sense ideas right now that can accelerate even more job growth. >> of course, that brought the predictable chorus of contempt from the house republican leadership. speaking from their home districts where they're taking yet another much needed recess, not to work on creating a jobs for others but to work on keeping their own, speaker john boehner, president obama has shown what doesn't work. now it's time to try something we know will. getting the government out of way of families and small businesses. the majority leader eric cantor in the house. we are working to lower taxes, cut red tape and empower small businesses to grow and create jobs. we believe our nation's job creators know best how to allocate capital and grow their businesses. yes, let unfettered unregulated industry reign. we've seen how well that works, haven't we? while romney has had a year to try to could nnvince voters of

philosophy, they don't seem to be joining it. according to the new poll out, the president leads romney by 7 points. 51-44%. and those crucial independents, well, the president with a 10-point lead. 51-41%. in case the map of virginia this week doesn't tell you how critical the state is in this election, let's let mitt romney and the state's governor bob mcdonnell tell us. >> this may be the state that tells us who the next president is. >> i think it is a tough path without winning virginia. >> he's got that right. we have a fantastic friday panel. joining me here in new york, msnbc political analyst, professor dyson from washington university. julian epstein and msk political analyst and former dnc communications director, karen finney who is now a columnist for the hill.

professor dyson, mitt romney couldn't have been quicker in celebrating these less than stellar numbers. but 4.2 million jobs in 26 months. is that to be sniffed at? >> not at all. first of all he's indicating that he should create 500,000 jobs. that hasn't been done, i think the mathematics -- >> since the industrial revolution. >> and certainly only 16 time in modern history. the reality is that he is selling us a pile of mess that doesn't smell too well. the reality is that he is an unreasonable assertion about what the president should be doing. down to 8.1%. even black unemployment for the first time fell just a bit. so i think that the trends are moving in the right direction. but the republicans refuse to acknowledge any good thing this president does. and he says usually this would be a good number. but of course, because i'm running for president, it is not a good number. it is all seen through the lens

of the campaign. >> isn't it the height of audacity for boehner and canner to condemn these job number, yet do everything in their powers to prevent the president from passing his jobs act which would add two percentage points to growth and bring down the unemployment rate within a year. >> you're going to see more of this moving the goalpost. at one point it was let's create x null of jobs. now it is 8.1 isn't enough. it has to be 4%. we know it is not likely to get to 4% between now and november. the idea here, keep moving the goal posts so it keeps looking like the president isn't delivering on what he said he would do. at the same time, that's why it is wise for us to say, okay, mitt romney, what are you going to do to get unemployment down to 4%? we know from experience if we go back to the policy that's you're advocating, that's when we lost jobs.

>> at the same time creating a 4.2 million jobs in 26 months, the nation has slashed 600,000 public sector jobs. again, bridges and roads are crumbling. the president wants to put people to work but republicans know if they were to allow that to happen, it would likely undermine romney's prospects at the next election. so that's their focus. it is not job creation. it is mitt romney's job. >> yeah. and i think it is obstructionism. i think this election will be about accountability. not just that republicans have consistently block efforts that we know that like the stimulus, that we know would in fact work. it is when republicans were in control in 2008. we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. we're now dwang somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 a month. that's a net swing of about 900,000 on a million jobs per month. that has not been done in recent times. i think the rule of thumb here is that the most important day we're looking at during this

election period is the first friday of every month when the jobs numbers come out. if we're doing about 200,000 jobs a month, obama is the presumptive favorite. he is in very, very good shape. if we're closer to 100,000, there is trouble. there is cause for concern. however, the key things to look at are not just a one-month snap shot. more like a six-month snap shot. we're close to 200,000 jobs a month. if you look at the unemployment rates from last week, those numbers are also very good. the important thing for economists or trends, and i think the white house can make a very strong argument the trends are in the right direct. >> do you agree with that? >> absolutely. when you talk about the trends, the data suggests those president who's are in office who enjoy an upward trend, even if it is by a small percentage will be the presumptive candidate who will win. and as a result of that, i think that mitt romney strategically is trying to, as karen finney said, trying to move the

