there's a throat be said for kelly ayotte and why she's being considered. she has a lot of tea party support up in new hampshire. she was endorsed by sarah palin. she has a tough on crime background. she was the attorney general in her state. she is also anti-abortion rights so she has that pro life boxing checked that a lot of republicans will be looking at as they go about selecting a running mate and there's a lot of upsides here. actually had a chance to see her speak in front of one of those rubber chicken dinners here in washington, d.c. she's pretty engaging in front of a podium, in front of a crowd. i think you're going to see kelly ayotte do pretty well this morning in portsmouth although a lot of people don't know who she is. she's not a big superstar like marco rubio is. this is a could chance for kelly ayotte to introduce herself to the american people. that's why she's out there as well. >> doish four years ago the country hadn't really heard of one sarah palin either before the veep stakes and boy did that person become famous. keep an eye on

a lot to tackle there. >> a lot. >> first of all, what about kelly ayotte? what about this list we're told governor sue knew knew former governor said today there could be as many as 20 on the list. we're told by our folks garrett haake covering the campaign it's closer to 10 to 15. who should be at the top of the list? >> there's only two people that really know, that's governor romney himself and beth myers his most trusted aide who he has put in charge of this and who can be trusted to be completely confidential. everybody else is kind of guessing. had there's probably a dozen or so names. i would guess you boil it down quickly to a few high lie qualified people. i think senator portman is on the list, senator rubio, i suspect governor pawlenty is probably on the list and probably several others but only mitt romney and beth myers know. they're the only ones that are going to know till this summer. >> does he have to get more exciting than rob portman? i'm told rob portman should be at the top of the list because of ohio, because of budget experience, gov

kelly ayotte. what do you think is happening here is this just another test balloon and how many do you think are wiwill go snup. >> i have to go back to the auto stray where this president saved 1 hpt 4 billion jobs in the supplier industry when he accepted up and mitt romney said let i go bankrupt. whenyou talk about whate said, w ats feua, w stting i t auen wn mt mna e tondtrou beerffifrede oma ha'tnrvedndrede amnste ldehi chgense ttut ry yby meo eadc to say that i have to sit here as one of those people who is from the midwest and knows what would have happened if the auto industry had collapsed. started under president bush. thankfully we had a republican and a democrat who knew what the consequenceses would have been if they hadn't intervened and the economy would not be headed in the correction thdirection t headed and we got where we were because of republican policies that almost destroyed this industry. brought back on where we were in the post depression and we're strongly and steadily,

chairman, i appreciate the opportunity to ask one last question to really fall on senator ayottes question about the submarine force and about the possibility of going back to the two subs a year program for 2014, which i strongly support and i know we've talked about it a little bit. i believe that going back to that program would be cost effective in the long run. and i would just like if you would, admiral green, to comment on the possibility of alternative plans and the possibilities for transitioning to that kind of 2014 two sub option. >> mr. senator, right now, of course, the submarines in 18, we are requesting a block buy starting in '14, '14 through '18. we would request that a multiprocurement authority, that gives us the opportunity to make economic order quantity buy, so buy the turbines, shafts at a much better price. the vendors are more efficient. the learning curve and workload is more efficient. everything's more efficient and we have experience in this and that's part of the the reason these submarines are coming in under budget and on time. what we're looking for is an o

kelly ayotte. he is introduced the governor and stood behind him in his speech.also appeared with senator marco rubio, and john you is -- sun new new. >> oh, wow. thanks for that live report. we'll see you tomorrow. jamie costello? >> i'm jamie costello. coming up at 6:00, we have a cecil county man attacked, his home burglarized. his dog was stolen. tonight a community is on lay letter. we'll hear from jeff hager. >>> many of us wish we could skip jury duty, right? you might want to think twice. who scammers are targeting and why. those stories and more coming up at 6:00. here's a preview of what's ahead on world news at 6:30. >>> coming up on world news, the made in america team is back. they're getting back it work buying made in america. so game on. the entire month of may is made in america as you've never seen it before tonight on world news. it's time to get going. to put more giddy-up in our get-along. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's... ... and mix a little more hop in our hip-hop. with the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's ma

