romney is looking for ways he can agree with the president. and today, he found one. >> their new theme is the war on women. there is no war on women. >> there's really not a gender problem in the republican party. >> the fact of the matter is, it's a fiction. >> snap out of it. >> last year, there were 1,100 anti-woman provisions introduced in state legislatures. >> there is no war on women. >> we have eight states that are trying to de-fund planned parenthood. >> i also feel the government should cut off funding to planned parenthood. >> we have 13 states trying to push the same mandatory ultrasound bills. >> you have to close your eyes -- >> i could go on and on. >> the democrats said we had a war caterpillars we'd have a problem with caterpillars. >> the republicans really embarrassed themselves. >> we do suffer from p.m.s. -- >> new controversy at augusta

national golf club. >> a question of whether women should be members of augusta. >> women are not allowed to become members. >> jay carney has spoken out -- >> the president's answer to this question is yes. >> president obama seems to be picking up the banner for women. >> women are on president obama's side. >> i do want to talk a little bit about mitt romney's strategy. >> i wish ann were here, my wife were here. >> why p doesn't he actually speak to women? >> any old girlfriends here? i have to be careful. >> he can't help it. he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. the latest polls are showing the huge gender gap in president obama's favor against mitt romney is actually getting bigger. gloria steinham is not content with what is now a 20-point

advantage among women voters, gloria wants the obama winning margin with women to be even bigger. >> whether or not women can determine when and whether to have children is the single biggest element in whether we're healthy or not, whether we're educated or not, how long our life expectancy is, whether we can be active in the world or not. this presidential election is a turning point. we will lose what we have gained if any republican candidate were to win. >> with the gender gap widening as the democrats continue to accuse mitt romney and the republicans of waging a war on women, this is the best defense the chairman of the republican party can come up with. >> the democrats said we had a war on caterpillars, then every mainstream media outlook talked about the fact that republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we'd have a problem with caterpillars.

the fact of the matter is, it's a fiction. >> problems with caterpillars indeed. and here is the best response that the presumptive republican nominee for president could come up with. >> why do you think you face this gender gap? >> well, i know that our party has traditionally faced the gender gap and i think the democratic party has done an effective job at trying to mischaracterize our views. >> realizing that they have the republicans on the ropes on women's issues, the obama reelection campaign and the white house showed today that they will not miss a single opportunity on this issue. >> day of opening round of the augusta masters and the question of whether the all male golf club should admit women refuses to go away. what's the white house stance on this? >> the president's answer to this question is, yes. he believes -- his personal opinion is that women should be admitted. i happened to have a discussion about this with him. so i happen to know that's his answer.

but, you know, it's obviously up to the club to decide. but his personal opinion is that women should be admitted to the club. >> and rush limbaugh who loves golf more than he could ever love a woman who plays golf was not going to take that sitting down. well, i mean that figuratively, at least, because rush takes everything sitting down. >> now here's obama, the first black president who says i think they ought to allow female members. it'd be interesting to track this. now -- warren buffett's a member of augusta national, but i don't think his secretary is. and what a slight that is. i mean here's warren buffett's secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does and she's not a member of augusta national but warren is. if he's going to make the catholic church pay for

abortions and give away birth control pills, he can certainly get women into augusta. he can just order it. anyway, how far can we be from the augusta mandate? we have the health care mandate, we've got the birth control mandate, and pretty soon we're going to have the augusta mandate. >> i know what you're wondering. what exactly does rush drink during that show? as much as he shares pretty much everything he can with the audience. that is not something he shares with them every day, that particular answer to that question. and staring at a 20-point lead that president obama has over mitt romney with women voters, this. turned out to be the one day that romney handlers would not allow their candidate to take dictation from mr. rush limbaugh. >> any thoughts on whether women should be able to join augusta? >> well, of course. i'm not a member of augusta, i don't know if i would qualify, my golf game's not that good. but certainly if i were a member

and if i were -- if i could run augusta, of course i'd have women at augusta. >> thank you. >> governor, do you think that the republican party -- >> hi there, how are you doing? >> joining me now is florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schults, looks like you have them on the run. the republican candidate for president does think it's okay for you to play golf now. what next? do you think they might actually cave on anything meaningful? >> oh, gosh, i feel better already. i feel like my rights have been restored. you know, what mitt romney and the republicans have been doing to themselves every single day is showing women in this country day after day that they are callously indifferent to women's health, the priorities of women. really as evidenced by their

