stylist. >> stop. and i learned the greatest farewell line in rock and roll. >> you ever feel like you have been cheated. >> it's way too early, it's "morning joe." stick around, we have chuck todd right now. mitt romney spends his first full day of general election exchanges attacking the gender gap head-on, saying the president's policies have cost women jobs. over 92% of job losses, in fact. does his claim stand up? we'll do the math here. plus, quick reaction from both sides after a democratic strategist criticizes ann romney for being out of touch with working women. the obama campaign distances itself immediately and ann romney herself sends her first tweet ever to respond. and george zimmerman is charged with second degree murder of trayvon martin. but do prosecutors have enough of a case? good morning from washington, it's thursday, april 12th, 2012 this is "the daily rundown" i'm luke russert filling in for chuck todd.

let's get right to the first reads of the morning. mitt romney kicked off his general election campaign by aggressively responding to what advisers believe is his big just vulnerability, gender gap with women. romney tried to attack the president. the pivot wasn't subtle. >> the real war on women is being waged by the president's failed economic policies. >> his policies have been really a war on women. >> his failures have hurt women. >> failed american women. >> more and more women lost jobs. women are entrepreneurs. women start businesses. >> do you know what percentage of those jobs lost were lost by women? >> 92.3%. >> do romney's job loss claims add up? romney may have gotten a little help from hillary rosen. who is she, a washington political consultant who advises the democratic national committee. rosen has created a firestorm after these comments on ann romney last night.

>> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying, well, my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues. and when i listen to my wife, that's what i'm hearing. his wife has never worked a day in her life. she has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing. >> nbc news senior political editor mark murray joins me now. and mark, this is an amazing phenomenon with hillary rosen because it shows the power of the twitter sphere and social media. it spread like wildfire. hillary rosen, who no one knew who she was, was trending nationally for a moment last night. talk about this and its impact. this is a real boost for mitt romney here. he can sort of portray the elite democratic limousine liberals out of touch with real working women to a degree. >> luke, the romney campaign really capitalized on an opening they got from hillary rosen last night.

you're right. before i went to bed i was checking twitter. almost every tweet was coming from some republican, some person from the romney campaign making this thing go viral. and so it really does show that the romney campaign, if you give them an inch, they can actually really capitalize on something. but dope deep down, why were they trying to capitalize on this? i think they continue to have a problem with female voters right now, and they are trying everything they can to somewhat -- change the subject just a little bit. >> and in all fairness, hillary rosen is not directly attached to the obama campaign. she works for the dnc. david axelrod had this tweet up, to nip this in the back before it got bad. he said, quote, also disappointed in hillary rosen's comments about ann romney. they were inappropriate and offensive. the fact that it's out on twitter shows it got big. >> it did get big also shows what we saw from the obama campaign four years ago, they're not going to get distracted, they're not going to fight for somebody they have to.

they're quite often pushing somebody under the bus if need be, particularly somebody like hillary rosen, not affiliated with the obama campaign. >> numbers. mitt romney yesterday going off hard, saying that under president obama, 92.3% of the job losses were women. that number seemed awfully high. you did some fact-checking. what is the real story behind that 92% number? >> well, luke, here's the math. so if you go from basically january 2009 to march of 2012, there has been a total of 740,000 job losses when you look at the bureau of labor of statistics. then you actually look at women. and the same numbers actually -- you show there were 683,000 jobs lost by women. so 683,000 divided by 740,000 is 92%. so the math adds up there. but it's a bit dubious and incomplete and doesn't tell the whole story. in fact, if you just look at the numbers from february 2009, not january of 2009, it shows that 16,000 jobs were lost. but 484,000 jobs lost by women,

which actually by that same romney math, the percentage becomes 3,000%, which really doesn't make sense at all. and when you look at it -- take a step back, saying that 92% of all job losses in the three years of the obama presidency have come from women, just really doesn't pass the smell test at all. >> it seems as president bush once said, fuzzy math. >> it's a little bit -- the math adds up, but it is a dubious charge. >> on the issue of women, which has become central now, there is a conference call yesterday, where sam stein of the "huffington post" asked about the lilly ledbetter act, and we want to play that and get back on the other side. >> our next question will come from sam stein with "huffington post." please go ahead. >> yeah, does governor romney support the lilly ledbetter act? >> and we'll get back to you on that.