kelly ayotte. what do you think is happening here is this just another test balloon and how many do you think are wiwill go snup. >> i have to go back to the auto stray where this president saved 1 hpt 4 billion jobs in the supplier industry when he accepted up and mitt romney said let it go bankrupt. when you talk about what he said, it was as late as february, i was sitting in the audience when mitt romney said the auto industry would be better off if president obama hasn't intervened and president obama insisted on leadership change inside that auto industry. everybody came to the table and made concessions. it was a difficult time and you had one man who was prepared to bring everybody to the table and make tough decisions. and at another time a man who came out of capital industrial, knew that there was no private funding available to try to help these industry, and brought the government to it. so i have to say that i have to sit here as one of those people who is from the midwest and knows w

senator kay bailey hutchison and kelly ayotte from new hampshire and susan collins and olympia snowed be the first to say, lisa murkowski from alaska, we don't see any evidence of this. >> actually, they don't say that. they do not seem to think it's a manufactured issue when people do ask them what they think about this. maybe you should ask them, too. modest proposal. next time you want to rattle off a list of republican women who totally agree with you on women's issues, senator mcconnell, maybe ask those republican women if that's okay first. if it turns out they don't agree with you, maybe you could even ask them why. joining us now is senior political writer for salon.com, steve kornacki, and msnbc political analyst. steve, it's good to see you. thanks for being here. >> good to see you, rachel. >> what does it say to you that a number of republican women, republican senators, are speaking out against their party's line on this issue, and further, what does it mean that the party's leadership does not appear to be noticing it's happening? >> it says a couple of things. one, it

. >> thank you, senator ayotte. senator blumenthal? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to you both for your service, your extraordinary service to our nation, in each of your commands and responsibilities and to the men and women who serve under you. general kehler, if i could begin just briefly following up on a remark that you just made about the ohio class submarine which you have said is going to be of strategic vital importance as far as we can see into the future, i probably am paraphrasing you, not quoting you directly, but i agree completely, and i wonder if you could speak to the significance of the ohio class submarine replacement in terms of what its value is, how does it add value to our strategic force and why is it so important to continue building it without further delay, i should stress? >> senator, each of the elements of our nuclear deterrent force brings something unique to the mixture, and the strength of the overall deterrent has always been in the sum of its parts. so as we look at this today, and as we go to the future, the inherent sur

investmenor m anwith fity, w gettinck otrk s eaerhan i ght.nor m how much does the palin cloud hurt a kelly ayotteakes? >> it i think it makes it more difficult to reach outside the normal group to get somebody who is not particularly well-known and who is brand new in the sete >> but there's soucabter bgrhyf e s ste aory enal ara pitnthe. rsppnty a puic. vetted.atur mha fr as i think sarah palin has made it much harder. >> i got a theory that says condi rice is the only one that doesn't get sort of hurt by the whole idea. >> it's just good right. i don't think she has that fire in the belly as far as running for office. but at leasthoer is vett now that's me than sahalin go >> smessluti. n,ou g f th'ronhe se ag soouerlo we did not. >> you promote thomas mann. >> the book is about the great divide in congress. they're doing a great job. worth checking out. >> however bad you think it is in washington, they argue it's worse. >> all right. that's today's daily rundown. i apologize for being late. coming up next, chris jansing. >>go md t u. iorrachance of strong storms. the only other areas of concer

senator ayotte? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, general alexander and thank you, general kehler for being here today and for your service. general kehler, the senate support for the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty was tied to modernization of the united states nuclear complex and strategic delivery system, and specifically during the senate confirmation, the president committed to modernization in what became known as the 1251 plan that was incorporated in the 2010 ndaa, isn't that right? >> senator, yes. >> okay. and if you look at that commitment in the 1251 plan, there was an initial plan submitted in may of 2010, and then a month before the ratification of the senate treaty, there was $4.1 billion added over five years to the plan. isn't that right? >> yes. you're talking about the d.o.d. -- >> yes. but that was specifically reflected a month before the ratification of the s.t.a.r.t. treaty put into the 1251 plan as incorporated in the 2010 ndaa. >> senator, i think that's right. that's a little before my time, but i think tha

