♪ hey it's crazy ♪ ♪ here's my number >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. got to have some fun. newark mayor corey booker trying to cleeb han his copy book. senior strategist david axelrod slapped booker down, prompting booker to appear with rachel maddow last night. >> i love corey booker, he's a great mayor. if my house was on fire, i'd hope he was my next door neighbor. in this instance he was just wrong. there are specific instances here that speak to an economic theory that isn't right theory for the country. >> it wasn't until the gop went across that line that i -- >> cow canyou can't equate the

negativity on the right by what's happening with some sectors on the left. >> chris cillizza managing editor of post politics.com and political director chuck todd host of "the daily rundown" both with us now. first, to you chuck, because, chris, listen in, we've got a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll we're breaking out, two weeks after the gay marriage, same-sex marriage from the white house or maybe not quite announcement. >> sure. >> decision. >> decision, sort of spoke out if you will. >> right. >> from the white house. >> hand forcing. >> what you, chris cillizza, and chuck and i, have been suggesting is borne out by the poll, a wash. >> a total wash. you have slight advantage saying they'd be more likely with mitt romney and barack obama more likely to support romney 20%, more likely to support obama 17%. 62% say it makes no difference. interestingly, among the groups that are sort of inclined to

favor same-sex marriage but stick with romney's position are people in the south and white men. those who tend to not like the president's position on gay marriage but sticking with them hispanics and women, 18 to 49. the other question is interesting, the passive acceptance of gay marriage. if your state passed a law that allowed same-sex marriage wow would you actively support it, 24%, favorter but not actively support it, 30%. take the two on each side, mote active, most opposition, 24/17 in favor of look at the passivity, 30-23. >> acceptance of it. >> there's an acceptance. you see this move. this question was a good way of wording it to show it's a gradual shift. there isn't -- there's some voters saying, hey i don't want to talk about it right now but if you pass it, fine. you're not going to see massive

state movement to repeal rights i think going forward. i'll be surprised. >> you're rolling out the rest of the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll tonight and tomorrow with us. there's a "the washington post"/abc poll today and chris cillizza, what you're seeing is a dead heat, some advantage to mitt romney on the economy? >> you know, i feel like, andrea, we can reiterate just what chuck said, which is that things aren't changing that much. it feels like big debates we have, gay marriage, how is this going change things? 6 in 10 say it's not. i went back, 49 obama, 46 romney a. among registered voters in the poll i went back the last 12 polls, we've done one a month, the last year i averaged out obama and romney's percentages among registered voters. obama 47.6. romney, 47. so, we've had a lot happen over the last year and basically the horse race between the two

candidates that are going to face off on november 6th just hasn't changed. you know, i think you've got 45% to 46% with their guy, no matter what, andrea and you've gotten chuck and i, and you can debate this, between 7 and 13% of people who actually may change their mind, those people are going to be the ones that however much you think the selecti election's going to cost, billions, are targeted on. it's a remarkably small number of people for a vast amount of money. >> and it's people who clearly are the campaign is trying to reach with the message about defining mitt romney as the bain capital exploiter, let's say, of working class people, that's the message that has been effective, they believe, in key states across the rust belt and then corey booker coming out, he tried to explain himself going on the attack against the republicans for he said taking them out of context. bottom line is he did conflate the jeremiah wright republican

proposed attack lines. >> right. >> with bain capital attack lines. >> that's what angered president obama supporters. go to this -- we are in a race to define mitt romney's recovered. is he a businessman? and when you're a generic businessman that's a big advantage, i've got -- we'll -- we have polling data to support that over the years. if he is defined as this guy who found a way to get rich and was. >> venture capitalism. >> that type of thing, that's not viewed as well. so what you have here, i think, is interesting with the president. he's trying to make a values argument. he's trying to say mitt romney's business values they don't fit in the white house. and the romney campaign's saying, no, his business background gives him the skill set, values versus skills. they're saying the president didn't have skills and the president's saying mitt romney doesn't have values to protect you in the economy in the oval office. i think there it is. and it's that sliver of voter,

