barn nick al little more time, he would have bust adverse to "hypnotize." a little more time. >> guys, thanks, see you all back here tomorrow. stick around right now "the daily rundown" with our good friend, mr. chuck todd. thanks, willie. do or die week for mitt romney. he is behind in polls, republicans are now openly talking about finding a new candidate. he has a debate and ford field speech to right this ship or, yes, it is that bad now. the obama campaign hits rick santorum over a speech they say questioned the president's faith. he has to defend controversial comments he made about pregnancy in america. welcome to the scrutiny, mr. santorum. and the deep dime, taking one of my favorite phrases and turning it into a new segment, today, how romney is both embrace and running away from his father's legacy. it is george washington's birthday, some places call it presidents' day. it is monday, february 20th n

honor of chris matthews' obsession with this, we will stay is washington's birthday. get right to my first read of the morning, mitt romney's do or die week. romney now trailing in national polls and in the latest public policy polling, public polling out of michigan, he has got to reverse the momentum, catch rick santorum and stop the gop hand wringing. all comes down to this week for him. wednesday, the republican candidates meet for their only scheduled debate before super tuesday in arizona, which along with michigan voter is a week from tomorrow t is the first debate since santorum swept those con tests in colorado, minnesota and missouri. a weak performance by romney could ensure an upset in michigan and can santorum get under romney's skin? friday, romney lays out a modified version of his kmek economic plan, ford field of all places where the detroit lions play. romney is expected to argue he is the one republican to who can greet economy while shrinking the size of the federal government and cutting bang on spending, a direct play to try to convince fiscal conservatives

he is truly a conservative. this weekend, he previewed that argument while aggressively hitting santorum by name. >> they have to look at people's records as well as their words. and i know that senator santorum is getting his moment in the spotlight now, which is a good thing. i hope people take a very close look at his record. if you want a fiscal conservative, you can't vote for rick santorum, 'cause he is not a deficit hawk, he says he is not a deficit hawk. i am a fiscal conservative, i will balance the budget, i will get america back on track economically. >> it is all happening in the romney family's home state. later this hour, a deep dive into romney's roots in michigan, doing it all week, actually. santorum staff still define himself as a candidate before opponents do after this weekend, that task may you can getting harder n columbus, ohio, on saturday, santorum made comments questioning the values behind the president's energy policy which the obama campaign believes were intended to question the president's faith. >> it's not about you.

it's not your quality of life. it is not about your jobs. it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology, oh, not a theology based on the bible, different theology, but none -- no less a theology. >> as to clarify, santorum had this line at another stop on saturday afternoon. >> the president has reached a new low in this country's history of oppressing religious freedom that we have never seen before and if he doesn't want to call his imposition of his values theology, that's fine. >> do you believe he is less of a christian than say someone like you? >> i'm not suggesting that i'm subjecting that obviously, as we all know, in the christian church, there are a lot of different stripes of christianity. >> he says he is a christian. are you arguing with that? >> the president says he is a christian, he's a christian. >> by sunday, santorum's tone had changed. he said he was referring to

"radical environmentalists" and wasn't questioning the president's faith, just his values. the obama campaign believes that questioning the president's religion was the intention. here's robert gibbs. >> i can't help but think that those remarks are well over the line. it's wrong. it's disruptive. it is just time to get rid of this mindset in our politics that if we disagree, we have to question character and faith. >> there's something else going on here and it is the defining of santorum in the national spotlight. a big week for santorum, as big of a week, of course, for romney. both men, their political careers and their futures in many ways on the line this week. also this weekend, requiring insurers to pay for prenatal testing somehow promotes abortion, santorum said. >> they require free prenatal testing in every insurance policy in america. why? because it saves money.

why? because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and less care that has to be done because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society. >> asked to explain further on sunday, he doubled down. >> the bottom line is that a lot of prenatal tests are done to identify deformities in youtero and the customary procedure is to encourage abortion. >> we will talk about how the rise of the culture war conversations, contraception, prenatal testing what does that do to the republican brand overall? the most damaging storyline for romney means a defeat in michigan means a new opening for republican candidates but could a contested or broader convention really happening? some mirgt about filing deadlines, watch march 23rd, guys, one guy who knows how hard it can to be meet those head dead lines weighed in.

