we asked you what you were doing up at this hour. john tower in the dark. >> joe on twitter writes, each weekday you ask why the viewers are up, did you ever think it's because we enjoy your show? >> no, that actually never occurred to us. it's usually because the garbage truck has the reverse beep on, raccoons rummaging through the garbage. >> i'm still awake due to frustration because i'm stuck on the legends of zelda on old school and 64. >> no you're not, you're not playing legends of zelda at 5:00 in the morning, are you? please tell me that's not true. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ tonight, we're doing some counting. we're counting up the delegates for the convention, and it looks good. and we're counting down the days until november, and that looks even better. >> this was a big night tonight. lots of states.

we're going to win a few, we're going to lose a few, but as it looks right now, we're going to get at least a couple of gold medals and a whole passel full of silver medals. >> tomorrow will bring another chapter in the race to the nomination. but more than a chapter in the race for the nomination, it's a chapter in the fight for the soul of the republican party, it's a chapter in the belief in america. i believe i'm the one candidate who has the ability to debate barack obama decisively. >> mitt romney, rick santorum, and newt gingrich each putting their spin on how they did in last night's super tuesday races. the state everyone was watching, though, ohio. it spent a good part of the night in the too close to call, but at 12:30 eastern time this morning, called romney the

apparent winner in a one-point close shave over santorum. we'll explain what that means. it remains the apparent category because ohio averages a 3% uncounted election night vote even when at 99% reporting. then just before 4:00 a.m. eastern time, nbc news declared romney the projected winner in alaska's republican caucus. romney also won big in the idaho caucuses. and he took massachusetts, vermont, and virginia. rick santorum countered last night with primary victories in oklahoma and tennessee. he also won the north dakota caucuses and newt gingrich also chalked up a win with 47% of the vote in his home state of georgia. the former house speaker is vowing to fight on with primaries next week in alabama and mississippi. in all, mitt romney picked up at least 204 delegates last night, nearly half of the total number at stake.

gingrich's georgia haul moved him into second place just ahead of santorum in the overall count. here we go, it's wednesday, march 7th, welcome to "morning joe." with us onset, we have national affairs editor for new york magazine john heilemann, we have republican strategist and contributor to "newsweek" and "the daily beast," mark mckinnon, and in washington, msnbc and time magazine senior political analyst mark haleprin. kind of a late night. >> it was a late night and a late finish for mitt romney last night at around 11:00, you looked at the map and you could say at 11:00 when a lot of america was going to sleep that the only state that mitt romney won outside of his home state that was contested was massachusetts. of course he won virginia, which really wasn't contested. and vermont. but look what happened by the

end of the night. ohio falls into his column. >> yeah. >> and let's go back and remember what rick santorum said. a win's a win, and a win is a win. so mitt romney now can say i won michigan, i won ohio. you put virginia in that column, won alaska, won idaho. so by the end of the night, in about three hour's time, mark mckinnon, this night went from a very, very disappointing night for mitt romney to a night where he could say i win the most states, i got the most votes, and most importantly, i brought in the most delegates. >> he can't. everybody can say they got something out of last night. but romney got the most delegates. he did what he needed to do. "what it takes." romney does what it takes over and over again. it's often mercenary and bloodless, but he gets it done. >> mark haleprin in washington, you know there was a point last night around 10:30, 10:45 where

the romney people were just holding on for dear life. it was with the ohio results coming in, they felt like things might be breaking their ways because where the votes were coming from. but it would have been hard for them to survive in ohio -- not survive, but it would have been hard for them to spin an ohio loss last night, wouldn't it? >> assuming the win holds up. if romney lost ohio, then you could paint any number of scenarios where santorum in particular would have a chance to do him real damage. now there's basically i think one scenario, which is romney being shut out of the upcoming contest and losing them all and exposing new weakness. he entered yesterday in a commanding position, his performance leaves him in a more commanding position, but he's still vulnerable because the next four major contests are ones he'll be hard-pressed to get a "w" in any of them. >> the banner says it right. this is a gop war of attrition. now we move to alabama where

mitt romney will lose. mississippi, where mitt romney will lose. louisiana where mitt romney will lose. you can go down the list. you look at next week's contests, he's got a chance to win in illinois. but chances are good, he's going to get bounced around really hard over the next several weeks. >> i guess the flip side is the hope is all of this makes him better. having said that, i was talking to people close to the romney campaign last night and they were, willie, sweating it. it was not pretty. they did not know which way it was going to go for quite some time. that was not the way they wanted that to go down. >> true, but it ended well for them. the unwillness of members of the press to grant him a win. massachusetts, of course, he win, vermont, of course he won, idaho, a lot of mormons out there, everything he did, until ohio. ohio was the big one. >> that was critical, wasn't it? i think what we should say

happened last night, he won the night. >> and at 11:00 last night, when most americans were going to sleep, it looked bleak. but you know, through the night, and people always say, how long does it take you to prep for this show? and i say not long at all, it's actually 24 hours because the alarm goes off at 12:30, and i see the breaking news that he's won ohio. then the alarm goes off and at about 2:00 in the morning, he wins idaho, and then at 3:30, he wins alaska. mitt romney, he's a late-night creature. right? >> who knew? >> what's the line? i crawl through these suburban streets, win votes from -- >> but boy. >> last night he was. >> you can't say enough. because if people watching last night and what we were seeing last night. they say, what, you were saying things were terrible. they were. this guy had a great.

my mom always said -- she sauls sa always said, willie, nothing good happens after midnight. that's not the case for mitt romney. >> heilemann disagrees. >> not the case for me either. >> no, it's not. >> i'm not sure i want know about more about that. >> you don't. >> there's no question. we have to hold ourselves to the standards we hold ourselves to. we've been saying for a few days ohio matters above all. and the truth is, rick santorum won states he was supposed to win. he should've won tennessee, oklahoma, the percentage of e v evangelical vote was so high. mitt romney won virginia, he won massachusetts, the big states he was supposed to win. newt gingrich was supposed to win georgia, the state that was huge contested state that no one knew was going to win, mitt romney won that state. and you have got to -- we can't back off now. >> he did, mark, but think about this for a second.

think about this. and it's so fascinating, because santorum's people said, well, you know what? you media people have been focusing on these social issues. and it's just not been fair. the people at the end of the day focused on rick's great -- you know what they're going to say. but look where he won. he won in oklahoma, right? >> yep. >> and he won in tennessee. >> among evangelicals. >> won in states where swing voters were not offended by all of the things he said about throwing up on his sweater, et cetera, et cetera. where did he lose? he lost ohio, a state that just a week ago he had a seven, eight-point lead. what he says on the campaign trail matters. and it cost him the biggest prize last night. >> no question. >> there were those who may not have closed the deal in their minds over mitt romney and took a look over there and said that's just not happening. >> and that's what concerns you and a lot of good republicans

moving forward, doesn't it? >> yeah, you've got to look at who will be the best general election candidate. and santorum really didn't have the kind of discipline he needed to take on the spotlight when it hit him. >> go ahead, john. >> look, having said what i just said, you know, you still look at about giving romney credit. you still look. even in ohio, you look at the schism in the party is still very much there. you've got rick santorum winning tea party voters, strong conservatives, people without college degrees, earning less than $100,000 a year. that grass roots, populist coalition in the swing state was rick santorum. mitt romney has not made his coalition -- his coalition is still intact. but he's not making inroads into the core of the republican coalition. and that's still the case. and as mark said, at the time in 2008 when barack obama started to say the math is on our side. they were looking at a series of contests they were going to win. rick santorum has the calendar on his side now for the next two

weeks. that's the problem for romney. because as you said and mark said, mississippi, alabama, and -- >> louisiana. >> -- three out of the four big states in the next two weeks if santorum can fend off gingrich, you then have a situation where it's possible -- and it's not possible today but it's possible two weeks from now to imagine gingrich getting out. and then, a one-on-one race against romney and santorum is a different kettle of fish so far where the conservative vote has been split. >> i don't know, willie, if that's actually going to happen. >> a one-on-one race? >> well, no, because you now have santorum people doing to gingrich what gingrich was doing to santorum when santorum was winning more races. gingrich has more delegates than santorum, he's not getting out of the race, and i'd be surprised if alabama didn't lean newt's way. >> the path ahead looks good for him. swing from georgia through alabama over into mississippi to louisiana. you give him odds in any of those states.

and newt gingrich last night during that 40-minute speech or whatever it was did not look like a guy ready to get out of the race. >> no, he's enjoying himself. >> and i've got to say, the guy looked, mark haleprin, newt looked like he was having a great time. he wasn't angry. he was joking. he had a couple of those classic newt moments where people at home go, huh, yeah, that makes sense where he was talking about taking the can of algae to the gas station. that is a sort of thing that paints your opponents as left wing pointy headed politicians from harvard. and that's what newt's so good at. i thought gingrich went on a long time like i am right now, mark, but i think he did pretty well. >> you know, i thought he did -- i thought santorum did pretty well too. there's a real open question, i think, not just in southern states, but also in kansas city, missouri, who can drive the

message? the money's going to matter a lot. no debates on the schedule still and that i think has worked to romney's benefit as strong as he's been in the debates. but gingrich was entertaining, but again, i didn't see him driving a message. what is his message going to contrast, what is his message to take down romney? we talked yesterday about health care. one of the dangers to romney over the rest of this month, can his opponents whether it's gingrich and santorum or just santorum get back to the contrast we thought would come, eventually, which is real strong on romney care, and as strong as gingrich and santorum were last night in their speeches, i didn't hear either of them have a clean, clear message. >> didn't hear one with romney either, though, except let's go to war with iran and kick everyone's butts. >> and did he sing davey crockett? >> i think it's people who know a lot more about this than i do. >> i figured out where we're

going next week. big wheels keep on turning. carry me home to see my kin. >> this is so -- i'm scared that actually happened. >> he's going to do? and i hope neil young will remember. >> can i show you the exit poll? >> a southern man, don't need him around. and how. i'm from the south. south new hampshire. >> joe, if you're going to do it romney style, you have to intersperse your own kind of annotated commentary. do you remember this line? >> i hope neil young will remember he sang that really good song old man. something like that. >> great band. our house. >> very, very fine house. >> we'll figure out what song he sings. hey there, joe, we gotta go, mio myo. >> it won't be "fortunate son."

