. >> sponsored by the dnc, the dnc is hammering away at romney in political ads. >> corporations areey as the man to beat. romney responds this way bp that's capitalism. romney insists bain capital has been a job creator ultimately. >> what i offer is america is that when i was head of that enterprise that invested in a hundred companies, if you take those places where we are able to add jobs and is you tract those that lost jobs, we added over a hundred thousand jobs. a hundred thousand jobs. >> but because bain capital is a private company that doesn't have to disclose details of acquisitions, it is difficult to verify his claims or claims of the democrats. however, the dnc may resonate with mid et class voters. >> the candidate that could be nets with moderates and middle class, and the middle class is the swing vote in this situation. part of the strategist dnc will be to paint mitt romney of the candidate of the 1% personified. >> the romney camp is hitting back as a spokeswoman says quote, president obama and his cronies know that if they have to face mitt romney in the general

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you're the executive director of the dnc. deal with the fact that this congress has gone from 24% in may down now in december to 11%. are you confident? that a lot of the newly elected tea party congressmen can be defeated and the dnc has a shot of trying to take back the congress? >> reverend, i am convinced that republicans in this congress, tea party leaders in this congress have been exposed. if you look still data, it's abundantly clear places in the country where the tea party brand is at the absolute lowest is where tea party members were elected. 2010 was a tough year, and of course the economy was the number one issue facing all americans. during that election, republicans ran with the promise they would create jobs. from the moment that they stepped into congress and mitch mcconnell said his number one imperative to was to make sure that -- and every sing the republicans from boehner, kantor, to folks like romney and santorum all followed suit. i'm conferred when the contrast is made, americans will make the sat rig

we played the cindy lawp per dnc true colors spot. already in the internet.pot start tonight. we will show it tomorrow on the factor. we want to get research on what they are saying. all the same theme. that mitt romney is gordon gecko from the movie wall street, michael douglas, that is he a greed head. out of touch with the folks. doesn't care. and you have got with the populace gingrich or democratic case obama. is that going to hurt romney? >> probably not in the long run, bill. you do have this weird convergence between those in the republic primaries trying to outflank romney on the right such as newt gingrich and rick perry who are making the same arguments at dnc and moveon.org about romney's past at bain capital. i don't suspect that that particular argument will have much traction. what romney has to fear if anything in south carolina is first the fact as you mentioned earlier that he finished fourth place last time around in 2008. also the fact that 60% of south carolina g.o.p. primary voters identify themselves as evangelical christians. their pro

joining me now is ed rendell, nbc news political analyst and former dnc chair. and michael steele, former rnc chair. thank you both for coming on. governor, let me start with you. how potent an issue is romney's time at bain? >> well, i think it's an important issue. i'm not sure it will make a difference in the republican primaries, al, but it's going to be a devastating issue for the fall. and the best thing for barack obama is that he doesn't have to be accused of bringing out a negative thing. and if romney does survive, and i think he will. i don't think there's a plausible alternative. if he does survive, he'll be wounded by this and something independent voters, working class, reagan democrats, that they are going to consider very deeply in the fall. i'm just licking our chops. >> now, mr. steele is the governor right? is it too late for anyone to stop willard, and if it is, will it not be effective if he's running as a job creator? it makes it all the more legitimate for the democrats to raise his record at bain and to be able to say even his opponents i

the president and the dnc announced raising $68 million in the fourth quarter of last year.wereç talking about the rol of super pacs. obama, of course, has his own super pac, or one that purports to support him, priorities usa action. however, if you put the numbers up, if you comparison shop among super pacs, priorities usa raised $3.2 million as of june of 2011, which is not a small figure, but if you look at what's happening on the right, you know, store our future, mitt romney's super pac, $8.9 million. make us great again, rick perry's super pac, $3.4 million. the money in super pacs seems to lie distinctly with the right. that's not to say that the white house is not making a very big push for direct donations to obama and the dnc. >> i think that's a function, though, of the political environment that we're in. we have the nominee set on the democratic side, the white house doesn't have the real primary, is basically able to take what is an impressive small donor base, including like 200,000 new donors in the most recent quarter, which was a striking figure out of th

we are pleased that general council and director of voter protection at the dnc has come back to the afternoon session here to join us. as state officials, we're particularly interested in hearing about voter outreach and engagement efforts by the dnc, we will also have a representative from the rnc and we are anxious to hear his role in voter protection. >> i thank you secretary miller and thank you all for having us back this afternoon. as i did speak briefly this morning, i will endeavor to be fairly brief this afternoon as well. i do want to say that as we enter the 2012 election, we are facing new rules, many of which have been talked about here today, whether they involve photo id or voter registration, new rules happening in the states, many of these rules, we think the fact is that they will have a disproportionate affect on members of the voting public, who traditionally have been disenfranchiseded. many of them, minorities, either racial or long minorities. to that end, our focus and our goal, one of them anyway, is to ensure that we have an elaborate education program so t

