matthews in washington. leading off tonight's star, no more. eight years ago he was a gleaming star of the democratic future, exciting packed rooms in the caucuses of the primary states. then he was the nominee for vice president, and now the one hot shot lawyer from north carolina is the defendant, facing charges that he broke campaign finance laws to cover up an extramarital affair. but is he guilty under the law, or is this a case of government overreach? also, looking for trouble. are friends of obama's opponents trying to widen the secret service scandal to reach the white house, trying to taint the president in this mess? plus a long favored guest here at "hardball" is facing a hard reelection. can she win with the so-called superpacs and the people behind the supreme court that created these menaces. let's hear from her tonight. and we said the obama people are dropping the mitt romney flip flop flap charge.

now we have the evidence. this is the plan. look who is cheering him on, the political master himself, bill clinton. we begin with the trial of john edwards. the executive director of the citizens group citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. and a north carolina attorney who is right there in court today. while there's no argument edwards is a cad, this case is about whether he violated campaign law. at issue whether nearly a million dollars that wealthy supporters gave were campaign contributions or simply personal gifts. prosecutors say they were campaign contributions that were used illegally because they allowed edwards to stay a viable presidential candidate. but the defense for edwards said

the money was simply a gift, and further, edwards didn't know about it at the time. only eight years ago, he was the toast of the democratic party. n in the twourt campaign, he was kerry's competition. he had all kinds of issues and walked to it. he was a dynamic speaker and able to electrify supporters where ever he appeared. edwards's attention to his presidential went to this hair brushing video that went viral. ♪

>> it's funny unless you're him. let's go to the reality of this trial which could place john edwards in prison for 20 years. what happened today in the first day, sir? >> chris, i thought it was going to be a dry, academic discussion about election law, but it turned into a mixed martial arts cage mass, in essence, and the united states verses john edwards. when andrew young was promoting his book, i interviewed young, and it's a preview i believe that the edward's team may take to discredit young himself, what i did, let's listen to what i did, because apparently it's a preview of what they will do against the main witness today.

>> you're pretending to be a loyal aide to john edwards for a year when you weren't, and you were working against him or you didn't like him. >> i wasn't working against him, but i was on fred barons payroll. >> but he thought you were an edward's guy. >> definitely. >> how do you feel about that? working for a guy, a can't imagine being in politics, working for a guy that i had given up on. it seems to me you ought to get out. >> that was my tough charge, is that what they're going to do in court in the proceedings? >> absolutely, even the prosecution putting forward andrew young as their star witness spent a good amount of time today talking about his arrest record. he had two arrests that came out on district examination. they made it clear that the opening statement that the lead lawyer, that this case is about andrew young lining his pockets,

not john edwards trying to promote his campaign. >> what is the fact in dispute if he knew about this money and where it was coming from, or if it was used as campaign contribution and should not be used for covering up an embarrassing affair and child out of wedlock? >> i always thought that edwards would focus just on the law. there's never been a prosecution for this type of arrangement before. a third party money to other third parties. clearly, edward social security going to focus on lack of criminal intent. this is andrew young defrauding him, and they knew nothing about it. >> let me go to an exneither these kinds of cases. i'm very skeptical. i don't think this is a criminal indication, i think they found a new way for this attorney held over by the president to

prosecute this case. i always thought from the gunning they went after a guy with a messy situation, he had a child with someone else, the wife died, and many people including me really respected elizabeth edwards, and now he is being blamed for something not related to those misdeeds. >> i'm with you entirely, i can't understand how the public integrity section is allowing this case to go forward. there's no basis for prosecution here. there has never been a prosecution on facts remotely similar to these facts, and we know that the prosecution is just attempting to imflame the jury here by playing to the love people had for elizabeth edward their trying to persuade the jury that this guy deserves to go to jail.