youngstown, ohio, toledo, ohio, cedar rapids, iowa. >> we can overstate how angry they were at corey booker. two weeks in a row on "meet the press," joe biden a surrogate, the most important surrogate going off message to say the least, and two weeks later corey booker, offmessage, as a surrogate, not because he's an independent player but he was on that show because they expected, and he had sort of committed, to being a surrogate for the campai campaign. >> you've got it right. the fundamental problem was you cannot undermine the most basic pill of the obama attack, mitt romney's career in the private sector tells you he doesn't understand average people. you can't say that equals attacking a pastor that the president has distanced himself from. you do that, you will be making an apology video. it is 100% likelihood. >> well, there you go. >> apology tour, series of videos, a whole movie.

thank you very much, chris cillizza. thank you, chuck todd. president obama does seem to be everywhere these days. but not if you're the chairman of the senate budget committee. veteran democratic senator kent conrad told politico he can't remember the last time he spoke to the president of the united states. why isn't president obama more edge gauged in trying to reach compromises on the essential budget issues and is there a chance to revive simpson bowls? kent conrad join me from the senate. thanks for joining us. it's pretty extraordinary that the president of the united states and you, as the budget chair and acknowledged expert on all things budget, with everything that you're facing that the country's facing, that you wouldn't be in communication almost constantly, is what going on here? >> you know, i really don't see this as a big deal. i really don't. i'm in contact with his chief of staff, with the head of the

office of management and budget, with the vice president, with the deputy chief of staff. i've just never thought it was my place to be calling up the president of the united states when he's got so many consequencele things on his plate when i've got a very easy way to communicate with him, through his econochief of staff used to be head of office management and budge. but there's no senate budget, there has not been a senate budget for how long? it's a key attack line from the republicans. >> but let me stop you there. >> constant filibustering because of the republicans, as well, as you would say. there's no action on simpson-bowles which many in the business community say was a signal, lack of presidential leadership of embracing the outlines of it rather than giving it the back of his hand. we are facing a lame duck session which is going to have a showdown on the bush budget

cuts, see quester fights, a debt ceiling fight if we believe the speaker of the house. what's going on in washington? >> first of all, let's me say with respect to the senate, here republicans say all the time, there's been no budget in a thousand days. what they aren't telling you is instead of a budget resolution last year we did an actual budget law and as you know, a law is stronger than any resolution. so last year, instead of a budget resolution, we did the budget control act that not only set a budget for the next two years, but set spending caps for ten years, saving $900 billion in addition, set in place see quester that's going to have additional $1.2 trillion of spending cuts for 2 trillion in the budget control act, something passed instead of a budget resolution. i think our colleagues are rewriting history here. >> set that aside. would you like to see a revisiting of either

simpson-bowles or rivlin domenici or something coming out of the gaeng of six plus two? should the white house and leaders of both parties sit down and try to avert sort of a budget showdown in the fall? >> yeah, because we are headed at the end of the year, for the fiscal cliff. fiscal cliff is all the bush tax cuts expiring, and of course the see quester, $1.2 trillion of additional spending cuts as well as alternative minimum tax coming back on people, as well as unemployment insurance extension running out. so lots of key issues coming up. absolutely i believe we should revisit bowles-simpson, as you know that grew out of a proposal of senator judd gregg and iing we made that five years ago. i serveden 0 the bowles-simpson

commission, as senator greg. we supported its findings. i believe that's the best blueprint for going forward. that's why i put that before the senate budget committee this year. but i said, we're not going to vote on it right now, because we all know what will happen if we vote on it right now it will go down. you've got to wait, i think, until after the election before people are prepared to move off their fixed positions. and that's what we've got to get all sides to do, move off their fixed positions. bowl simpsons is a great outline. i think domenici-rivlin was terrific. at the end of the day what's got to happen we've got to come together and deal with our long-term debt threat and i believe we've got it a chance to do that, either in a lame duck or the first part of next year, but we've got to do the homework now. >> and you're still -- are you getting any traction on this from the white house? >> you know, i can't speak for

