today politico.com got access to a political ad that never ran against mitt romney when mitt romney was running for the united states senate in massachusetts in 1994 against ted kennedy. this never aired, but it was given to politico.com today. check it out. >> mitt romney says he saved bain & company. but he didn't tell you on the day he took over, he had his predecessor fire hundreds of employees. or that the company was rescued with a federal bailout of $10 million. the rest of us had to absorb the loss. romney and others made $4 million in this deal, which cost ordinary people $10 million. maybe he's just against government when it helps working men and women. >> that is from 17 years ago. the only thing you would have to change in order to run that ad against mitt romney now is you'd have to like change mitt romney's hairdo slightly. see? there you go. that's all you would have to do, and you could just run that ad today. he is running for president now on the exact same basis on which he was running for senate 17 years ago. he is running on his business record as a job creator at

is mitt romney the tea party stuff? >> i'm not sure he's trying to present hoimgs as a tea party -- he presents himself as a conservative, certainly. this is a classic battle that -- >> every republican primary. the movement conservative person and the more establishment person, but regardless of how it shakes out, when people are actually voting, this setup, this context could not be better for mitt romney. >> because -- >> because right now michele bachmann's presence is completely freezing out tim pawlenty and huntsman, the two guys that were trying to occupy this same space that romney is occupying. the better michele bachmann, the worst for them. >> people say i'm a lightweight for this. how come mitt romney cowers when his button at the top doesn't stay together. amazing, explain this to me. how does he keep them together like that? >> custom shirts that mitt romney favors, a single thing that you -- >> let's get back in business. skidsoid situation there. the body and the head thinking go to the middle with romne

mitt romney seen here at the romney fundraiser today in london, england, of all places. mr. romney leads in all scientific international polls at this point, in all iowa polls, new hampshire polls, and in fundraiser. he is the front-runner and is front running alone. that is truism number one. truism number two is that the influence of the super conservative tea party wing of the republican party cannot be overstated in the nomination process this year. the combination of grassroots purist conservative anger and the unlimited corporate money makes the tea party faction a gatekeeper to the republican nomination for 2012 if not a king maker. so two truisms. number one, romney's going to win. number two, no one wins without the tea party on their side. the problem is that those two beltway common wisdom axioms about republican politics right now cannot co-exist. to the extent that the tea party faction is organized around republican presidential politics at all right now, they are organized to nominate anyone but mitt romney. if you go to stopromney.org, stopromney.org does not

mitt romney, false, and also mitt romney false about being false. true or false. the u.s.ive-toed shoes for all soldiers. these beauties. designed to increase your athletic performance, improve posture, add an octave to your singing range or bring back the latin you forgot from college or seriously make your toes fee better. seems weird to me. don't toes get lonesome like dogs when they're separated? army banned five toed shoes? true or false? true. some confusion in this community. some feeling it might have been a hoax or internet rumor. 9 five-toed shoes reporting in february the army had already banned them. birthday shoes get the scoop from an anonymous tipster, we cann cannot -- it may about hoax. kniss week we learned in fact that the army in fact banned the five-toed community by banning those. effective immediately only those shoes that accommodate all five toes in one compartment are authorized for wear. those shoes that feature five separate, individual compartments for the toes, detract from a professional military image and are prohibited for wear. those shoes

tomorrow it would probably be mitt romney. but that's only because of the lack of choice. >> jon: wow. ( laughter ) the republicans are nervous about nominating the mormon ex-governor with perceived softness on social issues. they'll do it but with the same enthusiasm as, say, someone taking their cousin to the prom. ( laughter ) it's better than nothing. you might still get laid, but you're not going to feel that great about it. what?! no, i'm sorry! i'm sorry! ( applause ) i shouldn't have said it! i'm sorry! so judgmental. all right, clearly, republicans are looking for an option. what else have we got? >> jon huntsman makes his entrance in the republican presidential race. >> is he likely to become the sort of anti-romney candidate for the republicans? >> jon: the anti-romney. he's a handsome mormon ex-governor with perceived softness on social issues. ( laughter ) he's not the anti-romney. he's the candidate for people who would vote for romney but are concerned romney has too much name recognition. ( laughter ) come on,

