to be talking to mitt romney. look at the poor guy in the blue shirt. look at his feet and his face. whether or not mitt romney is awkward as a human being, whether he's comfortable in his own skin as a person is irrelevant to his chances as a campaign should be except for the fact that retail politics, meeting people, shaking their hands, talking to people eye-to-eye, impressing people in person is a big part of how you win a presidential nomination. and mitt romney is an atrocious atrociously bad retail politician. more of a wholesaler, really. he's not the guy -- he's not the guy so much who sales things as a store. he's more like the guy who closes the store and fires everybody and sells the store to a private equity guy. there's more than just mitt romney news in 2012 politics today. there were a ton of 2012 presidential action today including one republican candidate for president who called out ed schulz and me off of the top of his head when nobody asked about us. he brought us up because he's campaigning

and mitt romney has been around for a while. he has essentially been running for president for the last eight years. people got to know him really well when he ran in 2008. they got to know him really well, and then they picked the other guy. there's a thing about mitt romney that the republican elect yorate didn't like back then, or at least not enough. >> some of your opponents pass out these flip floppers, that mitt romney flips and flops on the general issues. >> when you hear them on immigration, flip flop, flip flop. >> the former governor faces doubts about his conservative credentials all the way home to massachusetts. where democrats have posted his alleged flip flops on issues like gun control, gay rights, abortion. since romney's failed 1994 senate run and his campaign for governor in 2002. >> what mitt romney needs to do is change the narrative. and the question is, has the flip flop narrative that has been so prevalent over the last six months, will that continue? >> mitt romney is running for president as a do-over

when people think about mitt romney, republican frontrunner, when people think about mitt romney and jobs, what exactly do they think about? >> i'm also unemployed. i'm not working. [ laughter ] >> a lot better than what we've got. mitt romney prompting giggles and cringes around the country and table he was sitting at when he tells a group of unemployed florida residents that he too is unemployed, and it is true, mitt romney is technically an unemployed multi-million private equity executive running for president by saying things like this. >> corporations are people, my friend. of course, they are. >> the i'm also unemployed moment and the corporations are people moment, both seems like mitt romney gaffes, some of the major baggage he brings to the race is some of the money he has is what he made shutting down companies, liquidating their assets and firing their american workers, he can't afford to be showcasing the corporations are people side of his personality. in what seemed like a record to course correct after those errors, mitt romney has tried to pivot. he tried on a man of

competing for the same sort of bandwidth in this campaign. >> when we talk about rick perry and mitt romney, what is the divide that you see now in the republican party between, you know, the perry candidacy, the romney candidacy? if perry becomes an alternative for conservatives to michele bachmann, say, how do you see the establishment of republicans dividing itself? >> well, the establishment or what i would call the establishment for the republican party is only down to 1/3. that's the eisenhower, nixon, ford, bush won bob dole party. that only represents 1/3 of the republican party now. and i think that's sort of the space where romney and tim pawlenty and john huntsman are competing for. but the thing is that's probably the space that would be more electable in a general election. and i think in a long race, i think republicans are going to have a choice of do they want to go with their hearts or do they want to go with their heads? >> charlie cook, who has both heart and head. thank you very much. great head for politics. thank you. >>> as we've been talking about, all the political

they have had mitt romney solicit donations. it's a mitt romney gig.lion in the first half of the year. and 1/3 of what they raised came in million dollar chunks from four sources. including the aforementioned mysterious w. spann llc, a company that seems to have done pretty much nothing besides give $1 million on april 28 for the better. of mitt romney's political career. on july 11, two weeks before this mitt romney pac had to file its report with federal elections officials, two weeks before that pac was to reveal its donors, this company shut down. its wealth transfer specialist lawyer filed this certificate of cancellation with the state of delaware. so whatever this company was supposed to be, whatever it was, after founding itself, submitting a single $1 million check on mitt romney's behalf, the mysterious w. spann llc was officially desolved. >> lawrence, your standing ovation for chris christie's comments in your "rewrite" tonight itself earned a standing ovation. it was so perfectly done. mr. romney's old investment firm, bain capital, says

