counterproductive not to endorse mitt romney. >> you know, he actually not in that clip but he did say one important thing earlier. he said i didn't support bob dole and john mccain, i am supporting romney. romney is a real conservative. it was not the most whole hearted blessing but it was a real blessing. >> i guess i wonder how much in the end this helps. i mean, we can talk about wisconsin and how that's going to help him or not help him in the state on tuesday. broadly speaking, sam, we have -- there have been a few endorsements this week, jeb bush, we have george h.w. bush, jim demint putting a stamp of approval on romney. chris cillizza makes the case these matter more for mitt romney than any of the wins in the primaries coming up. >> i think that's the case. everyone in the republican establishment is behind the idea romney will be their candidate. there was obviously hesitation. the funniest moment was watch of watching george h.w. bush asking

romney if his son had endorsed him yet, not to mention jofrlg h.w. bush's choice of socks which were very color full. to go back to the paul ryan endorsement, one of the themes that popped up in 2008 and 2012 is mitt romney is not very popular among republicans. in the '0 race, they all hated him. i don't think it's a major problem heading into the election but something that i think is indicative of the type of politician he is, the type of personality he has and type of politics he engages in. >> there's something a little strange here. the guys endorsing him, if you're paul ryan, you have two issues here. one, you want to be mitt romney's presidential -- you want to be his running mate. you want to get on board with that. on the other hand, you want to protect your political future. if romney goes down in flames and the critique of the campaign is that the great chance to beat barack obama was scuttled because of romney's moderation or whatever it is, you don't want to be the guy who did the full throated endorsement. >> well, and also paul ryan, if

you talk about liabilities, let us not forget the town halls, eruption of anger among voters and constituents after paul ryan proposed his last medicare medicaid overhaul in a budget. now romney has wrapped his arms around this budget which you can bet president obama is going to make hay of in the election if mitt romney is the nominee. the dnc already has a video tying romney to ryan. let's take a look at that the ♪ when old mitt clasp his hands for the paul ryan, that's amore ♪ >> when his plan came out i applauded it ♪ when paul ryan gives props to old mitt romney's chops ♪ that's amore. >> a song for the ages, kasie hunt. >> that's ben's voice singing the song. >> you got a little extra cash in the packets. >> the lines are all blurring on that. >> kasie, the other thing, you know, let's talk about that.

this is something that the democrats i think are probably you know champing at the bit, the dnc certainly wasted no time in getting something out there attaching the two men at the hip. >> sure. you've seen a struggle over paul ryan and his various budget plans throughout the course of the primary campaign. romney was reluck tabt to embrace the first one but used it to beat gingrich up. so you've already seen some recognition from the romney campaign that this could potentially pose political problems down the line. >> i disagree with sa lis za on in that these endorsements are more important than the primaries. we have eight states that are going to vote in the next month. mitt romney's probably going to win seven out of the eight states if the patterns hold. the next month we have eight states that vote in may. if the dem graphic patterns existed so far hold, then santorum is going to win eight states. what's going to happen in mail? >> nobody's going to care. >> remember when hillary clinton

sent barack obama reeling -- >> i don't think you can compare barack obama to mitt romney. >> obama lost all these states and nobody cared. west virginia, kentucky. nobody cared. >> there are serious doubts about the real conviction people feel about mitt romney and what better way to express that than sartorially. >> nice segue this. >> this is for you, buzzy ben smith. mitt romney on his website has sold 346 super fan t-shirts. that's what they look like. fetching. rick santorum, you know how many sweater vests rick santorum has sold? 3,000 sweater vests. >> that shirt is going to go for like $1,000 in williamsburg in 2020. a hipster shirt to wear. >> you're right. that doesn't do anything for romney in 2012. there is the idea that you are going to wear a mitt romney super fan t-shirt. how many of those 346 t-shirts

were sold ironically too? there's whether it's the gop elders, the gop leaders giving my mouthed endorsements or the fact that he isn't getting small donors, voters aren't excited about him, i think it holds some relevance in this conversation. >> it's a huge problem. maybe down to the ironic hipster votes in the end. >> the fact that news organizations are now sending is out people to find rabid romney fans, it's a story if you can find a rabid romney fan. >> we worked on it for weeks finding these people. it's not easy. >> to bring it back full circle, i think chris's piece combined with your analysis is about right which is that you have the confluence of a very favorable calendar along with the party establishment coalescing around romney that's going to make it intensely difficult for rick santorum by the end of this to say okay, i'm still staying in. we see what's happening with newt gingrich. my prediction is rick santorum is going to face it the exact

