this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. of course, stay with us this morning. the president will be making a statement in the press briefing room, also expected to take a few questions. let's get right to my first reads of the morning. presidential campaign is a marathon, and this is the week mitt romney caught up with the president. not just the national polls have been tightening for a while, but now romney has pulled even in a handful of key areas. most important is money. the president has had a big appraisering advantage, and even had his biggest fund-raising month in may. that didn't matter. romney and the rnc out-raised president obama by $17 million last month, pulling in nearly $77 million. the president is advertising in nine battleground states. iowa, colorado, north carolina, new hampshire, nevada, ohio, virginia, florida, and pennsylvania. well, now romney had only been up in four, then five, now seven. the only two he's not in at this point is florida and pennsylvania. it will be interesting to see if he does go to pennsylvania. then there's governor scott

walker's victory in wisconsin, which the one thing it showed, undeniably, is that the republicans have a ground game that's going to match the democratic ground game. and while important surveys in wisconsin and virginia still had romney trailing, yesterday we had an important surprise for the campaign. in michigan, where a fairly reliable poll over the years, shows the race a dead heat. this morning, romney is out with a new ad, responding to the obama campaign's attack on his jobs record as governor of massachusetts. here's a bit of it. >> the difference is strong leadership. as governor of massachusetts, mitt romney had the best jobs record in a decade. romney reduced unemployment to just 4.7%. he balanced every budget without raising taxes. >> quick fact check there, the unemployment rate in massachusetts was 4.7% in december 2006, which was romney's last full month as governor. but that was higher than the nation's overall rate at the time, 4.4%. and while the ad says that romney balanced the budget

without raising taxes, he raised a whole heck of a lot of revenue via fees as governors. one man's fee is another man's tax. yesterday in st. louis, romney defensed capitalism, though he never used that war, and the attack on the president's economic policy, in moral terms. >> this is not just a failure of policy, it is a moral failure of tragic proportion. >> and he used moral more than once. check this out. >> there's nothing morally right about trying to turn government dependents into a substitute for the dignity of hard work. >> it appears to be a respond to the way the president had been framing the values argument, trying to turn the economy, his economic argument, into a values comparison with mitt romney. by the way, don't be surprised if this argument makes it into a new tv ad for romney soon. we know of at least two romney

camera crews who were there, filming his remarks in st. louis. and as we mentioned, just at the top of the hour, in about later this morning, the president will be making a statement in the brady press briefing room, as well as probably taking a few questions. the statement itself will be on the economy. there's plenty of other stuff to get into, from europe to syria, to potentially the first time he'll respond to what happened in wisconsin, a balance of the economic issue, national security issues, campaign issues, all in one, it's also an attempt to wrest control of the narrative for the end of the week and what's been a pretty tough week for the white house. now, as romney has gotten his campaign sea legs everywhere, in las vegas yesterday, the president turned his attention back to an easier republican opponent. >> sent to congress -- message to congress -- congress -- congress can't just sit on their hands -- congress -- congress -- congress should pass a bill like i've ask them to do -- i've asked congress -- congress -- congress -- congress -- congress

should put their money where their mouth is. >> did you get the point? the las vegas speech was substantively about student loans, but actually about making congress looking, well, as bad as they possibly can look. >> at this make-or-break moment for america's middle class, we can't afford to have congress take five months off. you've got to keep working. you should -- you know, you're not suddenly just sitting around, not doing anything. i've just said to congress, get this done. get it done. get it done. >> the obama campaign is also out with a new ad, which is an attempt to answer the criticism that they're not running on anything. >> the president's jobs plan would put teachers, firefighters, police officers, and construction workers back to work right now. and it's paid for by asking the wealthiest americans to pay a little more. but congress refuses to act. tell congress, we can't wait. >> if the ad looks familiar,

that's because it is. it's very similar to an ad the dnc ran in september of 2011, which also called on congress to get working and pass the president's jobs act. it even features some of the same stock footage, if you will. today at his presser, we expect the president to again call on congress to pass these measures. we'll also make remarks about the economy in europe. one other note, in another attempt to write an off-message week for the obama campaign, former president bill clinton delivered his final, we think, mea culpa last night on the taxes issue. >> i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. it was, what i thought something had to be done on the, on the fiscal cliff, before the election. apparently, nothing has to be done until first of the year. >> i guess that was a mea culpa. you guys decide. and finally, vppalooza. at this hour, conservatives are kicking off cpac chicago, and

