even though dnc suggests he has. to question as it's been posed, why have you been dragged to the right? he hasn't. we have run as relative, republican candidate. tax reform proposal. terribly bold? it's fine. none of these issues, with the exception of immigration has he been to the far right. as the dnc suggests. >> etch-a-sketch stimulus when the report comes out. >> bret: sales will be up. that is it for the panel. stay tuned for recap of a celebration this past weekend. . [ male announcer ] even if you think you can live with your old mattress... ask me how i've never slept better. [ male announcer ] ...why not talk to one of the 6 million people who've switched to the most highly recommended bed in america? it's not a sealy, a simmons, or a serta. ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how i can finally sleep all night. ask me how great my back feels every morning. [ male announcer ] did you know there's a tempur-pedic for everybody? tempur-pedic beds now come in soft, firm, and everything in between. ask me how

and political analyst, former dnc communications director, karen finney. in minneapolis, ana marie cox. since so much of these candidates appear to have problems we have loogs, isn't this race really the survival not of the fittest but the survival of the richest? and that man is mitt romney. he doesn't appear to be winning for any other particular reason, does he? >> i suppose that's probably true. look. people keep blaming the process but you're right, he who has the most money at this point seems to be the one who has been able to make the best case in order to win. he still has this fundamental problem that i think we'll talk about for some time in that he has not been able to really win broadly within the republican party. so i guess what question you have to ask yourself is in the general election, is money going to be enough to buy love. >> that's a good question. john, when you listen to mitt romney's latest awkward outing, this time with george h.w. bush and his wife barbara bush, it became clear that republicans are sick and tired of this fight.

mitt romney picks up another key endorsement in the dnc rightful love song. i'm torey dun nan with a breakdown on the tuesday show down in wisconsin. girl: i want to tell you about my friend. his name is ben. ben learned about a homeless boy who had an infected tooth, and the boy died. that made ben really sad. he wrote a law so every kid can see a dentist. we have special dental van that goes from school to school. he even helps make sure we learn how to brush our teeth. he's my friend, ben. i hope he's your friend, too. i'm ben cardin, and i approved this message. chtion rescue of firefighters is caught on tape in dear born, michigan, crews were on the building when the roof began to collapse. one firefighter jumps to safety and the other two are pulled over the small wall you see there. the crews were on the roof trying to ventilate the building, no injuries were reported. the cause of the fire is still under investigation. >>> we are going to stay in texas to san antonio w a motorcycle near miss you have to see to believe. watch the right sides of your sc

. >>> and the dnc is bashing mitt romney to paul ryan's budget plan which they say favors the rich. ♪hen old mitt claps his hand ♪ for the ryan plan ♪ that's amore >> that is amore and that is the side show and let me start with the unpredictable election coming our way this summer and fall. we begin with the trayvon martin shooting. our correspondent joining us from sanford, florida, tonight, and also david wilson from thegrio.com, managing editor. michael, what can you tell us that you have been able to uncover? >> well, chris, a lot murky of what happened that night between trayvon martin and george zimmerman, but one new piece of evidence that we did find today that is -- that could raise some further questions is that the original 2005 police report on the arrest of george zimmerman. zimmerman was arrested at a bar near the university of central florida by a state law enforcement officer, and charged with battery and use of violence and obstructing justice. when you look at the underlying police report, what we find is that zimmerman was disobey ed te orders of a state law enforc

so far his only challenger is former dnc chairman. >> making news in america's money -- bank of americatests in foreclosure program. mitt romney's loss is etch a sketch's gain. >> topping america's money, a possible takeover of american airlines. bloomberg reporting u.s. airways had talked to creditors of the bankrupt carrier about a merger and a reception has been positive. bank of america is testing a program involving foreclosed properties that would offer customers an option to remain in their homes and rent -- they would sign over the deed and the bank would forgive debt. agassi groups -- advocacy groups say women pay much more for health insurance while getting less. plants can cost as much as 80% more for the same coverage. only a few states ban so-called gender rating. mitt romney's opponents are not the only ones profiting from the etch a sketch comments -- the company says it is glad to see their product to drawing so much attention. >> time for traffic and weather every 10 minutes. >> first let's talk things over to lisa baden. >> it is morning. it all started overnight with

