the truth is the job of the president is to get america back to work. >> sure it is about the economy but president obama wants to make it about governor romney's record in massachusetts. this morning a campaign debate. current governor deval patrick and governor of ohio, john kasich. patrick and kasich square off. and then analysis from our round table on the state of the campaign and strategy on both sides. with us republican strategist alex castellanos, senior adviser to governor romney kevin madden, casin reed and from the senator for america progress neera tanden. finally, was this outburst from an illinois legislator more than just a youtube moment? >> you should be ashamed of yourself. i'm sick of it.

>> beyond the screaming, the problem with our politics and with washington in this election year as seen by former senator bill bradley, author of the book, "we can all do better." >> good morning. if you needed a reminder about how important the economy was in this presidential fight, we got it on friday. worst day for the stock market in 2012 after the jobs report came out. how did it play over the weekend? not well if you are in chicago and running the obama campaign. 69,000 jobs lost. questions about whether this economy is lagging and fears over what is going on in europe. that ask where the debate is as we move forward. here with me this morning democratic governor of massachusetts and author of the

book, "faith in the dream," deval patrick. and john kasich. >> we were just giggling at the set-up. we didn't know we were here to face off. >> like it or not you're facing off. and it is about the economy. >> we may attack you, dave. >> that's an option. let's look at the record here. we are looking at economic record of president obama. here is the jobless rate when you go back to when he came into office. up and down we go. now it's going back up in terms of the unemployment rate. 8.2% for may. here is perhaps the most daunting chart if you look at three straight months where we have seen this decline in job creation. in february it was looking better. then you see march, april, and may, not many jobs being created. governor patrick is the president because of the economy the underdog again? >> isn't it funny we talk about the economy with unemployment rate in political terms first without talking about the impact on working people and families and the communities they live in? job gains are always good news.

27 straight months of job gains are great news. we are never going to have the rate of job gains that we need until the congress passes the jobs bills that the president has put before them. >> we know that that is the silver bullet how? >> we need to talk about that because i know from my business experience and my government experience that investment is what creates jobs. in massachusetts we are investing in education, innovation and infrastructure. that is how we moved from 47th in job creation to a national leader today. we turned around from income decline when governor romney was in office to an income gain today. >> we had stimulus, though, right, governor? >> the problem we have, david and i will tell you honestly. the numbers that just came out frighten me because i believe we are going to see in all probability some unemployment increases in ohio. we are down to 7.4% from 9.1 which is great. these job numbers are terrible.

i agree with deval when he says it is about families. if you don't get families to work, you create real moral problems in your country. >> wait, wait -- >> here's the problem. >> we understand it's about families. this is a debate in the campaign about who has the chops to turn the economy around. >> here is the problem. when you have uncertainty that people face today. when you are talking about higher taxes and have this enormous debt. when you overregulate. people are uncertain. if you are a small business person you can't deal with uncertainty so you sit on the sidelines. a big company sits on the sidelines. the talk about higher capital gains, higher income taxes, highest debt we have ever seen in our history which leads us to conclude that means higher taxes. you have an e.p.a. that is overly zealous. you have obama care that nobody knows what the rules are. you have dodd frank. no one knows what those rules are. the rules are so thick you could write many encyclopedias with

them. companies see that and say, we're out of here. >> where is the confidence. >> i think john is right. there is a certain amount of uncertainty. that comes in part because of the plans the president puts before the congress get ignored. those are plans we know work. the business community is expecting higher taxes because they understand that is part of the solution to dealing with the deficit. every economist understands that as well. we can't get the congress to act. that's a problem. what we have is a congress which has decided there is a political advantage in stymieing this president and putting ideology ahead of the country. that's what this election is about. >> in 1997 i was one of the chief architects of the balanced budget. we didn't raise taxes. we cut capital gains. we balanced the budget and paid down the largest amount of debt in history. we were running huge surpluses.

