jobs overseas. the president rejected romney's call to apologize for the bain attacks. >> first of all, you're not going to apologize. >> no, sometimes, these games are played during political campaigns. understand what the issue is here. mr. romney claims that he's mr. fix it for the economy. because of the, of his business experience, and so i think voters legitimately want to know what is that business experience. >> on that point, the obama campaign released this brutal ad attacking romney's jobs record. ♪ oh beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain for purple mountains majesty above the fruited plain ♪ not to be deterred, romney fired back this morning. >> wouldn't it be interesting, mr. president, if you spent some

time looking at your record. at what you've done over the last three and a half to four years? >> the romney campaign had a new explanation for s.e.c. documents that list romney as bain's ceo three years after he said he left the company to run the salt lake city olympics. >> he actually retired retroactively because he ended up not going back to the firm. >> romney says the focus on bane is an attempt to distract voters from the weak economy. the president conceded his handling of the economy is fair game. >> you don't hear me complaining about him making that argument because if i was in his shoes, i'd be making the same argument. >> nbc's senior political editor, mark murray, is here. quite a last few days in the presidential campaign. i want to go into this line of attack that is really hurting

romney right now in terms of his inability to talk about other things. said this this weekend over the sunday shows. >> why is mitt romney running away from his company, bain capital? >> learns in just one year about the caymans, bahamas and switzerland. his tax filing looks more like the olympic village. >> he's taken advantage of every loophole that we can see and now is he the guy that's going to clean up our tax code. >> mark, how does mitt romney change the narrative? >> they actually tried on friday and gave five interviews to five networks including nbc new is and one of the reasons why you do round robin interviews is to put everything on the table, answer every question and angle, but when mitt romney gave more responses about what he did,

when he left bain capital, it opened up more questions. there was a press release bain put out in july 1999 where he was still listed as ceo and actually quoteded in the press release and there is the question of did mitt romney actually disagree with any of the policies that bain partners did after romney ceded day-to-day control of bain, the highlight that bain ea's investments did. >> is this another fumble by the romney campaign in that it seems they get tongue twisted. he obviously tried to clarify on friday and we have retiring retroactively, which put the

twitse twitsersphere on yesterday. >> something that he did between february 1999 and 2002, it's only going further this story and keep the romney campaign on the defensive. >> on the issue of tax returns, mitt romney has been quite defensive. he said this this morning. >> john mccain ran for president and released two years of tax returns. john kerry ran for president. his wife how has hurricandreds millions of dollars, she never released her tax returns. the obama people keep wanting more to distort and be dishonest about. >> this is nothing new. he didn't release tax returns when running for governor in 2002. will this issue die or become an issue for the campaign? >> i think the obama campaign is going to be able to invoke this anytime they want to. anytime there's bad news in the

next month, jobs report is poor, where are mitt romney's tax returns? it actually looks like there's something he's hiding. what is in the 2009 tax report? what's in 2008? what's in 2007? every time they say look, we're only going release 2010 and 2011, it makes it seem like there's something unseemly. >> one thing that would chip the narrative is a vp selection. jindal, portman, john thune, any update on that? >> we are in veepstakes watch now. the pick could come this week, as late as mid august. the handwriting appears it's not going to be this week. we talked about a fund raising solicitation, the romney campaign said in the coming weeks, we're going to have this contest. we're in full watch and there are three questions to ask.