>> no. >> the polling in ohio. here's how it breaks down. in terms of the candidates' strengths and weaknesses, 30% of ohio republicans said mitt romney had the best chance of beating president obama in november. that's important. less than half that number said santorum was the stronger candidate. the economy was the top concern for a majority of the state's republican voters. 26% said the deficit was the number one issue. voters with an economic focus backed romney by an eight-point margin over santorum. gingrich won 18% of those voters, and ron paul was in the single digits. but romney struggled in other areas with nearly 40% of ohio republicans saying the former massachusetts governor wasn't conservative enough. santorum got the most support from conservative voters. as well as from evangelicals, 47% of whom backed the former pennsylvania senator. >> do these things at the end of the day, mark, matter? >> yeah, they do. >> do they matter?

because you hear -- barack obama and mitt romney end up against each other, doesn't everybody come home? >> yeah, and when he gets on the stage in september presuming he does and does his nomination speech, he gets a cape and an "s" on his chest and everything comes together. but you look at this primary and what's happened with independent voters, hispanic voters, which republicans need, and with women in the last couple of weeks, there's a lot of damage that needs to be repaired. >> did you see those numbers? >> unbelievable, 14% of hispanic voters are supporting mitt romney, and that number has to be like 40%. so that's how much -- >> devastating. >> -- work has to be done with hispanics. >> 14% of all of them. gingrich, it was one consistent thing in the poll. 14% for gingrich, santorum, and romney. there's 14% of republican hispanic voters not going anywhere. >> you cannot win a presidency

with those -- >> it's not like the bushes and carl rove didn't warn republicans 15 years ago. we've been talking about this for a long time and how important that coalition is. >> yeah. unbelievable. >> let's look at mitt romney's results. the former massachusetts governor won 38% of republicans last night, down 47% in the previous republican contests of 2012. he was able to hold on to support among independents last night getting 36% of the vote. romney lost ground with voters who make less than $100,000, not surprising, getting 33% of the vote compared to 40% from previous primaries. >> you know what? >> you don't find that interesting. >> i don't think that's interesting at all. i don't think it's significant. i just don't. >> i think it just solidifies what we've been talking about here for quite some time. >> no, it's not. you know, it's one of the huge mistakes of the mainstream media always makes. they try to put working class americans in a box and they're always wrong. they're always wrong. we won in 1994, republicans, there you go, take a drink at

home, we did so on the strength of blue-collar workers voting for us. and i just at the end of the day, all this rhetoric we've heard about the 1% and the 99%, that's not impacting working class people in middle america. >> you don't think working class people in middle america are looking at mitt romney and thinking does he really get my situation? >> you know what they're saying about mitt romney? they're saying the same thing about mitt romney and i'm talking about working class whites, the reagan democrats, the perot people, the people that swing elections. they're saying the same thing about mitt romney that they're saying about barack obama. i don't think this guy gets it. i don't think he understands how i'm living. it's going to pend whether unemployment's at 7.8% and 8.8%. and all the nonsense about the

1% versus 99% means absolutely nothing. i can tell you, i was in a household that was unemployed through watergate and vietnam, a lot of those battles, and we didn't really give a damn about what people in the streets were doing or who was burning what college campus. we just wanted my dad to get back to work. >> that's a separate issue. it's not wrong, but the question of what -- as you just said, independent voters are up for grabs. and so the question of whether they think barack obama's going to be a more effective fighter or mitt romney is, it's a pivotal issue, and i think there are a lot of republicans that are concerned that mitt romney has done damage to himself and his ability to sway those voters over the course of the past few months. both by running too far to the right on certain issues, but through the series of unforced errors over and over again that will allow the president's people to caricature him as out

of touch, member of the out of touch 1%, doesn't care about their problems, doesn't know how they live and what they're facing. and that has been an effect that's going to matter in the fall. i think they're up for grabs. >> yeah, i think it's game on. now, if mitt romney, mark, were running against bill clinton, we'd be pulling up our stakes right now and saying, you know what? let's win the house and the senate. but he's running against barack obama, a guy that's had trouble with blue-collar voters since he was running against hillary clinton four years ago. >> you know what i was thinking about, joe, i was remembering in 2004 at this point in the election, kerry was wrapping it up and the bush campaign was loaded and ready to go. i'm thinking about how much more time the obama campaign has ready to lock and load as they're watching this over the next couple of months and romney and whoever will have to be prepared to face a pretty well-suited -- a well-loaded

campaign that's going to be -- >> and it's going to be easy to turn him into a caricature. he doesn't wear scarfs like you. they're going to be able to do that. but i will say this about the romney people, he wins. and he's got some really mean people on his side, as well. you've got -- >> he's got some warriors. >> he's got warriors on his side. >> they know how to win. >> and unlike seeing in game change and the mccain campaign of four years ago, this is not a chaotic campaign. this is buttoned down. it is a well-oiled machine. you look at what they're doing with a candidate that -- and we like mitt. >> i'm surprised -- >> we like mitt personally very much. >> very much. >> but he's a hard candidate for people to embrace. >> who do you think is a better candidate mitt romney or john mccain as a political performer? >> i think on the debate stage,

there is no doubt mitt romney has become much better. much better. john mccain, an incredible story, and you could really fall in love with john mccain, but i will tell you what, where i personally believe americans lock in and decide who they're going to vote for, during those debates, i actually think mitt romney going in has an advantage over barack obama. and the white house, by the way, will be saying that, you know, to try to spin it their way. but he's become a much better debater. and barack obama, mark -- >> did you see him yesterday in the news covers? >> barack obama's extraordinary in front of crowds at times, he's not a good debater. >> mitt romney has become a fabulous debater. >> and no doubt he's a better debater than john mccain. >> no doubt. >> mccain made barack obama look like a great debater. >> there were spontaneous moments -- >> no, those were the three most boring debates. i was so excited to see them and

i almost fell asleep in the middle of the first one. romney will -- i'm telling you, it is true. romney is being toughened up with every fight. >> and there'll be a third person on that stage this year. >> yes, there are. >> who is that third person? >> we're going to see. we're also going to talk about -- >> and they're going to say, no budget, no pay. >> hearing, march 14th, on that issue. >> we're also going to talk about president obama's news conference yesterday and his comments on -- >> oh, wow. >> i think he sort of slapped down the republican candidates. rightfully so. we'll bring in tom brokaw, chris matthews, nicole wallace, and mike murphy. up next, mike allen has the big take away from super tuesday. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. good news today, mika. today's one of the days you'll wear the winter coat and then carry it home because we're going to have a nice afternoon. temperatures already significantly warmer right now than at this time yesterday.

the 24-hour temperature change, we're almost 30 degrees warmer in buffalo than we were this time yesterday. it's 47 in buffalo. we're already in the 30s, near 40 in d.c. a nice afternoon, try to get your lunch outdoors if you can. high temperatures in the mid-50s in new england. philadelphia, d.c., mid-60s. the cherry blossoms will be out soon with weather like this. middle of the country, great day yesterday, temperatures are still warm, but we will have some damp weather. showers from oklahoma to kansas city, kansas city, all the way up to minneapolis on the west coast. a really nice day after a wild, windy day yesterday. enjoy your day on the east coast, one of those spring days you've been waiting for. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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♪ he's at events without a tie, without a jacket, looking very casual. he's looking to connect with blue-collar folks. >> yeah, everyone's getting all relaxed and average, trying to connect. trying to connect with the blue-collar voters. i'm going to roll up my sleeves right here and, of course, as an average joe, i'm going to break out the lunch pail, okay. and strap on my blue collar. all right. just an average working joe. hey, fellas, let's head over to the factory plant and foundry us some metal goods. welding, am i right? you know, some of my best friends own this company. >> oh, gosh, now that's what i was talking about. just a little bit of a disconnect there. all right. let's take a look at the morning

papers. let's start with the parade of papers. business section, the houston chronicle said former texas financier alan stanford has been found guilty of running a $7 billion ponzi scheme. the man who had six private jets and received knight honors from the government of antigua faces life in prison. >> this was great. was this not great? i felt bad for him yesterday. >> in his interview, he appeared to threaten abc. >> he gave us so much to be happy about. >> it's no ponzi scheme. the only thing i would ever say about something like that in terms of my allegation is if you say it to my face again, i will punch you in the mouth. >> you're going to punch me in the mouth? >> no, i'm not going to punch you in the mouth. the new apple ipad is expected to be unveiled today. speculating the new device will have a faster processor and crisper hd screen, it could be

on shelves as early as next week and it'll record your every movement over the next generation. do you have it? >> no, i've got the old one, but i can't wait to get the new one. >> oh, i would love to take a -- >> he's so adorable. especially during primaries, he gets so excited. >> and he's got a bookcase behind him. >> he's mark. >> mike allen, good morning. >> hey, good morning, guys. >> mike allen says this is another bounce-free news cycle for mitt romney. what do you mean by that? >> yeah, well, this morning at 11:00, top officials for romney are going to brief his press corps at their headquarters and here's what they're going to say. they're going to say it is now despite a rough night and mika was hearing the same things in the romney folks she was talking to, they had a heart-stopping couple of hours. but despite last night, the romney campaign will argue today it is mathematically impossible

for rick santorum or newt gingrich to catch them in delegates and -- >> wait, wait, wait -- hold on. they've got like 100 and something delegates and need how many to win? >> 1,144. >> so they're what? 9%, 10% there. can you explain this to me? >> the argument is going to be that rick santorum would have to win huge numbers. they're still crunching them, probably around 60% of all the remaining delegates and take a couple of winner take all states that are friendly to romney, including utah. so they're going to argue that every day that romney or gingrich stays in the race is a day that you're not -- you're helping barack obama. so they're going to try to project momentum to claim a big win on a night when, in fact, they had a real scare and where mitt romney underperformed everywhere. women saved him in ohio. without his strong turnout on women, he would've lost ohio. there was a period last night

where they thought they could lose. they were telling us they thought they would win by less than 1% wound up right at 1%. there was a heart-stopping moment in the romney war room where they thought they could win by 1,000 votes and if you're admitting you might win by 1,000 votes, you're acknowledging you could lose by 1,000 votes. >> based on the reaction around the table, sounds like that argument's not going to be terribly convincing at this point in the campaign. ohio, a close shave there, virginia place they won as we say without a couple of candidates on the ballot. what do they see, the romney campaign in these next couple of weeks. they've got some southern states that will be problematic. how can they when you look at the calendar convince people this is inevitable? >> and by the way, virginia, which should have been a gimme was closer than expected. >> yeah, 40%. >> the networks didn't even call virginia right when it closed because throughout the day they'd been seeing a 20-point

gap suddenly narrowed to ten, they couldn't call it. the romney campaign is going to ask you to focus on march 20th, illinois, they're going to say that having won illinois, michigan, ohio, we can claim to be commanding -- going into the general election, we're going to hear mitt romney talking more and more about obama, the pivot to general election message, they're going to say they've always been on a dual track. they're going to try to push a general election message. the obama campaign thinks it's headed there too. next week in ohio, vice president biden is going to give the first of four campaign speeches, economic security for the middle class. romney and obama both think they're going to for the general while in the back, we have the mood music of rick santorum hanging in there. >> to that list, michigan and ohio, they can add florida as they make that case. mike allen, thanks so much, mike. >> let me just say, though, there is still talk out there.

