not having enough people and the supposed strike of the immigration customs officials. that obviously is not encouraging. >> all fact, but as you can imagine, the british press went crazy. the guardian's headline called it a blunder that stunned number ten downing street and give a gift to the president. mitt the twit. the telegraph that read mitt romney is perhaps the only politician that could start a trip that was devoid of charm and utterly defensive. boris johnson called him out by name in front of a crowd of 60,000 brits in hyde park. >> there is a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether we are ready. are we ready? >> memo to self. don't make boris johnson mad.

the mayor did walk that back a bit saying romney clarified his comment, but he was not alone. the prime minister took a jab at romney, suggesting that the challenges posed are far more complicated than thes romney faced in salt lake city a decade ago. >> we are holding an olympic games in one of the busiest, most active bustling cities anywhere in the world. of course it's easy if you hold them in the middle of nowhere. >> the mayor of salt lake city was not happy about that, but he was asked about it early this morning and he was in full walk back mode. >> i am convinced that the people are ready for the games. in just a few moments all the things politicians say will get swept away because the athletes are taking the stage. the games are about the athletes. they have been highly successful. >> two things stand out.

his trip was designed to be risk-averse putting him in friendly territoriy that should have limited him this opportunity and this was civil-inflected. this was an easy one. romney simply dropped the ball or in his mind told the truth on a gaffe, if you will. the white house couldn't resist getting into the act. jay carney started off yesterday by simply discussing president obama's security briefing on the olympics. how he feels about london's preparations. >> the president made it clear he has the utmost confidence in our close friend and ally as they finalize hosting theland on olympics. >> did the read out have anything to do with what mitt romney said about security? >> the president had the briefing today. >> the decision to -- >> i am trying to fill you in on the president's day.

>> it drew a lot of laughter in the room. one more note from the white house and what could be seen as an attempt to up stage the trip to jerusalem. the president signs military cooperation with israel. while that's going on. mitt romney is trying to get his trip back on track by making the rounds with other media. in addition getting response to the british tab lights, matt lauer pushed again on why he didn't plan ahead and get his taxes in order to release more of his returns publicly. >> why didn't you do that? >> we laid out exactly what is required by law, all of our financial statements and that in addition two years of tax reports like john mccain put out. >> you don't think you raised more questions than you answered? >> we laid out all that is required by law and then some, the same as john mccain. >> as we have seen in the past, when he wants to show his softer

side, he is best helped by his wife, ann. they sat down with piers morgan. mrs. romney making it clear she is a big part of her husband's charm. >> i will work as hard as i can on the likability piece. >> he seems like a perfectly likeable chap to me. i don't understand it. >> we will get over that one. >> we see romney in his campaign trying to get window into his family where he is funnier and jokes more. after matt lauer asked about her watching her horse compete in the olympics, he offered this interesting anecdote. >> my sons gave me a box and said if you wear this, mom will pay more attention to you. it was a rubber horse mat. >> did you wear it? >> no. >> although the candidates are on two different continents, here's a look at where the most money is being spent.

virginia, ohio, florida, north carolina have multiple markets in the top ten. the roanoke market is at the top. it's a big change from last week's list. take a look between july 16th and 22nd. the colorado marks took all three. colorado springs had been one or two. since last friday's deadly shooting, both have pulled their advertising. that's why colorado is off the current list. for the record, just four markets have remained in the top ten over the last month. no surprise they are in two of the most heavily contested states. roanoke and richmond and tampa and orlando. u.s. economic growth slowed as expected in the second quarter. we have been waiting for the revised numbers at their slowest pace in a year. gross domestic product expanded at 1.5%. some pressure potentially on the

federal reserve to act. a few minutes away from the opening bell. let's get the market run down earlier than normal. becky quick, gdp and the numbers, we knew that they were going to be this mediocre to bad. was it built in? >> that keeps us right into the holding pattern at this point. that was right around what a lot of people had been expecting. at this point it didn't push the feds' action forward or backwards. next week is the big meeting and all the stories have been circulating have everybody wonder figure the fed will act. i don't know if 1.5% is weak enough. they said it's 1.3%, that might push the feds's hand. >> i have seen conflicting reports that some of this downturn has to do with inventory. that means that third quarter