same awkwardness in about a month's time and figure out what he needs to do. >> he will be -- maybe the anger management at that point is a big question mark. let's talk a little bit about wisconsin. that is happening on tuesday. we have a new nbc mayor rift poll that shows romney at 40%, santorum at 33%. kasie, you're a campaign deny i zen, you're out there on the trail very often. you know, one of the things that is surprised me with regards to campaigns and how romney is winning these states, we talk about carpet bombing. the air war seniors definitely his weapon of choice. we look towards if in fact he is the nominee and you talk about ground game and organization, mitt romney doesn't have people net borks in these states that he keeps active or activates. when we get to a general and it's mitt romney versus barack obama, team obama has been spending some significant time building their grassroots networks. >> if you talk to the romney campaign, they'll generally acknowledge that right now they're re-loying on the

republican national committee to look to their general election strategy which assumes they're going to become the nominee. if you look at some of the states where he's had to struggle, in ohio he moved his staff on ward to the next place. colorado fell part for them. they didn't pay attention that they needed to there. that's what drove rick santorum. it's going to be interesting to see them try to transition what they have built. >> mitt romney's des moines office was then -- he moved out and then taken over by the obama campaign. >> obama's 12th office in ohio opened recently. he has 18 satellite offices in florida and expects to have 20,000 volunteers across the country. >> but you know, theoretically, a long primary season for the parties should allow you to organize your base a little bit better, right? you're going out there spending money on mail and organizing during the primary season. that should give you voter data. the obama campaign argue this had in 2008 that actually, yeah, it wasn't so great they had the long primary with hillary

clinton. but it did allow them to get a leg up in some of these states. >> it seems not to have happened for romney though because as you say, people aren't excited. for obama it was organic. grassroots supporters had already set up an office and organization. romney does not have that the problem. >> it goes back to the intensity. >> certainly, but romney is a technocrat. you would think he likes infrastructure and organization. it is weird to me they have made no effort to put up any sort of organization. >> it would be one thing if they had tens of millions of dollars to work with. what is the purpose, if you're fighting a primary fight that could go on conceivably for weeks and months, what's the purpose of paying rent in new hampshire still? you need to save money. >> mitt romney being short of cash is ironically not something we talked about in terms of a lack of resources. do you make a good point. occasionally you do make a good point. when we come back, is rick santorum reliving the mistakes

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people always say, well, you know, how do you feel about your loss in 2006? it was a painful night that night in many respects but it was a night that i felt that i needed to sort of reassess and take a good look at me and my family and being a husband and a father and i take that responsibility a little bit differently a little bit more seriously. >> just how painful was that is 2006 race for rick santorum? young cub reporter named sam stein writes on the "huffington

post" about a pittsburgh steelers tailgate then senator santorum attended. [ bleep ] you, rick santorum a campaign intern rawls the sausage tosser shouting. the tailgaters assailed the santorum volunteers with whatever they could get their hands on, sausages, cookies, half empty cups of beers and beer cannes. sounds like what happens to me after the show sometimes. sam, you do write about the uncanny parallels between that -- >> let's start out by saying jason my brilliant colleague uncovered that great anecdote of sausage flying through the air at the santorum rv in 2006. >> as he was trying to feed these people. >> it was supposed to be a kumbiya, we're all steelers fans type of moment and didn't turn out that way. to your point, there are obvious parallels between 2006 and 2012 despite the fact that he says he's been humbled by the experience. he's pugnacious, a bit

sanctimonious. often his own worst enemy. you see it going on throughout the campaign where he gets distracted by shiny side issues. in michigan, it was all about contraception and how a goal of schooling everyone was snobbery. even his own close aides say we live, we're walking a tight rope without a net. they love it at times and they are the utterly fearful at others. we talked to a ton of people about this. it's his greatest asset but probably what's going to end up undoing him in the end. >> i like the part in the story, in the tale you wrote that talks about you know his family getting involved. there was a lot of back and forth about whether his kids should have pennsylvania voters pay for their distance education and then the children are then used in an ad to sort of buffer their father's reputation. >> this was -- this residency issue, you know, it was obviously a very local issue. but had he won in 1990 by going