if that were true, a lot of politicians have a lot to worry about. >> well said, i you want you to take a minute, give the prosecution argument, at least. their argument is that this is really a campaign contribution because it helped clean the guys record or prevent more -- rather than prevent him from a scandal, from the public knowing about this affair. my question is, anything you do for a candidate, is that a contribution to his campaign i wonder? >> is anything -- any money spent by a third party automatically a campaign contribution, this isn't money that came into the campaign in any way. it went to andrew young for rielle hunter's support. further more, candidates are banned from using campaign contributions for personal use. there's a prohibition on that, you can go to jail for that. personal use is any expense you might have irrespective of the fact that you're a candidate.

apparently having a mistress is something you would still do even if you weren't a candidate, so you can't use campaign funds for that. so how are you prosecuted when somebody else spends money on your mistress. >> if you could give us a sense of what is the prosecution's case really about for people that want to know exactly what this guy is in jail for and what he is facing 20 years for. >> i'm a clean campaign guy, a dogooder type. and i certainly am troubled, chris, when you have hundreds and thousands of dollars in the orbit of a candidate from high public office come frg supporters, and i think this is a mixed motive case. he wanted to save his marriage and campaign. there's no question there has never been a case like this before, never been a prosecution based on facts like this. >> why do you think the

prosecutor acted -- do you think it was partisan. it was a u.s. attorney picked by george w. bush. he went on to announce his candidacy for congress coming out of this case. it was partisan? is that a fair assumption it was a partisan prosecution? >> it certainly is a troubling fact, you know, the republican, who we'll find in and out a couple weeks whether he will be a member of congress because it's a safe republican seat. if he wins this congressional primary, he may be running for john edward's old senate seat. he drove the press for the indictment, and after crossing swords with edwards, he steps down and says he's running as a republican for congress. it doesn't look great. andrew young, the government's star witness was contacting other witnesses in the case as recently as a few days ago. it's a very serious fact that's come out.

the government can't be happy with it, particularly on the heals of the ted stevens case. >> it seems to me this guy, andrew young, i don't think much of him you can tell from the tape we showed. he pretended to be loyal to edwards when he was working against him. why is he being such a good government witness, is he safe >> yes, he has immunity and he has all sorts of legal problems. that will be an issue here. in his own book, he talks about the gifts from fred and buddy, and he talks about them being legitimate gifts not campaign contributions. so the prosecution will need andrew young to refute his own words in his own book. >> there is nothing i like less than seeing our judiciary system, historically independent becoming partisan like the third-world countries once you ul fall out of election, the

people in power begin to prosecute you. i don't like the smell of it, thank you melanie, and i'm no fan of john edwards. the secret service scandal, are the opponents trying to link the president's people, if not the president himself to what ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™.

this is interesting, marco rubio is changes his position, he is getting his first take of the ticket. he is campaigning in pennsylvania at tomorrow's primary. he was the second most frequently mentioned name in an informal survey by the website buzzfeed. topping the list, rob portman who will probably be the nominee for vp. the defense

for vp. the defense department has added another military member to the growing list of people investigated in the cardajena prostitution scandal. that brings it to 24 people targeted here. some members of congress are wondering if any members of the white house staff were involved, prompting the question is politics at play among the president's opponents. we have the democrat from that city, she's on the house oversight committee, and eugene robinson is a prize-winning columnist. i always build him up, he deserves it. congresswoman, thank you, i also respected your work. let's look at this thing objectively. where are we right now in terms of targeting people we have a number of them that already resigned, another person that has been cleared.

we have people added to the list again, where does it stand? >> i spoke to director sullivan on saturday night, and he is determined to get to the bottom of this. they are under a thorough investigation, i would like to respond to your initial comments. i believe these attempts to implicate the white house on innuendo, not based on fact at all, is just a fishing expedition, and i believe the american peek are -- people are focused on jobs and growing the economy. the white house did an internal investigation and said they did not find any white house personnel implicated in any way shape, or form. >> the president didn't get there until a couple days after the mayhem, and now their trying to say that one of these guys stayed at the same hotel that the president later stayed out and involved him. >> right, clearly there is no