same thing with the mitt romney one. mitt romney just has clip art and a stock photo eagle. yeah, it's nudge, nudge, wink, wink, we'll launder the money to barack obama and mitt romney, but at least they are nudging and winking. the rick perry people aren't even nudging and winking. here is a picture, and another picture. want to give the money to elect somebody different than barack obama as president? rick perry, rick perry, rick perry. this is perhaps the larger role of rick perry in our national politics today, to make stuff obvious. and maybe that is a metaphor for his broader role in the campaign. but is rick perry's being this blatant about this any different legally than anybody else going around and nudging and winking about their monlaundering? laundering? thank you for joining us. >> thank you, rachel. >> you probably do not see this as money laundering. but in what ways is it not money laundering? >> one person's money laundering is another's free speech. and it happens in this case the other people who saw it that way was the supreme court, so that's the law. th

can that run over the middle of the road over mitt romney? >> my first instinct is to say yeah, i think it can. can he beat romney? maybe. he might be able to. but i think what in the end will save mitt romney is that at the end of the day, republicans are going to have to be thinking about the general election and when i talk to people at the white house and the candidate they are still most worried about is mitt romney. chris: here we are, the tea party seems to be setting the terms. the language is tea party. don't believe in evolution or climate change. all the language will be harmed for romney to speak. >> it's political fizz six. when will the extreme is so far to -- physics. when the extreme is so far to one side it moves the middle as well. what you're going to have -- your analogy i think is not flawed. but the person that obama has to become is harry truman in 1948, running against congress and all of this thing that seems so alien. he wants to make them alien. chris: are the republican right, the people of the tea party world, mor

meaning it's great news for him sarah palin has come out and unloaded on mitt romney.ting there waiting to -- to surface as the -- as you put it, the kind of reasonable establishment candidate, he was the first one in, the first romney alternative in there. does he have an advantage because he was the first one in? >> certainly in iowa and that's what he's betting on, investing a lot of money, resources, staff, in iowa, we have the ames straw poll coming up, that's a huge test for him. we look at some of these things and we have a tendency to wonder if we're inflating false milestones, but he is focussed on it and inflated it and if he does poorly it will be a problem for him going forward. >> ken vogel of politico. >>> mike huckabee has decided to turn 9/11 into a cartoon. one he hopes you'll pay to see. that's in the rewrite. >>> and bad news for rick perry's controversial p.r. stunt disguised as a prayer rally, not that many true believers are taking part. is it an omen for the presidenti campaign he might be planning? [ twig snaps ] that sounded like the chocobeast

mitt romney. mitt romney won the iowa straw poll in 2007, but came in second in the iowa caucuses in 2008. todd is joining us next from mississippi. >> i would like to make a statement. if you do not think that government is too big, they can check out what happened in california last week where 25 swat team military guard-wearing individuals reyes did an organic food store because they were ided an raw milk -- rate organic food store because they were selling raw milk. that is definitely government overstepping their boundaries. >> in 1995, bob dole won the straw poll. he also won the iowa caucuses the following year. in 1999, george w. bush won both the iowa straw poll and the iowa caucuses. in 2007, mitt romney came in first in the straw poll, but came in second in the caucuses and ultimately dropping out of the republican race in 2008. he is now at it again, campaigning in iowa, but not officially organizing at the straw poll on friday. >> we got the republican tax cuts. where is the meat? >>

mitt romney, president obama is losing to two points with mitt romney, tied with perry, up two points on paul and up four on bachmann. is this more about the candidates on the republican side or does that tell us about barack obama? >> it tells us about the bad month of august obama has seen. of course -- >> pollsters tend to stay out of the field in august because so many people are on vacation. i give you chuck todd. >> just last week, gallup came out with president obama's approval rating, 39%. these numbers aren't terribly surprising. good news, president obama has a long way to go. we saw harry reid pull out a victory in nevada where he was down considerably more than this. bad news is you have these republicans who right now, it sure looks like a game. >> it certainly seems unlikely that michele bachmann and ron paul are goranering 45% based on their own policies. mark murray, i made one plug, i will make a second plug. read "first read" in the mornings. >>> the white house isn't ready to declare mission accomplished in libya. although gadhafi's long reign of power is over, the

