j mart and the fix, chris cillizza and jay martin will be here next.view what romney's week is like. and the deep dive in the on again/off again affair with the auto industry. how will romney's shifting gears play in a state where cars are king? first, i will look ahead at the president's schedule. big deal today. huge groundbreaking. national museum of african-american history and cultural construction site. the president will be there. deliver some remarks. new smith sownian museum. big, big day. you are watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! [ male announcer ] get investin

contributor managing editor of post politics.com chris cillizza joins us right now. from last night is that mitt romney's got work to do but he did win. a win is a win but on to super tuesday. where are the challenges and opportunities? >> well, andrea, i think the biggest challenge and opportunity i was watching the show, i herd gill, romney's communications director tell you there is no one state that's a must win. i would disagree with that for romney. i think if rick santorum beats him in ohio, it's going to be tough for him to make the case given the other states out there, he's going to win vermont and massachusetts. no one is going to give him a huge credit for that because of the gee graphic ties. if he loses the ohio does he win tennessee or idaho, alaska, north dakota? maybe, but ohio is the big prize. 66 dels. it's a swing state in the general election. i just think you're going to see him focus all of his time and money there because he knows he has to have it. >> chris cillizza, the fix. thank you very much. that does it for us. thanks for joining us. ta

chris cillizza joins us.g to be michigan. >> andrea, let me just say, just the nbc election night music gets me excited. that's how big a political nerd i am. this is and has been a place where mitt romney must win. i know his side is spinning that, well, if he does lose, democrats will swing. there's either a w after your name or an l. if there's an l after mitt romn romney's name tomorrow in michigan, there's problematic for his campaign. there's only six days before super tuesday. the whispers you have heard about whether he can with stand the challenge, somewhere someone else should be put into the race will be a lot more than whispers. >> now we know what you have on your ipod. >> it's sad because it's true. >> thanks. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow, complete results and analys analysis my colleague tamron hall has look at what's next on "news nation." >>> that politics music just gets me going. >> nerd alert. >> that was the best line of the day. we're going to get

chris cillizza is an msnbc contributor and managing editor of postpolitics.com.at to see you at the table. >> hello! >> so how big a deal? >> yeah. >> the trends seems to be with santorum. i know this is a virtual tie, but he's the one gaining. >> if we did this poll two months ago, mitt romney would be ahead by 25 or 30 points in michigan. so, yes, andrea -- i hate to say it's a probable, because, look, rick santorum would kill to be in this position that he's in right now, which is at least tied in michigan. the problem, though, is the primary isn't next tuesday. it's not the tuesday -- it's february 28th, not february 21st. >> so do you think the rick snyder endorsement and a ton of money, obviously, is going to make up the difference and get back on top? >> having the endorsement of the governor of michigan is fine, but the last time i checked, mitt romney and his super pac were outspending rick santorum and his super pac 29 to 1 on the airwaves in michigan. we saw what happened when there was a funding disparity like that in iowa. it was mitt romney versus n

. >> chris cillizza, you're one of us. and mitt romney says his decisive win in florida proves he can win over those conservative voters and that he's ready to go toe to toe with president obama. >> i think the back and forth and even the attacks have been helpful because what's going to come from barack obama will be the same, just a heck of a lot more of it and having people have a chance to see what the trurkt is, i think is a positive thing. any questions by support of the conservatives was cleared up last night in florida. people who call themselves conservative and very conservative overwhelmingly supported my campaign. tea partiers supported my campaign. so i'm hoping i can convince people in minnesota, nevada, arizona, colorado, i've got to get a lot of support from many in my parties. >> kevin is an adviser to the romney campaign. first of all, congratulations. it was a big win. >> a big win with a long way to go. >> again, his comment he made about not caring about poor people. he was on the plane right now and t

got it all to worry b thank you, jonathan martin, thank you, chris cillizza.ropellers on our head. >>> when we return, let me finish with the toxic pollution from the republicans who want to be president. this is a smeared up campaign, nobody is looking good. this is not a good environment for republicans to have their convention or a nominee. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. hello, how can i deliver world-class service for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues,

joining us is chris cillizza and also jonathan martin who works for politico. hate to waste two big heavyweights like you guys. you are the best. i listen to you guys all the time. i learn constantly. i learn constantly. i listen to chuck. i mean it. i'm going to prove you wrong. let's get to this. a lot of good things going on. we have the stock market going up. what is the thing if you're sitting in the white house, you're david plouffe, the prope resident looks up to, across the table to. what is he most worried about between now and november. >> the economy. this has been the best three months of the obama presidency since the first three months of the obama presidency in 2009 but the economy is this thing that -- if you asked david plouffe, they would admit they don't have that much control over how it turns out. so he's worried, look, have we had a couple good months? absolutely. if we have a couple bad months now all of a sudden the energy, excitemen, feeling things will turn around double dip, things not getting better, i think it's the hardest thing it

chris cillizza and jonathan martin. here's my favorite tweet from overnight. so i far mitt romney has won every day that hillary clinton has won and he's lost every state that hillary clinton laos. i know it's an apples to oranges comparison, but there is some, shall we say apples to pears in that statement? >> florida didn't matter in 2008. hillary won there, and barack obama smartly didn't go there. for whatever reason, mitt romney campaigned in minnesota and campaigned in colorado -- >> he raised their importance. >> dropped mailed in minnesota, was doing radio interviews and tried to say yesterday there's no delegates these don't count. i think there's a lot of merit to that argument. this is like having in the middle of the baseball season an exhibition game. you draw a lot of fans, sell out tickets, but it doesn't count. yet we all cover it and enable it. >> there's a difference -- >> when the romney campaign engages, they don't help their cause when they say it doesn't matter. >> but we do see some fundamental differences, even if an exhibition game you

. >> thank you, chris cillizza. >> thank you. >> rick santorum is today unleashing a new tv ad against mitt romney in michigan, undermining romney's claim to be a true conservative on key issues. >> eric fernstrom is a senior adviser to the romney campaign and joins us now. eric, hi. what happened last night? >> well, what happened last night is i think you saw a very vivid contrast between two candidate. mitt romney is a person who has spent his career in business, running the olympics and running a state. he'd go to washington as an outsider. and rick santorum has spent his entire career in and around washington. he sounded like an insider when he was dwefding earmarks. he sounded like an insider when he was defending his deal to support liberal arlen specter over conservative pat toomey. and he sounded like an insider when he was explaining that he voted for no child left behind, even though it violated his principles, because he had to take one for the team. well, as you heard mitt romney say, you're never going to have to wonder what team mitt romney is fighting for. it will be th