>> president obama understands this inequity that women have suffered. the devastation that it has caused in families. the president has made so many strides in the last three years to upgrade women's treatment and their jobs and their livelihoods. >> well, there you see the obama campaign turn that question around pretty fast into a web video. but mitt romney, not having an answer -- the lilly ledbetter act, the first thing president obama signed into law, equal pay for women. was that a faux pas? >> luke, the romney campaign struggled yesterday as they were trying to go on the counter attack on closing this gender gap. and it hadn't been for that hillary rosen comment we were talking about earlier, it really would have been a very rough day, tough day for the romney campaign. so you have that inability to answer the lilly ledbetter act, this 92% claim that we have already said is dubious and the fact that mitt romney was surrounding himself with women throughout the day. the theater at ricks almost scream i have a very big problem

with women and i'm trying to fix it. >> amazing. mark murray, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. 45 days after trayvon martin was shot and killed, the accused shooter, george zimmerman is behind bars, charged with second degree murder. this morning, martin's parents spoke out on the "today" show. >> yes, even if that means that he may be found not guilty, we just want to -- him to be held accountable for what he has done. and by him not being arrested, that would not have been done. so we are -- we are happy that he was arrested. so that he can give his side of the story. >> nbc's ron allen is in sanford. what's going to happen today there, ron? >> well, after his first night in jail, george zimmerman will have his face day in court, inside a secure facility at the county courthouse here. we expect that his attorney is going to request bail. there may be some debate back and forth about that. the state may try to keep him in jail, especially because of his

perceived erratic behavior during the past couple days where there was a lot of questions about his lawyers and whether he could be reached and whether he was being -- whether he was accounted for. the attorney has also said he is going to -- when appropriate, enter a plea of not guilty. so we should see that here in the courthouse. also, the reaction continues to pour out here and across the country as you heard from trayvon martin's parents. there is not a lot of joy being expressed. i think the feeling is mostly of relief that there will now be a process that there has been an arrest that all the facts, all the evidence, will now come out. and that should happen in two weeks' time or so, given the discovery laws, process in court here. so we should know a lot more about the details of whaptd that night, at least what witnesses are saying and other statements when all these records start becoming public in a couple days as the case continues. luke? >> now, ron, they're trying to charge him -- they are charging him with second degree murder and trying to prove that. but in florida, in order to do that, the killer must have a debraved mind without regard for human life, killing lacked

premeditation, and acted with enminty. for folks you talk to on the ground, how does that statue look to get george zimmerman? is there leeway? why are folks saying they went with second degree murder? >> well, the basic part of the law is about intent. second degree murder comes with the feeling there was an intention to kill somebody, to carry out this act. and the way the martin family has always explained this, they see george zimmerman getting out of his car, neighborhood watchman pursuing trayvon martin and then confronting him and then some kind of argument ensuing. and that's where they get the intent that he followed him, that he killed him, that there was some kind of argument. of course, zimmerman supporters see it differently. they have maintained that at some point in that process, zimmerman lost track of trayvon martin. and then he was attacked from behind by surprise. that's why they have said this was an act of self defense. and, yes, we do expect that the so-called stand your ground law will come into play. that's what the sanford police department, the first attorney

general, the first state attorney who saw this, that's why they did not arrest zimmerman. and that is what we expect to be his defense, self defense. >> ron allen from sanford, florida. thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate it. and how are the markets expected to open today? cnbc's becky quick is here. becky! what do we got? >> you know, this morning we were coming off of some pretty good news from yesterday. the dow was up 90 points yet. it broke a five-day losing streak and early this morning, it looked like we were going up by 40 or 50 points. and then we got some jobless claims numbers that came out about 40 minutes ago, and the market lost a lot of its momentum. right now, it looks like the dow is going to open up by maybe 10 to 15 points and this is coming as we look at the disappointing numbers that came in. jobless claims were up by 13,000 to 3 0,000. that was a bigger jump that had been anticipated. nothing monumental, but last friday, with the monthly jobs report from the government and the disappointing jobs gains we saw that time around, it has the market kind of second-guessing

whether or not we're actually going to be seeing some good numbers. now, everyone we talk to this morning said that this is, you know, certainly not something that you have to pay a whole lot of attention to. it's only one data point, but this data point after last friday's data point on jobs has everybody looking squarely focused on what the economy is doing here in the united states. we're looking for more numbers on that. in the meantime, it looks like the market is going to muddle along. luke? >> the market second guessing whether we get out of the recession. the obama campaign unleashes their attack dog. who is that? vice president biden armed with a new attack on the presumptive republican nominee. a preview of the white house's re-election play bock, the executive director, the democratic national committee joins us next. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. senior advisers and regional tv anchors. sorry. sore knee.

