the man who would have funded it. americans elect makes it official. the high profile group is giving up on finding a serious third party candidate. there's all this disenchantment with both parties and yet the death of the third party movement again. we'll dig into that. >> shameless plugs come early thanks to jeopardy. the close calls button blunders and answers. i surprised even myself on last night's tournament. scariest moment i've ever had on television but i enjoyed it. new jersey congressman rush holt a five-time winner and the guy who beat the ibm super computer watson will critique my performance. good morning from washington. it's friday, may 18th, 2012. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. let's get to my first reads of the morning. mitt romney is out with his first general election tv ad. it is described as a positive 30-second spot focusing on what he would do his first day in the white house after a week wf the oxygen was sucked up by various

things, romney's days at prep school, the explosive reverend wright trial balloon, even republican inflexibility in the debt ceiling, an intent to change the conversation. a limited buy running in key markets in just four states ohio, iowa, virginia, and north carolina. here is a look. he does go after the president a little bit. >> what would a romney presidency be like? day one. president romney immediately approves the keystone pipeline. creating thousands of jobs that obama blocked. president romney introduces tax cuts and reforms that will award job creators not punish them. president romney issues orders to begin replacing obama care with common sense health care reform. >> we talked about how romney has not spent any money on hispanic media buys but this buy does have a spanish language component. the campaign has bought a little bit of time, ready for this, in raleigh, north carolina, a place where the president actually hasn't run any spanish language ads by the way but it says a lot

where romney is not spending the money for now. campaign is not ready to run ads in pennsylvania or florida. might be a little bit surprising to folks if they're not going up into nevada or colorado either but let's see where this is in a week. we'll see if this gets buried in the new cycle. romney released an interesting web video yesterday. it's basically an attempt to push back of sorts on the bain bashing. it profiles nonunion auto workers at auto parts maker delphi some of whom are suing over pensions and lost benefits during the auto bailout. >> as gm and chrysler went through bankruptcy, employees of major auto supplier delphi saw their pensions slashed. vice president joe biden said most did fine. they don't agree. >> it's unjust. and when your government is making this choice and then using my own tax money to make this choice. >> a double edged sword for

romney. it muddies the waters on bain which helps him but it does position him back against the auto bailout. which of course is tricky in places like ohio or even michigan where they hope to put that state in play. now we said yesterday that a jeremiah wright theemd ad would consume the presidential race for the time being. it did without being aired for a day as walking from the rickets proposal became a full fledged split. in the morning romney didn't have an answer for reporters on the plane who asked him to respond to the story. >> have you seen the report in "the times" this morning? >> haven't seen the papers this morning. >> governor, do you think reverend wright is off limits in this campaign? >> but by midday romney was running in the other direction from the ricketts super pac. first criticizing the proposal to conservative media and then, quote, exclusive that ran on the website town hall and was later aired on conservative talker hugh hewitt's radio show. >> i repudiate the efforts by that pac to promote an ad

strategy of the nature they've described. >> then in a quickly called press conference in jacksonville, florida -- >> i want to make it very clear i repudiate that effort. i think it's the wrong course for a pac or a campaign. i hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the future. >> romney tried to turn td prospect of an ugly attack on the president back on obama campaign. >> i've been disappointed in the president's campaign to date which has focused on character assassination. i certainly hope that you get a chance to see our first ad. it's contrasting with the president's ad which came out again as a character assassination ad. we can talk about a lot of things but the center piece of this campaign is quite clearly character assassination. >> but in details of the proposal hit social media including racially charged phrases like metro sexual black

abe lincoln referring to the president and the suggestion that strategists, quote, include an extremely literate conservative african-american in our spokesman group, the statements backing away from the idea couldn't come faster. ricketts himself disavowed it. a spokesman said the plan was, quote, merely a proposal and reflects an approach to politics that mr. ricketts rejects and it was never a plan to be accepted but only a suggestion for a direction to take. fred davis, whose firm drew up the proposal attempted to absolve anyone involved and, quote, said the ricketts family never approved it and nothing has happened on it since the presentation. the vendors listed were as proposed and had nothing to do with this proposal. republican pollster whit ayres said to me i will say the aversion that i was involved is flat wrong. despite avowels president obama tried to turn it against mitt romney once again, it was said governor romney fell short of