presenoba, oo i t daw mi rne itoke man chaeser today with snorkelly and snorkelly andenato senator kelly ayottei do think democrats in many ways do have an edge here in terms of the there is a vacuum re tt romy s te a snd and fireut w tge h payin aeterpoti caeh'racg ral p he, aou 1oitsby act him come back to the middle 1234. >> his own staffer told us he was going to etch a sketch. we've known romney has a history of flip-flopping. mormon bishop romney was pro-choice when he ran against ted kennedy who artfully and correctly called him multiple choice mitt. so this this is an issue of fairness. women deserve an issue day's pay for an equal day's work and when romney strategists deny tha women are pidess than men, at tes yo how o o uc eye. mi rnenes gacn uch wiamic wenho arwoinunl ri oheowoawh ak c small businesses, and by passing the fair pay act, congress could go a long way to helping women and mitt romney, this is one place he out to flip, go to the center. >> and is it just mainly for the presidential ectionr do you think when push came to shove and they hado ten e t, wesaome o t reblansi.

he is going to test drive another vp pick at the port smith fish pi real estateer with kelly ayott, shea former state attorney general. her husband is a former military pilot. in addition to those impressive credentials, she has the obvious. she is a woman. we know mitt romney needs to court women voters. he has test driven others in the fast few weeks, florida senate marco rubio who joined him on the tail and paul ryan alongside him in wisconsin and then later this week, he is set to appear with virg governor bob mcdonnell at several appearances in virginia. pr reporting mitt romney will keep the name of his big money fundraisers quiet. peter overby reporting mitt romney who released the name of his bunglers in 2008 is not doing so this time around. the sec only requires campaigns release the name of the donors but they don't have to release the name of the people who get those donors to give money. so far they can legally stay anonymous. it looks like mitt romney will keep them that way. newt gingrich seemingly endless campaign bid is going to last one more day. he was set to call it

. >> first of all, what about kelly ayotte? what about this list we're told governor sue knew knew former governor said today there could be as many as 20 on the list. we're told by our folks garrett haake covering the campaign it's closer to 10 to 15. rooz o am. i ulueou bil ow quklto f hh l alie people. i think senator portman is on the list, senator rubio, i suspect governor pawlenty is probably on the list and probably several others but only mitt romney and beth myers know. they're the only ones that are going to know till this summer. >> does he have to get more bud riceovni peen, bit peen, ngssnaexricealf thabe. t some would say. >> you're doing well making the case. >> some would say it's too much plain vanilla. >> first of all, carrying ohio by a big margin as he did when he ran for senator is exciting to me. but you know, i've heard that argument we need to pizazz up the ticket. i look at the history of presidential races. i don't think that has very often worked very etota is geral adniraonhiwo othe ymcs he rll intie

how much does the palin cloud hurt a kelly ayotte in the sweepstakes? makes it more difficult to reach outside the normal group to get somebody who is not particularly well-known and who is brand new in the senate. >> but there's so much about her biography if i. she was a state attorney general. a grant position there. first appointed by a republican. reappointed by a democrat. it hurts maybe that she's from the northeast. >> and she's a woman. i don't know if you noticed that. but sarah palin hrubio hurts pa. >> you think the shorten you're in politics. >> and the unknown. not nationally vetted. i think sarah palin has made it much harder. >> i got a theory that says condi rice is the only one that doesn't get sort of hurt by the whole idea. >> it's just good right. i don't think she has that fire in the belly as far as running for office. but at least whoever is vetted now that's more than sarah palin got. >> shameless plug time. dan, you go first. they're on the same page. so you go first. >> robert draper's new book, do not ask what good we do, whi