>> very competent people in the voting party, sure. can they get on the balance not enough states? this is really hard no gimme here. nobody is going to show up and become superman or super woman so, they just have to understand they are entering the arena it is a very challenging, very hard-working arena. remember the gingrich camp spain not on all ballots. despite the desire for jeb bush, mitch daniel, paul ryan to save the day, sunday provided a a reality check. >> do think on the republican side there may be more demand than supply in terms of the candidates but that is the nature of the process. >> too late. i have a hard time understanding how can be super bowl could get in this late date. stlfrnlt a plus aible scenario you could see how another candidate could somehow garner 4, 5, 6, 700 delegates by the end of the process. the big filing deadlines after super tuesday is california march 23rd for june primary, connecticut filing -- new jersey filing deadline and whenever

texas is, if they decide to hold a primary before the end of june at this point. the fresh shourn the romney campaign is mounting. michigan's primary just eight days away now, romney has been playing up his biography, not only his roots in michigan but work leading the 2002 olympics. how romney spent his weekend, marking the ten-year anniversary of the salt lake city games. >> the games were a show place for the great qualities of the human spirit, determination the courage, team work, character, faith. >> joining me now, romney campaign senior advisory eric turn strom. good morning, eric. >> morning, chuck. >> i want to start, you guys are ratcheting up i would say your campaign against rick santorum a bit. you got a release out this morning mock the fact when started running in 1989, different things, this is what was the popular song and things

like that but this hit on him as a career politician. in all famers, mitt romney has been a career candidate for office going back to 1994. has he not? >> well, no mitt romney spent the bulk of his career in the private sector, i think that's what the choice comes down to chuck. he never left washington after defeated for re-election in 2006 and so the choice for voters do you want more of washington in the white house or do you want a conservative businessman who can come in from the outside who has experience -- experience fixing things, fixing failed enterprises like an olympics that was mired in corruption and red ink, fixing a state that was failing, fixing failing businesses? that's mitt romney's experience. we think that's what our next president, the qualities our next president should possess. >> let's stay with the olympics here. you guys have been hitting santorum on earmarks.

he beat -- he pushed back over the weekend. let me play something santorum said about the olympics and federal money. >> one of the things he talks about the most is how he heroically showed up on the scene and bailed out and resolved the problems of the salt lake city olympic games, heroically going to congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the salt lake olympic games. >> care to respond? >> yeah, well, i think we have to travel back in time to late 2001, early 2002, the olympics were the first national special security convenient in the wake of t -- event in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. the funding that rick santorum was belittling was to mobilize

security and protecting athletes coming frormd around the world, sec spectators coming to salt lake city to watch the games for 17 days a big difference between seeking earmarks for the penguin exhibit at the pittsburgh zoo. we wanted to avoid another munich and we did. by designating this a special security event, the federal government provided security. i'm not sure what point mr. santorum is driving at. >> but it goes to this larger point, some of the -- for instance, governor romney has hit him for raising the debt ceiling five times. are you saying governor romney is against ever raising the debt ceiling? >> well, look, i think that is a good comparison to make because mitt does have executive experience in business and government, in both those places, he cut budgets, he balanced budgets without raising

tax. then you look at the equivalent experience by mr. santorum and you will see that he voted five times to raise the debt ceiling without compensating cuts. i think that's an important distinction. he also voted to raise his own pay when he first came into congress, of course, he said the level of compensation was just fine with him, but of course, washington has a way of capturing people and infecting their minds it wasn't long after that that he began to start -- >> i want to go back to the debt ceiling. i mean, are you saying this governor romney wouldn't have been for -- that he would have been somebody who would have voted against raising the debt ceiling, forcing the country to potentially decide who gets paid, who doesn't, leading to a down -- there would have been all sorts of repercussions for not raising the debt ceiling, including just paying bills. >> i think what mitt romney would have been cysted on is comp pen sitting cuts, that's not what took place when rick santorum voted five times to increase the debt ceiling. >> so what president bush did, because all -- most of those times that he raised the debt ceiling were asked by president bush, you guys are basically

