>> right now we're in trouble with our old pal chuck todd. >> rick santorum is out after an improbable rise that energized the base and challenged the establishment and now leaves mitt romney free to focus solely on the general election, but will santorum's conservative supporters flock to romney and what happens to his delegates? tax fairness in the swing state of florida, will he find it for the rest of the election and the obama campaign releases their first big swipe at romney since santorum stepped down. hillary clinton says the u.s. will proceed with appropriate action, but that isn't stopping them from starting to fuel up the missile. our report from inside north korea ahead. good morning from new york city. it's wednesday, april 11, 2012 and this is "the daily rundown." i'm luke russert in for chuck todd. after 32 states, 20 debates and $180 million of candidate

spending and 15 more from super pacs effectively ended yesterday when rick santorum suspended his campaign. >> against all odds we won 11 states, millions of voters, millions of votes. we won more counties than all of the other people in this race combined and we made a decision over the weekend that, while this presidential race for us is over, for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting. >> nbc news senior political editor mark murray joins me now. mark, thanks so much for being on the program. this was a gift to mitt romney because it was on the cover of "usa today." now it's essentially obama-romney. i want to play about what romney said about the dropping out of santorum and what it means on the other side. >> this has been a good day for me. senator santorum has decided not

to proceed with his campaign, and i had the chance to speak with him this morning. we exchanged our thoughts about going forward. he will continue to have a major role in the republican party and i look forward to his work in helping assure victories for republicans across the country in november. >> as you remember, that was an awful contest that he exchanged and how much can santorum get behind mitt romney and do you think he'll get behind him with the enthuse ychl that he could warrant? time will have to heal some wounds here, remembering the 2008 democratic primary between barack obama and hillary clinton. she didn't immediately come and embrace barack obama after she withdrew from the contest. it took a few weeks before she appeared on a campaign trail with him, and then for the supporters and evangelical christians who united around rick santorum, it would take him a while and we saw negative

comments from people like tony perkins and e vafrnlel cal leaders and i think mitt romney is hoping that come three or four months now, these people will be in line and these people will want to beat barack obama. >> looking at the delegate map, rick santorum amassed 212 delegates, mark. what will happen to those delegates now and will they end up with mitt romney? >> good question. going back to 2008, one of the rules about these things is people can actually change their mind. remember the delegates that hillary clinton ended up winning in 2008? those people were released later to actually support barack obama as they were running the democratic nominee at the convention. it remains to be seen. you can't see rick santorum, when he decides to endorse mitt romney might be able to get extractions for concessions at the convention, speaking slot, some type of promise to be able to serve in the cabinet.

those things are all negotiated, but as far as what the delegate situation is right now, luke, we don't have to worry. this is no longer about the math race, the presumptive nominee. rick santorum has spent a lot of money running for president and he's helping supporters to gi him campaign debt. he had a $500 check bounce. have you ever heard about that in politics, mark? is that a newfound phenomenon? >> it is an embarrassing story for newt gingrich. he's remaining in this contest saying he's going to be campaigning in north carolina, in delaware and pennsylvania, everywhere that there are future contests and when there are stories like this that pop up it ends up hurting newt gingrich and his brand. rick santorum is able to point to the victories that he had yesterday on limited funds and people saw it as a success on political rehabilitation for m

him, but as newt gingrich continues in this race and stories like that pop up, it's only damaging to him. >> thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. >> will mitt romney be able to rally social conservatives where they called him uniquely disqualified to be the republican nominee. >> this is someone who doesn't have a core and he's gone on every single issue in the past ten years. >> just stay with what we have instead of taking a risk the an etch a stretch depend at for the future. he advocated for exactly what obama care did. he's disqualifiedisqualified. he's the worst candidate in the country to put up against barack obama. >> tony perkins is president of the family research council and was supporting rick santorum's bid. thanks so much for being on the

program. >> good morning, luke. >> you have had some choice words about mitt romney in the past. i want to play something for you that you said on november 11th of last year. >> i have some problems with mitt romney. if you look at his record there are problems. ink the liberal press will dig deeply into his record, and i'm sure we have -- [ indiscernible ] >> if you go to the romney website on issues, it says romney is pro-life and he opposes gay marriage and he opposes stem cells. what's your big problem with him? >> well, first, he supported a measure or supports a measure like enda which are special employment rights based upon sexual behavior. he does have a record that does not necessarily match his rhetoric that he campaigned on four years ago and has not campaigned on much this time