one, how quickly is it coming, two, will romney go with an insider or outsider or make a safe pick or go bold? >> thank you so much for joining us. for more on the battle over bain, i'm joined now by gail githgo from the romney campaign. thank you for being here. i got to ask you, what does retired retroactively actually mean? can you explain that for us, when mitt romney actually remained the other than until 2002 in some capacity? >> look, look, i appreciate the question and opportunity to clear this up. mitt romney left bain capital in 1999. he left to go run the olympics, but we appreciate the fact that president obama's campaign, they're going to do anything rather than talk about their failed record on the economy. that's really what the american

people wabt to talk about. they're not at the store talking to their friends about romney's resume. they're worried about their own tax returns and jobs. so this again is just more distraction from the obama campaign because they can't fix the economy. they've failed to do so. you have this 8.2% unemployment rate that came out two weeks ago. the first thing president obama does is talk about a tax increase then the welfare. these are just more examples of how this president does not understand how to fix the economy and how he wants to distract from the issue. >> do you understand why the american people could be conf e confused, his own signature, ceo remained involved with the board. do you think it's -- someone that would involved would not be checking in, completely remove

himself? >> there are technical and legal reasons why governor romney was listed on that document, but it's very simple. mitt romney left bain in 1999 to run the olympics. >> let's talk about the issue of tax returns. calls over the weekend from your republican colleagues saying he should. i want to play this and get you reaction on the other side. >> the best thing to do is just get everything out and say hey, i have nothing to hide. >> if something's going to come out, get it out in a hurry. i d not know why, given that mr. romney knew the day mccain lost in 2008, that he was going to run for president again, that he didn't get this out. >> he should release the tax returns tomorrow. it's crazy. you've got to release six, eight, ten years of tax returns. >> bill, six, eight, ten years. why not do this and this entire

issue goes away in the near term? >> we appreciate that we're going to receive political advice from everyone across the political spectrum, but the fact is, governor romney has released his tax returns and that's the reason the democrats are continue to talk about it. he released over 500 documents and it's important to remember that none are required, so governor romney has gone above and beyond what is required of him to be transparent in these tax returns. 500 pages from 2010, the full schedule and we also released the 2011 estimates and when those are ready, we will release those, too, so that the tax return issue is just another distracting issue from what the people want to talk about. >> considering all the grief you've gone through -- >> again, luke -- >> no, that you're holding on to something that's more damaging, that you'd rather endure in?

>> no. it suggests that the obama campaign wants to talk about tax returns. the american people are not worried about mitt romney's tax returns. and if i could just turn to the subject that president obama wants to talk about today, he's going to be in ohio today talking about outsourcing and undoubtedly delivering another false attack about mitt romney. let me give you an example of how president obama outsourced jobs to go overseas. look at fiskar automotive. they received $500 million in loan guarantees through the stimulus program and not only did one of president obama's top donors benefit from this $500 million, but these jobs were then sent overseas. overseas, luke, to finland and president obama doesn't want to talk about that. >> on that point, when mitt romney was governor, want to bring up a report from reuters that talked about how he was involved in very much the same

thing in terms of rewarding different companies. romney per sued a hands on report and -- back tax breaks for film makers, his administration promoted venture capital style funds and extended loans to start-up companies which went out of business. is this not part of the president extending these loans, tried to stimulate an economy? >> luke, no. first of all, the president has outsourced jobs overseas and you can't compare that with what governor romney did in massachusetts and i would also ask that go back and take a look at what the democrats are talking about here. what is in this report. because the same contracts there under governor romney are there under governor patrick. so this is again another false attack so that the democrats don't have to talk about the fact. >> that's not accurate because

comerica tech solar went out of business and got loans from romney. and spirits from rhode island. mitt romney had nothing to do with spirits going from rhode island to massachusetts? >> i'm not saying that, but what i'm asking you to do is take a look at these contracts and look and see if they were under his pred successor, too. >> but we're talking about it. and if you guys were more -- >> what do you mean? look at president obama. president obama's the one who said that he wanted the days of special access to the white house to be over, but we look at countless examples of his donors having access to the white house, receiving stimulus payoffs. take a look at solyndra.

you've got 1,100 workers. >> thank you so much for coming on the program. take care. >> thanks, luke. as obamany and romney battle over reibain, it's heating up o the hill. we'll dip into game plans from both sides. can team romney afford to give the tea party favorite the cold shoulder? but first, a look at the president schedule today. the capital one cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus. and who doesn't want 50% more cash? ugh, the baby. huh! and then the baby bear said, "i want 50% more cash in my bed!" phhht!