might pop. do you buy this? >> not necessarily. we need to see more numbers. corporate profitability and that was down. that's concerning because it means that companies won't spend more. they will wait and see what happens. that means jobs will be a further wait and that's a huge issue. next week on friday, we get the jobs report. there many people who say the fed won't act red of that jobs report. at this point it's anybody's guess. the other thing is the market's reaction. the market's reaction to a really bad number could have been positive because they could have expected the fed would give more quantitative easing. this is a good holding pattern. they will open up by 45 point or so after a 200 plus point gain yesterday. they will end on a positive note, but the whole game starts all over again next week. the fed decision and the jobs

report. that's what we are looking at. >> thank you for the early update. with london rumbling, he continues his british barn storm with meetings with the head of ireland's government and the members of the u.s. olympic team. he ended a rough day a nland on with a fund-raiser attended by bankers in barclay's. he was met by protesters as he walked into the event. >> pete:er alexander joins me now from london. i gave the campaign a hard time with the question issue with the british press corps and the american press corps and later we saw that romney took questions, but took questions at the fund-raiser, something we have never seen before. >> i don't think this is going the way they expected it to go. they were with the opposition leader and supposed to be no

questions from the advisers within the campaign and he said i will go out and take questions from my people. that put romney on the defensive. as we answered the question about talking at the fund-raiser, check this out. the point of the campaign stopped here and israel and poll ant. it was supposed to be risk averse to listen and learn. even those they are getting an earful. this is the headline that reads mitt the twit. that's what he is hoping to wash away as he heads off with the festivities. even the other statements he has made, there were other gaffes referring to the opposition leader as mr. leader which is not the way he is supposed to be addressed. acknowledging that he 4 a meeting with the head of mi 6. the cia here in britain allowed to take place privately. that is not discussed publicly. with that, his comments to

brian, it has been a tough struggle. >> peter, again with the fund raiser, he talks something about he made a comment and a jab at the president involving winston churchill. >> so the conversation as it goes has been president obama took off the bus of winston churchill from inside the oval office when he became president. mitt romney said in an effort to gain favor with the british people he would put a bus back in the white house. >> and it looks like we lost our feed from mr. alexander to finish off what he was saying, he promised this fund-raiser of americans and remember the only people that can give money, the american citizens that live in london, he promised that if he president, he is going to ask the british government to loan them the winston churchill bus again. up next, senate showdowns.

hanging in the balance, we are starting the final stretch in august. a ton of primaries that can decide which party has the upper hand in wisconsin, missouri and arizona. we have a primary primer on the big upcoming races next. fighting intensifies as syrian rebels try to take control of the country's commercial capital. is this the beginning of the end? how does he respond? first, a look ahead at the president's and mid-romney's schedule. the president has campaign events and a final thank you and sane off to ryan crocker. mitt romney will be attending the opening ceremony. that happens in the middle of our day, but you will watch it tonight on nbc. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. "that looks hard" to "that didn't take long". let's break out behr ultra... ...the number one selling paint and primer in one,

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because there is some 30th olympian that might be preechling my program for at least nine episodes, i will miss a few. i am not leaving the screen until we do senate race stuff. joe lieberman and john kyle are big name senators headed for retirement and the primary fights to decide whoa could replace them in the month of august. early voting under way in texas where that race was not supposed to be that close. lost by double-digits to the governor in the senate primary in may. they fell short of the 50% mark to avoid a run off. cruise has been cruising and held a slide lead, but it

doesn't stop there. texas will be followed by a primary in missouri. clair mcclassic ilnd hawaii picks a democrat to fill akak a's shoes. wisconsin's republicans and the race for them and august ends with the race to fill john kyl's seat. still unclear who the nominee will be in that state. we have the editor in chief and gentlemen, welcome to you both. busy august all because of the voting issue. everything got moved up. august is a bigger primary month. let's start with texas. the winner of this run off will be the next united states senator. that is say fact. i am surprised david is still in the race. it's a fighter's chance considering how it's a low turn out.

