death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. >> if i had a son, he'd look like trayvon. and you know, i think they are right to expect that all of us as americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. >> karen, i want to talk to you. you've been covering this beautifully over the course of the last week. we'll be talking about it later today you guest host for martin bashir at 3:00 p.m. >> thanks for that. >> the white house had come under some, i don't know if fire is the right word to use, but under pressure to have the president comment on this. "the washington post" had a really interesting article i thought today discussing the fact that eric holder had been effectively their emissary thus far on this post skip gates, the president has been reluctant to wade into racially tinged waters. what did you make of the statement today?

>> i think the timing was appropriate. the story moved dramatically from a local story to a national story and a broader question about gun safety laws, racial profiling. lots of other issues that this has brought up. so -- and i thought handled it beautifully. certainly going to the personal, that was what people wanted to hear, particularly given the president doesn't talk about his experience as much as a young african man although he did in his book quite eloquently and that struggle you go through when you're a child of color realizing that the world sees you differently. that empathy and sort of connection as a parent and as someone who has experienced that kind of anguish i thought was really perfect. >> wes, i thought the statement if i had a son, he'd look like kendall, was a really interesting comment from the president because it isn't specifically talking about his experience as an african-american man but it is immediately sort of do having his hat to that, the fact he is

a black man and would have had a black son. a way to talk about race without really talking about race. >> one thing we're seeing with the conversation, it can be about the stand your ground laws and local versus national versus the feds getting involved. it's about two the parents who lost their child. >> right. >> it's about -- that is the basic human element of all of this. that's why i think the president wanted to remind the american people we have to go through the legal process to find out what's happening, what are the facts and what are the implications of those facts. but let's not forget who and what we lost that day. almost a month ago. i tell you, as a parent, it really is a very sobering and humbling reminder of exactly that fact, that this is a young man, a 17-year-old young african-american man in this case. a 17-year-old man who was walking back from the store to go back to his family's home and didn't make it back. we cannot forget that underlying fact of this case. >> yeah, i think you get the

sense and especially in obamaland where so much seems to be debated. i don't know, poll tested? but this, really sense that this was an emotional issue for the president. you could almost see him in the oval office saying, we've got to talk about this. it's time for me to say something. >> you think about the important moments where barack obama as a candidate and president has discussed race. they have been personal, heartfelt moments. you think back in the 2008 campaign when the reverend wright issue exploded and he gave that incredible speech that probably saved his candidacy. obviously this is an issue he has thought about and written about for a very long time. frankly, he's never morel went when he's discussing a subject. i was talking to representative wilson this morning and asked her before the president spoke, do you want obama to speak out on this, are you disappointed? she said said absolutely not. the fact there's an investigation going on, he's

doing something about it. and so i think he's been reluctant as president to address many racial issues. prankly partly because he's had a lot of other problems to deal with. >> kendall, i want to bring you in here. as we talk about sort of the difficult dance the white house has with this, they can't be seen interfering with a state issue, a local police investigation. in terms of the controversy surrounding trayvon martin's death, how much do you think, we know that local police chief bill lee has temporarily stepped down today. what do you think the implications are now that the white house is sort of involved and obviously the justice department is involved? >> well, i think what the president did say was very appropriate. i thought what he did not say was especially appropriate because he didn't do anything to prejudge the merits, send a coded message to the department of justice. did he appoint the attorney general. he's the ultimate boss for the doj and the fbi. i think his not speaking to the

merits was extremely important. at the same time, doj, the department of justice, has put a strong message that they're going to look under every rock, behind every blade of grass to see if there's federal evidence of a federal hate crime and we have the republican governor of florida also i think taking commendable steps, appointing a special prosecutor, a state attorney from a different jurisdiction to take over the investigation, a separate police unit to conduct the investigation, soegs i think this from a bipartisan nonpartisan standpoint is being handled very appropriately with a high level of concern and commitment to learning the truth and making sure that justice happens here. >> kendall, i've got to ask you though, i think the notion that outrages a lot of americans is that george zimmerman is still a free man with a gun license. in your opinion, how long is it before that situation changes? >> well, it bothers me, too. it bothered prosecutors and police around florida when this law was passed.

