during the course of the entire period, none of them spoke directedly to sandusky in a forceful way to ask, what are you doing, what's going on here, no one confronted him. the last point is that there was a failure to protect the 2001 victim, a boy who was seen to be abused, raped, in the showers at a penn state football facility and there was a complete failure to protect him and that lead to jeopardizing his safety and the safety of other children here at this campus. again, it's hard to imagine how this report could be more damning. not only penn state football, but the whole university. >> one of the words i was waiting for during that news conference with louis freeh, and i just started read iing the report and i didn't see the words in the first few pages, i didn't see the word cover-up. did you hear that used today at all used by louis freeh? >> reporter: yes, yes.

cover-up, conspiracy, he stopped short of because it's a legal term, but he left no doubt that there were active things done. there's a trail of e-mails, a trail of conversations that they were able to identify by talking to hundreds of witnesses that clearly showed that these four men, in his opinion, actively did things to conceal and protect the university. louis freeh said a number of times that their motivation was to avoid bad publicity. not to protect children. he said the culture here was about protecting adults and not protecting children. so maybe the word cover-up or conspiracy wasn't used because of the legality that that all implies, and he was saying he was not laying out a legal case. that was up to a grand jury. but in his mind, it's clear that these four individuals, key leaders at this university, actively did things to protect jerry sandusky. >> the paterno family taking

issue with many of the allegations made. some of the things they wanted to point ospecifically saying je paterno did not cover up. he did not know sandusky was a pedophile. paterno can't speak for himself, but what does all of this mean for potential criminal charges against the other penn state officials? >> reporter: well, it's hard to know exactly. there was some cooperation with the attorney general and the louis freeh team and his investigators. shultz and curley face perjury char charges for how they participated in the grand jury investigation. graham spanier, he does not face criminal charges, but it's been long thought he may. and there sure seems to be ammunition in this report for a grand jury to look at the term and what mr. spanier actively did and did not do.

this is the beginning of perhaps many more things to come in a criminal environment as well. >> nbc's ron allen reporting live for us this morning from state college. thank you, sir. 24 hours now after the boo heard around the country, joe biden set to get the last word before today's largest civil rights organization. what will he say to defend the first african-american president to african-american voters? joining me this morning, ben jose, president and ceo of the naacp. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> we should let folks know. we're getting word that the vice president's motorcade is pulling up right now. so we should hear from him shortly. if that does happen, pardon me in advance we'll have to cut you off. what do we hope to hear from the vice president today? >> folks want to hear specifics about the next term, what their plan is for really pushing for,

continuing to rebuild our country and to take it more financially inclusive. a lot of folks there weighing heavy on their mind. i'm here in washington because my wife and i had a new boy last week. when i was down there earlier this week, folks want to hear how you're going to get joblessness down. we want to hear and push forward further on the foreclosure crisis. that's where we are right now. >> again, while you're speaking, you probably can't see this, but vice president biden is on the stage there. we assume he's going to be introduced here. so when he starts speaking, we'll go to him. but you can probably hear, even if you can't see the thunderous applause he's getting there in houston, texas. vice president joe biden, someone in the higher levels of the naacp calling joe biden a friend of the naacp.

mitt romney, was he a friend to the organization yesterday? >> i think romney unfortunately really set biden up well here. he came there and used the phrase repeal obama care. he signalled disrespect to the president. that's not the way to win votes with this crowd. it felt like they were being used and that was just, i think, he could have done much better. >> what would you have preferred to hear from mitt romney yesterday? >> we wanted to hear what his plan was. how are you going to make it easier for small businesses to grow and flourish? deal with the credit crunch. >> you're fine. keep going. >> what's the one, two, three to deal with jobs. how are you going to create jobs in our community? talk about, for instance, the common ground between the civil rights community and the tea party in states like texas around criminal justice reform? some sort of bridge. he came there and felt like he

intended to burn a bridge. that's not good. >> the vice president, it did sound at least as if he received tepid applause when he talked about traditional marriage and also about school choice as well. >> yeah. look, there are some issues there where some people in the audience will agree with him. where he got the best applause is when he talked about core values. talked about faith and family and the need to educate all of our children. those things are always going to get applause. but what folks wanted to hear is specifics. for romney, the challenge is how does he get the double-digit support? for booid skbiden and obama, ho do they get the folks who turned out in 2008 who may have never

turned out before? those folks need to hear specifics -- >> ben, i'm going to have to cut you off. vice president biden has been introduced. he's taking the stage now. taking the stage to a rousing applau applause. let's listen in. ben, standby. i want to talk to you about the speech on the other side. >> you know what they say, flattery is all right as long as you don't inhale. you keep this up, i'll start inhaling. it's good to be home. it's good to be home. it's good to be back. ladies and gentlemen, madame chair, as we used to say in the senate, if you excuse the point of personal privilege, where's delaware? i want you to know something. ladies and gentlemen, i'm a lifetime member of the naacp. [ applause ] and there's an old expression.

