that. part of going out, touching and reaching and letting people know, i'm the nominee. let's get together and move forward. i think that's a very smart move and even further to what i was saying, you know, i think he needs to bring movement conservatives closer inside the campaign, working with him to help continue to liaison with those groups once he's spoken with them, to have that follow up which is so important to keeping it all glued together. >> maggie, the question is though, who is mitt romney really? and even -- does the argument against what the notorious michael steele is that, of course, mitt romney is going to get conservative noz matter what the election. perhaps he should strengthen his moderate message. does going to the nra and making an address undermine that? >>. >> it opens up problems in terms of criticism from the democrats. ted strickland had a big column related to it.

it's going to be part of the character message by democrats. i agree with the former chairman here. he needs to do some level of outreach. there are still some ruffled feelings on the right. usually when you're in a primary, you does coalition building during the primary. i think mitt romney has to do it because this is not a narrative he wants to deal with for the coming months. >> if there's a moment when he's going to turn on conservatives, i would wait for september and october. they're all expecting that. this is the moment when he brings them to his boson. >> this group of conservatives is not going to vote for the president. >> maybe with the women thing he moved a little bit closer to the middle and pivots back when he does the nra stuff. is that the strategy? this is a firearms instructor quoted in the "huffington post" by the enimtable sam stein. i trust him a lot more than obama. that's romney. from what i've gathered i think he's going to go with the in, with what's popular. he's going to go where the votes are. what do you think of that?

>> this it is kind of illustr e illustrative of something that defined public opinion on the right since obama became the democratic nominee in '08. it's that he necessarily has to embody the worst character ca tour of leftist radicalism in the minds of conservatives. this is what you're seeing. president obama has not done anything on gun control. he signed a bill that will allows loaded weapons in national parks. mitt romney as governor of massachusetts signed an assault weapons ban and said i don't go where the nra goes. so on paper -- >> not that long ago. >> on paper they should be grudgingly happy with the record of the obama administration and suspicious of what mitt romney represents. instead it's mitt romney the conquering hero. >> because what actually happens is not what matters. >> he's moved from being a shot in the dark to top gun. the realty is -- you. >> you were waiting to drop that one. >> i had to use my chance and see my target. what's interesting as my

distinguished colleague just said, obama hasn't been as effective as others wanted him on the progressive side of things to be and to be as articulate about these matters. again i think it's the attempt of romney to seize the higher ground. santorum has just dropped out. he's got to take over the santorum constituency in a way he can saddle up to them. what better way than in the aftermath of the trayvon martin killing and stand your ground to side with the nra without embracing george zimmerman's colleagues who say it's good to defend yourself. >> michael steele, michael eric dyson brings up a valid point which is we are talking about trayvon martin obviously. a lot of news on that case this week. is this an appropriate time for romney to be picking up guns as a policy issue? >> look, i mean the timing is the timing. this is probably been on the books for a while. you know how that goes in the

political campaigns. you cancel it it, it's a news story. you go to it, it's a news story. you have to weigh twhoog maggie was saying, you've got to weigh the whole thing in toto and seize that moment because it will not come to you again. there are still echoes of 2006 and 2008 out there with the base. if you remember, you know, you talk about the base not participating in the fall campaign. they stayed home in those elections. and it has an impact particularly in those swing states like north carolina and virginia you need to make that touch early and often before you get into the heavy heat of a general campaign. >> here's the problem with that because the nra was effective in supporting stand your ground. so it's not as if it's a tangent shall issue but something quite central to all the heat we see going on in florida right now. >> yeah, but i'm not talking about in the tangent shall sense. from a political standpoint, the timing is not necessarily ideal for you, but the moment is there

to stand before very large influential audience, part of your base. get out there, make your case and then move on. >> it's worth noting, always interesting to note where the nra puts its dollars. in 2010 in terms of congressional contributions the nra gave $902,000 to -- $902,000 to the gop, $373,000 to the democrats which is overwhelmingly republican, but not by any means an insignificant amount to the democrats. >> i think the nra looks at obama and the democrats doing nothing on guns and say we're doing something right. they say the -- they're terrified of us particularly democrats in the house many of whom who have swung around to the nra position. let's keep doing this. it's totally working. >> doesn't that raise a question. >> not that obama doesn't want to. >> doesn't that raise a question for democrats. this whole thing started the