obsession with cultural issues, their obsession with making sure that women can't have affordable access to birth control, the dismissive way that the chairman of the republican national committee today chalked up women being concerned about making sure that we could have affordable access to preventive screenings like mammograms. as fictional as a war on caterpillars. you know, if they're still wondering why there's an 18-point gender gap and president obama is ahead of mitt romney by that many points, then they really -- they really must believe these things that they're saying. shocking. >> nikki haley thinks she has the answer for mitt romney on this issue. let's listen to what she had to say. >> what i would say to governor romney is he needs to reach out to the women. he needs to talk to them about the issues they care about. the media thinks that women only

care about contraception. that's not true they care about contraception and education and health care and jobs and the economy. but he's got to do it. get out in front of women and say this is what i believe in. this is why i believe it. let the women ask their question and it will happen. >> do you think that's actually going to happen in the romney campaign? >> no. i mean i think mitt romney has been so focused on trying to out right wing and embrace extremism that he is really beholden and tied himself to his support for person hood amendments, his belief that roe versus wade was one of the worst decisions handed down by the supreme court, his support for the blunt/rubio amendment that says that bosses get to decide for their female employees what kind of access to health care they can have. and so every day there's another example of how out of touch the republicans are. mitt romney wants to be president of the united states, yet he fails to recognize what's

important to women. we just want to make sure that the guy in the white house is focused on creating jobs, getting the economy turned around, and making sure that as members of the middle class and working families that we have an opportunity to be successful to not just focusing on people who already are. >> let's bring in ohio state senator nina turner who is also the minority whip there and michelle goldberg for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." i want to go to what gloria steinam said in that taped piece. she makes the point -- quoting her now, when and whether to have children is the single biggest element in whether we're healthy or not, will whether we're educated or not, how long your life expectancy is, whether we can be active in the world or not. and there's a lot of statistical data that backs up every one of those things she's saying on a

societal level. that seems to be information that the republicans just don't know. >> they don't, lawrence. and this is about personal liberty for the party that touts about personal liberties and wants to try to come down on the president because he wants to make sure that everybody has access to high-quality health care and they're all about complaining about a mandate. they're putting mandates on women in terms of not allowing us access to contraception and not allowing access to abortion. we have a short memory in this country, women died attempting to get back out of the abortions. and a woman cannot even have access to contraception? you know, lawrence, when i was growing up my grandmother taught me that if you make a mess, you clean it up. and the republicans have made a mess and they want to blame the democrats for their mess. they need to clean up their mess and they have created chaos in communities and women are not going to stand for it anymore. and i agree with gloria, we have got to increase the lead that the president has over romney with regards to how women are

going to be treated in this country. do we want somebody in the white house that respects and love women? or do we want someone in the white house that thinks that women are second class citizens? the decision is ours and also the men who love and respect women. some of these people, laurence, i don't believe they were birthed. some of them were hatched because they don't love women. >> michelle goldberg, i was struck by how quickly mitt romney agreed with the president on an issue that didn't exist yesterday. i mean, this was one of those things that came up really fast. the obama side responded very quickly, which they're capable of doing, we know that. but romney, in romney world when there's something new that's there, and oh, by the way, rush limbaugh has a position on it, we've never seen -- >> this is kind of a gimme, right? when you are battling the perception that your party and your candidacy is waging a war on women, you cannot come out for gender -- >> here's my point.

would he, say, three months ago before this war on women started raging. would he have answered that that quickly? he's being asked about a private golf club and what should they do -- wouldn't he have gone all hands off -- >> he might have talked about kind of -- >> and talked about how many members he knows there and how many friends of his own it? >> yeah, i have many friends who own golf clubs and their wives are excellent players, something like that. but i think, the thing is he can't come out on any of the issues that are really have women so worked up, right. he can't change his position, at least not right now on contraceptive coverage. he can't change his position on choice, can't change his position on privatizing medicare and medicaid. this is an easy one he needs to kind of pander any way that he can. >> debbie, we have seen that the republican method and in particular the romney method is that if the romney campaign has a weakness, accuse president obama of doing that.

