50.1% vote he needs to win. his answer, just watch. down to the religious rite on their we know best to do list, and now he's going to the lowest level of american politics, the crud at the very bottom, nativism. know nothingism. i'm talking about the birtherrism and the grand poo-bah himself. the mr. 1% will do almost anything, promise anything to beat 50%. howard feinman and the director for the media group. this sunday on abc, george will questioned what mitt romney has to gain with associating himself with donald trump. let's watch him in action. >> i do not understand the cost benefit here. the costs are clear. the benefits, what voter is going to vote for him because he's seen with donald trump? the costs of a with this i

ignoramus is beyond me. he says if you're low, you can still intrude on american politics. >> donald trump plans to hold a fundraiser today in las vegas for mitt romney. >> i was walking down the street and people are screaming, please, don't give that up. a publisher came out last week and had a statement about obama given to them by obama when he was doing a book as a young man a number of years ago, in the '90s, born in kenya and raised in indonesia. this was a statement. this was from obama. now, amazingly, the publishers only made a mistake. i don't think life works that way. now, is it the most important thing? in a way it is, because you're not allowed to be president if

you're not born in the country, but let's see what happens. i'm not fanning flames. this is something that came out last week. a lot of people are questioning his birth certificate, they're questioning the authenticity of his birth certificate. i've been known as being a very smart guy for a long time. i don't consider myself birther or not birther, but there are some major questions here and the press doesn't want to cover it. >> just to correct this fact, the literary insisted he talk about who wrote that copy says not only was the kenya reference her mistake but barack obama never once gave the publisher any materials or background that would imply he was born in kenya. so so much for that summation by donald trump. let's look at what happened earlier. late this afternoon on cnn with wolf blitzer. >> you know what? everybody is entitled to their opinion, wolf. you know my opinion, you know his opinion, and that's fine.

we're entitled, as he said yesterday in the airplane, we're all entitled to his opinions. he's entitled to his opinion, and i think that's wonderful. i don't happen to share that opinion and that's wonderful also. i think if you look at the birth certificate, take a look and you tell me, really, you analyze the birth certificate. there are many people who don't agree with that birth certificate. they don't think it's authentic, wolf. >> i don't know when you say many people don't agree -- >> many people. >> like who? give me a name of a person of authority who says -- give me a name. >> there are many people -- i don't give names. there are many people who do not believe that birth certificate is authentic. >> howard feinman, my friend. there you have an example of the brilliance, if you want to call it that, of donald trump, the ability to spin this story endlessly going into transcripts and going into references by assistant pr people in publishing houses, anything to keep this thing alive. then when pressed upon it by a good reporter like wolf, it

doesn't come into question. then you have ala trump who says, i don't name names. why is romney pulling up the covers over him and donald trump? what is up here? >> first of all, i'm less interested in what donald trump says than what mitt romney doesn't say, and for that matter, what john mccain doesn't say. i tried pretty hard today to elicit from either the romney campaign or the mccain senate office their view on the latest about donald trump. i wanted to know from the romney people whether they thought the association as george will said was harmful. no answer. i wanted to know from the mccain campaign -- mccain's senate office, but mccain having been used in an obama ad as the good senator who rejected this kind of politics four years ago, i wanted to know if mccain had anything to say about what was

going on in las vegas today. silence. so i think the silence from both romney camp and mccain camp means the following. they're willing to let donald trump root around in this and say whatever he wants to bring this topic up or keep the topic alive for those voters who are going to care about it. and they exist. they still exist in places around the country and in swing states like virginia, like north carolina, like southern ohio and so forth. i know those people, i went to the early tea party rallies in 2009 in my second home state of kentucky, and for some of those people, this still matters. that's who donald trump is speaking to. sir romney will take the money and keep his distance from trump. don't forget, the last time mitt romney said that barack obama was born in the united states, the last time mitt romney said that in public was april of 2011. he hasn't said it since. all romney has said is, you

know, people are entitled to their opinion. so they're letting trump go out there and raise this as much as he, trump, wants. >> yeah, all he did was send out his spokesman today to do it, but he won't put his lips around it. john ral stston, here's the thi about why this is so important. so far in this campaign, mitt romney has shown a willingness to go down for just about anybody. the tax nuts like us. the christian rite going down to a literary university and getting a degree, for whatever that's worth. constantly wooing the constituents to the right and never saying no. romney won't say no to a birther. trump is going around saying all