romney in massachusetts, ayotte in new hampshire. >> a gender play. >> i want to point out both werech daniels on the list. indiana is a republican state. mitch daniels is a busy, tech know guy and you don't put someone on the ticket that was a substitute for you. >> that's true of three of the four people on my list. >> this is the lightning round. the gsa scandal. it has all the markings of a drip scandal. hearings begin monday. >> i think it will hurt the administration even though it has nothing to do with the administration but the democrats learned to stop using the word spend and use the word invest. the next time you hear the president speaking about investing, ask him in clown suits, bikes, tuxedos and mind readers. >> fox news got ahold of a email written july 8 from susan britta and a host of underlings saying, a clown suit, bikes, tuxedos and mind reader don't lend themself to a claim of a stub tan active conference and she speaks of a letter of reprimand, which they were crafting to jeff neely, the regional administrator on leave. she says it was not even a slap on the w

but joining us now in new york, republican senator from new hampshire, kelly ayotte.ut how mitt romney fixes a little bit of the gap he's seeing with women voters. >> kathleen parker says they are just not into him. >> yeah. >> how does he do that? what's going on? >> i don't think that's the case. you know, i think that women voters very much care about the state of the economy. you know, i'm the mother of two children. they are really concerned about how we are basically robbing the next generation when it comes to the debt that we have. and also gas prices. the mothers, we're driving our kids around to soccer practices and everything else. and now they are paying twice as much at the pump as when this president came into office. i think those issues are going to resonate. >> i agree. but if you look at women in swing states, romney has a problem in this "usa today" gallup poll. do you disagree he has a problem attracting the female vote? >> that's almost a 20-point gender gap. >> well, i think that we are a long way from this general election. and polls right now a

senator kay bailey hutchison and kelly ayotte and susan collins and olympia snowe from maine and we don't see any evidence of this. >> the problem with rebutting the whole war on women thing saying it's manufactured, these women that you're citing might agree with you on it. but the problem is the woman when who say agree with him on this do not agree with him on this. >> if you do not agree this as an attack on women, you need to go home and talk to your wives, talk to your daughters. ask them if they feel that this is an attack. >> so at this point we have three strikes, which under normal circumstances would mean the end, it would mean you're out. but the republicans are still out there swinging away. they have to. they will lose the election with numbers among this bad on women. the idea that republicans are acting contrary to women's interest and women are turning away from them is polls is not going away. so yesterday the romney campaign convened a conference call to talk about how a romney presidency would be for women and the economy in particular and how awful president obama was

what more do we know of this senator ayotte?>reporter: an experienced lawyer, the attorney general of new hampshire and took a case against planned parenthood to the supreme court. one of the keys for romney as a senator from a native of the first primary in the nation she endorsed romney ahead of the primary in new hampshire and that goes a long way. >>shepard: i'd say. what are the odds, then, at this point from those who qualify quantify such things, that mitt romney could pick her? >>guest: well as you noted he is openly acknowledged she is on the list, and she could offer an unwaivering conservative record on things like abortion, gun rights, gay marriage, and the health care law and bring a dierent dimension to the ticket as a woman and as a mother. she had the endorsement of sarah palin calling her a mama grizzly but the detractors say she is part of the "g.o.p. establishment." >>shepard: we hear more from the florida nator rubio, as well? >>guest: he does acknowledge that his story represents for many the american dream.