after dougal gren for living in virginia even though he represented pennsylvania. all of a sudden, he's having his kids do an online charter school using taxpayer money. he used his family as a prop. he cut two ads, one with his children and another with his wife like why are they attacking our family? we're trying to be near our husband. our dad. you attacked doug walgren for the same thing. it was one of these things that total little suffocated the santorum campaign. they couldn't move on for weeks if not months till he finally said i'm going to pay back some of the tax benefits. >> would he have had a chance in '06? weren't people throwing meat at republicans left and right? >> it was a tough year to be a republican. >> that's how we started with the story. was it just this huge wave he got sucked in. >> which is a contention of the santorum campaign. >> we talked to a bunch of people who worked on the race and they were convinced by the turn of 2006, january 1st, 2006,

they were convinced they were going to win. they had seen the numbers. it was book, some of the crazier comments. his first conflict with mitt romney was when he blamed liberalism in massachusetts for the catholic child abuse scandal. that will preceded well in advance bush or the fact that the iraq war was going into the so on. >> yeah, i mean, that blogsout was bigger than even would have been suggested by way of elections. he did worse than he should have even in a wave. the question is does this matter for the primary coming up in pennsylvania? does the fact that he lost by almost 20 points in pennsylvania mean anything? i think it probably doesn't. >> he didn't like this guy in pennsylvania. >> romney has used this in radio ads like how can you trust someone who got clobbered in his home state to be a good election candidate. i'm not sure how it plays out. >> you weren't voting in a republican pennsylvania primary. >> it's a totally different

electorate. >> i think he lost independents by 40 percentage points in '06. in the tight confines of the republican primary in pennsylvania, i don't know if it's an open primary, he should be fine. this looms over him as an utter disaster of a campaign. >> kasie, if rick santorum doesn't win pennsylvania, does he have to -- the whole thing is stay until may. you'll have some southern wins which will give you wind in your sails. nautical. anyway, the point is, you know, may would be a good month for him. he could leave, if he is going to leave on a high note. if he loses his own home state. >> you're looking to wisconsin and then pennsylvania. it's clear santorum wants to stay in at least that far and see how he can do in his home state.p. it is a closed republican primary. he is going to have a way to look at that. he's been paying attention to pennsylvania all the way along, holding victory parties there. if he can actually survive to that point, hang in there, do

well in pennsylvania, then he'll have some argument to make, i can win a big swing state and then see a favorable calendar. romney's march at this point is just steady and looking more and more inevitable by the day. >> pennsylvania is a tough state for santorum. it's a big state. not a state where local organization is going to win. it's a state where message in the suburbs of philly, there's a lot of people there. it's not small conservative groups that win the state. >> in terms of disposition though, i thought this was interesting. the the "new york times" saying earlier this week taking heed of criticism, santorum tones down attacks. they say meet subdued santorum after several highly publicizedra, that left many wondering if he had crossed the line mr. santorum has struggled to find the balance between being a tenacious underdog and leaving himself open to criticism that he is just an embittered is also-ran. can he be the nice guy? >> this is what politicians do after a series of stories about

a core characteristic come out, you do somethington generate a series of stories that -- that's the old santorum. that's the old you. think of how many cycles mitt romney has gone through since he was on the national stage about just being a regular guy. so no. >> so the sausage may still fly. >> that's one of the great things about these campaigns is -- i didn't say that, but i would say that. >> i'll say that. the sausage may still fly. >> we have to leave it there. what else can you go out on a break to, on, i don't know what i'm saying? coming up, megamillions the flipside of lottery mania. that is next on "now." [ female announcer ] experience dual-action power, with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only listerine® that gets teeth two shades whiter and makes tooth enamel two times stronger. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse.

