot more upbeat than the 2010 message that the factory in wisconsin, the president was in quite the mood actually. >> we've got a long way to go, but here's what i want everyone to remember, over the last 23 months, businesses have added nearly 3.7 million new jobs. manufacturing is coming back.

companies are starting to bring jobs back. the economy is getting stronger. the recovery is speeding up. >> it's such a difference when you see the president out now versus what he was trying to do in 2010. it's almost night and day. all right. looks like a done deal. congressional negotiators have agreed on a $150 billion plan that extends the payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits, two lawmakers leading the talks delivered the news just after midnight last night. >> we're confident this can be concluded. and so we're here together to announce that we have an agreement and we're moving forward. >> i'm totally convinced and assured there'll be majority conferees that sign. >> with me now is kay bailey-hutchinson. let me ask you straightforward, senator, are you going to support this deal? >> i don't know. i do not like it. i think we're up against a wall, but to take $100 billion hit on

social security, on the trust fund and weaken social security, it's a tough call. >> would you have been comfortable with any of the proposed closing of a few of these corporate tax loopholes? apparently that was the sticking point here on paying for it, which was this issue of democrats wanted to go on the tax front. republicans wanted to go in a different direction just simply cutting other programs and not dealing with taxes. where were you on this? >> chuck, that argument we've been having for years. democrats always want to add taxes, we do not think that is the right thing to do in this kind of economy. we believe that spending cuts should have paid for any kind of an unemployment insurance extension or doctor pay fors. all of these things should have been paid for. and we should cut spending, we should not have new taxes right now on anyone on the social

security recipients and the people paying in, nor on the people who are going to create jobs. that's what we ought to be doing in this country is creating jobs, not taxing the people who can provide those jobs. >> now, this is your last year in the united states senate. and there is plenty of headlines that after this deal gets done, this -- on the payroll tax extension, there's a lot of us smart alecs in the media saying, that's it, congress is not going to get anything else done. how do you feel about that? that that's going to be the legacy of this year 2012 in congress that because of the election year, that's it? >> well, we need to -- what we need is corporate tax reform. you know you were talking about the tax increases or tax breaks. we need corporate tax reform and we need social security reform. that is something that is, i believe, relatively easy if we

do it on a bipartisan basis. we could do that in an election year. and i think congress needs to hunker down and do it. and the president needs to provide some leadership. we did pass a very good faa reauthorization. we're working on a highway bill that i think we ought to provide for the -- all of the infrastructure in the state. there are important issues. we can't take a break for a year. and yet it looks like we're not able to come to terms because there's no bipartisan agreement going forward. >> but it does seem as if -- we could sit here and beat up both sides on here that everybody's looking for that election leverage, right? that what happens, how the voters decide who they decide to send to pennsylvania avenue, to send to both sides of pennsylvania avenue. who controls the senate come 2013? who controls the white house? and until we know that, neither side wants to give in on anything.

is that a fair read? >> it is a fair read, chuck, but i think it is the wrong approach. and it's the wrong approach from our side, not yours. what we should be doing is saying, there are things that we can do to take the politics out of it. and that is come to terms where republicans and democrats stand up together and say this is how we're going to save social security. that's the easiest one that we're not addressing. if the president had mentioned in his budget or in his state of the union message that entitlements are now over 50% of our budget and in ten years it's going to be 80% of our budget, if he had said that and brought republicans into the equation to address entitlements, that would be leadership, and it would be taking those issues off the table. >> let me ask you about the republican primary, you worked with senator santorum, my guess is you probably know him a little bit better than you do mitt romney, do you have a

choice between -- do you have a preference between those two? are you comfortable with either one of them? are you more comfortable with one over the other as the potential nominee of the party? >> well, i think they're both good people. i do. and i do know both of them. i do think that mitt romney has stood up to test after test after test. and he's had the experience that i would hope a president would have. i think rick santorum is a very good person, and i enjoyed working with him. but i think the breadth of experience, of someone who has met a payroll is also very much needed by our country right now. >> are you basically endorsing? it sounds like you're almost endorsing governor romney. pretty close. >> well, i haven't made a decision about endorsing. but i do think republicans need to get on with it. i think it is hurting our party to have the constant fighting in