it allowed self-appointed vigilantes to become self-appointed executioners with a virtual license to kill. and that law does create significant obstacles. i think it's important that they get it right this time. a lot of questions whether the police department had a careful investigation before. big questions. but they've got to get it right this time. it has to be clear that if charges are brought, frankly i hope they will be, that they're not brought nult response to public outcry but in response to i an very thoughtful thorough investigation that is seeking justice, not to placate an underable sensef outrage across the state of florida and the nation. >> wes, we're talking about the investigation. one of the things that il thought was shocking and the details of the case are obviously tragic, but that trayvon martin's body was tested for drugs and alcohol. george zimmerman never was. he had a history of domestic violence and resisting arrest with violence and yet is a

self-appointed neighborhood watchman with a gun. just in terms of the standards in america, you know, i think it was joe scarborough who brought it up this morning, if the dynamics of this case were reversed and you had a black shooter kill a white man, you can imagine that the response by the police department would have been significantly different. >> joe scarborough said it this morning. two words, gail over. if it was reversed. but you know what's interesting, even when you look at the whole stand your ground law and the person one of the co-authors, dennis baxly said if you look what we've heard thus far about the merits of this case, he's not sure if in this falls under the law simply because stand your ground has to do with an issue of self-defense if someone comes as the aggressor. he said from everything we've heard about this case thus far, from one of the sponsors of the bill, that doesn't sound like that's the case in the case of martin. >> there are two things that were working in this case. number one, clearly these laws are not well written and

clearly, he was able to say at the scene, i felt i was standing my ground. the cops said okay, you can go. clearly -- and we've seen, we're learning about other instances where clearly the way this law is written is very problematic. in addition to that, this is something we talked about yesterday on the 3:00, the bi biases and stereotypes that we let fester in this country said to those police officers i see a young black man dead. i see a -- another guy with a gun who says he was threatened. must be exactly as this is other guy who happens to be lighter skinned says it is. sought point that joe made, reverse, they would have walked up and said i see a white guy dead and a black kid with a gun. must have been -- >> and we will actually -- we will be talking more about stand your ground and gun laws in the country coming up. unfortunately we have to leave it there for now. thank to you kendall coffey. thanks for joining us. >> thank you.

>> after the break, the shooting is raising key questions about stand your ground. we are going to talk gun control with the president of the brady campaign to prevent violence next on "now." ♪ spread a little love today ♪ ♪ spread a little love my way ♪ ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ ♪ ♪ spread a little joy... [ female announcer ] fresh milk and real cream. that's what makes philadelphia. ♪ so spread a little... [ female announcer ] and that's what makes the moment we enjoy it, a little richer. ♪ real belgian chocolate whipped with philadelphia cream cheese. new indulgence. the moment just got a little sweeter.

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trayvon martin's death has put a spotlight on florida's stand your ground law. the controversial measure allows people to use deadly force during a confrontation and then claim self-defense. joining the panel is dan gross, president of the brady campaign to prevent gun violence. thanks for joining the program. >> thanks for having me. >> let's talk a little bit about stand your ground which seems to be one of the most terribly worded pieces of legislation i've ever looked at. it's interesting a total of 25

states in the country have similar legislation already enaced. >> it's interesting and symbolic of the agenda that the gun lobby is putting out there and trying to spread across our country. it's a shoot first, ask questions mentality and then when you combine that with the fact they want to put the guns in hands of just about anybody to carry just about anywhere like the zimmerman guy, it results in tragedies like this. >> what i did notice though if we're talking about fallout from this, south carolina, a democrat in the south carolina legislature is trying to sort of walk back or make the law there a little bit more restricted. is this going to engender a closer look at stand your ground across the country? >> i think we need to look more closely at stand your ground. i'm encouraged by some of the focus of the outrage that's occurred around this tragedy and hopeful that it will result in a dialogue about stand your ground. i think the dialogue needs to represent the true agenda of the american people where a young man can walk out to the store and buy skittles and a soda

without getting shot. i think we have to separate the fact that george zimmerman is free because of stand your ground. trayvon martin is dead because of florida's weak gun laws and the fact that this man who had a violent past and an arrest record was able to carry a concealed weapon. >> ryan, when you know, in reading up about sort of stand your ground, put into law by then governor jeb bush, voted on by now senator marco rubio, what strikes me is that the nra, i mean obviously played a huge role in pushing this forward. yet, you look at what happens after gabby giffords, you have pivotal moments for the country and nothing ever seems to change. >> i was thinking that exact same thing. let's be honest. someone from a gun control group like yourself does not come out and have a platform in america anymore unless some tragedy like this happens. i was going to ask you, what do you attribute that to? the democratic party doesn't want to talk about your issues.