the cutoff for the major 2012 money deadline, all candidates, including obama, who both obama and mitt romneyd donors in philly and first lady dispatched to burlington vermont. can obama top 75 million? >> today is our special look at all things independent, from the independent voters who can decide this election to potential independent candidates. the middle is still what matters. can obama or any republican fill the vacuum before somebody from the outside does. i'm chuck todd, also this morning, that surprising twist in the case against former imf chief dominique strauss-kahn accused of sexual assault on a housekeeper and her credibility now being questioned. the case on the verge of collapse. could he be released? could he make a comeback in france? >> let's get right to my first -- democrats are floating a july 22nd deal leaving time for lawmakers to pass a bill and have that three-day period for everybody to look at it before the august 2nd recess. but responding to the president's fiery rhetoric from wednesday, republicans spent the day yesterday firing back. >> it frankly wrangles ma

last week mitt romney said obama policies shut down allentown metal works. tonight the shop's foerm nl is saying the opposite. >>> great to be back with you tonight here on the ed show. had a great vacation. i missed you. i'm glad you're with us. president obama broke out the olive branches again today with the republicans. the he president took a much different tone on the debt talks than he did last week at the conference when he compared the republicans to his children. malia and sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time. malia is 13, sasha is 10. it is impressive. they don't wait until the night before. they're not pulling all-nighters. they're 13 and 10. you know, congress can do the same thing. if you know you have to do something, just do it. >> yeah. today the president said he hopes republicans will leave political rhetoric at the door when they come to the white house on thursday. >> it's my hope that everybody is going to leave their ultimatums at the door, we've all leave our political rhetoric at the door and do what's best for o

the person who did the ads for senator ted kennedy nearly 20 years ago knew exact lee how to hit mitt romney, a devastating anti-romney ad that never aired is coming up. >>> and jon stewart has to bring in an expert to help him pray the gay jokes away. naturals from purina cat chow. delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life. [ male announcer ] the davis twins... ...are alike in nearly every way... ...right down to brushing their teeth. so how did only one get gingivitis? well, one in two people do. so i told karen about new crest pro-health clinical gum protection toothpaste. it helps eliminate plaque at the gumline, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. and it protects these other areas dentists check most. looks like the twins are even again. new crest pro-health clinical toothpaste. life opens up when you do. >>> so the whitey bulger case is a federal case. so there's one guy who is hoping for a federal government shutdown so they can't bring him to trial

mitt romney -- >> huntsman. >> huntsman and romney taking a position that surprise people.t suggested that he was not necessarily there for the long haul. this poses more of a political problem for republicans than democrats and for the president. the president is where the public is now. the republican party still has a faction of people that believe we need the john mccain faction and lindsey graham faction. we must stay in as long as possible and win the war. you have pressure on every american candidate from their party to adopt a position that is nowhere the american public across the spectrum is. you are going to see contortions from people like romney, huntsman. >> all in. >> the president is going to lose afghanistan. again, as if there was a way to win afghanistan on what we just heard. ♪ [ doug ] i got to figure this out. i want to focus on innovation. but my data is doubling. my servers are maxed out. i need to think about something else when i run. [ male announcer ] with efficient i.t. solutions from dell, doug can shift up to 50% of his company's technology sp

he's endorsing mitt romney. obviously, there's a little bit of internal politic there's because of his connections to jon huntsman. one of the reasons he gave was, he said it's time to rally around romney, he's the guy ahead, got the bigger organization. if the goal is to beat obama what do you think of that idea there? do you buy in this idea you got rally around the nominee early or can you afford a long traun out process? >> it worked pretty well for obama. his process was drawn out all the way through june of 2008 between him and hillary clinton. and i'm not saying that that's the greatest thing either. but, you know, i happen to believe that primaries are a good thing. we had, obviously when i was chairman in wisconsin we had primaries for governor. primaries in the u.s. senate race. we have scott walker. primaries allow for much more vibrant debate. it energizes your base. it energizes your donor base as well. so i don't really subscribe to the theory that you have to have a front-runner. i know some peopl

nothing if you're mitt romney. what candidate's son is posing with him? here's a hint. not romney's son but the son of another presidential candidate. we will have it all on the side show. we start on the state of the country. chairman of the dccc and democrat from new york. he joins me now. congressman israel, i want to talk about where we are in the debt talks. it seems to me i have talked to democrats who are involved in it. they say they got close to an agreement at about 1.5 trillion. there are reports that republicans are up to 2 trillion in cuts. the sticking point is these quote revenues or taxes. what is the state of play as you understand it? you're a member of house leadership. >> well, chuck, first of all, let me tell that you there is something that a republican member of congress and this democratic member of congress can agree on. that is that a republican freshman from upstate new york today said that republicans are playing a dangerous game of chicken with the debt ceiling. that's something i agree with. let's understand what these republicanes have been

