. >> as governor michael dukakis vetoed mandatory sentences for drug dealers.s revolving door prison policy gave weekend furloughs to first degree murder es not eligible for parole. now michael dukakis says he wants to do for america what he's done for massachusetts. america can't afford that risk. >> now, that's politically interesting. there's nothing easy or automatic about the obama administration or congress stepping up here. and i'm not just talking about speeches or press releases to you tonight. in the biggest story you might not have heard about today, the senate judiciary committee took up a key bill to reform these very mandatory minimums, sponsored by libertarian republican mike lee and democratic whip dick durbin. they debated it and marked it up. the amendment that would process -- that process would clear for a house floor or senate floor vote. the bill would cut some drug-related mandatory minimums in half and apply recent reductions in to people serving time on old charges. the aclu calls this the most significant piece of criminal justice refo

. >> reporter: you joked michael dukakis can't even get a job mowing lawns. how is your lawn mowing business? >> i'm not very good at mowing lawns, i got to be honest with you. i'm allergic to it so i stay away from it. >> a very rare look at romney, conveying his warm side, i can tell you is better. ultimately what they failed to accomplish, talking about seeing another side of romney. tonight, he sits down, or in this case, stands up with jimmy fallon, where he will slow jam the news. brian, this is not quite the governor romney that we saw during the course of the campaign. >> i'll say. something to look forward to tonight. peter alexander, thanks for revisiting the candidate and the topic for us. >>> and as for the rest of the party, the rnc is meeting this in d.c. this week. and in addition to calling for a more condensed and less grueling primary season in 2016, they're take bids for host cities including las vegas, kansas city, ohio, and phoenix. the mayor of columbus went out on a limb and said if his city gets the nod and hosts the convention, he wil

. >> i remember a long time ago when i worked for michael dukakis in 1988, the very first day when i let him, he fired me and brought me into his office because he was a micromanager. for everybody he hired, he brought me to the office and said never write anything down on paper that you don't want to see in "the boston globe." that's politics 101. the people writing this down is really arrogant and petty and i don't understand why they would even bother to put this in an e-mail. >> because clearly if you're that naive or that arrogant to put that in writing and to ask for something like that, there's a culture there. you don't just do that. >> jeff connor, part of the story of the one-hour meeting that christie had a month ago with the senior staff where he asked them all if they knew anything about this and they all said no, but part of that story that i think i learned today -- i wasn't sure i learned it yesterday -- he walked out of the meeting but his general counsel interviewed individuals in the meeting. now, joe, here's the question. why didn't the general counsel operating o

now, he didn't say kinder and gentler than his democratic opponent, michael dukakis. he couldn't do that. but he was clearly different than reagan. won't hillary have to do that, regardless of the economy, unless it's zooming and then she'll just hang on to the guy. >> you're not going to see much of that happening certainly during the primary window. you will see some of that i expect during the general election. it remains to be seen. we'll have to see what his numbers are, we'll have to see what the any economist. few people are predicting the economy is going to take off dramatically. it's probably going to creep along or uptick a bit the way it has been for a while. now there is not going to be some rocket fuel injected into it most likely. so she is going to have to be very tethered to him. the piece is exactly right. the problem for her is the following year from now until the end of 2014, and that is why some people are not convinced she is running, if this is a very rough year for democrats, if the unexpected happens in addition to that, if obamacare takes an

he talked about how he wanted to apologize to michael dukakis. and he said that sometimes when his little daughters wanted to get his attention, they'd pretend to be interviewing him for television. i think that same week that i saw that, time magazine had an interview with mcnamara who expressed profound regret about the course of the vietnam war and also said -- when he was asked, "who really knew him?" that he couldn't really answer that question and that he couldn't say that his children did and that that was a hard thing to have to admit. it was a combination of the deep regrets about personal decisions that had irrevocably shaped public policy in this country, and the sense on the part of both of those men that they had somehow missed out with their own children; that seemed to me to be so compelling and to say something about how macho can leave you cold and lonely after your days of power and influence are done. c-span: when you look ahead, what do you see in this country? >> guest: oh, gosh, that's a tough question. i'm always amazed at