you know, he's now accusing president obama of trying to destroy medicare. he's accused president obama of trying to invent his own religion and so on and so on. and so do you see any way here that the romney campaign could possibly attempt to turn this around on the president and accuse him of being the enemy of women out there? >> you know what you're describing is there's a term for it. it's called projection. when you have a problem and want to draw people's attention away from it, you actually accuse the other side of actually having that problem. and so -- i mean, for example, mitt romney also was critical -- had the nerve to be critical in front of a hispanic audience that president obama has not done enough on immigration reform. to address the immigration problem. when this is -- mitt romney is the candidate with the most extreme position in history on immigration.

and today, in fact, russell pierce, the author of the arizona immigration law -- the most extreme law in the country said that mitt romney and he are one in the same and they have identical positions. and so we're going to see countless attempts by mitt romney to project on to president obama, what he is really doing in the positions he's really taking himself. >> senator turner, tell us about the women of ohio. when this general election campaign comes to ohio, which the winner of the election has to win. could women decide this for president obama in ohio? >> oh, absolutely women will. and women are fired up and ready to go in this state, lawrence, and we are going to make sure that we deliver ohio for the president so that women know and understand that they don't have to, they deserve better. and you know what, lawrence, besides the president, the president needs a team that he can throw the ball to on the state level. and i encourage all of your watchers to understand that we have to clean house.

we need to clean all the state houses in this nation in terms of having elected officials that don't care about women and think that we need to be treated like second class citizens. we are not going to take it in ohio, arizona, virginia, we are going to stand up and fight. we are not going back. our foremothers fought too hard for us to have the rights and freedoms we have today so we're going to do it for them, ourselves, and we are going to do it for future generation of women. >> senator nina turner, michelle goldberg, and congresswoman wasserman schultz. thank you for reminding men that they were birthed, they were not hatched. >> amen. >> i think some of them needed that reminder. >> thank you. coming up. this week, republicans are flip-flopping big time on all those unelected judges they used to hate. now that the republicans control the supreme court, those judges are looking pretty good to them. and now that republicans are giving up their search for

anyone but mitt romney, i'll explain who they were looking for all along and could never find. that's in the re-write. and we have breaking huntsman news tonight, which will be delivered tonight by jon huntsman's daughter, and it's not exactly what mitt romney wants to hear. and later, the defense lawyers for the man who killed trayvon martin went out looking for easy tv interviews last night at other networks and they found one. i'll give you some time now to guess which network gave the lawyers their easiest interview, cnn or fox news. you can tweet your answers to me at lawrence or at the show @thelastword. ♪ open up. we have come for the foul, unholy beast. the one with the red markings.

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republican voters are now glumly settling for the prospect of mitt romney as their nominee for president after spending the

better part of the year desperately searching for anyone but mitt romney. i'll explain what they were hoping to find in their search for anyone but mitt. it wasn't someone with better policy positions. it was something more important than that. and that's in the re-write. and the team of lawyers now defending george zimmerman in the killing of trayvon martin went shopping for easy tv interviews last night. and they found one on one of the other news networks. okay. here's a hint. the show was hosted by a white man -- well, okay, that's pretty much every cable news show. all right. another hint, the show was at 9:00 p.m. in fact, both of the shows they did were at 9:00 p.m. [ fabric flapping in wind ]

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so republicans and the noise machine at fox news think it's perfectly okay to say this. >> it's the only branch that's unelected and whose officers serve for life. unfortunately, some judges give into temptation and make law instead of interpreting it. such judicial lawlessness is a threat to our democracy and it needs to stop. >> and republicans and fox news world think it is a high crime to say this. >> i just remind conservative commentators that four years what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint. that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.

