>> what do you think of when you see a tree? a treatment for cancer? alternative fuel for our cars? do you think of hope for the environment, or food, clothing, shelter? we do. weyerhaeuser, growing ideas. >> guess what, his wife is never worked a day in her life. >> this week on "inside washington," the mommy wars. working moms, stay at home moms, a fight for the woman's vote.

>> michael richards was to be a was to be ayy choice mother. >> i don't have a lot of patience for commentary about spouses of political candidates. >> with santorum out, the decks are cleared for the fight ahead. >> i was in pennsylvania at the other night. not a single person asked me to get out. >> ozzie guillén not so crazy about fidel castro after all. >> biggest mistake of my life i made. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> it started with a throwaway line on a cable talk show. democratic strategist hilary rosen talking about mitt

romney's not so secret weapon. >> "my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues." guess what, his wife has never worked a day in her life. she has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the wittman in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, why we worry about their future. >> ann romney responded with her first ever tweet. "i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work." the network news shows led with them, the manager of the obama campaign said that rose and's comments were wrong and she should apologize, which she did eventually . even the president weighed in, saying there is no tougher job than being a mom.

hilary rosen has no official position in the white house or the obama campaign. why did this cause such a commotion, mark? >> it terrified democrats for the following reason -- the questio -- cushion democrats have is with women voters. and one of romney's achilles heels is his inability to generate enthusiasm with family values of voters. this gives romney a wedge to make any romney it the embodiment of the state at home mother, and it smacks, fairly or unfairly, dismissesne -- of dismissiveness towards women to make that choice. >> nina? >> mark has it right. we have all said stupid things on television, but this is in the category of "what was she

thinking?" being a mother is way harder than what we're doing here. people pay nannies is not so they don't have to do that all day. -- a lot so they don't have to do that all day. ann romney is the best asset mitt romney has. >> hilary rosen it does have children of her own. colby? >> i heard the criticism before i even heard what rosen said. the airwaves were static with criticism of her. i think barbara bush said it best. "i love working women, i love to stay at home moms. whatever." >> you love all went. -- all women. >> this is an issue that

hopefully will be behind this, because it has no bearing on how mitt romney would govern in the white house. >> roger? >> the degree to which the obama campaign was fearful of hilary rosen's comments -- they tied her to the top of the family car. [laughter] they attack her immediately. no formal role in the campaign, no formal role in the white house, but hilary rosen is a big deal in democratic politics, a big deal in washington. she was so far off message that the next day the president of the united states had to denounce her, and only after that did she apologize. that is not a good communications team working to there. >> it was a gift, mark. >> it was, and if you are mitt romney and a knock on you is that you are stiff, you don't relate to ordinary people, and

the secret weapon you know you have got is ann romney, who is not simply appealing or likable, she could emerge as a compelling advocate -- you have elevated her to the part of star status by this. all the way around you have it made her into an undeserving victim and a champion for him. i can understand why the white house responded as quickly as they did. >> say what you want about mitt romney. he knows numbers, he reads the polls, he knows there is a huge gap between him and barack obama as regards the support of women voters. why is the gap there, colby? >> because of the issues and the positions he's taken during the campaign. >> nina? >> in some ways he has been forced into defending contraception sort of.

"if i am elected, i will kill all aid to planned parenthood." there is an aura -- i think the right way to express it is a it is inconsiderate of the concerns of many women. >> he has been running this week against barack obama on the issue of women, saying that economic policies of the administration hurt women. >> he wasn't getting a lot attraction. > -- of traction. >> nobody bought it when he said that of all the jobs lost in america under barack obama, 92% were lost by women. really? nine out of every 10 jobs lost in america or held by women? nobody could find a basis for those statistics. there is a basis for this statistic, however -- an abc news-"washington post" poll found a 19% gender gap of women

favoring obama over romney, and that is his problem. that is a lot of ground to make up, especially, as nina said, in an atmosphere where he has been forced farther to the right, having to relitigate abortion and contraception, which most americans would rather leave alone. >> does this gift and it to republicans this week help close the gap, mark >> i think so. moving beyond a primary where he was contested by a cultural conservative like rick santorum, romney did feel either obliged to or out of conviction or what ever else respond and start to discuss these matters. make no mistake about this -- in 2004, among married voters with children, george w. bush beat john kerry -- that is only 28%

of the electric -- by 19%. john kerry, among voters who were not married or were married with no children, got a majority. that is a key. that is an important constituency to energize and it turned out if you are a republican in presidential race. >> let's talk about the campaign absent rick santorum. >> miracle after a miracle. this race was as improbable as any you will see for president. >> what did santorum say about mitt romney as he announced the suspension of his campaign? nothing, not word. would romney consider santorum as his running mate? >> i am not taking anybody off my list. i don't have in this yet, so i cannot say someone is on or off my list. >> ok, there is no list. rick santorum decided to drop out of the race before he got clobbered again.