although he checked the boxes. he clearly has a lot of work to do to shore up support among a very important segment of the republican voting base. >> you said to cnn and my colleague dana bash, quote, it's difficult for us to back a candidate we aren't excited about. do you think he'll get the evangelical conservative backing or will they stay home? >> i don't think they'll stay home. that's not the question. you had the backdrop of barack obama which, clearly, when you look at his policies, not theoretical, but practical that he has imposed upon this nation both socially and economically it is an enafema. the question is the level of enthusiasm and intensity. it's turn out. what we saw with rick santorum is it wasn't so much that he was the candidate and the messenger, but it was the message that people were rallying to and were enthusiastic about and were

rallying their friends to support. will people be voting in great numbers for mitt romney? will they be working for him? will they be driving's suburban loaded with friends to the voting booth on election day or will they be driving a so-called smart car with room for very few. that is going to be the key in terms of who will win this next election. >> there are reports out there that saysio you will support reporters to try to win back the senate and try to keep the house. is that what you will try and do now is the number one object testify take back the senate more so to get mitt romney elected? >> i mean, look. we are not a branch of the republican party. we are not here to advance the republican party. we are here to advance a set of ideas a s ans and principles wh times than not more republicans end to align with.

we will be focused on those individuals that clearly line up with the values and the concerns that many americans have, and so we'll find candidate -- there are candidates that are running for the united states senate. there are candidates currently in congress and running for re-election, and i think it will be much easier. >> would you prefer -- >> yes, we'll be focusing on the senate and the house. >> would you prefer president obama with majority leader mitch mcconnell or president romney and majority leader harry reid? >> oh, boy, that's a pickle. what we would like to see is a conservative majority in the senate. we certainly have the opportunity to get to a republican majority in the senate which is going to be important whether you have barack obama as president or mitt romney who many conservatives are not comfortable with and that becomes a backstop and the ability to prevent a number of bad pieces of legislation going

forward or policies. >> thank you so much for being on the program. we appreciate it. >> all right, luke. have a great day. >> with santorum out, romney is shifting his focus the general election and even joking about picking a running mate. >> have you chosen a v.p.? >> i'm here to announce today that i do not even have a list. are you available for this job? >> nbc's peter alexander covers the romney campaign. he's with me now in new york. peter alexander, romney wants to meet with rick santorum. is that going to go forward? we had a communication with the director with santorum and he said romney's folks reached out to us. romney specifically to the former senator and saying we'd like to meet and want to talk about a possible endorsement and at this point it sort of dangles and romney folks would rather not say santorum except to say

he's standing by our side like he did four years ago, but right now we have no specifics on when that will take place. ? you saw tony perkins withhold active, enthusiastic support for mitt romney. from your knowledge of the campaign, now that they can go after rick santorum voters because he's no longer representing them, do you have that? >> we're not worried about evangelicals and social conservatives. we're the republican party right now. we will be the guy going for the support. they'll tell you they're focused on women and independents in these states that will be the decisive states come this fall. specifically this attack on the war on women. the romney folks recognize that his numbers, governor romney's numbers are low by women. even 20 percentage points. yesterday he had 12 women on stage with him in a steel fabrication plant owned by women. today they go to hartford to

another business event for women. i think they're very focused on trying to get those consentives. ink it's the intensity issue that could be their problem. >> so shore up women and try to go for people they feel will be in their camp either way. peter alexander, thank you so much for being here in person. be safe on the campaign trail and i'm much more happy to be in the presence of your fiancee more than you. you're getting married soon? >> it is about ten days now. >> don't forget that date, my friend. up next, it's another anniversary mitt romney would rather forget, the day he signed the health reform bill with ted kennedy by his side. as the landmark law gets turowed turn six years old, duval patrick joins me next. plus locked and loaded. north korea moves one step closer to a rocket launch. first, a look at the president's schedule. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc.

