i'm all for mitt romney -- i'm for everybody getting out. i wish president obama would just hand me the thing. but that's not going to happen. >> but can romney cure his southern discomfort? as republicans start battling for the bible belt, joe biden weighs in. >> i kind of look through all their personal squabbling and their characteristics and their personalities and look at what they're saying. and there's no fundamental difference. >> plus, today is international women's day. michelle obama and hillary clinton team up to salute women of courage. >> to all of those who are oppressed and abused and left out and left behind, they are saying, i am standing with you. i am fighting for you. you are not alone. and today's agents of change in our women in the world series, from the uk, sarah brown, leader on women's education and the white ribbon alliance. and path breaker and philanthropist, deann. plus, the leader of the arab

spring, dahlia jiada. that is if that massive solar flare hurling toward earth doesn't hit us first. but we're still here. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. in our daily fix today, mitt romney winning the delegate math. so why can't he get respect? the romney campaign argues that the race is over. but southern states lie ahead. and romney's rivals are not letting up. chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com and joins us now for our daily fission. what about the fact that mitt romney did win super tuesday, such as it was. he's got the delegates, certainly the delegate momentum on his side. but take a look at what rick santorum had to say, responding to the sort of active god moment, where romney said that it's just not even possible for them to catch up. >> what won't they resort to, to try to bully their way through this race? you know, if the governor thinks

he's going -- he's now ordained by god to win, then let's just have it out. >> is mitt romney correct that it would take an act of god for either of the other two to pass him and be able to cinch this nomination? >> i don't want to say "act of god," don't want to get into that whole religious piece of it, andrea, but, yes, he is right to say that barring a major, major collapse on his part, he is going to be the nominee. he's the only one with a reasonable path to that 1,144 dealt numb delegate number. the problem for mitt romney, though, is andrea, if you're a voter in kz or louisiana or any of these states that are coming up, the argument of, vote for me because i'm the only one that can get the delegates to be the nominee is not exactly persuasive or compelling. so, you know, mitt romney has to find a better, positive message. because i do think that though everything i just said is true

about the sort of impregnability of his delegate lead, if you're the front-runner, you can't go a month without winning any contest. and that's the kind of push-and-pull that mitt romney and his strategic team, i think, are facing right now. >> and as they gathered in boston yesterday and tried to come up with a new message, how do they lift themselves out of this? it's hardly inspiring to say, well, we've got more delegates and we're marching toward tampa here with the math on our side. >> i think what they do is that -- first of all, i do think that he has to win in some places. whether that's hawaii, whether that's illinois on march 20th, puerto rico on march 18th, he has to find some wins. that's one part of it. he can't get shut out. the other part of it, and i think what you saw him do during his victory speech on tuesday night, what you saw in a memo released by his campaign that you referenced earlier is, focus on obama. act as though the race is over.

don't talk about your rivals. focus on president obama, the economy. i talked to mark mckinnon, who i know was on your show yesterday, andrea, and i asked him what romney should do going forward. and he said, number one, obama. number two, obama. number three, obama. that seems to be the consensus wisdom. act like the race is over, even though it's not yet over. >> not yet over, and at least try to focus on the general election. chris cillizza, thanks. see you later today. the romney campaign is trying to find its message, find a message more inspiring than just the delegate math, while signaling to the rivals, get out of the way. this after super tuesday victories still made mitt romney the rodney dangerfield of politics. willie geist described it this way on the morning after. >> i was amazed the unwillingness of many republicans and even some members of the press to grant mitt romney a victory. they put an asterisk next to everything he did. massachusetts, of course he won.

vermont, of course he won. virginia, there was nobody else running there. idaho, well, there were a lot of mormons running out there. everything he did until ohio. ohio was the big one. i think we should say what happened last night, which is that mitt romney won the night. >> republican ohio senator rob portman is a strong romney backer and joins us. are you a little frustrated by him being the asterisk candidate? or is he satisfied to be if asterisk candidate all the way through tampa, as long as he's the nominee? >> well, i think most important is that he win and that he go on in the fall and beat president obama. i agree with willie, though, he had a good night on super tuesday. he won republicans by eight points in ohio. as you know, he won republicans in michigan. and he would have won in double digits in virginia based on the exit polling, even if newt gingrich and rick santorum has been in the race. so you think about it, andrea, in these key states, battleground states that are going to make the difference in the fall, he's doing very well. he may not do as well in alabama or kansas, frankly those states are likely to be in the republican column no matter what and people will be energized. so i think he had a very good