bill crystal with the post just out talking about how it's not over. there are republicans -- >> different pathways. >> think there are different pathways. so it's -- they had a good night, a big win, but it's not over yet. >> long way from over. >> and as mike said, it's bounce free in many respects because it was so late. and santorum's going to be dominating the news over the next week or so. >> and the question isn't just -- they're going to argue no one can keep romney -- can get past romney in terms of the delegates. the question is whether today the other republican contenders can keep romney from getting to the number he needs. >> 50%. >> to get 50%. that's a more plausible scenario that gingrich and santorum are holding back. then you go to a convention with that majority and then everything's up for grabs. >> here's one of those timing things where pat buchanan does

very well early in the evening, the headlines are bad for the president, president bush, but by the end of the night, bush had a bigger lead than advertised in the headlines. the romney people respect going to get the headlines across america that perhaps they deserve if you look at the results. because all of their wins came in late. >> willie, what do you have next? >> we continue with our coverage of super tuesday with christie hefner. plus, after 14 seasons, it's about to become official, peyton manning and the indianapolis colts are through with each other. don't expect him to be without a team for long. we'll speculate where he's headed next when we come back. [ man ] predicting the future is hard. but i have this new smartphone. and now i can see everything more clearly. ♪ i can organize the analysis. sort through all the data. maybe even rattle some cages. i predict that i'm going to like the future. because the future is where i'll be serving up humble pie. a la mode.

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welcome back to "morning joe." the indianapolis colts reportedly going to do today what's been speculated about for months now, and that is to release peyton manning, ending the four-time mvp's 14-year tenure as quarterback in indianapolis. he won the starting job as a rookie in 1998, took the colts to the playoffs 11 times. two afc championships, a super bowl, and a super bowl mvp award. manning did not play it down last season after having surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck. the 35-year-old soon to be 36-year-old, would have been owed a $28 million roster bonus had the colts decided to keep him around. putting them in position to

draft his successor which could be stanford quarterback andrew luck, that's what the number one pick in the upcoming draft. things looked kind of amicable you could say as the two flew into town together and left the airport in the same car. >> we're good. we're good. we're going to talk tomorrow. we're going to do it the right way tomorrow. >> there will, of course, be no shortage of suitors for manning. some that may be interested, the new york jets, cowboys, redskins, and cardinals. one new york jets player -- >> that would be exciting. >> one new york jets player today telling the new york daily news we have to get peyton manning, he needs to become a jet. >> peyton manning for the jets and eli for the giants. and by the way, you plug peyton in -- it wouldn't be like him going to miami and having to put up with his father put up with new orleans for years.

getting knocked down. >> does he want to go to miami and lose all the time and live out his life in south florida? washington will definitely be a big suitor. >> cowboys. >> they've got romo, though. >> cowboys would be great, as well. the bigger question is, if you just had your fusion on your neck, you can't take the hits. and he's going to be taken down in miami. >> that's right. turns 36 in a couple of weeks. i do think the jets are a long shot. they still like sanchez for another year. and i honestly think peyton manning doesn't want to come to new york and fight his brother. >> i like mark sanchez, but the way he finished the year last year. >> long-term? >> he's had his shot. one of the -- >> bring him to -- come on, baby. the jets. that would be exciting. >> double manning christmas. >> harvard, because penn lost last night, harvard's team will

be in the ncaa tournament for the first time since 1946. harvard, jeremy lin -- >> can you imagine? it's a cinderella story for those underprivileged kids at harvard. >> mika's must-read opinion pages next.

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live look at the white house at 46 past the hour. time now for a look at the must-read opinion pages. let's start with the "wall street journal." the republican split decision. and a good one from kathleen parker with advice for mitt romney. but first the "wall street journal." if republican poohbahs were hoping the super tuesdays contests would settle the

republican contest, they woke up this morning disappointed. rick santorum did well enough to more than justify staying in the race. republican elites are aching to declare this race over and take aim at mr. obama. the fear is that intraparty debate is hurting the gop brand. november is a long way off and the more than public hasn't concluded that mr. obama deserves another term. the hand wringing is fruitless in any case, the voters are in charge and their split decision shows that republicans still haven't settled on a standard bearer. do you agree? >> you know, i'm not so sure, mark haleprin. let me ask you the question. we talked yesterday a good bit about mitt romney handling in a very bad way a question about the federal mandate on health care reform. now, let me ask you, let me ask mark mckinnon who has run these things, would you rather that come out in march of 2012 where

he gets some heat? or would you it come out in the middle of the third and final presidential debate where barack obama turns to him and says, well, this is what you wrote in 2009. it seems to me that you can make the argument that this is good at the end for romney. >> we've got to think about the romney campaign and the likelihood he's the general election candidate in a different way. which is not, can he end this quickly or not? because i don't know he can. can he use this period to be a more effective general election candidate? one way is to take the incoming on things like health care and not only defuse them, but get better at answering them. he benefits if he became the nominee, the president's campaign could start unloading on him full throttle rather than third throttle, which is what they do now. missouri's going to be a potential general election state. he needs to build up there.

he can do that as part of the nominating process. and finally, he's got to become a better candidate. he's got to find a way to appeal to those centrist groups while he becomes a better candidate. all of those things are potentially to his advantage. but he's got to take advantage of them. they're not going to just flow to him naturally. >> but mark mckinnon when you're in a political battle. you find out what your strengths are, your weaknesses are. we've already said he's getting a lot better in debates where barack obama's not so great. barack obama is fantastic in those settings, though, where you're up on stage holding a microphone, talking, and that's where romney's the weakest. you use this time to say, you know what? we're going to give you lines, you memorize the lines and you go with it. >> get warmed up. >> yeah, he's doing his push-ups. and he's getting stronger and stronger over in the gym. but can i say some more about this usa today story? there was a lot of criticism of

the research of the other campaigns, where was the press? there were 20 debates. >> i brought that up. >> totally fair point. >> hello. hello, there's this thing called google. >> yeah. there's 20 debates and the moderators -- >> no, we are absolutely. >> it's not the opponents' campaign -- >> they're not supposed to do our job. >> but just to expand on one thing that mark and joe said. one of the things that barack obama and hillary clinton both did, they took advantage of primary nights to give speeches that were not just about that contest but were about setting up themes and building themselves up for a potential election, depending on which one won the nomination. romney has given one great primary night speech in new hampshire. and he hasn't done that since. and one specific way to start to build himself up as a general election candidate is to start giving really big speeches about what he's going to run on against barack obama.

>> so -- with it kind of guy. and they're fine with that. they don't want you to be cool. they want you to fix the economy. they want you to be serious, presidential, and the grown-up you are. there's no predicting what will happen in november. but if you go down, enjoy the ride by being fearlessly yourself. uncool, unafraid, intelligent, experienced, determined, and as you put it resolute. be as liberated in seeking victory as you would be in defeat. this includes being outraged at the outrageous, willing to tell unpleasant truths, steering you away from statements such as iran, we'll have nukes if obama wins, and being willing to lose. true mitt can win. >> this is spectacular advice by kathleen parker. you know, mark, it reminds me when george h.w. bush was running around in 1988 telling

people he went around in the vice presidential limousine listening to country music. no, that's not what we like you, george h.w. bush, we like you because you're a serious man. he finally got that. i wonder if mitt will and stop reciting lyrics to davey crockett which just make him look dumb. >> and awkward. >> i agree. that is great advice. and yesterday he got another question about the rush limbaugh thing, another chance to speak what i'm sure is in his heart about what rush limbaugh said about a 30-year-old law student. and once again, he didn't take the opportunity to say what i think he believes and that would be good for him politically. >> yeah. all right. we'll be right back. kathleen parker, another good one by her. i love her work. we'll be right back with willie's news you can't use. [ male announcer ] the draw of the past is a powerful thing.

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it's time. >> yeah, it's time for some news you can't use. rick santorum last night, ohio, giving his speech at the high school right there in the gym. gave a little preview of how he prepared in that high school for his speech. >> we're in steubenville, ohio. not too many presidential candidates come here much less

hold their victory party here in steubenville, ohio. we're in a high school gymnasium. i just came from our war room, which doubles as the weight room for the high school. i was pumping a little iron to get myself psyched for coming out here. >> rick santorum pumping iron, his campaign tweeted out a photograph of him, indeed, the war room was the weight room pumping some iron. there was one adorable young man we have to point out on stage with rick santorum. his young son peter. it was getting late, eastern time. >> either that or his dad was talking for too long. >> perhaps. >> by our count, about 13 yawns out of young, adorable peter. and that, of course, reminded us of one of the great moments in political history. 1993 -- >> oh. >> i'll never forget this. >> 7-year-old andrew giuliani sleeping climbing up his father's back.