raising taxes is not the problem with congress. frankly the whole city is dysfunctional. and the executive is not leading. i'm an executive in ohio i can't blame the legislature for things not getting done. i have to accept responsibility. and you know what? i have led. i have worked well with the legislature. we have gone from 48th in the country in job creation to number six. we have created over 70,000 jobs. you have to lead. frankly, i think -- here is what i think the problem is, duval, you being a businessman. i don't think they know what they want to do. some temporary jobs bill, the stimulus that didn't work. the idea that we're going to have a temporary tax cut. that doesn't provide certainty. they need to say we are not going to raise taxes. we might close some loopholes. we should bring down the rates. we are not going to kill investment. we are going to stream line our regulations and have certainty. >> part of the debate is who has the skills to turn the economy around. >> that's correct. >> now, you're saying congress

has to do its job. you are not talking about the president's record -- the positive or the negative. you have been dispatched to go after romney's record in massachusetts. he came out of a tough economic environment. the unemployment rate dropped while he was governor but he was 47th in the country in job creation. not good enough, in your view. >> well, that's not good enough. frankly, no executive in government can do their job without the partnership of a legislature. that's true in massachusetts, in ohio. the president needs that partnership here. the president has bucked the trend. he has turned job losses into job gains. that's important. no one including the president believes these job gains are coming fast enough but it is clear that he bucked the trend as distinct from governor romney who trailed the trend. doesn't mean he was a failure as a governor. the fact was we had a stronger economy then. we were out of recession when he came to power and he trailed the country in job creation. >> can i just -- help me understand the logic here.

there was a recession. massachusetts came out of that with anemic job creation. the unemployment rate did fall. you say that's a failed economic record. you are saying in president obama's case that that is his calling card that that is a success. does that make sense to you? >> in point of fact when governor romney was governor of massachusetts incomes were declining in massachusetts while they were increasing across the country. that we were behind 47 or 46 other states in massachusetts in job creation at a time when the economy was -- >> how do you look at this? >> excuse me. if i can just finish this. >> okay. >> the difference is that governor romney was following a trend of relatively good economic conditions in the country at a time very different from now where president obama has turned that trend, bucked that trend. we are getting job creation where we were getting job losses. >> he wasn't 47. when he took over he was 51st

counting d.c. when he left he was 30th in the country. he created tens of thousands of jobs and the unemployment went down. here is what i find really interesting. you have a president who opens up with bain capital attacking on that. now they are trying to attack romney. let me ask you a question. what is the president for? unemployment has gone up. a half a million americans lost their job. the largest debt. the politics is terrible. when i started in ohio it was terrible. we are getting bipartisan support for our bills. that's called leadership. i don't dislike the president. i have been with him and i like him but i don't understand what the plan is. when you don't have a good record you attack your opponent and try to shift the blame. what the president needs to do is come out and say what we are going to do to repair the economy. he is the guy who was going to unite the country. class warfare and everything else. >> but that's rhetoric. do you think congress has a role to play now? >> of course they do. >> what is the role now?

if we are headed for a spring/summer slump, what can government do? you believe in government intervention in ohio's economy. >> well, david. >> they're doing it. >> the town's dysfunctional. it's dysfunctional. without leadership from the top what they really need to do is the president and harry reid and john boehner need to put the country first. they got very close, i think, to being able to reach an agreement. >> i think that's true. they did. >> if they closed loopholes and lowered rates instead of talking about class warfare and top 1%. that's nonsense stuff. class warfare doesn't work in politics. it didn't work for gore. stop demonizing and separating people. >> they ought to accept accountability? >> of course. you think i'm happy with the fact that i left washington and the republicans that controlled everything blew the budget up? no. >> all right. >> the fact of the matter is, david, i'm not voting for

anybody for president who has never been an executive in business and in government you have to be an executive. you don't run a company from the board of directors. you don't run a government from the legislature. it is up to the president to lead. he has not led effectively. >> governor patrick? >> i want to agree with some of what john said except the last part. the point about needing the congress to do its role. when john was head of the budget committee he worked with a democratic president and he got stuff done. that was important. that politics we have in the capital today is not a blame game. that is a fact. everyone has to take responsibility for that, including -- >> i want to pick up on this point. governor kasich said he wants somebody with the business background and run something, an executive to be president.