goalpost to suggest that no matter how good it looks and how good the trends are pointing to, the positive outcomes, that they will always be read negatively. the campaigning is rather vicious. as julian said, the obstruction i on the part of congress to refuse to work with the president to make those numbers better. what they're doing is holding the country hostage to their narrow parochial political beliefs. >> which is romney's election. let's talk about virginia for a moment. you cannot cross your lawn in the commonwealth these days without running into a presidential candidate. mitt romney said it could decide the election. yet he is seven points behind them. might he look at the polls before he makes his declarations as he did with the china situation and again with regard to bin laden? >> you mean have some facts and data before he opens his mouth? come on. that's ridiculous. >> oh, sorry. >> virginia has become a swing state. and here's what mitt romney is not paying attention on but i

imagine some of his people are paying attention to. this has been a process in the making. we started, remember back in 2006, with the election of jim webb. that's when we first started to see this state turning into a more furrowed ground. we've seen that play itself out over the last years. that's why i think there is real optimism that democrats can win in virginia and hold on to virginia. don't forget, virginia is a state where president obama lost the white vote but won the african-american vote. because of the size of the african-american vote actually won the state. it is important not just to look at the top line number. when you disaggregate that date, a it tells you a deeper story. is someone telling me that mitt romney will get the black vote in virginia? really? i don't think so. >> karen, i wanted to mention something else to you. romney doesn't seem to be helped by the fact he is down 18%.

with the largest voting bloc, that's women. the president has faced some back lash over his latest effort to win women voters. what is being called the julia campaign. that shows how his policies help a woman at various stages of her life. what did you make of that campaign? >> well, to me it was here are the ways government plays a stage in your life that you may be be aware of. how many time have we heard people say i don't want government in my life but i need my social security. people rely on government services in ways they're not conscious of. here are the various ways if you are a woman living her life, that the policies of barack obama would have helped strengthen your opportunity motorcycle good decisions in your life and to thrive as an american. >> some on the right are saying this is a classic example of big government and presoosly mitt

romney's critique of the government. he wants a society with government at the center and whereas romney says he wants government to get out of the way. >> it is amazing that the people who are most anti-government want to run the government. the people who think the government is the biggest want to play the biggest role. >> this is a guy who has assets in excess. >> he want to run government for other people and the government can protect his own investments and his incredible wealth. not only his but others and the corporations which have invested extraordinary amounts of money through the super pack, through citizens united. the flooding of the landscape politically with all of that unregulated finance. in that case these people so anti-government want to protect us from it. and they depend upon it. "the new york times" suggested the people most against the so-called handouts for the poor

are themselves receiving and it never even acknowledging it. that's the hypocrisy but also the confusion. >> julian, what do you think of the critique of julia? do you think the right will make some hay with it or do you think the people of the country will realize that woman's life has been assisted by the role of government. not prevented or obstructed but help. >> i'm amazed at the fights that the republicans pick. they keep seeming to pick fights like on contraception that they're going to lose. i like the alfredo it makes it clear. what an average middle income woman in terms of the differences between the republican and democratic philosophies, what it means to her, getting college tuition, what it means for health care, what it means in terms of getting equal pay. and it comes down to the basic dynamic we're seeing. what republicans are doing, what they're running on is anti-incumbency. they believed it worked in the

elections. they're saying the guy in office is bad. we'll be better them do not have a positive message. to karen's point, the kind of archie bunker hour that was the republican primary where they affected so many demographic groups will not just work badly for them in virginia. if you look at everything is true about north carolina as well. to some extent, also true in places like florida and colorado. so i think the republicans have played a very, very inept game so far. and i keep wondering when their a-game will start. >> very quickly. i would love to see the dnc or somebody follow up with a, here's what life under the romney-ryan plan would be like for julia. she would be in the grave by her mid 30s. i can almost assure you. >> into the cliff like the price is right. >> to all of you, thank you very much for joining us. coming up, the war on women is big and bright. deep in the heart of texas. stay with us.