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your support really means everything to ann and me. and i'm not going to let you down. i'm going to get this nomination. tonight we're doing some counting. we're counting up the delegates for the convention and it looks good. and we're counting down the days until november, and that looks even better. we're going to take your vote. a huge vote tonight in massachusetts and take that victory all the way to the white house. >> you look, we have seven children, ages up to 23. we've given up our jobs, we're living off our savings. yeah, we're making a little sacrifice. for a very, very big goal. and that is replacing this president on november of this year.

>> mitt romney, rick santorum, and newt gingrich are all claiming partial victory in yesterday's super tuesday races, the state everyone was watching, though, ohio. and it's spent a good part of the night in the too close to call category. at around 12:30 eastern time this morning, nbc news called romney the apparent winner in a one-point close shave over santorum. it remains in the apparent category because ohio averages a 3% uncounted election night vote even when at 99% reporting. then, just before 4:00 a.m. eastern time, nbc news declared romney the projected winner in alaska's republican caucus. romney also won big in the idaho caucuses. and he took massachusetts, vermont, and virginia. santorum countered last night with primary victories in oklahoma and tennessee. he also won the north dakota caucuses. newt gingrich also chalked up a win last night with 47% of the

vote in his home state of georgia. the former house speaker is vowing to fight on with primaries next week in alabama and mississippi. in all, mitt romney picked up at least 204 delegates last night, nearly half of the total number at stake. gingrich's georgia haul moved him into second place just ahead of santorum in the overall count. >> and if you look at the newspapers this morning, of course, a "washington post" says it best, the drawn out battle goes on. "the boston globe," romney's hometown paper says he gets the win but no knockouts. and here's the "new york times" headline that i've got to tell you that tom brokaw, tim matthews, you guys were here late last night. and when i saw you last around 11:00, it was looking like a really bad night for mitt romney. but boy, he brings in the win in ohio after midnight, the win in idaho, the win in alaska.

he ended up having a pretty good haul -- >> no, it was not a bad night for him. but these headlines tell a story, which it is going to go on. just stop and think about rick santorum for a moment. how many of us thought one week before iowa that he would not just still be in the hunt at this stage that he would be pushing the front runner in the way that he is. that he would've tapped into the social conservative movement to his advantage in a really broad-based campaign across this country? he's going to be in tampa in one form or another. and that's something that mitt romney has to think about as well as trying to wrap it up between now and august. >> along with tom and chris, we have mark haleprin in washington, and also former senior adviser for the mccain/palin campaign nicolle wallace. >> and chris matthews, the star of "game change." >> well, you got written pretty well in there, didn't you? it shows the power of the oral

historian. she comes off as a superstar. >> she does. >> and thanks to the people who put the movie together, i think it's a spectacular movie. it's real, unlike "ides of march," it's got the reality, the real grit of politics. woody harrelson is spectacular, and julianne moore. john mccain has no complaints. you hear sarah palin wasn't the movie. if i were john mccain, i'd watch it over and over again, it makes him look good. >> john mccain's legacy is set for his grand kids. >> and refusing to play the race card and dramatically running a decent campaign even though he knew it was an uphill battle for him. i thought it was very grand. >> sarah paulison plays nicolle wallace. >> didn't you ask her about national security? foreign policy? domestic policy?

>> i thought it would cover that. >> what did you ask her? >> i just -- we talked about if she would back john's decision to conflict with hers or if she was prepared for her life to change. there were no policy questions. >> you guys didn't grill her because you wanted it to work. >> i wasn't in charge of the fit, nicolle. >> wow. >> i've got to say, there's a surprise at the end too. and i won't blow it for people. it's one of the most moving parts of the entire picture. let's talk about last night, though, really quickly, chris, and we'll get to nicolle and badger her. >> it's a good movie. >> chris, you know, we've been knocking romney all year. i say we, the media, the conservative base, everybody. but this guy wins. >> george will, the great

columnist, he's fantastic a columnist all these years and he trashed george herbert walker bush the same way. the wimp, this guy's the dork. there's something wrong with them. but i look at them and go this is george herbert walker bush, you know, he'll be knocked by everybody, he'll do what's necessary, he's bring in some tough guys. he'll be ruthless in sort of a waspy way, a genteel way. but he'll win the nomination eventually and go into the general say labor day and it'll be close to even. he'll go within striking distance of the president. he'll win one of the three debates, maybe two, it'll be a closely contested final. somebody who could enrich the candidacy. this is going to be a close election. and obama should be careful of the polling right now. i think it looks better for him than it is. people say they weren't going to vote for him and they did. i think watching santorum's

numbers, people aren't willing to tell their politically correct pollsters how they're going to vote. they went more for santorum than they said they would. i think obama's going to look better on paper until that election night. he better be careful. i think some people are going to say they're going to vote for him who aren't. >> sorry to bounce past you again, nicolle. she was only 8 in 1988, but 1988, '87, '88, we all -- i say we, a lot of people absolutely adore 41 now. we remember all of the great things he did. and we've forgotten some of the not so great things. but he is a great man. we all look to him and say why can't our politicians be like this today? there's a glow about him. i love the guy. i will say it. i love him. and yet in '87 and '88, he was savaged more than mitt romney.

a loser, a nerd -- >> first husband -- >> he's every woman's first husband. but he was savaged. and we got that wrong. >> jim baker tells the story in august of that year, when mike dukakis won the nomination for the democrats, he was with his very close friend george bush 41 on a camping trip in the rocky mountains. they were down 15 points. they went away during the convention deliberately not to have to listen to it and came out and they were behind by 15 points. michael dukakis and his infinite wisdom. his first move as a presidential candidate was to spend most of the month of august out in springfield, massachusetts. and jim baker and president bush 41 put together a game plan and won that election. now, think about what happened four years later. that's also applicable to where

we are now. george bush 41 presides over the winning war in iraq, he puts together the most impressive alliance we have seen in the last 40 or 50 years, his numbers go from 75% to 80% -- >> the soviet union collapses christmas day 1981. >> berlin wall comes down, he manages it so well that he later got tears in his eyes as he on a public stage thanked george bush for how he managed the berlin wall collapse and the reunification of germany. that's how he goes into his reelection campaign and loses to a guy who has a girlfriend who appears in the middle of that summer talking about her long-time affair with the governor of arkansas. so got to keep all of this stuff in mind. >> it ain't over. >> so, nicolle, i want to get -- >> and then the guy says, thanks for saving me from the draft right before the new hampshire primary on top of it all.

>> nicolle -- >> do you think george h.w. bush has gotten over that yet? >> he has a real grace about him. >> they forgive everything and remember it all. >> well, i think we forget he had a physical illness that election year. he was a bit out of it because of his health problems that year. >> he was the most, i think the most underrated modern president of our time. you just look at the collapse of the soviet union, ronald reagan rightly gets the credit for initiating that, pushing them up against the wall, but it had to be managed. and george bush did that. with a team that was in place, not just from the eight years he served in the reagan administration, but people he was able to pull in around the country. he has a lot of the dna of george romney, the background, the appearance, the mellow props that come up through the course of the campaign. but right now, which is kind of heartbreaking for him is he has

parkins parkinson's and his mobility is limited. he's in a wheelchair a lot of the time or a motorized scooter, but still gets around and watches all of this every morning. >> so look at -- i've got it. i'm good. looking at how things -- >> i was going to say one more thing about george h.w. bush. >> why do you think rick santorum did as well as he did? >> i think we're going on the second year now of people on the -- not just republicans, but people on the far right, the movement conservatives having absolutely no appetite for mitt romney. and back to the 41 analysis, mitt romney will be over the moon that all of you are comparing him to the, you know, exquisite humanity of president bush 41. but i think that this hunger for romney alternative has become almost a pathology in the

republican -- it's become a sickness. and i thought it was very unhealthy for the party of our process when we were hungering over all of these guys with no interest in running. governor christie who i think is tremendous, but never showed any leg or seriously flirted with the idea, i don't think. jeb bush said all along he's not ready. we've had an unhealthy obsession with the romney alternative for two years now. and it's manifesting itself in santorum's success. >> you would have thought it would have ended with santorum's spiral down. >> but unhealthy obsessions never end in a pretty way. they never end pretty. and this isn't going to end pretty. and there's going to be noise and i think the media will pay too much attention to it all along because i think for a long time it's been obvious to a lot of people that it's romney or no one. and for a long time, it's been the truth that the obsession with the romney alternative has been bad for the party and bad for our prospects against barack obama. and despite all that, we have

indulged in it for almost two years now. >> let's take a look at how some of these numbers broke down. 51% of republicans in ohio said romney has the best chance to beat president obama. less than half of that number said santorum was the stronger candidate. the economy was the top concern for a majority of the state's republican voters. voters with an economic focus backed romney by an eight-point margin over santorum. gingrich won 18% of those voters, and ron paul was the single digits. romney struggled in other areas with nearly 40% of ohio republicans saying the former massachusetts governor wasn't conservative enough. santorum got the most support from conservative voters as well as from evangelicals, 47% of whom backed the former pennsylvania senator. that does make sense. but the question about mitt romney being conservative now, chris matthews, is that still

going to linger? >> it won't be a problem in the fall. none of this will be a problem in the fall. the fact he helped develop a health care system in massachusetts won't be a problem in the fall. he has just got to get through this right now. and by the way, the criticisms we've had and have all been fun of romney for being a bit elite. remember, just a splash. george herbert walker bush, the sweat socks, the unflaherty wau at the safeway. and in the end, you're stuck with that reality and the election of november when you have to go, yeah, or no. one or zero. the great binary question. one or zero. keep them on the mound or put somebody else in there. and i think this economy is choppy, unpredictable, and it could well look very bad in the fall. and i don't know how anybody can argue the president's got control of the economy yet. things could happen. he doesn't have control of it

yet. >> and the ugly debates, the conversations about aspirins between the knees and -- i don't think they attach themselves to romney the way they attach themselves to other republicans. i mean romney is so seemingly uncomfortable with those conversations that i think in november, i don't think they attach themselves to him in a way that we, you know, have discussed. >> i'll set up the debate with dan rather brilliantly. there's the national security adviser standing, helping out dan for cbs, interesting how these roles change. and there's roger putting up the cards, ask him about when he went off for the tennis game, right? work in that one. he set up a moment where he took on the guy that was number one. was he at the time? he was doing well, dan, at the time. take him on, had to show guts -- >> i can tell you, he was number one. >> before you were number one. then you were number one forever. when is this guy going to take on netanyahu?