this stuff. what's it sound like to you out in vegas? >> well, chris, i think you hit on it, and i think that george will was being kind and underplaying be being a bloterating ignoramus. this is the most swill you can conjure up in politics. it's between the lines racism. it's one thing to have grover norquist and the tax swing of the republican party. it's quite another thing to stir up the most insidious feelings in this country, and howard is right, there are people here in this swing state here who will respond to it. there are people everywhere. and the real issue here, as howard points out, is romney silence. chris, today on a program, on the nbc affiliate here, the most visible romney surrogate in this stake, lieutenant governor.

he's an icon. we appreciate his assistance. >> the problem is romney looks like the apprentice here. he doesn't look like the boss. he looks like "the apprentice" on nbc. here's romney telling reporters in his campaign plan that he doesn't hold the same views as his supporters. boy, isn't this special. let's watch. >> i don't agree with all the people who support me. my guess is they don't agree with everything i believe in, but i need to get 50.1% or more, and i'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people. >> you know, howard, remember what he said when somebody said give me an adjective for yourself and he said resolute a few weeks back? now he's just saying, just give me 50.1%. he's saying, i'll do what's

necessary. >> i think that's been the case with mitt romney all along, especially in this campaign. he resolved after the last campaign, 2008, which didn't work out, but he was going to do whatever it took this time. in the early primaries, as we recall, chris, in iowa, new hampshire, california, florida, he used every weapon at his disposal including the handle of himself but that others use to flatten his opponents. the romney campaign itself is trying to say, hey, it's other people, it's not us, we want to focus on the economy. they're maintaining radio silence about this. and it's politics at its roughest in this country. they justify it to themselves. mitt romney, people who know him well, like him permanently. they think he's the.

he's not willing to say what he should say to get that 50.1%. >> i've lost money at the gaming tables just like a lot of people watching this show have over the years, especially something as simple as roulette. instead of wasting your time working the odds because the odds work against you on this side of the house, go ahead and put $100 or $1,000, whatever gambling money you have for the weekend, whatever. >> donald trump beat everything he had. >> it doesn't team to bother him. this is my proof of trumpism. it doesn't matter whether he's proven wrong. it has to do with this ability

of just hrkutzpah. to just keep raising these things and saying -- there are people out there who agree with me. it could be the u.s. post or any other. it was great that wolf said, name one corner. yet here he is dancing in his honeymoon in vegas with a guy who is the republican nominee. >> see, he doesn't care. that's the issue. he thinkses thi and high fived his staff. he thought it was. there are a lot of conservatives

putting out on. trump is not just some ordinary romney supporter. he distances himself. he's the guy raising millions of dollars tonight in las vegas at a total and does anybody in the universe think this is the most. i still blooe romney is going to have to deal with this at some point. >> i think, chris, to john's point, i don't think mitt romney could get rid of donald trump if he wanted to. because there would be rifts in doing that in that you don't know how donald trump will respond when cornered. of course, mitt romney is not the type of guy to take that

risk. s. h hey, no problem, so let's all get in on this thing. but if mitt romney were, by some stretch of the imagination, to say to donald trump, i don't want to have anything to do with you anymore, can you imagine what donald trump would do next? it could be very, very interesting if. i think michael douglas tried that once. thank you, john walsh. what happens in vegas stays in vegas. >> thank you, harold fineman. if the obama campaign needs most. how right wink. the jury in the trial tonight,

john edwards. mitt romney has shown some political character. this is "hardball." a place with character. ♪ surf's up everybody get your boards and your wetsuits ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com's gonna direct you ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪

offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. mitt romney campaign today in colorado and las vegas, and we have a poll in colorado that shows a tight race out there. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. obama has a four-point lead over romney in colorado, 48% to 44%. n another battleground state, michigan, is trending toward obama. they're ahead by 14 points now, 53 to 39. it has something to do with the car industry comeback, don't you think? we'll be right back. n tell you,, n tell you,, people measure commitment by what's getting done. i'm mike utsler, and it's my job to make sure we keep making progress in the gulf. the twenty billion dollars