timid approach is a by-product to the 2000 election when al gore was tagged as being anti-gun, all those clinton states. democrats made a decision we're going to lay off and let tester and webb be pro gun control and we won't pursue. in the to 109s midterms, there's no change in how democrats are doing with gun owners with rural white voters. you've let them push you around. you haven't gotten anything for it. >> isn't it about the specific members in the south terrified of losing their seats? >> they're getting tagged with it anyway. >> it's a lose/lose situation, why not stand up for something you believe in. michael steele, you were trying to get in there. >> i was just agreeing with the point that was just made. going back to michael's point about the the timing and how this looks from a policy standpoint on the issue of gun control in the wake of trayvon's

tragic death, you know, there are arguments going to be made about well, we look at all these instances of you know, people using this law, for example, as a defense mechanism in a shooting. there hasn't had that kind of profile. so the nra, whether they are on this issue or not is the not relevant to the discussion as part of the calculation that will the romney people are making right now as they go into this speech this afternoon. >> well, though, the nra was responsible largely for stand your ground being the policy in florida. >> absolutely. >> and the fact is, mitt romney's going to be in missouri today which has the highest black lom side victimization rate in the country seven times the national average. in the 2009, 87% were killed by guns. it's an issue there. the fact is, there is no pressure i think from within the party that any of that can be addressed. >> i'm sorry. >> just real quick on that point. for me, that is a very unique

and important opportunity for the romney campaign to go into a place like missouri to address the concern, the black community have about the killing of young men, that the homicide rate, the death rate in the black community there is an opportune moment, irrespective of the gun issue as a whole but bringing that in focus i think could be a real good opportunity if they decide to take it. >> that's a big if. >> that's a radical departure because they've advanced no kind of consideration for that constituency and then they don't want to deal with all the issues that feed into it. easy access to guns mayors like daley who tried to sue the gun operatio operations. you've got competing issues, second or the 14th coming into play. >> michael steele, notorious as we call you here. thank you for your time on this friday, sir. >> all right. >> coming up, ron paul has said that he has the support, just not necessarily the support of the polls. so what is his plan now? we will ask campaign jair jesse

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>> people are now listening to what he has to say. the other republican candidates can only pretend that they are what he's always stood for. witness the power of an idea. >> new ron paul campaign videos show his events overflowing. but those numbers haven't translated into a single win in any state so far. at a texas a & m on tuesday,

paul was asked why. >> i'm not really sure. there's a lot of theorys on this, but it looks like we don't get enough people to the polls. >> joining us now is ron paul campaign chairman jesse benton. great to have you. >> thank you, great to be here, alex. >> jesse, where is the disconnect here? we anecdotally have stories about incredible enthusiasm and allegiance to ron paul and his message and yet, no wins. >> i would again like to point out our eight strong second places including new hampshire where we beat the field in govern romney's own home state. but you know, we need to continue to do better and motivate our people, get them to the polls. the people backing senator santorum were backing him because they were duped into thinking he was a real limited govern person so we welcome people that were backing governor santorum to

come to us both in the delegate process where we're going to the conventions and also in the upcoming primary contests. >> jesse, ben smith here. i wonder what sort of role you would like to see rand paul particularly playing at the queks, playing through the fall campaign? if you guys are talking to the romney people about that at all. >> no, we haven't talked about that, but i'd like to see rand play a big role if our campaign as he has and in all future efforts going forward. rand' a superstar. i was humbled to be his campaign manager in his senate campaign. he's my friend and a great spokesman for limited government and the republican party and to independents, as well. >> steve car knack can i has a question for you, jesse. >> >> hey, steve. >> jesse, wanted to ask you about the convention then. you're going to go there with maybe 100 dels or something. what is it that you guys want to get out of the convention this summer, what is it you can get? when you look at this platform, the issues that matter most to