you go home with those who brung you to the dance. they brung me to the dance. i'm a united states senator and a vice president of the united states for one reason. because i was educate d. i was educated by lewis l. redding. i was educated by reverend maurice mouier and i want through the battle with mouse. mousey, are you out there? how are you doing, man? all right. mouse and i go back a long way to the days when i was a public defender. even before that when the days i was one employee on the east side. mouse got my back a bunch of times. it's so, so good to be with you all. i want to thank you all for your leadership, for your friendship,

and again, be personal for your loyalty. it is not an exaggeration were it not for the leadership of the naacp, for the men and women who educated me when we sit over in reverend wright's church as we were talking about segregation. remember those days? i learned so much. i learned so much. and i owe so much. but ladies and gentlemen, as much as i enjoy it, this is not about me. this is about another office. this is about the presidency. [ applause ] this is about more than any other office in the land, the

presidency is about character, the character of your convictions. whether you put kocountry above politics. from the very moment that barack obama took his hand off that bible on that cold january day on the mall, he's done just that. he's put country first. [ applause ] when the economy was about to go over the cliff, i watched him make some of the toughest decisions any president has had to make since franklin d. roosevelt. he saved the nation's financial system and in doing so, he prevented a worldwide depression. he was right. we need a financial system to function. he rescued the automobile industry. it was not popular. it was not popular.

but it was critical and he was right. saving a million jobs and creating 200,000 new jobs in the automobile industry. general motors now leads the world again and chrysler is the fastest-growing country in america. this is the man who made the call to go after osama bin laden. it was a bold decision. a bold decision with profound risks for our warriors as well as his presidency. but he made it and he made that decision on his own. bin laden is dead and america is more secure because of this m man's decision. he passed the affordable care act, a goal strived for by presidents starting with teddy roosevelt. it required him early on to use up almost all of his political

capital. he prevailed where no president had done before. he was right. he was right. it cut $100 billion from the federal debt over the the next ten years, providing access to affordable health care to 30 million americans, 8 million black americans who never would have had insurance. this is a man, this is a president who has the character of his convictions. and almost never since we have taken office during this entire time did the republican congress reach across the aisle to help. on the recovery act, which kept

us from sliding further into a depression, only three republican senators and not one house member voted for it. on the affordable care act, no republican in the senate and none in the house on the final vote. but it wasn't just in the big signature issues. it was on the easy, obvious things where we got no cooperation. extending the payroll tax. only seven republicans initially voted for it. equal pay, three republicans voted for it in the house. when we attempted to raise the debt limit to maintain the full faith and credit of the united states, not a single republican met the responsibility of meeting that requirement. resulting in a negotiation that brought us to the brink of disaster ultimately causing

america's credit rating to be lowered for the first time. but it wasn't until later, folks, it wasn't until later that we learned that this was a plan, it was a plan from the outset. according to a recent book by a respected author robert draper, he stated in a meeting the night of inauguration, according to draper, republican leaders from paul ryan to eric cantor, they gathered. mccarthy is reported to have said if you act like you're a minority, you're going to stay a minority. we have to challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign. newt gingrich, who was also there, said, and he was

profeting, you will remember this as the day the seas of 2012 were sewn. well they were seeds of obstruction. later mitch mcconnell just said it out loud when talking about lessons he'd learned from history. the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be a one-term president. not to get us out of this recession, not to promote jobs, not to do the things that needed to be done, but make barack obama a one-term president. and folks, their discipline is amazing. they have never let up. but neither has my guy. neither has president barack obama. he has not given up.