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>> my son said that having senator kennedy and me together like this on this stage behind the same piece of landmark legislation will help slow global warming. that's because hell has frozen over. that was then governor mitt romney citing the health care reform bill. that bill delivered universal coverage by mandating individuals by private insurance and now that is the backbone of the health care reform law and

something that mitt romney has promised to repeal if he wins in november. joining me now is duval patrick from the common wealth of ma s massachusetts. >> good morning, luke. thanks for having me. >> there will be a cost containment bill in regard to the new massachusetts health care law. it said there's 99% of your state has garnered insurance, but premiums continue to go up and rising costs are a tremendous problem, so much so that the legislature will limit the amount of money that can be spent per patient. how is the health care bill a success in massachusetts beyond the insurance if it's the costs are still rising out of control? >> well, first of all, it's not rising out of control. we are, as you said, first of all, we reached nearly every individual, 98.2% of our residents have insurance and 99.8% of children and i don't think there's another state that can touch that. we are healthier, as well and

there are all kind of independent indicators with the number of cancer screenings and the reduction in cancer rates to smoking cessation. more businesses are offering insurance to their employees and frankly, premium increases have slowed and we were around 17% on average a couple of years ago. it's less than 2% today and on some products, the premiums have actually gone down. the question is how do we sustain that over time and that's why i propose to move away from fee for service which, by the way, there's tremendous consensus about that in the medical industry in favor of paying for the quality of care and the outcomes of that care. we see a lot of those pilots happening today in massachusetts. >> in the federal law in 2010 it was that it would control cost. what would it is a about the federal law in your state, six years after -- or six years after it was passed, costs have still not gone down. >> well, first of all, the cost

of health care in massachusetts has added 1% to net state spending so it has not been the budget buster that it sometimes represented outside of the state. the other thing i would say is many of the tools we are using to get costs down further and reduce the general proportion of health care that we spend of gsp that we spend on health care are coming from the affordable care act. it has tools in it that enable us to move to these new payment and care delivery models so we're getting both lower cost and higher quality and that's good news for everybody. >> a washington post/abc news poll shows that they believe the supreme court ruling when it comes to this that 25% say they should uphold the entire law. 38% votes it should throw out the entire law. the majority of the national support for this health care law, you as governor of the commonwealth of massachusetts, the law is more favorable there. why do you think there is this

disconnect? >> isn't that something? we have -- health care reform here in massachusetts polls in the 60% to 70% approval range and about 50-50 for the affordable care act, the national version and they're the same thing. i think it's a marketing issue more than anything. look, health care reform has done a lot of good for a lot of people here and when you start to focus as we do here on the impact on real people in real lives, in the lives that have been saved or improved because people have access to affordable care, then i think people begin to understand that this is a public good and it's worth defending. >> you are the first sort of candidate to run on the axelrod idea of hope. i was in college when you ran for governor. i remember your ads were all about hope and change and the same idea about president obama. has he asked you any advice about how to run for a second term on the merits of your service rather than hope? >> well, luke, let me first say i love axelrod, but i am a

hopeful person. that was not a -- that was not something that i came up with in order to run. i ran because for a long time we've had people who seek public office who aren't governing for the long term. it's a similar issue we see in much of business today which is where i've come from where we manage for the next quarter, and i see in government that there's an awful lot of government for the next election psyche will or the next news cycle and we're making the hard decisions now that will make us better over time. the reason i ran and the reason the president ran the first time is because he's prepared and i am prepared to confront those big issues that serve our generational responsibility for a time to come and that's why i'm supporting it. >> governor deval patrick, i want to congratulate boston college for hockey. >> that's a partisan comment, but i'll take it. >> can the market bounceback

after yesterday's sell-off? we'll get a preview of wall street and bracing for impact in the massive earthquake in the indian ocean triggers fears of a tsunami. when warren buffett filed his first tax return he claimed that a $35 tax deduction. what was the deduction for? tweet me at chucktodd o or @dailyrundown. wednesday from us, the answer and more coming up on "daily rundown." get on twitter! do it! do it live! wake up!

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

we're just minutes away from the opening bell. so it's time for the market rundown. jackie deangeles is here. >> good morning, luke. the futures indicating a triple digit open after yesterday's sell-off that could be due to alcoa which kicked off last night with a surprise profit and

beating wall street expectations as the company sees improving demand for aluminum. brian dunn did resign amid a probe into his personal conduct. best buy didn't disclose that information when he stepped down yesterday. a spokesperson for the company said certain issues were brought to the board's attention and wouldn't elaborate. finally, the justice department may sue apple over alleged price fixing in the ebook market. the government has been investigating apple and when the ipad came out apple struck deals preventing publishers from selling ebooks to amazon and barnes & noble. >> apple and best buy in turmoil. jackie, thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> fueling fear. a defiant north korea goes along with what everyone believes is a long range missile test. the look inside pyongyang. we'll show you the president's aggressive new attack. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc.