the conservative political action conference will feature a number of folks who are getting serious vp speculation and perhaps scrutiny. virginia governor bob mcdonnell, new jersey governor chris christie, louisiana governor bobby jindal will all be there. a little vp-palooza. of course, there'll also be some of those fringe characters that could say things that could provide a bit of a headache for the romney campaign. we'll see how on-message they can keep cpac. rick santorum has made pioint o the fact that he's going from cpac to texas to campaign on bl behalf of a new favorite, tom cruise. yesterday, newherself's best-known backer, rick perry, got quite a response when he tried to bring up the senate race and his number two. >> we need more strong conservatives in texas, and we need more conservative texans in

washington, d.c., including my friend, david duhurst. [ crowd booing ] texas works! >> perry's classic response after his speech, when asked about being shouted down, i thought they were saying "dooo." got to love perry sometimes. he's the former two-term republican governor of new mexico and you've seen him at a republican debate last fall, where he had perhaps one of the more memorable lines, not just of that night, but of the debate season. >> my next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration. >> but just last month, he accepted the libertarian party's nomination for president, and according to his campaign, he'll be on the ballot in november in

at least 47 states. joining me now, the libertarian presidential nominee, gary johnson. governor johnson, good morning. >> chuck, great to be with you. there is a third choice. >> there is a third choice, so i hear. so okay, so, 47 states. that means you've got -- what are eyou missing? >> actually, we're thinking it could well be 50. so i'm going to sit here today and tell you there are going to be three candidates on the ballot in all 50 states. >> the states you're missing here, michigan, oklahoma, and where else? >> there's a question, i guess, with mississippi right now. but if you take michigan, for example, we do have a gary e. johnson from austin, texas, who's a libertarian, who may run as the libertarian the issue. >> so your name will be on the ballot, is what you're saying, but it may not be you? >> none of the bumper stickers change. >> fair enough. all right. you were running as a republican, and i know you were very frustrated. you did get in one of the debates, but you were frustrated by it. you've moved to this third way. are you at all concerned? you've been a small government

conservative for quite some time when you governed new mexico. are you at all concerned that you're going -- that you could just a few thousand votes could tip the election to the president? >> well, i'm thinking it might be the other way around. >> you think you could take more votes away from president obama? >> i'm coming at president obama from the standpoint, let's end the wars we're currently involved in. let's end the drug wars. let's repeal the patriot act. let's really bring about marriage equality, believing that it's a constitutionally guaranteed right. and i come at obama -- excuse me, romney, from the right. let's balance the federal budget now. and that means taking on the entitlements and that means taking on a lot of really difficult decisions that neither of them seem to want to address. >> the biggest hurdle you're going to have is probably going to be financial, because it takes money to sometimes get the attention you need to get to get the poll ratings, then to get into the debates. so help me go from one, two, three here. money? >> well, the pie in the sky, i wouldn't be doing this if there

wasn't a pie in the sky scenario here of winning. and to win, i need to poll at 15% against obama and romney. and when my name is included, when my name is in the polls right now, i'm anywhere from seven to nine between the two of them. so that is a possibility. and there's also the impetus that i think comes with ron paul's candidacy coming to an end. now, he has said that it's -- that he's not going to win the nomination, but i think there are still holdouts, and i think that that will be something that will also come to play in all of this. >> well, you bring up ron paul, isn't that an acknowledgement that you're going to take, that your candidacy is likely to take -- that any votes you take away from the two major candidates, you're more likely taking more votes from the republican side, considering that ron paul really organized the libertarian movement within the republican party. >> well, and so where they have polled, chuck, in the states that they have polled, it's been an absolute mixed bag. in new mexico, i take more votes from obama than i do romney.

>> well, does some of that have to do with name recognition, do you think? some of that have to do with the fact that -- >> well, but more votes from obama. so in several states, they've done this analysis and it's absolutely a toss-up. some states i take a few percentage points from romney, in some states, i take a few percentage points from obama. but most importantly, i think the majority of americans fall in the category of being fiscally responsibility and socially tolerant. i'm in that category. i think, historically, democrats have done really well, or that people are drawn from the democratic party from the standpoint of civil liberties. i think i do better than obama when it comes to civil liberties. i think, historically, people are drawn to the republican party because of dollars and cents. i think i do better than romney when it comes to dollars and cents. and i do base that on the fact that i was a two-term governor of new mexico, and i think i was very successful. >> what are you looking at for a running mate?