>> joining me now is politico's chief white house correspondent mike allen, the co-author of "inside the circus" available now. also joining us salon.com senior writer and msnbc political analyst steve karnaki. now, i want you to listen to something that mitt romney said today. and i want you to figure out -- take your time on this -- we get a little game showy here, reality showy here at 10:00 p.m. try to figure out whether he was talking about president george w. bush or president barack obama. let's listen to this. >> how the president thinks that's inappropriate or calls that an activist court, he is really very puzzling and very troubling and suggest this president will say anything, will attack any institution, will distort the truth with

reckless abandon, and in this case in a way i think is terribly disrespectful of one of the branches of our government. >> i'm going to let you think it over -- >> buzz -- >> just let me -- >> not george w. bush. >> we'll say anything, we'll distort the truth with reckless abandon and in case -- so that's who? who's he talking about? >> it can't be george w. bush because there's no evidence that any of the republican candidates know who george w. bush is. >> he's never been mentioned, that's right. mike, tell us what's going on here. they are suddenly very, very upset that a president actually quoting republicans -- not saying -- he was using the republican phrase about them being unelected saying this is what you guys used to say. and they can't take it when he says that. >> well both sides here are working the refs the ultimate -- the ultimate swing vote. here you just have one vote on the margins. i think the president also would

take back some of what he said. there's going to be plenty of time in -- >> a little bit -- >> yeah, he has. and there'll be plenty of time in july to talk about why this was a mistake. i think they were trying to build in some insurance. they maybe had a bad feeling about where this was headed. but you don't know where it's headed and this court doesn't like to be strong armed. but i don't think it helps to have maureen dawd said that they were extremists in black robes either. >> so we have a response to -- >> hacks -- >> hacks in black robes. >> we have a response to a challenge issued to the obama administration. >> this is a very grudging response -- >> this is a -- >> barely -- >> biggest letter we've ever put up here. this is eric holder, the attorney general's response to judge jerry e. smith who ordered the justice department lawyer in the health care -- the case that

was hearing one provision of the health care law to respond with a three page. and you'll see up there three pages, single-spaced, explaining, does the president understand that the courts are allowed to review the constitutionality of laws. and eric holder's letter says the power of the courts to review the constitutionality of legislation is beyond dispute. and he has three pages of more words. that don't mean very much -- >> 2 1/2 pages. >> yeah, he did the three-page thing the way i used to do in college. here's your third page -- well, there it is up on the big board, it's a tiny little page. steve, what are the politics of this? it's hard to believe that the attorney general said, okay, we'll engage in this without thinking what does this mean to the campaign? what does this mean to the president's politics right now. >> yeah, i think at this point, there's a strong case that holder can make and he made a strong case in that letter. didn't need three pages to make it.

yes, of course the president understands that. but i think there's something really broader going on here in what sort of sparked all this in the first place. there's been an effort from the beginning of the obama presidency, from the right, the argument that the right decided to make from the beginning of the presidency was we're going to paint this guy as your worst nightmare when it comes to being a left-wing radical. and so what became a very sort of private insurance friendly health care plan became socialized medicine and a government takeover of health care. and a very restrained suggestion that the supreme court may not want to overturn this law became, you know, a president challenging the authority of the court. if you want to see the president challenging the authority of the court, go back and listen to what fdr said when he tried to pack the supreme court back in 1937. that's a president who was directly attacking the supreme court, directly attacking judicial review. that's the caricature that thing right wants to push of what obama is and who obama is. but it does not mesh with reality. but that's been the story of this presidency. >> mike, your latest installment of the ebook series on the

campaign -- >> space and time -- >> printed version. some phenomenal things in here. for example, what romney's debate coach urged him to change. >> yeah, well, we found out that he had been -- romney had been doing what he wanted to do and had not really been taking coaching. so when he finally got a debate coach in florida, they said you have to attack, and romney really resisted that. he said my style is to fly above the storm. i've been better doing it that way. but they pushed him to attack gingrich in florida and it was finally ann romney that convinced them it was okay. they said a little prayer and as you recall, romney came out just tore his throat out it and worked. >> we'll do a quick one as a guest, steve. what rick santorum writes at the top of his debate notes.