the standard john mccain set. the vice president blasted the proposal from the trail in ohio. >> i think he's -- guys like that so misunderstand the state of the nation. they act like it's 1922. i mean, i think the public is so, so far beyond that. >> by the way, in a quick reminder that all politics is local among the reasons the ricketts family ran so fast from this proposal as owner of the chicago cubs they're working with the city of chicago hoping to get city money in hopes of redoing wrigley field. read the chicago papers this morning. a certain mayor of chicago, mr. rahm emanuel, had quite a few things to say about the ricketts proposal. finally, president obama kicks off back-to-back summits with foreign leaders today. first up a gathering of the g8. the leaders of eight of the richest economies at camp david the largest gathering of world leaders ever at the presidential country retreat. the first time the u.s. has

hosted more than two heads of state there and the timing with europe in crisis couldn't be bigger and the volatile european economy is expected to dominate the conversation particularly on saturday. before heading to camp david president obama will hold his first meeting with the new french president this morning. he has only been in office since tuesday but the european leader who could single-handedly hold the key to the president's re-election some argue is german chancellor angela merkel. how much more of the financial burden is germany willing to bear as europe appears to be melting down? on saturday night on to chicago for the nato summit where the alliance will get more specific about putting afghanistan in the lead of the combat mission in 2013 and in advance of the full 2014 withdrawal at least of combat troops. the president's main concern getting commitments from nato partners for a post 2014 price tag now estimated at $4 billion a year. here's national security adviser tom donnelly. >> what should their size be? what should the mission be? how will it be paid for? sustainment of course is a euphemism for how will it be

paid for going after 2014. we have made really substantial progress toward burden sharing, toward a continuing support for afghan security but with the united states not having to bear the whole load. >> one piece of news to look for out this weekend may be a collective agreement at least in the g8 on releasing global oil reserves, which means the united states would be releasing part of the strategic petroleum reserve. there was a lot of nondenial denials at the white house yesterday about this. of course gas prices usually rise after memorial day. this may be an attempt to blunt that. all right. getting political campaigns off the ground are tough enough without having your allies stepping on the message last week the president's re-election bid was thrown off track by joe biden's preemptive support for gay marriage. this week mitt romney kicked off -- the kickoff was over shadowed by reverend wright and even brinksmanship over the debt ceiling. david gregory joins me now. it has been striking how both

campaigns in the last two weeks have seen their best laid plans. >> a long campaign. plenty of time to get back to it. i think that's right. you have two things playing out. we know the economy is the center piece of the campaign but we know given boehner's talk about the debt ceiling that big decisions about budgets and taxes and what not, the american people do want some answers on these rather than having it kick down to the lame duck session. >> you know, both -- it's fascinating, you bring up the debt ceiling. both mitt romney and the president don't want to provide answers now. >> right. >> on this before the election even though the election is going to decide which basically which part has leverage. >> mitt romney has talked about, you know, plans for medicare and social security. we haven't seen a lot of details yet. he's obviously aligned with the ryan plan to some degree. but these are the big, important decisions. they're not really fighting them. the character point i recognize, you know, character is going to be part of this campaign. it depends how you define it. so mitt romney has already

defined character assassination, attacks on bain capital. >> what did you make of that? >> well, if the idea is the character assassination is rich guy out of touch doesn't care about people that becomes a character attack. >> right. >> if it's look what he did, you know, his business record, private equity, look what private equity did, that is more about his record. certainly jeremiah wright and the president's fitness for office, his views, is he really an american, all that stuff gets into the realm. >> let's pick apart bain a moment and then go to reverend wright. on bain this week it seemed the obama campaign, they had this rollout of the ad campaign they wanted to do. but they did it, it was sort of, it wasn't well rolled out in the fact that they did it in the same day that the president himself is raising money with a hedge fund guy. >> right. >> and it seems that they were stepping on their own idea. do they think what bain did was write or wrong? >> but i don't think this should be looked at as a singular rollout days as if sort of, you know, everybody that, the voters sort of had their seats pulled up and are ready for the rollout