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welcome back to "hardball." even the best run campaigns have

a sure fire strategy that backfires. we decided to have a look at what president obama's biggest fear might be, or three fears. let's break it down with the msnbc political analyst and author for politico. we all must have known this, the economy flatlined. is that their number one concern when you talk to them, maggie? >> yes, it is. bar none, if the economy stays where it is, unemployment stays where it is or tics down a bit, but not much, if it stays in this area or gets worse, this is a major concern between the months of august, september, october, the major feeling of the president is he won't be heard, it won't matter, and mitt romney will win. >> let's go to chris. do you agree that if the economy flattens or gets worse, it's bad news all the way? >> i don't make a policy to

disagree with maggie, but she's totally right. it's not ju tst the economy, it the timetable by which the obama campaign needs some movement. let's say unemployment in september shows it's dropped, it's 7.5%. you start to get a little too late as you get into september-october because people make their minds up about the economy is good or the economy is bad. again, they make their minds up on perception as opposed to reality, but these next few months do really matter because he, the president, needs to show genuine movement so that they have an answer to that question that rahm momney is going to asm today until the 6th, which is, are you better off today than you were four years ago? >> we all go back to school, the air turns a little crisper, the news gets better on the economy. i think there will be a tremendous euphoria.

you first here, chris, bain attack by the obama people fizzles. you both agree that's the second biggest worry. killing jobs or whatever in the steel industry, et cetera, won't work. >> yeah. i mean, look, chris, it's gotten a lot of attention and there's been a lot of back and forth so far, is it working, is it not working. the obama campaign does not spend all that much money on sort of exploring mitt romney's record at bain. until they do that, i don't think we can draw conclusions about whether it's working or not. if it doesn't work, that is, if people essentially say, mitt romney was a businessman. yes, he did some things that weren't great but he also helped build companies, they buy the romney argument on why bain is good. it's just as hard for obama to make the case, then, because they have to make this a choice not a referendum. if it is a choice between an image of mitt romney as a as a rule tour capitalist and obama

being the man looking out for the middle class, obama probably wins. if it's how does barack obama handle the economy versus this business guy who has done good things and bad things but let's give him a chance, romney wins. >> let's go to the third thing here. your opinion, some kind of bust over there, whether it's greece related or spain related. when they watch what's happening, and you're an economics person, when they watch, what's the thing that could really cause a clattering bad effect. >> the economy is the major thing. it will have a ripple effect on markets. it won't matter what happens here because it's completely out of their control. this is something they're watching very carefully. it is not anything they can do anything about. it's a big x factor. obviously, there are other global concerns that could be big x factors here, too, but anything that happens with the economy really scares the obama

campaign. it's not number one, it's not number two, but it really could kill us. >> it could kill us by the second or third quarter. >> absolutely. >> and you said a brilliant uptake in the romney prospect because he picks a wonderful, exuberant pick of vp. >> chris, i like to keep you fascinated so i'm happy you find this fascinating. >> i want to know who this is. >> here's my thought, is that mitt romney will get to do one thing that barack obama doesn't get to do between now and november 6. barack obama is the president of the united states. huge advantages come with that, bully pulpit, everything we know. but one thing mitt romney will get to do and get significant press off of is picking his vp. i don't think there is a perfect person to put in there, but i don't also think it is something we can just write off and say it

doesn't matter. we saw the negative side with john mccain picking sarah palin in '08. i'm not sure a mark rubio or a chris christie, if romney is behind, solves romney's problems. but i do think it does have the potential. we now have three out of four major players in the race are already set. a fourth is to be determined. i don't think it's ridiculous to say a fourth will matter. it's not going to end the race either way unless mitt romney picks sarah palin, which i don't think he will do, but it does have an impact, and i would agree on the euro -- >> you've set it up, chris, i'm not going to do this on purpose, but if he picks a prize, it will be born. i know it's not on purpose, but it's more interesting to say not on purpose. maggie, what do you think of this? can a vp prospect be that interesting and that much of a

cannonball that it blows this thing up to say, wow, this guy is faster than i thought he was. look who he picked. >> i don't make a habit of disagreeing with chris but i'm going to disagree with him here. i think if mitt romney picked a mark rubio or chris christie, he would get press. i don't think he will because they overshadow him. i think you're likely to see rob portman, and i don't think you would get the razzle dazzle headlines you would with the other two. >> catholic voters are -- look at catholic vote in the last eight to ten presidential elections. whoever wins a catholic vote almost exclusively wins the election. >> what does that say about us? >> it's just a fact. >> serious about their religion,

cyclical about their politics. thank you, guys. tomorrow we're going to look at the biggest fears on the romney side. what's romney's biggest worries? we'll talk to top reporters about that, too. rudy giuliani has nice things to say about mitt romney, but he's really saying things about rudy giuliani. his tortured explanation. this is "hardball," the place for politics. joe comes in a paper cup at the drive-thru. johan comes in a porcelain vessel, crafted with care by a talented blonde from sweden.