am i right or wrong? >> we've definitely been encouraged to the extent right up to the president that this issue has been talked about. i'm new to this gig. and that's what we plan to change. my job is to -- is to help the american public express the outrage that clearly exists around the state of fairs in our country. and i do believe that this time it's different. i believe this time you have a confluence. you have this guy, george zimmerman, the poster child of what the gun lobby is trying to accomplish in this country. this is a guy with an aarrest record, a violent pass who was issued a concealed is carry permit in a state that is basically the gun lobby's utopia. they worked hard to make florida this way. >> florida rated 3 out of 100. >> i will believe it's changed when had i see a single senior democrat come out in favor of strong legislation. >> the only way that happens is when the american people express

their outrage. i believe it's focused enough to create that scenario. the other thing we should point out, there is now a bill pending in the united states senate, already passed the house of representatives what they called concealed carry reciprocity act which basically forces states to honor other states concealed carry laws. so under this legislation, this guy, george zimmerman, the poster child of the gun lobby, is able today if this law were passed would be able to bring his gun to times square in new york or other states legally. we need to -- this is a moment where there's actually -- they've gone too far. they're actually proposing, days after this tragedy occurred, they will the gall to propose this legislation. we can't use this is moment to hold our leaders accountable for being beholden to the agenda, the gun lobby versus being beholden to the agenda of the american people? it is a sad state of affairs. >> you would hope some of that leadership will come from the white house. governor ed rendell on show

talked about president obama had a state of the union days after good-bye was shot and said nothing. here he finally weighed in on it. >> on the racium dimension, not on the gun control. >> let's be fair to the president. he weighed in not just on the racial dimension but as a parent on the emotional level. given that there is an investigation going on, starting to get into the law it self-is tricky at this point. having been the communicates director for the party, yes, talking about these issues has become hard for democratic members of congress. it shouldn't be. the truth is, this is another place where democrats let republicans define the terms of the debate. there is absolutely no reason we can't have a conversation about guns and gun safety and say we can protect our second amendment right, but we can protect our people and make sure that crazy people aren't walking around with guns shooting children with candy and iced tea. unfortunately where we always go to is one extreme or the other. that's part of the problem with the fact that we only talk about

this when there's a tragedy like this or gabby giffords. >> if we're going to have an honest conversation about gun control, it can't just be about as you said the exceptions. we have to include the amount of illegal guns also on the streets which make up a vast majority of gun crime that takes place in our country. you have efforts by for example the mayors united against control of illegal gun with mayor bloomberg hog are saying if you look at so many of our cities, these are guns not registered, guns not authorized by anybody. people walk around and using them as deadly weapons. there has to be a much larger conversation about gun control. >> our graphics department had a map of the 25, 26 states withstand your ground laws. you can overlay a map of the red states in this country. i mean, this is an incredibly heated very partisan issue. >> it is. the other thing that you can overlay on that map and this is kind of a new detail we're learning more about is the group

alec played a huge role in drafting legislation that was then like pierre said, florida was the starting point. that was a very calculated strategy to start in florida, spreading to the other states. same committee happened to vote on voter i.d. laws. so you can put a graphic over those states and many of them line up with a lot of the very dramatic extreme things we've been seeing passed in the states by republican-controlled governors and legislatures too. >> it is a small step forward that florida governor rick scott may be looking again at the law given how transparency tragic it is. >> thank you to dan. we look forward to hearing from you as you wade deeper into the new gig. this is an issue we'll be discussing for weeks and months to come. also thank you to karen finney who will be sitting in for martin bashir today at 3:00 p.m. eastern here on msnbc, must see

