walker. the final round to a fight that has seen protesters occupy the capitol, legislators flee the state, turned wisconsin into the one -- one of the most polarized states in america. former wisconsin senator russ feingold joins us on the badger state blues. plus, countdown to victory. the three, two, one strategy pushed by the romney campaign and karl rove may sound like a plan that doesn't fly. we'll break it down in our deep dive. good morning from washington. it is thursday, may 31st, 2012. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. good stew for you today. my first reads of the morning for now the presidential campaign is being waged if you will on republican turf. six critical battleground states obama carried in 2008 but george w. bush won in 2004. five of the six actually are ones that bush won in 2000. last week we had polls showing the president with small leads in three of those states -- ohio, florida, and virginia. now a new nbc/marist poll showed the race even closer in states

like iowa, colorado, nevada where it is a virtual tie. in nevada the president leads mitt romney among registered voters, 48-46. colorado the obama lead is one. 46-45. in iowa it is tied at 44-44. i'll have more on that later. the last time we polled iowa in late november ahead of the republican caucuses, the president led by seven points. we just look at voters who tell us they have an excellent or good chance of voting, likely voters of sorts the contest moves slightly in romney's direction. he edges into a 47-47 tie with the president in nevada. he actually is up one in colorado and up one in iowa. one more thing. the most important takeaway from our poll, check it out again, the iowa number. 10% of voters undecided in the state. think about this state. they've spent the most time getting to know obama and romney over the last five years. what is at stake that the state that has seen the most advertising where the candidates have stumped nonstop for five years is the state with the

highest number of undecided voters. does that tell us what our future is in the rest of the battlegrounds? the more the campaigns campaign there? the more voters fall into the undecided category? meanwhile the obama campaign insists the election will be decided in these swing states but they do face a couple challenges. the president acknowledged one of them yesterday. >> obviously the world economy is still in a delicate place. because of what is going on in europe there will continue to be hurdles and head winds that we can't fully control. >> the challenge where team obama believes they do have some control is creating a choice election. and they're working to define romney's record before he is able to define it himself. after going after romney's career at bain capital for the first couple weeks of may today the campaign turns to massachusetts to escalate its attack on romney's record as governor. this morning massachusetts democrats who served with romney while he was governor will hold a press conference in front of the state house in boston led by

obama campaign senior strategist david axelrod who laid into romney's record in a five-page memo released yesterday and the line of attack this morning on the "today" show. >> he offers himself as an economic guru and savior off his experience in business and when he was governor of this state, this state was 47th in job creation. he created huge new debt here. debt went up 16%. incomes went down. >> the obama campaign is out with a video this morning arguing that romney made familiar arguments during his 2002 campaign for governor but that he didn't deliver. >> we're going to have a stronger economy because i'm going to be governor. >> i have experience in the private sector. >> i know how jobs are created. >> mitt romney was not an effective leader in massachusetts and the proof is in the pudding. >> there was great hope that governor romney could deliver. he didn't deliver. >> well, the romney campaign is firing back. they're pointing out that the unemployment rate when romney left office was 4.6% saying,

quote, president obama would love to have mitt romney's record of job creation in economic growth that he had in the state of massachusetts. finally, yesterday president obama and romney had the longest conversation that they've had since before the invention of youtube. that's right. when the president placed a call to congratulate his opponent for clinching the nomination it was the longest conversation that they had in nearly eight years. >> it was very collegial and friendly. it was not of course particularly long. the president discussed or mentioned how he looks forward to what he believes is a very important debate. >> in case you're wondering the last time obama and romney had a meaningful conversation was at the 2004 winter gridiron dinner when they were charged with roasting each other of sorts. the president acknowledged on late night with jimmy fallon last month that they're not really well acquainted. >> do you know mitt romney? >> i've met him.