here is an important moment this week. the former president of the united states, bill clinton in an interview taking exception as you did, as cory booker did on this program, as ed rendell and others did with the obama campaign attacking the bain record of governor romney. this is what clinton said. >> i don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say this is bad work. this is good work. there is no question in terms of getting up and going to the office and basically performing the functions of the office a man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold. >> sterling business career. he was talking about governor romney. it seems to undercut one of the big arguments the president has against romney. does it not? >> it undercuts the spin. the president never attacked bain. it's never been about bain. bain is a fine company. >> you are telling me the president agrees that governor romney has a sterling business career. >> private equity has a role in the economy. but governor romney's experience

in creating jobs in the private and public sector is fair game. >> that's not the issue, governor. >> a sterling business career that he brings to the task of turning the economy around. >> he had a terrific career creating wealth. there is very little evidence that either in the public or the private sector he's had a terrific career creating jobs. >> let me tell you this, david. in ohio we face add huge deficit. we balanced the budget. we cut taxes. we stream lined regulation and we are up over 70,000 jobs? why am i for romney? i'm for mitt romney because i'm working with the wind in my face. these unemployment numbers, this job growth number of 69,000 out of 300 million americans, it means the wind is stronger in my face in ohio. do you know what romney will do? he'll fight the balanced budget. can't do it overnight. he'll cut taxes, provide certainty, streamline regulations. that is what i need in ohio. >> you mention the strength in ohio. a battle ground state, unemployment numbers then and now.

then let's talk about ohio. in ohio in the third quarter last three months of 2010, 9.8%. you see florida, nevada, colorado and virginia. look at the numbers now. as you pointed out earlier in the program. you are at 7.4% in ohio. florida is down. nevada, colorado and virginia. what you didn't mention and what the president would is that the auto bailout created jobs not just in that sector but in sectors that rely upon it. is there not credit for the president there? >> david, look. the fact is we're thrilled with the auto jobs. i'm glad the auto industry has been stabilized. >> mom would not have bailed them out. >> i'm not here to debate -- >> that's a fact. is it not, governor? you said what turned ohio around several things and you did not mention the auto bailout. >> first of all, let me tell you. we are thrilled with the auto industry. give me the facts. 73,000 jobs created in the last since '11. how many direct in the auto industry? 1,800. do you know what the biggest areas of job growth are now?

business and financial services in medical. what we have done in ohio is diversified the economy so that we have multiple ways to grow jobs. i am really happy that the auto industry is strong. i'm happy with the suppliers. it's great. you can't say ohio is doing that great just because of that. when you look at other states in the midwest they are not performing like we are. we are the number one in the west and it is because of diversity and a stable environment where businesses feel they can invest in the state of ohio. >> we have had a similar turn around in massachusetts in the last six years following mitt romney. we followed very similar strategies that john has followed in ohio. the reason why i'm supporting the president is because the partnership with the federal government has been enormously important to us as well. it is not a substitute but government has a role to play and investing in our infrastructure and education is a key role for government.

it is something we believe in in massachusetts. >> you have not once come out definitively come out for the president's economic record. your main point has been to blame congress. can the president win reelection if he does not persuade ohioans and others that his economic record is something to build on and vote for him again? >> they should vote for him because of his economic record because it is extraordinarily strong. when you consider what this president has been dealing with, the head winds he has faced just like john and me and turned it around. a quarter of a million jobs lost month after month when he first comes into office and turn it around to job gains is important. what will accelerate that and what we all believe will accelerate that is the plan he has put before the congress. and he has to have those tools. when he hasn't needed tools, when he has been able to act on his own great things have happened and the auto bailout is a prime example of that. that has been good for ohio and the whole industry.