>> jim grey, former -- well, a superior court judge retired in california. also former federal prosecutor. really solid -- >> who appointed him to the bench? >> i believe -- i'm not sure. i'm not sure. but very outspoken when it has come to the war on drugs and just a really solid guy. the notion that if i'm elected president, that the vice president would be one heartbeat away, that notion, and that this is a really a solid guy who has also run for the u.s. senate in california as a libertarian. >> former new mexico governor, gary johnson, now the libertarian nominee, thanks for coming in this morning. >> chuck, thanks very much for having me on. >> we'll talk to you again later on down the road. just four days left in the race to secede arizona congresswoman gabby giffords. giffords' former stafford who was injured alongside the congresswoman in last year's shooting, he's fighting to keep

the swing district in their hands. and what brought out boehner's warm and fuzzy side with nancy pelosi. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. as you know, you can watch the president's statement and mini news conference of sorts right here on msnbc just about an hour from now. we'll be right back. hi, i'm phil mickelson. i've been fortunate to win on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit, even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. because enbrel, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu.

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is taking place next tuesday. mr. barber, thank you for coming in. >> thank you, chuck, it's really a pleasure to be with you today. >> all right. i want to get your reaction, and it was the first thing i asked mr. kelly when he was on the show earlier this week, i want to play for you this ad that's being done by an outside group on your behalf, using congresswoman giffords in a different way. here's the ad. >> and to years ago, kelly said this about gabby giffords. >> and now she stands there with that smile and pretends to be some kind of hometown hero. she's a hero of nothing. >> do you really want jesse kelly representing you? >> is that appropriate, considering that his words, when he said this, it makes it -- it implies that it's about gabby giffords after the shooting, when, of course, he said this during the 2010 campaign. is that fair? >> well, i do think, first of all, the video or the commercial has nothing to do with my campaign, as you know. it's done by an outside group

and we have no influence one way or the other in an ad that they do of that nature. and it the does show clearly it was 2010. i think the issues are clearly what i'm trying to focus on is what is happening here, now, in 2012, the southern arizona. and i really want to make sure that anything we put out has to do with the issues that are of importance to some arizonianari. >> so it's interesting, you're okay with that ad running? you haven't asked them the issue you could publicly say, you know, that ad's inappropriate, it goes across the line. i know a lot of newspapers have criticized that ad. >> i'm trying to focus on a positive campaign around the issues myself. you know, there's all kinds of ads on both sides of the fence that probably shouldn't be run, negative ads or, unfortunately, ads that work. and that's why they're used. but i'm trying to make sure our approach is positive. one of the issues, what can i do to solve them? >> you're running to finish the term of your former boss,

congresswoman giffords. do you differ with her on anything? on any specific issue, or is it -- is your message to voters, you're continuing what she ran on, what she believed in, is basically what you believe in? >> well, i think it's important to clarify, you know, people have said to me, we're so glad you're running for gabby's seat. and i've tried to remind them, in the presence of the congresswoman, i reminded the kickoff group that came to my first campaign event that this is not gabby's seat, this is not ron barber's seat, this is the people's seat. and that's one of the things that i really like about the house of representatives. it's a two-year and full accountability to the people, when you come before them, almost right away, before you go back hopefully to serve another term. so for me, it's about going to washington with my own experiences. i'm obviously a different age than the congresswoman, have different life experiences. >> so what is different? what is something -- how is it that -- what are you going to do probably differently than she did? and i'm not asking you to criticize, i'm just simply --

what will be different? >> well, for me, there are some things that need to be done right away that have to do with the affordable health care act, for example. it's far from perfect. and yet there are many good things about it. i'd like to go to congress to be a person who tries to amend and revise the law to make it a better law. my opponent says he would want to repeal it. would throw the baby out with the bath water. when we look at that act, we know that right now, it says that women can not be discriminated against in terms of the cost of health care insurance. that's good. also, it prohibits the insurance companies from saying you can't get insurance if you had a pre-existing condition. and it closes the doughnut hole for many recipients. that's an action i want to take almost right away if i'm able to get bipartisan support, and i hope i can, to make those changes in the bill that are important, but to keep those things that are helpful to the american people and to people of southern arizona.