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get ready for the hard sell. vice president joe biden to unveil some of the harshest rhetoric when he gets his turn to push the buffett rule. biden will say, quote, we're not supposed to have a system that's rigged. we're not supposed to have a system with one set of rules for the wealthy and one set of rules for everyone else. middle class americans are willing to stand up and do their part, but they don't want to be played for a sucker. patrick gaspar is executive director of the dnc and former political director for president obama and joins us now. and patrick, i hear you're going to refer to this as not just the buffett rule, but the romney rule today, is that what vice president biden is going to do? >> good morning, luke, and thanks for having me on. today in new hampshire, the vice president is going to make it

abundantly clear we have a stark choice to make in this election between a president fighting for working class americans, for those who are in the middle class and aspire to the middle class versus someone who is running to protect the preferential treatment that billionaires or millionaires have in our tax system now. so, yes, you could call it the romney rule. he wants to roll back the -- he wants to maintenance the bush tax cuts for billionaires and millionaires. you don't need it. he wants to balloon our deficits by $1 trillion over the course of the next ten years. and on top of that, he wants to give these millionaires an additional $250 million tax break. so $250,000 tax break. so, yeah, there is a different set of rules if you're mitt romney. if you're self-paying 13% in taxes. >> let's talk about the optics of this. because i want to play what president obama said yesterday, when folks were saying this is a gimmick, because it's not a long-term solution. it's only $47 billion, we're going to talk about trillions of dollars of debt. i want the to play this video and get your reaction.

>> there are others who are saying, well, this is just a gimmick. you know, just -- taxing millionaires and billionaires just imposing the buffett rule won't do enough to close the deficit. well, i agree. that's not all we have to do to close the deficit. but the notion that it doesn't solve the entire problem doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it at all. >> how is this nothing else except a political ploy to make the republicans look bad on the tax issue so you guys can write an ad heading into november? >> well, luke, as independent economists have demonstrated, the buffett rule would actually bring down our deficits by about $50 billion. and when you compare that to where mitt romney wants to find savings, it's -- it's a pretty huge difference. he wants to save money and bring down a deficit by eliminating planned parenthood and eliminating the national foundation for the arts. that would save probably 150th of what the buffett rule would save us in our deficits.

look, the president was very, very clear, this is just one part of reforming our tax code. clearly, he wants to eliminate the preferential treatment that billionaires and millionaires have in our current system, that would bring down the deficit by $800 billion over the course of the next ten years. so the buffett rule is one part. but it is a central part of demonstrating that we're going to build an economy, built to last. and one that has the old fashioned american ethic of fairness. >> but you know where these rates have a disproportionate impact is when it's on capital gains. and neither party wants to go over -- after capital gains and the lower capital gains tax rate. if you're truly -- why not go after capital gains with the same theory you're going after the buffett rule? >> luke, the president, again, has made it really clear that we need to have a broad conversation about reforming the tax codes and the buffett rule is just one measure in that

kfgs, and the kind of deep dive we have to do on that front. but it is an intrinsically important one, and it points out the disparities that we have in our society right now. and when you consider that over the course of the last few decades, as billionaires have taken advantage of our code, have hired accountants and lawyers to kind of game the system to their advantage, while the incomes of average of americans have gone down and their tax rates have gone up, i think that most of your viewers would agree that this is an important conversation to be having right now. >> yesterday an adviser to the dnc, hillary rosen said that mitt romney and ann romney's wife never necessarily had a real job. that caused a very massive response from you guys, david axelrod taking to twitter to comment about hillary rosen. why do you think that there has been such an output from your side to try and nullify what she said? >> luke, let me first correct

you. at the top. hillary rosen, smart, decent, democratic strategist, but not an adviser to the dnc or to the campaign. what she said was absolutely out of bounds. ann romney is someone who obviously has worked hard to raise five good boys. and she has made some tough choices in her life, i'm certain. and family should be absolutely out of bounds in this discussion. but you know what, this really is not about what hillary rosen or somebody else said. this is really a conversation that we need to have about the economy, the disparities that exist for women. >> mr. gaspard, i'm unclear. you're saying hillary rosen has no connection to the dnc at all at the present time? >> hillary rosen is absolutely not a paid adviser to the dnc or to the obama campaign, absolutely not. but, again, luke, this -- let's just be clear. >> is she an informal adviser to the dnc? >> hillary rosen is not a