but we're not friends. john mccain i knew because we had served in the senate together. >> okay. >> mr. romney was governor and so i didn't have occasion to get to know him very well. >> they've had a few very casual meetings. on labor day, 2007, they had a chance meeting at a parade in new hampshire where they were both working the crowds. in january, 2008, they shook hands between back-to-back republican and democratic debates at wmur in new hampshire. and the president's last meaningful call to romney may have been when ann romney was diagnosed with cancer, romney said in early january of 2009, quote, he was kind enough to call our home when my wife was ill and he said that he and michelle had my wife in their prayers and i said, mr. president-elect, ann and i have you in our prayers. and we do. finally, last night romney held a high dollar fundraiser at a 95-room estate in hillsboro, california, cochaired by hewlett-packard's meg whitman former bain employee who just days ago announced plans to

layoff 27,000 workers. not exactly the picture the romney campaign wanted but romney laid into solyndra at this fundraiser saying, quote, who wants to put money in a solar company when a government puts a half a billion into one of its choice? they don't understand how the free economy works. democrats attacking romney for the optics of the high dollar fund raising circuit which the president is clearly benefiting from as well. romney is also defending his personal wealth. >> there will be people and you know this already who will look at you as just a successful rich guy. >> like fdr and john f. kennedy. there is not a nation that divides people based upon whether ther they've been successful or not. we don't say, boy, this person won the lottery and therefore they can't understand me. we instead look at people and celebrate their success. >> interesting. the lottery comment there. while the romney campaign believes ultimately the economy will decide this election they know he needs to present a softer side and his campaign put out a video actually yesterday

and it highlights ann romney's struggle with multiple sclerosis offering what is a rare personal glimpse into the romneys' 43-year marriage. >> probably the toughest time in my life was standing there with ann as we hugged each other and the diagnosis came. >> i was frightened. mitt was frightened. but i needed him desperately. >> and in that video at the end they don't direct folks to give money by the way to the rom flooe campaign but to a multiple sclerosis foundation. let's dig deeper into the new nbc/marist polls from three of the six most critical battleground states at least the way we're designating them here. we have the director of the marist institute and poll and he joins me now. lee, there is a bunch of stuff to get into. >> yes. >> i want to start with what jumped out at me. the state of iowa has seen more tv ads, more candidate time from both of these gentlemen.

they've campaigned there for years and, yet, the highest number of undecideds we've recorded i think in any of our big six battlegrounds was here in the state of iowa. what can you tell me about the large number of undecideds sitting in the state of iowa? >> all those caucus activities in '08 with obama and this time with romney are really being focused on the real strong partisan democrats, the partisan republicans. the folks in iowa who are undecided right now, they weren't being talked to during those campaigns and they are, you know, independents, moderates, people who are not particularly interested in the campaign. they have low levels of enthusiasm. they are the folks who really don't feel connected to what's gone on when this invasion of iowa has occurred during the caucus times. >> so they almost are voters that are tuned out. all right. i want to jump to a few other things. one of the things we like to focus on is the president's job approval rating. a lot of people believe the job approval and the ballot number will be almost identical. in iowa 46-45

approved/disapproved. colorado upside down. 45-49 disapprove. one of the higher disapproval ratings we've recorded in any swing state. in nevada, 46-47. all three of these states, his approval ratings seem to be not as good as they were in the three states we tested last week. >> yeah. that's why he is not in the high 40s in the ballot tossup question. it is to some degree a referendum on the president. if it is, he is at risk in these states right now. mitt romney clearly has some convincing to do so he hasn't closed the deal by any stretch of the imagination but as far as the president is concerned we see a real drop in the enthusiasm among young voters. clearly, his ticket to the white house four years ago. right now those folks are really not connected with this race. that's also pulling his numbers down not only in terms of his approval rating but in terms of the tossup against romney. >> i know it is one of the observations we made. if you look at the three states we tested last week, virginia,

ohio, florida. the president has spent a lot of time in those three states. vice president biden too. colorado, nevada, iowa. they basically only get attention when these guys are on their way to or from a fund raise inner california. favorable ratings, this is where the president has some advantage but mitt romney has some challenges. favorable ratings in iowa, 48-45 for the president. 47-47 in colorado. so, again, a little under performance in colorado and nevada. 48-46 favorable rating. for mitt romney 43-43 in iowa. 43-43 in colorado. 44-41 in nevada. in many cases, you could argue these are already both well defined political figures at least as far as the voters are concerned. >> yeah, yeah. this is not the third inning. this is the sixth inning. we have voters who know these folks for a variety of reasons obviously an incumbent president, mitt romney having just gone through the primary process. did you notice, chuck, all the numbers you're saiying are 40 something. for everything in the poll. all down the line.

almost every question. so that is really where these folks are. any way you slice the numbers. they're in the 40s. mid 40s, low 40s, high 40s. >> right. >> they have a lot of work to do to move some electorate, right now obama in these states is doing better among independents. that is what is keeping them in this. >> right. >> despite the hemorrhaging among some enthusiasm. >> and it was interesting to note that mitt romney does much better with hispanics in nevada than he did colorado. a full ten, i think it was a full 12 points better in nevada versus colorado. >> yeah. that is a key group and clearly one that will be watched. although nevada is a better state right now all things being equal for obama than colorado and iowa. iowa is probably the least of his strong states at the moment or is the most battleground of all of them. >> which might surprise some folks when it comes to what they thought about colorado for instance. lee, thank you, sir. we have more coming in a few more weeks. >> yes.