i'm talking the new -- when is he going to take on rush limbaugh and donald trump? this endless deflection of the ridiculous faux icons of the right. all he has to do is show some guts. he can still do it, by the way. heky say i've thought about it, that young woman's a citizen as much as i am. she has as much right to speak out as i do. this guy rush limbaugh is dead wrong, it's not just his words, it's his very thought process. and if he'd just do that now, it'd be so powerful. >> i guess thad be okay. but wouldn't it sort of lack instinctive conviction. isn't that what you want from a leader? >> let's ask the adviser. >> i'd tell him to do it every day. i was asked yesterday if he needed a moment. he needed one years ago and needs one today between now and the general election. he has to show voters every single day that, you know, when you open the windows and the sky's blue, he speaks the truth.

people have the sense that romney reads what's handed to him. and i don't think that's the real romney. i think there's a nervousness about the way he presents himself because after you've made a bunch of mistakes, you get overhandled, overmanaged. and with most politicians, there's the cry, let mitt be mitt. no one's going to say that because people don't know. i think if romney can, i don't know, tear back the curtains and show some strength and show that every day on the election trail that he's willing to call things as he sees them he can say it without huddling with advisers. when someone disparages a woman communicating her position on contraception, that he can speak the truth and say what he observes and what he observes is what we see. the problem with romney is that we have this feeling he doesn't see what we see and he's afraid to say what's going on. and i think we see that happening. >> what if he did that with his wife ann at his side.

introducing him at all of these rallies. and i think there's a kind of rising attractiveness to the voters to ann romney. >> i think that's right. and i think ann romney goes out and i think makes mistakes. and because she's showing a human side, she recovers from them more quickly. she's also the spouse. you know, i think the two of them need to go out there and not be afraid of who they are. they are a wealthy, successful, american family. that hant stopped other people from being elected president. and so, you know, i think letting them be themselves and being unafraid of making those mistakes is a price they should be willing to pay as being seen as more real and more in touch. you can't be the blue-collar worker if you're mitt romney, but you have to be able to understand what he's going through. >> going to what kathleen parker wrote this morning. >> mark haleprin, final thoughts? >> well, i think, again, everything nicolle said makes

perfect sense. he's got to find a way to do that. and that's a great opportunity too. if he finds in his heart a way to talk about inclusion and immigration, not violating his principles, it'll help him in that definition and set him up better for the general election than he is right now. >> all right. still ahead, we're going to bring in republican political consultant mike murphy. also nbc's andrea mitchell joins us on the set. up next, though, david gregory and chuck todd and here in the studio to break down the super tuesday results. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ man ] i've been out there most of my life. you name it...i've hooked it. but there's one... one that's always eluded me. thought i had it in the blizzard of '93. ha! never even came close. sometimes, i actually think it's mocking me. [ engine revs ] what?! quattro!!!!!

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it is super tuesday. it is like the super bowl of politics. just like the super bowl, i have painted my face with the team colors, white. and i am having a little tailgate party here. first of all, i am cooking up some brats for all of us.

oh, mmm. and i am going to make some of my famous ten-layer dip with one layer for each state with a primary today. we've got potatoes for idaho, ham for virginia, some vermont cheddar, for alaska, some medicine, and for ohio, a layer of rust can't have a party without my republican salsa, it's mostly mayonnaise with a dash of miracle whip. i've got a keg of beer back here and in case romney wins, i've got a keg of caffeine free diet coke. >> at 25 past the hour, we'll take a look at the boards. joining us now the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory, and political director and host of the "daily rundown" chuck todd. tom brokaw still with us.

is a win a win in ohio? >> the danger of him losing ohio was so great, that would have been a disastrous night if he couldn't show in the south at all. but he won the big prize, the delegate count is still on his side. there are hurdles. santorum has to say the least a ticket out of super tuesday. and this thing keeps going, and i think romney has so much work to do yet to try to unite the party and expand that base of support. >> you brought up the word math. and there are those on the romney campaign that think math is on their side. chuck todd, is it? >> it is. i woke up early this morning and did three versions, three paths for santorum. all remaining delegates. he has to win 61% to get to the magic number. if you give romney some of his wins but they're narrow in places like new york and new jersey, places we know he's going to be, he should win. then all of a sudden santorum needs 66%.

and then santorum needs something like 70%. the math isn't on santorum's side. and oh, by the way, i did this in this fantasy world that doesn't have newt gingrich or ron paul involved. and that world does not exist. >> what does romney have going on behind the scenes in terms of collecting those delegates? >> and that's the sense. this is not as -- sometimes we sit there and say, boy, this is a pretty sharp operation. no, it's an operation. it looks sharp because santorum and newt don't even have operations. so if you have one, it looks sharp. but they're at the conventions, you know, when these caucus states come up, romney is going to do pretty well. the party leaders are going to force their will on them and get more delegates. he's going to slog it out. i think i was joking with you this morning. i'm guessing gerald ford argued the delegate math was on his side at this point in time because he was winning like this

over ronald reagan. >> but i was there. they also had a delegate hunting operation going on behind the scenes. >> ford did? >> for ford, right. and when we arrived a the the convention, mississippi was still open. and they were saying we've got to get mississippi over. >> at least reagan probably had a delegate operation. santorum doesn't have any of this stuff. >> the other piece of this i do think is important and is still to romney's benefit that you have gingrich and santorum fighting this out. santorum wants and you could argue deserves a chance to go one-on-one with mitt romney. and i don't see him getting that chance. gingrich is still going to make the case that santorum can't win. you have to say he's got a good shot. you look at alabama and mississippi next week, and you know, it makes it difficult for santorum. >> could mitt romney have beaten rick santorum one-on-one if they both spent the same amount of

money in the state of ohio? >> i don't see how. >> then that's ultimately -- isn't that mitt romney's problem? >> right. >> so given how some of the exit polls came out, how much of a problem is mitt romney? at some point, doesn't the party need to look at building toward the future, toward the general election? how much problem is he going to have rebuilding himself after this? >> not just rebuilding himself. but as we looked at the numbers last night by a factor of 2 to 1, in most states electability was the number one issue that drove this campaign. so they think he's the most electable, but they shield their eyes and vote for him. but he still has that going for him. he's the guy they think can beat obama. when you get into the other issues, santorum is farther down, he does much better on social conservative issues. on electability, winning against obama which will drive this republican process, romney still gets it but with an asterisk. >> does this, mark haleprin, with us from washington, does this make romney better, more

prepared for the general if he can get there? >> it does if he does it right. it's not going to naturally make him better. he must do the things that allow him to continue to win enough delegates, but also think of independent voters. i think chuck is absolutely right about the math. if you beat him so many times he quits the race. and there are people around him that have known him a while who say, you know what? his heart's not totally in this, he wants to win, for sure, but if he lost a bunch of races and the party turned its nose up at him, he might walk away. that's the only way to keep him from being the nominee as long as it goes on. >> let's also talk about the reality which is oklahoma and tennessee are going to be there for mitt romney if he's the nominee. he wants to run a fall election campaign, focus on independents moving away from the republican party and him. he wants to focus on women and latinos. he's got a strategy to think

about how you beat president obama and it's not being necessarily the conservative leader of the caucus. >> when the romney campaign, they've got to figure out to gently nudge the conservatives into their corner without looking like it's forced upon them. the more you force this, the more you see the conservative voter say, hey, no, no, you can't do this to establishment. there's the reason the tea party arose. got to be very careful not to sort of force this. they've got to organically force if you can do both at the same time. >> i have not seen that dance step from the romney campaign. i mean, that's a really slow move. and he tends to go one way and crashes into the wall and goes out and does the white man overbite. >> wow. >> oh, my gosh. >> this is the recipe, one part little sleep. >> everyone's just a little bit tired. david gregory and chuck todd. thank you so much.

president obama takes republican candidates to task for what he calls loose talk on waging war on iran. that clip next on "morning joe." [ female announcer ] the best things in life are the real things. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious. like in a special ops mission? you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep, you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering, web-based trading platform.

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well, i think there's no doubt that those who are suggesting or proposaling ing o beating the drums of war should explain clearly to the american people what they think the costs and benefits would be. i'm not one of those people. because what i've said is we have a window through which we can resolve this issue peacefully. this notion that somehow we have a choice to make in the next week or two weeks or month or two months, is not -- what's said on the campaign trail, you know, those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. they're not commander in chief. and when i see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, i'm reminded of the costs involved in war.