and paying attention that way. i think this was all about chipping away at the plausibility of a romney alternative. and you keep hammering away at this idea that this is not a guy you can necessarily trust to be the turn-around artist, a, and, b, to stop something mid stream which is a presidency in mid stream, economic recovery though it may be slow and stagnant in some ways in mid stream. >> right. >> that's what they're going to work on. >> let's go to reverend wright. we saw i think one thing out of this we know is no other super pacs probably going to try this. they saw this sort of heap of brick fall on them. but boy, there are a lot of conservatives who believe this should be fair game. they sit there and say he never had to answer enough for it in the first campaign. >> i think it's a main stream view. there is enough out there, enough critics who are going to say -- >> it pulls at him. >> in what way? >> meaning it comes up. like he had this interview with sean hannity a few months ago. >> right. >> it comes up and he feels like he has to dog whistle at

everyone. >> what romney recognizes spending time with him this week, he doesn't want to call the president social iflt. he doesn't want to get into that camp. there is a big reason why. americans like the president. >> right. >> and i think the romney team wants to be able to sell a message which is, you don't have to reject the president to vote him out of office. >> interesting. i want to tease what you got on the show by noting how paul ryan's budget had bipartisan votes against it. >> yeah. >> that was interesting. what else gout on the show? >> well, we'll have him debating dick durbin and this question do we have another debt bomb at the end of the year? we're talking about it enough in the course of the campaign because this is going to be a big deal. and then we want to get into the idea if the election were held today where do things stand on character, on the economy, on some of the swing states and the strategies for turning around the map. that's what we'll do sunday. >> we'll be watching on sunday. up next indiana governor mitch daniels checks in. he's rallying behind the newly nominated senate candidate richard murdock in his home state. could it mean that capital

becomes even more gripped by gridlock? plus we'll talk, force him to talk about the vice presidential stuff. we know how much he loves that. still to come, from a dorm room at harvard to nasdaq, facebook goes public. but are witty status updates and poking your friends really worth more than a hundred billion dollars? first a look ahead at the president's schedule. as we told you earlier one-on-one with hollands and then off to camp david. eight world leaders. well seven. putin is not there. you're watching the daily rundown. ♪

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the gentleman that just defeated senator lugar said

something that i found disturbing. he said, i am totally against any compromise. our world views are irreconcilable, and we just have to keep fighting until somebody wins it all. >> that was former president bill clinton earlier this week talking about the indiana senate nominee richard murdock. murdock's mantra, joining me is governor daniels who supported senator richard lugar in that primary. he joins me now. good morning. i want to talk to you about a lot of stuff. i want to start with the senate race. are you comfortable with richard murdock as nominee of the republican party this year in your home state? >> i am. i think he'll win. he is a republican regular and has the support of the vast majority of republican regulars in the election he just won so handily. so it'll be a competitive race but i think he'll -- i think he speaks for the basic principles

that most hoosiers agree with and his opponent joe donnelly has a problem because the president is not popular here and he'll have to answer for presidential policies he supported. >> governor, i want to play a quote that mr. murdock said to me the day after his victory. >> i certainly think that bipartisanship ought to consist of democrats coming to the republican point of view. we entered this campaign wanting to be a voice and hoping to give more of a national voice to the idea that republicans and more specifically conservatives would be in the majority of the united states senate and the house and hopefully that we have a republican in the white house. if we do that bipartisanship means they have to come our way. >> well, that's his ideal world, governor daniels, but that's not the real world. you saw these budget votes this week. mike lee, rand paul, two people that philosophically richard murdock is closer to on some things let alone the ryan budget, all of them failed and