them. but i can tell you that the president was very prepared to do the grand bargain last year and i think he is absolutely prepared to do it. but you know, you've dot have both sides willing to come together. and our republican friends are going to have to cross the rubicon and be willing to have more revenue because if you look at current circumstance revenue right now is at or near a 60-year low as a share of our national income. spending is at or near 60-year high. we've got to deal with both sides of the equation. most of the republicans friends, most, not all, say, no, you only deal on the spending side of the equation. thats not going to work. you're going to have to have both sides move off fixed positions. >> going have to leave it there. senator, thank you very much. the u.s. lose as major player overseeing strategy in

afghanistan. former secretary of defense william cohen joins us next on "andrea mitchell reports." people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!

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veteran u.s. embassy ryan crocker, once dubbed lawrence of arabia by bush, leaving his post as ambassador to afghanistan. leaving a big hole in the u.s. leadership team, trying to pave the way for the security handover and the departure of u.s. combat troops in 2014. william cohen served as defense secretary under president clinton and is chairman and ceo of the cohen group. crocker perhaps our most experienced diplomat, served in lebanon and pakistan and iraq. and we're told now that it is because of health issue, not policy disagreement.

this is an inflection point. everything laid out in nato is really a wish list of a transition out. but we have still not been able to secure the south and the east, and that's the very areas where the afghan troops are not in control right now. >> that is true. i think ambassador crocker's departure is not a good thing, in terms of trying to come it a resolution in how we make this successful exit out of afghanistan. i -- i didn't know it's because of health reasons because there were none given when the announcement was made. i assumed there was an element of frustration, perhaps some of fatig fatigue, maybe a desire to get back into the private world where he came out of retirement. but this certainly is going to leave a major gap in terms of capability, although jim cunningham, who is rumored to be his successor, is certainly very capable. i also think, andrea, you're going to see others start to

depart from service in afghanistan. so this may be the first, but i think others will follow. and it may be that they see their service coming to an end, they want to get out before too much longer, so i don't think this is the last that we'll see. >> and then we have pakistan. and arguably, we are never going to have a secure afghanistan unless we deal with the problem in pakistan and that was not dealt with at the summit. they hoped to have a reopening of the fly routes to afghanistan in time for the nato meeting, there was this awkward dance with the president za dar which invited, not getting a meeting with the president and photo opportunity, finally they scurry and they have a still photo including president karzai, so it is three of them, that's hardly an advertisement for him that he can send home and still no apology to the pakistanis, which is what they've been demanding for the killing of 24 troops 6 months ago. >> very disappointing, in terms of not reaching agreement.

number one, getting supplies into afghanistan that we need to have to conclude our operations there. but most importantly, getting the equipment that we have in afghanistan now out. there are literally billions of dollars worth of equipment that's going to have to be moved out. to force us to go to alternative routes is going to be very expensive for the united states. i think the message has to go to the pakistanis, to the extent you are forcing us bear an additional expense this is going to impact our relationship going forward in the way of any kind of foreign aid and assistance. so don't use this as an excuse to try and extort more resources out of the united states at a time when we need to have access into and out of afghanistan. i think that message has to go forward to the pakistanis. >> bill cohen, thank you very much. and up next, politico, the politico briefing. first, colin powell endorsed president obama in 2008. is he ready to do it again?

>> i don't want to throw my weight behind somebody. the beautiful part of being a private citizen you decide you throw your weight, if you throw your weight. i'm listening to what the republicans are saying to do to fix the fiscal problems, get the economy moving and i owe that to the republican party. >> tomorrow, talking presidential politics and more with former secretary of state colin powell. don't miss it 1:00 eastern, right here on "andrea mitchell reports." [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. let's get a recap, merv.