to go. >> what is the strategy for the dnc moving forward?son who came out, a former employee who mitt romney let go from bain capital? will we see more people like that that the dnc will sponsor and speak out against mitt romney? >> you will see at every opportunity helping iowans and americans understand that mitt romney has very little conviction. dabs why do you think if santorum was the one on the up-swing yesterday, why do they keep going after romney? >> andrea: they think romney is going to be the nominee. >> bobnominee. >> dana: they are like bob. >> andrea: exactly. in their office in washington, d.c., chicago, plotting against mitt romney. they are scared of mitt romney. to your point, they are playing politics at everybody chance. in a g.o.p. primary. >> dana: sure. >> andrea: stay out. it wouldn't hurt the president to back off and not remind people he is there. >> bob: this is a relatively new phenomena, for the last ten years. we show up at primary night with the other party and have people around you, set up the campaign opera

dnc leaders announced he will accept the party nomination at the bank of america stadium in charlotte, north carolina. some critics are upset because the stadium is named for a bank that receives a federal bailout. dnc leaders said the venue was chosen because the 74,000-seat stadium allows more people to take part in the event. >>> 4:38. 45 degrees. still ahead on "news4 today," asking for your help. the person police are still trying to find after the death of an abandoned baby. >>> bracing for a lot of snow. the impact this major winter storm is already having on parts of the pacific northwest. >>> no snow here, but we are in for a cold day. (ringing) hello? this is the sea calling. the sea? yeah! (laughing) what's it like there? brrrrrrr! how do you deal with that? a coat, a hat. gloves. scraping ice off a car. (making scraping noises) i don't want to rub it in, but where i am, it's 82 and sunny. get me outta here! (laughing) >>> do you know what time it is? 4:41. good morning, time for weather & traffic on the 1s. i'm tom kierein in snowstorm center 4. right now it is cold, tempe

evening earthquake that would be an endorsement because i would want the dnc to attack me because that me and all the people out there, the potential republican voters i amount guy they are most fearful of. >>guest: be honest, romney, other than huntsman who is far more electable than romney --. earthquake why does every democrat think huntsman is the guy? >>guest: he is an impressive human being. smart. traveled the world. insightful on foreign policy and ran a good state as a moderate. and the other -- romney is all over the map. inconsistent and the rest of the field is far too extreme to be electable. you know that. >>eric: take a guy who lost his job back, 15 or 20 years ago, and, do you understand, do you yourself understand what the companies do? they save jobs? they take companies that would fail and put them together and save at least half of the, what is left. >>guest: well, listen, i thought that mitt's answer not last debate when they asked about the company was very good, but this is politics. we will take those human stories, the people who were affected, this guy lost hi

let me ask you finally, a lot of stuff comes out from the dnc on mitt romney, very little about rick why shouldn't we assume here in the media when we see this that the dnc is worried as the republican nomin nominee? >> i would say a couple of things to that, chuck, cheerily he has been running longer than anyone else in the republican field for president despite the fact he says he's not a career politician and he set himself up as the front-runner and has been challenging the president every single day so we thought it was important to buy some forensics there, that there was a good deal made about the question of whether or not newt gingrich's alleged open relationship with his ex-wife is fodder for this campaign. i think the people of south carolina and as far as we can see republicans have been casting their ballots thus far are much more concerned about mitt romney's open relationship with the truth and whether or not somebody who is probably paying at a 15% tax rate has his money off to the cayman island tax agent and someone who has an economic can plan that benefits the high

. >> we've been focusing on iowa, obviously, while you folks at the dnc have been pretty much focusing romney, frankly, starting with some of those ads a couple of months ago painting him as a flip-flopper. so day before the caucus, how confident are you that obama will be running against romney? >> look, we're not going to try to pick the republican nominee. what's interesting about this race is there's a different flavor every month. we have santorum now, gingrich before that. romney's been the stale flavor, if you will, he's been at 20%, 25%. i think this is still smin nin's race and the president can beat any one of them because they you'll subscribe to the same economic philosophy that sank the economy in 2008. americans don't want to go back to that. >> yet, as i watch what you folks are doing, it does seem the dnc focuses on mitt romney. yesterday he used randy johnson, the former paper plant worker, whose plant was bought by bain capit capital, johnson said, quote, i really feel that he didn't care about the workers. is this going to get pretty negative pretty fast? >> well, lo

dnc communications director brad woodhaus is here to tell us how democrats will fight back. >>> and eric cantor can't handle the truth about his idol, ronald reagan. >> he rose taxes and it was one of his principles not to raise taxes. >> he also cut taxes. >> but he did compromises. >> well, that's not true. >> ezra klein of the "washington post" is here to set the record straight. >>> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the first votes of the republican nomination are hours away from being cast. i think we might see a big surprise in iowa tomorrow. the latest numbers from the public policy polling have ron paul on top with 20% of the vote in iowa. mitt romney and rick santorum are right behind on his heels. the comprehensive "des moines register with romney at 24%, ron paul 22%. santorum in at 15%. the devil is in the details. in the first day of the poll, ron paul was on top with 29% support. four days later he was down to 16%. on the other hand, santorum polled at 10% the first couple days of the polling. on days three and four, his numbers doubled to 20%. s