consultant, not an adviser to the dnc or to -- >> is she an unpaid adviser? is she an unpaid adviser? >> she is not -- she is -- you know, i only -- we only pay our advisers, so if anyone was to offer any free help to us out there, luke, we'll take it. but she is not an adviser. >> is she included in the conversations with the dnc? >> all of our strategic conversations take place with those who are part of -- who are central to the obama team. hillary rosen, wonderful democrat, is not an adviser to the campaign. >> so all the coverage the last few days -- >> we're not having a debate about -- >> no, that's fine. but all of the coverage the last few days who said hillary rosen is with the dnc is wrong. i want to get that clear. she is not in any way affiliated with the dnc, unpaid adviser in any capacity. >> luke. this has not been going on for a few days. i think that it took place late last night. and there was a story out there that said she was an adviser. she is not. she is not a paid adviser to the dnc or to the campaign. and i hope, luke, that we can

just have a conversation about what most americans care about right now, which is how they're going to be able to pay for their tuition of their children who are in college, how they're going to sustain the jobs that we need to make sure that this century is an american century and to make certain that we're allowing our children to outcompete and outinnovate the rest of the world. that's the honest dialogue we want to have against mitt romney and republicans who want to drag us back to the past. >> patrick gaspard thank you so much. we appreciate it. tonight at 8:00 p.m. on msnbc, ed schultz will have an exclusive interview with vice president joe biden. you do not want to miss that. for the first time in months, guns are silent in syria. plus, north korea's rocket is ready for liftoff and could fire at any moment now. but first, today's trivia question. in 1943, which hollywood celebrity to the government enlist to convince americans to pay their income tax? tweet us@dailyrundown.

the answer coming up on "the daily rundown." ♪

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you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. the five-day launch window is now open and at any time north korea could blast off a long-range rocket over the yellow sea. north korea maintains the test is only to launch a satellite into orbit, but western nations claim it's a provocative action. nbc's richard engel is in pyongyang, north korea. >> reporter: good morning, luke. no rocket launch, not yet, anyway. it could have taken place today. it probably didn't happen because of the weather. it's been very overcast, very windy here. the speculation is that it might take place in the morning pyongyang time on either friday or saturday. but north korea isn't giving that kind of detail. only that the window has opened, that it could happen any time

between now and the 16th of this month. no signs that north korea is going to back down from this. this is a very important part of political theater here. the new north korean leader, jim jong un who yesterday was given the most senior position in the north korean communist party is seen as having to require this kind of show of support, a show of strength, to help establish his credentials. so no sign korth north korea is going to say we're not going to do this because of international condemnation. in fact, the international condemnation may be playing into north korea's hands, at least so it can show it is isolated it does have enemies all around it, which is the narrative very much used by the north korean state to establish its totalitarian system. it says it is a victim of an international conspiracy and that is why it needs to have its oppressive system in power. so it will probably take place.

the question is will it work? and many experts we have spoken to say there are risks that the rocket would blast off and then come crashing down. and that would be an enormous embarrassment for north korea. and then open the -- open many questions on how north korea will respond. if it is a failure, how will they react? will they blame the outside world, will they claim the rocket is shot down? many things are still open. and we just have to see what happens when they go forward and do this rocket launch any time between now and the 16th. luke? >> richard, thanks. we'll be right whaback. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. but some have had a hard time understanding my accent. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance...

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welcome back to "the daily rundown," i'm luke russert in for chuck todd. some other stories making headlines today. a new quinnipiac poll from new jersey find that adding governor

chris christie to the ticket wouldn't help mitt romney win the sta the state. the poll finds it would close the gap slightly but still lose to the obama/biden ticket 49-42. first lady michelle obama stopped by "the colbert report" last night to talk about military families and also talked about being the most popular person in the white house. >> do you ever lord over the president the fact that you're more popular than he is? [ laughter ] do you ever say, like, hey, watch it or i i might not campaign for you? >> i might try that when i get home. >> have you endorsed him yet? are you prepared to do that? >> i am prepared. i am endorsing my husband, barack obama. i think he will be a phenomenal president. he has done a phenomenal job. he is my man. >> a very shaky cease fire has taken hold in syria. tanks and troops are still inside many rebel-held areas in violation of the u.n.-backed peace plan. the syrian government is calling

