and ezra klein on the fuzzy math in mitt romney's budget. >>> the republican war on women's health is exploding in washington. >> 2.8 million jobs are at stake and we're debating birth control. let's beat the blunt amendment it's a disaster. >> the radical blunt amendment is up for a vote. big name republicans are running away from the legislation. we'll have the latest. >>> incredible numbers show scott walker is in for the fight of his life. >>> franklin graham has seen the light. >> do you believe that president obama is a christian? >> i think you have to ask president obama. >> dr. james peterson on the reverend's surprise apology to the president. >>> good to have i you with us. mitt romney and rick santorum shifted attention to the working class in the state of ohio. now it's all about super tuesday. mitt romney won big in arizona yesterday, but his win in michigan isn't looking like much of a win today. romney won the popular vote in michigan by 32,000 votes, 41% to 38% over rick santorum. but today, santorum claimed victory. >> we won michigan last night by coming out of mich

. >> bob shrum, ezra klein, great to have you. >>> rick santorum is using a chunk of north dakota oil to fearmonger. bernie sanders joins us to tell us what is driving up the price. >>> scott walker has done every conservative talk show on the face of the earth, raised millions of outside dollars. the rookie governor is spinning his wheels, new polling out of the badger state. >>> we're buzzing about it.

that's coming up with ezra klein.tay with us. ♪ let me get that door for you... [ man ] i loved my first car... sometimes the door gets stuck... oh sure. ooh! [ man ] ...and then, i didn't. um... [ sighs ] [ man ] so, i got a car i can love a really, really long time. [ male announcer ] for the road ahead, the all-new subaru impreza. ♪ experience love that lasts. delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. >>> mimt mimt. >>> mitt romney went to michigan and said i love cars. it used to be in the 50s and 60s if you showed me one square foot of almost any part of a car i could tell you what brand it was, the model and so forth, i love cars, i love american cars. >> mitt romney went to tennessee, and told tennessee i like davy crockett. >> this place always has a special

that's coming up with ezra klein.y with us. [ male announcer ] we put a week's worth of bad odors in a home. some aerosols may just mix with them. can febreze remove it. [ moderator ] describe the smell. it's very pleasant. some kind of flower maybe? awww, oh yuck! [ male announcer ] febreze air effects doesn't mix, it actually removes odors. so you can breathe happy. in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. >>> mitt romney went to michigan and said in michigan, i like cars. >> i love cars. i grew up totally in love with cars. it used to be in the '50s and '60s if you showed me one square foot of any part of a car, i could tell you what brand it was, the model and so forth. i love cars. i love american cars. >> mitt romney went to tennessee, and told tennessee i like davy crockett. >> this place always has a special

>> ezra klein, thank you for your knowledge and wisdom. we expect to have you on for many more 20-minute blocks. >>> coming up from capitol hill to the campaign trail, politicians are pumping up the energy debate and now bill clinton is weighing in. has the former president created a headache for the white house? that's next on "now." ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ 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 to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own

. >>> now we're joined by ezra klein, and lee, now a contributor to "gq." let's go to ezra for analysis here. you're one of the most brilliant guys floating around here these days. let's go back to yesterday which i think is probably, if not a bad day in blackrock, in cinematic terms, certainly a dusty day as to what happened. "the new york times" cast it in dire terms for the president. quote, predicting the result in any supreme court case much less one that will define the legacies of a president and a chief justice is nothing like science, and the could still turn in various directions but the available evidence indicated that heart of the affordable care act is in peril. is that your view? >> we are too focused on what happened quote/unquote, yesterday. the solicitor general went in, made arguments that were not received very well. he, himself, had a tough time mustering a lot of force or passion in his presentation. but i thought what really mattered, the place they saw trouble, was in what the justices asked. when kennedy came out in his second questi

ezra klein is a columnist for the "washington post."efore i dig into that aspect of it, i saw your tweet. you were tough. you asked this interesting question. should the white house be wishing today that they had solicitor general elaine a kagan rather than justice elena kagan? >> i don't know the answer to that but by wide acclaim, i've read the arguments, the solicitor general did not do a very good job. i know these issues pretty well. i found him hard to follow. it is funny to read the arguments. the liberal justices like breyer and ginsburg think this guy is not doing the job he needs to do and they begin butting in to make his arguments for him. so it is widely believed he did not represent the bill all that well. one of the justices is elena kagan who was barack obama's solicitor general. i don't know if she would have done a better or worse job. if he had chosen another pick for his second supreme court nominee, she might well still be his solicitor general and she would have been arguing the case today instead of sitting on the