he continues, he continues to be driven by the character of his convictions. and folks, in the end, that's what the presidency is all about. your character, your convictions, and one more important thing. it's about your vision for the future of america. and here the candidates for president have fundamentally different visions for the future of this country. by the way, i think mitt romney is a fine family man. i believe he's driven by what he believes. but the differences are so basic about how we view the future of america. let me give you just a few examples. an education, we see education

as central to the vision of how do we ensure america throughout the 21st century. we see education as the single most important criteria for minority children. we see education, we see a future where once again america has the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. a future where graduation rates aren't because of your background. a future where everyone, everyone has access to education beyond high school because 6 out of 10 jobs in the coming decade are going to require more than a high school diploma. a future where everyone can find a decent job, where quality early education is available to our children, increasing the

chances they will succeed in school, where class sizes are small so kids can get personalized attention they need, where we demand more of our teachers and we treat them like they are professionals. high standards and pay equal to other professions. look, education doesn't play a central role in the romney-republican future vision of america. it's on the back burner. it's not a priority. you doubt me, just look at their budget for the future. massive cuts in early education. the one thing all educators agree on is the central, most important initiative to deal right up front, right up front with the achievement gap. elimination of the tuition tax

credit for families, cuts in pell grant scholarships for children of low-income families, a cut of $2.7 billion, cuts in special education funding. in my view, backing away from the proposition we have held for years and years that children should be educated to the degree which they are educatable. cuts by $2.2 billion. cuts in job training. just listen to what they say, what he says. the effort to reduce classroom size may actually hurt education more than it helps. tell that to all those private schools. tell that to all those parents. energy. we envision a future where clean, renewable energy

represents an increasingly large share consumed in america. an america that is energy independent. we see a nation that breathes cleaner air where our cities are not polluted. where asthma doesn't claim the lives of african-american children because of the environment in which they live. romney sees it a different energy future. they are not a priority. where romney's allies in the congress impose any incentives to invest in clean energy. a tax cut even they acknowledge they don't need. women's rights. we see an america where no woman pays more for health care than any man in america. [ applause ] where working women have access to quality, affordable child

care, where woman receive equal pay for equal work. [ applause ] we see a future where the barriers are removed for women and girls who want to participate in science, technology, engineering and the math fields. where the violence against women act, the proudest achievement of my career, is not only law but part of american culture. where the government doesn't make choices for women, where every woman has access to contraception and family planning if she desires it. in short, we see an america where our daughters have every, and i mean every opportunity our sons have. [ applause ] governor romney has allies in the congress see a different future for women in america.

the governor isn't sure what his position is on the violence against women act. he's not sure whether or not the law that passed was good. but he is certain of what his position is on roe v. wade, overturn it. planned parenthood, get rid of it. he's certain that any employer should be able to decide whether or not to make contraception available in their health care plans. where working women lose access to quality child care. where social policy that is basically a throwback to the '50s. we see an america where hiv is a thing of the past. where infant mortality is drastically reduced. that's why we continue to invest in basic research. the research universities, romney sees a different future where he cuts funding for the nih and the national science

foundation. health care, we see a future where everyone has access to affordable health care. where seniors have access to prescription drugs at a lower cost. where they have access to preventive care making their lives more livable and reducing costs. where insurance companies cannot deny coverage because of a preexisting condition. where there are no limits on insurance policies, where children can stay with their parents on their policy until they are 26, where medicare is guaranteed and medicaid is expanded. [ applause ] where no american faces the prospect of bankruptcy just because they get sick.

romney and his allies see health care a different way. controlled by the insurance companies. where pregnancy is a preexisting condition, where coverage can be taken away if you get sick or hit your limit, where medicare is voucher rised, 19 million people cut off of medicaid, where 30 million americans will have to wait for another generation before they have a chance for affordable, decent health care. on the tax system, we see a system where everybody pays their fair share. where the middle class tax cut is maintained and where no one making $1 million a year or more pays a lower percentage than middle class and working-class families. where the college tuition tax cut is made permanent. where the earned income tax

credit and the child tax credit are preserved. where everyone, and i mean everyone, has skin in the game and no one gets played for a sucker. [ applause ] the tax code that governor romney and his allies envision continues to be skewed to help the very wealthy. he preserves the bush tax for the wealthiest among us. $530 billion of that tax cut over the next ten years going to just 120,000 households in america. while we cut and eviscerate all these other programs, while the debt continues to climb, but in addition, he proposes a $1.6 trillion tax cut, the people who