a seven point spread now in the latest poll and it will be interesting to see what the dnc chair debbie-schultz says about an hour from now because when she's been on this show before, she would really not answer the question as to why the dnc was not going after newt gingrich at that time when he was ahead in the polls, they continued their efforts against mitt romney. is it because of those poll results? stay tuned for that. >> some of the best poll results in the blogosphere was the des moines register web site and it's interesting because the obama campaign bought all the ads on the home page of the des moines register over the last 48 hours or so, they've been trying to remind everybody, hey, i know that it's all about the republicans but i'm in it, too. and in fact, the president of the united states had a web address last night. it almost looked like he was personally skyping his fans reminding them hey, don't count me out. i've gotten a lot done in the last three years and i need four more. >> because those caucuses four years ago, we ended the war in iraq as promised and our tr

we appreciate you being with us. >>> still to come on "starting point" the dnc chair.ultz will join us live. we'll ask her about the democratic strategy now following mitt romney's "victory in iowa." still a few weeks off, but the florida primary could shape up to be a potential painmaker. we'll head to mihm miami and ta about why, when "starting point" continues. ose pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. i want healthy skin for life. [

the dnc is one thing. huntsman, perry, you saw gingrich and santorum come out today and say, no, no, this isn't fair. >> well, i like firing people line, the democrats and to a certain extent the republicans are trying to make this a seminal moment. we talked yesterday about those trigger moments before the new hampshire primary. hillary clinton's tears, other moments, they really wanted that to be this for this election. i think, fortunately, because of what you do, because of what we do on the internet, because of how it goes it doesn't stick. it doesn't stick a -- that way because an out of context line doesn't hold up. megyn: they want a debate. even mitt romney detractors want a debate, but i think most voters want a real debate, they don't want to argue over a strawman and we can spend the next day arguing over it and basing our vote on a false controversy. i mean, why would rick perry do this with the ring tone? why would jon huntsman do this? >> well, huntsman, his whole political life depends on w

. >> there's no question that president obama has raised between, the president and dnc have raised more than all the republicans already. so there will be plenty of money washing around. i want to ask you about the google interview that the president did, some say it's the new wave of campaigning. that he is out there and accessibility at the same type t -- same time the rnc is up saying he is not been as sympathetic to a woman that was in the high tech field. what are the risks and rewards of going on social need wmedia? >> the president has made a priority of going on social media to talk directly to the american people. it's something that he revolutionized during the 2008 campaign and he will continue to doing it. we think that google town hall and again, it was something that was run by the white house, we are watching on the campaign, was a tremendous success, he had a great conversation with the american people yesterday. if there's something we are sure on, it's that the president knows what the american people are going through right now, if there's a lack of sympathy, it on th

the only one that's got the guts, the integrity and the commitment to take the rnc on as much as the dnc. >> integrity and commitment. yes, indeed. let's get right together our panel now. karen finney, washington post opinion writer, jonathan capehart and ken vogel. karen, i want to start with you. newt is clearly not listening to the republic establishment who says he's an inconsistent bafoon and should get out of the race. he is listening to the brain trust and sarah palin and herman cain. explain this to our viewers. >> he's also not listening to common sense that says maybe the weekend before a big election m and maybe that's the part you're not trying to emphasize and you're already losing with women voters. newt is free willing here. he's apparently calling the shots. he said a while ago, he fired campaign professionals and now he's doing it his way. it's representative of the same kind of bizarre, erratic behavior that got him in trouble in the building right behind me. >> you have to admire his self-confidence. he says he was responsible for developing supply side under ronald re

bush and former dnc chairman and cnbc contributor, governor howard dean. thank you for joining me tonight. governor dean, what the democrats were really hoping for is that there was no decisive winner as there was four years ago in the democratic run. i think president obama getting 37. obama 37, clinton about 8 points less than that. nothing like that this time around. that is exactly what the democrats needed. isn't it? >> well, it would have been more fun to have santorum win but i would have to say that this problem that the republicans have is pretty extraordinary. 75% of the people in that party just don't seem to want to vote for mitt romney for president of the united states. so this goes on. and as we go on, he moves further and further to the right the most damaging thing that he has said so far is he would damage the dream act. the really important hispanic vote has now disappeared given what the republicans have said over the last few months about this incredibly fast growing group of americans. >> mark, the turnout was not what republicans wer

dnc chair debbie wasserman shultz next on the road to the republican nomination.are you hearing this hour, what we keep hearing is a lowering of expectations for mitt romney. >> reporter: i want to talk -- i heard you talking about it, we have new information on turnout specifically in the upstate. upstate going to be very important for newt gingrich, counties like greenville and pickens and spartan berg, 40% of voters tend too come from upstate south carolina. right now we're hearing the words record turnout thrown around in pickens county and also heavier than expected. that's despite a lot of rain that we've seen, tornado watches in effect for several counties as well. but the upstate right now again, when you start looking at the number of voters who are turning out, that's going to be very good news for newt gingrich. speak gs of some of the expectations you were talking about, political pundits, pollsters, probably more of them per capita in south carolina than any other state in this country. i've talked to a number of them today and they are saying pretty

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