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essential care. good afternoon to you. >> it is good to be with you this afternoon. >> we keep hearing that the war on women is a myth and a fabrication. i guess you must be living in some sort of role playing fantasy narrative where women are denied care. is that right? >> i'm so glad you raised this question because i wanted to directly answer that this is not political for me. this is about my fellow constituents. women that i know. my neighbors. it is about the people that i am. a woman that has had children. a woman that needs particular medical care. these are the same issues that low income women and minority women have. and what shocks me is that the governor of this state wants to eliminate the access to health care for 100,000 women. this is an action. in doing so, they are denying

$40 million in medicaid dollars from coming to this state to help them. yesterday i stood in front of a clinic that is akin to the planned parenthood clinics, if you will, that are not affiliated with anything other than that they provide good health care for women who have no money. a mother and a woman who has a daughter, 19, stood up and said, she is uninsured. her daughter needs health care. and the loss to these funds will directly impact her life. that's where i thought it was important for the department of justice review this matter. >> indeed. what many of us find so difficult, congresswoman, is that people like rick perry and mitt romney are obsessed with preventing abortion. yet at the same time, they would decimate the kinds of programs like head start that would make all the difference in the lives of poor children. so that i understand this, preventing abortion is the priority.

supporting poor children, forget about them. >> i'm baffled by it. supporting poor women. forget about it. women who need if you will ginological services. that's a normal aspect of women's lives. and frankly, i want to see the proof in the pudding. if you don't have a war on women then help me. help me help the state of texas restore tax dollar moneys, medicaid dollars that are not being directed toward abortion but toward these women being healthy and having a healthy pregnancy and further original having a healthy child. i believe these women in particular, low income, latino and african-american women have been so blatantly discriminated that i think it also warrants a department of justice review which is what i'm doing. again, this could be simply handled. this process and program in the state of texas has been in place since 2005. very quietly. the state of texas health commission can restore this

program. and to make it even worse, the federal judge at the district level said that he was uncomfortable with thinking that texas had any solution, any other money that would supplement the $40 million in medicaid money. more importantly, the work that planned parenthood affiliated clinics that had nothing to do with abortion. it is blatant discrimination and i think it is clearly unconstitutional. and it really is undermining women as being deserving, whether you are poor or have a better economic status, deserving of good health care, underpinnings of what we were doing in washington when we passed good health care is to make sure that everyone at least has access to making their life better. >> i think everyone would say a hearty hear hear to that. the senate did do that but that happened without the help of 31 republicans, all men, of course, who voted against it. i want you to take a listen to

what vice president joe biden had to say on the subject just now. >> ask yourself, what message would this send to everyone of our daughters, every woman in prison in her own home. ask yourself. what would it say to them that if we didn't reauthorize this law, what would it say to our daughters, our wives, our mothers, about whether or not they're entitled to respect and whether or not they're entitled to be free of violence. ask yourself that. >> i have to ask you, congresswoman, what kind of a message do you think those 31 republican men were trying to send on our women and our daughters and our mothers? >> a very painful message. a message that says that we don't count and we don't care. i had the privilege of standing with a former republican chairman of the judiciary committee some many years ago when we introduced the violence against women act. and we have authorized it on a regular basis. i am pushing for the senate bill to be passed in the house and

passed now. because without that, we continue to see millions of women be confronted with violence. and also, others. and this speaks to indian women, native-american women. why should we leave them out? it speaks to women who happen to be lesbian. why should we leave them out? overall, it speaks to all women and it says that america is standing up against the violent abuse of women. and it happens. i was not to know that the increased of unfortunate violent acts against women has seen an untimely rise. where women have been shot in beauty parlors and daycare centers and on streets by angry spouses or significant others. it is important to have places of counseling and refuge for these women. i served on the board of directors of such a center for women of i can tell you these are life lines and they receive if you saiding under the

reauthorization of the violence against women act. i will tell you that americans cannot allow that to happen. it must be reauthorized. >> congresswoman sheila jackson lee, thank you for standing up for women across the country and particularly in your constituency. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, a fond farewell here at our broadcast. [ groans ] [ marge ] psst. constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... that's good morning, veggie style.