mitt romney tries to walk back his comments on obama running the economy, but it seems like he just made it worse nor himself. we'll show you all his latest campaign trail live and give you the facts. this is "the ed show." and as ed would say, let's get to work. >> the president is the a nice guy, and i know he's trying, but he doesn't understand how the economy works. >> mitt romney tries to embarrass the president in his stump speech today. he failed. we'll show you how. >> we won! >> stephen colbert's election victory sheds light on a real campaign problem. we'll explain. and the glenn beck era is over. >> you will pray for the time when i was only on the air for one hour every day. >> oh, i'm praying for you, glenn. tonight, my eulogy for the glenn beck program. today, republican presidential kanld mitt romney finally reversed himself on a factually untrue claim that president barack obama had made the economy worse. but in order to do that, he had to lie again. >> i didn't say things are worse. what i said was the economy hasn't turned around. >> what was that governor rom y romney

mitt romney only needs to worry about old mitt romney, 2007 mitt romney.. mike huckabee's daughter joined tim pawlenty's campaign. is this the beginning of an endorsement. >> i think -- endorsements don't mean what they once used to. you want them, but they don't carry weight. it gives supporters a pause. his problem is he has to make mitt romney fall. >> dana? >> if robert byrd can change, maybe david duke has a shot. maybe it will be an endorsement. i don't think it's out of the realm of possible. i don't think anything is going to save pawlenty. he's four people behind the front-runner. >> pete, you changed this into a civil rights discussion here. leave it to pete to totally change the course of the conversation. pete, weigh in. >> what was the question, again? oh, right. mike huckabee's daughter has joined the tim pawlenty campaign because mike huckabee won the 2008 iowa caucuses. his daughter was part of the reason. unless she can inject some of mike huckabee's personality into pawlenty, i don't think pawlenty's got a chance. we'll see. maybe she can

nothing, if you're mitt romney. one candidate's son is posing with him. here's a hint. it's not romney's son, but it's the son of another presidential candidate. we'll have it all on the "sideshow." steve israel, chairman of the dccc and a democrat from new york and joins me now. congressman israel, i want to talk about where we are in these debt talks. it seems to me i've talked with democrats involved in it. they say they got close to an agreement on $1.5 trillion. reports republicans were up to $2 trillion and cuts. the sticking point is these, "revenues or taxes." what is the state of play as you understand it? you're the member of the house leadership? >> there is something that a republican member of congress and this democratic member of congress can agree on. and that is, that a republican freshman from upstate new york today said that the republicans are playing a dangerous game of chicken with the debt ceiling, and that is something i agree with. let's understand what these republicans have been doing. they want to end medicare, just introduced a bill to privat

mitt romney is happy, tim pawlenty, jon huntsman, chasing romney, and frankly chasing michele bachmann, not so happy about it. >>> john boehner isn't the only leader feeling heat from members of his own party. president obama is now hearing from a lot of democrats including senate democrats who aren't sure they like where the debt talks are heading. >>> joining me now senator claire mccaskill, she's a democrat from missouri and somewhat who likes to speak her mind. senator, nice to see you this morning. >> thanks, chuck. >> all right, the outlines of this deal that we're hearing about that would have cuts up front and the revenue conversation on taxes taking place over the next 18 months with penalties, if nothing gets implemented, is a broad outline. i know you want to see details. what do you think? >> well, you know, first of all, i've been working on cuts for a long time, and jeff sessions and i came close to passing a cap on spending even before last november's elections. so, i think that cuts are very important. having said that. i think it's going to be very important that we ge

to who, his dad or to mitt romney?>>> new on the books, it's july 1st, hundreds of snu state laws go into effect. in virginia, dead people can vote. starting today if someone sends in an absentee ballot and dies before election day, that vote is still good. how about that? forget that, chicago. over in maryland, have trouble leaving your dog? good news dogs are allowed in restaurants with outdoor tables and patios provide they're on a leash. good luck with that. and starting today in new york state, it's mandatory for schools to allow kids to opt out of die secting frogs in bielg. they can watch interactive films. come on now. no dodge ball anymore. you can't get your hands dirty with a frog. you've got to learn what the guts of an animal looks like. you've got to do the real thing. that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. woman: saving for our child's college fund was getting expensive. man: yes it was. so to save some money, we taught our 5 year old how to dunk. woman: scholarship

