thank you, chuck todd and jonathan martin. you're probably both right, but it stinks. >>> up next, it was the perfect height of the trees in michigan. what's mitt romney got for the good folks in tennessee? davy crockett. that's ahead in the sideshow. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. i stepped on the machine, and it showed me the pressure points on my feet and exactly where i needed more support. i had tired, achy feet. until i got my number. my dr. scholl's custom fit orthotics number. now i'm a believer. you'll be a believer, too. learn where to find your number at drscholls.com. 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. >>> back to "hardball." now for the sideshow. first up, hit or miss. did mitt romney think he was on to something when he treated campaign rally attendees to performances like this one? ♪ oer purple mountains majesty above the fruited plain ♪ >> this wee

and to break it down is jonathan martin an nbc news senior political editor, mark murray, generally,k murray, we noted this little thing, forget the exit polls yesterday afternoon. 28, 28, 26, 28, those were the respective percentages mitt romney had gotten in the previous southern state and he got last night 29 and 30, an improvement. >> and the polls were all over the place, looking at that demographic and geographic. >> we knew exactly what would happen. >> we knew what would happen, and mitt romney goes in and aces the perception problem, the delegate math is all on his side right now, but what he's doing in the heartland of the republican, the nerve center of the gop, he's losing. >> and that's what's happening, jonathan, look at the exit polls, 50% in alabama said he wasn't conservative enough, 27 and 32 said he was about right, well, that was about his number, 29 and 30 is the actual number. among evangelicals, romney got under 30, 27 and 29 in both states. the same income split was there. it comes to -- i mean, this is the same issue and these were states that -- >> the romne

here to break down the numbers is chuck todd, nbc's chief white house correspondent, and jonathan martintart with the damage the republican party has suffered itself as a result of its fight. 40% of adults in the new nbc poll say their opinion of the gop has soured as a result of this process. 12% say it's improved. which party does better job appealing to nonsupporters? 55% say democrats. your sense of this brand name defeat of the republican party. >> it's amazing. think about it. we're actually in no different of a place than we've been for 18 years ago. a potential nominee to be could come out of super tuesday. no different than any of the republican races in the past. it was interesting you just said something. this long, drawn out fight. that's the way republicans in our poll viewed the race. we asked them to give a word or phrase to describe the republican process. we didn't say negative or positive, just give us a phrase. the majority of the words they gave us were negative words. this is republican primary voters. whether the race is actually been longer than before, which it ha

thank you, chuck todd and jonathan martin. you're probably both right, but it stinks. >>> up next, it was the perfect height of the trees in michigan. what's mitt romney got for the good folks in tennessee? davy crockett. that's ahead in the sideshow. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. ♪ 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 this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by

. >> the race in the deep south, vying for a win or strong second, jonathan martin who has filed the story for politico in richland, mississippi, writing that mitt romney has a shot to win both states. joining us live from politico's offices is the executive editor, jim vandehei. thanks for being with us. >> great to be here. >> what are you looking for tonight? what are the scenarios? >> well, the polling that's been done is fascinating. if you factor in the margin of error, it's a tie between the big three, between mitt romney, rick santorum and newt gingrich in both states. nobody thought these two states would be this close or this important. and once again, in what i think is the story of this campaign, you have a very sort of wounded, wabblely mitt romney benefiting tremendously from the fact that there's two very conservative guys in the race dividing the vote. basically you have gingrich and sanitorium forces, the social conservatives split between the two of them to the benefit of mitt romney, the front-runner. >> as you well know, mitt romney is looking the fact this conser

stanford could have as many as four first-round picks this year including offensive lineman jonathan martinnd david decastro and schooner who wowed scouts by running the 40-yard dash. at stanford, scott reese, bay area sports. >>> well, nine games left on the regular season schedule and they are fighting to get to the playoffs. they need to tie for that eighth and final spot, and to do that tonight, they'll have to beat the reigning family. >> the atmosphere inside the sharks dressing room is definitely different now than it has been all season long. this is a team that started out in a sprint, then went to a marathon and is now in a drag race to end their regular season schedule. >> we know we're behind the 8-ball and we have to wip some games to get in the playoffs. >> everybody in this room believes we're going to be in the playoffs, and we're going to make this push down the stretch. >> there is an anxiousness around our team which should be there. i feel at times it's a nervousness that holds us back. >> a lot of guys are gripping themselves tighter, but we just have to stay relaxed an