50% more cash is good ri... what's that. ♪ you can spell. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? ha ha. ♪ have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness.

ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then find out how to get lunesta for as low as $15 at lunesta.com. there's a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta.

you don't hear me complaining about what's been said about me. i understand that you know, the nature of our democracy has always been a little bit messy like that, but the central core message of our campaign in every advertisement is how do you build a strong middle class and how do you make sure that people who work hard and are doing the responsible thing succeed. i believe we've got a vision to help deliver that. >> that was president obama in an interview with nbc affiliate wavy offering no apologies for his tough campaign pekting none from mitt romney. john yarmouth is just over the river and joins me now. good morning, congressman, how

are you, fsir? >> well, thanks. >> we talked about hope and change and a campaign about big ideas, not focusing on the small and narrow, if we look at ads run june 25th through july 9st, the obama campaign has run -- romney campaign, 13,962. four years later, are these negative adds muddying the water that we can't have a debate about big ideas in ohio? >> you'll see more discussion on big ideas later in the campaign. right now, we're still in the definition phase of the company. president's trying to define governor romney and the way he thinks the american people ought to see him. governor romney's trying to do the same to president obama. but i think you'll see bigger ideas later in the campaign. we actually have heard president obama time after time talk about the three main pillars of his economic agenda and that's

increased money for infrastructure, education and research, so i think you'll see an elaboration on those themes as you get closer to november. >> i want to talk to you something on the horizon, the house gop is going to talk about this week. that's the s-- i looked up in your district in louisville, there are some sizable military contra contractors. bae systems, integrated systems, theytheon and associates all employing folks in your district. how worried are you that you're going to see some notifications of layoffs close to election day if congress isn't going to work to stop these cuts that even leon pa nnetta says would decime the d.o.d.? >> we've heard ceo and ben bernanke talk about the fact that if you did have a trillion dollars worth of cuts, you would

probably put the country back into recession. i don't think there's anybody in congress who wants to see these cuts happen. it's not just the defense side. half those cuts come from domestic spending and a lot of that comes from health care and road building and housing and programs that also create jobs, so we're all concerned about those cuts and the impact on the economy. this is probably not the best time to actually institute massive cuts of government spending. when it's 25, federal spending's about 25% of the federal can economy. >> are you confident these cuts will not happen, that congress will reach some agreement? >> i'm not confidence of anything ever happening in congress right now. i think there's a great deal of uncertainty. we've seen instance after instance of brink man ship and we've got the bush tax cuts. expiring on the 31st of december. we've got a lot of things at stake and a lot of bargaining chips that are going to come

into play as we work through these things. this is a big, big equation we're dealing with. >> i want to talk to you about health care. recent gallup polls showed that. quote, the health care law in terms of impacting your personally, 38%, do you regret that you have to run on this in 2012? it seems no matter what happens, democrats can't get their structure here. the polls just go against this law. >> i know, it's tough, but the polls are shifting. we saw one the other day, that's a huge improvement. i'm out there talking about it every day in my district. humana has 2,000 more employees in louisville since the affordable care act was passed. this has been an economic benefit for our district and we had 5800 young people now on

their parent's insurance polici policies, about 12,000 seniors who have seen their drug costs reduced. so people are beginning to feel the benefit. every weekend, there's a run or walk to benefit juvenile diabetes or some other disease and every one of those, most families know what the affordable care act does for them. it offers them security, which they've never had before. so i'm not afraid of campaigning again. i talk about it every day. >> we appreciate it. >> thanks, luke. up next, we'll check on how wall street is kicking off the week, plus, will republicans budge on taxes to avert automatic defense cuts? and cut off by curfew. outrage after police in london pull the plug on two of rock's biggest legend. but today's trivia question, which republican congressman played in two super bowls?