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if you don't -- if people don't like you, they won't listen to you, it doesn't mat war your economic plan is, it doesn't matter what your jobs program is or your afghanistan policies is, if every time you kcome on the v set a person wants to throw his shoe at you. they've got to believe that at some level you're a human being. politicians get separated from human being qualities. >> there is campaign, president obama, mitt romney, mitt romney does seem to many critics more awkward than president obama. but they are relatively opaque in terms of really knowing what's go on in their heart and soul. >> well, they are. and they both try to keep as much distance as they can from the press, which is not always possible. but you know, the most effective line i think that obama runs in his commercials are, you know,

mitt romney's an ordinary american, how many ordinary americans do you know who have swiss bank accounts? the most effective mitt romney attack on president obama is that you know, what he wants is european socialism. each one tries to separate the other from the mass of the american people. look, this guy's not one of us, he doesn't understand us i understand you. >> and the latest attempt by the barack obama campaign to show his likability, get this on his website, showing him with bill clinton. you could not have imagined this four years ago given the tensions. but this is the two of them together. >> and it's also an interesting point, because bill clinton, you know, the only president, one of the presidents impeached, his popularity sunk, but he's the most popular person in the democratic party and a lot of it is bill clinton's enormous

personal popularity and his ability to get people to like him as a person served him very well. >> and really trying to capitalize on this, barack obama tweeted, obviously the campaign tweeting for him, meeting a president is a once in a lifetime experience, how about an evening with two? air fare's on us. they're doing an event together. when we talk about the two of them campaigning together, that says everything about what the campaign sees the advantage they see in bill clinton's likability. >> romney needs some people with him who are warm and likable, his wife ann romney is both and she's a great surrogate and i think you'll see more of her as the campaign goes on. >> roger simon, we hope we see a lot more of you as the campaign goes on. the battle over incumbent. joplin rebuilds.

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one year ago today, the city of joplin, missouri was levelled by an f-5 tornado wiping out thoughts homes and killing 161 people. half a dozen schools were torn apart, including joplin high school, hours after its graduation for the class of 2011. on monday, students gather ford a special graduation ceremony, so special president obama paid tribute in his commencement address there to the class' resilience as a class and as a community. >> you can serve as a remind er that we're not meant to walk this road alone. we're not expected to face down adversity by ourselves. we need god. we need each other. we are important to each other and we're stronger to together than we are on our own. >> the principal of joplin high

school joins me now. congratulations to you and to your leadership and the leadership of the community and all of your class. what did it mean to you to have president obama there as commencement speaker there last night? >> it was a great honor for our students and our community. i think it was very appropriate for him to come back to joplin, specially at this time. our industry's trying to recover and the school system the same. we're pleased he was able to come and celebrate with us last night the students' accomplishments. >> and what about that rebuilding? i know you're standing in front of the hospital, which was also hit. you had so much devastation, so much loss, loss of life was so profound, including some of your students, hows that been emotionally for the kids to get over it and to go on and rebuild and pursue their hopes and dreams? >> it's been hard for a lot of students. a lot of students saw things that they should never have to see in a lifetime, adults as

well. last year's events were just beyond imagination and something that we never want to encounter again. we hired counselors and we had a lot of help from a lot of different folks to come in and work with students and some staff members. as the year went on, things got bet for students. we have a lot of kids in our district, every time there's a thunderstorm or storm of some kind, it's a reminder. i think for a generation we're going to have a lot of kids that are going to always have that in the back of their mind. but the students responded. they came to school, we did the best we could to provide a good school year for them. i was very proud of all of our students district wide. the class of 2012 achieved a lot the school year. they had a good time with our temporary facility. i think our kids made the best of it and we stayed with them all the way. >> you've got a number of ground breakings in joplin today for new schools at every level. >> yes, we do. middle schools, elementaries and the high school and tech center

together. it's a great day to celebrate. unity walk today and the unity walk with the city and the school district and all of the different organizations and the hospital, we're all coordinated together because this is a milestone for our city, for different points along the walk and different things are going to happen to help signal the rebuild and the recovery and the moving forward. so very excited today in joplin, and this one-year anniversary we're remembering but also planning to move forward. >> you are a lesson to all of us, an example, and thank you so much for joining us today. good luck to all of you there. stay in touch. principal of joplin high school. >> thank you, andrea. there is a hit on bain capital now, a commercial that sounds like is it ripped from the obama campaign play book. watch this. >> i would like to say to mitt romney, if you think you'd make such a good senator come out here to marion, indiana, see what your company has done to these people. >> we had no rights anymore.