he has pleaded not guilty, and i spoke to jonathan martin about the base. >> they have a bunker mentalitys understandable. there seems to be limited understanding about who the individual is. the staff sergeant implicating the murders over the weekend. what you're seeing is you're seeing war crimes allegations overseas, but then also these very serious incidents back home. there is routinely now really serious, you know, criminal allegations, soldiers killing their wives or in this case a son, the park ranger shooting. the cumulative effect, i think, has really shaken the community here. >> he also told me underwood is in a tacoma jail on a $250,000 bail. >>> mitt romney, he says if he is president, he is going to cut money for npr, the arts, even planned parenthood, and democrats, they are furious. see their response to that next. >>> plus, are there any signs that newt gingrich is going to drop out, close to dropping out? gloria borger is standing by, next. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we pr

we iwll bring -- will bring in jonathan martin. this is a tutorial on southern politics. he will bring in his expertise into this conversation. step back for a minute. mitt romney, the story of this campaign is his inability to sell himself as likable or someone who can get republicans enthusiastic. why? >> he is the epitome of an establishment candidate. in an anti-establishment year and a party that is inflamed with anti-establishment sentiment. it was only establishment voters, he would be doing great. we have seen he is doing great in these early primaries with country club republicans. where he has not done great is -- everyone whgoes through gravitates to the republican party. everyone who is also are skeptical. >> i will disagree a little bit. i think he is a tepid establishment candidate. we have not seen the establishment coalesce around him as we saw with john mccain. he does not have a lot of folks who do not like him. >> he has anything about that. the establishment is not doing cartwheels over him but they acquiesced long ago. the rest of the party is slowly,

. >>> welcome back, "washington post" writer jonathan capehart rote a piece about trayvon martin. jonathan, this trayvon martin story has the whole country really focused in on things that you and i just know naturally. >> right. >> we're here where you -- one of the homes you grew up in, tell us where we are. >> we're on meeker avenue in newark, new jersey. i was 16 years old. >> you were a year lounger than trayvon was when he was killed in sanford, florida? >> yeah, a year younger. so i moved from this environment back to an urban environment. and the rules of living in an urban environment are different. i had to learn how to get from home to the bus stop, what buss to take to get to school. >> so you would go to the bus stop to get to school? >> yes. >> so i would leave the house and walk down this hill to the bus stop. i would do this every day. >> so you learn these don'ts. >> yes, and they were lessons that were tough to hear at 16 years old. don't run in public, someone will find you suspicious. don't run in public with anything in your hands, someone will think you stole

jonathan martin today writing about how the tone seems to be shifting with conservatives and republicansals. instead of the time will tell, wait and see they are talking about more about rallying around mitt romney and party unity. romney is in san diego today. he is focusing on california but that primary is not until june 5th. it may be tupough for all of the candidates to focus on wisconsin right now because scott walker is fateinge facing a recall election there. all of the resourcess state and otherwise otherwise are focused on that fight. beyond wisconsin, pennsylvania could be the do or die state for rick santorum. if he doesn't win his home pennsylvania is important. rick santorum is going to make a stop in d c. where he is going to speak of the steps of the separate property as the high court gets set to hit oral arguments with regard to health care reform. six hours ahead over the course of of three days, that's the most they will hear in 45 years. you can do the audio and transcripts online at supreme court supremecourt.gov. come stay tuned. bill press is coming up next. >>thi

jonathan martin with the seattle times, we appreciate you coming on and talking about this with us.ou. >>> moving on, though, disrespectful, destructive, toxic, all words used to describe goldman sachs from a man who resigned. we'll talk about this when we come back. it's clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. now for maximum results... the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum to create retinol correxion® max. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. new roc® retinol correxion® max. nothing's better than gold. >>> if you have enough coin to have an account with goldman sachs, you might be feeling pretty good about yourself. but it turns out goldman sachs considers you a muppet. that is what a gold man executive -- actually, former executive. alison kosik with me from the new york stock exchange. former, former. and the man slamming goldman while making his way out the door. disgruntled or not, he seemed to have climbed very, very high before having this epiphany. >> oh, yeah, greg smith worked a