can qualify are those who make $1 million or more. he eliminates college tuition tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and the child tax credit are cut. the result? 2.2 million african-american families will see a tax increase if he succeeds. that's a fact. in foreign policy, we see a future where we, we, the president and i, see a future where america leads by the power of example as well as the example of its power. [ applause ] where the democracies of the world join to share the burden of maintaining world peace, where we continue to reduce nuclear arms around the world, where where responsibility is turned over to the afghans and

american troops can start to come home. [ applause ] governor romney and his allies see a very different future for america's involvement in the world. one that still has 30,000 combat troops in iraq. remember he criticized us for bringing them home? said 30,000 combat troops should remain. where we set no date for leaving afghanistan. we stay and he doesn't say how long. the new arms control treaty with russia endorsed by every former secretary of state, secretary of defense, where he said he would have not proposed it and would have voted against it. and i suspect means where he would abandon it. where russia is viewed, in his mind, as the greatest

geopolitical threat america faces. where in the future we once again decide to go it alone, this guy's vision of the future of american foreign policy is mired in the cold war and the cold war is over. [ applause ] on civil rights, the reason for our existence, and by the way, i want to remind everybody of one thing. remember, remember what this at its core was all about. why this organization at its core was all about, it was about the franchise. it was about the right to vote. because when you have the right to vote, you have the right to

change things. and we, the president and i and eric and all of us, we see a future where those rights are expanded, not diminished. where racial profiling is a thing of the past. where access to the ballot is expanded and unincouple bered. where there are no distinctions made on the basis of race or gender in access to housing and lending. so much more. did you think we'd be fighting these battles again? i was chairman of the judiciary committee for almost 17 years as a ranking member. we went through these battles.

i didn't think, i didn't think we'd be back. i remember working with republicans, republicans, and by the way, this ain't your father's republican party. remember working with republicans on motor voter on expanding the franchise on early voting, on voting by mail, some of these were republican ideas. but this is not the republican party view today, nor romney's. they see a different future where voting is made harder, not easier. where the justice department is even prohibited from challenging any of those efforts to suppress

votes. i know you know it, but i'm not sure everybody does. the house of representatives republicans voted affirmatively to prevent the justice department from even investigating whether or not there was voter suppression. folks, there's a lot more to say, but this is preaching to the choir. let me close, my friends, by saying, i mean this sincerely, just close your eyes and imagine. imagine what the romney justice department will look like. imagine when his senior advisor

on issues is robert boric. imagine those incredibly important positions of justice. imagine, and i mean this, this to me is one of the most critical issues in this election, imagine what the supreme court will look like after four years of a romney presidency. folks, this election, in my view, is a fight for the heart and soul of america. [ applause ] these guys aren't bad guys. they just have a fundamentally different view. the best way to sum up the president's view, my view, and i think your view, is we see

america where in the words of the scripture, what you do unto the least of my brethren you do unto me. as president obama says, we are our brother's keeper, we are our sister's keeper, we have an obligation. and as i said, i believe this election will come down to character, conviction, and vision and will not surprise you, i don't think it's even a close call. so it's time, it's time for the naacp to do what it's always done, what it did for me, a young kid in delaware, inspire a generation to stand up, make our case, stand our ground, and make real our vision for america. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you. [ applause ]

>> all we missed there was the love offering and communion. vice president joe biden rendering a sunday sermon there in houston, texas. he ended with scripture, he started with thunderous applause and between the two, he hit on everything from the president, as he put it, bailing out the auto industry, saving the banking industry, saying bin laden is dead and america is more secure because of this man. he spent a great deal of time drawing a sharp contrast between what a romney presidency would look like with regards to education, with regards to the supreme court, with regards to energy as well. and you have to wonder if the white house sent joe biden to houston because he may have done a little bit better with that

audience. initial thoughts on the vice president's comments, good sir? >> you certainly couldn't do better with our crowd than that. he hit all the points. he even got into talking about racial profiling, which is something if you go back 12 years, george bush campaigned against driving while black. so it reminds people how important it is to have people who have courage who can actually see what's happening at the street level and respond to it with force and with vision. he talked about voting rights. he did a smart thing at the beginning. he reminded people that he was a street fighter. he fought in the streets of wilmington with them for justice. and, i guess, think for a second about what if jack kemp had given the speech the day before. that's what the republicans should be thinking about now. who is their jack kemp? who is their person who has