the presidential primary, which has absorbed the air in the room. and i don't want to see our candidate sinking with president obama in the polls because we're beating up on each other. i think it is time for us to have a clear way forward and start coalescing to try to stop what we believe are the policies of the obama administration that are going to hurt the future of this country. obama care, the overregulation, and the spending binge that is causing these deficits as far as the eye can see. >> are you one of those -- >> are you one of those republicans that would be pushing the panic button if mitt romney lost his home state of michigan? >> no, not at all. i think everything has been so volatile and almost a whim in the last six months that you see somebody catching the wind and then the wind goes out of their

sails and i don't see any one state or any one day as being disaster for anyone. i do think that republicans need to start focusing on a winner, someone that can govern can be a good candidate. but mostly a good president. someone who can stop the overspending and the big government growth that we have seen in the last three years with just enormous consequences in such a short time. >> all right. republican senator kay bailey hutchison, thanks for coming on this morning. >> thank you, chuck. up next, the growing threat from iran, new fears that tehran is moving closer to developing that nuclear weapon with israel increasingly on edge. will the u.s. get drug further into the fight? plus -- could super pac surge? we've talked about the millions

flowing into the president's pac. we'll look at how all that big money could change the game. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule as you will see this ties the record for the most fundraisers he's done in a day as president. for today the only thing on his public schedule. or zero dependency on foreign oil. ♪ this is why we at nissan built a car inspired by zero. because zero is worth everything. the zero gas, 100% electric nissan leaf. innovation for the planet. innovation for all. okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea

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iran is offering to restart negotiations with the west even as it claims major advancements in the nuclear program. the ranking democrat on the house foreign affairs committee is with us and follows this issue very closely. he joins me now. congressman, let me ask you about this. yesterday in the "new york times," dennis ross who just left the president's national security as a key figure in the

iran portfolio was his. he says now is actually the time to see if diplomacy can work. do you buy that? and is the obama administration doing enough when it comes to iran? >> the fact is, dennis was spot on. the pressure, the sanctions we are imposing and making tougher and tighter each day is starting to have an effect. iran is more isolated than ever. their currency has plunged by 50%. they are having a terrible time insuring their ships, their future in terms of oil exports looks grimmer and grimmer, their fin financial institutions will being stopped. when this regime cares more about your rival than anything else, the intensified international pressure on iran, on their economy creates an opportunity if iran chooses to take it for a result which ends

their nuclear weapons program. at some point very soon, iran is going to have to choose between an unbearable level of pressure or abandoning their nuclear weapons program. >> when does the u.s. policy in your mind -- when should it shift from the sanctions being about pressuring the regime to stop its nuclear program and simply regime change? >> the -- i think all of us would like to see regime change. iran is a terrorist-supporting country. it is oppressive to its own people, but our highest priority has to be ending its nuclear weapons program and our focus -- our major focus needs to be on getting them to abandon that program. >> are you concerned that israel will not take military strike off the table when it comes to iran over the next three months? >> i think having the possibility of military strikes

is one part of the pressure. the regime in iran has to understand there's no way out of this box they have put themselves in other than abandoning their nuclear weapons program. >> let me turn to politics a little bit. i know that you are in one of these member versus member democratic primaries that's going to be one of those where, i guess the term frenemies is going to be a common term. you're running against brad sherman. and i'm amazed at how many super pacs, you have two super pacs started in your name. is that fair? >> chuck, no it's not fair. i have no super pacs, i have not been involved, i discourage anyone who has contacted me about this. i've told them support my campaign. and basically we are in an unfortunate situation of a race between two colleagues. but my major focus is ranking