. >> mitt romney emerges from the mittness protection program. and now we know why he was hiding. >> mitt romney giving as good as he got. >> heckler taking it to mitt romney. >> hold on a second, i'm not going to raise taxes, that's my answer. >> you see mitt romney starting to engage a little bit. >> corporations are people, my friend. corporations are people, my friend, human beings, my friend. >> rick perry removes all doubt. perry's in. >> one of our darkest hours. >> sarah palin rushes to iowa. >> never fear, america, sarah palin has come. >> predictably sarah palin is back. >>tops of cameras and sarah palin showing up. that's so strange. >> heart land fights. >> tired of the inaviativasion privacy. >> this guy is nuts. i can call this napkin a paper towel, but it is a napkin. >> barack obama a one-term president. >> you got to love retail politics. >> the president blames congress. >> the only thing keeping us back is our politics. >> rooting for the president. >> what can the president do? >> extend the payroll tax cut. call people back e

should mitt romney be worried?olitical panel joins us next to break down what's really going on out there on the trail. >>> but, first, the white house soup of the day, chipotle beef and black bean soup. just what i want on a hot summer in august. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ♪ might as well jump ♪ made with half the fat and calories of hellmann's real mayo... ...kraft mayo with olive oil is the new standard in mayo. [ cat meows ] ♪ [ acoustic guitar: pop ] [ woman ] ♪ i just want to be okay ks ] ♪ be okay, be okay ♪ i just want to be okay today - ♪ i just want to know today - [ whistles ] ♪ know today, know today - [ cat meows ] - ♪ know that maybe i will be okay ♪ [ chimes ] travelers can help you protect the things you care about... and save money with multi-policy discounts. are you getting the coverage you need... and the discounts you deserve? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage... or visit travelers.com. constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more

and where's mitt romney? so is this something at this stage in a campaign where you're saying, rick perry is sucking all the oxygen, is that good or bad? >> worst thing mitt romney could do right now is demonstrate weakness by flailing around, changing everything he's doing. he's beginning to draw some nice subtle differences, plan for these debates. but so far be the jobsmaker. david is exactly right. be the jobsmaker. explain that people who got us into this mess can't get us out. >> so it doesn't bother you. it shouldn't bother romney? >> he's working the back rooms, raising a lot of money. rick perry is going to have to do that all over again in a environment where campaign contributions are restricted unlike texas. >> this thing won't be decided in the next couple of months. it's a long haul. >> and you'll be with us for it. >> i will be with you. >> and you're going to be with us for the next block. stay with us. while mitt romney and rick perry have certainly started going after one another we've been

i want to play a clip of mitt romney. you had broken the story about this issue of one of his donors setting up a dummy korcorporati to try to hide his participation in giving $1 million to the romney superpac and it finally came out. all of this funny business, and romney responded, but take a listen to how he responded and we'll talk an the other side. >> he came out and discussed who he is. there's not much question anymore. no controversy, because he said, hey, it's me, and i've given him that many times before. >> exactly, chuck. >> it's me, i've given -- and i've given many times before. almost sort of like, look, yeah. you know, we have this thing over here, too. >> right, exactly. he also said one more thing. that he was expecting the contribution, and that raised a lot of eyebrows. look, romney has been speaking at fund-raising dinners for restore our future. so, you know, the idea, again, of independence between the romney campaign and this restore our future is just very hard to believe. and, look. and it's not