>> well, can democrats pull out an upset win now in wisconsin with just five days to go? it seems as if all the momentum is on the republican side. we'll see. here we'll talk to former democratic senator russ feingold, he is working for the democrats and on behalf of labor unions out there. he'll join us. the big question, as goes the recall so goes wisconsin in november. new polling indicates that is not the case. we'll ask why that is. plus, the violence and killing continue in syria with russia and china continuing to block any action by the united nations. is there any chance the u.s. and its allies decide to act on its own? but first a look ahead at the president's schedule. of course the big meeting today, private lunch with the bush family. 41 and 43 will be there. and then the portrait unveiling. of course it's somewhat potentially politically awkward considering the president is still running against bush policies of sort. doubt we'll see politics today though. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc.

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that's the way governor scott walker wants to put it at a wisconsin factory wednesday defending his record as governor which is five days until the state's historic recall election and recent polling seems to indicate he is in the driver's seat. former wisconsin senator russ feingold, the national cochair for the president's re-election campaign. the author of while america sleeps. he has also been very active in trying to help the democrats in

the recall effort and joins me now. senator, nice to see you, sir. >> good to see you. >> i want to start with what i think a lot of folks watching this race from the outside of wisconsin. they see this marquette law school. i think this has been one of the better polls. they work hard to get this right. scott walker 52. the same poll has the president up, 51-43. what it means, senator feingold, is there are some people who support the president, you would think possibly democratic leaning voters who are also supporting scott walk inner this recall. we're told this was the most polarized state in the union yet there is clearly a swing voter here who is both supporting a democratic presint's re-election and a republican governor to stay in office. how do you explain that? >> well, there is a reason marquette law school professor -- as a recent

marquette law school professor i am loathe to criticize their poll. a couple things are happening. the president is going to win wisconsin by a good margin and this poll confirms that. voting for a recall is a closer call for people. i still believe that it is inaccurate to suggest that there is this kind of margin in this race that by a majority the people of the state will make the tough decision to recall scott walker. and you guys are only reporting one poll that came out yesterday. a very credible pollster released a poll indicating the race is a dead heat not within the margin of error but a dead heat. if it is a dead heat with the turnout expected on our side i think we'll prevail. i want you to keep telling everybody that he is in the driver's seat. they'll get a rude shock on tuesday night if they believe that. i think we've got far more momentum than people realize. >> you know, it is interesting. i think in a lot of this polling and you know this well as somebody who has run for office so many times, it sometimes depends on who you think is going to show up. i think there has been some concern in the democrats i've

talked to that there is a nervousness that you're not going to see the democratic enthusiasm hit the same levels that there is for the republican side and one way that could be -- that could change -- is if president obama got more involved. do you think president obama needs to get more involved in this recall? >> this is mostly about wisconsin of course. we were attacked by the governor. he says he is the one that was under attack for a year and a half. actually he and his corporate cronies have attacked us here in wisconsin. so this is a battle for the soul of the state of wisconsin and to bring us together after the governor has divided us. any help we can get from the national level from the president on down to heighten excitement and enthusiasm for turnout of course is helpful but mostly this is a wisconsin effort. >> i do want to play, jay carney yesterday, white house press secretary, was asked about this and i have to say i was surprised by him being stumped by this question. take a listen, senator. >> does the president endorse

tom barrett? does he plan to? >> you might ask the campaign. not that i'm aware of. >> debbie wassermann schultz said she felt a loss by tom barrett would not have any national impact, the democrat loss there. do you know if the president shares that view? >> look, i think that there are issues obviously unique to that state and issues unique to the spending that's happened in that particular matter that would suggest that she is right. >> jay kariner would later tweet that, yes, indeed, the president supports tom barrett. that i imagine wasn't very helpful five days ago. >> you know, it's going to have a big impact for the president and tom barrett are very close. the president knows what a terrific guy barrett is. he is one of the most honest and decent people any of us have ever worked with. he is the perfect candidate for us because he helps bring people together in wisconsin against a governor who revels in dividing people. he likes using the phrase "divide and conquer."