your candidate seem to be absolutely opposed by everybody else who's running this president for year. 2,000 dels on the other side and 100 on your side. what is it you think you can get at this convention in concrete terms? >> we're going to have a lot more 100 bound del delegates. govern governor romney is only halfway. we're going to be competing very hard. last night in colorado's 7th congressional district, we won one of the three dels up for grabs in a district we did not expect to do as well in. so the exit of santorum means we'll be picking up a lot more delegates and we've always been poised to exside the delegate total that the media has been painting. but we're going to the convention to try to make ron the nominee. as far as issues i think the republican party and the independents that it needs to produce a winning coalition in the fall for a republican ticket i think transparency at the federal reserve. sound money and a real audit of

the federal reserve is something that people from across the ideological spectrum can get behind the republican nominee and back no matter who that happens to be. >> jess oef, when we talk about the road ahead, i offer sometimes among close circles of associates a theory i have as far as the republican party. and i do think there is going to be some time spent on the psychologist's couch at the end of this year as far as the party deciding what direction it's going to go in. in a lot of ways i think ron paul has laid the seeds for a new sort of gop 2.0. i will quote as i often do the great chrysalis cillizza who sa paul is in a much stronger bargaining position than romney. paul matters more than gingrich. worth noting that two dozen active paul backers are running for house or senate seats. 200 are seeking local offices. there i think could be a ron paul movement that extends well

beyond ron paul's candidacy. >> ron paul is the only candidate who is a movement candidate in this campaign and he appeals to younger voters in a strong way. s in a problem that the romney campaign wants to address, something they're going to have to address in the fall. i agree with chris. with all due respect to jesse, i don't think that ron paul is going to remain a factor in terms of delegates. i think this race is going to continue to be sort of close to over. i don't think the santorum vote is going to move to ron paul but i do think paul has enough supporters he will continue to be something of a force and someone they have to deal with. >> it's the damage he can doing ultimately through a kind of bully pulpit that probably has the republicans nervous because i think the more he stays on that libertarian edge and he's able to attract some independents, they like some of the stuff he says, oh, yeah, in terms of foreign policy. that sounds good but then it sounds like it's teetering toward with all due respect to empty benton some of the lunatic on other issues. i want to ask, do you think ron

paul sticks around so he can leverage beyond this race? i mean apropos to what alex just said? maybe he's looking forward to after this republican, you know, primary is done and the election is over that he's trying to leverage it for future authority. anything to that? >> well, he's sticksing around first and foremost because this is race is not over. we're still fighting hard in this race right now. we're fighting to win. but you know, a secondary goal of all our political action we've undertaken for the past five years has been with a long-term goal and focus. we want to interject these ideas both into the republican party and into to the american people at large and bring this country back to its founding roots of individual freedom, respect for the constitution that made us so great. >> jesse, there is a copy of the ron paul cookbook in the "now" offices not purchased by anybody that works in this building but weep do i have an copy. we read it religiously and often inspired by many of the recipes.

thank you for your time, sir. we look forward to talking with you as the campaign progresses. >> thanks for having me. after the break, the u.n. security council holds a key meeting on north korea's failed rocket launch. we'll discuss how the latest actions affect relations between the u.s. and north korea next. [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing

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"well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. following north korea's failed missile launch yesterday, the white house says it will not move forward with a deal that will include aid to the country. chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski joins us now. does this make it more likely that north korea will carry out a nuclear test to prove. >> u.s. military and intelligence officials are trying to figure out exactly why that missile failed. less than 90 seconds after launched, it just broke art.

some believe there may have been an explosion or as it pratted from the first is taken to the second stage, something went wrong. it broke into pieces and fell harmlessly into the yellow sea just west of the korean peninsula. you know, this is the fourth such missile launch that just was an abject failure by the north koreans. so i think the united states is breathing a little easier today about the potential long-range missile threat to the united states that north korea has apparently been pursuing. that doesn't diminish the threat to the local area, the south koreas and japans. but nevertheless, there is concern because there have been indications that the north koreans have been preparing an underground nuclear test which would be about the fourth one of those, as well, but you know, the concern is that since this one failed and for the first time the north koreans admitted it was a failure, that they will be forced to carry out this underground nuclear test just to

show they can do it, and quite frankly, alex, save face. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon, thank you, sir, for the intel. >> you bet. after the break, as tax day approaches, president obama and vice president biden release their returns. but when will we see mitt romney's? we will discuss that next on "now."