conservatives could dominate. >> i think we all believe we turn out as critical. the better chance and a smaller turn out. i think texas is divide and a state that has the senate repeatedly. >> there is a business wing in the party. >> versus a more socially conservative and non-compromising. this race is real important. it sends a signal about the republican party and how much division will be within the party going forward. it's a fascinating race and neither side likes the other. >> political logic dictates he should be winning the race. he spent more and has every kind of support, but the only thing he doesn't have is he's an incumbent. >> by the way, it's summer in july. in a run off. i don't know. >> turn out is higher than it has been. >> the other side is in a

primary, always better to work. >> todd aiken and a congressman and sarah steelman and the businessman john brunner. it may not matter who is the nominee. democrats believe there is a weaker potential competitor for her. >> todd aiken is what they run against and most easily beat. the three negative advertisements and runny enough, the advertisement against aiken looks like a positive spot. they go on and on about the record of cutting government. that's a positive ad. >> people try it and it doesn't often work. >> the other party trying to influence the out come. if you do it and well enough, it's possible. in a three-way race, we are talking about the few voters.

>> the august primary. hawaii we had an ideological fight in the democratic party. case, the cousin of the founder. >> the support of all the democratic staff. >> and the alaska republican staff. >> they would like her to win. she is the more liberal candidate. the case under fund and running as an outsider. a democratic. >> he tried to do this before and lost. >> hawaii is a state where the primary is a machine run by dan. honolulu star advertiser poll came out yesterday and has her leading by almost 20 points. >> that tells you the democrats. >> president obama will be at the top. >> it's pretty tough. >> connecticut, it won't be close. it will be chris murphy, but

it's interesting is the bitterness of chris. >> he came out against linda mcman and said he won't support her. this is the ugliest possible out come they should have. she is finally on tv. >> you are a connecticut native. tell us about them. can linda mcman win? >> we moved the race from safe to democrat favored or likely democrat. >> linda mcmahon is trying to reintroduce herself and hired a new team. there is a tiny chance of being able to do that, but it's still very uphill for the republicans. >> chris would have a better shot. >> he doesn't raise money. he always had that problem. >> wisconsin might be the best single primary in the could you beery. tommy thompson not running away

with it and buysing had way with it. >> and ran for governor. right, this is a 3-way and many of them like thompson. the two conservatives will divide the vote and rally behind. >> tammy bold waldwin and who i easiest opponent for her. >> the consensus, the easiest candidate to pete. they say they have a lot on tommy tochompson is the guy the don't want to face. >> i don't know about that. i think -- >> that cross over appeal that others don't. democrats remember voting for them. >> here's a race we didn't think was going to be a race. >> we thought he was going to roll to the nomination.

cardon is a serious challenger. >> people are taking it seriously. he has no ledge slittive record and he can spend personal resources as part of the establishment when almost the entire party is for him. >> conservatives and establishment and the hunt for growth. everybody. it's hard to see how he pulls us out. he is so likeable. he's a personable guy. >> some people said that carmona is preferred. >> they are nervous. they think cardon takes away the small shot. >> they will be able to talk about questionable business practices. the biggest thing is that this is a race that will be a race in november. >> they are the 50-50 camp. >> total coin flip. they control the senate. >> tell me who wins.

>> thank you both. up next, the olympic rivalry. the first lady and mid-romney come down on big sides. first the trivia question. how many sitting senators have been elected president? tweet me the answer and the answer and more coming up on "the daily rundown." we'll be right back. with the spark cash card from capital one,