night. and i think the delegate count is what it is. he's got four times as many delegates as newt gingrich, more than twice as many as rick santorum, and i think he is going to be our nominee. >> but, senator, what do you do about what voters tell us in the exit polls, that mitt romney has not been able to expand his support. in fact, he's lost support in the last seven primaries, among conservatives, among tea party supporters. among others who are the backbone of the republican party in the fall campaign, as well as among independents. >> well, first of all, those folks will be energized and enthusiastic, and all the polling is showing that. in fact, more enthusiastic than the democrat's base. but he did do well, andrea. he won among tea party folks in ohio, for instance. i know the state pretty well, and those folks are concerned about the same things that mitt romney talked about. he does have a good message for those folks, which is about smaller, more responsive government. about getting the debt and deficit under control, and about the economy, which is a huge issue to them. the size and scope of government is something he talks about all the time. so i think he's got a good message and he needs to just

continue to do what he's doing, and we'll go into the convention with, you know, a lot of spirited debate and so on. but at the end of the process, we're going to come out unified as a party. and i think these voters in places like ohio and around the country who are on the republican side are going to be very unified and enthusiastic. and then a lot of independent voters are also going to be looking for a change and a better economy and, you know, someone who's willing to lead. >> speaking of message, the pro-santorum super pac has a new message. this is a new ad out, really hitting mitt romney on health care. take a look. >> how can mitt romney or newt gingrich be barack obama, when on the vital decisions, they're not much different? mitt created romney care, the blueprint for obama care. and just like obama, romney left massachusetts $1 billion in debt. who can win? rick santorum! >> so, santorum's going back up on the air. he obviously still has support from his super pac supporters. >> yep.

well, it's an interesting message, here you have governor romney making it very clear that the first day he's in office, he's going to issue a waiver to all the state and that he strongly supports repeal of obama care. and then you have obama who will be defending obama care. i don't think that's a logical argument. i think there will be other differences between the candidates moving forward, but at the end of the day, i think this is going to be about a very sharp contrast between who the republican candidate is, who will be mitt romney in my view. and in states like ohio are going to have real choice to make. and i think mitt romney will be a very effective candidate. i really think he's got the right policy positions, but he's also got the ability to attract some of these suburban voter who is last time around, in states like ohio, went with president obama. >> if it would take an act of

god, as was suggested by the romney folks, an act of god for santorum or newt gingrich to come up with the numbers of delegates needed to catch up and pass him by, in time for tampa, what do you say to them? are they hurting the party? are they hurting mitt romney's chances in the fall, and the republican chances in the fall if he's the nominee? and why should they get out of the race? >> well, i think more and more republicans are looking to coalesce around a candidate. it's going to be mitt romney. again, he's got the right message and he's shown support all across the country, whether it's in virginia or ohio, as we saw on super tuesday. certainly, you know, in his own home state of massachusetts, to get over 70% of the vote is a strong indication of his support back home by folks who know him best. so i do think it's time for us to begin to coalesce, and to focus on the fall, and frankly, to focus on the distinctions between president obama and the republicans. but on the other hand, with the super pacs as you indicated

earlier, i imagine that both newt gingrich and rick santorum will continue for a while. that's just the way it is these days. they have the funding to do it, and i'm not sure there's an incentive for them to get out. >> and, finally, just briefly, before i elet you go, i know you're one of the key foreign policy armed services members in the senate. the ayatollah khomeini has responded to the president saying that there is a window of diplomacy on iran. this is a pretty unusual response. iran has now agreed to go back to the negotiating table. does this make you want to rethink mitt romney's very strong criticism of the president's policies? isn't it possible that the president's policy could actually work and that there might be a negotiating strategy that might push iran back from the brink? and we might not have to actually resort to military force? >> well, nobody wants to resort to military force. and, you know, the problem with the iranians, as you know, andrea, is a matter of trust.