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now for the side show tonight. first off, rudy being a bit rudy. remember this lukewarm endorsement of romney? >> i think that mitt has won fair and square. this reminds me of going to a surgeon. if i've got a terrible cancer to be operated on, when i was

operated on for prostate cancer, i didn't go to the nicest doctor, i went to the best doctor. the guy could be a great joker and put the knife in the wrong way. >> what's love got to do with it? now giuliani explains why his romney bashing in massachusetts was great for him to do but not for obama to do now. >> there's a certain amount of personal ego in that. at that point i was probably comparing his record to my record. maybe it was circumstances or whatever, but i had massive reduction in unemployment. he had a reduction in unemployment of about 8, 10 -- i think it was 15%. i had a reduction in employment of 50%. they had a growth of jobs of about 40,000, we had a growth of jobs of about 500,000. so i was comparing what i thought was my far superior record to his, otherwise decent record. a simple fact is that mitt romney has been far more successful am tin the thijngs t

he's done than barack obama. >> doesn't most of that sound like rudy plugging rudy? on cnn, republicans who are in the grip of right wing idealogy. >> common sense would be another one that seems to escape members of our party. you have grover norquist roaming the earth in his white robe saying if you raise tax one penny, he'll defeat you. you can't burn your own house. if you want to be a purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and pray to the east or something. but if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise. show me a guy who won't compromise and i'll show you a guy with rock for brains. >> go to a mountain somewhere and pray to the east. i love that. finally, here's a question. what's it called in the world of

twitter when one of your tweets adds up to exactly the 140-character limit? well, president obama got the answer to that question during a twitter q and a after an event recently in iowa. >> i demand for twitter. >> a twitter push. it was a record for pushes. it really was. >> there you have it, it's called a twuce when you have a perfect number of characters. i guess it's like a swish in basketball, all net. how few billion aiaires in s country on the right, of course, are trying to get mitt romney in the white house. what are they expecting? good question. we'll be back with the answers. wake up!

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lowest level in four months. and kay shiller says home interest fell for the first time in two quarters. now back to "hardball." back to "hardball."

i'm in texas today where the heart of all this dirty, angry money is coming from. texas millionaires and billionaires have given more money to the super pac to restore our future. an american crossroads which is called roads group. why would somebody give millions of dollars to give to president obama? the answer is certainly business. you see romney sitting right there in the oval office. the latest issue of rolling stone has some of them, but should the voice of billionaires count more than business? executives of rolling stone and chi chiefmemo.com. why don't you run through a couple of these characters. let's start with this texas business guy, a real tycoon, ar harold simmons, has given more

than $16 million and to the pro-romney group restore our future. according to bloomberg, an underground dump in west texas for radioactive material, it could be worth billions to him. follow up on that. harold simmons, what's he got to gain by getting romney where he wants him in the white house? >> simmons is pursuing this huge dump in texas that would dump radioactive waste from 36 states and texas sitting atop a major drinking water aquifer, and simmons is the guy who has been sued repeatedly by the justice department for failing to clean up contaminated super fund sites, so he's got a track record for really dubious practices when it comes to contaminated waste when it comes to people like romney in the white house where rolling back legislation would be a real boon to him. >> let's go over to joe. in 1996, we had a term for

characters like this. we called them pigs, and i meant that. this would destroy the environment for their own personal satisfaction. a mega home builder also from texas is worth $12.5 billion. he's given $1 million to restore our future and american crossroads. he wants to make it hard to her bring lawsuits over homes, shoddy material, purchases, whatever the case may be, he wants to make sure he doesn't have to deal are regulators. >> mr. paulson was the main guy associated with. he was basically the financial instrument of the carl rogue machine, which he is this year as well, and he clearly has an incentive, as all these guys do, by the way, to have their taxes cut enormously, which is what the romney plan would do.