>> professor charles fried it addressed this with ezra klein of "the washington post." he made the point that healthcare is a national problem, and national interest that can and should be regulated and has been regulated, as with medicare, and that the individual mandate should be held constitutional. i think it is the position that a lot of people take, those who are conservative as well. >> charles, if the court strikes down the whole olaw, a single payer system will be inevitable. >> if i had to choose between that system, the canadian system, and the monstrosity that obamacare was going to be, or perhaps will become financially ruinous, intellectually incredibly dishonest, and unworkable, i would choose the canadian system and the american people would. before we go to a canadian system, assuming the law is struck down, we will try the conservative alternative, which would begin with tort reform, which would have to do with competition. i think that would be the more proximal alternative. if that doesn't work, we will surely end up with a canadian or british-style

>> professor charles fried in conversation with ezra klein of "the washington post" addressed this question, and he was ronald reagan's solicitor general. he made the point that healthcare is a national problem that can be regulated, should be regulated, and has been regulated, as with medicare, and the mandate should be held to be constitutional. that is his position. it is a position that a lot of people can take who are very conservative as well. >> charles, if the court strikes down oil law, people aren't -- the whole law, it will make a single payer system inevitable. do you agree with that? >> if i had to choose between that system, the canadian system, or the monstrosity that obamacare would be or perhaps will become financially ruinous, incredibly dishonest, at an unworkable, i would choose the canadian system and i think the american people would not help but before we go to a canadian system, -- and i think the american people what. but before we go to a canadian system, try a conservative alternative, tort reform, competition, and that would be the more profitabl -- proximal alte

. >> i'm ed schultz, ezra klein is filling in for rachel maddow. >> thank you to you at home for sticking around for the next hour. the great rachel maddow is on assignment, back here tomorrow. now, last night republicans in three states and one u.s. territory, america samoa, were the latest to cast ballots in the republican presidential primaries and caucuses. so, who won? it's straightforward, right, you heard this, it was rick santorum, in fact we said so right on this very network. >> we now have a projected winner in mississippi, nbc news now projects rick santorum will win in mississippi. >> but time has passed a full day, so let's actually take a closer look at that mississippi vote. mississippi has 82 counties, had a total of 40 delegates up for grabs. what you're looking at is how mississippi voted last night. all of the counties in purple, those are rick santorum counties. all the counties in green, mitt romney. so yeah, close race, but santorum took it. it was clear he had more votes, he had more counties and the end result proved it. 13 delegates for rick santorum, 12 for mitt

>>> good morning from new york, i'm ezra klein in for the great chris hayes n a case that has drawn national attention, police in florida yesterday releasing 911 tapes from the shooting of 17-year-old tray von martin by neighborhood watch captain george zimmermann in which zimmermann is heard describing martin as "a suspicious person." zimmermann has not been charged. >>> and mitt romney arrived in puerto rico yesterday. tomorrow's primary there expected to be a close one with rick santorum who showed up earlier in the week. we will be talking more about the gop and hispanic voters later in the morning. >>> right now, however, i'm joined by elise jordan, former speechwriter for secretary of state condoleezza rice, nancy giles from cbs this morning, jody canter, author of the book, the obamas and spencer ackerman, senior reporter for wire and danger.com blog. thank you for being here. the war in afghanistan began on october 7, 2001 that is to say it has been ongoing for 11 years, five months and ten days, outlasted both the iraq war and osama bin laden, who was, of course the reason we went i

i'm ezra klein. over 500 protesters marked the six-month anniversary. police announced they were clearing the park around 11 cloak p.m. and took dozens of protesters into custody. in one incident seen here police officers appeared to slam a protester into glass door shattering it. on the one-year anniversary of the beginning of nationwide demonstrations in syria, activists said pro-government forces launching a crackdown and arresting opposition leaders there. right now joining me today we have alexis goldstein, current member of occupy sec. william company had an, author of "money and power: how goldman sachs came to rule the world." a contributor to bloomberg view. noam scheiber, author of "the escape artists: how obama's team fumbled the economy." welcome. 6:40 wednesday morning in london greg smith sent an e-mail to his bosses informing them of his resignation to the firm. 15 minutes later he announced his resignation publicly in an op-ed in "the new york times." smith wrote about the goldman sachs saying, quote, i can honestly say the environment n

ezra klein sitting in for chris. >>> and at 10:00, melissa harris perry, all to come here on msnbc. [0 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. [ speaking in japanese ] yeah, do you have anything for a headache... like excedrin, ohhh, bayer aspirin... ohh, no no no. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my head. no, bayer advanced aspirin, this is made for pain. [ male announcer ] bayer advanced aspirin has microparticles, enters the bloodstream fast, and safely rushes extra strength relief to the sight of your tough pain. feel better? yeah...thanks for the tip! [ male announcer ] for fast powerful pain relief, use bayer advanced aspirin. i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band.