all of them had republican votes against them in some form or another so forget, let's not talk about compromise with the democrats. republicans -- is richard murdo murdock, is he, you know, basically uninformed about how the united states senate works? >> i think he is very well informed. he doesn't like the way the united states senate works. and neither do most americans right now. they'd like to see something different. i think richard is simply saying that the needle has to move in the direction of more limited government, fiscal solvency while we have time to forestall a europe-like debacle. >> have you gotten a hundred percent of everything? >> of course not. and, chuck, you know, i don't think richard murdock ever would expect to get a hundred percent of what he wants either but i think he is reacting to a very familiar phenomenon and you've covered it a long time. it's always republicans or

people to the right and center right who are supposed to give on these things and i think he is saying it's time really for more from both ends. >> well, i guess -- no, he didn't say that. i mean, he didn't say that there's time -- when you look at for instance the -- probably the most compromise proposal out there it's simpson bowls. let me ask you specifically. where are you and simpson bowls? if simpson/bowles were enacted in whole would you be comfortable with that fiscal plan? >> i'd be more comfortable than i am today. i think it was a very good starting point. it was incomplete and as far as it went it wasn't fully adequate to the extent of the emergency we are facing. >> but that's compromise. >> it would have been -- but wait a minute, chuck. who was it that threw simpson/bowles over the side? it was the president. he created this commission then completely ignored it. has sent two budgets forward. >> so the house republicans who voted against it, they don't hold -- they don't deserve any blame for voting against this,

paul ryan in particular? you had tom coburn, mike cray, two very conservative senators voting for this proposal. had the three house republicans jumped on, this thing would have been forced into a vote, it would have forced the president to support it because it would have gotten the 14 votes. >> exactly the same thing could be said of the democratic members. you want to talk about parties fighting with each other let's look at a much more interesting example. president obama has sent two budgets in a row to congress and every single democrat voted against it. >> let's be realistic. those weren't real votes on his budget. it was a piece of paper amendment designed to do that. i mean, in all fairness was it not? >> chuck, in all fairness that's the most washington viewpoint i've ever heard. what wasn't real was the budget the president sent. that's why nobody in either party could vote for it. if you want to talk about finding a reasonable middle i think you ought to be directing your questions first of all to

the guy in the white house. >> well, i've asked him that. why he showed simpson/bowles multiple times and, you know, on that front i don't think they've given a very clear answer. they claim that the minute they endorsed it, that the one answer on this, the minute they endorse it more republicans would come out against it. >> well, you know, he's been the president of this nation for three years in which we have drifted ever closer to the biggest peace time crisis we may have ever faced. and there is no doubt about it. it's a mathematical certainty. >> right. >> there are case studies right in front of us in this news cycle that tell us what's going to happen sooner or later if we don't get busy. so to me the central question in this election is why such an administration deserves a second chance and whether somebody ought to have a chance, an opportunity to do better. >> let me ask about governor romney's budget. because there is a lot of studies that claim it could add

as much as -- add to the deficit. doesn't cut from the deficit. part of the reason is because he is trying to do two things -- lower taxes and raise defense spending and the question is where does he find the other savings and you know politically he's not going to get it out of the discretionary spending that he thinks he's going to get it from. do you think this budget needs to be reworked? >> i think possibly it needs to be augmented. i haven't made a big study of it. we all know that no plan is serious until it deals with the so-called entitlement programs, where two-thirds of the money is. and, you know, he has talked much more forth rightly than certainly the president has about the need to do that. i think as the campaign continues he'll extend that advantage. >> let me ask you the vp question. will you participate in the vetting process if the romney campaign asks you to? >> is this the double jeopardy? >> yeah oh, no. >> the double jeopardy answer?