this is not a game. and there's nothing casual about it. and, you know, when i see some of these folks who have a lot of bluster and a lot of big talk but when you actually ask them specifically what they would do, it turns out they repeat the things that we've been doing over the last three years. and that indicates to me that's more about politics than actually trying to solve a difficult problem. >> hey, welcome back to "morning joe." chris matthews, high drama yesterday in the white house press room. as you said yesterday, it was almost -- it was like out of a movie. the american president. or was that you? or who was that? >> andrea. >> maybe it was andrea. >> i think it was. what a memory. it was a good press conference. and i think it was a tough situation in iran. who knows all the people and

what b.b. knows. and i think it's the toughest thing in the world politically to do it in the middle of a presidential campaign and be able to handle this thing and still come off with dignity and in control of american -- we have three interests over there. our interests, the interest of our allies, including e ining i. and the role we've played since '48, which is peacemaker over there. we've got to keep that hat on. and what discouraged me about romney the other day. he starts talking about the palestinians as the bad guys. they're not the bad guys, they live there. >> 1979, 1980, obviously the hostage crisis was going on. teddy kennedy made the mistake of stepping out, criticizing jimmy carter on iran and the backlash was immediate. >> that was carter's great strength. carter was in charge of that situation. the american people had the yellow ribbons around the trees. everybody's rooting until it

became a point that he didn't have a plan. and it was a horror. >> mark haleprin? >> see if nicolle agrees with me on this. but i saw in the president's performance yesterday something very reminiscent of our other post 9/11 president. dealing with these wars overseas, going after al qaeda. i thought president obama's attitude much like president bush's about howard dean, john kerry, these guys are out playing politics, i've got real responsibilities, i know what it's like to be commander in chief. really displaying in public what he feels in private, which is i'm doing my job as commander in chief. i'll use it politically when i can, but these guys are not taking seriously the responsibilities of a job they aspire to and could be in within a year if they win. >> i agree with mark and i agree with andrea mitchell. he wants to be the president in the "american president" and

said i am the president. my, what a difference four years makes. obama ran against hillary clinton as a guy extending an open hand to iran. and if that wasn't a closed fist pounding that -- you know, the regime for their irresponsible and reckless behavior, i don't know what is. so i think a lot of republicans were heartened by the speech on sunday and the comments yesterday. but it's amazing how different it is to run for president as president when you're facing a choice, you know, two difficult choices, which is what george w. bush faced. it wasn't he didn't do the things he did because there was a good choice on the one hand and a bad choice on the left. >> george w. bush will never say it. but i know george w. bush probably was smiling yesterday at that press conference going -- >> and sunday with the speech where he came out against containment. >> and cheney, as well, going i remember what candidate obama said four years ago and he's

sounding a lot like candidate romney right now. and it's a lot different, tom, when you're in barack obama's position or george w.'s position four years ago, and the war may be on the brink of having a nuclear iran. and you've got to be responsible. >> you've got to be presidential. and he's learning to be more presidential in these very difficult circumstances. also, as i was watching him yesterday, his choice of words, he was measured. he was self-confident in how he portrayed himself. and he talked about the costs of war. you contrast that against the bombast we've been hearing at both the convention and a lot of the debates. there are a lot of people out there, republicans as well as especially independents who are longing for a more tempered debate about these big issues and let us work our way through them. they're living in communities where kids are coming back with either broken bodies or in body bags or emotionally disturbed. and there's a kind of war

exhaustion in this country. >> there is an exhaustion, chris, and you can look at the new nbc news "wall street journal" poll. a lot of americans don't want to go to a third war. let me ask you, though, how do you sort through this as an analyst? because we talked yesterday on "hardball" about the missile gaffe that kennedy made in 1960. we were at the height of the cold war. this was a dangerous thing to do, but this is what candidates who want to be president do all the time. how do we sort through when it's something like that and it's something like mitt romney said, we're in the middle of a -- when is it just politics and when is it just irresponsible? >> politicians can make the applause line. the chain reactions that kennedy had to deal with in terms of the cuban missile crisis. khrushchev said if he had two left, he would've hit new york with them.

khrushchev wasn't thinking in his deliberations was, hey, if you hit new york, do you think any american president left, right, or center wouldn't have had to throw everything we had at the soviet union and its countries, satellite countries? that would have been armageddon, and we were so close back then. but obama must be thinking, is there anything worse than a nuclear iran? first thing you have to say, is there anything worse? there might be other things worse than that. of course he's not going to let them have a nuclear weapon, but he has to think about the possibilities. hezbollah could be unleashed up and down the americas right now. he'd have to be prepared for that the minute he strikes. he has to think about the consequences which will occur the day after we strike if we go first or part of an israeli attack. >> i forgot who asked him. somebody asked the president recently, what keeps you awake at night? he wouldn't answer. he finally said, okay, you want to know? pakistan. a nuclear pakistan. he understands what a nuclear

iran's going to mean to them. it's going to be worse than a nuclear pakistan. >> i don't know if you've heard this story. dr. brzezinski told this story talking about how close we got to -- how close we were. he said he had a phone call, he got that 3:00 a.m. phone call. he was at his house while his family was asleep and they said, dr. brzezinski, the soviets just fired missiles at the united states. you've got three minutes to figure out what the response is. and he hung up the phone and said he sat there, wasn't going to wake his wife up or his three kids because he knew they'd all be dead in 30 minutes. and he picked up the phone and called back and he said he decided. we're going to die. and he said there was a piece about him he said they're going to die too. picked up the phone, called back the white house and was told by a general it was a false alarm.

>> yep. >> it was a false alarm. >> i'm not sure how i feel about that. i don't think it does much good. >> the thing is, though, that's what, you know. that's the high stakes that we went through that you guys -- >> and that's why we elect our presidents and that's why the president of the united states is uniquely the commander in chief. he isn't just the guy on top of the military, he is the top of the military. it's the genius of our constitution. i wish these guys would fight about this instead of contraception. >> yeah, exactly. >> let's circle back to the politics for a moment. i said on the air last night and heard repeated again today from a political point of view. sunday was a missed opportunity for governor romney to talk in an elevated way in a kind of global view about what's at stake here. and not give up any of his determination to be a strong commander in chief and to raise the alarm about what's going on in iran. but to say the prime minister of israel is meeting at this moment

with the president of the united states, there's things going on i'm not aware of. so i'm not prepared to get involved in their negotiation. >> that's probably more romney's dna to bring it back to what we were talking about earlier. he needs to trust his instincts. i think what obama did on sunday was very strong and if it hadn't been, he'd be getting killed from the right. >> thank you very much. >> and stay out of our elections. >> "jack kennedy elusive hero." we're looking forward to your upcoming biography on benjamin netanyahu. coming up, christie hefner in the green room. "morning joe" will be right back. turn left.

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hey, with us now, we've got former chairman and ceo of "playboy" christie hefner. we were talking about barack obama and the fact that he basically, is it safe to say, on iran at least, he embraced the bush doctrine, preemptive strike. this is not about containment. we're going to do what it takes to stop iran from getting nuclear wes. how would that have worked four years ago with progressives? and is there a growing concern among the progressive base that this is a very hawkish president? >> well, i definitely think he's demonstrated his street cred in terms of being forceful, but i think there's a difference with the bush doctrine, because there's been the iron fist and velvet glove approach in that the significant effort and i think progress made around a multilateral approach whether that was to libya or

whether that's with regard to the pressure that's being put on on sort of rogue nations, including countries like china and russia that have not historically been brought to the table. i didn't see that part of the strategy. >> not now on iran. but when you look at syria, it seems that they are looking to stand strong, but also to not act unilaterally. >> nicole? >> i think when wen get to the general election, the debate over policy will be the most interesting to watch. you have john mccain on the floor of the senate this week or the end of last week calling for more aggressive posture on syria. you have romney giving a speech on iran on policy level. it's a very thin slice where he was drawing a distinction. obama did come out against

containment. obama did come out and say it was unacceptable. it's not just an iraqi interest. that's in the interest of their neighbors. >> right. and you have, of course, now romney packs going in several nations. in troops in afghanistan. it's still pretty hard. >> and that's the case that romney makes. what will the progressive reaction be? this could be an interesting dynamic between the center left and the far left for obama and the general election. >> i don't think there's a risk that the progressive part of the democratic party is going to feel that this president doesn't represent them or that they have some place else to go, because on many of the issues, both tax cuts, social policy and also foreign policy the entire republican field is manned and the contrast is going to be there.

so i think the issue is more like group with independents, where if the president is not strong on foreign policy, in a dangerous world could be appealed to. and that's not going to be an avenue open to romney. >> well, i think -- what fascinates me about this discussion, by the way, is the change in american life. we have two strong articulate women plugged in to matters. and this is an observation from the field a little bit. that wouldn't have happened that we had in kind of discussion. you're in the senior position. you leading the democratic party. it leads to another point. the role that american women will make this fall. and it struck me when it comes to national security matters and

going to war, not going to war. that resonates in that gender in a way that doesn't resonate with males. >> i don't think it's helpful. whn you see an 18-point gender gap in the latest poll between romney and obama, it's not good. it's principally driven between what goes on between contraception and the comments rush hymn baa made and romney's unwillingness to confront that and all the anti-abortion bills being introduced. when it comes front and scepter, as in nicole's point, i think that's going to further concern women, which may further contribute to a gender gap. if it sustains itself will make it difficult, along with a latino gap for a republican to win. >> we have a lot more. [ jennifer garner ] there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there.

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tonight we're going some counting. the delegates for the convention, looks good. and we're counting down the days until november, and that looks better. >> this was a big night. lots of states. we're going to win a few. we're going to lose a few. as it looks right now, we're going to get at least a couple of gold medals and a whole

passel full of silver medals. >> tomorrow we'll bring another chapter in the race for the nomination. it's more than a chapter in the race for the nomination. it's a chapter to fight for the soul of the republican party. it's a chapter in the fight for the very nature of america. i believe that i am the one candidate who has the ability to debate barack obama decisively. romney, santorum and gingrich, each putting their spin on how they did in last night's super tuesday races. the state everyone was watching, though, ohio. at around 12:30 eastern time this morning, nbc news called romney the apparent winner in a one-point close shave over santorum. we'll explain what that means. it remains the apparent category

because ohio averages 3%. even when at 99% reporting. then just before 4:00 a.m. eastern time, nbc news declared romney the projected winner in alaska's republican caucus. romney also won big in the idaho caucuses, and he took massachusetts, vermont and virginia rick santorum countered last night. he also won the north dakota kau cushions the former house speaker is vowing to fight on with primaries in alabama and mississippi. in all, mitt romney picked up 204 delegates last night. nearly half of the total number at stake. they moved to second place just ahead of santorum in the overall count. back with us onset, we have mark

mackinnon and in washington mark halburn. >> a late night. it was a late finish for mitt romney at around 11:00. you looked a the map, and you could say at 11:00 when a lot of america was going to sleep, the only state that mitt romney won outside his home state that was contested was massachusetts. he went with virginia, which really wasn't contested. and vermont. but look what happened by the end of the night. ohio falls into its column. and let's go back and remember what rick santorum said. a win is a win. and a win is a win. so mitt romney can say i won michigan. i won ohio. you put virginia in the column. won alaska, won idaho. by the end of the night, in about three hours time, mark mackinnon, this night went from a very, very disappointing night for mitt romney to a night where

he could say, i win the most states. i got the most votes, and most importantly, i brought in the most delegates. >> you can. romney got the most delegates. i hi think was the inspiration for game change. what it takes. it's often bloodless, but he gets it done. >> mark, you know there was a point around 10:30, 10:45 wrrks the romney people were just holding on for dear life. with the ohio results coming in they thought they were breaking their ways. but it would have been heart for them to spin an ohio loss last night. wouldn't it? >> assuming the win holds up, if romney lost ohio, then you could

paint a number of scenarios where santorum would have a chance to do real damage. now there's one scenario, which is romney being shut out of the upcoming contest and losing them all. his performance leads him in a more commanding position. he's still vulnerable. the next four major contests are ones he'll be hard pressed to get a "w" in any of them. >> and mika, the banner says it right. now we move to alabama where mitt romney will lose. mississippi, where mitt romney will lose. louisiana, where mitt romney will lose. you can go down the list. you look at next week's contests. he has a chance to win in illinois. but chances are good he's going to get bounced around really hard over the next few weeks. >> the flip side will be the hope. i was talking to people close to the romney campaign.