member of the foreign affairs committee are on the issues you raised initially. iran, arab spring, foreign affairs, and what's going on in terms of my district and the economy and jobs. >> now i understand that there is a -- your opponent is trying to get you to sign a third party agreement where you're discouraging super pacs. he says you haven't agreed to that yet. >> chuck, one thing i've come to respect more than most things in the media is how sophisticated you are politically. i hate the citizens united decision, i've done everything to discourage any super pac creations, and i have done nothing to encourage them. pledges offered by an opponent who is notwithstanding is record is so nervous about losing is

not the way i go forward on this campaign. >> are you going to encourage anybody that starts the super pacs claiming to be on your behalf? are you publicly asking those donors, the persons that started not to participate? >> i've already indicated to everyone i can that i want people to help my campaign and i want mostly to focus on the issues that i'm confronting as an elected representative, particularly involved in foreign affairs, but very focused on economic recovery and what's good for the country. >> all right, howard berman, california democrat, top-ranking democrat on the foreign affairs committee. thanks for coming on this morning. well, history-making announcement from general motors. we'll get a check on wall street next in the market rundown. plus, china's new leader touring the united states. what does it mean for our

economy and future? we're taking a deep dive into u.s./china relations going forward. and rick santorum, he rolls into romney's home state. can santorum win over michiganders? we're live in the motor city and any excuse to play a little kiss, i'm okay with that. but first, today's trivia question. since 1900, how many governors of california have run for president? tweet me the answer @chucktodd. the first correct answer -- that and more coming up next. sweet, nutty crunchy nut.

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less than a minute away from the opening bell. time for the market rundown. becky quick is here. explain this to me. so gm missed its expectation,

but set a record. >> set a record, it was huge, it was $7.6 billion, which was a phenomenal profit record for this company. but when you look at the earnings per share, they came in at 39 cents, and that was two cents shy of what the street has been expecting. and probably the bigger problem here is the numbers from europe. we saw a loss of $600 million in europe, loss of $100 million in south america, and the company at least the critics say have been slow to address those problems in europe. we did talk to the cfo of gm today who say they are trying to make progress but the talks with the unions talks there in europe. but again, when the street looks at this they say, we used to think it was a great thing you have exposure in europe, and now maybe not so much. that's why you see the stock trading down a little bit today. if you look at the year, this was a phenomenal year for gm and two or three years ago, how many people do you think you would have actually said say yes we will see this company earning over $7 billion for the year? all in all probably a success story, but that's not what

you're going to see when you're watching it today. overall, market looks like it's opening up right now, about 20 points up for the dow. part of that is because of good economic numbers earlier this morning. at 8:30, we got the jobless claims, the number was 348,000, and that is impressive because they were looking for a gain, they expect it to go up to 365,000. 348,000 puts this at the lowest level since march of 2008. some very good things about what could be happening in the economy. we might have seen even better gains if it weren't from the headlines coming out of europe. we're worried about the greece default issue or the settlement. and by the way, are you a closet metal fan? >> you know, come on. look when i grew up. hair nation. you know. hair nation. >> i'm serious. >> started with kiss. i had a bunch of ac/dc on vinyl. what does that tell you? >> you and my husband. i got in the car this morning -- >> it's a little scary. but four years, jobless claims, lowest number in four years.

march '08. that's huge. another kennedy in washington? could be, daily rundown back in 30 seconds. to the other stories making headlines. the head of the united nations says syrian president assad may be guilty of crimes against humanity as they try to stomp out the opposition. accused syrian troops of using hospitals as torture centers and murdering women and children.

joseph kennedy iii, he's the grandson of the late bobby kennedy. says he's jumping into the race to replace barney frank when he requi retires after this term. he would continue the long line of kennedies serving in congress with the exception of two years in the '60s was unbroken from 1947 until patrick kennedy's retirement last year. the state department is denying reports that hillary clinton has talked to the white house about leaving the world bank after she leaves the administration, clinton has said publicly she won't be back as secretary of state next term if there is a next term. rick santorum is holding events in michigan today hoping to win mitt romney's home state. joining me now is ron mott who is with santorum in detroit. his big economic message today, detroit economic club has come basically a little more than one week before we know mitt romney's about to do one. but he's decided to move the venue to ford field, santorum