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will there be relief for the scorched earth. the duel in the pool. a showdown between troops and rebels is imminent in syria's

largest cities. according to turkeyish television, a legislator fled to turk to warn that the assad regime is about to launch an offensive to retake the city. leaders in the house scheduled a vote next week on a one-year extension to the farm bill of 2008. the farm law is set to expire september 30th. this congress can't get this done. the short-term extension to rush to aid. 2/3 of the continental u.s. is under drought conditions. this is another temporary extension of something as congress is making itself electric like the congress that can't get anything done. michelle obama is in london where she will lead the delegation in the opening ceremonies. on the today show, she was asked to weigh in on the showdown between michael phelps and ryan. >> there is a big contest coming

up. i wanted to get your thoughts on ryan. >> my goodness. no way. i'm not going for that. go team usa. >> for the record, mitt romney picked phelps. >> they investigate why d.c. is so polarized and what what it's doing for the rest of that. my man will be here and got his new insider's guide to the wide world of washington. he promoted his book elsewhere, but we haven't let him do it here in front of the most political on television. you are watching t"the daily rundown." depends on technology. and when it takes a battery, there are athletes everywhere who trust duracell. they rely on copper to go for the gold. duracell. trusted everywhere. and soon...even more reason to trust duracell. duralock power preserve. it locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. guaranteed.

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♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream . well, why can't we all just get along? it may seem like members of congress don't even bother to try and the growing political gap is not just dividing washington, but the whole country. mike viquiera is the resident

expert on all of d.c.'s quirks, but i tell you, mike, it's a serious message. >> serious stuff. that's why i thought we would take a look. with a front row seat to this, call me naive, but i think the system works. in a world where negotiation is a sign of weakness where the only thing worse than partisanship is compromise and gridlock is not a game, it leads us to economic ruin. i was wondering why can't we be friends? ♪ >> bipartisanship? that's how vice president cheney greeted the senate floor in 2004. now according to a study, we are more polarized than any time in the last 25 years. the economy teeters on a cliff.

the believe wants action. if partisan hatred is leading us, why can't we stop. >> the republican health care plan is this. die quickly. >> is it an instinct? part of our pailio selves? >> politics like sport or war is a reflection of our ability to fight. >> that's explanation. here are others. the distorted districts to keep red meat members in safe seats. look at the congressional schedule. come in session three day a week and throw bombs and fire up the base. >> i will not yield to the government! >> go past the four-day weekend. just nonstop theatrics and performance art. no more cold war enemy to unify us and the internet inflaming the passions. >> excuse me, sir.

the next time i prefer you let me finish before you ask me that statement. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> some say compromise, accommodation and battle cries go tame and not much of a walt-opener. there is instability. >> i will eliminate every nonessential expensive program i can find. that includes obama care and i will work to reform and save. >> it would not apply to those who are here. >> you lie! >> not new. go further back, 200 years. there has been a caning on the senate floor. a reporter shot a former member on these steps. they killed a secretary in a duel. if war is the failure of politics, we had one epic fail. a civil war. democracy is the worst form of

government except for all the others. in the end, maybe we should look on the bright side. >> it's incredible that we can cooperate and live in relative peace to begin with. >> the professor is say smart guy. when is it all going to end and when will we be friends? >> bipartisanship is the exception. it's not the rule. there was a period from 1930 to the 70s when bipartisanship and going out for drinks and republicans and democrats, when is it going to end? nobody knows. do you? >> except when it matters. usually the best bipartisanship happen when is we are at a cliff and go over or a war or economics. the fiscal cliff? maybe that will force it. mike viquiera, you are the best at these. peeki i

speaking of the gospel of washington, there is a book that to help you could the political world that has a few fun twists and lists that you are supposed to enjoy. joining me in studio, my man for the record. >> enjoy being the key word. >> for the record, we were going to be the first place. >> that are is true. >> breaking news dumped you not once or twice, but thrice. you are the last place, i understand. the point of the book and we joked about this before. there needs to be politics for dummies. >> yeah, yeah. i thank a lot of people misunderstand the back and forth of politics on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. it's a mysterious world that is not all that mysterious for people like you and i who do it. we have a lot of books out there

that say how bad everything is in 1,000 pages. >> you are trying to enjoy it. >> we are passionate about politics. i top the show this is why i am passionate about it. >> let me deal with the criticism i get that is not partisan and biggest you get to which is you guys are so force fed. why are we horse race-heavy number one? why are we right and defend the horse race? >> the idea that the policy debate in this country is apart from the political. >> it is separated. >> it's ridiculous and just not going. remember how they vote. >> they don't blind themselves. >> of course not. it's two parts of the same thing. unbelievably intertwined. the best politicians who understand the policy of