>> i apologize. working moms, stay at home moms, they're both extremely hard jobs. >> my career choice was to be a mother. >> there is no tougher job than being a mom. >> the comments that hilary rosen made today certainly have awakened many mama grizzlies across the nation. >> we can all agree, democrats and republicans ha raising children is an extremely difficult job. >> is that much ado about nothing or something to do about

something? hilary rosen tweet this had morning i deeply apologize again to work at home moms, mrs. romney and the podists. i'm going to be a mom who stays at home this weekend. a fuller statement from hillary saying i have unfortunately made the producer's job tougher today but don't have anything more to say. what do you make of this? the hilary rosen, i'm still calling it a kerfuffle. >> the republicans are calling it a war on moms. when the president of the united states weighs in on it elevates it a tad. i think she made a mistake and said something that was careless. i think the point she was i think she was trying to make was that there are a lot of women who don't have a choice in terms of whether to work and whether to say home. however the way she said it ended up sounded like she was denigrating staying at home. it is never a good idea to attack the wife or sound like you're attacking the wife or the husband of the candidate. there is so much the democrats

have to criticize the candidate over, there is no reason to go there. that having been said, i don't think this is going to be the narrative of the day. the romney campaign did a very successful job or is the narrative of the day. they did a successful job at making it a storm and got help from the obama campaign in highlighting it as they distanced themselves, it made it a bigger story. now i think that the romney campaign is going to have to talk about other things at a certain point. >> i wonder, michael what you thought about the president and david axelrod and the first lady getting in on this so quick when and i talked about this a little bit yesterday, if you want to talk about the war on moms, there are a lot of single mothers in this country feeling the pain and getting no help from the republican party. >> and the democrats either. so let's be honest. the reality is although much more from the democrats than the republicans, read the top of the full story on last sunday's "new york times" about poverty and the effect on single mothers. so it is a kerfuffle and one extended into a crisis but the crisis is the crisis of vision

of the republican party to address the real needs of these poor and working class mothers. i know hilary rosen. i'm a friends of hers, i know that hilary rosen misspoke "she's an incredibly dedicated mother, a great public servant. her point, her larger point was that if you're going to be using ann romney though as you know, mitt romney does and you're talking about a serious issue, don't then hide behind your personal relationship to your lovely and great wife to make public policy points. he brought her into the fray by saying that my major point of reference in terms of policy in regard to women has been my wife. so he makes her more vulnerable. i agree with the president don't attack the wife but at the same time, if your wife is a great person, it doesn't mean she knows much about engineering or rocket science if you're making comments about engineering or rocket science. i think rosen's point was -- >> the idea you can't talk to women directly and have to go through your wife. >> and there are many other women who have voices you've not

been listening to. >> one in four mothers in this country are single mothers. half of those single mothers as heads of their family make less than $25,000 a you're. "the new york times" article you're referring to says one in every furlough income single mothers is jobless and without cash aid which is roughly 4 million women and children. >> talk to them. talk to some of those mothers and also talk about those mothers who are working who haven't had the privilege of having a husband provide for them as they do the incredibly important work of rearing children. >> i think that the democrats feel like this is ultimate lly battle romney is not going to win. i think they feel the issue of women and women voters is going to play better for them than mitt romney. so they may have won the news cycle and we can all agree they probably did but long-term, there is a huge gender gap he is facing in the polls, 19 points according to the "washington post" poll. he and also, i think what the president was doing candidly was

essentially laying a line. i think there is an expectation that michelle obama will get criticized at some point during the campaign. she did get criticized in 2008 and i think there is now an expectation of okay, so everybody's off-limits. >> can i say something about that gender gap though? i think there is revealing about how the romney campaign played this. the gender gap is actually a tale of two distinct groups among women, college, noncollege. in the gains the democrats have made the reason it's at 19, obama is now nearly ten points better among college educated women than 2008. he is stagnant among noncollege educated women. there's two ways for romney to bring the gender gap under control. one is cut the advantage obama has among college educated women, the other is to drive up the support built in for republicans among less educated women sort of down scale women. i think that might be, yes, this issue will fade but this might speak to how they approach the