>> probably mitt romney. just like most of the people once you get past this early silly stage, maybe it's perry. do you disagree with me? >> no, i don't. >> then why do you hate so much when love would be so much easier. >> i love you, joe. >> i know you do. >> this is fun. i'm still not educated on the light bulbs. >>> coming up, wisconsin governor scott walker. also david axelrod joins us live from iowa. we'll also have lon dons bureau chief john byrnes. >> and why the tottenham match got canceled. >>> up next, don't miss willy's week in review. first your weekend forecast with bill karins. >> the brightest bulb, right, mika? >> yes, adorable. >> actually one of the coolest mornings we've had in a while. temperatures are very comfortable. the ac should be off in many locations, in the 50s in new england. fantastic afternoon. no travel trouble at all. friday and saturday is great. the mid atlantic and new england, sunday looks bad. make plans for saturday. we'll watch the wet weather on saturday that moves

plus, mitt romney touting his reign as governor. here it is. under "the washington post," steve mcmahon and pat buchanan. what do you make of the fact romney bragged about the fact that he got better credit rating from the s&p out of massachusetts but never noted the fact he got because they raised taxes in the assembly up there? >> that wouldn't be something he would want to bring up and put out front. perhaps you think that might be advantageous to him, but it wouldn't be, chris. romney will be hit on think, the taxes, the real taxes, were enacted in the governorship before his, which was a democrat, and then he took advantage of that and got the state's credit rating raised, which i think was a good thing and cut taxes 19 times. i read that, read that closely. i don't think it's really a real issue that someone on the conservative side of the republican party can use to gray effect against romney. >> what do you think, from the liberal sides of things, an issue that shows hypocrisy? got a good credit rating but not by a wild notion he never r

back to mitt romney here in just a moment. first, i'm willing to bet you're asking what the heck is this iowa straw poll? stay with me, folks, because these are the basics. here you go. iowa straw poll rule number one, music. give the voters entertainment. rule number two, food, and what you're about to see here, various manifestations of the iowa staple, butter, so that is rule number two. feed your supporters. real number three. bid the highest price for the choiceiest seats at the hilton coliseum in aims, iowa, and on straw poll day pack that place with more of your backers than those of your competition. that is how a candidate wins the iowa straw poll, an exercise labeled perhaps unkindly as organized bribery. here's the deal. iowa straw poll. it's saturday, pretty darn important, but it's not very good at picking winners. look back with me. back to 1979, the winner of the straw poll was george h.w. bush who would lose the nomination to ronald reagan. '87, pat robertson won the iowa straw poll, george h.w. bush received t

and so -- and where's mitt romney?o, is this something at this stage of the campaign where you're saying rick perry is sucking all the oxygen? is that good or bad? >> the worst thing mitt romney can do is showing weakness by flailing around and changing what he's doing. he's showing nice subtle differences and planned for the debates. so far be the jobs maker. david is exactly right. be the jobs maker and explain to him that the people got us into this mess can't get us out. >> it shouldn't bother romney? >> he's raising a lot of money and rick perry will have to do it all over again in an environment where campaign contributions are restricted unlike texas. >> and it's a long haul. the thing won't be decided in the next couple of months. >> you bet. you'll be with us. >> i will be with you. >> and you'll be with us for the next block, so stay with us. because while mitt romney and rick perry have been going after one another, there's one thing they agree on, and that is what they really don't like about barack obama.