>> i really like him in the middle of a tornado in ohio he calls me out of the blue and says is there anything i can do to help. he is a fine man. we need more guys like this. when we talk about the record of the president, this is a fact. unemployment has gone up since he's been in office. a half a million people have lost their jobs. how do you say that's a good economic record? and we still have economic uncertainty. we don't know what will happen tomorrow. they do not have a good economic plan. i'll tell you why. they don't have the experience as executives over time to understand how to make it work. >> i think the other -- >> can i -- >> one of the strange things is to criticize the president for not doing enough from people who think the government should do anything at all. >> that's not where i am come from. >> i know it's not where you come from. but it's been a lot of the rhett tick. -- relate rick. -- rhetoric. >> on our trend tracker top stories this morning on the web,

number two on the list is the wisconsin governor recall. this is happening tuesday. you are watching this as a republican and someone who took on collective bargaining unsuccessfully. walker may prevail here. what is the larger political impact? >> i think the public is recognizing that some of the benefits are out of line. deval has had to deal with it. we didn't get a referendum. you are beginning to see local governments rein in some of the costs. i think it is a matter of balance. i think walker is probably going to win. it's really amazing. he has done a fantastic job. i think he is going to win this. >> in your state elizabeth warren concerned about the issue of her ethnic background being a distraction in the race. you have endorsed her. how has she handled this? >> i have only run for one office two times so i'm an amateur for that kind of thing.

i think she is a terrific candidate. she is going to win. she has a fantastic grass roots organization which is key. she has a strong case to make. at home folks aren't focused on her ethnic background but whether she can be a partner on us. >> and they are focused on basketball. we know you're for the celtics. >> if he was a great governor the celtics would beat the heat. everybody in ohio is rooting against the heat. >> that's it. you hold a grudge. you don't root for lebron. you hold a grudge. >> i believe in forgiveness. to a point. >> i'm going to do my best. >> he doesn't deliver the celtics, he's a failed governor. i'll declare it today. >> we're going to leave it there. the political debate continues. thank you very much. we'll end on a handshake. we are going to go inside the numbers and look at key battle ground states and have our political roundtable to talk about strategy for the fall campaign. the roundtable is here. senior adviser for the romney campaign, kevin madden, neera tanden for a obama campaign. republican strategist alex

castellanos and the mayor of atlanta kasim reed will be here as well. >> announcer: "meet the press" is brought to you by chevron. we may have more in common than you think. learn more at chevron.com. at home, i challenge that in one easy step with olay. total effects tone corrector. 7 anti-aging therapies for younger looking skin including an even skin tone, instantly. from olay.

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up next i go inside the battleground and our political round table breaks down the state of the race. joing me, neera tanden, alex castellanos and kevin madden from the romney campaign after the break. a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies.

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before we get to our political round table we want to go to the battle grounds and give you a sense of the map and where we think the tossups are. our political team -- chuck todd and company -- have redone the map. we are focused here on the battlegrounds, new hampshire, virginia, north carolina, florida. ho ohio, ohio, ohio. iowa, colorado, nevada in the west.

110 electoral votes up for math. what else is notable about this map, these were all obama states from four years ago. nevada, a very tight race. 48 and 46. this is a target of opportunity for governor romney. they think they can pick this one up. we move on. you go to iowa. 44 and 44. keep your eye on the midwest here as an area of vulnerability for the president. colorado 46 and 45. this has to be an important hold. you have independent voters and hispanic voters. the obama team wants to hold on to that. we want to talk with it all with my round table. joining me for the first time, president of the center for american progress, neera tanden. republican strategist alex castellano is here. kasim reed is here and senior advisory for the mitt romney presidential campaign, kevin madden. welcome to all of you. so kasim reed, mayor reed you see the economic reports. you are down in atlanta but around the country advocating on behalf of this president.