>> they cut the wages. >> we no longer have insurance. >> basically cut our throats. >> in fact, that ad proves that what is old is new again. it is a campaign ad against senate candidate mitt romney from ted kennedy's 1994 re-election campaign. even using one of the same characters, sharon bennett who lost her job in indiana after it was taken over by bain capital. joining me now, ted divine, democratic strategist, part of the team that made that add, and john feary, republican strategist. thanks to both of you. ted, that look familiar? >> it was funny to see it again and, sharon, who i interviewed back in 1994 then, and jerry ray burn, another person i interviewed was also in it as wem the story's just as powerful today as then. mitt romney who claims business experience, whether you put that under scrutiny it will survive.

i think it won't survive it in 2012. >> john what about that? was mitt romney's mistake claiming that his record in business was as a job creator, because job creation is not what private equity really is designed to do. it's designed to make money for shareholders which is not a bad thing, but it's not job creation. >> well, i would say that in many ways this is the obama campaign's only attack. they can't run on their record they don't want to bring any any social issues exsent the obama campaign this is their only chance of winning this election. the problem for them is that on the issue matrix of the economy, people right now trust mitt romney on the economy more than they trust president obama. we have what's happening in the economy now, for most americans it's not good enough. i think this is going to be the ground where this is fought. i do think also because this campaign has been run before, when tad ran it '94, run with

republicans in the primary, that the romney campaign's ready for. my bess guess is they've come uh ads in response and other stories in response. and my guess is that, the romney campaign will be able to fight the obama campaign to adraw on this. if they do that, they'll be in good position to win the election. >> what about that? i think you've seen how quickly they can move off a dime. they were able to turn a video, take advantage of corey booker's supposed misstep on "meet the press" within hours. this is the velocity of all of this is pretty astounding. >> well, i think they're going to try to fight back. the problem is they put themselves in a box. i heard eric yesterday on your show, as a matter of fact, saying back of the envelope calculation leads to the 100,000 job claim that he make. the truth is it can't survive more than the back of an envelope inquiry. reminds me of the supplies they're not using.

when you look at romney's record he created wealth. it's perfectly appropriate. >> a tremendous record at bain and highly regarded in the business world. >> it's very different than creating jobs and he's trying to say he was a great job creator. he was not a great job creator as governor or the private sector. until he admits that i think the scrutiny's going to hurt him. >> john? go ahead. >> i was going to say, creating wealth is actually a very popular in america, most americans want greater wealth and prosperity. if that's the battleground the obama campaign wants to fight this campaign, i tell you, they're going to be in big trouble. i think the problem for the president as he's -- he already has a track record. this is a revereferendum on the president's track record. he's not done a good job in the mine of t mind of voters. >> 20 years of "dateline." the extraordinary stories over the last two decades. a special edition showcasing

high profile reports on the biggest news events and newsmakers. >> our 20th anniversary special. and look who's at the party. >> your response was remarkable and i never forgot it. >> jane pauley with michael j. fox. tom brokaw with a survivor's story that went hollywood. >> you were reborn? matt lauer with a twist of fate that shook two families. ann curry with mccaughey septuplet s. >> would you believe they're 14? >> nbc's lester holtz is the host of "dateline nbc" and joins me now from 30 rock. lester, congratulations. happy an versery. can't wait to see the show tonight. what were some of your favorite stories, interviews? >> i've been with the show officially only eight months. so i can only take credit for a little bit of the 20-year success of the show. but you know the funny thing is