like mitt romney and tim pawlenty.his is a great victory for her, although she barely beat ron paul. going forward, you know she has a couple other test that's she must also pass in order to make it to the final exam. that's the iowa caucuses next february. but it is a good day for her. and she can use this to raise money, to try to broaden her appeal. and there is no question -- >> hey, donna, stand by. we're going to lose our friend from tfrom the iowan republican party. you heard her talking about the candidates. give us a summation. >> one way i've described the race at this point, it is incredibly fluid. we don't blank the final field will look like. it is still more the dating phase than the marrying phase. i think we'll see some of this shakeout over the coming weeks and months. today for the campaign that have aggressively organized to compete in ames, they now know where the organization stands. tomorrow they'll wherng the deficiencies are. what worked. from that standpoint it is a big advantage. they have a l

let's talk about mitt romney.here was a in politicole it was saying -- let me read a line from that article which i'm sure you saw. barack obama's aides and advisers are preparing to center the president's reelection campaign on a ferocious personal asaul on mitt romney's character and business background, a strategy grounded in the early stage -- that he's likely the gop nominee. is that true? >> no, here's what i would tell you, wolf, if you could identify the sources of that story, i would tell you take them out of your rolodex, because they don't know what they're talking about. of course we're repared for a tough campaign, but it's going to be a tough campaign about records, about vision, and about how we rebuild this economic in a way that restores middle class economic security. it's not going to be about gratuitous personal attacks. i would discount that, and let's focus on the real differences between us. he said in response to questions xw social security and medicare, corporations are people too, and ex

he said this of mitt romney.id he wonders who told mitt romney that now is a time to nearly quadruple the size of his family's beach out. romney needs to stop staying in hotels, stay with volunteers. his job should be to take out the trash every day. if that bag breaks, he needs to clean it up. he also hit rick perry saying what plays in texas, doesn't play nationally. kevin mccarthy, perhaps the most shrewdest mind. tough talk. >> i think one of them should try to hire him as soon as possible. whoever told mitt romney to quadruple the size or whatever is the same person who told president obama to go to martha's vineyard on vacation. there's just a few things that are dumb to do in the midst of presidential campaign season. you've got to know how many houses you have, know the price of a gallon of milk, and don't build fancy houses or go on fancy vacations. >> quickly, karen, what i was surprised at with this story was that they've been so careful about these optics of late. the guy's never in a tie. he's always

now, as far as mitt romney is concerned, mitt romney had a news conference on wednesday here in iowa, and i asked him, with the numbers coming out of texas in terms of job creation, which rick perry has led, how can mitt romney continue to say he's the best candidate for job. he said to me he spent a quarter in the private sector. i think we're going to see a really big debate p in the coming months between rick perry and mitt romney on job creation. one has spent a long time in government, that would be perry. the other has spent a long time in the private sector, and that would be mitt romney. and how those two are going to compete and who knows the economy better. that's going to be a really interesting debate to see. >> it is going to be fascinating. let me ask you finally, erin, before i let you go and check those lines once again. what are we looking for over the next several hours? what is going to happen next in ames? >> we're going to be seeing some more of these candidates speak on stage. we heard from rick santorum first. we've heard from ron paul. we're going to be hearin

but mitt romney is no franklin d. roosevelt. belief that corporations are people and the wealth of the top 1% should be protected at the expense of everyone else. before romney cuts another ad portraying himself as the hero of the downtroddenen and working place, he should have an ad that can be recycled this time around. >> when asked how many houses he owns, mccain lost track. he couldn't remember. well, it's seven. seven houses, and here's one house can't afford to let john mccain move in to. >> joining me now is the "washington post" editorial writer and msnbc contributor. hello, johnathon. >> how are you? >> i feel like we call you in to do the snark thing with me. >> this is too much fun. >> it is. but is it he jait jit mate? people presidents are wealthy people. they have ivy league degrees. is fair for us to make fun of romney bulldozing his mansion and building another in its spot. >> when you put it like that it is. mitt romney is smart. he's handsome. he's rich, and on top of it, he's changed his policy positions on a