>> mention obama care and romney care. >> i haven't gotten to read this yet, but i think it's going to be something about god. >> you're so good. >> you can see why he -- >> he has the big chair -- >> i promise you i haven't read it. i took that off the press release, that question. >> at the top of his debate notes was left behind on a podium and his speech notes, he writes h.s. for holy spirit to remind the holy spirit to come through him as he's speaking, makes you think he may stay in the race a little longer than we might think. >> there are many of us catholic school kids going, yeah, that wasn't too hard to guess. mike allen and steve kornaki, thank you for joining me tonight. republican voters are finally doing their duty and falling in line with mitt romney after bouncing from candidate to candidate in search of anyone but mitt romney. they weren't looking for someone with better policy positions, they were looking for something much more important to voters than that. and that's going to be in the

re-write. and george zimmerman has a new lawyer to defend him in the killing of trayvon martin. and last night we found a new television spokesman for the defense team. who just happens to already be conveniently positioned at the anchor desk of another cable news show on another network at 9:00 p.m. [ heart beating, monitor beeping ] woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ]

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george zimmerman's new lawyer teamed up with his old lawyer to try to find a

comfortable spot on tv last night to discuss the killing of trayvon martin. they got the easiest interview they could possibly have imagined on one of the other cable news networks at 9:00 p.m. now, in fact, they appeared on both cnn and fox news at 9:00 p.m. so guess which interview went exactly the way they wanted it to? that's coming up. ♪ stream, stream, stream... ♪ strea-ea-ea-ea-eam ♪ ...stream, stream, stream... ♪ whenever i want you, all i have to do is... ♪ [ female announcer ] introducing xfinity streampix. stream your favorite movies and full seasons of shows instantly on any screen. find out more online.

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if we lose this processing facility we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. we would have to consider layoffs as a result of that. closure of this plant will affect all of us. ♪ when you're getting your head slammed in the ground after your nose is broken, that's a good reason for fear of imminent injury. and you're allowed to use deadly force to protect yourself. >> and you're saying that's what happened here? >> that's exactly what happened. >> that's how the newest member of the legal defense team in the killing of trayvon martin speaking with nbc news today. he and his co-counsel, the man who fled from our studio in florida last week because he was afraid to do an interview on this program went in search of friendly interviewers last night on other networks. they ran into more of a challenge than they expected at cnn. >> you've destroyed him, the public -- the media has

absolutely destroyed him unfairly, and the conclusions you're drawing in your questions to me show that you've already reached that same conclusion too. and what i want you to do and i want america to do is to step back, use your cool head and listen to the facts. >> but at fox news they were so confident the interview was going to be easy that they brought along the man who was paying their bills. robert zimmerman, the father of george zimmerman who shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old trayvon martin. >> what do you say to the president? what do you say to these members of congress? what do you say to all of these activists and people that have "rushed to judgment" here? >> i just believe it's very sad that so many people are not telling the truth on purpose for their own agenda. >> the answers didn't really matter much in the hannity interview, everything the defense wanted said was already in every single one of his questions, including this lie. >> his nose was broken.

>> joining me now are co-counsel for the martin family and charles m. blow, a "new york times" writer. charles, it has not been confirmed his nose is broken. in fact, let me go to piers' question last night about what can they say about the broken nose. i think we have tape from that from cnn. >> if you released a picture, an x-ray of george zimmerman's nose broken, that would be helpful to your case i would argue. >> well, first of all -- first of all, he's already been tried and convicted in the media. we're going to try this case in court and all that evidence will be presented at that time, but not here, not tonight, and not on this program. >> charles blow, my feeling has been if they could say we will

produce medical records of him visiting an emergency room that night or the next day or any doctor within 24 hours of this event concerning a broken nose they would say they had the records. if they weren't really thrilled with how good those records were, they might not show them to us, but they'd say they had them if they had them. >> right. that is the crucial point here. is there a broken nose? and if george zimmerman's head was being smashed into the pavement, is there some evidence of a concussion? and those things can be proven. and if he actually did receive medical care. what we know now is that the second ambulance was canceled because of the person attending to george zimmerman did not believe he had sufficient enough injuries to warrant even an ambulance. and what we also know is we see george zimmerman 35 minutes after the fact. we see him not even reaching for