television good luck to you. coming up, next stop for the presidential race. louisiana. how the candidates are gearing up for tomorrow and how mitt romney is setting his sights on president obama's health care law. that's ahead on "now." carfirmation. only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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to which senator santorum said it's absurd. i'm not pretending anybody. it's a terrible and horrible remark i'm glad i didn't hear it. >> absolutely outrageous. in this day and age for people to make those kind of comments, this kind of hate and violence on anyone, including the president. i give credit to rick santorum. he said he didn't hear it, right? so he was asked about the remark later. he said it's absurd. he should come out publicly and condemn it. he does appear to be doing that. >> he reacted exactly the right way. you might have thought that the event at the shooting range might not be the morning for it. there's a sense the republican primary is being conducted in a small bubble. none of the republican candidates vin commented on the trayvon story till newt gingrich did last night on piers morgan. both he and santorum said it was awful. there's a sentiment right now the republican primary is

happening off to the side. >> it's like in a bubble. first of all, what is he doing on a shooting range in a suit? >> secondary and perhaps less important question, but yes. >> that's really the issue. >> we're living in like two different worlds sometimes. >> you know that you're living in a bubble when donald trump is tweeting and coming out on trayvon martin and you have yet to make any sort of commentary. we talk about one america and two americas. and specifically, the divide between republicans and democrats. and this is -- this is beyond tone deaf. it's almost insulting that you as a presidential candidate would go -- it's not that they don't know the trayvon martin tragedy happened, that there are tens of thousands of people marching, discussing it. and yet, it is -- it is truly confusing and disheartening. >> it's also confusing because you have a candidate basing the entire platform of his candidacy on this idea of family values and this idea of restoring the

idea of family values. when we're having this debate that is taking police very publicly all over the world for you not to even have a statement or comment about it but also understanding what the impact of this type of incident has on families all over the country shows an extraordinary amount of tone deafness. >> this is a moment for mitt romney who say something that we would not expect him to say. i don't mean to be cynical. to step up and be a national leader. >> we'll see if he chooses to do that. we'll talk more about mitt romney and his campaign and how he went to washington and asked whether he got anything done. we will be weighing in on that and discussing it next on "now." [ male announcer ] if your kid can recognize your sneeze from a crowd...

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>> dodd frank, this financial regulatory bill, i mean, you hear -- but you know you don't think it affects y'all on -- y'all on a direct basis. i mean, you all. i'm not -- i'm not trying to pretend like i'm from louisiana. >> that was mitt romney in louisiana a short time ago, abandoning his chameleon strategy in the south. i want to bring up the always, you know, she always has something a nugget. peggy noonan in "the wall street journal" today saying to mitt romney, suit up and get serious. now that everyone knows you'll be the nominee, get off the goof ball express, cheesy grits, jeans, singing, calling your opponents will thes enough. we were talking about what mitt romney could do at this moment in many time. >> that wasn't it. >> that really wasn't it, was it, ryan? >> no, because the press is just now on a hair trigger for these moments. there have been enough of them.

it's like al gore. fairly or not, al gore just got killed every time he said something that didn't comport with the truth even to a little -- to the tiny degree. and mitt romney, it's about authenticity. >> i agree. some of it, you know, peggy noonan saying rightfully so get back to the basics but only if you can, right? the gaffes are the gaffes. you can prep and make sure, but how much does it come to the core of the person? i have found myself every night watching msnbc's primary coverage waiting for him to give a really strong speech, a speech from the heart. i remember in michigan, i felt like he was going to do it that night. you get to the point where people, constituents, voters are saying, does he have it. you know, temperature women who are watching him, does he really have it? can you communicate? does he show the heart, the compassion of the person they want to lead the country. i think that's the bigger issue that voters are going to look at. >> in a bid to you examine norg

ravitas aside from the cheesy grits and the y'all, mitt romney talking at great length today and has an op-ed about repealing obama care. it is today the seconds industry of obama care. let's hear a little bit of sound what he has said regarding the affordable care act. >>ing this administration with its taxing and regulation and overwhelming burdens of laws like obama care, crushes dreams and dreamers. and we've got to stop it and restore to america the principles that made us the hope of the earth. and i will. >> questioning the dreams and dreamers. convincing argument? >> it's inconvenient for him that the biggest issue of the moment is another one that becomes a token for his authenticity, about health care and his own past for health care. very hard for him to get untangled from it. there's sort of a wing, people, observers when will he pivot back to the person who i think a lot of republicans basically think he is which is a moderate he can know crat and maybe