i think obama and barrett, feingold, all of us are on the same page. we want tom barrett to be the governor of the state of wisconsin and we think he will be next tuesday night. >> not to put you in an awkward position but i've heard from a lot of democrats who say had you been the candidate you would have had a better shot at rising above some of the back and forth that tom barrett, fair or unfair, because it is a rematch, that basically the campaign -- all we saw in this five-week period was an extension of the 2010 campaign that somehow democrats lost control of the original message here of the recall and the fight having to do with government workers. >> actually i think a lot of people have buyer's remorse about having voted for walker over barrett. barrett is an exceptional wisconsin progressive who conveys all the characteristics of decency, civility, bipartisanship, listening to everybody. he really is the ideal contrast. after the governor performed a surprise attack on the peechl the state and used ruthless

tactics in the legislature to get this through, that tom barrett and i never saw when we were in the state senate. actually i think he is the ideal contrast for people having a chance to say, wait a mint. we didn't know this was the kind of guy that scott walker was. >> does this have an actual impact what happens on tuesday? >> mostly an impact on the state of wisconsin but it could be very helpful to working people all over the country and to progressives all over the country if we can stand up to the invasion of corporate dominance that is coming from the citizens united decision being funneled through wisconsin for scott walker's efforts. there is no question that the koch brothers and others see this as one of their great opportunities to basically put a stranglehold on the democracy of our country so it would be very good in terms of the issue of challenging corporate money if we can win this thing and i think we will. >> all right. senator feingold, thanks for coming back on "the daily rundown." long time no see. good to have you. market rundown is next. plus the surprising lengths one

florida candidate is going to, to get noticed. think world peace meets ochocinco. mitt romney is the third presidential nominee from massachusetts in the past 25 years. who was the last republican presidential nominee to call the bay state home at the time of his nomination? tweet me the answer. the first correct answer will get a follow up thursday from us. this former british counterterrorism expert developed tough mudder business school. based on special forces training it is a miles long obstacle course that inspires people and builds team work. with more than 30 events in 2012, tough mudder will earn more than $70 million. for more watch "your business"

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minutes away from the opening bell time for the market rundown. last trading day of may, i saw the carl quintanilla tweeted it is possible for may to finish in the black but it would take a gain of nearly 800 points in the dow. obviously that is probably not going to happen.

>> definitely not going to happen. i'd be willing to wager that this morning, chuck. we have been looking like we were going to see green arrows this morning until we got some numbers that came out that took all the steam oust the markets. right now it looks like we'll open flat because the adp jobs report came out and the number was worse than expected. it came in at 133,000 jobs added. this is key because that private sector job growth is going to be a big part of the equation tomorrow when we get the monthly jobs report. if it was weaker than expected that is not good news for the markets. also we got the weekly jobless claims at 830. that number was also a little worse than had been expected. came in up 380,000 versus the 370,000 that had been expected. tomorrow the big key is under or over 155,000. by the way, may really stunk all around the globe. chuck you got any idea what one market is that actually gained ground for the month of may so far? >> i'll say, i always go south. i'll say brazil. >> no. it is actually lithuania up 2%

there every other stock market index is down for month of may so far. dow down 6%. so cross your fingers but we're probably not getting 800 poinlts today. >> fair enough. becky quick, thank you very much. up next, road map or road block, taking a deep dive into the strategy the romney campaign uses to doan toers say we don't have a math problem. we'll see. but does he have a math problem. does it all add up? still to come awkward moment ale alert. hush president bush making his first trip back to the white house in more than two years. his portrait being unveiled by his successor president obama. you're watching the daily rundown only on msnbc. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute.

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look what i got. map time. karl rove the mastermind, the brain if you will, architect of george w. bush's rise to the presidency, he is credited with transforming bush from businessman to texas governor to

two-term president. now rove is getting behind the romney campaign's road map to the white house. today we're taking a deep dive into their plan to take back the top spot. their math. rove and romney call it the three-two-one strategy a three-part plan that gets romney to the magic number of 270 they say on election day, their case they can win a close election. i'll get more into that later. the three-two-one strategy starts by presuming romney carries all the states john mccain won in 2008. you see them here. and that romney takes back the second congressional district in nebraska. fine. we'll give him that. a state that awards three of its five electoral votes through congressional cess district. at the top of the map that gets romney to 180 electoral votes. his baseline. now here is the number three of the three-two-one plan. romney must win these three states, indiana, north carolina, and virginia all states won by obama in 2008, with the race in indiana and north carolina tight. obama's margin of victory less