and you've followed foreign affairs for a long time. they have made these overtures before and then they haven't followed through. so should we talk? of course, we should. and by the way, we did during the bush administration, we have during the obama administration, but the issue is whether you can trust them. and whether these talks are simply allowing the iranians more time to develop a weapon that would, unfortunately, be something that the entire western world would be negatively impacted by. not just israel, as important as that is. so, yes, if they want to talk, that's fine. but at the same time, it's hard to trust the iranians that they're sincere about having negotiations. >> senator rob portman, thank you very much. thanks for being with us. good to see you, sir. >> thanks, andrea. up next, waiting for obama. the filmmaker who made "waiting for superman" tries his handed a campaign ads. plus, inspiring women around the world. our women in the world series continues with sarah brown, deann, and dahlia. this is "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. with the capital one cash rewards card

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president obama's re-election team is about to unveil a new 17-minute-long campaign commercial, directed by star filmmaker, davis guggenheim, and using tom hanks as the voice to define the president's record before his opponents do it for him. >> his advisers would wiask whe to begin. which urgent need would he put first? >> which is one, which is two, which is three, which is four, which is five? where do you start? >> if we don't do this now, it will be a generation before 30 million people have health insurance. >> if the auto industry goes down, what happens to america's manufacturing base? what happens to jobs in america? what happens to the whole midwest?

>> bill burr tob is former white house deputy press secretary and founder of the super pac, priorities usa. welcome back, bill. thanks very much. i know that you are not, quote, connected to the campaign. i know, separate. separate but equal. but the campaign has got this very glossy new davis guggenheim hollywood production. these are the basic themes, the obama themes, for the obama record. >> well, davis guggenheim's a genius, so any time he's making a movie, it's going to be great. >> and tom hanks. gene pl genius plus. >> but i think when there's an opportunity for people to really dig down deep past the microscope of the issues that are made day in and day out and get a sense of the hard decisions that are made in the white house, how the president came to the auto bailout, how he dealt with the raid on osamas compound, i think that gives people a sense of what the president's character is and what is really at his core. >> that's the way you're going to try to define the president,

the campaign's trying to define the president. this is what mitt romney has to say about how you and the super pac, the obama super pac, is going to try to define him. >> they're going to go after me on a personal basis and try to attack and make me into something i'm not. but you know what, we're going to talk about the president's record. we're going to ask people, are you happy with what's happened in terms of job creation in this country, how long it's taken for us to recover? are you happy with the $1 trillion of additional debt every year? are you concerned about the size of government? you go through the list of the president's policies and you recognize the american people are not happy with him. i'll be talking about his policies and, of course, they'll be talking about personalities. >> are you planning to go after mitt romney, make it personal, and tear him down? >> i respect that mitt romney's nervous about priorities usa action, but i can assure him and the american people that what we're going to talk about with mitt romney is his record. his record of loading up the state of massachusetts with debt. his record of loading up companies with debt until they failed, but still making money. and his policies to load up our

country with debt and increase the deficit. i think that when you look at who mitt romney and his record and what it means for what kind of president he would be, i think stacking that up against the president's vision and his record is the kind of case that we're going to be making. it's not going to be personal. it's going to be truthful, but it will be tough, and we'll make sure people know the facts about what he's done in his career. >> there's been a suggestion that you should return the $1 million contribution from bill maher, that if you're going to -- if liberals are going to go after rush limbaugh for the outrageous things that he's said about sandra fluke, that you should return the contribution from bill maher because of things that he has said about sarah palin. >> well, a couple of things. first of all, obviously, some of those things were vulgar and inappropriate and said over the course of years of a comedian's life. it's not language i would use or language we would use at priorities usa.

>> isn't that what mitt romney said over rush limbaugh's language? not language that i would use. >> but what the de facto leader of the republican party said to sexually degrade a woman who led in a political debate of our time is crazy. there's no similarity about what rush limbaugh said, lying about the argument that miss fluke was making, a law student at georgetown, and what a comedian has said in the past. and finally, if we want to have this debate where we're stacking up what supporters of candidates have said over time, mitt romney begged ted nugent for his endorsement and he gave it to him and he embraced it and his campaign was bragging about it. but you look at some of the things he's said. but this is all distraction between some of the real differences in this case between mitt romney and president obama on key issues. and that's what's important here. where do they stand on contraception? what kind of supreme court justice is mitt romney going to put in place? an antonin scalia or an elena kagan? that's the important that's important here. >> bill burton, good to see you again.