. >> the flesh wound analogy was a thing that was applied here on msnbc by ezra klein to gingrich.y the romney folks picked it up whether they knew what they were doing now or not. >> nobody wants to dance with him or take him home. he's ego is clearly bruised because santorum he thinks is an intellectual lightweight. is he does believe he could go to tampa and convince people he should be the nominee. >> the irony the person he's helping the most by staying in is mitt romney. if he were out of the race, there's no question that santorum would be winning more primary contests and tarnishing romney's status as a frontrunner even more than he already is. >> that's the question that plays out going into tampa, who can be work together, who has actual base support 0 maybe make a play at the convention. >>> coming up, an army staff sergeant faces charges for that terrible shooting of killing 17.civilians. is it time to revisit how rerecruit and deploy our soldiers next on here and now. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up somep

that reporting by ezra klein at "the washington post." >> 50 million people without insurance in the u.s. and the court has set aside six hours beginning monday to hear arguments. it is the most time the court has devoted to any issue in 45 years. >> we have been checking the scene outside the supreme court throughout the day today here on c-span, and looking back at c-span coverage of challenges to the law, we have a special website set up for supreme court related issues with profiles of the justices and lawyers involved in the argument. we also have a link to a twitter feed from reporters who cover the court as well as a link to our facebook page, facebook.com/c-span where we will post daily questions to field viewer's comments. and same-day airing of the audio of the court's oral arguments on the health care law will be carried on our companion network c-span3 and also on c-span radio and you can check in online at c-span.org. on "washington journal" tomorrow through wednesday we will have special guests and topics on the health care law. we will start off tomorrow with challenge

ezra klein, a fascinating piece. you ought to read it in the new issue of the new yorker. or being here. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. turn left. the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. not...that... we'd ever brag about it... turn right. come on, nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh? how did that get there? [ male announcer ] we can't hide how proud we are to have nine top safety picks like the passat and jetta. so we're celebrating with our "safety in numbers" event. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 jetta for $159 a month. hi, i just switched jobs, and i want to roll over my old 401(k) into a fidelity ira. man: okay, no problem. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork. um...this green line just appeared on my floor. yeah, that's fidelity helping you reach your financial goals. could you hold on a second? it's your money. roll over your old 401(k) into a fidelity ira and take control of your personal economy. this is going to be helpful. call or come in today. fidelity invest

i'm taking my first weekend off in six months and asked ezra klein to fill in for me. his show all week. up next is melissa harris pair write and we will see you next week. [ todd ] hello? hello todd. just calling to let you know i'm giving you the silent treatment. so you're calling to tell me you're giving me the silent treatment? ummm, yeah. jen, this is like the eighth time you've called... no, it's fine, my family has free unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes -- i can call all i want. i don't think you understand how the silent treatment works. hello? [ male announcer ] buy unlimited messaging and get free unlimited calling to any mobile phone on any network. at&t. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious. who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement thera

still at the table, keith boykin and ezra klein. i want to start with you, rick.s, if looking at anything that's a game changer in illinois, the beginning of the race, never thought this would be something we're covering. is there something that could change the momentum in this race in the next couple of days? >> melissa, i think the real story in illinois is the question of turnout. as we've seen in other states, such as ohio and michigan where romney has done well in the urban, suburban dynamic versus santorum doing well in the rural dynamic, that's what you're seeing in illinois. the question is, in the chicago metropolitan area where the bulk of the republican votes are cast, there's a lot of voter apathy out there. so what we're seeing right now is really a ground game going on in the other 96 counties outside the chicago metropolitan area, what we call down state. that's where the voters tend to be more conservative. it's really been forcing romney to get out, to down state areas and once again try to defend themselves as being a conservative. >> rick, than

and "the washington post" ezra klein writes, you can make a point page 14 when the liberal justices decide verrilli is screwing up and step in to make his argument for him. >> ezra was also surprised by the lack of quality of the arguments coming. >> yeah. and also tough moments in the beginning, just physically, you know. it wasn't a great presentation. today, the justices will consider whether the entire law should be overturned if the individual mandate is ruled unconstitutional. right now, it's still unclear how the justices view that mandate. but tough questioning yesterday pointed to serious doubts from the court that congress has the authority to require americans to buy medical insurance. justice anthony kennedy, who could be the key swing vote in the case, pressed the administration's lawyer for an answer. >> here the government is saying that the federal government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act, and that is different from what we have in previous stages. that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental wa