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korea's rocket launch are in their final stages and it could be fired as early as tomorrow. richard engle is inside pyongyang and has the latest. >> reporter: north korea says its controversial rocket is now being fueled. the satellite already loaded and ready to go. earlier today we were taken to pyongyang's main mission control room. it's a very basic facility. we counted just 16 engineers. only six telephones and western experts tell us they have serious doubts that the satellite will actually make it into orbit and say there is a risk the rocket could come crashing down some time after launch. that, of course, would be a major embarrassment for north korea and pose a risk to people on the ground. north korea, however, is expressing confidence in both the satellite and the rocket and says once the satellite is in orbit it will begin broadcasting

patriotic songs praising north korea's leaders. >> that was nbc's richard engle inside north korea and unprecedented access and amazing reporting from mr. engel. >> executive editor at "time," magazine. thanks so much for being on the progr program. >> we see the celebration that's happening within the country. it almost seems like it was a defactor inauguration for kim jong-un. he bestowed some titles and the outside world was let in. >> it is true he's trying to consolidate power and for the western observers and those in the united states this was a problem. we thought he might come in as a reformer or to change something or issue a detente at the west and this is an instant replay of the 1990s and the 2000s and he's clearly learned from his father. it's dispiriting because it's clear the cycle of provocation

and sanction, provocation and sanction isn't going to change. >> secretary of state hillary clinton had choice words for north korea. i want to play that now. >> this launch will give credence to the view that north korean leaders see improved relations with the outside world as a threat to the existence of their system, and recent history strongly suggests that additional provocations may follow. >> do you agree with that? >> absolutely. i mean, this again is like groundhog day. this is what kim jong-il did all through the 1990s and into the 2000s and his father beforehand. it's a cat and mouse game of we'll give you a few concessions and as soon as things start to warm up and as soon as something is issued from the western powers or the united states, the minute that will happen they'll do something provocative again and thereby keeping the regime, this very, very weak regime

that's been a thorn in the west's side -- >> this is not some satellite to track weather patterns. >> there might be a satellite on top of it, but it certainly is an intercontinental ballistic missile which is banned. so there might be a satellite in the cone, but what it really is it's a launching device for a nuclear weapon eventually. >> the role of china in this, what do you feel china's reaction to this is internally? do they look upon it as favor or look upon it as consternation? >> china, for decade, the thing china wants most is the status quo. they don't want the regime toppled because there will be 60 million north korean refugees going across the border and into china. they're not particularly fond of the north korean regime. it's a pain in their side as well, but they certainly don't want to see the regime itself suddenly toppled because it's right next door, and they live

in a bad neighborhood, and what they want more than anything is the status quo because they're skeptical that there will be any reforms. it will be lengthy and difficult if north korea were to try to come out to the west. maybe longer down, but with every one of these crises firing up, china's status quo is the status quo. >> so china is unwilling to really budge. what can the u.n. do? what more can international sanctions do? >> not a lot. not a lot. i mean -- >> so did we just swap out one dictator for another? >> yes. >> right down the blood line. >> that's exactly what we did. i mean, i've been watching this story for more than a decade and historically 25 years and this is just the same pattern of cycle, repeat, cycle repeat. so any illusions that we had that kim jong-un was going to be different than his father or the ruling regime behind him were going to do anything other than play the same playbook that has

kept the world's great power -- >> go ahead. >> no, kept the world's super power tied in knots around this tiny, insignificantly, incredibly poor and weak country. >> did he even suggest that he would do something to garner more attention and perhaps be provocative to a point saying you dealt with my father, but you really, really don't want to mess with me. was there intelligence in that respect? >> not yet. that would be a drama that would be of very dangerous proportions. right now all these looking to do is to consolidate power. i don't think he's trying to come out from the shadow of his father in some sort of dangerous fashion. he does have the council of generals behind him who have been doing this for 25 years. >> twitter is being allowed to go out in north korea, a country that barely has the internet. >> that's kind of curious. >> that's an interesting step. >> absolutely. >> jim frederick, thank you so much from "time" magazine. take care. other stories making headlines, breaking news out of