saying how president bush did it is not how president romney would do it? >> i can only describe what would do as president and as president, chuck, he would insist on compensating cuts whenever there was a bill to increase the debt ceiling. that was his view last summer, it would continue to be his position as president. >> can you envision a scenario where you guys lose the michigan primary? >> you know, mitt romney has connections to three states, massachusetts, where he raised a family, started a business, was governor, michigan, of course, where he spent the first 18 years of his life and his dad was a governor and utah, yes ran the olympics back in 2002. four years ago we won all three of those states. is any one of them a must-win for mitt romney? no, i think the must do for any candidate running for president is achieving 1,145 delegates. that is what is going to secure the nomination and it is a long

process. as of right now, we have a nearly 3-1 lead over our closest lival in terms of delegates. we expect to add to that on the 28th of february and then super tuesday, march 6th. >> you believe if you lose michigan, would you still think you are the front-runner for the nomination if you lose michigan? >> we think we are going to win michigan. if you go back and look four years ago, chuck, mitt went into that contest trailing john mccain. he won it by nine points, think mitt romney had the right message, job, economy message for that state, which is experiencing nearly 10% unemployment, may be satisfied with high unemployment in the obama administration. mitt romney certainly suspect, believe wes toe to the 24 million americans out of work or underemployed to do everything we can to fight for jobs that is his message in michigan and everywhere else in the country. one more question, there's been some talk, do you believe that senator santorum's position on

social issues is too conservative, too -- makes him unelectable on the general? >> senator santorum is spending his time talking about -- questioning the existence of public schools, questioning prenatal testing. just yesterday, he was talking about world war ii and making a comparison between president obama and hitler. look, we are going to stay focused on jobs and the economy. i'm happy to talk about mitt romney's conservative record as governor. avenues pro-life governor, he vetoed an embryonic cloning bill, vetoed an emergency contraception bill. he fought for traditional mar arrange he fought for abstinence education, a record any conservative can be proud of, but this election is going to turn on jobs and the economy and that's where our message is focused. >> l eric fern strom, senior adviser to the romney campaign. eric, thanks for coming on this morning. >> thanks, chuck. still coming up, what makes

mitt romney tick. this is focusing on the romneys of michigan. mitt romney facing unexpected battle, as you just heard, one of the three states he calls home he is bringing up his father, a former michigan governor, every chance he gets. we will go behind the headlines and look at how george romney may have shaped his son's political views. is history repeating itself in the culture wars have come roaring back. is that bad news for the gop in november? but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule on this presidents' day, or washington's birthday. no public events. you are watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. when you have diabetes...

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november? >> tom davis, there is plenty of polling evidence that goes around that says we are in a moment here for the republican party. do you think folks realize inside the republican party how bad it could be for them come november? >> they do i was just a republican enclave this weekend down in florida, but look, let me make this point, you get a nominee, get them up on 20,000 people at a convention, give your speech, you move on, we will put this behind us, the sooner, the better. it will be a contrasted vision. there is plenty of time.

these are usually ugly processes. this has been a little uglier than usual. become a reality tv show. >> martin, you and i were talking, it is the part of the conversation being had right now in the last couple of weeks, idea of debating contraception, putting key constituents in groups, suburban women, married white women, full, right down there -- among the key swing voting groups in american politics, this is not a conversation republicans -- that makes the republican party look good in their eyes. >> the gender gap is alive and well. republicans are suffering now. to the extent santorum keeps pushing romney to the right on birth control and things like that, i don't think that goes away in the fall. look, santorum is a guy who is on the fringe. when off candidate who questions contraception, against federal and state aid to education who says if his -- your daughter

were raped, how woe counsel her, he would say keep the baby. ? a guy who is way, way out on the fringe and taking romney moving to the fringe. >> i have talked to some republicans who are nervous about santorum at the top of the ticket, realize -- santorum wins michigan, he probably wins all of the super tuesday states that gingrich thought he could win. he ended up -- he will be the guy with the delegate lead probably eight days late fer he has that kind of momentum. but that they are vowsness that they would like to see somebody hit santorum basically saying he is too conservative on social issues but romney is the wrong vehicle do t >> romney is the wrong vehicle. and remember, they scratched this party very hard, socially conner is vat at this time. >> dangerous line of attack to go after santorum? >> primaries it s this race is ultimately about independent voters, the president has had some luck because the republicans have been talking about things that don't interest independent voters and turn them off the last couple of weeks and the economy is improving,