sticking with a smaller venue today. >> reporter: smaller venue today, chuck. good morning, this is the meeting of the economic club and when you come to michigan, you better come to talk about jobs and recovering this economy because that is so important not only to the city but this entire state that has suffered in this economic downturn. and one of the things that rick santorum is going to try to do is show people that he, not only is the social conservative that is connected with so many folks on the far right, but he's also got a message he wants to say to the folks about how to turn the economy around that he's going to be strong on jobs and especially in a place like detroit where that's going -- his ears perked up. one of the things we're going to see here that santorum is running that shows mitt romney actor running through a warehouse firing mud balls at him. it's a very effective ad. and i think when people take a look at that ad and listen to the message that he's outgunned in a lot of ways in terms of dollars, infrastructure on the ground here, but let's not forget he has a lot of

advantages here. his father was the governor here and yet he is down in the polls. rick santorum is up almost four points in a new poll out by the "detroit news," it's within the margin of error, so in some ways a statistical dead heat. but it's striking that 12 days before this election that anybody is within striking distance of mitt romney. it's going to be fascinating how these two guys duke it out if you will over the next 12 days, chuck. >> it's stunning, frankly, that santorum's already leading in some polls in the romney state of michigan. ron mott in detroit with the santorum campaign. ron, thanks very much. president obama's policy in china has been criticized by republicans, but has the president's position turned out to be more of a balanced approach? with me now is zachary ka rar a. it was a big part of that cover

story in the atlantic who at the time was the atlantic almost beijing bureau chief for a while, so he watched it up close. and he's said it was one of the big foreign policy successes. do you see it that way, as well? >> i do. there's been kind of bipartisan reality approaches to china. and the last years of president bush's administration were not markedly different in the way that the republicans dealt with china than obama. in a weird way, this was where official america has probably gotten it more right than american sentiment and attitudes. and clearly during the campaign, the republicans are going to try to paint this as a negative. and mitt romney had an editorial this morning in the "wall street journal" where he decries obama's policy toward china as one of being supine in the face of this rising tyrannical being. although, meanwhile as we know the new leader of china mr. xi

has spent the night in iowa, which i find as a delightful irony. >> well, and it's funny you bring up the romney op-ed. he writes this morning, unless china changes its ways on day one of my presidency, i'll designate it a currency manipulator and take a counter action. i cannot tolerate our current trade surrender. this is my sixth presidential election covering, and kand d e candidates bash the heck out of candidates when they're not in the oval office. george w. bush did it in 2000, barack obama did it in 2008, and now we have -- and every one of them changes their tune whenever they actually get into the oval office. >> you're exactly right. it's so easy to make these sort of intense statements on the campaign trail because as we know it really is just words. what a candidate says on the

campaign trail has zero immediate policy implications. and you do have the latitude to make these statements and romney is trying to win in michigan and in ohio where the sentiment about china being a really negative force for u.s. manufacturing jobs. and i think, in fact, that too is the wrong optic. manufacturing has been declining in the united states for decades before china rose. but, you know, it's also complicated in the campaign trail because if you're in a state like iowa which has billions of dollars in agricultural exports to china, soybeans and the rest, corn. china's not such a negative force. i don't think we can take what's said on the campaign as indicative of what will become policy. >> you know, let me ask you about the new president coming in. what always struck me about jintao, he didn't make an effort to have "america get to know him." he didn't have a pr strategy, he didn't seem to care that he was a two-dimensional figure as far

as americans were concerned. that is not the case here with xi, is it? >> and look, i think -- granted these are all delightful preordained photo ops and there's not a lot of substance here, except for the fact that if you really believe the relationship between china and the united states is really advantageous for the united states and china is in the driver's seat, you have to ask, why does the incoming leader of china take a week of his time and go to iowa and the port of los angeles? the fact is, china does need the united states. this is a reciprocal and interdependent relationship. and i think the fact that he's doing this is indicative of that from the chinese perspective and says something about the nature of this relationship much more than our american legitimate discomfort about what their place in the world, what's the nation of american power going forward and how does china play into that? >> zachary karabell, thanks for

coming on. >> thanks, chuck. our political panel is here next. we're taking a closer look at the new numbers that ron mott told you about. santorum leading romney in michigan. but first, of course, i know you want to know. white house soup of the day. it's white chicken chili. you know what? i like anything that's chili. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. tylenol:nyquil. what are you doing? nyquil (stuffy): just reading your label. wait! you relieve nasal congestion? tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no... nyquil (stuffy): dude! anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. two. three. one. two. and, three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn more cash back for the things you buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time.