involvement by the president. now, is it a legitimate question, and the white house asked this question of themselves. they send advanced people down on a trip, so let's make sure our people are clean, not involved in this thing. they say they have gone through and made sure. so it does sound like a fishing expedition. but the white house better be right on this. >> but grassly, the senator, also pushed -- he practically audits everybody up for office. let's look at chuck grassley who i junction mentioned wrote the secret service director mark sullivan asking if any white house personnel were possibly involved in this scandal. yesterday, jone lieberman was asked about it on "face the nation" let's watch. >> do you have any indication anybody from the white house wa involved? >> i don't, but if anyone at the white house asks for my council

on this, i would say they ought to be launching their own internal review of all advanced teams and the rest, in cardajena making sh their not in trouble. he is fishing for trouble here. let's look at jay carney responding to those questions today during his briefing. >> the white house council's office conducted a review of the white house advanced team, and in concluding that review, they came to the conclusion there was no indication that any number of the white house advanced team engaged in any improper conduct or behavior. so, simply out of due diligence, over the last several days, that

review was conducted, and it produced no indication of any misconduct. >> back to congresswoman maloney. two questions to you at the same time, what is a legitimate inquiry. i would think it might be patterns of behavior? did this happen in the past, wheels off rings off ceremony, and the question of whether there is involvement by the white house communications team which is nonpartisan and not elected by the president. anybody else involved? >> so far, director sullivan is conducting a thorough investigation. and when his report comes out, he is reporting information as he comes to it. but this is not a political issue. this is about protects national leaders. and i believe no matter who is

in the white house, there would be a bipartisan response as we have had with numerous questions sent to the pentagon and director sullivan to answer including my own. where are the women? i want to comment paula reed who is a female agent in charge sent in to take charge, and she has done an excellent job. quoted in the "washington post" was a statement by a former secret serviceman who said that if paula reid, if every boss was like paula reid, this would never happen. so i personally believe, if we had more women on the ground of equal rank, maybe this would not have happened. if we had more diversity, more minorities. only 11% of the whole force is female. and i believe that that changing this would make a stronger elite force. >> i'm always for diversity, i think we all are, how would ethnic diversity have avoided this, i'm just curious.

i understand how having women around men may calm the herd, but how would ethnic diversity have prevented this from happening? >> i think it's a value in itself, but i believe that certainly women and like-minded men, upholding the standards of this elite core, they had a definite standard that you're not supposed to in any way enter act with nationals. here they're having nationals back to their hotel room. it was clearly a violation of the rules, it's under investigation, and i'm sure it will be completed and steps will be put in place so it doesn't happen again. >> let's look at somebody that doesn't agree with you completely. president obama came under fire as you know from republican u.s. senator jeff sessions of alabama last week who said the president needs to display more managerial qualities to avoid the problems discovered in the secret service. and he through in solindra believe it or not.

>> the president needs to assert discipline, management directions throughout the executive branch, and the president's are to be held responsible. i don't sense this president is showing that kind of managerial leadership. at this point in history in my view is one of the most important qualities in a president. >> it's hard for me to take that seriously. >> it's ridiculous. >> the president is supposed to spend, what, three minutes and 10 seconds a day running the gsa. it's ridiculous, of course that's not the president's job, that's other people's job. >> let's talk about -- >> chris,ly say -- >> do you think mark sullivan should retain his position leading the secret service. there seems to be a lot of support from people, is he a good lead frer what you can tell from your oversight role? >> me? >> yes. >> i think he has the confidence.

he was appointed originally by former president bush. leaders on both sides are supporting him. he's conducting a thorough investigation, and i would say session's attempts to attack the president are just cheap political shots. it shows so far that a couple of bad apples are going to put a bad nation on a good agency that's performed well in the past. this should not be about politics, it should be about facts, getting to the bottom of what happens, and protecting our national leaders. >> thank you so much for coming on with those wise words. karen maloney in new york. thank you as always, eugene robinson, known for his wisdom. coming up why did jon huntsman compare his republican party to the prc, the communist party of china? ♪