. >> i was at the dnc. was neutral. >> karen was at the dnc. >> for those of us that were in the clinton camp, it was a hard fought campaign but never at any time did one camp lose respect for the other or did either camp think that the other candidate wouldn't be a superb president. when the campaign was over there was no hesitancy going embracing obama from the clinton side. that is not true to what's going on now. they dislike to the point of hating each other with a visceral disregard. think they are incapable of being elected president. they they do not represent the core of the republican party. this idea of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, that's true in some cases. not this this one. >> it doesn't look that way. thank you so much for spending friday with us. >> thanks. >>> next, positive jobs numbers have everyone feeling a little bit, well, almost everyone. stay with us. ♪ rocket man ♪ [ molly ] wash your paws, mr. man! [ female announcer ] think your kids are getting a dependable clean -i

. >> that is funded by the dnc, but we want to keep this issue going because voters have come to theusion, i think that the republican party is populated by whacko's and nuts. and this birther stuff helps one person, barack obama. keep it up. >> we actually, i don't know how you got joe arpaio to speak infront of a camera. very few people can name their own sheriff. he sees oxygen, i agree with the governor, it's mostly a conspiracy to keep it going. >> you can get a copy president obama's supposedly forged birth certificate for the price of $22 on a mug, i believe at the obama re-elect website. we will have more about the birther discussion on our facebook page. coming up, after failing to repeal president obama's contraception mandate on the senate floor, republicans in congress are thinking about their strategy in the battle over birth control and will it cost them at the polls in november, our panel debates that next on "now." ♪ [ telephone rings ] [ mayhem ] please continue to hold. the next available claims representative will be with you in 97 minutes. [ laughs ] ♪ and if you

dnc, a new ad.. >> planned parenthood, going to get rid of that. planned parenthood, going to get rid of that. >> okay, richard, you're a political writer. the republicans cannot win with a 20% gender gap. you see the ad, forget politics aside, what is your reaction, getting someone elected? >> planned parenthood, for the christian right, is a symbol. and all you have to do is say those two words. you know, they remind me of sort of the american equivalent of the taliban. you know, they want to drag women back to a different point in time. and yes, there's this huge gender gap. and they're not just going to lose independents. they're going to lose republican women. >> meredith, as a journalist, as a woman, you see, and we can play hours of various candidates, various media people on the left and right and candidates, but mostly on the right, saying women, we don't -- you know, on a mass level, that's okay. what am i missing here. they can't win this way? >> i agree with you. but they obviously appea

first listen to what he said to a missouri reporter this week and then we'll play the bit of the dnc running. >> my test is pretty simple. is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from china to pay for it? on that basis, of course you get rid of obamacare, that's the easy one. there are others. planned parenthood, we're going to chief analyst gloria borger to talk about what we saw yesterday, what we're talking about moving ahead. i know mitt romney has said rick santorum's campaign was coming to a desperate -- >> yet when you look at what happened last night with him coming in third place with both mississippi and alabama, he's got a little problem. >> not so much a desperate end. i was talking to a senior adviser to santorum who said, it's the beginning, it's not the end of our campaign, and look, i think romney was embarrassed last night because they let expectations rise that he could have won one of those states in the south, and he didn't, and santorum now has an argument to make, which is that i can block him from getting the necessary 1,144 documents. santorum is

and the dnc is having a great time bashing mitt romney on his new budget plan which democrats insists favors the rich. ♪ when old mitt collapse his hand for the plan that's amore ♪ >> that's amore and that's in the side show, and let me finish tonight with the predictable election coming our way this summer and fall. we begin with the trayvon martin shooting. chief investigative correspondent joins us from sanford, florida tonight. also david wilson, editor of greo.com. let's start with michael who is new on the case. michael, what can you tell us you've been able to uncover? >> reporter: chris, it's still murky about what happened that night between trayvon martin and george zimmerman, but one new piece of evidence we did find today could raise some further questions is the original 2005 police report on the arrest of george zimmerman. zimmerman was arrested at a bar near the university of central florida by a state law enforcement officer and charged with battery and use of violence and obstructing justice. when you look at the underlying police report, what we find is zimmerman dis