. >> it's real. >> also, talk about being a governor, a decision-maker, a job creator, more in mitt romney's face. so romney's the wan one -- excuse me. perry's the one in the middle strategically, which is the place to be. we do retail, jennifer said, raking in money. get a lot of the people who endorsed tim pawlenty in iowa. tim pawlenty did it the traditional way. collecting endorsements from mayors and republican state committee men and so on. most of those people i think won't go to romney because they could have before. now they're likely to go, most of them to perry, only a few to bachmann. >> and rick perry this weekend making clear he's very much anti-washington. i've never heard anybody talk quite like this. let's listen. >> america is not broken. washington, d.c. is broken. >> i promise you this -- i'll work every day to try to make washington, d.c. as inconsequential in your life as i can. >> well, that is -- sounded like the era of government is over. jennifer, this is strong stuff. if he can go as far right as saying get rid of the government, get rid of washington basically. i

this plays into the narrative that unfortunately mitt romney unwittingly plays into.e's smart, he's handsome, he's rich, and on top of it, he's changed his policy positions on a whole host of things that sort of feed into, sort of makes you not want to like him in that way. remember in the 2008 campaign, there were stories going around how none of his republican opponents even liked him, so the fact that he has a fabulous beach house in california, he's bull dozing it and he's going to build an 11,000-square foot house in its place, you know, it's just you look at the guy like really, you were just there in that diner in florida saying you were unemployed, and even when he did that we crossed our eyes saying are you serious, really, are you serious? >> is it a timing issue? look, we spent last week asking should the president go on vacation to martha's vineyard, i was one of the people that said he can go and everything, so is this really just timing? i mean, he is a millionaire, he can build as many homes as he wants, but you have "vanity fair" talking about the big

and so mitt romney's name does appear on the ballot, but he didn't want it to be there necessarily. it was the republican party here that saw fit to put his name on the ballot. so romney is not a big presence today. that is also true, of course, of the newest entrance into the campaign for 2012. that's governor rick perry of texas. he is not in iowa today. he is visiting new hampshire and south carolina where he will officially kick off his race. what we do expect in terms of the energy and the enthusiasm, ron paul who has more signs in this auditorium than anyone. i saw one of his volunteers putting signs outside about 5:30 this morning, and, of course, the nearby minnesota resident governor tim pawlenty and congresswoman michelle bachmann. they are expected to do well here today. it's hard to know what the results will look like when the day is over and what it will mean for those campaigns, but everyone will be reading those tea leaves and trying to decide what it says about the race going forward. alex. >> and that includes you, so we'll get more info from you down the road. than

listening to that answer from mitt romney, is mitt romney a member of the tea party, showing supportparty, trying to distance himself from the tea party? what did you hear out of that? >> you might say all of the above. i think the ee lek tore rat is looking from candidates more of what they say than what they've done. mitt romney tries to share his record. when you look at his record it's pretty good when it comes to spending, which is one of biggest issues the at the party is focused on. attempting to say mitt romney has a lot of hurdles to get over, he'll have to get over romney care and his position on taxes in the past. i think he's got a real challenge to be em bralgsed by the tea party, even though he may try to embrace the tea party. if the electorate is listening, both perry and romney have decent records when you actually examine them but what perry says is more in line with the tea party and much more likely get their support. >> you heard the former congressman say, it's a style versus substance argument. and just to sum up the specific question was, did he does himself a

and, later, mitt romney and his millions. plus, his statement this week that corporations are people. who spun this one better, romney or the democrats? ♪ money, money, money [ man ] behind every business is a "what if." what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. that i put on my children's plate. that's why we use all-white meat, breading that is whole grain with omega-3 and no preservatives. it is my goal to make the highest quality, best-tasting nugget on the market. i want consumers to go, "dang, that's a good nugget." i want consumers to go, go! go! completing an atm deposit in record time... that's a step f

that's not an area where mitt romney can compete. mitt romney needs to stay very focused in one direction. >> also in new hampshire, questioning the science of climate change, is not a great position for the independents and the others. >> i think you're right, especially for mitt romney, whose campaign is counting on democratic leaning independents who don't have a primary to vote in this time, he needs to be careful about the type of things he's said. and rick perry talked about climate change and questioned the science behind it when he was in new hampshire, but, again, he is someone who is known to be conservative. any time he does something that just reinforces the image of him as straight talking and who he is, it helps him. mitt romney, as you said, can't afford to get away from that. >> maggie, great to see you. thanks so much. >> you too. thanks. >>> and the nbc news/politico republican debate at the reagan library is two weeks away. wednesday, september 7th, 8:00 p.m. eastern, moderated by brian williams. be there. >>> next