make the case that maybe barack obama should have created more jobs and done better, but what mitt romney's -- how he's describing it is just inaccurate. >> if the obama wants the message to be the economy is not as bad as you think it is, that's probably not going to -- >> is romney the front-runner? >> oh, sure. >> is he beatable? >> sure. >> can he be beating on the left? >> in the republican primary? >> huntsman? >> i think that would be tough to do. >> you think huntsman can beat him on the left? >> i think hadn'tman has to get 5% in new hampshire first. >> can he be beaten by -- is he too left for your party, romney? >> no. no. he's winning? the polls. >> michele bachmann, can she knock him off in new hampshire? >> i think that would be tough in new mexico. >> if he wins 234 iowa -- >> she could be formidable. >> who's the favorite in iowa? >> right now it's bachmann. >> without admitting it arithmetically -- she can beat him in iowa or new hampshire. >> she's going to beat him? >> probably. >> what you're saying is the party in iowa is to the right of romney. >> well, yes. >> 100,000

now mitt romney's campaign told n.b.c. yesterday this is his second quarter total will be less than twenty million dollars that would be less than what he raised in the first major quarter of two thousand and seven he had raised twenty three million that simple and he's expected to bring in less than five million jon huntsman has raised a fairly a little over two million throwing his own money at four million rand paul told supporters yesterday that he's raised over four million the number now unfortunately if we look at the debate going on on capitol hill right now it looks like once you get that power and i think that the entire country is not in your hands you don't do anything about it so what can we say about the political circus that is washington d.c. trying to just if david can't needs because national political reporter thank you so much there being here tonight you were there actual political aren't you guys all political reporters at politico it's word lingo like those words. let's start off talking about money

it's the inevitability campaign of mitt romney.idates, talked about bob mcdonnell, he was in virginia, ding, ding, ding. chris t christy and marco rubio and then whatever state you travel in and then this brings up, though, kevin madden. this is something romney said a couple of weeks ago during a stop in new hampshire that got some people raising their eyebrows. >> i'll probably be back in four years. >> that would be great. >> this time it will be a larger group and probably have secret service. >> well, there you go. so, kevin, and you know the other thing is he's campaigning today in ohio. he doesn't -- iowa, ohio. maybe the travel agent got it cost. we thought you said ohio, sir. this inevitability campaign, it can work for a time. it worked for george w. bush, but he still -- >> what's really important about the states. >> he's trying to lower expectations. >> those are states where he's actually raising money and when he's there he can actually make an economic argument. if you look at places . >> battle grounds states where

is mitt romney getting the message now? >>> plus, america, meet the new spokesperson for the gas and oil plot. just wait null hear about how the congressman defends subsidizing america's richest companies. >>> and is george w. bush secretly plotting to ruin a fellow texans presidential hopes? welcome to shot, i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, fight to the debt. at a twitter town hall today, president obama blasted republicans for using the debt ceiling as a hostage in budget talks. >> the debt ceiling should not be something that is used as a gun against the heads of the american people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners. >> today, republicans definitely did not sound like they are in a mood to make a deal. at the white house, budget talks that are set for tomorrow. >> thursday's meeting will give us a chance to see if the president means what he says. until now the president's proposal are frankly indefensible np. >> so will republicans compromise even a little to get a deal or do they just want to be the party

we know who the clear front-runner is. $18 million raised, mitt romney is the king of the jungle. e's the super predator of the race. he's the republican's leader. back-up weekend gretchen thinks there may be one big difference between romney. >> i think he could get a lot of money from that. >> big time. >> romney obviously not being a christian. >> jon: what? someone get that woman to book a mormon. really, ? can't get in until february 2014? wow, that thing is doing well. well, i'm sure back-up weekend gretchen's producers will point out the fallacy of her reasoning during the next commercial break. >> during the 6:00 a.m. i mentioned that mitt romney was not a christian. he is a member of the jesus christ of latter-day saints church, and that church does consider its members christians. >> jon: oh, and one other thing, time for lutherans to [bleeped] or get off the pot. reformation is over. you're in or you're out. you're in or you're out. we'll be right back. vo: if you like facebook, come to best buy. where an expert will find the perfect phone for you. like the at&t htc stat