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but the santorum surge finally gave way to mitt's millions. this week's newt's moon shot fell back to earth. that leaves the graphic like this. but today, we officially suspend the segment with a very fond farewell to all the eliminated republican candidates. wait. i know what you're thinking. what about rob paul? in all due respect to his delegate dance, we think we can officially report, here's the story. mitt is the nominee. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. >> he's spiking the ball. >> is this spiking the football? >> the president is spiking the ball. >> president obama is taking another opportunity to spike the bin laden football. >> he is spiking the football. >> exactly. >> and presidents don't spike the football. you do an end zone dance on an aircraft carrier. follow the wings.

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who is spiking the football? newt's tear jerking goodbye and cat scratch fever returns. here are today's top lines. the week in review. we have breaking news at this very moment. the president is in afghanistan. >> even jimmy carter would have given that order. >> i just recommend that everybody look at people's previous statements. >> mitt romney would have done it. it is really disappointing. >> our goal is -- >> spike the bin laden football. >> he is spiking the football. >> presidents don't spike the football. you do an end zone dance on an aircraft carrier. >> i hardly see you've seen any excessive celebration. >> the american people don't want to vote for a loser. >> today i'm us is pending my campaign. >> i feel like i've been transported to some other world. >> unrealistic fantasies of

success, beauty, power and intelligence. >> i'm sorry. you were about newt gingrich. i thought you were talking about barack obama. >> if you can find a screening process more powerful than that i'll [ bleep ] how is that? >> the government said things that weren't true. >> particularly, mitt, god help us if he doesn't win. we'd better get a fire going. >> president barack obama. president mitt romney. >> he is the worst republican in the country. >> a terrible and very disappointing report. >> mitt romney on foreign policy has tended to be critical about ever laying out what he would do differently. >> this is a dark day for freedom and it is a day of shame for the obama administration. >> all of our efforts with mr. chen have been guided by his choices and our values. >> a fresh faced kid who can relate to the youthful now he is old grandpa gray hair. >> there is a wild and crazy man inside here.

>> static electricity. but still electricity. >> let's get right to our panel. political commentator abby huntsman joins us, along with jonathan capehart and politico's ken vogel. good afternoon to everyone. abby, let's start with you. you were a resident in the ambassador's residence in china. what do you think has happened with regard to the dissident this week? >> let me say watching the top line. you're going to miss the circus so don't get too excited about this. >> i am. we love it. >> i did live in beijing this past year and it is inconceivable that they would have let mr. chen go. i can't figure it out i imagine that hillary and geithner probably put a lot of pressure on ambassador locke and the embassy to make a quick fix as the strategic and economic dialogue was about to go on. but this really was a quick fix. and i don't think that it was the right thing to do. i spent a year living there and i can tell from you my experience, there was no way that mr. chen or his family for

that matter would have been safe living in china. that, we should have kept him and figured out a way to get him to the u.s. now we don't have as much control over the situation. >> right. what about the political implications back home? mitt romney has pounced on the china issue in a transparently opportunistic manner. even the guru bill crystal said he should it should shut up about it. is this stupid politics? >> yes. he prematurely pounced. when you're dealing with a fluid situation like this between two big powers who have a very contentious relationship interesting last thing you want to do, particularly as a presidential candidate, let alone president of the united states, stick your foot into something that you know nothing about. mitt romney knows nothing about what is happening on the ground. he even said in his statement from what i've read in reports and from what i hear is