gender gap to use cultural issues among less educated women. >> the statistics are actually, although there's a lot of talk about the opt out revolution, college educated women choosing to stay home, it's anecdotally true, not statistically true. the women who increasingly do stay home are noncollege educated who can't make enough money to make it pay for daycare. although that's not ann romney, that is who the stay at home debate is about. >> there's so many communities where it's news to people, mothers have to go out and get a job. in many minority communities, that's been the case from the get go. even in the feminist movement, the specific lives of women of color haven't counted. i think in either case, we can be honest and say on both sides of the aisle, we meed to ratchet up our con husbandeousness about the barriers these women confront. what the obama administration was doing saying if the other side is expected to renounce people who make crazy statements or statements that are

intemperate, we want to do the same thing by showing you we're really ready to stand against even one of our great surrogates to make the point. >> the logic of the president having to defend a statement by someone who is in no way affiliated with his organization, his campaign and then you have someone like foster freese who said some of the most wildly outrage just comments. >> maggie has a great point we're going to see two days of outrage over some distant romney relative who said something about michelle obama. >> i want to see that in may. but rush limbaugh has cited how many times hilary rosen has been to the white house. >> the only other thing i would say is in terms of how this played out, you know, the point you were making about mitt romney saying his wife tells him what the concerns of women are somehow turned into a debate about the her credentials to be talking to her husband about what women care about which seems a bit of a risky thing to

be debating. when he made that comment saying my wife reports to me about what are the concerns of women and how they feel, the issue was the language he used for a lot of women and certainly for a lot of democrats was that it sounded like, well, you know, this is what she she tells me and she's reporting to me. i don't know that's how he meant it but that is what the sound was. somehow it shifted from the criticism of that remark to whether ann romney was capable of advising him. that is not a winner of an argument. >> i think it was ruth marcus saying in the "washington post" women are not from the another planet. you can actually speak to them directly. they won't bite. i'm paraphrasing wildly. but a suggestion to romney. you don't need to go through ann romney. coming up, they are behind nearly a thousand pieces of state legislation each year but blue chip companies jump as coca-cola and kraft have recently cut tise. we'll unveil the mysterious group next on "now." [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing

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the maker of skittles is joining six other major companies in cutting ties with the american legislative exchange council. since the trayvon martin shooting the business backed group known as alex has come under intense scrutiny for its role in helping pass stand your ground rules across the country. there is more you should know about the group quietly driving policy around the country. >> adam sorenson, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> tell us more about alec. we know it's a conservative organization with a vast membership, some of the notable alum include john boehner, john cacic, marco rubio. it would seem that alec is a hugely influential body in american politics. >> about a quarter of the

legislatures, legislate tors and state lawmakers countrywide belong to the group. and essentially, it's a resource for them. it provides model lenlation and provides research. and they go to it when had he need to figure out how to make a bill. and especially as state budgets shrink, lawmakers rely on this kind of organization more and more simply because they don't have the staff to figure it out for themselves. now, there are a few other groups like it. but this one is unique in the fact that it's specifically for conservatives and it's also, it relies on input from corporations to have set its policy. >> and some of the other legislation beyond stand your ground, alec has been involved with arizona's controversial anti-immigration policies, some of the voter ifrg d. laws, state legislation aimed to limit the epa's of greenhouse emissions.

>> what a way to outsource the production of legislation. even as you pass bills beating up on working people, you don't have enough time to craft the legislation yourself and then the businesses getting ininvolved is more unseemly. of course, corporations support it because your legislation is going to favor them. so it's a polish way to do business and a horrible way to pass legislation but ingenious if you're a conservative and want to exploit that model. >> i have two questions, adam. one is alec is a 501 c 3, a non-profit charity that is not supposed to engage in any nonpartisan activities. this would seem to be a very powerful form of lobbying. >> it's not directly lobbying in the traditional sense. other groups do put out model bills. the national conference of state legislatures does the exact same thing, but what it does do is it has this membership group that's not just legislators.