he lost his 2006 re-election bid by 18 points in pennsylvania. who would have thought when this campaign began that santorum, ignored by moderators in early debates, would have won all those caucuses? did he make mitt romney a better candidate, or to put him in a box, as "washington post" columnist e.j. dionne suggest it? roger? >> i think rick santorum appealed to voters who like his ideology -- did not care if he was going to win or not, but like him talking about social issues, when the party structure wanted a candidate who would talk about economic issues, mitt romney. he forced mitt romney a little farther to the right and mitt romney wanted to go, and now in the general, which has sort of begun already, mitt romney has to do a harder turned back

towards the middle trying to pick up moderate an independent voters. that was sent from's lasting contribution to the race. >> we know that college-educated white males like him a bit who else like him, mark? >> i think that probably conservatives like him, evangelicals, high-income voters. his profile is that of most republican nominees. about weeks santorum, let it be said, he vindicated and validated what i think is the nominating process. he was the david taking on the goliath. he went to iowa and went to all 99 counties. but for this crop by the iowa republican party, he would have gotten a better lit from winning that night, where he gave the best speech of the campaign speaking about the grandfather

and the minor and so forth -- miner and so forth. he is one of the candidates who has come out of the race stronger and better off than he went into it, having lost. that is an achievement. >> he was good at retail politics. he was in those diners all day, every day. >> he was. newt gingrich also pushed mitt romney to the right. rick perry's stance on immigration, allowing romney it to take a position as far to the right. there is a succession of candidates who have moved romney to where he is now. >> i want to ask something else, but the head -- go ahead. >> mitt romney was able to ignore rick santorum in iowa. he did not think that what happened, so he did not unleash this avalanche of negative ads. in some ways, santorum was able to emerge as the alternative

because he got ignored in the beginning. >> who likes barack obama? who is in his corner? >> women, people of color, latinos -- >> younger voters. >> part of his challenge is to get them out. he had this huge increase as some in 2008 -- enthusiasm in 2008, and clearly that is not there in the same way now. the registration of latino voters is down. that is a problem for democrats. >> what about independent? that is where the action is. >> it is, and right now, has the edge -- obama has the edge. >> santorum won 11 contests. in 1976, ronald reagan won 12 and emerged as the leader of

the conservative wing of the party. >> let it also be said about rick santorum that this is the guy who said that barack obama was a snob for want children to go to college, and that listening to john f. kennedy's speech of 1960 about wanting religion not to be a part of politics made him want to throw up. and in the first debates in an election year where debates were more important than ever, rick santorum was a non-combatant. >> well, in fairness, he was marginalize because he was at zero in the polls. >> well, he had a chance and he blew it. he will be a good candidate in 2016 if he gets a chance. >> rick santorum proved another thing, that there is a fissure in the republican party. everywhere where evangelicals were the majority, rick santorum took that vote.

romney still has a problem with his base, although he is the nominee, or is going to be. >> he did not get the catholic vote, even though he is a conservative catholic. let's look at what the country would look like under the romney administration, or a second obama administration. >> they want to spend trillions of dollars more in tax breaks for the very wealthiest of americans, even if it means adding to the deficit, gutting things like education or clean energy or medicare. >> when we hear the president say he wants more taxes, we will say, you know what, you have got enough. >> roger wrote a column this week were talks about the joys of putting money into money- market accounts. one of them has a return of 0.01%. might as well put your money in a shoe box in the attic. "the question for millions of americans right now is what, if anything, is the next president going to do for me?"

what is romney going to do for the person with money in the shoe box? >> mitt romney said in a speech recently that if you work hard and take risks -- a word president obama never uses -- there will be a better opportunity for life for you in america. work hard, take risks, no government safety net, which is what president obama promises. we will free the free enterprise system to work for you. forget about the government working for you. free enterprise will take care of you. those are the basic differences between the republican position and the democratic position. >> what is he going to do for the person who has money in the shoe box? >> he will try to move the economy ahead so that a person can survive to the next paycheck, and there is no promise in the obama message of

a robust recovery. there is a steady as you go, we will keep the safety net there for those who fall beneath. that is not bold. it is perhaps reassuring, but the question is, who is asking the question "what will you do for me?" those who are hanging at the balance are interested in what obama has to say. the mitt romney prescription will not work for them. >> mark, you wrote a column about the ryan budget and how mitt romney is tied to it. >> what would be fascinating is that mitt romney did choose paul ryan as a running mate. whatever when it says about paul ryan, and i have disagreements with them, he is the intellectual star of the republican party. mitt romney's basic record is that those who are comfortable, you will be more comfortable.