the president campaign and d at the dnc isot giving any money to the congression candididates. that is the ulultimate in selfishness and disloyalty, and it means that should he win reelection, nobody will owe himim nothing not even in his own party, and he could lose a majority in the senate. i find it the ultimate in some version is an coalfishine -- in selfishness and cold fishiness. >> interesting point. the white house is looking at the numbers of congress 11% favorable, but that is a shortsighted straty. if youooking at -election in january 2013 and you are looking for friends on capitol hill they are going to be arce. how did this smamall colorado town get through tough economic times? freight rail. it attracted large companies, like vestas. we built four factories to make turbine blades towers, and generators. creating over seventeen hundred jobs. then suppliers, stores more companies followed, creating more jobs. economists call that the ripple effect. iall it the freight rail effect. freight rail connects every corner of america, bringing jobs and economic growth along

soon after, the dnc was out with a new web video. by afternoon, newt gingrich and rick santorum was using actual etch-a-sketches as props. >> to have his communications director say to all of us, if we're dumb enough to nominate him, we should expect by the acceptance speech we'll move back to the left, triggers everything we're worried about. >> santorum's campaign even sent an aide to romney's lone campaign event of the day to hand out etch-a-sketches. romney brushed away a reporter's guess before submitting to one at a hastily called press avail. >> a campaign takes on a different profile. the issues i'm running on will be exactly the same. >> you know, while romney did hope to add the words presumptive nominee in front of his name today, the campaign even before etch-a-sketch had one eye on santorum. their daily attack e-mail went out, and of course, the super pac has negative ads running in wisconsin, the next big fight. >> proof again anything can happen in politics. chuck todd in our d.c. newsroom. chuck, thanks. >>> overseas,

. >> the president's campaign and the dnc are not giving any money to congressional candidates. that is the ultimate in selfishness and disloyalty, and it also means that should he win reelection, nobody will owe him nothing and he could lose a majority in the senate. i find it the ultimate in small business and cold fishiness. >> it is an interesting point. the white house is driven by the numbers for congress, but 11% favorable, but that is a shortsighted strategy. if you are looking at re- election in january 2013 and looking for friends on capitol hill, they are going. -- going to be scarce. >> let's say there is no clear winner. do we go to a brokered convention? >> when i spoke to my colleagues on the right, which is where i hang out, even though it is highly improbable, it is possible mitt romney will end up short of what he needs. if he is 50 short, he will get the nomination. if he is 200 short, santorum and gingrich will not handed over, paul does not have enough. what do you do? there is a chance, remote but possible, that the party goes outside interests as somebody

the dnc is going after him because he said he's going to opt out of medicare. the dnc ad. >> i'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks? >> what do you think? >> very clever. they're going to position him as a guy who is not in touch with the average person, doesn't rely on medicare, which all our families do. they bring up the $10,000 bet. i'm surprised they didn't talk about how he was friends with the owners of the nascar teams. >> it's surprising to me that they even made a big deal about that. he's not going to sign up for medicare. >>let take a look at one more from the conservative group american future fund. this one goes after president obama. >> i did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on wall street. guess who gave $42 million to obama's last campaign for president? wall street bankers. but his white house is full of wall street executives. >> fact check.org looked at that ad. they said it's full of exaggerations and misleading statements. it's not the first ad that has been. does that matter, though? does this matter? >> one clien

in terms of enthusiasm, you've got to be clear it's dnc money and campaign money.right with respect to third party groups. >> i did clarify, as a good point, rick santorum raised $9 million there a lot of money, impressive. >> big donor, that's the story, your man's not doing as well. not doing nearly as well as he did in 2008, i think it was -- right now it's 11,000 people spent over $2,000. >> right. >> back then at the same time before he was the president, it was $23,000. >> important point. >> you see this as an opportunity. i know where you're going. >> a pledge drive. >> there is energy and enthusiasm for mitt romney with wealthy people and it shows up in the finance reports. two, no, it's true, to the extent that people are engaged in the race they see it as a close contest. i don't think that that's true of democrats at large. i don't think all democrats look at this and see mitt romney as somebody who could possibly beat barack obama but you look at polls, look at the context of this, it's a close, tough fight. >> there's an interesting point about this m