something that will attract independent voters. >> not just a question of not interesting independent voters it is a question of pushing independent voters to democrats, what thank is what is going on. >> you guys are pushing -- at the end of the day it is about the economy, not going to be about contraception, once we get a nominee up and about. >> i want to ask, one of the -- you have heard -- and i have heard this spin from the romney campaign before and other republicans, boy, the obama clinton race went long, look what happened. if you take that out, the longer the contested nomination, usually the worst for that party. obama/consiste obama/clinton was the exception, not to rule. >> mo re so today because of th money. the president is stockpiling his money. the more we are wasting the less time we have to raise the money. we are not taking matching money anymore. we are in a whole new ball game.

>> chuck, if you are right -- >> go ahead. >> if santorum has a delegate lead and if tom is right that romney is ultimately the nominee and i think he will be what kind of concessions does romney have to make to the far right to get the nomination? then he is a damaged candidate. >> resources is very important in this race. >> santorum, big bargaining chip is going to be all those delegate fess could get them. good to see you both. happy washington's birthday to you, this idea -- that is what the federal holiday -- >> of course it is. high anxiety, nuclear inspect airs life in tehran and the u.s. urges israel not attack. the situation in syria continues to deteriorate. should the u.s. arm opposition forces? two top senators say yes. first, today's trivia question what is the most common presidential first name? tweet me the answer. the first correct answer will get a follow washington's birthday from us.

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at e-trade. markets are closed. stories making headlines. arizona sheriff dongal candidate paul bab bow decided to stay in the race over the weekend. he denied allegationless he threatened to deport a former boyfriend if he went public with their relationship. the sheriff who publicly acknowledged being gay stepped down as the romney campaign's arizona co-chair. the team of inspectors from the u.n. nuclear watchdog the iaea is in tehran for talks about iran's nuclear program. their second visit there in less than ament mom also concerned that iran will extend its oil embargo on france and britain to other european countries, throw the other european countries have said they weren't buying from iran first. anti-government protestors have made it to damascus, staging one of the biggest demonstrations to date over the weekend as president bashar al assad approaches the 11th

anniversary of his rule. human rights groups say 5,000 people have been killed in the country while the assad government said it lost 2,000 military personnel and security agents. mean time, the shelling continues in the city of homs. amman is in kai role the biggest news over the weekend is the fact the protests made it to damascus. >> it began with a funeral on friday. their funeral drew people to a neighborhood in damascus. such a strong showing of people inside capital triggered a large bells for the regime brought out security forces which opened fire on the funeral procession in which more people were killed. all this coming against the backdrop of more stepped up military activity against the rest of the city of homs and other parts of the country. the opposition is now openly calling for support, military support from the international

community. among those that are calling for supporting the opposition perhaps with not just weapons but political and diplomatic and financial support, u.s. senator jchlt he is here in cairo to speak with the egyptian ruling military council about ways that other countries can support the syrian opposition. he is also in town to discuss the fate of american workers, part of a crackdown here in the country, set to go on trial on the 26th of february that is certainly a very sensitive issue in u.s./egyptian relations a lot of situations here in the middle east unfolding today, chuck. back to you. >> amman mow head dean in cairo. thanks as always. up next, like father like son? >> i visited every county in michigan. i think more than once. on my dad's campaign and my mom's campaign. >> we are taking a deep dive into mitt romney's roots in michigan. they are deep. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. the employee of the month isss...