indonesia where a massive earthquake and equally powerful aftershocks have struck the coast shaking buildings and causing no reports of major damage so far. tsunami warnings posted for indonesia and countries along the indian ocean have now been canceled. the cnn -- the military is keeping several rebel strong holds under siege. today secretary of state hillary clinton will attempt to win support for more international action. special prosecutor investigating trayvon martin's death says she'll make an announcement on the case within 72 hours. zimmerman's attorneys say they're no longer representing him because he doesn't want to take advice and he won't even keep in contact. developing now, you are looking live at pictures at the national action network led by ref rebd al sharpton. it will address issues of voting rights and gun violence as well as many other issues affecting

minorities in the united states. as chuck would say our hump day political panel will be here next. also we're excited to announce that nbc politics is partnering with four square. not just to check in more at the bars, check in at nbc politics to earn the brand new badges and start with political wonk and go up to chief of staff. follow nbc politics and four square. visit often. visit nbcpolitics.com for more information. cream of broccoli, who doesn't like cream of broccoli? george h.w. bush probably doesn't like it. that's a great soup. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on america s nbc. [ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. [ sneezes ]

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you're [ bleep ] pissing me off. >> were you guilty all along? >> yeah. i was guilty all along. >> the daily flashback on this day in 2002 ohio congressman james trafficant was convicted of 12 felony downs including accepting bribes and kickbacks. he was later expelled from congress. he served seven years behind bars and lost his bid for re-election in 2010. now that is all, but certain that president obama any mitt romney will face off in november, what does romney need to do to lessen the stings from his former rivals and make the hard pitch to the general election? joining me from new york, daily news columnist errol lewis host of "inside city hall" and alice wagner, host of the show that comes on at noon. welcome, ladies, and gentleman. before we get into the discussion about the general election, mitt romney said this

about talking to rick santorum. >> we began the morning with a telephone conversation with senator santorum. we're going to work together to make sure that we take back the white house and the senate and we keep the house. we're going to get the job done. >> rick santorum, was he somebody that was just the anybody, but romney candidate, or is he somebody that perpetuates this evangelical, conservative movement that could have real staying power all of the way through the election? >> not only can he have staying power through the election. i think he's clearly looking ahead to 2016, as well, and i think bowing out when he did signaled that he's concerned about his legacy and is looking to protect it. i think mitt romney will want to use rick santorum as much as he can and i don't think it will be that hard. i don't think the campaign attacks between romney and santorum were -- i don't think

this is personal for santorum the way it is for gingrich, so i think they'll come together nicely and hopefully help each other out. >> you know, we had tony perkins on earlier in the show and he did everything he could to not give creed tones mitt romney. could rick santorum be the diplomat here? can he get that camp into romney's camp? >> think so. there were a couple of camps and not just the evangelicals and social conservatives. it's conservatives that make under $30,000. rick santorum did extraordinarily well with those people and on this key question that pollsters are always asking, do you think the candidate cares about you? understands what you're going through and has a solution for you? if they can get them to bring those folks into camp, i think it would be more good. >> trust me, guys, mitt understands you. >> let's talk about the general election, alex wagner. president obama had this to say about the republican spending plans and he evoked the magic

tree. >> they said we didn't specifically propose to cut student loans. okay. if you don't cut student loans then that means you've got to cut basic research even more. the money's got to come from somewhere. you can't give over $4 trillion worth of additional tax cuts including to folks like me who don't need them and weren't asking for them and it just comes from some magic tree somewhere. >> a very difficult subject matter which is delving deep into budget cuts for each program and equating it to a magic tree. is this strength, alex, making these simple analogies? >> yes. i don't know if that's his biggest strength, but certainly the professorial obama comes through in moments like this, i wouldn't say a p/eed going, but he's explaining things in simple terms. this is a great message for him

in terms of poll testing and the rally supported by a majority of americans, but more than that, it's a fair shot message which resonates very much with the americans especially given the continued economic problems we have and the opponent that obama is running against. mitt romney embodies everything that president obama is running against in terms of policy and message. this is an out of touch millionaire who has basically avoided paying his fair share of taxes for i don't know how long and that's certainly something that romney will have to tackle which is the romney question and more specifically the tax question. >> why doesn't that resonate? >> you were in the poll, the third-way poll as clear as i did. it's clear the number one issue to most independent swing voters is reducing the deficit and on that issue romney leads obama by double digits. they're not interested in income equality and they're interested in opportunity from the results. if mitt romney needs a clear