was this a low moment for the campaign, a jobs report like this that really put this on the territory that mitt romney wants to fight on? >> i don't think it will be. we all knew this was going to be tough. when i watched the comments from the governor of ohio i think the slogan that mitt romney rolled out where they misspelled america and it said amercia, it should be amnesia. these folks have amnesia. when you talk about barack obama's record. created 4.2 million jobs. folks don't have conversation at all in this debate about the two wars president bush funded and put them on the credit card and not talking about the expansion of health care and the fact that we lost 8 million jobs going into this president's leadership. and to have a conversation without putting those facts on the table is stunning to me. not to add mitt romney's record. going from 36 to 47th in job creation.

everything he said about what a wonderful job he would do because of his experience as an executive he said in massachusetts. the fact of the matter is it didn't happen in massachusetts. >> that was a point that came up in the debate between the governors. similar circumstances and romney did not deliver as governor, did he? in the way he says he would taking over for president obama. >> governor romney came into office there is a $3 billion deficit in massachusetts. he wiped away that deficit. we were as governor kasich alluded to before 51st in job creation and advanced the state to 30th. he advanced it 20 places. 40,000 net jobs created. i think what he did was he came in and changed the culture of the way massachusetts was not working. and everything that governor romney has done whether olympics

or private sector as a businessman has helped turn around malfunctioning organizations. nothing is as big a malfunctioning organization right now as washington, d.c. we have to change the way our outlook is and get back to a more optimistic outlook to creating jobs in this country. that is something where the american people have felt let down by president obama. he promised to change the culture of washington and failed on both. >> so what did we see this week? we saw dueling stunts really. you had the president's campaign and the person of david axelrod talking about the romney record in massachusetts with the failed green energy plan, solyndra, which went belly up, even after some government intervention. this was the exchange this week. >> romney economics didn't work then and it won't work now. >> you can see that it's a symbol of something very different today. it's a symbol not of success but failure.

>> is this the campaign debate that americans have been waiting for? is this shedding light for how tough the economy is? >> i think americans want a real debate on the policies. and i think that should be a debate the president welcomes. essentially the president has put forward a real proposal to create jobs. the problem with mitt romney is that it is not just where he stood but where he stands now. his policies has really double downed on the policies of the bush administration. he is calling for massive tax cuts. we know that has not worked. i think the challenge for mitt romney is also some of the debates become an issue. you go to solyndra on thursday and we find out a company like solyndra that he funded is going belly up on friday. the argument is not about the policies that we are pursuing and we should have a debate on this.

it is the case that mitt romney is proposing solutions that have failed before and will fail again. >> we can go it for tat here. we can also be analytical. be more counter intuitive about this. if you are president obama do you see a need to go more at your record and prop up the record? i think the exchange with kasich and patrick is interesting. the auto bailout has helped ohio. it is not something that governor kasich wants to talk about but the obama campaign knows that is true. we know that's one of the things in ohio. >> let's talk about the politics. political malpractice is for the guy with the 8% unemployment rate to attack the guy with the 4.7 unemployment rate in massachusetts. i think the obama campaign is looking like the campaign that is trying too hard. it's the wrong kind of success. it's mitt romney creates profits. he doesn't create jobs.

and i think what that is doing lessening the president. it's making him look very political. he's not only able to fix the economy but throwing rocks at people who say they have an idea. ultimately, this president has to say, look, i'm going to take you to a better place. a president is moses. shooting the other guy who says i have a great idea, shooting him in the leg ultimately lessons the president. i was surprised to see david axelrod out there, the front man for the government shouldn't be the political guy. it should be somebody of stature. should have been a businessman or a governor. it is all politics all the time and i think it is costing the obama administration. >> i would say i think this election will be about who has the best vision for the country going forward.