next, bill clinton saying nice things about mitt romney and ma shawl barbman. why? dick morris has some >>> as we reported last week, big-time democrats saying nice things about gop challengers to president obama. enter bill clinton. >> i think governor romney is doing a better job this time than he did last time. more comfortable and seems to be willing to take some of the heat you get if you stand up to people in your own party that you think are in his case too far to the the right. but i don't know who is going to win. i think, you know, i'm not surprised that congress woman bachman is off to a good start because i think she is a compelling public figure. i don't agree with her on a lot of things but i think she comes across as real. >> bill: here to analyze, fox news analyst dick morris. what is up with this? why is he saying good things about romney and bachman. >> he suffers from add. if he isn't getting enough attention he is disordered. he is always saying stuff to try to keep his name public. there is a grand democratic strategy to try to stop romney from

nothing if you're mitt romney. what candidate's son is posing with him? here's a hint. not romney's son but the son of another presidential candidate. we will have it all on the side show. we start with the state of the country. chairman of the dccc and democrat from new york. he joins me now. congress there's a lot of he said, she said going on. yesterday senator chuck shumer speculated that republicans are trying to sabotage the economy to see president obama fail. let's listen to it. >> we need to start asking ourselves an uncomfortable question, are republicans slowing down the recovery on purpose for political gain in 2012. now, it's clear, insisting on a slash and burn approach may be part of this plan. it has a double benefit for republicans. it's tidy and it undermines economic recovery, which they think only helps them in 2012. if the public comes to believe that republicans are deliberately sabotaging the economy, it will backfire. >> that is a harsh charge. it's a member of the democratic leadership, arguably the second most powerful senator in the democratic

so i was told it was a coincidence that president obama and mitt romney end up in pennsylvania at the same time. but the romney people are very a jury trial. they are agile and they are smart and took advantage of the opportunity. the fact that the president talked about allen town and then allen town is actually closing manufacturing jobs. the ad is brilliant. he has consistently got very good ads that are provocative and well put together. i think the thing i think about romney is he is running against obama. everybody else is fighting it out and he is just like i'm the frontrunner, i'm going to act like it. >> laura: he is acting like it. joe, lime looking at all these polls that a republican fairs very well against obama in these polls. individual candidates not as well. in my theory what romney is doing, he is running as a generic republican. that's a winning formula, perhaps for him. >> right. and taking on obama, this ad is very effective in making a case, particularly one that primary voters will respond to right now. the problem is there is sort of this leaping ahead of time

mitt romney has been keeping his head way down.e did come out of the cave to issue a tweet where he criticized president obama for historic failure on the debt limit noting that harry reid isn't even proposing tax increases anymore. it was the plain vanilla response on the debt limit. that's what he's been saying. yes, raise it, but also cut spending. this is a very risk averse front runner that's because he's a vulnerable front runner. what mitt rom niece' been doing is trying to nurse his lead, save his money, he know it's a long campaign. when feistier candidates like rick perry get in the race, if he does, he's going to be very formidable. right now as one of the romney advisors told me, we have message disciplinite is. >> and just trying again to fly over. >> reporter: absolutely. tim pawlenty is engaging in back and forth with michele bachmann for a simple reason, she's a big threat to him in iowa. he's trying to get some traction. mitt romney is keeping iowa at some distance from his campaign. there may be an under the radar

he told supporters in other parts of pennsylvania while mitt romney was there in pennsylvania. >> mittney did not mention his rivals. he's clearly taken the stance that i'm the frontrunner, i'm not going to mention tim pawlenty or michelle bachmann. why's he in pennsylvania? not an early primary state, key general election state. >> remember obama last time? >> and typically does. mitt romney rolling out an attack ad. he's ready to go against the president. >> good to be back in pennsylvania. i just came from allentown metal works where i had a chance to visit with workers there. >> the allentown metal work is set to close its doors on friday. it was hailed as a symbol of hope by president barack obama last year when he promoted his jobs plan. >> there you go. not wasting any time. literally in pennsylvania, the very same day that's how quickly the media can work now if you've got the money that mitt romney has, you take that footage that you were at the allentown metal works and ship it out to your advertising house and there's an attack ad out coming. >> president obama made that run

cautious about trying to protect it by being as -- having a no error strategy so far. >> i understand mitt romney d.c. he's going to have -- or may be there right now the lawyers for romney luncheon fundraiser. there are a lot of lawyer jokes that could be made there. how important is fundraising at this point in the campaign? >> it's very important. romney raised $18 million in the second quarter. that was much lower than many people expected him to raise. reflects the difficult fundraising environment. he was a lot more than other republicans. tim pawlenty and others who are his competitors. we're still waiting to hear whether rick perry of texas who could be a heavy weight financially in this race where he gets in. when the race is fully formed, when jon huntsman is wrapping up his campaign in new hampshire, when rick perry when he gets in the race if in fact he does and we start seeing the television ads and whether mitt romney can take attacks from others which will include in the intro his on opponents are going to argue he was not so effective as governor of massachusetts in creating jobs.