from the sandford police department the night that george zimmerman shot and killed trayvon martin. jonathanwill be be back with me to analyze this from a legal point of view, and a further question, if there is no blood as mr. zimmerman said he did not need to go to a hospital, even if he went >> the jetblue pilot whose erratic behavior forced an emergency landing is facing charges. jetblue flight heading from new york to las vegas was forced to make an emergency landing in texas after a 12--year veteran of the airline began to roam the aisles and saying things don't matter. shortly into the flight the captain began to exhibit erratic behavior fiddling with the plane's control and speaking incoherently about religion. the co-pilot was able to convince the pilot to exit the cockpit and they can locked then locked the pilot out. in his failed attempt to get back in, the pilot was get be ex-increasingly agitated. several passengers from security on their way to las vegas for a convention, were were able to subdue the pilot. one of those passengers will join me momentarily. the group of quick-t

what jonathan martin will write tomorrow on our website, we back it up with reporting. we try to talk to people on the ground with the campaigns. people down with mint and the barbers in mississippi. we try to bring readers something that explains what is going on, but grounded in the reporting period that is the difference. it is a fine line. i say to reporters all the time, pick a horse and ride it. make it interesting. make it readable. put something out there and back up with reporting. that is what makes a successful story at politico. >> we had to make sure we figured out we had a character who looks exactly like an editor in a newsroom, you would be the guy. >> a couple of things we are getting. for one thing, we have a preview of what we can expect former senator santorum to say in his remarks tonight. he is going to say, again, we have been outspent, we're scrapping, we are the underdog and we are pushing hard and fast. he will portray himself as an insurgent. we heard else to words of the santorum campaign calling on gingrich to get out. you will not hear that

one of the things we talked about this a lot with jonathan martin a fabulous addition to the set, i would like to say. >> handsome guy, well-dressed. >> great feedback on my colleague. one of the things that jonathan talks a lot about, there's two elements here, a class divide in terms of mitt romney supporters, versus santorum and gingrich, not specific to either of them. it's the under $50,000 a year earners. romney has struggled with that. one thing i'm watching for is how he does with this grandpa. another thing is does he make inroads with rural voters? santorum has done well in the exur ban areas, rm nee in the urban areas. romney would like to see some growth with the other side of the party, santorum is never going to do better if he doesn't start doing better with the types of voters he has not been attracting. and if romney gets a 10-point margin, the whole narrative switches. it doesn't change the delegate math, it will still drag on to may. >> i promised we wouldn't talk much about gingrich or paul but we'll sneak in late. gingrich is in the red today so it looks like he's str

jonathan martin talked to gingrich folked owed $27,000 going back to january.unteers in florida not being paid for their work. you peel back the gingrich campaign and on the road he looks like a happy warrior. he and his wife love zoos. he's made trips to zoos. he saw the cherry blossoms and the wright brother's home. he has a traveling tour. at the headquarters you have a very dysfunctional management style not doing the basic things of campaigns. they sent yard signs to michigan where he wasn't in play. in florida, they didn't have any of the ground game they needed. at the moment, you have newt gingrich, his campaign manager and the rest of the campaign is in shambles. he has all the looks of a campaign. newt says he's going to tampa. >> the campaign is slowly expiring. >> why is that? because newt, mark halperin had a national following, a national name id. he finished second in alabama and mississippi. he finished ahead of romney. aren't there some states he could win on the calendar? >> if he wouldn't win those two, there aren't a lot left. maybe north ca

john harris, jonathan martin look at a little history, there's hope for mitt romney on this score thatton was in third place as he came out of his primary. but bob dole was bob dole and didn't recover. so we have a number of republicans -- and joe i'll be interested in your view -- he needs a big moment. he needs to call out the president on something specific or he needs to take a tough stand or a truly tough stand, something on principle that will wake people up, that will get his attention. as there's this shift, as people start to think of him as a nominee, not a primary candidate. >> you're exactly right. and if he loses the next couple of races and suddenly he needs to get more than 47% of the remaining delegates, let's say that bumps up to 51% of the remaining delegates in a four-person field, people are going to start realizing he's not going to get the numbers he needs by the time he gets to tampa. and at that point, who knows what happens. who knows who jumps in when they realize they've got nothing to lose. that he's not going to win it at the convention. it's going to be ab