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"the daily flashback" in 1959 when fidel castro was sworn in. he called himself the country's prime minister then. castro came to power after leading a guerrilla campaign, forcing the regime into exile. at 32, he became the youngest leader in cuban history, he would rule for 39 years

beforehanding technical power over to his brother, raul. we've got our first new reliable poll that nbc will report. numbers out of michigan this morning. and rick santorum is in the lead. it's a poll conducted for the detroit news and our nbc affiliate wdiv. a statistical tie there. newt gingrich at 12%, ron paul at 9%. the online opinion editor for the washington examiner, the political reporter for "usa today" and democratic pollster, welcome all. you're the pollster here. if i would have told you a month ago that the first polls we'd see out of michigan, some would not have named romney ahead. >> i would have thought you were fooling me. it's unbelievable. but this whole nomination process for the republicans in some respects have been unbelievable. so i guess it's believable now.

>> you know, one of the things you wonder, david, do you get the sense that the complication with romney's explanation on the auto bailout, and that's what it is. in fact, i want to play some sounds from mitt romney 2008 at a grand rapids rally campaigning for the michigan primary and what he said the federal government should or should not do. >> how in the world can a federal government sit back and watch a state suffer year after year after year, watch the automotive industry see jobs year after year after year. how do you sit back and watch that happen and not take action? >> that was mitt romney in 2008. >> you can go well out of your way and come up with a consistent explanation that would involve perhaps something about what the federal government's doing to the auto industry. but when it comes down to it, romney ends up looking like he has to be before the auto bailout before he was against it then he was for it. he's in an odd position and

trying to get his stories straight and doesn't seem like the answer's quite there. which is kind of inconvenient because we're in michigan. >> and jackie, watching what he's trying to do. he's setting up this contrast. it's clear to me he's trying to set up a contrast with santorum and labor unions and that could work in a republican primary, even in michigan. but it seems he's taking -- it's a methodical argument he's trying to make, and he's got to set it up by talking about unions himself for a couple of days. >> i don't think he has an answer on this. with health care, he finally got answers, with the bailout, he doesn't have one yet. he needs a consistent argument on this. he doesn't have it yet. >> you know, fred, i have one conservative statement to make. he actually needs to own it even more. own this being against the bailout even more and be more defiant about it. but instead because he's got one foot in the primary and still always thinking about how to carry michigan in the fall that he's afraid.

>> well, he has to win the republican nomination. i like jackie's word consistent. i think that's his problem. that's what the michigan polls, that's what the results a couple weeks ago showed. there are a lot of doubts about mitt romney. on the one thing you know about santorum, you know he's consistent. and i think he needs to get in position easier said than done and stick to it and be consistent. >> strikes me that if, david, if romney loses michigan in the words of george kastanza, there are no rules. you get the sense it would be led by a guy like bill crystal. you know, i feel like crystal's even rooting for romney to lose michigan so they can blow up in the process. do you buy it? >> this idea we're going to go to a brokered convention, it still seems very, very unlikely to me. everyone says this every single time. we're closer to it than we've ever been in my experience.

but if -- i really think santorum should he defeat romney in michigan and especially if he sweeps and carries arizona, which doesn't seem completely out of the question, there is a chance for him to -- >> he could run the table -- >> he could, not many delegates have been awarded yet. and it's open for him to do that. >> he could end up taking whatever gingrich southern support there is and momentum and carries them for ten days and finally sitting with 500 delegates. >> that's the biggest danger with michigan, right? super tuesday's right around the corner, it's a momentum thing. and if he loses michigan, romney loses michigan going into super tuesday, that, those other states will look at him and say what? >> stick around, i want to talk a little bit about santorum, his weaknesses, whether romney can exploit them. we asked since 1900, how many governors of california have run for president? the answer was just four. i would have guessed five. earl warren, ronald reagan, jerry brown, and pete wilson.