>> yeah. never in my lifetime, what is, no. in all seriousness would you be willing to hand over tax records and things like that if the romney campaign asks? >> chuck, let me give you the best tip you'll get all day. make some easy money and bet against this whole idea. i'm not interested in doing that. it won't happen anyway and if i have something to contribute, to the national debate we're in then i'll look for other ways. >> so if he comes asking you're not going to take the phone call? >> well, it's the call that won't come. >> fair enough. indiana governor mitch daniels republican always good to talk with you u i appreciate you coming on the show, sir. >> thanks, chuck. all right. well, selling the social network. will facebook's ipo give wall street a boost this morning? market rundown is next. first today's trivia question. who is the only vice president to be pictured on u.s. currency?

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where their wild ancestor was born. there we discovered that cats, no matter where they are... are born to be cats. and shouldn't your cat be who he was born to be? discover your cat's true nature. purina one. the highly anticipated ipo of facebook raised $16 billion. the stock begins trading today with a valuation higher than kraft. disney and mcdonald's, it remains to be seen if investors still like this stock in the long term or if it's just a fad. since we're just a minute away from the opening bell let's go to cnbc for more information. so it's going to open at what number today? it's already going to open higher than it's priced correct? >> that is true. who knows? we'll have to wait until the market actually opens. an official happy facebook friday to you my friend. as you point out facebook pricing, the ipo at $38 a share the top end of the expected

range. the social networking site raising $16 billion with the option for an additional $2.4 billion in about a month. now, this will make it the third largest u.s. ipo and the largest internet ipo topping google. facebook's market cap is expected to be around $104 billion. take a look at this. only 21 companies in the s&p 500 are bigger than that. shares of course will start trading at the tech heavy index. the nasdaq under the symbol and we'll watch all the details. back to you. >> fun to watch today. >> sure will. >> up next the highlights and low lights of my jeopardy experience. i'll be honest. i have never been more scared of being on television than for that and more relieved now that it's over. but the questions didn't all end up quite like that. >> daily rundown 600. >> ash wednesday is the first day of this religious period. chuck? >> what is lent.

>> up next, new jersey congressman rush holt will take a look at some of the things that i missed and what i could have done better. you're watching the daily rundown only on msnbc. wake up!

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a bit of order in their life. virtual wallet helps you get it. keep track of spending, move money with a slide, and use the calendar. all to see your money how you want. ♪ all right. this has been among the most shameless things i've done in a while but you may have heard i was on jeopardy last night. for you playing along at home it obviously is not as easy as it looks. here is some of the good, the bad, and the ugly from the show. term for films like catch-22 and dr. strange love which jfx ta pose morbid elements with farce? >> what are black comedies. >> yes. thursday, november 26th, 1863 was proclaimed as a day of this and praise. >> what is remembrance? >> no. november 26th.

thanksgiving. >> oh, thanksgiving. >> thanksgiving and praise. you're at minus 200. >> okay. daily rundown a thousand. what is darts. >> yes. >> what is darwin. >> good. >> what is a dark horse. >> correct. >> who is hiro hito. >> yes. pick again. it's been defined as a run that covers more than 1,000 miles. makes sense. >> what is a convoy? >> no. >> clarence? it's a long haul. >> all right. with me now a man who knows a bit about the game. five-time jeopardy champ new jersey democratic congressman rush holt. all right. >> good morning, chuck. >> obviously the number one thing that i've learned about my experience here is i still don't think i've got the button thing down. >> well, you know, you talked about being nervous. now you understand how your guests on the program feel. >> fair enough. >> it is good to be in their shoes. i wish i were in the studio with you. i really wanted to shake your hand for a game well played. >> thank you. >> you not only got a lot of the answers and did very well and

creamed the competition but you approached it with the right attitude. you know, you understand that it's a game. you know, it's only a game. and you understand that the host alex is not your adversary. >> right. >> i don't know where you're going there. careful. >> you did it in good humor and did it well and i'm not going to talk about the other contestants. >> fair enough. i think one thing that i think people don't understand, look. you beat -- you didn't just be a five-time champion but ended up beating watson the super computer. what was that like? >> it was a lot of fun. and not to put too much importance on it, it's interesting. a lot of my colleagues think i'm really smart because i, you know, won five times on jeopardy. this was about 30 years ago when my mind was a little more nimble. and because i outscored the i fwchlt m computer watson a year ago. but you have to understand, you do understand this, that, you