there is one surprise, kelly ayotte, she's a regular here. i'm floating around, tweeting, twittering, and i see a front page picture of kelly with an endorsement, she has become big stuff, what do you make of the buzz? >> i have been covering her since she started running for the senate. i'm bullish on her. she has suburban appeal, young family, young kids, military family. gets along with romney, she's a first term senator. she's also from the northeast, does he want to double down on new england in this election? >> what's your favorite? give us the inside pick, who is your favorite right now? >> i think washington experience you need rob portman, a swing state, bush's budget director and ustr, i also like chris christie in new jersey. >> what about jeb bush? >> he is good, out out of office for a long time, he has an independent persona in florida, but the bush name, a lot of people wonder about the bush name. >> rudy juliany is coming on our show tomorrow, and he thinks that mitt romney should pick a candidate sooner rather than later. do

my gut is kelly ayotte out of new hampshire and tim pawlenty. think he would love to put a mid western governor on the ticket. there is no sitting governor that makes a lot of sense, but pawlenty may make sense as a former. >> thanks. great thinking this time of the year. it's only april. >> three months of it. by the way. the only thing interesting about romney right now. by the way, polls close in four of tonight's primary states. nbc will have full complete results here on msnbc and we'll be giving them to you throughout the evening in our regular programming. up next, as mitt romney decides on a running mate, wait until you see what rudy giuliani says what went wrong with palin. ♪ surf's up everybody get your boards and your wetsuits ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com's gonna direct you ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer appl

senator kay bailey hutchison and kelly ayotte from new hampshire and susan collins and olympia snoweould be the first to say, and lisa murkowski from alaska, we don't see any evidence of this. >> lisa murkowski of alaska would say you don't see any evidence of this. the problem for senator mcconnell that the republican women who he say would agree with him on this issue do not agree with him on this issue. >> this is not only discussion in congress, but you've got presidential wannabes that are talking about whether or not contraception is good, bad, indifferent, wrong. women feeling that the party that i have chosen to affiliate myself, the republican party, is ignoring their concerns. is, is causing them to feel like the rights that they believe were settled a long time ago are now being threatened, possibly eroded. it makes no sense to go down this road. it makes no sense to attack women and if you don't view this n women, then you need the to go home and you need to talk to your wives, you need to go talk to your daughters. ask them if they feel that this is an attack. >> yeah, s

chris christies, bobby jindal, kelly ayotte herself. a lot of diversity on the list.what are the chances that mitt romney, who has run a conservative campaign, laid it out, flowed that route, he migh go bold. >> the next step, vetting stage, figuring out what they've done in the past. in they can fine someone who won't have the sarah palin problems, if they can find someone who can do well in debates, is pretty smart, also -- romney's got a gap among women voters, young voters. martinez can add to the gender gap to help him close that, that would be a great pick for romney. >> look at safe picks. again, names we've heard a lot. that would be tim pawlenty, senator rob portman, senator john thune, governor box mcdonald. who could help romney the most? >> mcdonald, you know, the governor of virginia, that's a swing state. that's the most important one, a senator from ohio, another person in a swing state. governor pawlenty's probably not going to get you minnesota, it's a hard state for a republican to win in the general election. i think those two would be the people i

think with women, he'll be in man chaeser today with snorkelly and snorkelly andenato senator kelly ayottedo think democrats in many ways do have an edge here in terms of the there is a vacuum here. mitt romney has to take a stand and figure out a way to get his party in a better position because they're facing a real gap here, about 16 points by these latest polls. >> that is a huge gap. obviously it's something that the romney campaign has been looking at. and he obviously played into the stereotype of having to move far to the right on a lot of these wedge issues in the primary. are you expecting to see him come back to the middle 1234. >> his own staffer told us he was going to etch a sketch. we've known romney has a history of flip-flopping. mormon bishop romney was pro-choice when he ran against ted kennedy who artfully and correctly called him multiple choice mitt. so this this is an issue of fairness. women deserve an issue day's pay for an equal day's work and when romney strategists deny that women are paid less than men, that tells you how out of touch they are. mitt romney need

senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire, another romney supporter, out making the rounds on the talking heads. she says once the primary is over, the real mitt romney will be unzipped. >> polls go up, they go down, and you have to bear in mind, we've been in a tough primary fight. part of this gap, i think, is a reflection of where we are in the primary. and now it's going to turn around very much. >> let's turn to ruth konif, a political editor for the progressive magazine, and charnell hearing with us tonight, she is a minority whip in the virginia house of delegates and chair of the state's reproductive rights caucus. great to have both of you with us tonight. ruth, do you consider or do you view these positions that the republicans are taking as insulting? >> absolutely, ed. and i'm not alone in that. i mean, look, i mean, first of all, the best thing that romney supporters can can say for him is that this man is not who he says he is. so right there, you've got a problem. that's just insulting women's intelligence. but if they are going to try to send this dog whistle, that somehow

kel lie ayotte is going to be a superstar. she's from new hampshire. chris chris city a very popular guy. he would be fun to watch. on the campaign circuit. he's very outspoken guy. there's several other governors and senators but those are pretty much the people that i think that mitt would consider. >> rose: what do you think the race is today, seven in. >> no, i think mitt is behind right now. >> rose: she is in even though polls say... because if you look at women and you look at this decisive state, florida, ohio. >> i think he's a few points behind but i take courage and encouragement from the fact that he's a few points behind because this was the most vicious primary campaign i have ever seen. i have never seen a campaign... a lot of it fueled by the super pac money and... >> rose: republicans attacking republicans. >> oh, my god, yeah. i've never seen such personal and vicious attacks and you've seen mitt's unfavorables go up because of it. naturally you've seen... >> rose: so he has a chance to introduce himself again to america. >> he's goin

my gut is kelly ayotte out of new hampshire and tim pawlenty. i think he would love to put a mid western governor on the ticket. there is no sitting governor that makes a lot of sense, but pawlenty may make sense as a former. >> thanks. great thinking this time of the year. it's only april. by the way, only thing interesting about romney right now. by the way, polls close in four of tonight's primary states. nbc will have full complete results here on msnbc and we'll be giving them to you throughout the evening. in our regular programming. on a running mate, wait until you see rudy giuliani's diagnosis what have went wrong with sarah palin. i don't believe a word. that's next. what happens when classroom teachers get the training... ...and support they need? schools flourish and students blossom. that's why programs like... ...the mickelson exxonmobil teachers academy... ...and astronaut sally ride's science academy are helping our educators improve student success in math and science. let's shoot for the stars. let's invest in our teachers and

maybe it's giving the nod to kelly ayotte from the new hampshire, she's a woman. suzannah martinez. a lot of names floated out there. to martin's point, what can he do to ameliorate his image. >> it's going to be difficult and back to the whole legislative body state and national that you can't run away from. it's not a matter of changing your conversation because this has now spawned all of this extraordinary legislation. py expect his pick will probably be very safe and more predictable. i don't know that he will look for a woman who get the women's vote. i think the given what we saw in '08, i think he wants to be safe, predictable, comfortable, balanced. >> if he really wanted to resolve the problem, he could do it in one fell swoop and stand up and say i'm going to have a female as a v. bang goes the argument that he's negative. >> but the memory of sarah palin i think is still fresh in everybody's mind. so the question is, can senator rob partman put on a wig and take that be thing across the country? >> is he into cross dressing? >>. >>> okay. >> we have to leave it there. bu

they may vet a woman, could be kelly ayotte. >> could be martinez. >> i think pawlenty could be undervalued here. very loyal to romney during the primary after he dropped out. has blue collar credentials romney doesn't and has more after relationship with the candidate and the candidate's staff than the rest of these guys. >> one quick thing we talked about off air, i think you have to consider, does romney want to put marco rubio or chris christie from the second the person is named immediately overshadows him? do you willingly submit yourself to that? >> look, the first role is do no harm. if you pick somebody who then either has political problems that overshadow you or is so darned talented that they overshadow you. >> let me put up our long shot list, longer shots. i throw this up because sarah palin -- lieberman wasn't on the initial list. >> would she make the list? >> no. >> jeb bush, mitch daniels. i moved bob mcdonnell down because of the issues on the legislature, martinez and brian sandoval. >> he supports abortion rights. you can cross him off. >> i think you have to cross him