the answer and more coming up. it's a big answer, that's my hit. it's a big answer. time for small business entrepreneur of the week. ohio based interior designer was doing well serving corporate customers and passing on smaller clients. when the work stopped coming, she had to rethink her business plan, both big and small. she made sure every customer knew they were valuable to her. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. ly about 80% of your part b mical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare sulement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company.

like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they pick up se of what medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands of dolls in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about. and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see specialist. there's a range of plans to choose from, too. and they all travel with you. anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of pple 50 and over for generations... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. call today. remember, medicare supplement insuranc

helps cover some of what medicare doesn't pay -- expenses that could really add up. these kinds of plans could save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs... you'll be able choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. and you never need referrals. so don't wait. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. [ roger ] tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ kyle ] nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] ...the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ]...allstate. [ roger ] same agent and everything. [ kyle ] it's like we're connected.

no we're not. yeah we are. no...we're not. ♪ ask an allstate agent about the value plan. are you in good hands? let's take a look at the markets ahead of today's opening bell. investors are hoping the positive surge on friday will extend this week. becky quick joins me now with the market rundown. what have we got? >> luke, the morning, we've been watcheded what happened with citigroup. on friday, we got the news it was better than expected. this morning, those numbers were also better than expected, but it is not having the same impact on the market. that's great news for the financials, but the market today seems to be paying more attention to what happened with retail sales. looks like the dow is goin to

open down by 35 points because retail sales were down 0.5% in june. much worse than the picture that had been expected. it's not weakness in one arena. they came in with those retail sales. it was a drop in auto, furniture. garden supplies were down. appliances and even department stores. now, we did see weakness because sales of gasoline stations were down. that's the good news, but the rest is bad news and kind of plays into what you call. everything that's happening in washington. this is part of the debate. another weak economic number and the big question is how much tentativeness there is on the part of the consumer. whether they'll be willing to step in and spend again. back to you. >> thank you, becky. folks holding on to their money. coming up, will romney rethink his tax returns? republicans join democrats

calling for a full disclosure, plus, hillary clinton's motorcade gets a nasty reaction in egypt and police in london have some serious explaining to do after cutting off the boss and sir paul mccartney mid tune. you can't silence a sir. it's got to be illegal. why should our wallets tell us what our favorite color is?

every room deserves to look great. and every footstep should tell us we made the right decision. so when we can feel our way through the newest, softest, and most colorful options... ...across every possible price range... ...our budgets won't be picking the style. we will. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. make room for savings with $37 basic installation on martha stewart living and platinum plus carpet.

use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card

for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. on our radar this morning, the latest leg of a global tour for the secretary of state and turning off the lights on rock 'n' roll royalty. secretary of state hillary clinton will meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu in israel in just a few hours from now. clinton arrived in jerusalem

today and releasing a statement saying peace talks would be key in their discussions. today's trip follows a messy departure. the secretary of state's convoy was pelted with eggs, tomatoes and other products while protesters referenced an old scandal, chanting monica at the oncoming cars. today, the egypt general prosecutor handed down an order transmitting mubarak to a hospital to a prison. he was transferred to the hospital after receiving a life sentence cht and get this. the london police aren't afraid to tell rock legends it's time to go home. paul mccartney and bruce springsteen found that out this weekend after they played 30 minutes past the curfew. the long time guitarist went on a rant, quote, here's one

example, i'm sorry, but i have to be honest. i'm pisspd. like i said, it didn't ruin a great night, but when i'm jamming with mccartney, don't bug me. i'm happy in 1776 we declared independence from britain. mitt romney says attacks on his business record are dishonest and it's an attempt to distract the american people. >> they're going to do anything, talk about anything other that be their failed record on the economy. and that's really what the american people want to talk about. they're not sitting around their dinner table, they're not at the store talking to their friends about mitt romney's resume, when he left bain. they're worried about their own tax returns and jobs. >> arkansas republican congressman tim griffin joins me now. thanks so much for being on the program. >> thanks.