jonathan martin is come and gone, we will play "write the analysis. happened, we do analysis using all of our collective and brilliance to find why things happen the way they did. our news editor has even held us asking to get him on the phone so we can help figure out the analysis. >> two words. romney sweats. >> can you do a two-word lead? >> romney sweats on vivid display. >> are you eating a hot dog? >> i'm watching you with the sound muted on c-span in my hotel room in boston, >> real time locations. >> based on what you know right now, how will people interpret the results in a way that someone could be typing at the same time? >> every time you think he is going to wrap this thing up, the keeps snatching the football away. it is a bit harder than it should be. this cycle appears to be bounced free. he is apparently going to pull out ohio. with the numbers in, cleveland, will run the -- romney emerge victorious? the answer is yes. again, like you said, he is sweating. why is this so hard, with every advantage. it seems so difficult for him. ever

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martin. eugene o'donnell, jonathan capehart and melissa harris-perry. >> you can have the last word on our blog. you

martin. eugene o'donnell, jonathan capehart and melissa harris-perry.

and the victim is clear, trayvon martin, who's dead in the grave. >> jonathan, he's making a referenceings the police chief has said after the fact about this saying, well, what was trayvon doing? this is the kind of thing that you're faced with after these incidents. you know, in the black community, you don't really have these questions. you can kind of -- you have a feel for who was up to something that might get them in trouble and who wasn't. >> right, right. and it just sort of boggles the mind how -- that someone as known to the sanford police department as george zimmerman is, who's made 46 calls to the police department since january 1st, 2011, to know and understand that this is a guy who has them on speed dial, a guy who, you know, is a wannabe cop. i don't know if they knew he had a 9 millimeter weapon. but they did know enough to hear on the phone when he got out of his car, knew enough to ask "are you pursuing him"? when he said, yes, the police officers said, we don't need you to do that. and of all the lines that george zimmerman crossed in that incident on february 26t

jonathan cone of the new republic has the latest. >>> martin sheen teams with democrats to fight the ryan plan. >> what is their goal? sacrifice medicare in order to give tax cuts to special interests. >> former labor secretary is here. >>> and tebow mania officially arrives in the big apple. we'll show you what the jets quarterback had to say. >> it's not exactly the platform to get up here and share everything you believe. >>> with the right wing negtivity over president obama's health care reform law brought it right front and center in the supreme court. today's hearing was about whether the supreme court has the authority to rule on the law before it is completely inacted. both obama administration lawyers and opposition agree. they want a ruling this year. tomorrow the real fight begins when lawyers will tackle the question of the individual mandate. i think there is an element of sadness surrounding all of these proceedings because they are taking away from the many positive components of the law which you'll never hear from the right wing. preexisting conditions. patients wit

i'm joined tonight by natalie jackson an attorney for trayvon martin's family and jonathan capehart, an msnbc contributor and washington post opinion writer. great to have you with us. what's your response when you hear someone saying we should stop covering the case until the investigation is finished snd. >> we've talked about this among our team. the family is very tired. they feel that they need this press. they need the media because without the people or support they would have never got tennessen the special prosecutor. they were told your child is dead, george zimmerman claimed self-defense. case closed. >> isn't the story spreading out to iowa, minnesota, massachusetts where the stand your ground laws are getting some serious scrutiny and not flying through the legislative session and getting the signatures they have gotten in the past? are we seeing a review of what we're doing with gun laws? >> we are seeing that. we're seeing a review and understanding of what the gun laws say. in this case people have purposely misconstrued the justified use of force law. it's for an inn

troops had to go in person, on the ground, and chase him down. >> but, so, richard and martin and ari and jonathanhis? there's an op-ed in "the washington post" saying, as for building an international coalition for more forceful action, that historically has been the responsibility of the u.s. and its president. if mr. obama does not lead on syria, there will be no international consensus and an outcome that meets u.s. interests will be anything but inevitable. >> well, i think we're all very relieved that rick santorum isn't responsible for policy in this area -- >> a gigantic sigh of relief on that. >> i think, i mean, this is just my view of how he's handling it, i think he's handling it as sensitive and consensual way as he can. he's trying to work with other international powers. he's trying to win their support. and he's trying to focus attention and criticism on the regime. i don't think he wants to walk down the road of bombing that country, and i don't think that would be a wise thing to do. >> but i think more can be done. this editorial in "the washington post" says, more can be done.