street kred and how do they get them out on the trail? they have seen to have run most of those folks out of the party. it will be very hard to go toe to toe with somebody like joe biden. >> want to bring in david corn. good morning to you. i want to start with sophia. regardless of your politics, the message that we just saw and heard from joe biden versus the message that we saw and heard yesterday from mitt romney, politics aside, it's the fire in the belly that we just saw and heard from joe biden. that's the knock against mitt romney. you have never seen or heard a romney speech like that. >> yeah. i mean, i think that's right. vice president biden was masterful today. he connected. and i thought the way that mitt romney ended his remarks yesterday, he started to connect

was probably the way he should have started his remarks. and i just don't think you're going to get that fire in the belly from mitt romney even if he were in front of the national rifle association. but i agree with what ben has said. i was a republican for 20 years. i don't mind saying that. and jack kemp was the reason i became a republican. i met him in college in 1988. it was my sophomore year in college. basically, jack kemp had street kred and he could talk to the african-american community. he was active. he cared about the issues. and there's the connection that you don't see with today's republican party. and i think that yesterday what governor romney did for himself was probably help himself with those independent white voters and moderate republicans like myself who are looking for some signal that the gop frankly -- >> sophia, yesterday was it as some made it out to be, was it a

ruse by the romney campaign? >> i'm not in governor's romney heart, but he was sincere to go there. he was genuine in saying if i become president, you'll be invited to the white house. i'll come back. he extended good will. he was insere. but i think the gop doesn't get it on the messaging. they are clueless. and i'm saying someone who was active in gop politics. and someone who was a moderate that walked away because there was no connection with the issues that matter to maerk. that's where the problem is. >> david, go ahead. >> this is not a messaging problem. this is now the essence, the core of the republican party. when you have republicans coming out and saying we're for voter i.d. laws because that's going to elect mitt romney and suppress african-american voters, it's pretty clear where the republican party is. not one republican figure has come out and tried to shame that

person. jack kemp would have done that. but there's no jack kemp. there's not even a shadow of jack kemp. this party has made a decision. they are out there and going to be suppressing votes and they don't care about these issues. they would rather cut government spending and throw hundreds of thousands of kids off head start. that's a policy decision. >> david, i don't know that i agree with that. i think that governor romney came yesterday and i think he did well with his economic message. where he got himself in trouble is when he started talking about obama care. it's not the republican party has made a decision. the republican party has just drifted towards being very conservative on issues that really disconnect from those issues where people are. . >> look at what newt gingrich did during the campaign. he called barack obama a food stamp president. no republican criticized him for that. that was a racist ting way of

going about it. so the party has decided they don't care if people within the party view those things. >> david, i'm going to cut you off. standby for me. we're going to continue this conversation after the break. i also want to talk about the narrative with regards to the tax returns and bain capital as well. ben, thank you for your time this morning. next, we're going to talk truth or dare. the romney campaign calling the president a liar over the claims regarding bain and outsourcing while the obama campaign and democrats turn up the heat over mitt romney's tax returns. and there's a "boston globe" report that the romney campaign is fiercely hitting back against. it's all about when romney left bain capital. it's an important decision. you know what i love about this country? trick question. i love everything about this country! including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this great land of ours has to offer like demolition derbies.

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regularly drinking coffee may lower your risk of skin cancer. an analysis of more than 100,000 people showed that the more coffee you consume the lower the risk for contracting the most common form of skin cancer. caffeine appears to be the agent lowering the risk. it is being called the potential game change perp "the boston globe" reporting today that mitt romney stayed at bain capital three years longer than previously said he had. nbc news has not independently confirmed this information. the globe's report out on the same day the romney campaign released a new ad challenging the obama accusations. >> when a president doesn't tell the truth, how can we trust him to lead? the obama outsourcing attacks,

misleading, unfair and untrue. there was no evidence that mitt romney shipped jobs overseas. >> let's bring in today's panel sophia nelson and david corn. thank you for sticking around. david, the romney campaign releasing a response about an hour and a half ago to this "globe." the article is not accurate as bain capital has said, as governor romney has said, and has been confirmed by fact checkers, romney left bain capital in february of 1999 to run the olympics and had no input on investments or management at that point. david, you reported something similar. if the sec documents say one thing, the romney campaign says another, what's the truth? >> well, that's the big