i'm still shaking my head over a 10:30 curfew in london. >> you and me both. question to you. about this issue of mitt romney's tax returns, bain capital. you obviously hear his campaign saying they want to talk about bigger issues. should there not be more transparency so we can do away with these things about talk about the big issues like the economy, two wars we have going on? >> well, they're releasing their returns and you know, i think the contrast here is mitt romney has been successful and he made a lot of money and i think americans ought to be proud of that. but here's the bottom line. if the president of the united states, he controls the bully pulpit. he can talk about anything he wants to talk about. and he can get you guys to cover it. and if he had something to be proud of on the economy and in terms of jobs, he'd be talking about it.

but he doesn't, so he wants to talk about anything but that. >> isn't that all the more reason to be transparent? >> well, he is releasing them. my understanding is that they are preparing to release them. >> well, how many years? >> we will see that, but i talked to some folks at the campaign this morning. a friend of mine, and they are in the process of reviewing them to release them. >> that's fascinating. that's breaking news right here on the program. we appreciate you giving that to us. so you're saying that the mitt romney campaign is going to release more tax returns? >> all the two years is the tax returns they're releasing. whether they release more, we'll see. president obama said this in a recent interview. >> congress agreed they wanted to make $1.2 trillion worth of

cuts and a big chunk of that is defense. now, what we've said is if you were willing, republicans, to ask the wealthier to pay a little bit more, then we don't have to worry about these draconian defense cuts. on the other hand, if we're not getting any new revenues, then everybody's going to be hurt. >> do you think it's fair to ask the wealthiest earners? >> that's a false choice. the bottom line is we can deal with the -- without raising taxes on anyone. this president and i know it's hard to keep up with his past arguments on a number of issues, wu he told chuck todd, the host of this program, think it was in '09, that we shouldn't raise taxes during a recession. we're not going to race taxes

during a recession. and this is all about whether the democrats are going to raise taxes and here's the thing. there's no leverage here for anything on our side. they talk about leverage. i saw that patty murray's going to make a speech saying she's going to allow for 5 to $600 billion in taxes to be enacted through default and the bottom line is this. a lot of the democrats want precisely that, so to act as if they're somehow scared or there's something to negotiate over is just redick louse. i think there are number of democrats who would like to see every one of these tax breaks, tax rate reductions that have been in place for a long time for decade, they'd like to see those expire. >> but sir, the president's

plan, which they're all behind, is 250 or above. >> well, her speech, i don't know if you saw the preview to her speech she's going to give, but i just read it this morning and it had quotes of it in the press. she's going to say that they're going to use the threat of all of these tax hikes as leverage, but let me say a couple of other things. everyone's not on board with his plan. in fact, president obama is not on board with his own plan. if you go back to what he said a few years ago, he's done this on a number of issues and where either senator obama or new president obama had a different perspective than the current president obama, the bottom line is there are -- president

clinton said it -- >> they're going to hold on this 250 number last week. it will be interesting to see how it plays out. tim griffin, thank you so much for being on the show. >> up next, we kick off the week with our political panel. are the attacks on bain working? ed gillespie said yes, how can romney change the narrative and why is sarah palin still waiting on her invite to tampa? but first, the white house soup of the day. never had that soup and never heard of it. interesting. and don't forget, you can follow the show on facebook. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. s sorry, i don't eat interesting cultural soups around the world. [ female announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role

throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day women's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day women's 50+ healthy advantage. daily flash back, this day in 1945 when at 5:29 mountain

time, the manhattan project came to an end as the first atomic bomb was tested in new mexico. and we have our wonderful panel and we want to talk about how at the gop convention, there's this idea of how do we pass the mike around to a lot of former gop individuals. we've got herman cane, dick cheney, sarah palin, ron paul, rick santorum. casey, you cover the romney campaign. how are they going to deal with this? there's a lot of sarah palin supporters. ron paul. are we going to go for a big tent or strategy to appeal to the base? >> you've seen the romney campaign sort of carefully negotiate this over the course of the past few months. even with the ron paul folks, they made sure they don't say too much to aggrevate that particular section, but you've