my opponent has a fully different view. he would throw it out. >> you know, one other thing that happened at the debate, you were asked specifically about your support of president obama. you sort of ducked it. it looked like you ducked it in the debate. your campaign put a clarifying statement on it. but it does seem as if you're looking for distance. do you really think voters, you know, believe that maybe somehow president obama's not your, that this wouldn't be your first choice for a democratic president? what message are you trying to send by creating perceived distance with the president? >> well, the president, obviously, has his own race to worry about. i'm focused on a race that's going to take place in about five days. and the issues that are coming out of this campaign and what i've heard from the voters in arizona are what i'm focused on. in november, when the election is held, i will vote for the president, because i believe his ideas for helping middle class americans are better than his opponent. but i'm really trying to make sure that this race in southern

arizona is about southern arizona. my opponent continually tries to nationalize this race and tries to associate me with bills that i've never had anything to do with. i think if voters of southern arizona want to know, what is the candidate and what is the member going to do for them? that's where i'm trying to stay focused and not get drawn off. >> do you think it's important that you have to draw contrasts with the president? look, he's for this, but i'm not. i'm for "x." is there something specific you can point to where you say, you know what, i disagree with the president on "x"? what is it? >> i don't really want to get into agreeing or disagreeing with the president. because i think what voters have asked me as i've gone across this the district is, what are you going to do to help middle class americans get back to work? what are you going to do to make sure we bring our deficit and debt under control? what are you going to do to make sure that medicare and social security is solvent into the far future? and that's where i'm focused. >> i don't mean to interrupt you, but those are the exact same questions that candidate obama, candidate romney would say they get from voters. >> oh, i'm sure they do, but my

approach is going to be by listening to the people of this district, and trying to be their best representative possible. i've been a problem solver all my adult life, and i want to go to congress to try to find bipartisan solutions to the issues we face. my opponent has some very radical ideas. i believe he would not try to find the common ground, and that's where i'm going to be when i go to congress, trying to find bipartisan support for these issues that are important to my constituents. >> ron barber, candidate in arizona, stay safe on the campaign trail and thanks for coming on. >> thanks, chuck. appreciate where are time. thank you very much. and still ahead, a disturbing report from the pentagon. suicides are surging among u.s. troops, at an alarming rate, folks. all right. but first, today's trivia question, from jenna and barbara, to sasha and malia, there very plenty of presidential daughters of late. so who was the last u.s. president without a daughter? tweet me the answer @chucktodd and @dailyrundown.

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you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. [ dennis ] mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands? here are some other stories that i'm watching this morning. alarming news about the rapid rise of suicides among active duty military personnel. the pentagon reports 154 suicides in the first 159 days of this year. we're not making up that number. it's the most rapid pace for military suicides in the past decade. those statistics, by the way, they don't include information on personal history, such as service records or possible combat deployments or the circumstances surrounding the suicides. syrian activists report today that government troops are shelling a rebel-held neighborhood in the city of homs. they're concerned that the shelling is preparation for a massive incursion into the area. this comes just a day after the u.n. special envoy, kofi annan, acknowledged that his peace plan was not working and warned of an

all-out civil war. and we thought we'd bring you this update on utah senate candidate dan lilenquist. last night his campaign held what he'd billed as a debate with a cardboard cut yacht of hatch. problem was, they didn't have a cardboard cutout of the senator. instead, liljenquist played clips of hatch's statements and made his debate in response. and nancy pelosi was honored and for that, speaker boehner offered kind words for pelosi and embraced her. the two of them are very close personal friends. up next, obama's teams of rivals, they were supposed to be the best and the brightest, and we were supposed to see them a lot. so what happened? we're taking a deep dive on how some of these rising stars had faded into the background and maybe it wasn't their own te

decisions. plus, contrite clinton. something you don't see every day, right? well, his apology, does it end the clinton out of control stories? we'll see. you're you're watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. any way. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