know, it's better to know things than not know things. but, you know, jeopardy tests only one kind of thinking. >> right. >> it's not a -- the jeopardy knowledge is not a substitut for wisdom. it's not -- >> that's right. >> it's good to know history, the details of history and you do. and there is no question that your detailed knowledge of congressional districts and vote margins -- >> yeah. that helped. >> helps you in your job. it really does. >> well and the fact that i knew only -- >> not a substitute for wisdom. another thing i would say is it doesn't test quantitative reasoning. >> right. >> which is really in short supply in washington and really around the country. >> well, that's true. luckily i only knew there was only one emperor of japan that i knew the name of. but i want to quickly turn. you've been pushing. you've got this proposal that you want simpson/bowles. you voted against the version of it that came in the house. but you seem supportive of it but you don't think there is enough defense cuts. you know, should -- at this

point do you think that's possible to somehow add more defense cuts to a proposal that is struggling to get votes as it is? >> well we're trying to do some of that today actually. right now on the floor we're doing the defense authorization bill. and relative to this whole jeopardy discussion that's part of what i'm talking about. an awful lot of what passes for analysis here in washington is assertion. you know, it's not based on evidence. it's not based on quantitative reasoning. the number of people who say, well, i'll balance the budget this way or i'll balance the budget that way or the budget doesn't need to be balanced or, you know, we're saddling our kids with this enormous debt, actually haven't done the numbers. very few people have actually done the numbers. and, you know, you'd have a much different appreciation. >> right. >> of how important defense spending is to our over all budget, our over all

appropriations. >> but politics matters here. >> if you did the numbers. >> but politics matter. >> most people have not. they just assert it. >> i understand that. but politics at the end of the day mat ners this. >> sure it does. >> and you still have to build coalitions. do you really think adding more defense cuts is a way to get the necessary votes from across the aisle? >> well, if you do the numbers, it's the only way we're going -- i mean, you're going to have to have more revenues. you'll have to cut spending in a number of areas and of course the biggest area is defense. and there's no question that when you're spending more on defense than all the rest of the world friend and foe alike. >> yeah. >> there is room for cutting. and you got to do it or else you're not going to balance the budget. the public has been very clear. they don't like this imbalance, you know, where we're spending beyond our means. so you got to do the numbers. and when you do the numbers, you see the defense department has to give. you know, we can't support

troops all over the world. >> well at the same time though -- >> with countries that are perfectly capable of defending themselves. >> back to defense you say we're out spending everybody else friend and foe combined but at this point we are half of nato. we are the, you know, if it isn't for the united states and if we don't do it, who will? and do you want china stepping into some of these things? that isn't necessarily a good thing is it? >> well, but removing, you know, removing excess spending in the defense department does not mean china is going to step in. i mean, you know, it's just like, you know, do the numbers. when we talk about manufacturing, everybody is wringing their hands and saying the united states has lost manufacturing. yes, we have. we should be doing a lot better. but we are still the number one manufacturing power in the world. we don't have to cede this, give it up to china. so, you know, the politics is easier if you're reasoning, if

you're thinking based on evidence rather than ideology. >> that's -- >> so knowing facts, you know, i applaud you for your -- >> right. >> -- your detailed knowledge. you're really good at it. it takes lots of different ways of thinking about this land and our people to really understand them, to understand their needs, wants -- >> well you were right about the numbers. people need to see more of these numbers in front of them and we in the media need to do a better job of it because we don't -- >> and invest in research. that is the reason i played against watson. i wanted to emphasize the need for research. >> coming from where you come from in new jersey and the princeton area totally understandable as well. rush holt, a pleasure talking with you. >> always, todd. >> and i still pale in comparison to you when it comes to jeopardy. thanks for coming on. >> thanks, chuck. our friday political panel joins me next talking the right stuff. the road to 270 and the end of americans elect. first the white house soup of the day. roasted vegetable soup. very simple soup today.