i think that is an area where the president -- that is a debate the president should embrace. i think we spend a lot of time on the records and looking at mitt romney's record because he has made it a center piece. i think the issue for both candidates is what you will do to move the economy forward. it is not just a criticism but what you are going to do. i think it should be welcome ground. mitt romney hasn't talked about his policies in the last few weeks, only criticizing the president. if the president has a debate about the policies that mitt romney supports which are not just the policy of the bush administration but far to the right of those. >> do you have a problem with going after bain capital where surrogates have not stuck to the script, notably president clinton who is talking about a sterling business record for governor romney. >> i don't have a problem at all. i have been amazed by it. the fact of the matter is we

know about bain capital because of senator ted kennedy. he was locked in a race in 1994 on his first foray politics. ted kennedy ended up beating the bark off of him and the center piece of his assault was bain. this has been used by mitt romney's competitors in gubernatorial elections and the republican primary. so for democrats to be having a conversation about whether this is fair game is really -- >> but they are having the conversation. >> but you asked me my opinion. you had some other folks' opinion, so i want to give you mine. at the exact same time democrats have been asking the democrat to fight with one hand behind its back. mitt romney is in nevada with donald trump. he let's -- he lets ted new gent make remarks about the country and doesn't say anything. he lets rush limbaugh speak about a woman in georgetown law. we spent eight days -- >> i don't think it is true it hasn't been covered. >> we just had mayor reed talking about something in 1994

that democrats are still talking about in 2012. we have neera practically imploring the president to talk about the future and provide visions for the country. if we had a president who had a record to run on he would do so. governor romney has talked acutely about what he would do to move the country forward. the reason governor romney is in the race is to fix the economy. he has made that very clear. we don't know what president obama would do on a second term. here we are five months away from him asking for a judgment from the american people. >> how does mitt romney differ from george bush? his big proposal is the ryan budget which is slash medicare and medicaid for 30 million people to lose health insurance. that is to the right of where george bush was. on taxes -- >> there will be two names on

the ballot, president obama and governor romney. >> hold on. >> i can tell you how he differs from george bush and so can bill clinton whom we just saw on tape. this president is telling the american people that the biggest problem we have is other americans holding the economy back. and bill clinton was a new business democrat. he wanted to grow the economy. the president's job bill clinton thought was to grow it for everybody and not just redistribute what americans have. the biggest split that's hurting barack obama is a split in the democratic party. it turns out that hillary clinton is still running in the 2008 primary. >> here is the problem for governor romney. he has to create distance from a republican party in trouble. he has to create new opportunities for the coalition of youngs, hispanics and women. he has to do that with the

vision for the economy that is different than how it is going with the other guy. which is basically what his message has been so far. >> all you have to do, i think is look at the world around you and describe it. that is what you are going to see mitt romney and new republicans do. how do we grow the economy? the old way, the way barack obama wants to do it -- send our money to washington and try to grow it top down artificially from washington or take money out of big, dumb, slow government, put it in the american people's pockets and invest and grow the economy naturally and organically. bottom up. there is a new republican agenda. >> that's very different. >> what is the bold economic idea that you would like president obama to run on? you are in a big city. you see the impact of the economy every day. what is the big idea he ought to be running on? >> the big idea he ought to run on is making sure he gets to congress to pass the infrastructure investments we have been talking about for more than two years that republicans and democrats have traditionally agreed upon and get the country

moving again. republicans didn't traditionally vote against infrastructure. we know that infrastructure generates jobs. and facts have to matter in this election. alex referenced mitt romney's 4.7 unemployment. think of the time we were in when mitt romney was governing. he talked about the president at 8.2. the president had to deal with the worst economy in 80 years. he had much tougher challenges than mitt romney ever had. and the fact of the matter is 40 months in to barack obama's presidency jobs were created in massachusetts. 40 months in mitt romney's term as governor 6,000 jobs were created. >> we had a trillion dollar stimulus put into infrastructure and we haven't seen the growth. >> a third of that was tax cuts. >> we were not going to tax our way to prosperity or spend our