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this week, we are starting a new segment, taking a deep dive into mitt romney's michigan roots, his family, formative years and his political philosophy. today it is a look at his father, george romney. they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and the campaign trail in michigan, mitt romney is trying to remind voters he certainly is his father's son. >> i grew up in michigan. it was exciting to be here. i remember going to the detroit auto show with my dad. that was a big deal. >> now the elder romney is a beloved figure in michigan. he brought back the american motor corporation for a time from the brink at the time as ceo. he was elected governor of michigan three times and had a failed run for president. the younger romney often invokes his father's name, especially when trying to connect with voters. after his loss, for instance, in colorado earlier this month, mitt romney had this to say about his dad -- >> my father never graduated from college. he apprenticed as a late and

plaster carpenter and he was good at t he can take a handful of nails, stick them in his mouth and spit them out pointing end forward. >> for as much as the son talk about the father, mitt romney is campaigning as a much different republican. george romney embraced being a moderate. you could say he fought against the republican establishment at the time. he embraced a minimum wage, he pushed for michigan's first state income tax. he granted collective bargaining rights to public employees. he had an anti-establishment approach at times, full. he famously walked out of the 1964 republican convention over civil rights. and in his bid for the '68 republican nomination, was widely seen as derailed after this comment about the vietnam war. >> you know, when i came back from vietnam, i just had the greatest brain washing that anybody can get. >> by the general? >> when you go over to vietnam -- not only by the jeeps but also by the diplomatic corps over there and they do a very

thorough job. >> it's a lesson that was burped into the young mitt's mind and some could say part of the reason he is trying so hard to brace the establishment that shunned his father. >> i know conservativism because i live it had. office severely conservative republican governor. >> think about this, when it comes to george romney and mitt romney, because when you have got george romney, this is somebody who was famously a moderate republican, perhaps the second most famous moderate republican innocent party after nelson rockefeller and now mitt romney fighting those moderate ideals that he once embraced as governor of massachusetts. so joining me now, he is scott hellman from the bossin' globe, also the co-author of the book "the real romney." let's start right there. it is amazing when you look at george romney's background as a republican, that it's no wonder mitt romney has such a hard time selling himself as a conner is vat at this time.

he was not raised a conservative republican. he was politically raised a moderate republican. >> that's right. you play that clip. inconceivable to imagine george romney saying something like i'm severely conservative. nothing could be further from the words of george rom nichlt he proudly embraced his moderate views. ney. he proudly embraced his moderate views. nichlt he proudly embraced his moderate views. ney. he proudly embraced his moderate views. he was deciding to run for governor and he came down to the dining room and said should i run as a republican or democrat? and that was instilled in mitt romney growing up, that was the father he had, as you say the candidate that mitt himself was up until recently. >> this connection with his father is so deep. at one point, he was telling met

reason he didn't change his hairstyle he liked the fact he looked in the mirror in the mornings and he sees his father. so how hard is it for him to be selling himself as a conservative when in many ways, he is almost trying to fulfill his father's destiny at trying to lead the republican party? >> yeah, it's funny. in so many ways, he has patterned his life after his dad's from his looks to the way he went into business and made a bunch of money and then went into politics by leading the mormon church in the local congregations, so much about them that is similar. when you get to politics, they are actually very different and not just in substance but in style. we see -- george romney was famously blunt spoken and brash and a really intense man and that's why people liked him. mitt romney is so different than that. he is much more controlled, much more careful, inconceivable to imagine him walking out of a convention like his father did. and so you are right, he is

trying to sort of on one hand inherit his father's legacy but the other hand, be his own candidate. >> most of them are more cautious in their own political careers, the exception was george w. bush and george h. w. bush. if you look at evan bay and birch bayh, al gore and al gore senior and now mitt romney, it seems mitt romney is afraid of make waves inside the party the way george romney was unafraid of doing t >> i think that is exactly right. the problem for him politically, he comes across this is why people describe mitt romney as being robotic or scripted, that he has a hard time connecting with people that he is so careful and controlled, then we have seep recently the few times he does go off script, all the comments he made about his wealth and his time at bain have not gone over well.