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back to "hardball." now for the side show. first up, republican for the primaries when rudy giuliani had this to say about mitt romney. >> i have seen him change positions about so many things so fast, on a dime. pro-choice, pro-life. he profess gun control, fine. then he becomes a life time member f the nra. he profess mandate for the whole country, and then he becomes anti-mandate and takes that page out of his book and republishes the book. >> looks like he had it right. earlier today, giuliani came around like all good politicians. >> i think mitt has won fair and

square. he has proven to be the most effective republican. it reminds me of going to a surgeon, if i have a terrible cancer to be operated on, i didn't go to the nicest doctor, i went to the best doctor. >> i think rudy's metaphor is a little morbid. jon huntsman is in the spotlight for comments he made last night. he talked about how he was disinvited from a republican fundraiser after suggesting that the presidential race might call for a third party this year. he says "this is what they do in china on party matters if you talk off script." here is his follow up today on "morning joe." >> if you're not on script, you're knocked out on an event.

i thought for a moment about what they do in china if you're off script, the party, they knock you out. we shouldn't be doing that here. >> i think talking about a third party might be a problem in any party. huntsman blamed his problem this year in part of the compliments from people like bill clinton and michael moore. and what happens when our favorite tv shows dive into politics, foxx broadcast reaired the very first episode of the simpsons last night. they added a selective congratulations on their own. check out the alternate ending to the episode. >> what's his name? number eight. i mean santa's little helper. ♪

wow, the simpsons have a long history, of course, of blasting fox news. up next, mitt romney wants to paint the severely conservative candidate he is and not the moderate.

now back to "hardball." >> welcome back to "hardball," the white house is refocussing their attack on romney, instead of flip-flop and etch-a-sketch, say el low to mitt romney, the severe conservative. it's bill clinton that has been urging the obama campaign to take this hardline for months. he quietly argued that the empty-core approach failed to capitalize on what they see as romney's vulnerableability. a more effective strategy, clinton told anyone who would listen, would be to focus exclusively on romney's

description of himself as a severe conservative. deny him any chance to tack back to the center. obama campaign advisor david axelrod used the clinton approved line this weekend. let's listen. >> a lot of republicans in congress want to cooperate, know better, but there in the reign of terror from the right. there is a reason, because governor romney and the party has gone way off to the right. i think folks are recognize that was the wrong path to take. >> just a point on our behalf, look at that great cover on the economist, the hb campaign. that's what they're calling it. michael steele is a former chairman of the republican

national committee, and the director if the "huffington post." let's talk about changing direction in the campaign. you don't change if it's working. if they thought hitting a guy as a flip-flopper was working, my belief is it will not work because the middle of the road say he is a flip-flopper. i try to put things together, i compromise, i change, maybe he will be a moderate. >> no, i think in the primary season, where the obama campaign was trying to create as much drought as they could, they wanted to emphasize the flip-flop message because wanted to make the right wing of the republican party fearful of mit romney. they wanted as much discord as possible. as soon as rom any wraps it up, they move to a different strategy. it didn't help barack obama in the general election match up, but they were trying to monkey with the republican race as much

as they could. now they're in general election mode, and i think they are taking bill clinton's advice. if they want to win the middle, they have to push -- >> who is this guy. let me ask you a question. is myth romney the moderate governor we knew, pro-choice, proenvironmental, was a individual mandate kind of guy. most would have said not bad, not a very popular governor, but okay. or is he is the crazed guy saying self-deport. >> i think howard hits the right point in the primary. the primary has you framing as a candidate, arguments to your base, to let you know on key things important to them that you're ready to fight. i think you will see a shift in the general election. you will see more of that moderate conservatism.

that balance and argument that talks about the core conservative principals, particularly on the financial front. a lot of that goes to the social issues, talking about women's health and those types of things, portion. i think romney will find a way to bring that message around, focus on a moderate conservative message on the economy, that recognizes people make decisions in their lives personal to them. he said a number times i don't want to get in that discussion, it's not for me to talk about. >> what good is him talking about gas prices if you're hispanic and he wants you out of the country. you can't buy gas here if you're not here. when he says self deport, and comes out with these positions on abortion rights and plays the game on the right, how does he hide from that? >> i don't know, but i think the obama campaign will try to paint him into this corner, and -- >> i think he painted himself into the corner. and how he gets out of that now i don't know.