great. >>> president obama, mitt romney, both campaigned in pennsylvania this week. have been a preview of the general election and it certainly looked like it with attack romney lobbed at the president. >> i just came from allen town metal works where i had a chance to visit with workers there. >> the allen town metal work is set to close its doors on friday. >> well, joining me now, former governor of pennsylvania, ed rendell, also an nbc news political analyst. good to see you. as you know, romney certainly hammering the president in this ad. i know you reacted pretty quickly to it, but meanwhile, the democrats are saying massachusetts ranked 47th when he was governor. would that take the wind out of these attacks in a general election? >> sure. the problem with being an incumbent anything, you've got a record. governor pawlenty, a good guy, but left office with third highest debt in percentage of revenue of any third highest budget deficit of any governor. so, everyone has a little bit of a problem and governor romney does with economic growth although in fairnes

what does that tell you about mitt romney's front runner stat us? >> well, what's fascinating is i think the conservatives are looking for an alternative to mitt romney. at this stage of the game, he continues to hold a good portion of that vote. he has to hold a share of that vote in order to be the true front runner. i think the conservatives are looking for that person. cain one month, trump another month, this month it's bachmann. clearly they're looking for a place to land. that tells mitt romney he still has problems on the right. >> bill and peter, thank you both. >>> up next, a big anniversary happening high in the sky today. >>> plus it's the hump day panel. what our new poll says about who is up and who is down in the 2012 race. are all these questions michele bachmann's health a tad sexist. >>> soup of the day, it's roasted red pepper and tomato. you are you are watching the "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists,

>> mitt romney has had is an enthusiastic and be all the way through, but said in a place this change -- mitt romney had this unenthusiastic lead all the way through, but second place has changed all the time. it was donald trump, then herman cain, pizza fellow, and now it is michele bachmann. she had an interesting week. she handled it charges of the migraine headaches a very well, very responsive. she never played the victim's car. she never attacked the press for raising this. she showed herself to be quite adept on the first time they went negative on her. >> they are coming after her husband because of this clinic he runs where he claims he can convince a people to become straight -- convince gay people to become straight. >> i will put a cautionary note on how she handled it. >> ok. >> for those of you who remember a long time ago when paul tsongas did not come clean about his medical condition, and as a person who has had a few migraines in my life, i certainly don't think i could be president. but if she is having those and they are not controlled and it happens while she is o

plus mitt romney is at it again. another day, another flip-flop. with all his contortions, this guy's going to need obama care. and president clinton says to president obama, don't blink in his standoff with republicans. i'll give you my thoughts on that. welcome to the show. i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, president obama ramps up pressure on republicans to do their job in the debt fight. this afternoon, the president pressed congress to make a long-term deal on the debt ceiling. >> i don't think the american people here sent us here to avoid tough problems. that's in fact what drives them nuts about washington, when both parties simply take the path of least resistance. >> the president says he's willing to compromise, but are the republicans? >> it's my hope that everybody's going to leave their ultimate mate tums at the door, leave the political rhetoric at the door and we're going to do what's best for our economy and what's best for our people. >> the president spoke, as it's becoming clear that the republican leaders are feeling the heat, f

he's from mitt romney's home state of michigan. he supported mitt romney in 2008.ecently, he's been critical. very few people have gone after mitt romney. this congressman is loved by the right wing. there's hope perhaps he'll be the one person who can go in and sniff out romney. >> this is the lead story? >> no. >> okay. just wondering. >> gutsy move. >> let's move on to stephven colbe colbert, shall we? he was up in washington declaring victory. here is what he said to the crowd after getting a superpack. >> people have cynically asked, is this some kind of joke? i for one don't think participating in democracy is a joke. they want to know what the rules are is joke. i do have one federal election joke if you would like to hear it. >> yes! >> knock knock. >> who's there? >> unlimited union and corporate campaign contributions. [ inaudible ] >> that's the thing. i don't think i should have to tell you. >> patrick, what's colbert doing up there? ha's the point he's trying to make? >> criticizing the americans, they are allowing unlimited corporate contributions. he