on opposition forces to surrender. but right now, many of them appear to be in hiding, waiting to see what happens next. on monday, the senate will vote on the paying a fair share act, a version of the buffett rule, and even with democrats in control, it may not pass. on wednesday, the president half joked he had a plan to get more republicans on board. >> what ronald reagan was calling for them is the same thing we're calling for now. a return to basic fairness and responsibility. everybody doing their part. and if it will help convince folks in congress to make the right choice, we could call it the reagan rule instead of the buffett rule. >> zachary carebell is president of river research and joins me now. how are you doing, sir? >> hi, luke. >> you made an argument in your piece i found fascinating. you say the buffett rule is already in place, to a degree.

can you explain that? >> yeah, and, again, this observation does not come from, you know, my great creativity. it comes from the nonpartisan center for tax policy, the "new york times" reported about this. so if the buffett rule means a 30% tax rate for people who earn over $1 million, that's kind of the general outlines, if you look at irs reports of how americans pay taxes, most people on the upper income levels pay about 28% in federal taxes. about 85% of the vast middle pay 12 to 14%. and the lower, lower quartile pay less than 1%. what is not part of that is if you have investment income, capital gains, or private equity gains, which is exactly the kind of income that warren buffett and, of course, mitt romney derive the preponderance of their money from. >> and let's talk about that. because both parties have shown a reluctance to really go after capital gains in a big way. >> yeah, and i mean, i think part of this is like the washington mentality. this was all supposed to be the

quote, unquote, bush tax cuts, a temporary tax relief in the face of the financial crisis. but as you know, better than anyone, you know, once something becomes in effect in washington, reversing it seems like a new binary decision. and all of this is a set-up to the debate that's going to have to happen at the end of 2012 with the new congress or at least the lame duck congress and a new president or a re-elected president obama about what to do about this suite of tax cuts set to expire because they got extended for another two years in 2010. >> so politically, this has no chance of passing the democratically controlled senate. can president obama effectively use this as the jumping-off point for his re-election campaign? >> yes. >> or is it an issue that looks muted if he doesn't pass the senate? >> no. my take on this, this is good politics and pretty anemic or insignificant economics. even if this did pass, whether the figure is $50 billion over ten years or as ezra klein pointed out in the "washington post" 100, a pittance in the

face of what the federal government will spend over this time. but as an electoral marker, particularly now that it's clear that mitt romney is going to be the republican presumptive nominee, given that this is an individual who is one of the, you know, thousands, and we're talking about a very small handful of people who have all of their income from capital gains and private equity, mitt romney fits that bill. so in a weird way, you could call this not the reagan rule, not the warren buffett rule, you could call this the gauntlet thrown in the face of mitt romney rule. >> and it's all about optics, optics, optics. >> look, just a final word here. the fairness thing, i think, is an important one. but it's not an economic panacea. >> thank you so much for joining us, zachary, we appreciate it. take care. jury selection begins today in the trial of former democratic presidential candidate and senator john edwards. edwards entered court in north carolina moments ago. he's facing six felony and misdemeanor accounts on charges he violated campaign finance laws. one of the key issues, whether

edwards knew about secret payments that two campaign supporters made as they tried to hide his pregnant mistress. nbc senior investigative reporter lisa myers is in greensboro, north carolina. >> reporter: hey, luke, good morning. this trial marks what appears to be the closing chapter in an astonishing fall from grace. basically today over the next ten days, prosecutors in the edwards' defense team will be selecting a jury of 12 jurors and 4 alternates, all 16 will hear this case. finding a fair, impartial jury is going to be tough, because public opinion down here is brutal. a new survey out today find that most north carolinans have a highly negative opinion of john edwards, and the majority of them already have concluded that he committed a crime here. the only glimmer of hope in this survey for the edwards' defense team is that the public also does seem to have some doubts about the merits of this case. in fact, most said they believe

this prosecution is a waste of taxpayer money. now, the edwards defense here is going to be, yes, he was a terrible husband. but he is not a crook. the edwards defense team argues that this indictment is, in fact, the novel and unprecedented interpretation of campaign finance laws. and on that point, there's a lot of expert opinion which agrees. in fact, some of edwards' old political enemies out here say that, yes, he engaged in despicable behavior, but what the justice department is doing here is actually trying to criminalize bad personal conduct. so it's going to be interesting to see what a jury decides. the trial here is expected to take as long as six weeks. luke? >> lisa myers, thanks so much. our political joins me next. also, we're excited about nbc politics' new partnership with foursquare. not just for bars anymore. just check in at nbcpolitics and