i think what david axelrod and barack obama, and bill clinton are trying to do is keep him in the corner that he put himself in. it begs the question about who he is at his core. what do you think? which is he? >> i think on the issue of immigration, barack obama has an issue here as well. he is not -- >> you can't change the subject. >> yes you are. >> i'm not changing history. it used to be you go down to louisiana, and i don't know who did this, you could travel around the state before there was video and reporting, and one crowd say i'm a roman catholic, and then you could be the grand baptist, and nobody was keeping score. now we have videotape. we can throw it out there, the democrats can do it, right? how does this guy go from hard right, severely conservative, to a regular mainstream character that he portraying himself as.

>> you're making an assumption that there is something wrong with being conservative, that it will not win the argument this fall and i think it still can. it won in 2010, and romney does not have to go out there and prove to be severely conservative on every issue. >> he said he was. >> he's a full mooner, he ran as a full mooner. he said there's no such thing as science. >> how do you go from flat earth, i don't believe in evolution -- >> he never said he believes in a flat earth or evolution. >> that's who he is. >> where is he on science? >> ask him, i don't know. >> where is he on climate? >> it wasn't an issue in the primary. >> the grand wizard ground over there. >> i resent that, what is this grand wizard nonsense, are you saying we're ku klux klan. there is 30 in congress in the birther crowd right there.

there is ground to make up on a number of groups, let's take a look. with latino voters, women and independents, how does he deal with that, howard? how does he move to the center, and he's saying they're severely right. is it smart to say you're a right winger even if he is a more moderate than he portrayed himself as. >> what is the smart move? >> for the democrats. >> what they're doing right now i think if they can do it. if they want to pin mitt romney in the corner as we said before, that he put himself in, in the primary campaign. and it's up to mitt romney to explain a coherent theory of who he is, why he is running, and where he really stands after having survived the primary season.

he has an opportunity to do that barack obama's campaign is essentially going to try to be about mitt romney, barack obama is not really going to run on his record. he's going to run on mitt romney mitt romney is too extreme, too crazy. that presents an opportunity for mitt romney to run. >> no, if he can take it. it's like the ronald reagan thing. if mitt romney can jujitsu it -- >> i didn't mean to say grand wizard, i want to make it very clear, i believe this. if romney will denounce all of the birtherism, not trying to make barack obama a foreigner,ly be with him on that point. you know none of those guys do that stuff. howard fineman, thank you for joining us.

coming up, claire mccaskill. let's watch her fight, she is coming here, ready to fight. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! [ male announcer ] treat your frequent heartburn by blocking the acid with prilosec otc. and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. why you fell in love with her in the first place. and why you still feel the same. but your erectile dysfunction -- that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain,

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santorum, and the rest, but the candidate that got the worst was barack obama. according to a study, the president got the least favorable news coverage of anyone in the primary season. overall from january until now, only 18% of the coverage of the president was positive. verses 34% that was negative. compare that to mitt romney that was 39% positive verses 32% negative, we'll be right back.

we're back, senator claire mccaskill of missouri is in the fight of her life. among their targets is mccaskill running for ree flexion a state that's becoming increasingly

conservative. the gop is pouring cash and resource into the state, and she is taking on the super pacs. you have the wind at your back on this issue from this show. nobody i know like citizen's united think this is good for american democracy to have the super pacs running around as a menace in this country attacking people without even a name under who is paying for it. your thoughts? >> that's the really insidious part of this, chris. there has already been $3 million worth of anonymous hits on me in missouri. and i have to tell you if missourians knew who was paying for the adds, they would be proud of me. they would like my enemies in washington. i'm not afraid to take on the big guys, and that's what's so frustrating. if you're going to open the

doors, that's one thing, and tell corporations they can give as much money as they want, but to let them do it anonymously which the republicans have repeatedly blocked us from giving disclosure on who is giving this money. >> a lot of the people doing this, carl rove is pushing this. he has the super pac, he was the architect he called himself behind bush w., and then the coke brothers, a couple billionaires doing this stuff. are they the ones coming after you? these name-brand right wing people? >> yeah, i'm getting all of the name brands. then you have the koch brothers. we don't foe what they look like. a couple of wealthy billionaires out there. are they the ones coming after you, these name brand right wing people? >> oh, yeah. i'm getting all the name brands. i think i'm at the top of a lot of folk's list. if you don't fwhoe is paying for it, i don't believe it. i'm proud we raised a lot of money last kwather. people can give 25 bucks.