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i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! one of the concerns that i have, obviously, is that the disproportionate number of people who consistently buy

lottery tickets tend to be lower income and working class people who can least afford it, even if they're not compulsive gamblers, they are probably spending money that they don't necessarily have. >> that was then state senator barack obama of illinois in 2000 explaining why he considered the lottery a regressive tax on the poor. yesterday, at lunchtime in new york state alone, 22,000 tickets were sold every minute for tonight's just increased $640 million jackpot. there is only a one in 176 million chance of winning. are people feeling lucky or feeling desperate? i will say in the you know, with the aim of full disclosure, i have purchased along with the team of magicians and snake charmers that work on the show, there have been several tickets purchased for the jackpot. >> i can't wait to see the new set if you win. >> that was a rare moment of obama speaking on popular truths there. a tax on the poor, the stupid.

tax on the stupid and mathematically challenged. i say that as someone who bought $20 worth yesterday. >> you can't win if you don't play, ben. let's talk a little bit about the income sort of reality of the lottery. in new york state, households where $30,000 was the median income spent twice as much on lottery tickets as households where the income was $50,000 or above. in illinois it's predominantly low income areas, african-american or latino that generate the highest lottery sales. spending has been up despite the economic downturn. this comes as no surprise, when people feel the pinch they want to pin their hopes on the dream of megamillions. >> as social mobility in this country declines and the gap between the rich and poor declines and as the ability of states to meet their fiscal responsibilities and not want to raise taxes, more and more what we're seeing is we pay for

government by the lottery and gambling. the old obama was right. it's a regressive tax and it's not a great way to fund government for sure. >> but it was classic anti-colonial kenyan thinking bill obama. right? >> with respect to the lottery, i remember it was six or seven years ago that senator judd gregg won something like $800,000 in the lottery. i was thinking to myself, wow, it's totally indiscriminate who can win. is it possibly the worst way to produce social mobility. it's terrible. >> if we talking about social mobility, this is really important these numbers coming out this week that 93% of the added income created in 2010 went to the top 1% of the country. the top 1% saw income increase by 11.6% on average an extra $105,000. the bottom 99% saw wages up .2%. $80 a year. >> yeah. >> you look at those figures. this is now. this is what's happening now in america.

but to your point, ryan, the reality is that the lottery does pay for state programs and education is one of the biggest areas where lottery money you know ends up. the new york lottery contributed more than $3 billion between 2010 and 2011 which is 15% of the total state aid to local districts. in 2009, the $336 million jackpot generated $50 million in aid in seven weeks. so i mean, it's both at once a good thing to be playing the lottery and a bad thing the state is so dependent on the lottery to fill its coffers for very needed programs. >> that's a fiction. the state takes in a certain amount of money and spends a certain amount of money. it can say this is from the lottery. >> it's the argument it's fungible but at the same time, there is -- >> it's a way to justify this -- it's a way to justify a government gambling business which is hard to explain otherwise. if it was going to maintain the capitol building, it would be harder to sell. >> a way to raise money without

calling it a tax. it's that straightforward. politicians are much happier to put a lottery program together to pay for state public education. >> it's one of the interesting issues on the social conservative right which is so concerned with abortion and with gay marriage. gambling every once in awhile sort of hits the top of their agenda. but hasn't recently. that is gambling spreads across the corrupt abmore and more states use lottery, you wonder if that becomes a more salient sniper rick santorum ought to weigh in on this issue. >> after the break, seven budget votes in congress this week but no actual budget to speak of. we'll talk deals and dysfunction next. ♪ ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing.

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but if democrats and republicans get anything accomplished this election year, it may depend on the cooperation of speaker john boehner and president obama. in this week's "new york times" requesting magazine, the way their relationship crumbled during last summer's debt deal is described as "the awkward undoing of a brief teenage romance minus the texting and facebook unfriending." ryan lizza, you're a capitol hill denyizan. the story is an exhaustive account of what went down during the debt negotiations. i want to pull the take away here is what's undeniable despite all the furious efforts to pedal a different story that obama managed to get his closest allies to sign off on what he wanted them to do and boehner couldn't. but what do you make of that statement? >> that sort of captures the fundamental nature of the two parties right now.

we have a president with a more idea logically diverse coalition, more moderates in the democratic coalition than in the republican coalition. and who was willing to go pretty far to the point where a lot of liberals who now see how far obama was willing to go are not very happy about it and boehner who seems to be a dealmaker, someone that wanted to get a deal who absolutely could not because of the rightward drift of the republican party. and you know, it's not even -- i disagree about the personality between obama and boehner being significant. i think personalities and whether politicians get along with each other is overrated. newt gingrich and bill clinton after the '94 elections, they produced some pretty significant legislation together. i don't think they ever really liked each other but they did it because newt gingrich's coalition was not as far to the right as boehner's is and it was in both interests to do it. clinton had essentially humiliated the republicans by that point. and obama never did that after