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♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. mitt romney sees the writing on the wall when it comes to electoral math. there are crucial states up for grabs and he has to be successful in most if not all of them if he wants to set up shop in the oval office. listen to him yesterday. >> florida is certainly a state i want to win. i sure hope to win this one and ohio and virginia, north carolina. there are a number of states that should be in my column if i'm going to be successful. >> let's bring in our friday political panel. joe williams, msnbc contributor maria teresa and nbc's senior political editor mark murray. all right, mark. it's been interesting. we heard him say north carolina,

florida, ohio in there. the ad campaign is just those four states. as much as they know they have to put other states in play i think it's interesting how they've in many ways already narrowed it to what they believe are the four must wins. >> right. you end up looking at north carolina. a lot of people believe this might not be a true battleground state. they believe it is t's where they're putting their advertising. you hear mitt romney talk about it. virginia is going to be huge. one thing we didn't mention that we've been talking about, colorado wasn't mentioned as one of the top battleground states. this is the story i think of the spring is we'll find out as it wears on where does colorado fall off? >> the biggest development of the week was the wisconsin poll that showed mitt romney tying with barack obama. >> as soon as the recall is over. >> if that is a battleground state that's a big development. >> maria, not to box you in on just talking about latino politics here but i was fascinated to see the romney campaign is saying why do they worry about north carolina? because it is the latino group. 600% in census. >> it is actually the largest

state that has experienced latino growth in the country. >> and the first hispanic tv ad they air is there. total translation ad. not an ad designed targeted toward the hispanic community but interesting they did that. they have yet to respond by the way to any of the hispanic ads that obama is running in florida, nevada, and colorado. >> and even the funny thing is even virginia is up for grabs because of the growth in the latino population. in 2008 it was 4% of the electorate and that 4% really helped push obama. >> if you're going to win 70/30. >> it actually makes you competitive. even ohio has an increase in latino growth. so when you start talking about how do you win elections especially when everything is so highly contested it's all about the numbers. that is one of the reasons why now what you're talking about, you're seeing mitt romney talk more to the latino community in spanish. he just brought in, the rrns brought in the head of the

hispanic outreach for the very first time for the republican party. and they're trying to figure out how do you create a nuanced conversation because florida, north carolina, virginia, and even ohio have latino vote. >> can immigration essentially shift, have a conversation, get it off the table. >> they need to get it off the table and talk about jobs and the economy which is going to be hard for them. >> joe, meanwhile they have to put in these industrial midwestern states, michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania. i'd argue they need to win three of those -- two of those four. >> and certainly it is extreme. they have to run the table in the midwest. one key issue that they have there though that is working more or less in advantage to a disadvantage depending how you look at it is the notion that there are going to be voter i.d. laws that are going to either depress turnout in democratic view or make sure that all the legitimate votes get counted in the republican view. that's been a big deal. they've been trying to fight against it. not necessarily to get them overturned but certainly to educate people on what they need to bring forth. >> part of me wonders how much

are the voter i.d. laws about both pro and against about dealing with their bases and speaking on reverend wright, joe, what did you learn from yesterday watching romney, ricketts, the republican party not walk but run from this ad? >> two things. the first that i learned is that this to me seemed like it was more as they say more aspirational than operational. certainly educated heads probably should have said, don't go there. this is -- >> and they may have concluded that. >> but it seemed like they concluded once they had already been outed, once the information had been leaked. >> right. >> people had to launch a full retreat against something that was distasteful from the outset. >> the obama campaign, they sort of see an opportunity here. they think using this almost to fire up their base, fair? >> i think it's fair. also what we're going to see is super pacs are going to help fire up the tea party in a way that mitt romney can't and so they'll be the surrogate for this election. i think what it's also going to do is drive people to make sure