thank you very much. >> thank you. up next, the politico briefing. mitt romney's southern strategy. stay with us. . who's the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. ana opened scribble press in 2008. it's a place where kids can turn their art and writing into books. the company's success prompted her to open another location in new york city. managing from 3,000 miles away has been a challenge, but she's invested with a group of moms. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. if you have painful, swollen joints, i've been in your shoes. one day i'm on top of the world... the next i'm saying... i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel. i'm surprised how quickly my symptoms have been managed. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events

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stmpblts it's not exactly the winning streak mitt romney was hoping for after losing in tennessee and georgia. super tuesday showed that romney can't seem to win below the mason-dixon line. he hasn't been able to win over conservatives and many tea party republicans. facing primaries now in alabama and mississippi next week, what is the romney strategy to fix the losing streak? joining me now is politico's david catanese. in fairness, he did win on super tuesday, won more than he didn't. he won more delegates, a majority of the delegates that were up for grabs. but he does have this problem facing the south, and the south is a key republican political base. >> yeah. it's the geographical core of the republican party. and, you know, this is what they're talking about, that he can't win in what should be the strongest part of the republican party. now, he did win in virginia, but

rick santorum and newt gingrich weren't even on the ballot. the idea is put a lot of money into these states and try to trump up the aura of inevitability, which hasn't worked before, but trent loatt s saying people will start to get on board. >> what about the sentiment that rob portman was just giving us, that these area that he is losing to gingrich or losing to santorum in the south are going to be republican areas anyway in the fall, so they will be reenergized and will come back against barack obama? >> right. and there's no question that, you know, they're not going to be playing in alabama or mississippi. we're not even talking about these states, you know, six months from now. and he can still point to the battleground states. very important, that they won ohio and michigan. states that will be in play in the fall, and that's the romney case. that they will come back into the fold eventually, once he clinches the nomination.

>> where does he next make his stand? is it going to be illinois? >> could be. i mean, if you look at the calendar, though, it doesn't look for good for mitt romney in the coming weeks. alabama and mississippi have the kansas caucuses coming up this weekend. it looks tough for him. a lot of people think it's going to be newt and santorum fighting for a lot of these southern states. so you get into april, it could be illinois, which, again, isn't going to be a state in play for the general election, but a big state and a diverse state that he can make a talking point about. >> david, thank you very much for bringing us the politico briefing today. and up next, lifting the voices of women across the globe. our special series, "women in the world, with," the fashion designer and philanthropist, diane von furstenberg, and sarah brown. and send me your thoughts on facebook and twitter @mitchellreports. ? you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep,

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reports," syria deputy oil minister has defected from president assad's government. he's the highest ranking syrian official to do so. in an address posted online, he told assad, quote, you have afflicted a full year of sadness on sorrow of those you claim are your people and pushed the country to the edge of abyss. the three women were detained last may during the u.s. operation that killed bin laden. the largest solar storm in five years struck earth early this morning. we're still here. it did not disrupt satellites and power grids, as many officials had feared. on the positive side, solar storms like this one tend to intensify the northern lights. and now to our special series honoring the women in the world summit, hosted by "newsweek" and the daily beast. on international women's day today, secretary of state, hillary clinton, and michelle obama teamed up to celebrate international women of courage at the state department. special guests included nobel

peace laureates. >> we know that investing in women's employment, health, and education levels leads to greater economic growth across a broad spectrum. it also leads to healthier children and a better educated population overall. >> if these ten women can endure death threats and horrifying violence and years behind bars to stand up for what they believe in, then, surely, our young people can find a way to stand up for what they believe in. >> i get angry when i think about it. no woman should sit down and allow a man to speak about her reproductive rights. >> sarah brown is a leading advocate for educating girls and young women, particularly in rural communities, and a global patron for the white ribbon alliance for safe motherhood. and she's also the author of "behind the black door."