the takeover in 2010. he's never been able to cripple the right wing of the republican party and force them to or at least force boehner to come to the deal. >> that's because his first step after the takeover was to play on their terms. they immediately went to the idea they were going to do deficit reduction in democratic terms. what's remarkable about this article and the washington post piece that preceded is just how far obama was willing to anger his base. we're talking about major reforms to the entitlement program, social security and medicare in exchange for somewhere between $800 billion and $1.2 trillion in tax revenue. that didn't even include the bush tax cut stuff. if it weren't for the gang of six being like we can produce $2 trillion in taxes this would have happened. that's the main take away. >> that it was kind of a miscalculation, a fumble on the white house's part an at some point because they sort of embraced the proposal and had to backtrack. >> it's very bizarre that john boehner couldn't rally his troops for that amount of

revenue when in the senate there were republicans saying fine we will sign off for $2 trillion. >> i want to bring in our resident sage of capitol hill who happens to be off the hill today in our d.c. bureau, luke russert. we're talking, of course, about the dynamic between the president and the speaker of the house. the other gentleman who has seemingly wielded quite a bit of power in terms of the direction his party is going in in is eric cantor. i wonder if you can tell us a little bit about this idea that let's talk specifically about the mat bai story in this sunday's "new york times" magazine that it was eric cantor who looked at boehner and said we can't get the caucus to vote for this and then boehner had to sort of step away from the bargaining table. >> that's right. the way in which a lot of the cantor aides have spun this, there's this is famous divide in washington, d.c. between speaker boehner and leader kantor that somewhat i think is overdone by the media but definitely does exist. the way in which the aides

started to spin it, eric cantor was the realist in the room saying there is no way he could get this through the house republican congress. when simpson boles went to the house floor two days ago and could only get 38 votes, it shows you how difficult it would have been for john boehner to get any deal that he had significant tax revenue through the house republican conference. the democrats more likely than not would have been there had the president been wholeheartedly behind this but you would have -- if boehner would have had to walk on on quite a limb and see a real threat to his speakership possibly after that. it's all speculation. you don't know how much influence eric cantor had in the room if the idea was that john boehner and barack obama this was blown up by the gang of six. but one thing i would throw out about the gang of six. how the collective wisdom in washington, d.c. is that their announcement they could have perhaps trillions in new revenue

is the reason why this fell over and liberals could not accept anything less than that, dick durbin, someone very close to the president, someone who was working on the gang of six, where was dick durbin during all this? was he not in communication with the white house? that's what i find interesting, someone like that such a good friend, introduced barack obama when he was accepting the nomination. where was the connection there that perhaps the heads up '0 we're going to come out with this, maybe it shouldn't be as public. it seems to be a communication breakdown there that perhaps scuttled this whole deal. >> luke, we're shaping up for an ugly fall or ugly winter, depending on where sort of the battle goes. there have been multiple budgets voted on this week in congress. the only one to pass the house was the ryan budget, which would seem to set the stage for a nasty fight come september because it basically walks back the agreement that the president and leadership reached regarding the debt. talk to us what may happen in september. >> alex, god bless you for

mentioning this. it's the most underreported story coming out of washington this week. the house and senate are now pursuing two different paths and two different numbers. the senate is $1.043 trillion for the fiscal year, the house 1.028 trillion. paul ryan wanted to cut money to appease conservatives to make sure the budget could get through the house. this is a huge deal because on september 30th, if there is not an agreement on how to fund the rest of the fiscal year, you could see a government shutdown. there is a very small probability that in an election year, they're going to come to some year-long agreement. you're going to see another continuation more likely than not of continuing resolutions, these little patchwork frames to make a budget and that is something in an election year the threat of a shutdown september 30th just six weeks before an election is an amazing story. it's very real. and after this covering this house for the last three years, i will tell you, nothing is done

until it's completely done. you'll hear all this summer, we don't want to let it get there. we're going to work to get past this and bring fiscal sanity. there is a real chance because of the divergent numbers that the house and senate are working on that you could see a legit shutdown by september 30th or another resolution that's a patchwork that has to be figured out in the lame duck section. >> that lame duck session is hardly going to be a lame duck session given all the stuff they have to figure out. luke russert, thank you for the intel. >> be well. >> coming up as the endorsements come in, are we getting close to i an short list for the vp nod? who is in and who is out next on "now." i'm al ways looking out for i'm al small ways to be more healthy. like splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to.