that they are more anonymous when it comes to contributing. >> the power of outside money. we didn't know who joe ricketts was. the chicago cubs, amer trade, and people with a lot of money are going to play a very big role in this presidential election. >> speaking of people with big money who wanted to play a big role and are not, third-party americans elect, it's dead. we'll talk about it after the break. trivia time we ask who was the only vice president to be pictured on u.s. currency? i didn't know this answer. friday tough one. thomas hendricks. he was the vice president

let's bring back our panel. americans elect mark murray, you look at our nbc/wall street polling, never a higher aspiration for a third party. both parties under water for a longer period of time since we've seen since '98.

our pollsters were convinced if there's going to be a year for a serious third party candidate, it was this one. it's fallen on its face. >> they couldn't find a candidate. part had to do with the fact you'd have to have one person, top of the ticket would be of one party. the vice presidential nominee would be the other party. that created a problem. the biggest thing, i look at barack obama and mitt romney, it's a clear contrast election. in 2000 when ralph nader made a move, people would make the argument there's not a lot of difference between gore and bush. now on all policies there's a clear contrast. >> third-party movements and i've seen others write about this, there's this great dream in washington of the radical centrists. they don't exist. it's tom friedman and a couple of his friends. that's it. really when it comes to third-party movement, energy is an ideology. >> but also demonstrates both parties have increased their tent as far as -- >> you think so? >> they have. if you have -- the fact you can

have a moderate republican under the same tent as an extreme tea party person who doesn't believe in social issues, i think that -- i mean, i think that demonstrates they've smartly actually been able to divide and conquer power in both extremes. i also think what's happening with the american elect, like you mentioned, they don't have a candidate or an ideology. that's what you need to rev up anything for a political base. >> joe, it does seem that there was also -- i'm aware of the candidates they were pursuing, the predictable what i call recovering democrats or recovering republicans, the usual suspects that lament the process here in washington. when push came to shove, they couldn't stomach -- they didn't think they could win. they couldn't stomach hurting their own party. >> that to me indicates something else and that's the fact we're very conflicted country. we're conflicted about politics. we say we don't like negative ads. everybody runs negative ads. they say they want a positive message but it gets lost among

the muddle. we don't know what we want. >> shameless plugs. >> our first read blog which you can find in the new nbc politics app. >> shameless, nice. >> one of the most creative on fast company, came in at number 12. shameless. >> love fast company. >> book review coming out of a great nonfiction book, divided heart, startribunebooks.com. >> to my mom and alex tribec because they share a birthday. that's the only reason i agreed to do "jeopardy!." we'll see you on monday from the nato summit in chicago. guests including reverend jesse jackson and senator jeanne shaheen among others. coming up chris jansing. don't miss andrea mitchell exclusive interview with bono. you don't want to miss it.

bye-bye. here's a look at your weekend forecast. so many will enjoy a great weekend. looks dry and nice on the west coast. many areas of the eastern seaboard will have a fantastic weekend with low humidity and warm temperature. the only troublesome weather, some thunderstorms in the late afternoon each day in the central plains. i think on sunday some of those could drift toward chicago. overall, enjoy a fantastic weekend. [ female announcer ] to get a professional cleansing system

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. following the firestorm created by a proposed ad campaign linking president obama to reverend jeremiah wright, strong denials this morning saying that ad was never going to run. here's the head of e super pac that got the $10 million proposal. >> the world is full of bad ideas. this was one of them. but this wasn't a proposal that we requested in this format at all. we never funded it. and i tried to make that very clear to the "new york times." >> the super pac is bank rolled by billionaire joe ricketts who founded ameritrade, he owns chicago cubs and owns dnainfo.com. this whole thing begs the question with six months until election day, just how far are outside groups willing to go? is anything off limits? has it ever been this hard for a campaign to control its own message? joining me