happening. he doesn't know what's happening. as we have seen, the whole situation has changed within the last 24 hours. heck, since the morning papers came out. now we have the news that the chinese officials say that they'll let mr. chen and his family come to the united states if he gets a fellowship. and the word has come out that an american university has offered him a fellowship. >> it really highlights how difficult it would be for mitt romney to go after president obama on foreign policy. if you remember four years ago, that was one of the main issues on which john mccain had then senator obama, his lack of experience on foreign policy. now of course, he has this foundation being on the path to ending not just the war in iraq but the war in afghanistan. the death of osama bin laden. whether he spiked the ball or not, it is certainly in his edge willer on the pro size. so there isn't a lot of room for

mitt romney to quibble with or take issue with president obama on foreign policy so he is really searching. this is one where he grasped for something without knowing the full situation and may end up rebounding against him. do you agree with mr. romney seems to leap before he thinks? >> i do. it was a very foolish move on his part and it shows how much politics has changed. normally this would not be a political issue. nor should it be. what happens in the u.s. embassy in china should be within the hands of the officials on the ground and the state department. it shouldn't be something that would be political in the u.s. the same thing with osama bin laden. this should be when we're thinking other our troops and the sacrifice they made. >> romney chose to make it one. he accused the president of dancing and celebrating even though the president according to most people didn't really do that. and he didn't have any facts yesterday as to what was going on. i think it was a foolish move.

>> speaking of poison politics, we saw some of mitt romney's former opponents lining up had i been him, however unenthusiastic. all the nasty things they've said. does the nation go through an experience of collective amnesia? the primaries never happened and everyone loves mitt romney. is that correct? >> no. even the people endorsing mitt romney are doing so grudgingly. rick santorum has yet to endorse him. michele bachmann is the one who has come closeett to a full throated endorsement. and rudolph giuliani did endorse romney in this sort of, well, you know, he's better than barack obama. newt gingrich was the one ifs trying to think of who got out saying compared to barack obama, yeah, he is conservative. what kind of endorsement is that? >> i think it took newt gingrich 17 minutes in a 26-minute speech to even mention mitt romney. finally, we're hearing today from the colombian prostitute

who was at the center of the scandal involving the secret service. according to her account, it would have been quite easy to get a look at sensitive materials while the agent was sleeping. does this change the scope of the scandal or does it provide us with some salacious details? >> well, i think it certainly prolongs it. you heard from peter king from new york, the cheryl of the house homeland security, suggesting this interview raise additional questions. also kind have jabbing at the secret service, the focus tasked with investigating this wondering why they couldn't track down this woman when she apparently was being hounded by the media and eventually consulted to i have gone good a long and rather salacious interview with the media in colombia. yet has yet to be located by these investigators. she actually called the secret service idiots and said if these guys are idiots, you can imagine the investigators who can't even locate me. this obviously doesn't help wpu

the scandal behind them. >> i want to touch back on the endorsements before we end this. i think the bigger issue here are the statement that's were made by the candidates about romney throughout the primary season. a number of them saying they don't believe he can beat barack obama. and words don't go away. that will be the secret weapon for barack obama. i think that's a lot more hurtful than these unenthusiastic endorsements. >> thank you both. thank all three of you and have a wonderful weekend. a programming note. don't miss vice president joe biden on "meet the press" this sunday. check your local listings. coming upper for better or worse, for richer or poorer. >> america is not just about protecting a few people who are doing well. america is about giving everybody a chance to do well. carfirmation.