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i'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee. my answer hasn't changed. i'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee. >> you don't want to be vice president? >> not now, no. >> i'm not going to be the nominee but my answer hasn't changed. i'm not going to be the vice president. >> for nearly a year now, marco rubio has repeatedly denied he wants a spot in the veeb stakes. is he being coy or humble or does he really not want the job? ben, what do you make of rube yes, and romney on a ticket together? >> i think he's being coy. i think that romney is going to very likely decide he feeds a hispanic running mate and that that gives him probably three choices in that rubio is probably the most acceptable and he'll go with him. there's a lot of other speculation around. brian sandoval would give him a left ward tact and a more vetted candidate. a federal judge. i think rubio has a lot going for him. >> the question is, i still think that the question is out there. does rubio want to be on a

ticket with romney who is incredibly weak in terms of a nominee? would it tarnish him if they lose in 2012? >> well, if you have a chance to become vice president of the united states -- >> you take that na. >> you really can run for the vice presidency now. if the old days, the wisdom was you couldn't build a team and couldn't go out and do the speeches and raise your profile in a way obvious to all of us in the media. now do you it. rubio's got a very savvy topnotch group of operatives. and you know he's running for vice president. this new proposal on immigration that he has that's all part of the packaging. >> the dream package without the dream practically. >> the vetting is the one thing that rubio has to face. sure he won a high profile senate race and won in florida. the national is taken is a completely different ball game.

you know, we've seen some questions raised about rubio's biography or ties to other politicians in florida, things like that. that's going to get dredged up probably by the romney campaign before they will ever pick a nom >> he. >> and the shadow of sarah palin means they'll be obsessed with vetting like getting their ducks in a row. this is the most thorough you've seen of any candidate. rubiol is preparing for that trying to get stuff out in advance. i think he's very aware that verying is going to be the central thing. >> but i mean, there's certainly enthusiasm for marco rubio among the gop elders. i will tell you what jeb bush said. this is speaking about rubio. he is the best order of american politics today, a good family man. he is not only a consistent conservative but has managed to find a way to communicate a conservative message full of hope and optimism. almost the kind of terminology that we saw or heard folks tossing around in 2008 with the barack obama. >> you know, jeb said that after

rubio abandoned the bush position on state -- on immigration for -- excuse me, on in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. that's still a jeb bush position. he applied that in florida. that was once i believe rubio's position and he's now abandoned that. one of the things happening to rubio is just like every other republican that tries to keep ahold on the center for a general election, he's getting squeezes on the right. >> i find vp speculation completely useless and boring. >> i appreciate this panel. >> what would you like to talk about? >> one thing that is kind of interesting is that, you don't have to choose a vp anymore now based on the calculation that it could help win you a state. over the past couple of cycles it's pointless. certainly joe biden wasn't brought on to win delaware. i think rubio, although he hails from a very important state

wouldn't be brought on specifically for the purposes of winning florida even though it's a side benefit. watching what mitt romney thinks he needs to do to present himself in a better light, not which state he needs to win. >> you just put me to sleep with that answer. >> i think first and foremost -- >> how many times do we have to ask rubio if he's going to be the p. we get the same angeles. it's just so the repetitive. >> i think what's telling is there's so much more enthusiasm for marco rubio than there is for mitt romney. we talk about obviously the hispanic vote is a big deal for republicans. they are in the toilet as far as support among that dem graphic. beyond that, there's -- you got to think within the republican party, there are going to be more sort of gopers. >> or he'll draw bigger crowds. >> exactly. he needs that in the same way -- the palin halo effect would be very much. >> i disagree. it's not too early to talk about vp. there's a major split in the republican party. we all think romney is going to be the candidate. and the one thing that can bring

the party back together is his running mate. so. >> especially when that running mate may be -- >> you haven't convinced me. >> it's not about. >> one piece on "huffington post" about this. >> that little blog cub reporter sam stein unconvinced. it is friday. that means it's time to look back at the week and ask what just happened. that's next. [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