aside from their own individual pet peeves with regulation, they all would love to have their taxes cut. they don't care about deficits. they want a better tax break for billionaires. that's what they want, that's what they're after, and i think they'll get it. >> fill us in on bob perry. why does he want to fight tort reform? thai been going after his building projects? what's the attack on him that he's so worried he needs a guy in the white house to look after him. >> sure. you get sued all the time if you're a builder. he gets sued all the time. he's a major producer to every judge in texas. they vacated a ruling geagainst him that was for $850,000. a jury in the same case awarded $850 milon. >> what was the case about, building materials, what was it about? >> shoddy home building, not fulfilling contracts, and in

that case you're looking at putting a cap on those jury awards so that basically he won't be required to pay if his company does a bad job. >> john paulson and another fellow here. let's go to sheldon adelson. he's made zil yonz in the casino business. apparently he has a real problem, eric, with organized labor. he doesn't like unions. >> that's right. he's been fighting the unions in vegas over his casino for a long time. and adelson is really a prime example since citizens united, a court ruling that allows these guys to put a minimal amount of money into the campaigns, so a guy like adelson was able to single handedly prop up the newt gingrich campaign. >> newt gingrich was a fascinating guest on our program last week. i'm glad he came on, we had a

great argument. we'll do it again, i hope. but the thought that he could personally finance a republican campaign is too much, joe. >> sheldon adelson pays unions, and he especially doesn't like them in nevada where he has his casinos. but he's very happy doing business in communist china where there are no unions that are effective, so he can do whatever he wants. communism doesn't bother the guy. a strong labor union he doesn't like. you can make your own judgment about that. >> eric, you had a bunch of law associates you could go to and bring the money with you in one big bundle, you couldn't really give a lot of money to presidential candidates. you were limited to the cycle for the primary in general. this has changed it all. these guys now are back to

pre-wat pre-watergate days where one to three people could have a big show in the white house. >> for $2300, can you really buy a campaign? can you really buy a candidate and expect something in return, and maybe that was an argument back then, so if you're spending 3 to $4 million on a single candidate as bob perry has, of course you're going to be expecting something in return for that kind of money, there's no question about it. >> the candidate will get selected. we'll hear your side of the argument at minimum. he will think about your side positively at minimum. you may not buy the guy but you damn well opened the door to him and had the best chance to sell him, and he or she will probably go with you if they can get away with it. that's the scary part. >> of course, they will. you're buying access for sure. if nothing else you expect to pick up the phone and get somebody in the white house. >> and you need to run for reelection. you need mid-term contributions. this is the first flood, and with many more to come if this

law stands. >> you mean they stay bought? >> of course, they get bought and they stay bought at least until the next election and through the next election. then they'll come out of office and complain about what a bad system it is and how much they hate raising money. >> the question is, money can't buy you love but it might be able to buy you presidents. what a great piece in rolling stone. what a magnet you're becoming. after all these years, you're still great. up next, the jury in the trial of former presidential hotshot john edwards has been deliberating now for seven days. are they any closer to a verdict? they can't agree to convict the guy. it seems like that's good nouz news. this is "hardball," the place for politics. but they can also hold you back. unless you ask, what's next? [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the next level of performance.

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we're back. john edwards, the democratic candidate for vice president in 2004 and the man who came in second in the iowa caucus in 2008 is facing 30 years in prison right now. the good news for him, i think, the jury seems to have a hard time reaching a verdict. news political analyst and covering the trial for the "washington post," let me start with hampton. is this good news, the fact this jury cannot convict after seven days now, they can't seem to agree on these counts? >> chris, it could be, but edwards has got to be concerned that in their confusion they may try and find a way out by convicting him of a charge or two as opposed to all six. there is a huge difference for him between acquittal and conviction. there may not be much difference in terms of the sentencing between one conviction and six.