the nose, not trying to -- a broken bone is excruciating. there are a zillion nerve endings in the face. you would be in excruciating pain. that is not what we see on the tape. the one witness interviewed on anderson cooper's show said the person, george zimmerman sprang up after the shooting, did not appear hurt. he never says the person is holding their nose, none of that. what we know flies right in the face of the idea that someone has a broken bone in the face that someone has what would -- we would think to be a concussion. if they're slamming his head into the pavement over and over again. his brother says if it got slammed one more time, he would be spoon fed by his brother. that means there should be some evidence, medical evidence, there should be some x-ray that will back up that. they may want to present that in court. they may not want to release it to the public, that's up to them. but what we know so far does not

corroborate that set of events. >> natalie jackson, two things, what would you take as proof that george zimmerman suffered a broken nose that night? or even reasonable evidence tending toward proof. don't even go to the proof beyond a reasonable doubt standard. and then, secondly, in the representation of george zimmerman at this stage, can you think of any conceivable defense reason why they wouldn't answer that simple question on cnn last night of do you have any records? he wasn't asking them to produce it and put it on the table on the show last night. but just answer the question, do you have any medical records of how this broken nose was treated? i cannot think of a single reason why a defense lawyer for zimmerman wouldn't want to say now, if they had them, yes, we do have records of that. we will produce them in the right forum at the right time? >> well, let me first say that i don't think george zimmerman's lawyers are doing any great service by going on the media and talking about his case.

what the public does not know and maybe some in the public don't know is that the prosecutor, the special prosecutor in this case is the person that will prosecute this case against george zimmerman and his attorneys will defend. when you see ben and i on television, we are not part of the criminal case. we are here -- we are representing the family so that charges will be brought because there was probable cause for an arrest. now, we believe that george zimmerman deserves a fair trial just like everyone else. when we talk about a broken nose and talk about those things, that is for the defense to present in court so that the evidence can be evaluated by a jury. now, do i personally believe that they have that record? i do not. i think that the way that they've conducted their case -- and i mean they, the lawyers in this, they're presenting and they're putting evidence out in the public that they believe is favorable. i believe a lot of the things they've put out are untrue. however, in the end, it's going

to be up to a jury. >> yeah, charles. i mean, listen. it would slow me down on this broken nose thing if they would just say we have medical records that will satisfy everyone that he was treated for that broken nose as a result of this incident. the fact that they are not, the fact that they refuse every time they're asked the question about -- i asked the empty chair the question when he walked out. >> i thought i heard him answer. >> do you have medical records of this? and the empty chair didn't answer either. it's the same thing, you get them on the show or not. it doesn't matter. >> well, right. but they could have it. let's leave that as a possibility. they could have a record that says that the man has a broken nose. even if he does, however, i mean -- that helps the story. even if he does, i think it's very important to remember that no one contests there was some sort of physical altercation. whether or not the stand your ground applies to trayvon or to george zimmerman is the question.

could trayvon be legally protected for defending himself against a man who approaches with a gun who he does not know and gets within swinging distance of? so you can actually have a fight and have a broken nose and it still does not prove that you are innocent. >> charles m. blow -- >> that'the point, charles. the point is -- and that's the point that is getting lost. the point that's getting lost is that george zimmerman was told to stay in his car. when he got out of his car he had a 9 millimeter as he chased down according to his own words trayvon martin. he was where he was supposed to be. he was not committing any crime and he ended up after an encounter with george zimmerman with a bullet wound in his chest. that is for a jury. and that is -- that is why -- and this case must go to a jury. you have an unarmed teenager where he was supposed to be. >> charles m. blow and natalie jackson. thank you for joining me tonight. coming up, the re-write is

next and it's about mitt romney and gregory peck. that's next. what do mitt romney and gregory peck have in common? answer. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections,

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to me, that's the membership effect. what do mitt romney and gregory peck have in common? answer. nothing. and that is mitt romney's basic problem as a candidate. that's next in the re-write. [ ] sweet. tangy. creamy. you don't often find these things in one place. maybe in vegas, if you know where to look. and us. so come on, give us a whirl. ♪ so come on, give us a whirl. pop in the drum of any machine... ♪ ...to wash any size load. ♪ it dissolves in any temperature, even cold. tide pods. a powerful three-in-one detergent that cleans, brightens, and fights stains. so all your looks pop.