i think it is a conundrum for them that is campaign deepens. do you present him, try to make him more of a sort of off the cuff pandering is let him open up a little bit, let his hair down or do you know that's not where he is comfortable and try to keep him in this bubble? as you know, in the heat of the campaign, presidential campaign it is very difficult to keep someone inside the lines like that it will be interesting to watch how they deal with that in the days ahead. >> scott hellman, co-author of "the real romney" as good of a book there is on, if there is a back on mitt romney, it certainly is this one and i mean that in every compliment that goes with t scott, thanks very much. >> thank you, chuck. up next, we are kicking off the week, the big political panel is here. but first, because the white house nest is closed today there is no soup. what would be the favorite soup? my favorite soup at waynesburg is a peanut soup. maybe i will make that. peanut. you can get it great restaurants in waynesburg when you visit

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there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen some years -- months ago, i said that i hoped that every american would serve his country. today, colonel glenn served his. and we all express our thanks to him. >> daily flashback. it was this day in 1962, an astronaut by the name of john glenn flew into the history books. he became the first american to orbit the earth. glenn lifted off on board the friendship 7 spacecraft. he spent nearly five hours in space and circled the globe three times, becoming an instant american hero. that was, believe it or not, 50 years ago today a great line from joe trippy on twitter talking about john glenn's '84 presidential race. he was the first guy he said the victim of expectations.

anyway, dig more into that later. in a speech late night at georgia's -- georgia megachurch, rick santorum seemed to draw a parallel between the late entry of the u.s. into the fight against nazi germany and what's at stake in this year's presidential election. >> america sat from 1940 when france fell to december of '41 and did almost nothing. we are a hopeful people. we think, well, you know, it will get better. yeah he is not -- i mean, he's nice guy. i mean, it won't be near as bad as what we think. i mean, you know, this will be okay. sometimes, it's not okay. >> okay. let's bring in our panel. joe williams is a white house reporter for politico, susan page is the washington bureau chief for "usa today" and dan ballz, the "washington post" chief correspondent and author of "the take." welcome all. before i jump into this, your come slum all based on this santorum electable?

dan ballz, one more comment he made about public education, not just federal funding, but state funding. >> where did they come up with that public education and big -- education bureaucracies was the rule in america? y yes, the government can help but the idea that the federal government should be running schools, frankly much less that the state government should be running schools, is anachronistic. >> dan ballz, the state government should be running schools, rick santorum has been saying plenty of these things on the campaign trail for the entire time he has been running but now doing it with a lot of scrutiny. as you write this week, you know, is he -- can he handle the focus? >> well, there's no question that he is a very conservative candidate, many ways that is one of the things that has put him where he is today as a real challenger to mitt romney.

this comment yesterday about public education, i think americans believe in public education. don't necessarily think that the federal government should be running things, as he said, and i think democrats and republicans agree on that, but the idea that states and local government in conjunction with one another are not at the basis of public education seems to me to be a surprising statement that a lot of people are going to disagree w. >> the defining of rick santorum, if he somehow got the nomination, dan wrote, a quote of one strategist saying this santorum would become a martian to women in the suburbs. if you combine the statements of whether you should get prenatal -- prenatal test for your pregnancies combined with this education thing, the two issues this go right to the heart of moms. >> they do it's a -- it's easy to see how this helps him with conservative republican primary voters like you have in michigan and georgia and how it makes you -- gives you a human hurdle in trying to appeal to

independent women in a general election. this was a week and a time when the santorum people hoped to go beyond the social issues and define santorum in new ways, having him talk more about the economy, about this closer, about manufacturing policy, but man, that is not what he is being asked about, he is -- he is not ashamed to talk b i tell you one other interesting thing. said all these other things on face the nation problematic for his, i think. the romney people did not attack him. >> afraid of t. >> this morning and that is good news for santorum in the primaries, not so much in the general. it is interesting, we now know the obama campaign wants to start having a conversation about santorum as well, they want to bring this stuff up because one of the things i heard from some folks, they are a little concerned he has almost had too much of a free ride when it comes to talking about manufacturing, talking about the economy at that blue collar voter. >> exactly that is one of the big achilles' heels of the obama administration, everybody talked about it almost ad nauseam in 2008, kept whip the white working class. did he whip them. but narrowly. >> to a degree.