seen him be careful about some of the others. he did a fund-raiser with dick cheney. >> i'd say bring them all in the tent because you're going to need them come september and october. someone like a sarah palin, rick santorum, those folks are going to help bring that energy to the level you're going to need it to roll out of that convention and into these states like ohio and virginia and places like that where they can really be helpful. i get the whole balancing act, saying do we want sarah palin to give a speech and does that offend voters beyond the base cht i don't think sarah palin's going to give that kind of speech. she's not known for that kind of speech. she can deliver the meat that needs to be delivered, but she can also deliver that appeal. >> there's a risk reward here

for the romney campaign. >> they don't want a repeat of the 1992 convention in houston when pat buchanan gave a speech early in the week, a very red meat speech that seemed to set a tone for the convention. a lot of it is an effort to try to get the right people on stage at the right time. it's what time they are allowed to give a speech. >> i remember 2004 when the bush campaign was running very hard to the right trying to turn out the voters and you had rudy giuliani, arnold schwarzenegger, john mccain, and it worked out okay. good approach. let's talk about running mates. that seems to be the story coming up a little bit. obviously, the romney campaign if they want to switch a narrative, they could announce a vp nominee. i don't know if they'll do it right now while we're still on the air. jindal, portman, paul ryan are

on there. you said portman kind of looked like a favorite. i don't know you don't like to prognosticate here, but john thune was vetted. is that a possibility? >> thune, john thune traveled with romney earlier in the campaign and the two of them didn't really spend too much time chatting when he was traveling. pawlenty on the other hand is pretty close to romney personally. they spend a lot of time conferring when they're traveling together. portman is still at the top of many advisers and watchers list, but you are seeing romney getting to the point where he's really narrowed that list. >> is that true you think that he's made a decision, he's just holding it now? >> i'm not convinced he's made the decision. if you look at the history of these picks, the decision is not made until its actually announced. walter mondale in 1984 had settled on dianne feinstein and

at the last minute literally, changed his mind. >> sarah palin, last -- >> palin, very much the last second. so i'm sure he has a sense of who the probably two or three final iisists are, but as long there's time to think about it, there's time to change your mind. >> i differ a little bit. i think he has made up his mind. i think he's known for some time idealy who fits into the box for the vp and i think he has personally narrowed that down to two or three people and i think he's made up his mind. it's just a matter of as he said, only he and beth know for sure. >> not these three? >> i don't think it's something he's just going to dawdle over and last minute decide. i think he knows who he thinks will work best with him running

this fall campaign. >> if we want to stop talking about bain and tax returns, i think today. we'll be right back to talk about more, but let's do some trivia. we ask which republican congressman played in two super bowls. the answer, answer, new jersey congressman john runnion. he helped the titans reach the super bowl. you have stumped me trivia department at "daily rundown," congratulations. i'm a sports fan, too. e-mail us dailyrundown@msnbc.com. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. liberty mutual auto insurance.

what are you going to do when the chinese leader says something or putin says to you? are you going to whine? stop whining. if you want to claim bain

capital as your calling hard to the white house then defend what happened to bain capital. >> let's bring back our power monday panel. michael steele, casey hunt, dan balz. ed gillespie said on cnn yesterday that these attacks are working. he admitted that. how does the romney campaign shift the narrative here, dan? >> very difficult right now to do that. i mean, they could obviously do it if they released the tax rurntion. they're reluctant to do that. they said they would put out one more set of returns in august. that's a long time between now and august. they could do it if they were much more aggressive in going back at the president, but everything they've tried, and i thought it was interesting on friday night when he did that round of interviews with tv that that just had very little impact on changing it, and all weekend what you saw was a continuation and an acceleration of the calls for him to do something. >> i agree. i think that this is a box that has been carefully crafted by the obama team. it is a very well-packaged box. i mean, there's no escape at this point that i can see short