the dnc already has a video tying romney to ryan. let's take a look at that the ♪ when old mitt clasp his hands for the paul ryan, that's amore ♪ >> when his plan came out i applauded it ♪ when paul ryan gives props to old mitt romney's chops ♪ that's amore. >> a song for the ages, kasie hunt. >> that's ben's voice singing the song. >> you got a little extra cash in the packets. >> the lines are all blurring on that. >> kasie, the other thing, you know, let's talk about that. this is something that the democrats i think are probably you know champing at the bit, the dnc certainly wasted no time in getting something out there attaching the two men at the hip. >> sure. you've seen a struggle over paul ryan and his various budget plans throughout the course of the primary campaign. romney was reluck tabt to embrace the first one but used it to beat gingrich up. so you've already seen some recognition from the romney campaign that this could potentially pose political problems down the line. >> i disagree with sa lis za on in that these

i will speak with former dnc chairman terry mcauliffe. here's an update on the progress.ing for all spill related clean-up costs. bp findings supports independent scientists studying the gulf's environment. thousands of environmental samples have been tested and all beaches and waters are open. and the tourists are back. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen >>> i'm thomas roberts. the agenda next hour a better than expected employment report, but we'll ask our power panel, can the president win re-election if the unemployment rate remains above 8%. >>> mitt romney comes out swinging against president obama as he tries to win over a stubborn south. msnbc's chris hayes weighs in on the new gritty mitt romney. >>> plus melissa harris perry sounds off. plus, highlights from the women in the world summit, an

louis to speak at a dnc event. >>> the critical issues facing two leaders is how to deal with iran. >ernor o'malley will deliver the state's priorities to the maryland congressional delegation. time for one more check of the forecast with lynette. >> good morning. we are cold. check out baltimore right around 30 degrees. the further to the north and west you go we are in the 20s. 29 in hagerstown and 25 in york pennsylvania. looking at eastern shore into easton around 34 degrees. satellite and radar picking up on clouds moving into the area. we are still mostly clear to partly cloudy and will be mostly cloudy as we go into the afternoon. here's the storm system still to the south of us. it's down into west virginia right now. and also into virginia. this will make its move off towards the east. a clipper system that's a fast moving system. and so, we could be clipped by it if it goes a little bit further to the north expect snow showers in here as we go through the rest of the morning. but if it stays on the track it is on aisleite will miss you go. something into southern maryland bu

there's been a shift in power from the rnc and dnc over to american crossroads and america usa, president>> but jonathan, your group is very much made up of, i would say, the more mainstream, big-money guys in the party. at least the ones that we know about. would though -- aren't those guys a little bit angry that someone like foster friess or shel shel shelly anderson can keep this thing moving on? >> speaking for our organization, our main priority is to defeat president obama in 2012. and i don't know that there's a sense that this elongated primary is really halting that too much. i mean, it's certainly keeping obama in the spotlight. i mean, he's going to have to be called to account on these gas prices and everything. so there is a lot of attention being paid to the republicans. but the president still is in the limelight. and i think that as soon as this gets into the general, we'll be active and i think our donors are happy about that. >> jonathan, a question. are you at all concerned that in the case of a newt gingrich or rick santorum, in a lot of ways, a single individual can

i think we're going to take a break and then come back with former dnc chairman howard dean. former rnc chairman michael steel. they're going to debate whether the election is already over or not. i'm kudlow. please stay with us. it ain't over, folks. hint, hint. my job is to find the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it thout missing a beat. fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. i have copd. if you have it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms... by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinati

do you remember four years ago howard dean and chris dodd, two former chairmen of the dnc, were saying in headline after headline, look-- and i've got them all here in front of me-- that the democratic process is killing our chances. our nominee won't be worth anything because hillary clinton and barack obama are fighting each other tooth and nail. guess what, a tough primary, a little bit of drama actually helped barack obama. now we're suffering the consequences of that. >> schieffer: and others have said that. but john mccain is the only republican i've heard to say on camera what some other republicans have said to me off camera. that is, the longer this thing goes on, the harder it's going to be for us to win. >> i love john mccain, but john mccain's old former advisors during the '08 race were also saying that the democratic race is helping john mccain. look what happened four years ago. we put america to sleep with our... with our primary four years ago. barack obama and hillary clinton nearly gouged each other's eyes out. what happened? he won. look at all those governors from