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let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this. well, it all looked great on paper, didn't it? after the big battle for the presidency, the first american president builds a cabinet model, so the president said on abraham lincoln's famous team of rivals. today's deep dive, we're asking, where are they now? >> lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him, into his cabinet. because whatever, you know, personal feelings there were, the issue was, how can we get this country through this time of crisis? and i think that has to be the approach that one takes. >> well, that was the plan the

president-elect at the time talked about on the campaign trail, and once elected, it looked like he was fulfilling his vision in a grand fashion, even if it wasn't quite a team of rivals, it was certainly an impressive collection of political and policy heavyweights inside the democratic party. you had red state governors, his chief rival for the democratic nomination, you had the first african-american attorney general that perhaps had the best resume in history for the job of attorney general. a former bush cabinet official, a rising star from wall street. even a nobel laureate. they were supposed to be the president's voice, recognizable regulars on television, to promote his policies. three years later, though, many of them have simply vanished from the spotlight. so what happened? well, besides secretary clinton, the administration's constant fear about someone going off message has led them to leave certain secretaries off the air waves more than they had initially planned. take defense secretary panetta and his predecessor, robert gates. they both have the pension for

making news whenever they're in front of a microphone. go down the line, and the administration has found reasons to keep their officials out of the public eye. kathleen sebelius, they weren't crazy about her being the one to promote health care reform. secretary chu spent less time talking about energy, and more time answering questions about solyndra. vilsack answered more questions about the firing of shirley sherrod. homeland skater, janet napolitano put her foot in her mouth, so it looked like, when she made the pronouncement just two days after an al qaeda terrorist nearly brought down a detroit-bound plane when she said this. >> what we're focused on is making sure that to the air environment remains safe, that people are confident when they travel, and one thing i'd like to point out is that the system worked. everybody played an important role here. >> attorney general holder spent well over a year caught up in

the debate where to try khalid sheikh mohammed, and even after that issue was put to bed, holder found himself in another controversy, over the fast and few furious gun tracking operation that has gone through a couple of administrations. it came up yesterday on capitol hill. >> have you and your attorneys produced internally the materials responsive to the subpoenas? >> we believe a that we have responded to the subpoena -- >> no, mr. attorney general, you're not a good witness. a good witness answers the question asked. so let's go back again. >> grandstanding much? anyway, for the first two years of the obama administration, the white house all but admitted that they've botched the way the cabinet was handled. in fact, agency heads complained the white house was a locked fortress with them, on the outside looking in. in 2011, incoming chief of staff, bill daley, he promised to repair those relations and, quote, see these people more.

bill daley said, i'll make sure of it, but we didn't see them much because he was also gone within a year. fast forward, a look at their schedule shows a half a dozen of them including duncan, salazar, solis, salazar, and sebelius have taken a good chunk of time talking to voters. joining me now, todd purda. one thing we didn't mention is that there are two cabinet secretaries that are allowed to basically say and do whatever they want, and it seems it's arne duncan in education and shaun donovan in hud. what did you find out? what happened? >> why they have that license? >> no, no, but what happened with everybody else? >> well, i think that pearl, the white house staffs over the past 50 years have gotten much bigger and the control has gotten much more centralized. and we know from the 2008 campaign, this no drama obama team is very tightly rolled.

and i think it's fair to say that the president relies on his core team of white house advisers more than he does on the cabinet secretaries in terms of being privy counselors. they may have influence in their departments, but it's a fiction that he calls in the cabinet to discuss the most important issues. or that he'd ask the secretary of hud what he'd do about afghanistan. >> let's compare the other administrations, bush, he was close to one or two cabinet secretaries and that was about it. >> bush 43 was that. but as recently as jfk, he would call in bob mcnamara, secretary of defense, to talk about issues in the economy more broadly. and of course his brother, the attorney general, he talked to everything about. fdr had people who outside their lane of responsibility, heir hopkins was briefly the commerce secretary, but one of fdr's most important aides, his key liaison with churchill, so on and so forth. so it's been a really long time since that kind of cabinet existed, but in some ways, obama promised he would create that. >> they want to dispatch them

more on the campaign trail, but are they going to be as effective as they could be, had they been bigger forces of personality. look at a ken salazar who, okay, some people say he's not the charismatic tv guy, but he's from a battleground staid, colorado. tom vilsack, battleground state, iowa. >> and yes when he was governor romer's basically resources secretary in colorado 20 years ago, he played a key role, because politics in colorado is resources. so he played a key role in advising the governor on all manner of issues that affected the state of colorado. and the interesting thing, as you point out, a lot of these cabinet secretaries are good politicians. you can't get a better politician than janet napolitano, kathleen sebelius. >> think about how she won in that state. >> absolutely. and she's also a classic executive, she's been the u.s. attorney, the attorney general, she's run things. so -- and she gets pretty high marks for running homeland security. >> and i want to go back to, because that's the thing. tom vilsack gets high marks, partnership on capitol hill for