way to prosperity. we have to put into place the policies to let us have long term growth. we have to address the deficit problems. this is a president who run up trillion dollar deficits every year in office. these are big problems we have to have. >> aren't we falling into a similar trap? >> the president keeps referring to the congress. i think governor kasich made the point that presidents have to lead. he has mastered the pageantry. >> there is a contrast. governor romney is talking about 6% unemployment if he gets into power as president. you can't know that anymore than the president can know based on the stimulus. >> but you can have the optimism about your policies. go ahead. >> what does that mean? >> i think the problem for president obama is his campaign message has devolved down to this is as good as it gets which -- >> you couldn't be more wrong. >> it leaves mitt romney an opportunity to be moses and say, follow me, we can do better. >> i know there is disagreement

about that point. i want to cover some other topics around the table a little more quickly. first one is gop veepstakes. this caught my eye from the wall street journal piece this week talking about the buzz around rob portman from ohio. the un-palin. the case for ohio is simple. if the goal is to avoid a palin-like experience portman is the un-palin of 2012. his resumé is sterling. no chance his credentials would be questioned. little chance he would hurt the ticket and only a slim chance he would commit a distracting gaff. is this where you see romney going? going the other direction from a game change moment? >> i think romney would be picking the guy with the suitcase with no handle. you want the spot light on barack obama and his economic failure. portman has a problem, george bush. he gives the democrats -- i think somebody to watch would be bobby jindal who is vetted

and out there and has a terrific record. at the end of the day you don't want the vice presidential choice to draw the spot light. >> do you see him as formidable? or a target-rich environment? >> bobby jindal? >> no, no. i'm talking about rob portman. >> i think either portman or ryan allows democrats to make a strong argument about the economic past or future. i think both of those would be very interesting for democrats and allow a lot of fodder. >> kevin, will you give us anything on this? or are you going to clam up? >> i always say that you are smart to ask and i would be very dumb to answer. >> we have a rich tradition recently of people answering. saying what's on their mind here. >> i have a tradition of avoiding those questions. i think it will be a lens to look at governor romney the type of decision he makes. this will be his first decision as potential president. >> when will he make it? >> that i don't have an answer for either. >> we can rule out donald trump. >> i don't know. can we? next up the items on our

list around the table. that's bush back at the white house. the portrait unveiling. this is a rare moment of bipartisanship in washington. it's also humorous, too. listen to the former president with this president. >> i am also pleased, mr. president, that when you are wandering these hauls as you wrestle with tough decisions you will be able to gaze at this portrait and ask, what would george do? >> if only we had a few more moments like that here in washington the place might work better. >> we are going to need more of that to move the country forward. >> this is how he covered with president clinton came back you see similar moments of great humor. this is a rare and exclusive club -- presidents. >> there is a certain generosity of spirit to george bush that does seem to be missing in our politics today.

>> yeah. and i would say one thing we really do miss is president bush had a lot of leadership on immigration issues and really spoke out to have an open tent for latinos. that's been sorely missing. i think it will be a big challenge with mitt romney. >> i get along with him just fine. >> our last item and that is john edwards. a second act for him. the trial wound up this week. a mistrial most counts and acquittal on one. >> this is the last thing i'm going to say. i don't think god's through with me. i believe he thinks there are still good things i can do. >> is there a second act here? >> i hope not. i think that john edwards should do really good things outside the spot light and really not call on any attention for himself for anything.

>> he doesn't have a second run in him? >> god may not be through with him but the american people. >> absolutely. >> mitt romney, the image of romney coming down with the trump plane in the background this week. was this much more cost than worth to raise money with donald trump with the birther nonsense? >> i think people are focused on that. as a campaign you try to ask yourself the question what really matters to the american people. i think it is an absolute distraction. i think it is important that the governor has made it very clear that he disagrees with donald trump on that issue. he is focused on talking about the economy. that is what people are very animated about out there. it's a distraction. >> i just want to say on the trump thing it does speak to a bigger character issue. if you can't stand up to donald trump or rush limbaugh when he is attacking, that is really wrong and just step away from it. it raises questions about the president. we talk about moral character. >> talking about that is one

that the american people grow more and more frustrated about the process. if we talk more about the issues we care about. >> because donald trump -- >> we talk about the economy and growth and versus what is constantly what divides us. or what may not bring us together. >> absolutely. donald trump divides us. >> a much more stronger way than he has. >> final thought on this. >> i think when the economic house is on fire you want to see your president putting out that fire. and all the obama campaign seems to be doing is talking about donald trump and whether it's other peripheral issues that may be important. the house is burning down. let me leave it there. the debate will continue. thanks to all of you. coming up more on what ails washington and what's wrong with our politics in this election year. here for a special conversation i will spend a few minutes with author of the new book, "we can all do better."