they were sweating it. it was not pretty. they did not know which way it would go. that was not the way they wanted it to go down. >> true. but it ended well for them. i was amazed last night, this morning, the unwillingness of republicans and members of the press to grand mitt romney a victory. they put an asterisk next to everything he did. massachusetts, of course he won. virginia, nobody else was running. idaho, a lot of mormons. everything he did, until ohio, ohio was the big point. we should say what happened, is that mitt romney won the night. >> he won the night. and again at 11:00 last night, when most americans were going to sleep it looked bleak. but you know, through the night, people say how long does it take for you to prep for the show? not long at all. it's 24 hours. alarm goes off at 12:30. i see the breaking news that he has won ohio. then the alarm goes off. at 2:00 in the morning he wins

idaho. at 3:30 he wins alaska. mitt romney is a late night creature. right? what's the line? i crawl through these suburban streets. win votes. a guy who is less of a late night creature. but last night he was. >> if people watching last night, what we were seeing last night, they say you were saying that things were terrible. they were. this guy had a great -- my mom always said, she always said, willie. nothing good ever happens after midnight. that's just not the case for mitt romney. >> no. i will disagree. >> it's not the case for me either. >> i'm not sure i want to know more. >> there's no question. we have to hold ourselves to the standards that we hold ourselves to. the appropriate standards. we've been saying for a few days, ohio matters above all on

this day. and the truth is, rick santorum won states he was supposed to win. he should have won tennessee. he should have won oklahoma. if he had not won there, it would have been an embarrassment for him. and the question we said all along. he won virginia and massachusetts. it was a huge contested state that know one knew who would win. mitt romney won the state. and we can't back off now. but think about this it's so fascinating. santorum's people, you know what, you media people have been focusing on these social issues. and it's just not been fair. the people at the end of the day focus on rick's great -- you know what they're going to say. look where he won. he won in oklahoma, right? and he won in tennessee. and he won in states where swing

veters were not offended by all of the things he said about throwing up on his sweater, et cetera, et cetera. he lost ohio. a state that just a week ago he had a seven, eight point lead. what he says matters. >> they took a look over there and said, that's just not happening. >> and that's what concerns you and a lot of good republicans moving forward, isn't it? what happens in general elections? >> absolutely. you have to look at the best general election candidate. even in ohio, in party is still very much there you have him winning tea party voters, people

without college degrees. people earning less than $100,000 a year. the grass roots, populous down skill coalition in a big swing state with rick santorum. mitt romney has not made end routes. he's not making end roads into what is the core of the republican coalition. and as mark said, at the time in 2008 when barack obama stashted to say the math is on our side, they were looking at a series of contests they were going to win. rick santorum has the call der on his side for the next few weeks. >> because of as you said and mark said, mississippi, alabama you then have a situation where it's possible. not today. it's possible but then a one-on-one race is a different kettle of fish where the conservative vote has been split.

>> you now have santorum people doing the gingrich what gingrich was doing to santorum when santorum was winning more races. gingrich has more delegates then rick santorum. he's not getting out of the race. i would be surprised if alabama didn't lean newt's way. >> the path ahead looks good. did not look like a guy ready to get out of the race. >> i have to say, the guy looked like he was having a great time. he wasn't angry. he was joking. he had a couple of those classic newt moments where people at home go, yeah, that makes sense. where he was talking about

taking the can of algae to the gas station. that paints your opponent as left wing pointy politicians from harvard. that's what newt is good at. i thought gingrich, he went a long time, but i think he did pretty well. >> i thought he did. i thought santorum did well, too. there's a real open question, i think. also in kansas and missouri. who can drive a message. no debates on the schedule still. working to romney's benefit, as strong as he's been in the debates. gingrich was entertaining. i didn't see him driving a message. what his his message to take down romney? we talked yesterday about health care. one danger is can his opponent, whether gingrich and santorum or just santorum get back to the

contrast we thought would come, which is real tough on trromney care. i didn't hear either of them have a clean, clear message to drive to their advantage. >> i didn't hear one with romney either, except let's go to war with iran. i would be careful with that. it's not me. i think it's people that know more about this than i do. talking about going to war with iran is probably not in place. i heard him in nevada. >> a southern man, don't need him around. anyway. >> i'm from the south. >> stop. >> south new hampshire. >> if you're going to do it

romney style, you have to intersperse your own commentary. do you remember this line? >> oh, i think it's cute. >> he'll remember. he sang that really good song "old man." >> we'll figure out what song he sings. hey there, joe, we got to go. me oh my oh. do that in louisiana. >> the unfortunate son. >> all right. the polling in ohio. here's how it breaks down in terms of the candidate's strengths and weaknesses. 51% of ohio republicans said mitt romney had the best chance of beating president obama in november. that's important. less than half that number said santorum with was the stronger candidate. the economy was the top concern for a majority of the state republican voters. 26% said the deficit was the

issue. voters backed romney by an eight-point margin. gingrich won 18%. and ron paul was in the single digits. but romney struggled in other areas with 40% of ohio republicans saying the former massachusetts governor wasn't conservative enough. conservative got the most support from conservative support eers. as well as from evangelicals. >> do these things at the end of the day, mark, matter? >> yeah, they do. >> do they matter? >> well, barack obama and mitt romney end up against each other. doesn't everybody come home? >> yeah. and when he gets on the stage in september, presuming he does the nomination speech you know, you look at the pry and what happened to independent voters, what happened to hispanic voters and with women over the next couple of weeks, there's a lot

of damage that needs to be prepared. >> did you see the hispanic voters? >> 14% supporting mitt romney. and that number has to be like 40%. so that's how much work has to be done with hispanics. >> that was the strike. 14% for gingrich. so there's 14% of republican hispanics who are not going anywhere. but all the the rest are now on barack obama's side. >> cannot win a presidency. >> it's not like the bushes and karl roves didn't warn republicans, let's see, 15 years ago. >> we've been talking about this a long time. >> when we come back, republican consultant mike murphy joins us onset. also nbc news chief foreign affairs consultant is here. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> yesterday we saw a beautiful day from chicago through all of the middle of the country, all the way down to texas today.

lunch outdoors for everyone in the east. after a chilly day, the warmth is returning. high pressure is pumping the sotherly winds. look at the 24-hour temperature change from chicago to minneapolis and boston. we're much warmer at this hour than we were today. right now temperatures soaring. we're already at 61 at this hour in kansas city. the warm air is going to push today into the east. look at the warm up in d.c. into the mid 60s. new york city, close to 60 degrees. still snow on the ground. only in the 50s in many areas of new england. it could be near 70 in washington, d.c. you know with temperatures like that, the cherry blossoms will start to swell up. some rain in the middle of the country tonight and tomorrow. [ male announcer ] let's level the playing field.

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remember when it was michele bachma bachmann? then our good friend herman cain the first time? then for a brief moment it's donald trump almost. then it was our good friend rick perry. then it was herman cain the second time. and now it's santorum. and you just can't quite get across to them. it's all right. there's lots of bunny rabbits that run through. i'm the tortoise.

the drawn out battle goes on as the "washington post" puts it. there's the results. there's tennessee. joining us now, chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of andrea mitchell reports, andrea mitchell, along with republican political consultant, nbc news political analyst, the columnist for "time" magazine, mike murphy. >> a lot of titles. >> yeah. we asked nicole, who obviously knows a thing or two about running campaigns. how romney is doing. and he's winning ugly, but he's winning. are we getting to a point where we're starting to have some -- as republicans, some respect for this guy? and let's face it. nobody wanted -- >> oh. so sad. >> he's grinding it out. the question is the cost of this. time money and image.

he's winning that. last night he got more. he's still ahead. he's winning the delegate war to win the nomination. the other level is the story of it all. >> but he ended up winning ohio. a win is a win is a win. but next week, alabama, a loss for romney. mississippi, a loss for romney. louisiana, a loss for romney. kansas, possibly a loss for romney. he's got some tough -- >> the narrative. although it's only about the two southern states. it's going to be bumpy. he has a bit better chance than mississippi. kansas will be hard. alabama, really hard. and the question, do they do anything decides different tactics? the message they they're pointing out is choices and illusion. it doesn't help the narrative battle.

and i think they got to step back. and say what are we going to do to change up the recipe here? >> and what sector of voters are they losing along the way as the battle draws on? >> not only did he look at the the exit polls from ohio, he cannot reach out, he cannot be embraced by evangelicals and real conservatives, by the religious right, as well as blue collar voters. but he's losing independents, losing the very people he's going to need in the fall. i think he is grinding it out. the persona is not someone that is really easily accessible. . it's not someone that is respected by voters. that he has not taken the opportunity. why didn't he stand up against rush limbaugh?

that was really costful for him. >> the other thick is it's not fully litigated. they change their mind in 30 days. 2-1 for obama in 2008. 2-1, republican in 2010. five months ago, they hit obama. now they're mad at romney. i think there's a convention reset for romney. this is still a republican primary. we have to be careful about saying he's not going to get the general election. this and that. romney is different than obama. he's a results guy. hees never going to outsocial conservative rick santorum. can't be done. the can draw up more presidential, less of a smiling salesman, more of a leader. >> what is the message? >> i'm going to make your life better by fixing the economy and i can beat obama. >> nicole?