of what dan just said, putting out the tax returns and i think then getting in front of the story with the speech. we were talking about this off air. i think you're right. get out there and say, look, i benefited from a system that's imbalanced and as president i want to correct that imbalance and make it a level playing field for everyone so we don't have a situation where someone making $50,000 is paying more in tacks than someone making $500,000. >> take me into the mind of team romney. how do they change the narrative? they're going to come out with the crony charge today, that obama has a dozen solyndras or so. we've heard that for a while. >> you show that clip of rahm emanuel at the beginning. that's something they can turn around on itself as well. if they get to the point where the obama campaign is -- or they're attacking the obama campaign for something that obama is unhappy about, they can sort of send that right back at him and say, you're whining. >> all right. shameless plugs. around the horn.

casey, start us off. >> happy belated birthday to my little sister, carly. >> the golfer. >> the golfer. >> happy birthday to the golfer. >> a piece that's going up on the root.com looking at the economy again and the play for the fall. >> michael steele at the root.com. >> my colleague scott wilson had a fabulous piece about the whole history of obama administration's travails with the middle east. >> a wonderful piece in "the washington post." that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." we'll see you back here tomorrow. coming up next, chris "jansing & co." you don't want to miss this. i'll be back tomorrow. i'm meteorologist bill karins with your business travel forecast. as far as airport delays go today, best chance in the

afternoon hours with thunderstorms in areas like atlanta and especially down there in central florida. it's other hot day around the country. temperatures in the 90s pretty much everywhere, even a chance of 100 degree heat in minneapolis. the latest heat wave is gripping the country once again. have a great day. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing

begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye. [ jennifer ] better. stronger. believe. happier. healthier. i believe weight watchers made me more powerful. it's time to believe again. stand up and take charge. i believe if you want to change your life, you can. ♪ believe in yourself [ female announcer ] weight watchers -- rated number one best plan for weight loss by u.s. news and world report, again. [ jennifer ] join for $1. weight watchers. believe. because it works. good monday morning. i'm chris jansing. the battle over bain just won't go away. democrats are still hammering mitt romney over when he left the company he created. this morning mitt romney tried

to change the subject. >> what does it say about a president whose record is so poor that all he can do in his campaign is attack me? i think it's finally time for us to talk about his record, the kind of failure he's had in being able to create jobs. >> and you may have heard that romney has also demanded that president obama apologize for the attacks. >> first of all, you're not going to apologize. >> no, we won't be apologizing. sometimes these games are played during political campaigns. understand what the issue is here. mr. romney claims that he's mr. fix it for the economy because of his business experience, and so i think voters entirely legitimately want to know, well, what exactly was that business experience. >> i want to bring in nbc latino contributor and fellow at the university of texas victoria soto and former newt gingrich spokesman rick tiler. good morning to both of you. >> goo todd morning. >> mitt romney didn't say

anything in this interview and to be fair they didn't ask about the timing of when he was at baines. "the new york times" headline reads, and this is really where a lot of us are getting caught in this, in tracing romney's role at bain, a convoluted time line. is that part of the problem, victoria, for mitt romney? maybe there is no straightforward answer? >> what's so interesting to me is this partisan role reversal we've seen where it's the democrats on the attack and the republicans not really know wag to do. this is a page out of the rove playbook. you attack your opponent on what they think is their strongest suit. they're coming after them, much like we saw with john kerry in 2004 in going after his military service. the question here is what is the romney campaign going to do? do they answer? do they keep hoping it goes away? we're seeing that he wants it to go away, but the democrats won't let him. >> it is interesting to hear how they've been sort of trying to ex pla inthis time line. let me play you a couple clips. >> mitt's names were on the documents as the chief executive and sole owner of the