i've been a fan of the show for almost all 20 year. it's bizarre to be in this position now. when you look at the open of the show tonight, you will see the breaking stories, the investigations, those heartwarming stories. reprise -- actually revisit stories that meant a lot to correspondents, ann will look at the mccaughey septuplets they've been on any other group of people in the show's history. bringing back jane pauley's geeing to do an interview with michael j. fox. she was the last interview when she left. he asked to do the interview. she'll go back and revisit him. we'll find out what's happening with aron ralston, the young man who had to cut off his own arm stuck in 2005 in a rock climbing accident. tom brokaw's doing that. it's a very compelling hour of television. >> those are some of my personal

favorites. people and interviews. what -- i don't know how you do it, by the way, you're on "weekend today," weekend nightly news, substituting at times and still producing great stories on "dateline." >> i have to wax the floors. >> everything but. is date line a very special place because you have the opportunity to do these long form stories and dig into something? >> it is. jane pauley, a bunch of us were talking about the 20th and jane hit it well, the fun thing about doing date lean for journalists you get to take time on an interview. get to spend two, three, four hours interviewing one person for a story so you get to know them, draw the stories out and spend a lot of time, and that's something -- no offense to what we do during the day, we don't have that kind of time during the day. what i think has works at "dateline" is it's just good compelling storytelling.

that's what drew me into it as a view somewhere keep me involved as a host of the show. we've got the best and brightest in the business from the correspondents, producers, editors who can weave the narratives together. when you waetch the open, it's not just the crime mysteries and the celebrity interviews, but think this has covering breaking news, death of michael jackson, japan in the earthquake and the tsunami. "dateline" at the forefront of those stories as well. >> thanks so much. great to have you on our program. >> my pleasure. >> we're out of time. we don't have four hours. i'm just saying. >> i don't get a two-hour interview? >> we'll all be watching tonight. that's where you have your two hours. don't miss "dateline"'s 20th anniversary special 10:00, 9:00 central. up next, we'll talk againer politics. texas senator kay bailey woman ] my riend an d were going on vacation,

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i'm tamron hall. coming up on "news nation," the man behind the willie horton ad from 1988 is back with a new ad attacking president obama and it's called the centerpiece of a $25 million campaign from the super pac founded by karl rove. plus, the president has thrown down the gauntlet, mitt romney's bain capital record is to him fair game. the president said it's relevant because it's what the job of being a president is about. plus, keep an eye on the white house president secretary to see if there's any more regarding corey booker. >> senator kay bailey hutchison knows a thing or two about the gender gap. she's the first and only woman elected to represent the state of texas in the u.s. senate. arguing in a recent op-ed for the "houston chronicle" women can rely on mitt romney. but can the romney campaign rely on women to come vote for him in the upcoming election? joining me now is republican

senator kay bailey hutchison of texas. great to see you. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> let's talk about the gender gap, the new "the washington post" poll has a gender gap with mitt romney on the losing side of that and that's a big issue as we get closer to election day. continuing to be a big issue is whether or not he can close that gap. why do you argue that mitt romney actually is a good bet for women? >> because i think his record in the private sector is so good and because he's been a successful governor and a successful manager of the olympics. he's taken tough issues in all of those jobs and he has done a good job of turning it around. and that's what this country needs right now, is a turnaround. >> you write in the "houston chronicle," your op-ed, the democrats and white house are talking a great deal about a republican quote war on women, color me highly skeptical. you write all such talk makes me

wonder do the major problems have that much to do with gender? as a woman fighting to banish the ignorance women are incapable of engaging issues of the day i can tell you the answer to all those questions is now. some of your republican colleagues, lisa murkowski said, i think you're sensing a fear, concern that women feel threatened that a long settled issue might not be so settled talking about contraception. it makes no sense to make this attack on women. if you don't feel this is an attack, you need to go home and talk to your wife and your daughters. that's what she wrote in april. and owe blilympia snowe said i like it's a retro debate in the 1950s. it's back to the future, isn't it? it's surprising in the 21st century we'd be revisiting this issue. there are certainly in texas as you know, state laws that roll back access to planned parenthood, to contraceptive

