covering it this week, dan balz of "the washington post," laura meckler of the wall street journal. robert barnes of "the washington post" and jeanne cummings of bloomberg news. >> award-winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week" with gwen ifill, produced in association with washington journal. funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> it's powerful and connects the global economy to your living room. cleaner air to stronger markets. factory floors to less crowded roads it. today's progress is tomorrow's promise. norfolk southern, one line, infinite possibilities. >> we know why we're here. to connect our forces to what they need when they need it. >> to help troops see danger before it sees th. >> to answer the call of the brave and bring them safely home. >> around the globe, the people of boeing are working together to support and protect all who serve. >> that's why we're here. >> corporate funding is also provided by prudential financial. additional funding is provided by the annenberg found

peer through the lens with a special political roundtable, chuck babington of the associated press, dan balz of the "washington post," jan crawford of cbs news anamy walter from abc news. >> award winning reporting and analysis covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capitol, this is washington week with gwen ifill, produced in association with national journal. corporate funding for washington week is provided by >> one line helps communities turn plans into reality, helps shippers forge a path to prosper ity, helps workers get back to work. one line is is an engine for the economy and the future. norfolk southern, one line, infinite possibilities. >> we know why we're here, to chart a greener path in the air and in our factoryies. >> to find cleaner, more efficient ways to power flight. >> and harness our technology for new energy solutions. >> around the globe, the people of boeing are working together to build a better tomorrow. >> that's why we're here. >> corporate funding is also provided by: prudential financial. additional funding is also provided by the annenberg fou

michael steele, casey hunt, dan balz. d 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 gettin

he told dan balz of the "washington post," for example, "never fight a battle on your heels."omney going to have to put out... i know he's put out 58 points or whatever it is of things he's going to do to improve the economy. but can we expect some time in this campaign where he's going to put an economic plan out that there that people can kind of put their arms around? isn't he going to have to go beyond just saying barack obama ought not to be president? >> well, he's been doing that. look, this is why i think mitt romney won the primary. this is why i endorsed mitt romney in the primary hearing in wisconsin because he was more specific than anybody running for president about specifically what he would do to prevent a debt crisis to create jobs, reform the tax code. to reform these entitlement programs from bankruptcy. look at the record barack obama has to run on. it's the worst economic recovery on record, the highest deficits and biggest government since world war ii, the worst jobs quarter in two years and the highest poverty rates in a generation. that's not a record

jamal simmons, kelly o'donnell, dan balz.hive as we were digging through, getting ready for the preview of the trip. jamal simmons, you hear that and know that the romney folks were hitting him hard on, "you didn't build it," and he awkwardly say it. >> to the hear, it does sound tough to hear. i think the context, though, when you put this in context, it makes sense. and obviously mitt romney does believe that it takes a village. >> let's talk about romney's foreign policy trip here a little bit. i actually look at what he's doing, and this is -- this couldn't the anymore different than obama's foreign trip. i mean, he's really being very careful to limit his risk. very risk-averse trip. >> yes, although all of these trips carry some risk. >> they do, they do. >> which is to say, things happen that are unexpected. and how do you deal with those? the logistics of this trip, very complicated. do they pull it off? do they look like a professional operation? do they look like they're white house ready? there are a lot of things