than 1% in both states. virginia's republican tradition somehow allows them to flip that state back this time around they say. i don't know about that. we'll give them their numbers to show you how their numbers work. that would get romney up to 219. okay. if he wins those three states. that's fine. now let's move on to part two of this plan if you will. and that takes us to number two of that strategy and that is winning both florida and ohio. both states that flipped from red to blue in 2008. president obama won florida by 2.8 points and ohio by 4.6%. okay. let's give him those two. again, we'll talk about this later but that gets him to 266. and see how they think this helped. four short of winning the white house. he must win one more state and that brings us to the final part. the number one of the three-two-one strategy. romney can get to the white house through the northeast corridor, the midwest, the west, or the plains states. they argue.

here's how. if romney goes north, then he must take new hampshire's four electoral votes. that obviously would get him to exactly 270. or romney can go back to his midwestern roots and try to take his former home state of michigan, pennsylvania, or probably a state that gets targeted more likely a wisconsin. romney could also go west and try to collect votes in colorado, nevada, or new mexico. finally, romney can try to win through the heartland and take iowa where of course our latest polls show a dead heat. any of these states would get romney to 270 or more. it all seems easy enough. right? but the problem is this. let's go ahead and say, fine on iowa. and give him that one. gets him to 272. the real problem he's got, though, has to do with the places of virginia and ohio right now. these are two states that both campaigns believe president obama is narrowly ahead. colorado and north carolina, excuse me, florida, north carolina, are states that right now there is this concession

that somehow possibly romney's ahead. so that's the problem he faces here. is there a path so you go to -- you take -- you go to ohio here and that still leaves romney short. so that, to me, is the importance here of virginia, ohio, and probably if you will the collective west. our poll showed a surprisingly tight race in colorado when you look at some of the hispanic numbers there, the assumption is the demographically the state is growing away from the regimes. the question is what does it look like december? economically there are a lot of folks who think because of the housing issue combined with the unemployment rate that that is a romney state. at the end of the day if we start squaring this. look at this cog here of virginia though and ohio. the bottom line here is when you look at here it needs to be solid red from ohio all the way down to florida if romney has a shot at this thing. he does have to almost run the table. he can afford some losses in the

west. he can't afford any losses here in the eastern seaboard or the industrial midwest. all right. here are some other stories i'm watching this morning. syrian troops have resumed shelling in the same region where more than a hundred people including civilian women and children were killed last week. the recent massacre could throw the country into full fledged civil war. today the syrian media is reporting the government released 500 prisoners arrested on suspicion of involvement in the revolt. this is all going to come to a head potentially when president obama and vladimir putin the now renewed president if you will of russia have their first face-to-face meet wg putin as president at the g20 in mexico in a few weeks. "boston globe" is reporting massachusetts senate candidate elizabeth warren has acknowledged for the first time wednesday that she identified herself as native american to both harvard and the university of pennsylvania. warren said in a statement, quote, my native american heritage is part of who i am. i am proud of it.

and i have been open about it. >> i am vote for eddie.com, an independent candidate for u.s. house of representatives. >> okay. he is not joking, folks. florida congressional candidate eddie gonzalez has now legally changed his name to vote for eddie.com. that's how his name will look on the ballot in the 25th district this november. congressman mario diaz valert currently holds the seat. all right. the political panel will be here next. we'll dig deeper into this elizabeth warren decision to finally put a statement out after weeks of the press dogging her about this issue plus talk about today's white house visit by former president george w. bush. but first white house soup of the day chipotle beef. folks, how was my pronunciation? don't forget, you can always follow the show on facebook. like us, poke us, all those things. [ male announcer ] how do you trade?