blue print. is it about debt or income and equality. >> the other side of that poll is 61% like the idea of some version of the buffett rule even though it only affects by the white house's numbers only 22,000 households. others have said it's as few as 4,000 households. so we're not talking about a whole lot. in a race upwards of 100 million people will cast votes, if you're targeting 22,000 households who may not like you, there's a good chance that a vast majority of those other hundred million say you want to tax people that don't resemble me economically, fine, go ahead and do it and the president is gambling on that. there is some risk there. people also tell pollsters if they won the lottery they wouldn't want to pay 30% of it or 20%. >> lottery winners, is that the demographic this week?

>> we're talking about support for, you know, cutting the deficit and/or income and equality. the fact that karl rove ando crossroads gps are looking at the message and saying it's the president's message gaining traction with voters and the fact that republicans have played a role in keeping down wages and economic turnaround. the fact that crossroads is scared about that or on their radar is saying i think about how the message is resonating. >> they're flooding the airwaves with millions even as we speak, somewhere in america maybe there's an american crossroads. trivia time. we asked when warren buffett filed his first tax return he claimed a $35 tax deduction. what was the deduction for? his bike. buffett filed his first return at age 13. oh, my goodness and his job was a newspaper delivery boy. that qualified him to claim his bike as a deduction. pretty smart guy. we'll be right back.

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let's bring back our panel. and, for president obama's campaign put out this ad, it relates to what we talked about the gop primary season, i want to play it and get your thoughts on the other side. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> i like being able to fire people and provide services to me. i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> he seemed to focus on mitt romney's primary campaign. does that message resonate with independent women?

>> oh, gosh, i guess. i mean, probably no more than anyone else. you know, every primary has a gaffe high leicht reel. everyone's got one. even obama. and of course, they're going to be playing these sound bites this primary was particularly life with interesting soubd bites. it's up to romney to pivot back to his happy place, to the economy and sort of fixing, you know, these problems like a someone would. >> it's the fundamentally the problem with mitt romney, it's beyond just being wooden. the joke he made about going back and visiting places where his father had laid off thousands of employees and making a joke about that. there's real divorce he has i'm not going to say reality, but

the human condition, it's a problem for mitt romney. i don't know if he can pivot away from it. >> did anyone expected these many land mines in the gop season? we hear mitt lt romney is the seasoned guy. >> sure. he's been in and around this game for a long time. we shouldn't overplay what the democrats can do with this. first of all, it's very, very early. a top democratic strategist it's going to come down to quarter million people in seven states. i read those ads for a little raw meat for -- >> the media. >>. >> the big reveal. >> president obama on the issue of class war fair, he's really

done on this. you talked about the issue of fairness, alex. i want to play a little bit. >> are we better off when everybody gets a fair shot? make or break moment for the middle class and everybody who's aspiring to get into the middle class. and we got two very different visions of our future. and the choice between them could not be clearer. >> nobody wins unless everybody wins? >> obama's not been coy about his campaign centerpiece. this is it. essentially he laid out the choice, vote for us we'll take care of you. vote for the other guy, you'll be on the way. >> is that going to be the republican attack line? >> chris christie has done a better job than mitt romney has done presenting the counterpoint to it. mitt romney now has to take that

centerpiece that obama has laid out for him and address it in a cogent way. >> if you call training workers the skills they need, reaffirming the need for safety net, president obama has great and winning message going on. >> shameless plugs. >> everybody should go to our website and tell us your favorite one. >> super shameless piece, a piece about mitt romney and lessons he can learn from bill clinton. >> and alex wagner. >> pocket square, sweater vest hogan gidley live on set. >> oh, my goodness. that's appointment tv. developing now, you're lookilook looking live at pictures at

attorney general eric holder. he made some news here. he mentioned the trayvon martin case. chris januarysing will have much more on the trayvon martin case and the attorney general's case. we'll be back right here tomorrow. i'll be in washington in for chuck. don't miss alex wagner. thank you for watching. keep it here on msnbc. do was wo! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. it looks like mitt romney will be the guy to take on president obama in november. the last viable alternative, rick santorum, unexpectedly dropping out of the race yesterday. >> we will suspend our campaign effective today. we are not done fighting. we are going to continue to fight for those voices. >>