screening. so why don't you feel that there is something going on in the republican party state by state when 30 states now that do attack women's rights? >> well, i think the issue of contraception is settled. obviously women can get contraception and they should have right and the freedom to do so. it was a religious freedom issue, the catholic church has now sued on that issue. and i think that it was miscashized. what i do think women care about are jobs. 23 million americans are not working or they're underemployed. and women understand that. and they want their families to have a solid foundation and to be able to do the things that the quality of life that they have had would suggest that they should be able to do. and mitt romney is the one who can do that and, frankly, andrea, president obama has had 3 1/2 years to do something about the jobless rate and he has failed.

so bain capital is not on trial here. it is president obama's record that is on trial and i think by every conceivable measure he has failed to get this economy going again. >> having served in the senate as lon as you have, and you became the highest ranking woman in leadership in the senate, have you experienced gender problems there with the dominance of men in the senate and the long history there? his? >> well, you know, we all have one vote, and i would say that big states are at a disadvantage, and i was in leadership, i was elected to leadership, and i think that we all have the equal voice. i'm ranking member of a committee. i have the same voice that a male ranking member would have. i think we have our policies and our goals, and right now it should be a jobs policy, and i believe the way to get jobs created is to let the private

sector run, let it go. take the onerous regulations off. >> kate bailey hitchson, thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. >> talk about being in the right place at the right time twice. a cincinnati reds fan caught not one, but back-to-back home runs during last night's win over the braves. 20-year-old caleb lloyd first caught reds pitcher mike leeks home run ball, a piper no less, with his bare hand. it was leek's first home run ever. then the second one hit by zack cozart headed right for him and bounced into his lap. >> i didn't expect it to pop in my lap. my friend noticed that. he was like, man, you caught the second one. oh, my gosh, everyone is giving me high-fives. i was so ecstatic.

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. chris cillizza, msnbc contributor. let's talk about joe biden is speaking any moment in new hampshire and then the president is taking a campaign trip. he'll be first giving a commencement in a key state, colorado. you can't call that a campaign speech but it is a commencement speech at the air force academy. he raises money in silicon valley but ends up at the iowa state fair. so all key places. >> well, andrea, i was going to say you're right, it's not a campaign speech, but colorado was not chosen by accident for the president to give an address either. you will not see, i don't think, unless it's fund-raising trips, as you point out the president will be on the west coast, you will not see the president or the vice president in any state that is not a swing state. new hampshire is one, iowa is clearly one, colorado is clearly one between now and november 6th.

i'd be stunned if you saw them spend more or five or six days in a state not considered a swing state this fall. >> and the president's speech, we'll have part of that probably during our hour tomorrow. thank you very much. that does it for us. for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." and tomorrow on the show also former secretary of state colin powell joining us. join us for that interview. tamron hall has a look at what's next on news nation. >> we are expecting to hear from jay carney and we could hear more regarding the president's strategy. keep up the attack on mitt romney's bain record, and, of course, the latest on cory booker. plus, the man behind the infamous willie horton ad from 1988 is back with a new ad attacking president obama and it is being called the centerpiece of a $25 million campaign from the super pac founded by karl rove and already president obama supporters are responding to it. y of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest

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i'm tamron hall. the "news nation" is following president obama's decision to keep pounding away at mitt romney's record at bain capital. the president giving his strongest defense yet on the strategy. >> the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, governor romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. and so if your main argument for how to grow the economy is, i knew how to make a lot of money for investors, then you're missing what this job is about. >> and in a response, mitt romney released a statement saying, quote, what this election is about is the 23 million americans who are still struggling to find work and the millions who have lost their homes and have fallen into poverty. president obama refuses to