if we get a lot of those, we'll have our own super pac. >> jobs and manufacturing, i would think that president obama, who would have a tough time in your state, except on this issue. it seems ta bringing back the auto industry, it was dead and buried a couple of years ago. the same time romney said let them die. >> in missouri, the gm factory just added a second shift. in kansas city at the ford plant, a billion dollar investment is being made now. we held on to the notion that we can say made in america when it comes to automobiles. that was worth saving. everybody that wants to slam the

stimulus needs to realize that general motors took over as the number one manufacturing in the world. that would not happen. it was brought about by the same policies that romney is trying to sell the country right now. they want to go back to figuring out way to give more and more tax breaks to the mega wealthy and less and less regulation in order to create jobs. we know that didn't work. >> i believe this country will not work without moderates of both parties part of the mix. you're out there on the more moderate side of the democratic parties. you can't win this country with liberals or self-proclaimed progressives. there ain't ever going to be 51 senators for people that call themselves progressive. why should you be in the senate?

>> as a student of the senate through history, the senate has done its best work around the table of compromise. compromise happens because of moderates. many of your listeners may not want to hear this but if we don't have moderates, we're not going to get things done on behalf of the american people. i'm going to talk to a lot of missourians. i'm not going to get much sleep. i'm going to proudly tell them that i'm part of a moderate middle that we need to cher ish. we're never going to solve the hard problems. that's why i think moderation is important. believe me, the folks running against me, they are so extreme they look, they make some of these people in the house look like moderates. they are very extreme folks. >> are the tea party folks still running the parties out there? >> yes, by in large. i think that some of the

moderate republicans tried to get somebody else to run against me. they all took a pass. we have three people running that are all fighting over whether or not they're the tea party endorsed candidate. one of them got one tea party endorsement. the other said that's not the real tea party, we have the tea party endorsement. this is all about fighting for the far right wing base of the republican party. the missourians are going to have a clear choice. somebody that's moderate and believes in compromise or somebody that believes we need to turn out the light ons the federal government and go home. >> please come back. we love moderates. we love smart people that want this country to work. when we return, let me finished with this dangerous political times. it's very eerie out there. [ male announcer ] raise your hand if you've got savings whiplash. you know, from car insurance companies shouting,

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let me finish with this. we're in a dangerous time in politics. there's no big fights in the congress. there's no raging push by the president for action nor the counter force of resistance by the opposition republicans. there's only an unsettling air out there. the stir raised by the george zimmerman case in florida. the embarrassment of the secret service agents caught with sex workers. the scandal of that gsa party

out west. this is a dangerous time especially for the president and the political party controlling the white house. people want a leader. they want someone in control. they want to feel the authority coming from the top. otherwise chaos takes it top. trouble comes into the air. that's what it feels like politically, and i don't like it. ill winds are blowing. the natural authority figures are missing from the scene. i like it when president obama is out there fighting the opposition in congress. i like it when there's high stakes on the table and the american people can see their champions fighting for what's right. a good fight to know their interests are being protected or at least battle for. right now there's unease in the air in this country, unsettled criminal case. a messy bit of behavior with men for historic brand for courage. people that are duty bound to keep the order on on the bad

night for anything but. it's times like this that the small people rise up. the exploiters of trouble, those who fish in troubled waters. up on capitol hill you see them peeking out of their offices now. it's time for the president elected to a much bigger role to grab the reign, pull them sternly and lead this country to a clear, healthy direction right now. nothing braces us. nothing gives us better days than the president calling the shots. right now he's not. it's why the little people are making all the noise. that's "hardball" for now. "the ed show" starts now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight. mitt romney says he supports education. i thought he supported ryan plan that cuts pell grants by $170 billion. we'll sort it out.