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♪ for always ♪ oh oh ♪ for always i'll keep nu the right direction if i can but that's all. just follow the money. >> it was depicted in the movie "all the president's men." deep throat, the key source who helped woodstein break the watergate scandal. our daily flashback. it was this day in 2005 when deep throat's identity was finally revealed to be w. mark feltd the former deputy director of the fbi. he had repeatedly denied being the most famous anonymous source in american history. his revelation ended a 30-year guessing game about the source who helped bring down the nixon white house. all right. time for our thursday political panel. we've got a lot going on here.

i want to start with our nbc marist polls, the six closest battleground states. jeb, i am obsessed with the iowa number because of the low numbers for both romney and obama and the high level of undecided in the state that has seen the most ads, met them, has probably had more people personally shake their hands than any other state and they are the most undecided. >> no question. it is amazing when i think especially senator obama wouldn't have become president obama without iowa. governor romney wouldn't have become the republican nominee probably without iowa. he got to know the voters pretty well there. what is happening here, these are the voters that have not had a say in either the democratic or the republican caucuses. those are largely internal affairs. these are the independent voters. i think what is going on there is the economy is much better in iowa than other places but people don't necessarily feel it. but the farm economy is, i mean, really roaring along quite a bit but some things have been happening on the state level and

make this more of a conservative state than it perhaps was in 2008. i think leading with the gay marriage debate. there's been sort of an uprising from conservatives here and that is why it's a problem for the president. >> it is interesting. you know, the voter registration numbers have been a huge change and democratic advantage in 2008. frankly now it's about even. a lot of erosion. jeff brought up the recall effort on the judges out in iowa, the gay marriage decision. you know, when you look at this, see these iowa polls, has the president just simply not spent enough time there? what do you make of it? >> i definitely don't think he has not spent enough time. he was just there a few weeks ago. i think jeffrey is right. there were issues at the state level with gay marriage that energized some of the conservative voters but also iowa voters, they, you know, take their time. and it's only may, june. you know, i think we'll see these numbers start to change as we get through the summer and toward labor day. you know, i think as candidates start going there more often, start hearing clearer messages about what they both stand for,

i think you'll see those numbers shift and the fact the economy is doing better, that definitely helps president obama. >> i have heard the state economy argument and when you look at the president doing better in ohio than frankly the campaign itself thought they would be a year ago but you look at nevada and nevada is a reminder that maybe demographics -- the -- all the numbers are the same so how much of this ends up being demographic? >> i think one answer is we're going to find out in november how much of it ends up being demographic. look. you want the economy to be better in the state that you need to win to get your 270 electoral votes. you don't want it to be worse. i don't think that either candidate can count on the economy alone taking them over the top. i want to say one quick thing about iowa. i am more of a thinker that it might be just sort of -- >> we're in iowa. we love to take our time. >> magnificently stubborn

iowans. i'm having music man flashbacks. because the gay marriage thing, it has been an issue in the state. it's been fascinating. but i'm not sure that the folks whose decisions are going to hinge on gay marriage are the ones really undecided. >> jeff, looking at all six of these states they have a lot in common. all six voted for bush in '04. all six voted for obama in '08. five of the six were bush states in 2000 actually. only iowa ended up and it was almost all six. you get the sense, you think they end up moving together? how much of a chance you think it is more likely they move together, that this isn't some sort of split decision between these six battlegrounds which i think are the six closest maybe for wisconsin. >> i think they will move together to some degree and that worries the obama campaign. it is one of the reasons they're sort of doing these state by state by state races with sort of different messages but i think you raise a perfect point. we spent a lot of time looking at the 2008 map. it is probably just as instructive or more to look to the 2000 or 2004 map and build

up from there as opposed to 2008. 2008 was an anomaly across the board. just because of the strength or lack thereof of senator mccain's campaign, you know, the residual effect. >> barely played in iowa, didn't play in north carolina. it wasn't -- >> right. we should look at the 2004 map as probably more of a guide or as much of a guide as 2008. >> switch gears here, elizabeth warren this morning, late last night, puts out a statement and i'm sitting here and, yes, i know polling has shown it hasn't hurt her but she has been the press has hounded her on this, first republican had a field day but then "the boston globe" and finally she puts out this statement last night and i read the statement, i'm going where was the statement three weeks ago? >> i think a lot of people might have been thinking that. you know, i don't think anyone would disagree she handled this situation poorly. at the end of the day it will come down to a choice between the two of them. i don't think the fact she claimed native american heritage, you know, decades ago is going to make much difference. >> this clearly, i mean, people want to know why the republicans are interested in this.

un, the south boston democrat is secretly -- >> it's going to be not just a masogenist. >> even worse? >> i think racist masogenist -- she flubd it because she told them afterwards not before. >> but again where was the stigma? >> it looked like a very reluctant candidate, the candidate was dragging her feet on this. sort of like romney -- >> you wonder why it took the strategists, there is always one of those cases the candidate is driving this. >> we don't know yet. >> stick around. we'll talk about bush and obama, 43 and 44 getting together today. should be interesting. breaking bread, all sorts of stuff. we asked mitt romney third presidential nominee from massachusetts in the past 25 years but before romney who was the last republican presidential nominee that called the bay state home at the time of his nomination? the answer?