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jake garn of utah became the first sitting senator to fly into states. a member of the appropriations committee became notorious for his trouble with space sickness. hmmm. never easy. call it whatever you want. the i know you are but what am i or i'm the rubber you're the glue or people who live in glass hou houses should not throw stones strategy. romney is turning attacks against him back on the president. >> the real war on women is being waged by the president's failed economic policies. he has taken a series of steps that end medicare as we know it. years of flying around in air force one, surrounded by an adoring staff of true believers, tell you you're great and doing a great job, it's enough to make you think you might become a little out of touch. we have a president who i think is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at harvard, perhaps. >> said from the guy who graduated from harvard business school, as well. but msnbc political analyst

michael steele is former chairman of the republican party, nbc latino.com contributor elisa menendez, and jill lawrence, managing editor for politics at national journal. welcome, everybody. thank you so much for being here. jill, we'll start off with you. quote, romney's long odds looking glass strategy. you wrote this in the national journalist, quote, out of touch, raging a war on women, presuming an alarming foreign policy, trying to end medicare as we know it. president obama must feel like he has gone through the looking glass to hear mitt romney leveling those charges against him. "the daily show" did this last night with jon stewart saying what is this election, they're simply going after each other likeping-pong, back and forth on the same issue, saying the same things about each other. it's an odd prism, isn't it? >> it is an odd prism, but it's a political technique to turn your opponent's strengths into your weaknesses. in this case what he is doing is turning the attacks against him

against obama. and, you know, it seems kind of mind-boggling when you first hear it, although there is material to go -- i mean, let's face it. they both did go to harvard and obama has been in the white house bubble for a few years. so -- and he does have kind of a reserved personality that sometimes goes into snappishness. so there are ways to argue that he is out of touch. but i'm not sure that anyone will -- polls certainly show he's winning on that one. and also on understanding problems of people like me. so -- i don't know if this is going to work. but it's certainly worth a try. >> it's political jujitsu, as you said. but it requires a red belt. and unfortunately, that's not exactly a mitt romney strong suit. i think most particularly, when you see yesterday him trying to take these attacks against women, turn them around on obama, finding out that the static he was citing about unemployment was largely false. i think there you see that he is not as strong at turning this around as he wishes he were. >> does mitt romney want to play

here, michael steele? >> yeah. >> he plays here on health care, he plays on the war on women. is it okay to get in the same trench as barack obama? >> absolutely. i think it's actually rather a bold move on his part, given that the republican field seems to have settled itself with two sort of outliers still out there beating at the window. but i think for mitt romney right now, the goal is to lay down the markets with the president, basically saying we're going to go toe-to-toe, bro, you and me, both of us in the room together. and i'll give as good as i get and you better be ready for it. and i think that that is a good strategy. i mean, i agree with both of you in terms of, you know, the ups and downs and turfees of it and how it works and how people feel about it. but the reality, they basically like to see that kind of snap in his step, and i think -- >> but it's more complicated than that if they're going to go toe-to-toe bro. yesterday you had a question asked about whether or not mitt romney supports the lilly ledbetter fair pay act, six-second delay and then they

come out with -- they're in a tight spot. >> they're in a tight spot, at the same time, look, that's a breakdown on the staff, not necessarily a reflection of the candidate himself in that moment. should they have been prepared -- >> i think he is sending a good signal with all of this, that we may be down on the polls, but we're going to fight this until the last second on every last issue. >> yeah. >> hillary rosen, this thing that swept through the country right now, i want to play what patrick gaspard said earlier on our show really quick. >> hillary rosen, smart, decent democratic strategist. but she is not an adviser to the dnc or to the campaign. what she said was absolutely out of bounds. ann romney is someone who has obviously worked hard to raise five good boys. and she has made some tough choices in her life, i'm certain. and family should be absolutely out of bounds in this discussion. >> this caused ann romney to