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that's the catholic church's position, period, that it's wrong. aim catholic. i subscribe b to the teaching of the church. i have a record that supports that have voted for fund for contraception both domestically as well as internationally and i would not support any law that would put any restrictions on that. >> you know, jackie, watching santorum on this contraception issue, on one hand he talks about how he's morally against it and then the funding aspects that he would vote for. it seems to be that he's not comfortable with the fact that he voted for fund for it. >> yeah. and then you see -- now you see these other clips from -- just as recently as last year saying that something he would fight.

and so it doesn't seem like he has a good answer on it. kind of like the romney on auto bailout. it doesn't seem like he has a good answer on it where he's comfortable and he knows that this extremely divisive. >> david, can the romney campaign just rely on the media on this contraception work trying to say you might like his economic message but some of this social positions are just too conservative for general election or does romney himself have to bring it up? >> i think romney himself the candidate avoids it. his campaign, i don't think he can just wait for the media and the super pac to come along and do this. this is the only way romney beats santorum in my opinion. this thing is slipping away. he sees his home state of michigan slipping away. romney doesn't have the street credit to say to people, hey, that guy is not conservative enough. >> fred, it strikes me, for a negative campaign to work you've got to go with character. all they've done is hit him with

issues right now. somehow get at santorum's character. you've run races against him, democrat versus republican. how do you get at his character? >> it's the context. i'm not sure mitt romney, former pro choice governor of massachusetts, is a credible messenger on the social issue against rick santorum. >> you would bring it up? >> i think they have to change the narrative against santorum. the other dynamic that's out there that separates both candidates is the washington person versus the outsider. and i'm just not sure a social issue is where i would go if i was a romney campaign. >> the question is can the guy with the insider endorsements hit the guy -- >> the guy appealing to the blue collar contingent in this country making him the washington insider isn't play for whatever reason. >> all right. i got to go to shameless plulg. david, you first. >> buy my book. "gangsta government." >> that is as shameless as it

gets. i love it. fred? >> not a basketball team, daughter natalie's first grade team. i think the hootin' owls, 2-0, but we don't keep score, but they're good girls. >> we've got to start keeping score. nonrewarding. >> i'm welcoming my new editor at "usa today." he was my editor at roll call and now my editing. >> that means you don't want any editing. that's the real reason. that's it for this edition. tomorrow on the show, house budget committee chairman paul ryan comes on about the payroll tax deal and president's new budget. coming up next, chris jansing and company. and then jon huntsman, former u.s. ambassador to china will be her guest. bye-bye.cer ] there's been a lot of talk about the chevy volt lately. how about some facts? the chevy volt was one of the most awarded cars in 2011. the volt's battery has been tested for more than 395,000 hours.

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[ sighs ] i can't wait till morning. wait! it's morning in china! ♪ [ male announcer ] it's sweet, it's nutty... it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. good thursday morning. i'm chris jansing. swooping into michigan today, and yet another brand new poll shows he is leading there.

the detroit news poll puts him at 34% over mitt romney's 30%. romney's home state now turning into a must win for him. he is expected to get a boost from michigan's governor who will officially endorse him later today. he has been blanketing the airwaves with ads. james is a national correspondent for the "atlantic" where he wrote the cover story "obama explained" and jim correspondent for the "new york times." james, how did mitt romney get to this point? what happened? >> i think this is the culmination of a poorly executed campaign all of the way along. he's had this dilemma where on the one hand he seemed inevitable. that's the reputation coming into this year. but as he's had to sort of explain his past positions on the auto bailout, on this health care plan in massachusetts, he sort of managed to alienate himself both from the conservative base and general electorate he might have to face if he's in nominee. >> four years ago when he ran for president he announced the henry ford museum