guy who founded the ringling bros.us. mitt always felt at home at the circus. it is a safe place for people like him have a knack for contorting themselves into awkward positions. that was a joke dump. don't worry, my jokes are 100% biodegradable. i'm done talking now. >> jennifer: okay. political junkies, thank you for joining us here in "the war room." tune in tomorrow night. my guests will be former labor secretary ro

>> he's in the spotlight as the first african-american ringmaster at ringling brothers and barnum & baileys i always tell people about circus life and especially here at the greatest show on earth is you don't play a ringmaster. you don't play a trapeze artist, you don't play a daredevil. you are these things and everything you do in your personal life centers around what you're going to do later that night or three times on saturday. >> it was the chance of a lifetime that suddenly appeared just after he graduated college. >> this opportunity to be the ringmaster of the greatest show on effort was prefrnsented to m. it was history. i thought this is a great pickup line. ringmaster. >> i think i fell in love as soon as i saw him. it's not only the person, it's when he's on stage as a ringmaster he takes care of the arena. he's so charismatic. yeah, he's amazing. but he's a great person too. >> jonathan's brazilian-born wife is a dancer and line captain with the show and they have two children and find the circus to be a wonderful and supportive home. >> the greatest thing about the greates

but when you work in the ringling brothers & barnum & bailey circus, you make it exciting.s drawn to the tigers and grew up idolizing gunther gable williams. >> i look at this guy as oh, man, look at this guy. he's amazing. >> your mother didn't want to you work with the tigers? >> no, no. not too much. no. no, because i have too much every day, like that from my father. i don't want this for my son. >> but unwilling to let go of his dreams, he spent every waking moment studying the tiger trainers by day and then practicing what he had learned by night. >> when the lead guy parks i go and see and looking and looking what did this guy do. in the night, i go. i get one side, like that. >> you were sneaking into the cages? you were just sneaking around? >> oh, yeah, yeah. like a little kid. >> then he got his chance. the regular tiger trainer was running late and the audience was getting restless. >> all the show ready. the tiger cage is set up and the guy no coming for the show. i say, can i work it? one, 14-year-old guy, no, no, no, no. i say okay. come on, let's go. i want

(panicked breathing) i feel like a ringling brother. the contractor's playing mr.as up there all day. see if you see anything to the contrary. no. cab's pretty clean. system's offline. there's a computer on board i'm guessing has an internal monitoring system. you mean like some sort of a black box? yeah. it records every movement and action of the crane. he never said anhing about that. (laughs) it's probably for good reason. you know what? i think i can jack into this, and, uh, bring the information ba to the av lab. (thudding) whoa! whoa! what the hell is that?! what was what? (sighs) no, i said... i was saying... "look..." i was saying "look at that." it'suite a view. i... did i mention what a good time i was having? calleigh... i think we got some blood up here. hi. hi. so, how we doing with that blood from the crane? nice get, by the way. that sample was pristine. thanks. made it very easy to pull up a profile. think it's ironic that after all that destruction, this whole case could come down to one drop of blood. yeah. check this out. now, there's a face onl

it's worth noting he's appearing at a museum that was named after and built by one of the original ringling brothers. but do you think the president is buying this new message? well, here he is a moment ago when he was asked at the univision forum about his thoughts on mitt romney 2.0. >> well, here is what i would say. first of all, i've been president now for almost four years, but the day i was elected, that night in grant park where i spoke to the country, i said 47% of the people didn't vote for me, but i have heard your voices, and i'm going to work just as hard for you as i did for those who did vote for me. that's how you have to operate as a president. i truly believe that. >> so there you have it. two dueling messages of unity fighting it out for the voters' approval. of course, there is still 47 days until they go -- the nation goes to the polls. that leaves plenty of time for mr. romney to change his message once again. but you know what they say about that? the more mr. romney changes, the more he stays the same. joining us now is msnbc contributor and columnist for the bloombe