send her first tweet ever, signing up, saying, yes, she chose to be home with her five boys. believe me, it was hard work. mill hillary rosen responded yesterday, spare me the fake anger from the right who view the issue of women's rights in advancement as a way to score political points. when it comes to supporting policies, what actually help women, their silence has been deafening. this to me is an amazing thing, based on social media. hillary rosen trending in washington, something like this for -- maybe six years ago would not have garnered the traction it has. how big a problem is it, do you think, for president obama here, jill? >> well, i was really -- what was amazing about it, was how quickly his campaign aides and advisers jumped on this and demanded that she apologize. saying that they disagreed with what hillary rosen said. and, you know, why -- why pick a fight with ann romney, who is very well-liked, and probably the best thing that romney has going for him. >> why do that? >> because she is the best thing that mitt romney has going for him and he keeps trotting her out to act as though she is his

conduit to women, as though he can't talk to women himself, even though they represent over 50% of the people. >> michael steele, i'll give you a chance to respond. we have to take a quick break. trivia time. we asked in 1943, which hollywood celebrity to the government enlist to help convince americans to pay their income tax? the answer -- donald duck! take a look. >> your country is at war. your country needs taxes for guns. taxes for ships. taxes for democracy. taxes to beat the axis. >> i'm paying taxes to beat the axis. >> taxes is patriotic. president obama once made that. donald duck seems to be the best spokesman you would have for that strategy. donald duck helping the treasury department getting americans to pay their taxes. we'll be right back. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. books and smash records and on small business saturday they remind a nation

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michael steele-a listia mendez, and jill lawrence. i want to give you a chance to respond to what alicia stayed before we went to the break on the hilary rosen controversy. >> i think this whole conversation around ann romney is one that a lot of conservative women have put up with for a long, long time, this sort of misnomer that they're somehow privileged if they stay home with their kids and that there aren't any tough choices for them. >> something kerry said about laura bush. >> yeah, it's just a crock. i mean, the reality is women of all stripes, of all walks and backgrounds he make tough choices every day, balancing family, balancing professional, and balancing personal choices. we should respect that. hilary, you know -- >> alicia, this seems -- >> he should be director of women's outreach for romney because that was a much more articulate defense -- >> it's so city versus rural to a degree. i can understand you see arguments from women in new york and d.c. and l.a. and chicago, these epicenters, you know,

coming down and saying oh, it's not a big deal. but then there's other women who stay at home, raise kids, in other parts of the country where it's not frowned upon in any way, it's less demean. doesn't that hurt those voters? >> i don't think there's necessarily a geographic divide. i do think there is a socioeconomic divide, which was sort of implicit in rosen's comments, which is she -- romney actually had the choice of whether or not to stay home or whether to go to work. and that's a choice that a lot of women don't have. a lot of working-class women, a lot of middle-class women have to go to work in addition to the work they do at home. so there is that tension -- >> real quick. >> and then there's the idea that he brought her into the dialogue. because he says she's his adviser on women and economic issues. so that kind of makes her fair game in a way. >> that's true. but again, fair game talking about policy, fair game talking about -- talking about personal choices i think has put us a little bit out of bounds. and those working women, you're right, who have to -- don't have the choice, who have to go to work because of their

circumstances are -- should be as respected as much as those who decide to stay home. >> really quickly, let's go around the table. shameless plugs. what do we have? michael steele. >> i've got a piece coming up this week on the root talking about the santorum excitement and what it really means going forward. >> that will be interesting to see. >> it's going to be a lot of fun. alicia? >> sirius xm channel 146. bettina and i mix it up. bipartisan, biculture take on politics. >> bipartisan, biculture. what else do you want in america? tune in. that's awesome. jill. >> dakota.nationaljournal.com. the best presidential analysis in d.c. or anywhere. >> i like that. >> shots fired by jill lawrence. god bless you. and my plug today, it's national's opening day. nationals 4-2. hot start. great pitching. let's keep it going today against the cincinnati reds. come on, nationals. let's score some runs today to

go on top of some great pitching performances. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." chuck will be back tomorrow. i know you love that goatee. coming up next on msnbc, chris jansing & company. you do not want to miss that. thank you so much for having me. see you back on tuesday when i'm back in the chair. here's your business travel forecast. all eyes on the west. that's where the rain will continue in areas especially of northern california late today. we'll be watching thunderstorms in the midwest. in the east it's a chilly start to the day but we're going to warm it up with that april sun. temperature in atlanta getting almost up to 70. detroit and chicago in the upper 50s. still some showers lingering in new england. have a great day. i want you to grow big! if you grow for me, you'll get cookies for free. nothing worked. ♪ but we started using miracle-gro garden soil. you just mix it with your backyard soil... and it feeds your plants for up to 3 months.

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