. >> we were talking about all the problems mitt romney has, but this is good for mitt romney.ame water that mitt romney is. he's over there with michelle bachmann and to some extent rick perry. >> he can just watch while perry and bachmann duke it out. >> i remember that debate a few weeks ago in iowa. you could almost see mitt romney smiling. karen finney, go. >> prayers for pat summit. amazing woman coach, mentor, and i hope she will have another successful season, because think about what kind of hope that brings to people who are suffering from this disease to show that you actually can continue your life. >> i would say an inspiration. my life is a college coach. a huge inspiration for her. thanks for mentioning it. kasie? >> gold man and nathalie pozo has a thing on tv. >> the traditional shameless plug. tune in tomorrow night for our interview with john huntsman where we began. >> i always, always do. thank you, david, thank you, kasie, thank you, karen. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." we'll see you right back here tomorrow on 9:00 a.m. coming up next

i think mitt romney was really protected for a lot of that and came off looking as the winner. i would say, though, mitt didn't have a lot to lose here because he's really not participating in the iowa straw poll. he lost in the state and this time is not engaged in the straw poll which i think going into it i think psychologically helped him more than the others as well. the other candidate list a lot pleasure to win tonight than mitt romney did. >> let me ask you about the debut of governor huntsman. he like governor romney is not looking like he will invest too much time or money in iowa. governor romney trying to protect his national front run are status. just governor huntsman essentially trying to get into the top tier of the pact. eric, to you first on that one. he said, i'm for civil unions, that's my opinion, and others can disagree with me. but he also was pretty firm ohey, i cut taxes, you created jobs as utah governor, how did he do it in his first introduction? >> you know it wasn't as bad as i thought he might have done. although, i think the long run headline toni

he worked for mitt romney's 08 iowa campaign and dace detests romney. >> with mitt romney, he has no record on any issue, from the bush tax cuts to immigration amnesty, to life, to marriage, he has no record at all. >> so starting in late 2007 from his old station, who in des moines, dace launched his personal air war pummeling romney. >> we knew what he was saying and he helped turn out a new breed of evangelical voters. >> he has a lot of passion and it oozes out of the microphone and i think that he takes this really seriously. >> can i give someone an opportunity to prove they are the real thing and when they have that opening, can they exploit it and take advantage of it? you bet i can. >> huckabee won the iowa caucuses and if you look at the results in central iowa, the counties huckabee won ring des moines, while like a radio signal. >> that's where we helped mike huckabee is we helped him get known. but he still had to close the sale. >> earlier this week, dace predicted michelle bachman would won the straw poll, but insists he has no favorite in the current gop field. >> the

here is sarah palin on mitt romney. >> i have respect for mitt romney but i do not have respect for whathas done through this debt increase debate. he did this. he waited until it was a done deal that we would increase the debt ceiling and more money would be spent, more money borrowed and then spent on bigger government and then he came out and he made a statement that oh he didn't like the deal after all. >> bill: with us now possible republican contender rudy giuliani. there is no doubt there is a split in the republican party between -- i am not going to say conservative and moderates. i think that's too simple. it's the new wave tea party people, fundamentalists. >> right. >> bill: conservative republicans and the more moderate republicans like mitt romney and perhaps yourself. >> right. >> bill: now, how much is that going to hurt the party because you are going up against annual obama machine who is going to have a billion dollars to run. >> it will hurt if it continues. i mean, the reality is i'm going back to 2007 when i ran. tim we had all devastated each other and it was much