>> he that has to stop trying so hard to pick a message. he has to pull back the curtain and be someone we want to be led by. that can't be scripted in a message meeting. that can't be hashed out on story boards with the next line of attack. that has to be pull back the curtain and sit down and talk. you like what you see. to do that, the campaign has to stop fearing the kand za. >> as the romney people remind me every day. i've been as tougher on mitt romney as anybody. but strip away everything about about mitt romney. what is he at his core? what has he been his entire life? he's a turn around fwi. he turned around businesses. he turned around staples. he turned around the 2002 olympics. he turped around massachusetts.

>> but why does he turn things around? who he is is an optimist. i heard undertones of genuine optimism. he definitely is someone who believes the reagan vision of our best days are ahead of us. a lot of politicians have to be handed the line. romney believes it. that's why he's able to turn things around. as long as his campaign is afraid of the gaffe a day, which is what they see in the 24 hours news cycle. voters don't turn on one day of cable news and make up their mind. he has the space to be human. they don't believe he does. >> it's also scripted moments. you had the leadership contrast. republican nominee, front-runner mitt romney versus the president of the united states. look at what we saw there. he was talking about i will

launch multiple carriers. what is he talking about? that is not a credible moment. >> and no. the president fought back. here's the president. i think he got got a really good moment out of this. whether he needed it or not. here's president obama respondin responding. >> what's said on the campaign trail, you know, those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. they're not commander in chief. when i see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, i'm reminded of the costs involved in war. this is not a game ch there's nothing casual about it. when i see some of these folks who have a lot of bluster and a lot of big talk, but when you ask them specifically what they would do, it turns out they repeat the things we've been doing over the last three years. it indicates to me that that's

more about politics than trying to solve a difficult problem. >> mike murphy, isn't the president absolutely right? >> well, i'm a critic of him on iran. it's a politics to a war weary nation. >> what he just said, though? >> that's the argument. it's good politics. what they are afraid of is confusion on the bad side. the president said we're not going to accept containment. we're not going to be preempted. he's implying a third is not sketched out. i get the politics of that. on a foreign policy point of view, i criticize it. i'm a big fan. hoe could be a great president and big decision maker. stop being a marketer who is afraid of the voeers. take off and be a president who leads voters.

>> was he overcalculated? was he the bain capital guy? >> we had a general election, not a primary. people wanted demolition team, not a repairman. he is what he is. we ran on the mr. fix it. clean up the mess. be good help. i get results. he was in a suit he was straight up, i'm a grown-up. it worked in a highly democratic state. it worked. he can distance hymn from santorum, who is, frankly, from a general election point of view to the social wing of the party. god love him, if they get the nominee, it's a fair system. we're litigated in the general election, see what happens. you know, we might have to have the science experiment for the party.

he gets results. >> so you see barack obama talking about being the president, not running for president. somewhere in the suburbs of dallas, texas, there's a guy watching sports center chuckling to himself. going, huh. whoi tnt you say that 40 years ago, barack? hooe definitely not watching this. look, i think that the republican establishment that cares about foreign policy that st waiting if the general election for a thoughtful debate to play out on the issues that matter. not contraception. not all these things that make you think you woke hup in 1962. for the real policy debate to go on, obama has now completely transformed himself from a guy who ran against hillary clinton in the primary.

he was all about the open fist. he really believed there was a party that he could negotiate with and work with. now you have john mccain coming around. i think romney missed an opportunity. i thought it was a great moment and maybe as a woman who feels more the emotion of politics, i felt for obama yesterday in the press conference. i thought he took a lot out after saying i am the president. it hay be political showmanship, but i think it works. i think romney's instinct is to be presidential. he missed an opportunity to say on iran, i agree with romney. i think romney has to resist the urge to make thing politicals. he seems to be missing the moment and the message.

>> yeah. you know, what i wonder about is we talk about president obama, hillary clinton and the way they came together endorsed him, seconded him. there's so much opposition to president obama out there, whoever becomes the nominee has a 50/50 chance of being the president of the united states. do you see santorum and gingrich all falling behind? >> they will serve the interests chrks is the republican cost, but there's no love lost. if we look at the actual vote for politicians, i got in trouble once for saying hillary clinton might have voted for john mccain. by the way, for all the people behind me booing, none of them were ever politicians that ran a nasty primary fight. i know a lot of primary politicians that don't vote for

their party you try to get some credit. >> and as you know, and as we all know, these primariesing mo primaries become more nasty. they exaggerate the differences. >> and the staff emply fis it. mike murphy, thank you so much. sfwl it's gret to have you here. >> much more "morning joe" in just a moment. turn left. the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick.

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we're going to take a break from politics. >> let's do that. >> there's big news out there. peyton manning. >> so cute. >> is he? >> yeah. >> so cute. >> you don't think he's coming to washington, do you? >> he may. i wouldn't put it past the redskins to make the splash. maybe they learned their lesson with mcnab.

peyton manning is parting ways with the indianapolis colts where he spent all 14 years of his career. won the starting job as a rookie in 1998. took the colts to the playoffs 11 times. seven division titles in a year. a super bowl mvp. the list goes on and on. he didn't play at all last season, as you know. he had surgery to fuse a vertebrae in his neck. he's going to be 36 in a couple of weeks. would have been owed $28 million in bonus money had the colts not decided to let him go by tomorrow. that puts him in a position to draft a successor. a lot of people think it will be luck. things look good betweenm mannig and herzag. >> we're good. we're going to talk tomorrow. do it the right way tomorrow.

>> things are all good between them. it looks like an clean split. >> he's been working out. his daughters cleared him to play. when you turn 36 years old and you've been hurt in a serious way like that, to take the hits is a difficult thing. he was great. he played well. as long as he was in the game, he was well. he physically couldn't play last year. so a bad team. a second tier team would be smart to pick up peyton manning. >> part of me really wants to. he's fantastic. he's peyton manning. you really want someone young and healthy. >> it's the end of his career. so this worked two ways for the colts. they don't have to pay peyton manning the money. the other side, they get this once in a generation andrew luck.

>> it could be griffin, the heisman trophy winner. >> that guy is amazing. up next, christi heffner rejoins the conversation.

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when he was campaigning president obama said he would create jobs, but for 36 straight months unemployment has been above 8%. these days you're the president of a team they keep telling us that things are are getting better. but 24 million americans are still struggling for work. they're high fiving each other in the west wing. but my friends, the truth is, 8 #% unemployment is not the best america can do. it's just the best that this administration can do. >> such a good political line. >> it is. it is. but it's a long road ahead when it come os unemployment

situation. welcome back to "morning joe." we we have cnbc's brian sullivan along with us. >> he's a troublemaker. >> he does have a new jobs report out. you can talk about it, take it away. >> i know you had a hard time physicaling asleep thinking about this number. 216,000. right around expectations. it's like the romney sound bite you just talked about. it's a good number. wasn't a great number. we saw gains on services and goods producing manufacturing. i don't know. we've had a good run the past couple of months. still it. it didn't collapse. that's the big deal. >> chrissy, is the economy getting better? >> yeah, and the there are three things that help obama in this regard. you have 22 months of private job growth. they're going to run on that record. two, you have now almost 60% of americans saying they think the worst is behind us.

so you have a shift in terms of the mood. that's critical. but the third factor, i think, is that romney's tax plan, which gives $240,000 break to the 1% plays into a backdrop in which people feel like he's not going to care about them. and i think those three things will make it a better campaign season. >> hey, brian, if there's one thing we know can lift the american economy, it's apple. >> yes. give us a sugar high. >> is it made of glass? >> it could be made of solid gold. they're expected to release the ipad 3 today. you know, one of the super secretive events where they come on stage and do the big unveil. that's the news, if you will. google is launching their own music app and bookstore called play. it's not getting a lot of play in the media because apple dominates the media.

christi knows this. we've talked in the past. the government doesn't create jobs. right. there's hundreds of thousands of jobs yeated by the application development, which didn't exist. that entire industry didn't exist five years ago. and this whole tax thing, whatever, we have to find a way to get private sector more involved in everything. the government can hire people, but they're not going to be creating a lot of new jobs and creating entirely new economies the way that apple has. i'm just saying. >> you preach it, baby. >> obviously i agree with you that the government doesn't create jobs. if you're going to run against government when the private sector is creating jobs, it's tougher. and there is an investment in education and training. i spent last week in singapore. their corporate tax rate is less than half of ours. their income tax rate is to the

average citizen about 10%. singapore's unemployment rate is 2%. booming. >> and one thing the president is still facing is resistance from the banking sector in wall street. he went to the business round table and spoke to them in washington. such a tepid response. they don't like the regulations. they don't like dodd frank. you can say the american people are with the president and not with the big business guys, but that's going to cost him in terms of support and money down the road. >> i don't think he'll mind running against big banks and wall street. brian sullivan, thank you. >> he has a touch. >> hi does have an edge. they call him the most dpaangers man on cnbc. who would believe a man on cnbc would come out and talk about lowering the corporate tax rate.

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he's appeared without a tie. without a jacket. looking very casual. he's clearly looking to connect with blue collar folks. >> yeah, everyone is getting all relaxed and average, okay.

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didn't you ask her about national security? foreign policy? domestic policy? >> i thought it would cover that. >> so what did you ask her? >> i just talked about if she would back john's positions when they conflicted with hers or if she was prepared if r a life change? there were no policy questions? >> you didn't grill her because you wanted to do her. >> i was in charge of the vet, nicole. >> that's a bad day.

that's a bad day, steve. >> you didn't even ask her? what's wrong with you? >> they thought she was christi. that's it right there. >> by the way, it's so funny. they all come away. lawrence o'donnell with stars in his eyes. alec bball win. she did it to you, too. >> we gutted her very badly. i learned the movies premier on saturday night. i think both of you are orchestrated pretty well. >> whenever you're played by someone prettier than you and skinnier than you, you're for it. >> oh, come on. steve, thank you. we have you guys talking next week. >> we will. absolutely. >>