jonathan, the floor is yours. >> trayvon martin was shot by a gunman on february 26. the ensuing outrage 20 days later has swept the nation. in a series of interviews on msnbc the past few days, city manager bonapart has exhibited all the compassion of a stone. >> has anything changed on that? >> no, nothing has changed at this point. >> at this point. is anything about to change? are you considering a suspension, a firing, some other sort of temporary leave or status for the police chief? >> i think it's fair to say that yesterday the city commission took a vote, as you pointed out. that's something i take very seriously. >> bonaparte failed to answer the questions about the stas us of police chief bill lee. not until later did he express sympathy for trayvon's family. he did say, what we want here is justice, but he said it with all the warmth of a bill collector. his coldness would be explained a few hours later when the policeman announced he is temporarily relieving himself of the position he held only for ten months. they failed to arrest the son of a tenant who

jonathan, what happened at this march? >> this was a rally organized by supporters of tre'von martin's family. and after several speeches and chanting and protests in union square in downtown manhattan, the group of several hundred or so protesters marched through the city. tre'von martin's parents were there. and they spoke at the event. and they said tonight that this was not about a black or a white thing but a right and a wrong thing. so they are clearly shifting the emphasis of their protest against what happened in the wake of their son's death to a call for justice. because they have spoken several times so far being very clear to lay the blame at the foot of the local police saying that if the roles were reversed, and it had been a white teenager who was killed, then there would have been a much more swift investigation and someone would have been arrested and put in jail. with this protest held in new york tonight, we have seen the anger and the outrage over the deaths of the 17-year-old in florida several weeks ago, spread nationwide. >> john zimmerman has not been charged. is there

the police report includes -- jonathan capehart pointed this out -- includes trayvon martin's full name, date of birth, his redacted street address and phone number. however, trayvon martin -- and that report was filed and closed, according to the report, on the night, february 27th at 3:07 in the morning. but the family says that trayvon martin's body was tagged as john doe. both those things can not be true. if you have all of his information, where he lives, his telephone number, he's not a john doe. now, the other thing -- the fishy part about that, there's a part on the police report that says, "is there a juvenile involved?" if you know that he is born on february 5th, 1995, you know he's 17 years old, that box should have been yes. it is no. i asked the family if they could verify somebody else, independent of them, could verify whether or not he was listed as a john doe because the medical examiner would not do it and the funeral parlor, out of ft. lauderdale, florida, said they could not pick up that body for three days because it was listed as a john doe. >> so listed as a joh

jonathan cone of the new republic has the latest. >>> martin sheen teams with democrats to fight theyan plan. >> what is their goal? sacrifice medicare in order to give tax cuts to special interests. >> former labor secretary is here. >>> and tebow mania officially arrives in the big apple. we'll show you what the jets quarterback had to say. >> it's not exactly the platform to get up here and share everything you believe. [ donovan ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. i'm making my money do more. i'm consolidating my assets. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions. i'm making the most of my money. and seven-dollar trades are just the start. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. a

jonathan, i'm going to call you jonathan which i know is odd because martin usually calls you john. he's not here so i'm calling you nth jo. the president is out on this tour. he is trying to get the upper hand. the white house calls this all of the above strategy. there is this reality that gas prices, in d.c. it's like $4.65. he's going to suffer from that. whether that's fair or not, we're going to have to deal with that, correct? >> correct. no president, whether the gas prices go up or down has any control over gas prices. it's the world commodities markets that have control over gas prices. so the president gets blamed when they go up. the president gets blamed when they go down and there's nothing they can do about it. the only thing that a white house and administration, a president can do is to try to make decisions and do things that at least give people the confidence that the president is trying to do any number of things to bring, you know, ease the pressure at the pump. whatever oil comes from the key stone pipeline, let's be clear. that oil is not going to come online