>> 300 corporations. >> that makes up most of their money and so they basically convene policy task forces to come up with the best kind of legislation for those groups both for the corporations and for conservative lawmakers because honestly, their interests overlap. conservatives want less government. they want less taxes. they want less regulation. and in many cases, corporations want the same thing but not in all. >> what is interesting to me is that the stand your ground law and the fact that alec was behind that law and its furtherance in other states led to greater public scrutiny of alec. have you companies that have cut ties including coca-cola, intuit, mars, mcdonald's, pepsico and wendy's. we spoke with the communications director. he said this intimidation campaign is not about any one issue. their goal is to silence an effective free market association by bullying. we will not be silenced or defined by our attackers.

>> one question i have about this, what was the founding purpose for this group? it seems to me what it is right now is a great backdoor way for conservatives to pursue their national agenda where there's a lot less oversight. all these reporters and interest groups watching congress, is thatting what this was founded to do or just an outgrowth of -- >> i think that it's accurate. it was founded almost 408 years ago during the '70s founded by the same people and in the same year as the heritage foundation after the goldwater revolution whether he they were thinking about different ways to push back against think thanks and other political organizations, they did not feel were conservative enough and pursuing the kind of policies they were interested in. >> what i can't help but thinking though, alec, when you talk about the work of alec is thatting this intimidation and so on, that's what they said about martin luther king in the boycott, about any group that has been seen its interests assaulted and there ever trying to stand up against big moneyed interests that have ruled their

lives. so the argument that this boycott or their withdrawal by conscience is somehow intimidating is getting it backwards. >> it's important to understand this is not just a pressure campaign that's happened in the last few weeks. definitely the shooting of trayvon martin and the attention that stand your ground laws have gotten have brought more pressure to bear on these companies to cut ties with alec. last year, i talked to shareholder groups, people coordinating with unions going to companies like coca-cola privately, quietly going to the government fairs offices and saying look, we don't necessarily need to you drop out of this group but we want people to know what your money is going toward. we want you to disclose more about it. because it doesn't fall under traditional campaign finance laws or lobbying, basically what they're saying is we think your shareholders, your customers should know. >> you know, independent of the criticism and the analysis of what alec does is the idea that congress is so, is lazy the word

to uses in there's a story about a floer lawmaker left the alec tag line on a bill. ryan lizza had a great story. the notion that basically the job of writing bills has been outsourced to this secret 501 c 3 is an indictment of our democratic process. >> she was aiming for the verizon center, maybe they're paying her under the table. >> sponsorship. >> naming rights. >> but i mean -- >> i started out covering state politics and covering the state legislature and having seen how the world works down there and who some of these people are, it is a great idea. that's why i was asking about the roots of it. you go to the state capitals, newspapers barely cover them anymore. there are a few interest groups. if you've got an agenda, you have a hard time getting it through congress if it's controversial. you can go to a state capitol and you have access in a way

you're never going to get in washington. >> especially when the state legislate tors end up being the speaker of the house and a would be superstar of the republican party. >> it mazes me again, because part of the legislation deals with people who don't have time to pay attention to their lives and these people who are legislate tors do and they sometimes punish people who don't have the mother who's work three and four jobs and they end up getting on the short end of the stick and yet these very people passing laws saying you don't pay enough attention don't pay enough attention to what's going on. >> the group links corporations to more than 2,000 state lawmakers who are also alec members. that's nearly 30% of the lawmakers in this country. adam sorensen, thank you so much for your time here with us on set. >> thanks for having me. >> coming up, politics is often a test of strength and will, than presidential primary has been no exception. but this week a key competitor fell by the wayside. it's part of our look back in what just happened. that's next. ♪

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this week, we learned the importance of political lis then nicks, who's in shape for the long haul. it's time to look back and ask what just happened. >> wild rump pass start. >> politics is a test of endurance and discipline. and get together white house requires plenty of both. intense cardiotraining. aquatics and weight lifting. >> pumping a little iron to get miss psyched for coming out here. >> may still not get you to the oval office. >> we will suspend our campaign effective today. >> but if you go down, you might as well go down in style. >> amazing thing that sweater vest. turned out i gave a pretty good