politics. i would say look, what we are doing is something that you and i are drawn to. the personalities. we both recognize it. there high stakes here. >> one of the things that i want to get to, you and i were just talking about it. the one difference between today and i think ten years ago was it used to be a conservative and they got two out of three of what they cared about. they voted for something liberal. if they got two out of three, they voted for something. you don't have that. it is all or nothing. >> absolutely. there is no middle anymore. i look at the presidential race. 47% of people are going to vote for barack obama no matter what happens between now and november. same thing. 47%. now you have 5 to 8 percent per are persuadable. why don't congress vote more in the middle? they are incentivized when you

are in an 85% district, you have zero incentive. >> the incentive is if you work for the other side, you could get thrown out of office. >> exactly right. in 2010. >> david did you hurst is being attacked. >> that's a remarkable thing. i think you are right. >> you had fun putting together lists. the hall of fame you have in your hall of fame, you put in bill clinton and john mccain and nancy pelosi. i have one person you do not have that i would add. first of all, richard nixon belongs in the hall of fame when you think about checkers. >> yes. that's a whole other show. >> willie brown of living politician. the most amazing survivor of american politics and some would say con95er. >> jerry brown's career in three

presidential bids and elected 30 or 40 years apart, we wanted to highlight the best of the best. >> you can be best. >> the best without being good. >> the nixon rule. you threw up 2016 lists. your democratic side. cuomo, o malla and rahm and elizabeth warren. >> she has to list. hillary if she runs, we don't talk about it. >> joe biden is not on here. >> you have haley barber, bobby jindal and chris christie, jeb bush and maybe john thun? >> if jeb bush runs, he is probably the nominee. 2016 and 2020 will be interesting. very quickly, the true political junkie, their eyes don't glaze over now. that's the litmus test. >> so true. the gospel according to fix.

our panel is here next to wrap up the week in politics. the soup of the day in the white house, caldillo of brisk et. it's kosher. you can follow the show on facebook. i grew up with a lot of my friends. i was on the jewish side and there were a lot of cubans. you are watching "the daily rundown." you are used to kosher spanish food. when i found out my irregular heartbeat put me at 5 times greater risk of a stroke, my first thoughts were about my wife, and my family. i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin,

but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. having afib not caused by a heart valve problem increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk with pradaxa.

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daniela gibbs. welcome all. david, i'm going to start with you. we saw romney has this issue with the olympics and it got a lot of attention. the other part is it seems that the romney campaign is bummed they have their guy in london and don't have their principal out there with taking advantage of the moment on this we did build this business. >> they have been trying to hit that and the obama team is feeling the pressure and they came back with the statements on the campaign trail. for mitt romney, this is an important part to look presidential. he didn't have the best start on that. the campaign would try to keep it going until he gets back. >> the big thing is the negative ads take a toll not just on mitt romney, but the president himself. our poll was democratic-heavy on the bell on the test and even

with that the president's numbers were pretty high. i want to show you a montage on a lot of negative ads. >> when a president doesn't tell the truth, how can we trust him to lead? >> america, america ♪ >> did the race get too nasty? is the president in danger of losing his brand? >> i don't think so. i think things are different than they were with the advent of twitter and everything happening so fast. i'm not surprised that the campaign got so negative so fast. there might be a slight dip now, but once the conventions happen and they will start talking about the positive visions, i don't think this will be a huge drag. >> you run american cross roads and you were charged with making sure mitt romney didn't lose this summer. you can argue that he did lose control of his biography. >> the most difficult thing that romney faced going into the

general election is he had a disadvantage of what he could spend. it was focussed on president obama's record on the economy and that is reflected in the poll numbers where he has a hard negative that is higher. >> the obama folks focus a lot on romney. this is second-guessing of people on the outside and the republicans that said i wish cross roads did more to promote romney. >> it's a hard thing to did and the candidate has to speak for his plan and the good news is soon that romney will be doing that. the short-term impact on his image will change after the conventions and i agree with daniela on that. it's harder for the president to erase the negatives. >> we will see a lot of ads in the month of august. explain quickly on how that works. >> we actually will be doing a lot of advertising both the rest of this month into next month and the fall. >> august you have to dump a lot of money you don't disclose?