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while there are vast differences in how we might address the issue ofport and the disparity of wealth in this country, there is no doubt that the gap between rich and poor is just as wide. the top 1% of now own almost 40% of the nation's wealth and 46 million people are currently living in poverty. the president chose the setting of his state of the union address to argue that income inequality is the defining issue of our time. >> we can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of americans b h barely get by or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a

fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules. >> meanwhile, mitt romney says this is class warfare and that the president is encouraging envy and social division. i guess that's easy to say when you have personal assets in excess of $200 million, two offshore bank accounts and pay just 14% income tax. tavis smiley is the co-host of smiley and west and co-author of the new best selling book interesting rich and the rest of us. he joins us now. >> good to see you. thank you by saying dr. west sends his regards. i literally left him in a courtroom in new york. the stop and frisk topic has been very controversial. he and 19 others defendants are in a courtroom. they're protesting this policy. but for him being in a courtroom and facing a contempt order by the judge, he would be here. >> we're grateful that he didn't

breach the law. you just heard the president say that he is committed to economic fairness. but what can he do about the issue in reality? when he has a jobs bill that he can't get through congress. when he can't touch the tax code system. when he has no, it seems to me as though the president is impotent to do anything about this. >> i think impotent is a stretch. no president is impotent. number two, he can certainly make poverty a priority. there will be great debate for years to come about whether or not he should have switched the order. that is to say, do jobs first and then do health care. we'll be debating that ad nauseum. i have my own thoughts about it. in the book we suggest the president should have gone after jobs first. not just job but jobs with a living wage. make poverty a priority. number two, women and children have to be put first. 15 years after bill clinton signed that welfare reform bill that we call a welfare deform bill, bill clinton is my friend, i love him. but that was a mistake to sign that bill.

now women and children 15 years later are falling fast entire poverty than anyone else. we need a progressive tax code. we ought to raise the minimum wage. the president ought to have a conference on eradication of poverty. let's have a national plan around which we all come together and say we're gel serious about reducing poverty. not since lyndon johnson has any president republican or democrat stood up and said as you well know, we're going to wage a war on poverty. it has to be a priority. >> instead, mitt romney has embraced paul ryan's budget. a budget that would demolish program like head start which help poor children. pell grants which help poor children and the social safety net which helps poor seniors. romney says this is marvelous. what does this tell but the republican view of the poor? >> it tells that you mitt romney was speaking from his heart when he said i don't care about the very poor. context notwithstanding, to even utter that phrase is beyond disturbing for most of us, number one. number two, i side with the

catholic bishops. i am not catholic but they were right to press mr. ryan on a budget that doesn't reflect the values even have his own faith tradition. and thirdly, dr. west would argue in this new book that budgets are moral documents. budgets are moral documents. you can say what you say but you are what you are. and when we see what your budget is, we know hue really are. what your priorities are. and mr. obama could be doing a lot more to make poverty a priority but mr. romney, god help us all. >> paul ryan says that trickle down economics is the christian way. he says that that is theologically the right way to help the poor. >> the problem is it did not work in the reagan era and it won't work now. i said the other day in a conversation with somebody that it is about trickle down. it is about the poor feeling like they've been tinkled on. that's exactly the problem. so trickle down didn't work in the reagan era. it won't work now. there is a reason why the budget director has done a 180 on his

views. we learned a lot about the reagan era. about trickle down economics and that's not the answer. austerity is not the answer either. >> is not the real fact that in the case of someone like mitt romney who has $100 million trust fund for his boys. who gives one of his boys $10 million just as a seed bed for a new investment firm that he sets up. isn't the fact that individuals like that have that experience. what would he know about a child growing up in a family where the father is in jail and where the mother is struggling to do two jobs. when they talk about slashing head start and slashing these programs, of course, they do it without any empathy. they don't know the impact of that on other people's lives. >> i don't think he's right when he suggests those of us raising issues about the poor in this country are engaging in the politics of envy. mitt romney has nothing that i want. . >> he has $250 million. >> here's the point. the point is i would like to have an opportunity in this country to make my own.