longer this thing goes on the more gaffes you're going to see the more romney is exposed, the more the dnc ads right themselves. it's in everybody else's best interesting unless you're newt gringrich, rick santorum, ron paul who say we haven't found the one we love so we're going to love the one we're with. let's get it on. >> last thing about santorum and the remarks we might as well stick with what we have instead of taking the risk of the etch-a-sketch candidate for the future. is it fair to say his reactions on fox basically screaming this isn't a gaffe indicates how much of a gaffe it really was. >> you cannot call it a gaffe if you did it. if you did it and somebody else calls it a gaffe, it's a gaffe. a lot of people were talking about it today. what is unfortunate is that rick santorum in the midst of all this trayvon martin controversial holds an event at a gung range. that's tone deaf to me and that was a slight campaign error because the vigils were proper. then somebody suggesting that he pretends that it's obama that he's firing at. that's awful and i think that to me spoke mo

soon after, the dnc was out with a video. by afternoon, they were using actual etch-a-sketches as propped. >> to have his communications director say to all of us, if we're dumb enough to nominate him, we should accept by the acceptance speech he'll move back to the left, triggers everything we're wered about. >> santorum's campaign even sent an aide to hand out etch-a-sketches. >> he brushed away a question before answering some at a hastily called conference. >> a campaign takes on a different profile. the issues i'm running on will be exactly the same. >> you know, while romney did hope to add the words presumptive nominee in front of his name today, the campaign even before etch-a-sketch had one eye on santorum. their daily attack e-mail went out and they have negative adds airing in wisconsin. >> chuck, thanks. >>> overseas, a dramatic standpen off all day long in france where riot police corn cornered the gunman who admits, boasting that he's responsible for killing seven people in three different terror sprees. jim mac

and you know, you you had a video from the dnc today and a lot of female lawmakers coming forward with statements that pounced on romney's attack on planned parenthood. it's certainly not just the fanatics who from upset about it. it's a lot of prom democrats. i think that you know, you saw the survey, the public agrees. they're sick of dealing with this issue, and every time you think that it's put to rest it comes up again. >> i didn't mean fanatics being pro planned parenthooded. i meant the fantasticked on the republican side who would then respond to romney's backtrack by saying what do you mean you don't want to get rid of planned parenthood. are we convinced this was not a dog whistle, and it was not just a mistake the amount of misphrasing that romney is able to commit in a week's time. >> it might have been an ink wink and nod by those who would like to defund planned parenthooded. i think it was a misstep but romney has not been able to articulate his message clearly and that's why he's foundering with voters in all these states that are picking rick santorum and newt gringri

to $35,000 between the obama campaign, the primary campaign, the general election campaign, and the dnc. that is a lot of giving them and their needs to be more in the democratic side because of the threat the super pacs have created. he knows there will be an onslaught from the republican side. >> we should mention the passing of andrew breitbart. there's a trending toward digital media and he was a pioneer. >> yes that's exactly right. he was a provocative or who figured out how to use the internet and computers before anyone else to get his message out. he worked at the drudge report and he worked with arietta huffington and his on website. >> we see how that makes a big difference, this being the first election where we have seen the internet being a strong as it is. >> that's exactly right. who will step up and 60 andrew breitbart within the conservative movement? we will start to see answers to in the weeks ahead. >> thank you -- thanks as always. georgetown university is now at the center of a birth control debate that this is after rush limbaugh may controversial comments target

>> i'm a former dnc adviser.u go. >> but on these issues of the cadences, i worked for al gore in 2000 and that caused a lot of trembling. for mitt romney, i think it's almost like somebody going up northeast and talking with a fake thurston accent. i think gingrich has an opportunity to say, i'm one of you. >> and crystal, gingrich is your guy. what did he mean by the walmart comment? can you explain that to us? >> well, you know, i'm a southern gal. you might not know this. i was born and raised in richmond, virginia. my parents still live there. i get a little offended when people start using y'all and they are carpet baggers. i think to jamal's point, gingrich is probably more southern than any of the other two and the other two look like carpet baggers. but as far as the walmart comment, you know what i wanted to tell newt, you better go easy on walmart. so i think part of it can be a charm offensive but also very alienated. what the voters are saying, quit the southern talk and just talk to us about the iss