diane von furstenberg is the president of the counsel of fashion designers of america, and a leading philanthropist for the white ribbon alliance and other women's causes as well. welcome both, two very special guests, very special for me today. to you first, sarah brown, let's talk about the importance of educating girls and young women in rural communities and what a big difference educating young girls could make in terms of the global health and education and raising standards of living around the world. >> thank you, andrea. i think on international women's day, as we're sort of celebrating so many women's wonderful achievements, it also gives us the moment to really look out for the struggles that so many women still face around the world. and girls' education is really the route in to how we can help -- well, there's 67 million girls -- children, who are not in school around the world. more than half of them are girls. many of them are in the poorest, most remote, rural communities. and there's a particular focus this year on those hardest to reach girls around the world.

so, you know, education opens up the door to, you know, you get a girl into school, she can have her lunch, she can get her vaccinations, she's learning, you know, her own skills. she's learning how to build her own future. >> and one of the things that both you and diane have been doing is working with the white ribbon alliance for the last few years. 152 countries are now involved, diane. tell us the importance of the white ribbon alliance, motherhood, and women's health in the prenatal stages and long before. >> well, happy international women day to all of us. it is very important and very humbling to see what women around the world are going through and, you know, and how much we can change a little bit by changing a little bit, we can change so much. so i think today is a day really to celebrate the chain of love

and to see how we can improve the girls' lives and women's lives in general. >> and picking up on that theme, sarah, you point out that, i think, on your blog, that in 2012, a female girl is five times more likely to die in childbirth and pregnancy than a grown woman. speak more to that. >> the white ribbon alliance has been campaigning over the last decade or more to reduce the number of girls and women dying in pregnancy and childbirth. and we've seen some great improvements in the last few years. but we're not seeing the improvements that we want, as fast as we want, for teenage girls. they're facing, you know, child marriage, you know, a role as a caregiver to young children, the lack of opportunities for themselves. and when girls are not in school, when they're facing being married young and being as pregnant as young as 13, 14, 15 years old, they are five more times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth. it's the leading cause of death for teenage girls in the developing world.

>> diane, why is it important to draw attention to this here in new york? tina brown has organized this amazing gathering of women. we're going to the see hillary clinton on saturday, an array of women, meryl streep. you are, of course, a featured speaker, as is sarah. why is it important to take time out, at least once a year, if not more often, and gather? >> well, it's important. when women get together, it's just so humbling and so amazing to see, you know, what they do. and part of the conference tomorrow night, i will be celebrating the dbf awards. and what we do is that we celebrate five women, we give them exposure, we give them money, and who have the courage to fight, the strength to survive, and the leadership to help others. and it's so amazing to see these women, who themselves have gone through so much misery and adversit adversity. and yet, not only they have the strength to overcome, but then,

after that, they use, and they use all their misery. and they help others. and the leadership of it. and it's an ongoing fight. and i think it is such a wonderful thing to celebrate, and today i met a girl from congo, that i have two years ago. and it was so little, what i did. but when she starts to tell you that you have helped 115 live, that each one then go back to their village, and improve others, it's just really a change of love. and it is, you know, and it is a day, and it is a weekend to celebrate us as women, being proud to be women, and most of all, being humbled by the strength and the leadership and the courage that so many women have in the absolutely worst circumstances. and how each one of us will have a voice or who have a little bit to offer, money wise or

anything, can help. and that every life, every life you help changes a lot of lives behind it. >> and i know the dvf awards include elizabeth smart, an american who had a who rent discu horrendous kidnapping at the age of 16. >> that was last year. this year we give an award to jaycee dugard, who was kidnapped for 18 years. you hear about those stories and t those who started first with a tape recorder and bought time on the radio and now is a journalist and is helping voices. each one of them is just so incredible. and you just say, oh, my god, how strong they are and how humbling it is. and you just think, i have done nothing. so i think it is wonderful that we get together like that, and

the conference, women of the world, is on its third year, and the dvf award is on its third year. and it is growing and it is, again, i say the same thing over and over, it is a chain of love. and altogether, we can help each other. and sarah has done an amazing job. she is so brave and so courageous and so many people help. and it's just wonderful. so i think we should be proud that we are women and we should continue to help one another. >> and when we talk about the circle of love, sarah, you're talking about a real goal. making a commitment on international women's day to reach that millennial goal of educating all girls and women by 20 2015. is that achievable? >> it is achievable. the cost of educating a child in africa is something like $100 a year. so we're trying to reach a target of 67 million children. i think we can do that. i think that the role that america plays in that, the

