mrs. george clinton. the governor of new york was an old friend and amateur botanist who would supply lyndon trees and war time ally from whom washington had no intention of being separated by political differences. men's opinions were as varied as their faces, said washington. and where their motives were pure, no more to be questioned than nature itself. in politics as in religion, my tenants of few are simple the president had written, the leading one of which is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others. meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. what followed was a neat mix of innovation and caution. the inaugural address itself was washington's idea. so it was a presidential cabinet, a sort of council which both reflected an imperfectly contained the opposing schools of thought personified by secretary of the treasury alexander hamilton and secretary of state thomas jefferso of state thomas jefferson. inevitably, the arist to cat who considered

george will, former clinton white house press secretary dee dee myers. lou dobbs of fox business network. clarence page of washington tribune and my colleague jon karl. mrwill, is it possible that mr. romney is not going to win the state that he grew up, the one that his dad was governor? >> i think it is. the fact that the midwest probably begins on the western slope of the alleghenys which makes pittsburgh part of the midwest. he's won missouri and minnesota. he's run strongly in the west. several states, people say pennsylvania, pittsburgh, philadelphia, alabama in the middle. in missouri, you live in missouri and michigan has the detroit metropolitan area where romney in 2008 did very well and should do very well again. and over in the rest, you have kalamazoo, holland, grand rapids, out there the social conservatives are strong. i would expect santorum to carry nonmetro detroit the question is by how much? >> dee dee, what are you seeing when you look at the michigan race in. >> i think it's an open question. one of the things that strikes me, to george's point, there is a lot of social conservatism in the state, you have a republican primary being