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they think america's role in the world is. how are we going to get middle income people making more money. the reality is that the median income in 2010 was the same it was in 1996. that is what it should be about. not the blamefest. >> what should government be doing? is there anything prescriptive that you see that a chief executive could be doing now to fix what appears to be another downslide or, worse, that it is just stagnant growth? >> that is one of the reasons i wrote the book was to give people hope that we can deal with our problems. the private sector non financial corporations have $1.8 trillion on their books in cash and liquid assets. if 20% of that was used to hire

people the unemployment rate would be 5%. we asked ceos why don't you do that they said because of uncertainty and there is no demand. you address the uncertainty with the massive infrastructure program. immediately what you do is say if you hire another worker the government will pay 30% of that as long as you don't lay off a worker. do that for two years. limit it at $50 billion. not a taxpayer dollar would be spent unless a job was created. do that and then get the private sector hiring with the deficit reduction and massive infrastructure. >> you write in the book something that caught my eye which was about what people so dislike about politics in washington right now. this is from the book. you talk about voters are tired of seeing their presidents appear at fund raisers and hedge their bets and compromise their beliefs to raise campaign money. the people are tired of being taken for granted. they yearn for leaders who will level with them and not pander to them. do you see your party, your president in the democratic

party leveling with the american people? what should he be saying or doing that would require sacrifice that would really take on the party? >> i think that he is leveling more than republicans are because he is being honest about taxes. we are not going to reduce the deficit a sufficient amount unless we deal with entitlements, defense and taxes. he's leveling. i think we need to step back and say we need a more comprehensive program to deal with middle class income and most important we need a very specific effort to eliminate or reduce the role of money in politics. because of the supreme court there were massive amounts of money spent in this presidential campaign and congressional and senatorial campaigns. the result is the people don't get the work done in washington that they want done. in 2009 and 2010 the financial industry contributed $318

million to politics. health care industry, 145 and the energy industry 75 million. it should not be a surprise that the financial reform bill was watered down and we did not get a public option to private insurance and did not get around to doing an energy bill. the role of money is corrosive and not giving the american people what it wants. >> you blame the president for not opting out or not staying in? >> it's too easy to say it is the president or the congress. that's the old way. we have to realize here that the power rests with the citizens. in the 1830s when the abolitionists started or when suffragettes said women ought to have a right to vote or the environmental movement in the 1970s. they weren't saying the president doesn't or the house did you want. these were people. >> what changes the dynamic? what breaks the cycle in washington?

>> i think it takes potentially the way it is done in the past if we don't have one party wipe the floor with the others which is what i would like to see the democrats do or bipartisanship a third party would shake the system up with a very specific agenda that is the people's agenda that they want to have done. >> all right, senator bradley, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> we are going to continue our discussion during our "meet the press" take two web extra on our website this afternoon. more from bill bradley on that. alsoyou can watch this week's press pass conversation on our blog. i sat down with the author of the new book "kill or capture, the war on terror and the soul of the obama president." it is at meetthepressnbc.com. if it's sunday it's "meet the press."

rescue workers battle to save a man teetering at the brink of niagara falls. >> i said we have to go get him. >> a dare devil attempts a stunt that goes up in flames. >> this guy -- pummels his own lawyer. and a twist in the story an investigative reporter never saw coming. >> you hear him scream to his wife, honey, get the gun. >> videos that don't get more shocking. >> i pushed your kid. what are you going to do about it. [ explosion ] >> i remember standing there in disbelief. >> or any more