engagement of americans, it's why, you know, i'm delighted to be speaking at women in the world this month. i'm go i think to los angeles next month to address the cedars-sinai's women's guild. i think coming back to talk to business leaders in may. i think there's so much interest in championing what we can do for everyone around the world. we've got three years to hit the millennial goal deadline. we set a target for 2015. and i think if we're working together, which is the point of these gatherings and these moments for reflection and for women working alongside each other, that we absolutely can reach that goal. >> sarah brown, thank you so much. diane von furstenberg, thanks to you. congratulations to both and i'll be see you in new york when i join the conference. >> happy women's day. >> happy women's day! we have news out of iran today. the international atom inenergy agency saying that satellite images now show an apparent cleanup effort to remove radioactive traces at the

military facility. inspectors say that iran is trying to delay their trip until it can clear away evidence of explosive tests. meanwhile, iran's supreme leader, the ayatollah khomeini gave an unusual hat tip to the president today. and we have an exclusive first look at the new issue of the "national journal," and joining me now is "national journal's" yoka dressen who just sat down with secretary of defense panetta on the subject of iran and whether or not there is a military option there. what did the secretary tell you? >> an dreaandrea, the skrat sai there's planning underway for a possible u.s. military strike on iran. we heard yesterday that there's also planning for a military strike on syria. when it comes to iran, the administration is open that they prefer diplomacy, they prefer sanctions, but it's very interesting to know that not only is military force on the table, as they've said before, but planning is under active -- it's happening as we speak. >> there's a lot of pressure regarding syria on panetta

yesterday, because he pushed back really hard against john mccain in that senate testimony, saying there needs to be a defined mission before he's going to send young men and women into battle and that syria would be a much tougher target than libya, especially without international agreement. >> he also, along with general marty dempsey, the head of the joint chiefs, they had some incredible interesting statistics. they said that the air defenses of syria were five times as sophisticated as in libya, that syria had 100 times the chemical weapons of libya. now, you take those figures and look at iran, they didn't offer figures for iran, but we know iran has a stronger air force. we know iran has stronger air defense systems. we know iran has even bigger chemical and biological stockpiles. so as worried as they are about syria, and as much as you said, correctly, they've pushed back on syria, they're more worried about iran. >> at the same time, do you get the sense from interviewing secretary panetta and from your reporting that they think that there is a military option, because they clearly were

telling prime minister netanyahu that if israel were to strike, they can slow down, but not completely eliminate the threat. that the best option would be to persuade iran to follow the lead of south africa and brazil and india and give up its nuclear ambitions. >> it was interesting. in talking to panetta today, one of the points he made is that an israeli strike would have an impact. the hint being that it would be a small impact, and his typically colorful way, he said that an american strike would have a hell of a bigger impact. so there's no recognition here that if israel struck, as it might, as you said, to push it back one year, two years, three years, unspoken is the implication that if america struck, it could do significantly more damage and knock it back more than just one years, more than just two years. >> good to see you. thank you so much for your reporting, fresh, hot off the pages of the "national journal," which is just out, after your new interview with secretary panetta. well, she is the face of the egyptian women's movement. up next right here, dalia ziada.

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hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. coming up on "news nation." >> if you go out and deliver a conservative victory for us on tuesday, this race will become a two-person race. >> rick santorum is now making the argument for a two-man race with front-runner mitt romney. but he's not calling on newt gingrich to drop out. i'm going to talk to former senator mike dewine, who's supporting santorum about this new strategy. plus, the latest on the solar storm hitting earth. why scientists say we might have all lucked out. i'll talk to chief astronomer, derek pitts. we want to share with you another stunning example of the power of social media to create change. though you've probably already seen stop coney, it's such a phenomenon. the video posted to push for the

arrest of coney has lit a fire on the web. >> we're going to take it to the streets and start inspiring other people to make sure that kony is captured. >> close to 40 million people, 40 million, have now watched it online. celebrities like p. diddy and ryan seacrest have been urging their followers on facebook and twitter to share its message. kony who has been indicted for murder, child enslavement, and crimes against humanity has led the notorious army since the 1980s. his main base of power has been children, who he forces to fight his guerilla war. and continuing our celebration of international women's day, we turn our forecast to egypt. long before the arab spring, one woman, dalia ziada, blogger and women rights activist, was promoting nonviolent action and democratic reform. last year dalia iran but lost her bid for egypt's parliament. this week she is being honored by the "newsweek" and daily beast summit as one of the world's 150 fearless women. dalia ziada joins me now. very good to meet you and look forward to seeing you in new