>> not by a big margin. >> this is all santorum is whipping at the moment. he has got a big, big margin in michigan, largely because he doesn't speak conservative with an accent like romney does. romney has conservative but a massachusetts accent on top of it. people don't feel he is authentic this is an opportunity for santorum to show how authentic he is. the white house is licking their chops with this one and you saw that with robert gibbs yesterday. >> you write about michigan, can he win it, can he not? even his chief, brooks partison in here the final analysis, i would bet he is going to carry michigan but then would he bet the farm and he said, well, i would bet my wife's half of the farm, he said laughingly. >> so he laughed when he said and then he paused and he said, you know, really, i think he is going to win michigan because i think he saw this quote being repeated, just as you, and creating problem for romney, whom he is backing. >> how much of the auto bailout, dan, do you think could -- even if there is 5% of just angry

auto workers who don't normally vote in republican primaries but decide to show up, could it make a difference? i say this, look at what the former gm executive bob lutz said, he is playing the same song as rush limbaugh and glenn beck, so upset with mr. romney, he cast his absentee ballot in michigan for rick santorum, a former vice chair of general motors saying this. i think all of must the auto industry who knew what the situation was were profoundly disappointed and angry, a political report to the right. could that bring more bob lutzes to the polls? >> i think is not going to be the issue in the primary, certainly the big issue if romney is the nominee in the fall, i don't think that is going to decide the michigan primary. >> we will see, but if the michigan primary geese certain way, we get to talk about brokered convention, which is what we are going to talk about after the break. trivia time, we ask, what is the most common personal first name, tom davis got it wrong, the san is james, six presidents named james, although john comes

in a close second with five. and i guess could you argue because jimmy carter decided to be inaugurated as jimmy and not james, maybe you could give john a tie there we will be right back. you are watchingf as jimmy, not james. we will be back. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain.

joe williams, susan page, dan balz. most important thing, mitt romney. >> we have been saying it. this is the fifth time we said this. no, but i mean, if he loses michigan as everybody said, it would be a tremendous blow to his campaign. doesn't mean he still couldn't be the nominee, but it would be a huge blow. i am not saying he is going to lose michigan. certainly if that happens, that would shape -- >> everybody is loosely talking about well, if he loses michigan, it is not that santorum is going to be the nominee, whatever is left,

whatever the establishment of the republican party is, let's talk more candidates. >> i wonder if we ought to talk about if santorum wins michigan and gets ahead of steam and wins georgia the next week. >> delegate lead by the way. >> how do you deny the nomination. hasn't he played by the rules and won by rnc rules? under what scenario do people who are not voters, elected officials or rnc chairman come in and say you're not acceptable. >> would have to start filing into the primaries, let some voters decide. >> obviously. but it seems like the hum in the background is romney's death star putting lasers on rick santorum. the gap is closing. couple polls said he closed to single digits, romney of santorum. begs to mind this was not in a script, not how it was supposed to go down for mitt romney. every time he has to do one of these most critical weeks, seems

to me it damages him further into the convention. >> that's the thing. what does he do at the debate, go ultra negative on santorum? santorum has -- romney and santorum have prickly sides. which one shows that side on camera? >> i suspect it will not be mitt romney. when he had to be cool, he has been cool. when he had to be aggressive, he's done that. if he's aggressive, it could be santorum gets more prickly. >> susan, is it one of thee that could step in if they step in? jeb, paul ryan, mitch daniels or someone else? >> it has to be somebody -- if that's going to happen, somebody with real stature and standing in the party, it's not a big group. >> who can that be? >> that's the thing. the list gets short quickly. >> and time as well. >> shameless plugs. >> great piece by my colleague josh hirsch steen about the voters rights. could factor into the election,

could be a landmark supreme court decision going forward. >> dan? >> "the new york times," mark leibowicz, profile of david plouffe in the paper. >> remember that phone call. >> mr. plouffe didn't do an interview. >> shocking. >> that was good. big becoffee in michigan, walked into bigby coffee, in grand rapids and utica, let me stand there and do interviews with voters. their coffee is good, too. >> better than tim horton? >> tim horton's is good. these were very friendly coffee shop owners. a reporter's pal. >> that's it for "the daily rundown." see you tomorrow. eight days until the michigan primary. coming up, jansing and company. have a great day. [ male announcer ] at scottrade,

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