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mitt romney was the front-runner at the beginning of the campaign for the republican nomination for president and now he is the front-runner again and presumed nominee in waiting. in the interim, republican voters kept begging for anyone but romney, kept rewriting the republican front-runner, kept crossing out the name romney and replacing it with bachmann, perry, cain, gingrich, santorum. what were they looking for? not policy positions because all the republicans have essentially the same policy positions. they were looking for something more. something more important. something deeper. they were looking for this. >> now, gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers. and our courts all men are created equal.

i'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and our jury system, that's no ideal to me. that is a living, working reality. >> that was gregory peck in his 1962 oscar winning role of finch in "to kill a mocking bird." and that's the feeling voters are always craving, the feeling you get watching atakis finch where he knew the deck was stacked against him. the white house movie theater was filled with that feeling earlier this evening not just because the president was there but also because finch was there. at the child-friendly hour of 5:00 p.m., the newly released 50th anniversary dvd of "to kill a mockingbird" was shown in the white house with gregory peck's beloved wife and the peck family in attendance along with a group of students from a public high school in washington.

anyone who knew gregory peck, as i did, can tell you that he would be honored that the president watched his film tonight and he would be overjoyed that those young students saw it. that those young students watched it with the president on april 5th, greg's 96th birthday would be an extra delight for him. i know today was a very happy birthday for his family. democrats asked gregory peck to run for office more than once. who knows what might have been if he said yes. democrats hoped he could be their ronald reagan. everyone including president reagan agreed that gregory peck was a better actor than ronald reagan. could he have been a better politician? a better statesman? we'll never know. but we do know that greg could've given voters that feeling they craved. that feeling which was best captured in words by the

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well, it looks increasingly like we have a nominee in the republican party. i think that's becoming increasingly evident. >> what is not evident when you hear that guy say that is that he actually endorsed that republican nominee months ago. that was jon huntsman speaking yesterday after pretty much the whole world became convinced that mitt romney has the republican presidential nomination wrapped up. that's when endorsers of romney, supporters of romney are supposed to jump up and down in front of tv cameras chanting all the way with mitt, stuff like that, something jubilant,

triumphant. jon huntsman had more to say yesterday. let's see just how triumphant he could get himself to be. >> and now the challenge, of course, will be how do you reach out and draw in the independents. i think that's ultimately where the election is going to be won or lost. >> you think romney will be able to reach out to those independents? >> he certainly shows evidence of being able to do that. now the work begins. >> and then came the breaking news today from jon huntsman's daughter that jon huntsman will not be a surrogate for the romney campaign and will not be campaigning for him and quote, will not be out stumping for him in the general. and that's why abby huntsman, jon huntsman's daughter is very welcome here tonight. >> you're going to get me in a lot of trouble tonight. i'm going to set the record straight. that's why i'm here. >> set the record straight. your father hates romney -- >> absolutely not. >> i believe i heard him say -- >> my dad endorsed romney. and he still stands to that.

and he would be happy to go out and help. as far as i know he's not been asked to. i think once they realized they need to get the independents they'll be calling him. but he would be happy to help and always does he feels is better for the country overall. >> let's listen to something he said on msnbc that might have something to do with why no one's called him. >> i already know what you're going to show. >> let's see. >> gone are the days when the republican party used to put forward big bold visionary stuff. i think we're going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third party movement or some alternative voice out there that can put forward new ideas. >> okay. so it's not traditional for you to ask your surrogate to go out and campaign for you after he's called for a third party. >> well, i think what my dad talks about is something mitt romney should take seriously. he now has an opening to demonstrate a narrative that attracts american people beyond the base. it's talking about the economy.

he's spending his time attacking the president, i think that's -- >> he's not spinning anymore. huntsmans don't have to spin anymore. you can relax -- >> that's right, but -- >> go ahead, say it. >> the party should embrace my dad and say we need all ideas here. if we want to win in 2012, we need all people to come together and unite. that's the only way we're going to beat obama. they should bring my dad in. >> huntsman in 2016 on a third party? >> he said he will serve. >> no one is saying no to the third party -- >> you know what? he will serve in whatever capacity he can. that's all i can say. >> okay. well, you've said enough and your father has said enough. i think we get it. i think we get it. abby huntsman gets the last word tonight. thank you very much, abby. now to the gender gap. let's play some "hardball."