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last week, we saw how a political adviser's sketchy comments can lead to pitfalls. this week showed us being your own spokesman is no picnic either. it's time to look back and ask j what just happened. >> and thank you, dr. pepper. dr. paperer. >> sometimes stating your case isn't that easy. >> because -- because the -- >> we feel very confident that

the individual responsibility provision within the affordable care act is constitutional. >> and you'll really want us to go through these 2,700 pages? >> whether you're trying to problem you're just an average american -- >> building an elevator to a four-car garage. >> there's a senator from my state wants to get elected president. if he won, he'd have to move into a smaller house. >> governor romney called the president out of touch. out of touch, romney. >> or that you can be trusted. >> what this man said in all candor. >> i'm someone who is moderate and that my views are progressive. >> we simply can't trust what he is saying. >> i believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country. >> is the full explanation of what he's doing. >> aren't you connected to the republican party? >> only connection is i'm registered as a republican. >> how best to prove once and for all that you really are the family values candidate. >> it's bull [ bleep ]. >> he is the worst republican in the country. >> are you kidding me?

>> to show the public that you really do love your new job. >> i'm so excited about being a jet, i'm so excites about meeting my teammates and excited to be a jet. just excited. excited about the opportunity. he was excited about working. i'm excited about working with him. i'm excited about that. i'm excited to be a jet and to be here. >> to convince people that you really should stay in the race. >> i just stopped by your zoo. so the zoo is very nice. i started my career wanting to be a zoo director. >> and that you have the resources to do it. >> clearly we're going to having to going on a fairly tight budget. >> they inspired with the spirit of the bumblebee. >> the money is very tight. that's why we're trying to raise more money. >> bumblebee is not supposed to fly. >> it appears he's at the ends of his ride. >> a bumblebee believes he can fly. >> but maybe in the end, it's not about the convincing people. it's about getting them to believe. >> believe claim. >> i have a passion for dropping

by zoos. ♪ >> that was brought to you with some added pixie dust from our friends at buzzfeed who did some digging in the old video vaults. i ask you guys, when it comes to making the pitch, who nailed it this week? who failed at it? >> done va rely failed, the solicitor general clearly had a bad day. you know, i feel for him because it was the biggest moment of his life and the most -- farrest reaching piece of liberal legislation in 40 years was contingent on a good oral argument and he didn't show up. >> ryan. >> that may be the best two minutes in television each week. congratulations. >> thank you, sir. >> i agree. varelli was a disaster. one thing i've been hung up on is scalia. when he got up there and talked about the cornhusker kickback and he proposed this

hypothetical that you know, what if we the supreme court took out the cornhusker kickback, does that mean the whole act has to fail. as far as my understanding of the legislation, the kickback is not in there. it was repealed during that reconciliation process. it makes me wonder about all of us are so siloed in our information and liberals and conservatives operate sometimes in these bubbles and you really do expect people on the supreme court to be outside of that and you wonder if it existed there too. >> very quickly buzzy ben smith from buzzfeed. >> joe biden had an interesting week. he attacked romney for being consistent which was new and interesting. if they drop the flip-flop line and said he's consistently wrong, that's an interesting new tact for if the obama campaign. >> kasie who is up? >> rick santorum had a tough week flashing his true colors with cameras in the room. >> i'm going to say newt gingrich who is today said mitt romney is going to be the likely presidential nominee. perhaps not making the case for

his own candidacy and continued zoo tour across the country. thanks again to sam, ryan, kasie and ben. that is all for "now." have a great weekend. a see you back here monday at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific. we are going to talk with the author of the book "the lady and the peacock." and former white house adviser for green jobs van jones. till then, you can follow us as you always can on twitter @now with alex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. happy friday to you, miss mitchell. >> thank you very much. it's great to be back, as well. and today, homeland security secretary janet napolitano joins me right here on the growing threat of cyberattacks and the recent chaos in the skies and the former president of the maldives, on being forced from power and how climate change could wipe out his island nation as hillary clinton today holds crisis talks about syria with

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there's no going back. see your lexus dealer. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," seal the deal. mitt romney is collecting party endorsements as the gop establishment falls in line. >> we need to coalesce as conservatives around mitt romney. >> i do think it's time for the party to get behind governor romney. >> we've got to come together behind who i think has earn this had nomination and that's romney. >> our news nbc/marist poll shows romney pulling away from santorum ahead of tuesday's wisconsin primary. and president obama with a double digit lead over romney right now. plus, air scare and cyberthreats. homeland security secretary janet napolitano joins us here. what she thinks about the cyberthreats. plus, making a splash from