york later this week. >> hello. >> you were such an early voice online for freedom, for democracy in egypt. how do you assess the progress or language of progress so far in egypt after the arab spring? >> it's disappointing now what we're seeing regarding women's status in egypt after the arab spring. we're almost marginalized from any decision making process, either for some reasons that are related to the mentalities that are now ruling the country, through the military system, which usually used to not care much in the past for women rights. because of its distraction and anything, or on the other hand, the rise, which i think is a very strong threat to women's rights now. so you can say women in egypt now are almost stuck between two larger stones, but we are on one side and extremism on the other side. >> i mean, what is the solution or the next steps to that?

because we were all so inspired, frankly, by saying in tahrir square, so many women. the brave women of egypt, being out front. and now to hear, to see, to read and to hear from your voice that all those hopes or many of those hopes are not only not being fulfilled, but are being frustrated. >> actually, one of the greatest things, and i'm so proud to say this, about the egyptian women is that the more you stress them, the more they become more creative in getting over this stress and trying to build a new future for themselves and for their country. in egypt, as women, i'm speaking as women, we believe that we have an essential role in advancing our country and pushing it forward. that's why for sure, now we are getting together today, with larger protesters in egypt, mostly run and organized, and most of the participants are women, who are calling for

freedom. personally, i'm working on several projects that are either directly or indirectly empowered by grassroots women in the streets, in rural areas, in poor areas, so they can help the elite women who want to be part of the decision making process choose their way, choose a parliament, choose a constitutional committee, and help them have the bright future they are dreaming to have. >> i know that you, in your own experience, have been able to get graduate degrees, you're working at tufts university. how did you, in your childhood, in your family, have the opportunities? what empowered you? >> actually, i belong to family -- it's a conservative egyptian family. everything for them is -- or the concept of having a girl who was impassioned and ready to travel abroad and go all over the world is the world is a bit taboo in

any family and most families in egypt. it took me a long time to break it. i'm grateful for certain people including the fletcher school people and definitely my organization who empowered me and helped me to leverage my dreams into action, and ultim e ultimately, i was able to have this on the ground in a way i hope it is helping push things forward. >> indeed it is. while we meet today, we also should say something about the women of afghanistan who's rights are now, we fear, being compromised drastically especially by the republishing online on the website of president karzai himself. new law that would curtail women's rights there there were

fought for with american blood, sweat and tears and fortune as well. this struggle continues. as far as egypt is concerned, i know you're not not giving up. thank you so much. >> thank you. what political story will be making headlines in the u.s. in the next 24 hours? that's next. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. one golden crown. come on frank how long have we known each other? go to e-trade. they got killer tools man. they'll help you nail a retirement plan that's fierce. two golden crowns. you realize the odds of winning are the same as being mauled by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day? frank! oh wow, you didn't win? i wanna show you something... it's my shocked face. [ gasps ] ♪ [ male announcer ] get a retirement plan that works

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? chris cillizza is back. we talking dollars and cents. a lot of money. sarah palin said beacoup bucks. >> i think we've been talking about this since the citizens united ruling. look at the spending dollars. restore a future which is the mitt romney super pac spending

about $1.2 million, winning our future, the newt gingrich super pac drastically out spending newt gingrich, the candidate. super pacs in many wayings have taken over the messaging for these candidates. it's absolutely amazing and unprecedented in modern campaigns. >> it's daddy warbucks campaign. three rich men. three very rich men. thanks. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports". don't forget to follow the show online and on twitter at mitchell reports. thomas roberts has a look at next on "news nation." coming up, rick santorum lays out his argument for this two man race with mitt romney.

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right now, heading south, the republican presidential candidates focus on next tuesday's primary. there's new pressure for someone to make out drop out to make it a two person race. >> this is his decion. nobody is standing there with him. obama on offense. the president's campaign rolls out the trailer to a new documentary highlighting his first term in office. we'll take a closer look at