somehow recapture his old identity. it's very tough. >> he's making this really concerted effort to sort of -- it's not about the rest of the race, just about me and president obama. >> until tomorrow night when he loses louisiana and it ignites another 24 hours of coverage about why cabinet he wrap this up. >> there are a series of booby traps for the rest of this primary season. he'll lose close to half of the remaining states based on the demographics. every time he loses one, we'll talk about it and it will be another moment where he can't pivot to the general election. >> this is about much more than just louisiana. the idea that mitt romney has this is, has the nomination completely sewed up isn't quite yet right because even if he's able to win a majority of the states and dels, you still have the question can he hit that delegate number and what does that look like going into the convention. that's a real concern for mitt romney. even though he has this desire to make this into more of a

general election campaign, he's still got some very serious obstacles before he can gets to that point. >> let's talk about rick santorum here. the romney campaign is clearly angry that rick santorum is still in this race. let's play a little bit of sound from rick santorum weighing in on mitt romney versus barack obama. >> you win by giving people a choice. you win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who's just going to be a little different than the person in there. if they're going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk in the etch a sketch candidate for the future. >> and utter the phrase etch a sketch. mitt romney basically saying that either barack obama is a moderate republican or mitt romney is basically barack obama, a centrist democrat. >> that infuriated the romney

people and santorum walked back this morning, said he would in fact support romney. romney is different. santorum's out there every day handing the white house talking points to be wipe romney with. >> what about the pressure that is coming, the endorsement from jeb bush, the former governor with that not so subtle sentence that said it's time to unite around governor romney, hint hint, rick santorum. newt gingrich. you had senator jim demint saying i'm not endorsing anyone but i'm excited and it's time to reflect. it does seem behind the scenes pressure is coming. you do hear from independent women who say the longer this is going on, the more disgusting they're getting with them. republican hopes of defeating barack obama is not good. >> there's a line you can't cross in a republican primary. you can't accuse your opponent of being worse than the president your party hates. i think it was in 2000, the bush/mccain battle, i believe

this is right, mccain ran an ad saying that bush lies like clinton or comparing him to clinton. it was a turning point in the campaign. the party said you cannot compare a front runner to bill clinton. >> it's important to note the romney campaign in a statement said as is senator santorum continues to drag out this already expensive negative campaign, it is clear he is becoming the most valuable player on president obama's team. i want to the, ryan -- >> the kids wrote that. >> ryan, you've written extensively about our dysfunctional congress and also our washington deny i zans. >> that just means covering congress. >> i like the -- dug mr. romney went to washington and met with republican leadership in the house and senate. he met, of course, with paul ryan hon conveniently is from wisconsin, a say the that is a shiny apple sitting on the table for mitt romney in the coming weeks. what did you make that have meeting? assuming -- we're assuming that mitt romney is going to wrap his

arms around the paul ryan. >> this guy should not be going to washington and begging these guys for support. the party at this point should be coalescing around him. you're not seeing that happen. he's way behind in terms of endorsements from the party establishment. he's way behind what we've seen until previous cycles, not getting the love of the establishment. yes, it's coming from here and there, but when jeb bush tweets yes, i support mitt romney, i mean, that goes to show you that people who have presidential ambitions in the future are scared to rally around this guy because they worry he could lose and that the base of the party will turn against him. if you are on his side in a dramatic way, that's not good for you. >> mitt romney, we'll watch you closely in the coming days and weeks to see fu-man up. coming up, is ron paul still running for president or just vice president? we will ask paul campaign chairman jesse benton when he joins us next on "now." all right, let's decide what to

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to make them and a hungry family to love them. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. what is ron paul still doing in the presidential race? he hinted at an answer this week when asked if there's a secret pact with mitt romney. >> it's very secret because he and i don't know a lot about it. but you know, there has been talk a little bit, and the big deal. i have to consider is whether i want to be a czar or head of the federal reserve. and i'm toying with the idea which one i'm going to take. >> then you can eliminate your own job. >> joining us now from houston, ron paul campaign chairman jesse benton. thanks for joining the program great to have you as always. >> thanks for having me, alex. >> jesse, i want to call your attention to something you said. we are looking potentially for

ron to be the vice presidential nominee. we're not looking for easy concessions like a speaking slot, presumably at the convention. is ron paul looking to be the vp? >> no, that's not what we're working for. that quote was taken at the end of a very, very long description i laid out of our strategy to make ron the nominee. that's what we're fighting for. we still have a real fighting chance to make ron the nominee. look at -- you look at the late primaries here. we've got texas going on may 29th, california on june 5th. that's 327 delegates up for stake here. and that's about 29% of the total delegates. just in that one week window alone. so this race is far from over. governor romney has not sewed it up. governor romney is showing a real lack of ability to sell himself to the conservative activists of this party. rick santorum is unable to sell himself to the establishment. the establishment republicans think if he's ot nominee, we're going to lose 36, 37 states.