how he's running ag, as you said with michael chertoff, his predecessor, regularly praises napolitano. you do say they get plenty of kudos for how they're running the departments. eric holder is very popular in the department himself, because it seems he's from the department, a history of that, but none of that is translated -- >> they don't come on the sunday shows, don't sell the administration's plan. secretary sebelius was not front and center in selling health care and is not front and center in defending it. if this public understood what they were doing their departments, and another good one, ray lahood from illinois, a republican -- >> and they actually do pitch him more often in transportation, and he does a lot of local media. more so than others. >> and he's been key on those things like the intolerance for airline delays on the on the ground and those kinds of things. but it's really an interesting reflection of this president's personality. one former senior adviser told me, look, he relates to the cabinet the way he relates to the rest of the world. he's a very introverted person

and doesn't need people. >> do you sense frustration in the cabinet? >> probably less frustration now, but definitely frustration in the first couple of years. remember what bob reich in the clinton years entitled his memoir, "locked in the cabinet." i think it's a thankless task, in some ways. >> todd purdham, thank you. coming up next, our friday political panel here to wrap up what was a very busy week and what could be a very busy friday. but first, white house soup of the day, a nice day for this, sit outside, have a little bit of gazpacho, and yet, none of us will be able to do that. don't forget, you can always follow the show on facebook. you're watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. we'll be right back. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief.

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the suspect in the martin luther king jr.'s assassination was arrested in london. ray, of course, was extradited to the united states, where he confessed to dr. king's murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. ray recanted just days later, arguing he was coerced into a guilty plea. he spent decades seeking a trial, but to no avail. james earl ray died behind bars in 1998. well, after another week of going off message, bill clinton is trying to erase doubts that he actually supports president obama's re-election. here's the former president, citing his pro-obama credentials. >> in 2008, when he ran for president and defeated hillary in the primaries, i did 40 events for him. 40, in the election. in 2012, i have done these major fund-raisers, i have spoken up for him wherever i could, i have told people repeatedly, i think he's done a good job, a really good job under very trying

circumstances, and better than some people give him credit for. and i am strongly committed to his re-election. >> perry bacon heads our panel today with chris cillizza, an msnbc contributor from "the washington post" and jackie kucinich. perry, let me start with you. you know, we are -- why are we so fascinated with this bill clinton/barack obama relationship? it's not like george w. bush is just telling everybody, you know, that he loves mitt romney. in fact, there has been some questions about how into romney was the bush family for a while. ronald reagan and george h.w. bush. i mean, this is not new that presidents of the same party don't always seem to be perfectly on message. they don't like being treated like a staffer, do they? >> we were so fascinated by him, because we were so fascinated by them in 2008.

hillary, bill, obama was a great story. i think bill clinton is a net positive as a surrogate. the election is about the economy, and who has more credibility about improving the economy than bill clinton. i still think he's not a great figure for this new media environment where he really struggles with staying on message, but i think he'll help. >> one of the things nobody talks about when they're talking about clinton, oh, what's he going to do, he's just never operated in this media environment. >> it's so different. remember, the last time he ran an active campaign for president himself was 1996. that was before -- >> when the budget -- >> for twitter, before youtube -- >> when the budgets for political campaigns was less than what was spent in wisconsin, for president. >> you know who else is someone like that? joe biden. assist similar kind of vibe. they are not made for the current media environment. >> but joe biden's had practice. >> he has, but his formative years are pre-twitter, pre a

camera in your face, pre trackers all the time. it's equal parts what you mention mentioned, chuck, i'm the former president of the united states. i'm going to the say what i want to say, and a little bit of not understanding that every word you say will be parsed, will be shortened, will be used. >> let me part the president, one of his may ya cullpas yesterday, that didn't sound like a mea culpa, that sounded like a, hey -- >> hey, i'm just saying the facts. >> i mean, that was not a mea culpa. >> no, it wasn't, and getting him to dial that back, it doesn't even matter at this point if he dials it back, it's out there, and that's another part of this not being used to the cycle. it's out there already, he can apologize all he wants, but at the end of the day, that is recorded and it's going to be in an ad. >> let me throw something else out there, we brought it up earlier, so cory booker and