i don't want to take his, is my point. i don't believe in wealth redistribution. what i believe in, what we call for in this book is a fundamental fairness. a level playing field in this country. what we have in america is a poverty of opportunity. a poverty of affirmation. a poverty of courage. not just a poverty of opportunity. it is all those other things. when you have someone who doesn't have experience with poverty and more over, there is nobody around him who we can see at the moment advising him about what it means to be poor. that's a real problem. >> tavis smiley, thank you for joining us. we hope your friend and co-writer as well in the court proceedings. first, amman a drury has the cnb market wrap. >> let's look at how stocks are doing right now. we're off decision lows but it is a sea have red out there after the disappointing jobs number that we got for the month of april. you can see the dow is only 60 points away from being at the

13,000 mark once again. it is moving down by 146 points. the s&p 500 is also lower right now along with the nasdaq which is the steepest fall in terms of percentage losses. that's what we're looking at right now. the first in business worldwide at cnbc. i'll toss you over to a break.

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the more you know. ♪ i say a little prayer for you ♪ ♪ forever, forever you stay in my heart ♪ >> that, of course, is "say a little prayer." just one melody from the huge body of work by two of the world's most distinguished song writers. there's even more distinction in store next week for these gentlemen as they go to the white house and receive the library of congress gershwin prize for popular song. we know this because mike viqueira has a passion for music as great as his passion for the news.

mike, i didn't play alphie, because i know it reduces you to tears. >> i think that was a bridge, a segue that was worthy of the master. >> okay. that's very kind and flattery will get you everywhere. the president has a campaign swing tomorrow in ohio and virginia. his campaign is calling them the first official events of the year, but we know he's been campaigning for quite a while, don't we? >> that's true, and there's been fundraisers galore. i hear something from our friends at the "washington po," the president has had 39 events since becoming president in the state of ohio. and virginia, 87 events, of course that's just across the river. he can pop over there any time as he did today as a happy and fortuitous coincidence. it's target rich in terms of swing voters. if you compare that to states like deep red states like arkansas, nebraska, south carolina, then there are a total of zero times. to answer your question, yes, it is an eternal perpetual campaign that has lasted three years and

continues. these are official events. he'll take off the gloves. before if he mentions mitt romney by name, everybody says, oh, oh -- but this is a campaign event. he's not under any kind of constraints. there are different rules and it's more likely we will see the president go after him specifically. ohio, virginia, obviously two swing states. columbus and richmond, two swing cities within those swing states, no accident that he's going there. >> right. >> virginia, martin, is turning out to be this year's version of florida. >> right. before we go, mike. what do you know about those celebrations at the white house next week for burt and hal david? >> i think you and i are probably roughly the same age. we've pooled they've volunteered for duty. there's an event in the east room, there's a full-on concert airing later on on pbs. i can't wait. it it's music to me. my parents listened to it when i was a kid. >> have a great weekend, mike. and thank you so much for watching. you have a peaceful weekend.

and as we bid farewell, we note the passing of a brooklyn-born artist who helped transform the music industry. adam yauch has died after a three-year battle with cancer. the group featuring three white rappers in a world dominated by black artists helped push the gener genera. he is survived by his wife and their daughter. 47 years old. does aspirin even work on headaches? aspirin? i don't really know what it's for. isn't aspirin like a vague pain reliever? aspirin is just old school. people will have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. that's why we developed bayer advanced aspirin with micro particles. it enters the bloodstream fast and rushes relief to the site of pain. we know it works. now we're challenging you to put it to the test. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. then try it yourself and tell us what you think.

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we know it's screwed up, it tells us sorts of screwy things, and right now it tells us the u.s. economy created a net gain of 115,000 jobs which was well below their already low expectations and a non-event relative to the 30 million jobs we need. of course, the primary issue is that so many americans are giving up looking for work. that we're actually seeing the unemployment rate go down not because people are finding work but because we don't count people who are unemployed but aren't looking for work. in fact, the participation rate, which is what they call it has now sunk to a 30-year low in this country. as sidney carton said in the tale of two cities, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.