question. you're right, myself and josh march shall did stories on a week or two back that covered some of the same ground. but the big point here is that there's lots of documentary evidence showing mitt romney was involved with bain long after february of '99. did he sign those documents and lie and say things that were false? we just don't e know. the romney campaign keeps stone walling. and i have to say because i'm in the middle of all this, i have another story out this morning, people can go to my twitter feed, but that story breaks the news that mitt romney, when he was at bain, no question about it it, he was at bain making decisions, he invested millions of dollars in a chinese firm that was trying to make profits by taking the outsource jobs and manufacturing that u.s. companies were shipping to china. so they were the recipient of

outsourcing. the romney campaign has yet to respond to that part of the story. i hope they do soon because it shows he was trying to make money off chinese companies trying to take advantage of u.s. outsourcing. >> even calling this report, let's talk about this narrative. yesterday you've got nancy pelosi calling for him to release more tax returns. hailey barber did the same thing earlier this week. you have the car garage and his vacation home in california, word of these offshore accounts. this entire narrative that continues to be woven here, at what point can team romney say something that pushes back against this or can they? is this the narrative that's going to exist until november? >> i think a couple things. one, i think that he should release the tax returns. anybody running for the presidency should just put all thundershower finances on the

line, open disclosure. i think that's fair and reasonable. i think it helps the romney campaign have more credibility. >> do you think they will do it though? >> i can't tell you. they should. bain is becoming the bain of the existence of the romney campaign, pun definitely intended. the fact of the matter is they are going to have to get their arms around around what governor romney has done, what he has invested in, what he hasn't invested in. david and i were talking about this in the greenroom earlier, the situation becomes a choice whether or not the romney campaign has done their own opposition research well or not. frankly they clearly have not or they would have put the story out there and put their own spin on it first. i think to your question, the narrative is going to exist. look, it's no surprise to americans that romney's a wealthy man. he's a very wealthy man. he has vacation homes, et cetera. i frankly as an american am a little bit uncomfortable with us going after anybody because they're wealthy or because they've done well. wait a minute. let me finish. let me finish. >> no, what you just said --

>> melvin, i'm saying i don't think that's fair. i think it's a capitalist society. >> that's why people are going after him. >> i think it's part of the narrative that's being put out there that he has offshore accounts and this, that and the other. let's stick to the issue. if there's an issue with bain, deal with that. i think the american people want to hear about jobs. and they want to hear about the economy -- >> sophia, thanks. ten seconds, david. ten seconds. >> they want to have faith in their leaders. right now he's secretive about his own perm finances. how can you give charge of the u.s. economy and its finances? >> david, that's longer than ten seconds. >> sorry about that. >> we'll leave it there nonetheless. thanks, sophia, thanks to you. of course, we'll pick this conversation up at some point in the very near future. i appreciate that. thursday power panel, sophia nelson, david corn. still ahead, mood disorder mystery. why congressman jesse jackson jr. is taking a medical leave of absen absence. a close friend is revealing

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new comments today from the reverend jesse jackson about the mystery surrounding his son congressman jesse jackson jr. that's topping our poli sidebar. the office revealed yesterday he's undergoing treatment for what they're calling, a quote, mood disorder. a short time ago reverend jackson talked to her nbc affiliate in chicago, wmaq. >> he is under medical supervision, and i am impressed with his -- the regaining of his strength. as a father, i offer no medical diagnosis, only the unconditioned love of his family. >> meanwhile, a family friend told nbc's andrea mitchell the

congressman is suffering from severe clinical depression and has an alcohol problem which his office denies. also this just in, house speaker john boehner extending his well wishes this morning. saying, quote, we hope he gets well soon and says an explanation is between him and his constituents. trouble by mitt romney's money? a new gallup poll asked responders how romney's riches impact their likelihood of voting for him. 75% said it made no difference, 20% said they were less likely, 4% said more likely. former republican presidential candidate rick perry will be stumping for his one-time rival. the texas governor will make his first campaign appearance on romney's behalf this friday in nevada. that wraps up it for me, i should say, for things right here. i'll be back at 2:00. "now" with alex wagner up next. a and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway...

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and it will not surprise you, i don't think it's even a close call. >> president obama also reported a message before the vice president's speech. >> america where we're looking at the midwest and america where we're creating ladders for people who are willing to work hard to get into the middle class. that's my promise to you. >> joining us now from washington is "time" magazine white house correspondent, michael scherer, his latest piece is titled just a regular guy. in the midwest obama tries for small town -- your piece focuses on retail politicking. i want to talk a little bit