>> i don't want to give want to whole playbook. >> that's the law. >> all right. >> stick around we'll talk a little bit more about taxes after the break. trivia time. we asked how many sitting senators have been elected president. the answer, of course, is three. the one that many you missed. you missed harding. kennedy and obama, of course and warren harding. three senators directly from the senate to the white house. do you have a political trivia question that you think should be on the show, e-mail us to dailyrundown@msnbc.com. oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today.

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all right it's my final 2 1/2 minutes for nine working days let's bring back our panel. let's go digging thoughts next ten days what are you watching. >> i think president will be continuing to hit this middle class message and we see that. talk about taxes.

that's a big point. it will be up there on the campaign trail next week, going to all these swing states. >> my understanding getting the house on taxes. >> running against congress. tie romney to that. >> that's exactly it. make sure romney doesn't make any more mistakes. >> you don't want romney to make any more mistakes? >> no, please making gaffes. the president will hammer on the fact that republicans are holding 98% of americans hostage from getting tax relief. >> romney should own ad. august should be his month. how does he make sure he does make it his month? >> it's important for him to stay focus on the core issues of the economy and the president's inability to fix the economy. that's where they didn't build the comment two weeks ago continues to have resonance. if he stays focused on his message he can own august. >> does he have to wait until the convention? >> he can't wait.

the president has done a good job defining him. >> folks will focus on the olympics and focus on getting kids back to school. and the convention is the time for the nominee to present himself, his family and his vision. that's a tremendous opportunity for romney. >> that's why the president will keep that an issue. they have done pretty well so far. >> august used to be that month where a nominee was sort of empty. >> things have changed. the media has changed the way things are. >> shameless plug time. my shameless plug is the great story in the "new york times" about how we're winning the white house. >> season ticket holder for the gop colonial basketball team. more die-hard than anything. god love him. >> next tuesday morning tivo your olympic coverage come to the capitol we're having romney

university. great event. >> a week from tomorrow my wife and i our anniversary. >> watch the olympics. i say that as a proud member of the nbc team. that's it for this edition of the daily rundown. we're taking a break for the olympics. we'll see you back here friday august 10th. in the mean time enjoy the london games. coming up next, chris jansing. bye-bye. nturylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters.

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in for chris jansing. governor mitt romney is in diplomatic damage control mode after a series of olympic size gaffes on the first full day of his overseas trip. it all started when he seemed to question britain's readiness to host the summer olympics in an interview with nbc's brian williams. that drew some sharp responses from the prime minister and mayor of london. take a listen. >> we're holding olympic games in one of the busiest most active bustling cities anywhere

in the world and of course it's easier if you hold the olympic games in the middle of nowhere. >> a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether we're ready. he wants to know whether we're ready. are we ready? are we ready? yes, we are! the venues are ready. >> romney added fuel to the diplomatic firestorm by forgetting the name of britain's opposition party and against protocol acknowledged he had a meeting with the against agency. peter alexander joins us live in london. he's been following the story for us. peter, pretty safe to say mitt romney has not been generating the guide of headlines his campaign had envisioned. >> reporter: richard that's exactly right. let's be really clear. this campaign trip for romney, his first trip overseas during the course of the campaign was designed to again rapist positive publicity for the candidate to show him as a statesman, in addition to his

experience in working on the stage in salt lake city in 2002. >> developments here in the uk and across europe and across the world. >> okay. nbc's peter alexander there live in london, following mitt romney as he's on his multicountry tour, i believe we have him back. peter alexander, are you here? >> reporter: yeah, we're having some technical difficulties maybe from all the celebrations going on in the background. check out this headline from the daily mail it reads who invited party pooper romney. mitt the twit. he's dialing this all back. again he was on the "today" show with nbc's matt lauer. take a listen to how mitt romney tried to characterize his new outlook on the games. >> i'm absolutely convinced that the people here are ready for the games and in just a few moments all the things politicians said will be swept away because the athle