there is no question, though, this jury is confused and they have every right to be. the federal government can't even decide whether it's a crime or not. dnj indicted him. the federals don't see any problem with this money for the mistress. >> it just seems the judge in this case is asking the jury to create law, to this case is asking to create a law, create here. that helps keep her out of the story, out of news, that is in effect the political contribution that should have been reported and covered that way. but this is brand new in terms of making them make that jij judgment. the judge said, if it is mostly for political reasons, not entirely, that is still enough guilt for edward it fry here. >> she actually said, if there is a reason, he is guilty. if the election were a reason rather than the reason, it seems to me, that she was saying you

do have to find him guilty. which i'm not sure if she's right about that. but i think her instruction in that way was pretty clear. but it just seems that with this jury that the whole craziness of the case is rubbing off on the jurors maybe because we've heard these stories about color coordinated outfits from the alternates and she said today in open court, the judge did, a lot of things can go on in a jury room when it drags on this long and not all of them are good. and -- >> let me ask you about -- >> sure. >> okay, melinda, what is this issue that came up, this juror issue? what was the problem there? >> we don't know for sure what the juror issue was. but there has been a lot of talk in the courtroom about one of the alternate jurors who -- that's been reported has been flirting openly about the defendant and he with her.

so i don't know as one of my colleagues at the coast and there is one place not to meet mr. right and that is at his trial. >> given what he is on trial for, it is truly unbelievable. sort of, on the one hand, you have been taking this so seriously, looking a back at every single scrap of paper, you know. they've asked to see 45u7b different court exhibits. so taking it seriously and then this complete atmosphere and this whole thing with the alternate juror. >> that's good, actually. >> the dangers of hooking up in a bar, what do you think, are the bar. >> sure. and chris, i was in the courtroom everyday. and i tell you what is unbelievable, is the idea that edward was flirting with the juror. you know, his behavior was -- he brought disrepute on my home state. i'm not apologizing for him in any way. but the information that edwards

was flirting with a jury was not a fact. there may have been smiles. but remember, we're in the south. people are friendly. people smile at each other. if there was a problem with the juror, the presiding judge, would have dismissed that juror in a heart beat. >> let me ask you about something that's even less tangible here, which is the mood of the jury. i've heard it described as haggard, tired. how would you describe this jury after all these days of argument, i guess, instead of among themselves? >> sure. you know, day and night between the 12 who are now deciding the case and four alternates. the alternates have done color coordination. but i think that's a nonissue. the jurors who are deciding look like, you know, they've been put into a situation they have no idea what to deal with. it shows, i think, the unfairness to put the jury in the middle of something the federal government disagrees

with. it is one thing to throw the book at them, but another thing to hit them in the back of the head. the jury has a tremendous weight on them, and they don't know what to do with it. >> back to melinda. you're a journalist, is this just 2too much for 12 members o your peer group, regular people, some high school, some college, mixed bag of people, to be asking them to basically define what is illegal here? >> well, it may or may not be. i'm not a legal can expert, so i can't say whether we're asking too much of them. i mean, in terms of what juries in general have to deal with, this is a serious case as it every criminal case where someone's freedom is on the line. but it is not a capitol murder case. you're not talking about taking someone's life. you're not talking about that sort of a situation. so maybe it's too much to ask, but that would be on the judge, i think, in what she laid out for them.

and they have been asked to do this. it is their job to try to come to a conclusion and if they don't, if they do deadlock, then i would certainly see that as good news for john edward because i really can't imagine that they're going to try this case all over again. >> what a story this is. i don't want to get involved in affecting the jury in any way after watching television. thank you. when we return, let me start with where we were with mitt romney's character. he won't even say anything, not even no thanks to donald trump. how about, no thanks, donald, don't need you this time around. [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ normal voice ] nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are.

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let me finish tonight where i started. there is political give. there is the type that is so scared he might lose, so resolute to win as mitt romney describes himself, so resolute he will do anything to win. dealing with birther says doing anything. showing up on stage with someone who says the president was someone born in another country, that he is a foreigner, sitting illegally and mysteriously in the oval office. that's doing anything. i'm proud of this country because it had the stuff to pick someone for president this time who didn't fit the limited notion of who he could pick. i'm not proud of a campaign

polluted by birtherism. mitt romney want to be responsible for the fate of the country. signing with the golden puba of birtherism. by aligning himself with this element, romney is showing a willingness to do anything to get elected. what should make us think he would be any harder to bed politically once he's in office? and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politics nation," i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, willard romney's gamble. he is attending an event in las vegas hosted by donald trump. you can see the trump plane right behind his. hours behind