we think ron could be the acceptable compromise with his independent appeal and appeal to conservatives at a brokered convention. >> jesse, i have to cut you off there. sanford police department is having a press conference right now in florida where city officials are, they are discussing the trayvon martin case and the latest there. this is the city manager sanford martin bone part junior. >> we closed at 4 on monday. again, we can make parking space available for those coming. yesterday -- i'd like to thank the organizers of that for such a peaceful rally and appreciate the people that did come and conducted themselves in a manner we all felt very good about and the fact that they were able to come recent we welcomed them and hope to welcome them back on monday. today at this point, we will open it up for limited

questions. >> we are having technical difficulties. we'll bring you more of that press conference in sanford. right now we're going backing to chair of the ron paul campaign, jesse benton. sorry for all the back and forth. >> of course >> i was getting to my favorite question on my list, which is, the bromance between the presumed and purported bromance between mitt romney and your candidate. although bromance is probably taking it a little bit lightly. there have been allegations regarding fooling with the delegate allocation. i want to bring up something your candidate said a few days ago. let's listen to that first. >> sometimes we get thousands of people like this and we'll take them to the polling booth and we won't win the caucus. so you know, a lot of our supporters are very suspicious about it. we get the perception that we would be getting a lot more votes. >> you get the perception we'd be getting a lot more votes and our supporters are very suspicious about why we're not.

"the daily beast" reporting in other counties, join slates of romney and paul delegates were elected after the candidates joined forces to control the process. west of st. louis is, county secretary fumed about what we called a prearranged tag team which left santorum's campaign with no delegates. is this or is this not tampering with the electoral reinforce? >> not at all. that's what convention politics are all about. you know, we work with different candidates, delegates on a state by state basis. missouri it made sense for us to team up with romney people because a lot of the party county establishment were trying to push santorum dels through and shut us out. we teamed up with romney's folks and shut santorum's people out. in other states, we're working with santorum's people. it's interesting when their campaign complains about this kind of thing. i mean, this is how the process works. as a matter of fact, we're working with his people in multiple states to try to shut romney out. whatever works best for our campaign at that time.

we're skrapg hard in the convention process. that's politicking. if you love politics, convention politics are full contact. they're a lot of fun. >> politics ain't bean bag. that will sounds like the official response. i want to bring in the panel here. there is a new ron paul ad out. i will say, jesse, of all the ads on the air, the ron paul production sgs really high. let's play the latest one talking about the etch a sketch. >> do you have an etch a sketch? >> we're talking about big things here, folks. ♪ >> they can also be movie trailers. let's bring in the panel for a second, jesse. we'll go back to you after that. that, of course, was an ad for ron paul but helps mitt romney,

does it not? everybody's talking about etch a sketches. i want to focus on the issues which helps mitt romney who has been hurt in some ways at least in the media cycle by the etch a sketch controversy. >> although there was a little job at romney in there. i'm not sure romney necessarily wants this is the conversation about etch a sketches. paul has has slashing attacks on santorum, on michele bachmann, rick perry. he's worked down the line everybody except for mitt romney has been on the receiving end of a bomb from paul. >> is the paul campaign has been a flop. >> wow, jesse, those are fighting words. >> jesse -- >> chuck todd pointed out recently that at the convention, if you don't have a plurality in five states going into the convention, you've got nothing. your delegates don't matter. where are you guys going to get those five states? >> we got them pretty well locked up. we've got multiple states where we're going to declare pluralities and going to be

players at this convention. >> name one. which one? >> north dakota, iowa, washington state, nevada, to just to name a few, alaska. >> nevada and iowa already voted. and santorum and romney won. >> straw polls. if you're going to call my campaign a flop, should at least have a clue what you're talking about, buddy. come on. you already voted in nonbinding straw polls, dude. >> you got a dude, ryan. >> jesse, i do want to talk about the big mo in terms of momentum but also in terms of money. you guys have a give me liberty money bond going on today. tell us a little bit about that. by give me liberty, do you just mean give me money? >> well, yeah, money sure helps. you know, we continue to raise -- we're on pace for an eight-figure quarter. we're going to break through that here in the next couple days into the eight figures, 10 million plus. that helps us get the message