note tax burden, the lowest tax burden in 60 years. barack obama's is to be 98%, your taxes will be raised. he only raises -- will not be raised. he only raises it on the top 2%. both of them are basically saying free lunch. >> former president george bush said this week that if you do that, you are taxing small businesses and slowing down job creators. >> first of all, the first thing that happened in a second, and ministers is that the bush tax cuts would go out of the effect -- a second obama administration is that the bush tax cuts would go out of a fact. it would be revenue from that. there is a growing gap in this country which obama would try to address some want and which romney is quite comfortable with isaying that if you can make money, we will try to help you

make more money. i don't think he is opposed to some sort of a safety net, but he is really not interested in that. he is a free enterprise guy, i don't know how that plays in a n economy where so many people are so scared. >> neither side addresses the of the problem we have, the budget deficits. both ryan and obama would only touched the trajectory a little bit, but it would still continue until both candidates. >> the ryan budget is savage -- >> the romney budget is pretty savage. >> everything gets cut except defense. the defense department wants to cut the budget. we have these weapons systems that don't work. unfortunately, congressmen have those systems in their districts and are the ones pushing for it. >> let's talk about campaign

spending. thanks to citizens united, we will see a super pac spending like you cannot imagine. >> just a point of history -- barack obama in 2008 became the first presidential nominee of either party, since watergate, not to accept the limits -- contribution limits and spending limits -- a public financing. he outspent john mccain by a list 3-1 -- at least 3-1. all limits are off. once the democrats make that mistake, the republicans have a deeper reservoirs. he put the democrats at a future disadvantage. >> aren't democrats sweating it out right now? >> that is absolutely true, but citizens united had not happened yet. we are in a whole different world where there is a parallel campaign that has all kinds of connections -- >> corruption.

you're right. >> i like it at the supreme court is above politics and does not know much about politics, but this is one time or not knowing anything did not help them a lot in appreciating what the consequences were going to be in unleashing this kind of money -- >> when you said these people don't know about politics, these people snickered -- >> 2000, the supreme court -- [laughter] i think they no great deal of politics -- know a great deal about politics -- >> they may have decided an election but that does not mean they know much about politics. >> you saw it in the republican primaries, in iowa, against gingrich big-time, and you will see it happen with barack obama on both sides.

independent money will skew this election. >> supertax will run these horrible campaign ads and the -- it candidates super pacs will run these horrible campaign ads and the candidates will say -- >> there will be many congressional races were at the last minute, half a million dollars will come in from one of these super pacs and destroy somebody. candidatematter that has raised $20 million for the state of i don't know what and were doing well. they could get level in the last week of the campaign and there are plans to do that. >> the campaigns themselves are going to raise, i think in the end, $2 billion together. it will be the first $2 billion campaign. this is not super pac spir -- super pacs. this is ordinary americans

contributing to republicans and democrats. obama already ha $1 billion raised. why americans did so much money to these campaigns, i don't know, but they do. >> we know white they gift. a lot of the bigger money, they want "access." >> it could be altruistic, world peace, or it could be a loss provision in a tax bill exempting corporations founded in delaware in 1947. there are all sorts of motives, and you're selfish interests might be might opt for was the objective -- my altruistic objective. >> money will be used in such an negative way that will turn off voters. the contests against newt

gingrich, and i am not a fan of his, but await they torque newt gingrich up, the white they tore into rick santorum, is a forerunner of what we will see this year. >> ozzie guillén and the residents of little havana. >> we will not come to see any games here. >> i would like that he would be fired. >> i am very, very sorry about the problem, about what is happening, and i will do everything to make it better. >> that is ozzie guillén, manager of the miami marlins, suspended for five games for telling "time" magazine that he loves fidel castro. here we are still talking about castro, nina. >> well, that is a guy who knows how to apologize. [laughter] >> it may not work. >> it may not work.

what you saw were by and large cuban immigrants from an older generation. the younger generation is not so insistent on purity. they loved baseball in miami. stadiumhe marlins' new is in the heart of little havana. >> it does, and it is taxpayer- funded. it is public relations problem. the big thing about ozzie iillén is that it was not "if offended anybody." he just came out with mea culpa. here we are 50 years later, and because of our be knighted policy towards cuba, we have elevated fidel castro to the importance he has, where he has a mythic figure in much of latin america. >> as ozzie says, "60 years and

he is still there." >> that is the only reason he admired him, because he stood up to us. as mark says, we have made cuba a hero for standing up to our boycott sprint how many dictators as the united states supported over the years? a whole bunch, and yet we still have this wild anti-castro feeling in south florida. >> athletes should stay away from politicians, politician should stay away from athletes. he said the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. >> he admitted himself you should not be talking about that. last word. see you next week.