calvin coolidge, 1924, the most recent presidential nominees hailing from massachusetts, john kerry in '04. michael dukakis in '88 and of course a guy named john kennedy. we'll be right back. you're watching the daily rundown only on msnbc. support team usa and show our olympic spirit right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen. tom chipped in 10,000 points. karen kicked in 20,000. and by pooling more thankyou points from folks all over town, we were able to watch team usa... [ cheering ] in true london fashion. [ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders can combine the thankyou points they've earned and get even greater rewards. ♪ home protector plus, from liberty mutual insurance, where the costs to both repair your home and replace your possessions are covered.

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as you might know, my father and i have decided to call each other by numbers. he's 41. i'm 43. it's great pleasure to honor number 42. >> so there grow. that was george w. bush in june in his re-election year, unveiling the portrait of his former predecessor, bill clinton. today, number 44 is on the receiving end. 41, 43, and 44 will actually all be together for the event.

president h.w. bush is going be there. i'm a sucker for this thing. i love this. at the end of the day, i love this stuff. you love it when the presidents get together. >> it's a pretty selective club. a shameless plug, in the book, there's particular bond. nobody else on earth can imagine what it's like to be there and whatever the lingering scars of the campaigns are, there's still a sort of ceremonial majesty to the whole thing. >> it is a little more awkward because, yes, bush ran against clinton in 2008. clearly that's who his oh opponent was, not gore. but he wasn't running against clinton again in '04. this time he really is running against h.w. bush i bet in the back of his mind he's wondering, gosh, when it comes time for this to happen to

me, i wonder if it will be sooner rather than later. is president obaromney going to up there. you might assume a president might have some immortal thoughts like that. it's that anti-bush vote. he'll be very gracious and things but it's awkward. >> it's symbolic, but it's an opportunity for president obama because at a point when we're all feeling the political daggers come out by both sides, any moment you can grab that makes you look presidential and above it all. >> exactly. all the parties and stuff is going to be pushed aside and it's going to be great to see them in the room. this is one of the times it would be great to be in the white house. i would love to be a fly on the wall when they're talking to each other. >> they have a small posse conversation. the bushes were big believers. they were believers that assad could be dealt with. obviously assad now is not an

actor you can make a deal with. >> you imagine that the fly on the wall conversation is 41 and 43 saying, glad it's not my problem. >> right. they tried very hard to work assad over the years, both bushes. >> let's remember. it's a nice moment but it's just a moment because tomorrow the obama campaign wakes up and it continues the message of do you really want to go back to that guy and it's not going go away. >> shameless plug. mr. zeleny, i'll let grow first. >> i'm looking forward to my colleague with the book on obama. obama's wars basically. a follow-up to his book on bush. >> good stuff. >> i want to hail the great work my colleagues are doing on rick scott in florida punching all those voters from the voter rolls. they're doing great work. >> i'm going to take a look at that story. >> a great piece in this morning's "washington post"

about romney's record on judges in massachusetts, really good insight into his instincts, which were to sort of depo lit size the process. >> don't forget the judicial process is a little more politicized. >> and the reality, which was not politicized. >> very interesting. thank you all. that's it for this edition of the daily rundown. tomorrow we'll have the break down of the jobs on the may report. coming up next on msnbc, chris jansing. we'll see you again. don't forget, andrea mitchell. she's got afternoon interview with mr. super size it himself, michael bloomberg against those large cokes. we'll be right back. time to look at your business traveler's forecast. i'm meteorologist todd santos. beautiful conditions from boston to new york to d.c.

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battleground states as well. in iowa, a tie. both candidates at 44%. in colorado, the president has a one-point lead. in nevada he pushes it to 2%. the obama campaign's big push today is to attack mitt romney's record as massachusetts governor. check out this clip of a new web video. >> mitt romney was not an effective leader in massachusetts, and the proof is in the pudding. >> i had worked only under republican governors, and i worked really we with all of others. there was not much working with mitt romney. >> i want to bring in jackie kucinich, and author of the new good "our divided political heart. "good morning to both of you. now the democrats are moving on to attack romney's record as massachusetts governor. they've actually released a five-page memo calling his time as governor a