speech that night. the twitter verse went wild saying it must be the sweater vest. >> it's the right to bear arms. >> there you go. >> still in the race, newt gingriching had trouble writing a $500 check. >> this is one of those goofy things. that check was drawn in december. it wasn't a question of money. that particular bank account was closed. >> then again, fiscal discipline was never his forte. >> congressman newt gingrich bounced checks for more than 26 grand. >> more than a few paces behind, newt doesn't seem to know whether the finish line is ahead of him. >> i'm still here and i'm still campaigning. >> -- or behind him. >> i'm glad i did this. >> mitt romney has always been fueled by deeply held beliefs. >> so many of our senators sometimes become so caught up in the political situation, that their answer is made politically before the issue is even brought up. >> and he refuses to fall prey to the politics of the moment. >> the real war on women has been waged by the obama

administration's failure on the economy. >> his staff wasn't even sure whether he supported pay equity for women. >> then again, if you listen to the guy who have gone pro. >> i wish they weren't called the bush tax cuts can. if they were called some other body's tax cuts, they're probably less likely to be raised. >> maybe winning isn't everything. >> if you miss the presidency, i really don't. i enjoyed it. it was an unbelievably interesting experience. >> we need to thanks our friends at buzzfeed for some of the magic pixie dust that went into that spot. good team have you over there. >> that was fantastic. >> i open this up to a number of things to discuss. one we can talk about who's up, who's down. we sort of know who's up and down in the horse race. it's worth noting sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the titanic. for the occasion, james cameron's epic tribute has been rereleased in 3-d. memories of the fateful voyage are being shared between me and

maggie and conspiracy theories about the tragedy abound. i offer to you, my friends, a quick xwhent on what you thought about this week and what has been the momentous pivot point for you. i don't know if it's. >> what do you want to talk about? >> here's something i learn this had week. rick santorum and al gore have something in common. i don't think there are two other politicians or any other politician in the history of american politics who have more undercut by their home states than rick santorum who got not credibility because he lost in 2006 and will to drop out because he was afraid of losing his home state again and al gore who would have been president in 2000 if he had just won tennessee. >> on the purely tactical, i learned apparently after having a big day, this week, you know, the big day for mitt romney was rick santorum dropped out. typically romney has had had good days and had an error afterwards. this time it was the democrats

who gave it to him and he did not commit the error. >> good on you, mitt romney. >> i do think we saw what the romney campaign is really good at. they did drive and win the pedia cycles. the obama people saw it coming and preemptively surrendered in an attempt to stop it the other night. didn't really work. >> but tried. >> there were some democrats saying you've got to fight and obama's impulse was to cave. that was a pattern we'll see repeated. >> i've got to give praise to george w. bush. he's kept his word. he doesn't want to say bad things about the president even when he clearly disagrees. i think that's extremely honorable and quite rare. i want to give a big up to george w. bush. >> i just want to point it out to you, a new theory proposed by historian tim malten in an ebook saying that spheric conditions caused a mirage around the bice bergs that the titanic hit similar to what we see in the desert, food to chomp, mental tidbits to think about.

>> ron paul diet book of conspiracy. >> that's from the cookbook of conspiracies, exactly. >> thanks again to michael, steve, maggie and ben. that is all for now. i'll see you back here on monday, noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific when i'm joined by bill burton, sam tine, catherine crier, richard wolffe and tony perkins. you can find us at facebook.com/now with alex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. >> have a great weekend. thanks so much, alex. coming up next, the white house deals with the north korea showdown after yesterday's failed rocket launch. dnc chair debbie wasserman-schultz joins me as democrats try to distance themselves from the controversial comments about ann romney by a prominent democratic strategist. and allison williams will be here tols break through the hit tv series "girls." and andrea mitchell reports" is next right here. join us. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn

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and right now on "andrea mitchell reports," it is rocket science. and north korea just flunked. what will the her mit kingdom do next to overcome the embarrassment of their failed missile test? women's work, is it ray tempest in a teapot and can the white house quiet the storm over that comment about ann romney? >> our response is that's an outrageous assertion. >> this was an ill-advised statement by somebody on television. it's not something that i subscribe to. and moreover, my general rule is you don't talk about the spouses of elected officials. >> this hour, the president is in tampa to talk about trade with latin america as he heads to a summit in colombia. and live coverage ahead of the president. plus, there is a ground breaking new show about young women in the big apple. >> i don't want to freak you out. but i think that i may be the voice of my generation