out and lets us keep working. we've got hundreds of employees. we're running great ads, targeted internet. we continue to i.d. our delegates in multiple states and turn them out. then we're hoarding cash so we can go ahead and run hard in texas. >> hoarding? jesse benton is, hoarding cash. thank you as always. thank you ron paul, campaign chairman jesse benton. thank you very much for joining the program. coming up, it is springtime for the republican presidential field. we'll look at the week that was in the gop race. i not read a teleprompter. and what just happened next on "now." this mio energy is completely crushing my game. i love it. i take the stuff everywhere. exactly. everyone's more energized, more alert. i've lost their respect. last night i hit on a dirty hyena and she laughed in my face. that's nasty. remember when i used to be it? i was the man. you needed to track the gazelle down for dinner, you came to me. oh who's laughing now!? gazelle!! [ laughs ]

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it's friday and that means it's time to look back and ask what just happened? >> any more heat in here, we'd spontaneously combust. >> spring has sprung ♪ the birdses and the bees >> and love is in the air. >> it is our anniversary.

>> the candidates republican smitten. >> congratulations on having a 17-year-old daughter. i hope she looks like your wife. she's a very lovely person. >> wait, what? >> congratulations on having a 17-year-old daughter. i hope she looks like your wife. she's a very lovely person. >> mitt romney loves the obvious. >> that's a big lava lamp. congratulations supply just got these pancakes from a restaurant caused pancakes eggs set ra. >> he has a complicated relationship with the tell la prompter. >> i see an america that is humble. excuse me, i see an america that is humble. a president who doesn't hesitate. >> we're still jobs. wait, i missed that. we are steve jobs. >> but has a major crush on freedom. >> assault on our freedom. freedom, freedom, freedom. freedom. freedom. freedom. >> even though freedom has a pretty full dance card. >> it's right behind me on that banner. and that's the word freedom. governor romney is now adopting that theme. >> don't i say that in every one

of my speeches? care about freedom. >> the chemistry steady eddie once had are romney. >> if you want a conservative, you must vote for romney. >> is gone. so santorum is pairing up with democrats. >> governor romney. >> he doesn't have a core. if he thinks he's an economic heavyweight -- >> if he's an economic heavyweight, i'm going to quote david axelrod. >> he must be looking in a fun house mirror. >> republicans may be tired of the dating game. >> he has not done as well as we hoped. >> it's important that we do unify. >> i will get behind whoever the people choose. >> the scales have moved from the long process being a positive to being a negative. >> it doesn't mean they're ready to give up on games and toys. >> he said it was like an etch a sketch. >> etch a sketch. >> etch a sketch. >> etch a sketch. >> etch a sketch. >> etch a sketch. etch a sketch. >> that's louisiana treatment of an etch a sketch

♪ love stinks >> mitt romney if he is going to be the guy we bring loam or the republicans bring home to mom and dad, kelly, what does he need to do to lock it down. >> be real. if you don't have it, come up with it quickly. show you're authentic. women want to connect with you and know what you're going to do. stay away from social issues. stick to the economy. after watching that, alex, it's a long, long uphill climb. >> i'm sorry i can't ask the rest of you guys the same thing because we have to go and end the show. tres thanks again to kelly, ryan, wes and ben. i'll see you back here monday at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific. when i'm joined by ari and john heilema heilemann. tune in tomorrow night when i'm going to be hosting special primetime coverage of the louisiana primary. that is actually happening at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. until then you can find us at facebook.com@now with alex.

hello, andrea. >> i'll be watching you tomorrow night. thanks so much, alex. we will have more today, of course, about president obama's personal comments on the trayvon martin case. plus, sanford mayor jeff triplett joining us and national your lan league president and ceo mark mariel. i'll be previewing my trip to cuba next week during the pope's visit. nbc's mark potter joins us live from havana. "andrea mitchell reports" right here 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. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. liberty mutual auto insurance. our machines help identify early stages of cancer

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