president clinton are off message, but jeb bush, when he praises president obama on education, which differs from mitt romney, who did a whole event and speech, trashing ft.'s education policy, when lisa murkowski says the solyndra attacks are just a little bit, you know, out of bounds, because, hey, we still need these programs, how's that not off-message for mitt romney? >> those are off-message, the booker thing, particularly, everything they had done was about bain capital, and he says, oh, that doesn't matter. he's talking about tax policy overall and the policy overall. he rarely says mitt romney's strategy is wrong. so i think it's different, but a little bit -- >> i was just going to say, where's this media bias that everybody's talking about? right? >> how about marco rubio on immigration? the guy -- >> any governor that talks about job increases, who's a republican. it kind of -- >> bottom -- >> are on the message -- >> on the stimulus? >> they're all as off-message, and yet it's the -- >> chuck, stop distracting from

the story line. >> we'll see. you know, one other thing i want to bring up, the other big story of the week, you wrote and we wrote about it yesterday, the president's had a bad week, okay, trying to change the narrative, get back in control of things with the statement and questions he's going to take. but let's not underwrite the fact that mitt romney caught up, he became -- he's been even in the polls, but jackie, money, tv ads, organization, this is -- this is mono a mono now, two evenly matched campaigns. >> we started to see that in the polls prominently in the last, what, couple weeks, last week or so? yeah, this going to be tight all the way through. targeting a miniscule number of voters. it's not big cities, it's medium sized cities. talking about a small group of people. it's going so be slugging it out to the end. >> i come back to this, president obama spent $750 million in 2008. mccain totalled $239 million.

no chance there's a $500 million gap between the two pending. can he win a race where he's equally spent or outspent. >> the president will be outspent. >> maybe it won't be significant but he's going to be outspent. we asked, who was the last u.s. president without a daughter? i tell you, a reader brought this up to us. answer, dwight d. eisenhower, his second son, john eisenhower, the oldest living presidential child. he turns 90 this august. if mitt romney is elected he has all sons and no daughters. i thought it was an interesting one. how about that streak of presidents and daughters? we'll be right back. ♪ spread a little love today ♪ ♪ spread a little love my way ♪

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let's bring back the panel. i had gary johnson on today. and he talked about getting ron paul people but, boy, the paul people made a statement, perry,

yesterday. the paul family, when rand paul said last night i'm for mitt, he said he's for mitt romney. >> it does send -- the paul people that does need to send a message. it's more important for romney than maybe we realized. >> i think it is. it's more important rand paul is looking to 2016, looking for a speaking slot, it's good for his politics. rand paul's been to iowa and thinking if romney does not win, he'll be on the first plane after the election. >> who gets the better speaking slot, rand or ron? >> i think still think rand will, because i think -- >> i do, too. >> i think -- i think ron will speak, but i think they worry about ron giving a long treatise on foreign intervention or something. >> or something. >> they don't want. rand -- this is why rand is a serious candidate potentially. >> shameless plugs, jackie. you've got the prop. >> i have a prop. congressional women's softball

game. >> i love it. >> reporters, members, be there. going to be great. youngsurvival.org. >> i want to always say new york one is more shameless than me ever. >> the book. >> this is the book. gospel according to the fix. if you don't like me, it has a blush by someone named chuck todd at the top of it. >> you smelled his name correctly. >> getting married july 28th. my fiancee is looking for a location. she's picking out the food. have fun. >> triple crown, watch it on nbc. i'll have another, if he wins it, the last time a triple crown winner in a presidential year, it was 1948. citation. whatever that means. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." see you right back here on monday. coming up next, chris jansing will bring you the president's statement live at 10:15 where we expect him to take a few questions. keep it here msnbc.

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. something big developing now. in 15 minutes the president will make a statement from the white house focusing on jobs and the economy, and he might take questions from reports. it comes on the heels of a difficult week for his presidential campaign. nbc's mike viqueira at the white house for us this morning. good morning. what are we going to hear, and why now? >> reporter: it's interesting, for months west wing officials and campaign officials said, they warned this is going to be a close election, closer than democratic big shots and fund-raisers and politicos had been predicting all along. over the last couple of days we've had evidence this is a tight election, and the president's going to step into a briefing room now among heightening concern among democrats. he's going to making a statement, it's not a full-fledged press conference, as you reported, chris. he may be taking questions after it. he's echoing many themes he's been hitting in his message events and his campaign events across the country, his to-do list he wants congress to get off