governor rendell, i'll start with you.movement afoot of trying to make it -- trying to create a state compact so that the popular vote essentially wins out. so if enough states that add up to 270 electoral votes agree that, you know, they will send their electoral votes to vote for the popular vote winner, then all the sudden we would go that way. where are you on that? do you think we should sort of go around the constitution which is what this would do and go to the popular vote route? >> well, i'm not sure we should go around the constitution. but i think we should change the way we elect the president. i think popular votes should be the deciding factor. and, look, i appreciate michael's candor on this. but we shouldn't analyze this, chuck, by republican or democrat. we should analyze it by is it fair and is it right? and it isn't fair. i don't understand the republicans. they have their best chance to carry pennsylvania in a presidential election in a long while. i don't understand why they're doing this. it looks so

governor rendell, when i saw people cheering and yelling let him die about an uninsured person facingry to me. i mean, what are we looking at? >> well, people ask me who won the debate last night, and there's only one winner of the debate last night and that's barack obama. the president won because if you watch that and you were anything other than a wild tea party enthusiast, it had to scare the living daylights out of you. people saying that we should stand by and let someone who is in a coma and can't make decisions for himself die because he didn't buy health insurance, the answer is treat him and then if he's got some means, go after that later and try to recoup some of the costs of the treatment, but you don't let human beings die. that was frightening. that was scary. governor perry booed for doing the right thing for children who didn't do anything illegal, didn't cross into the state. they were the children of people who did, getting an education in texas. governor perry, the favorite of the tea party booed. ron paul booed badly. >> yeah. >> that's got to scare you like craz

let me give you an expert, governor rendell, on christie, on whether he's ready. >> governor christie look at what he said. you've got to believe in your later that you are ready, to walk into the office and lead the nation. nor do i think i'm ready. >> now, there's a difference between playing hard to get and just saying i'm not ready. so governor rendell, if he decides to come out, how does he reconcile his own assessment that he's not ready with a change of heart so quickly? >> well, it's interesting. i don't agree with obviously everything he's done, but i admire him for his honesty and courage. he honestly felt he doesn't have enough experience, being governor of new jersey, he's not ready to be president of the united states. if you're mitt romney or rick perry, you just run that ad over and over and over again. it's not like saying i'm not running for president, because my family and i decided we don't want to do it. then you can change your mind and said my family came to me and said, look, we've seen the field and we believe you're the best hope for america, so they gave me t

. >> joining us right now, former governor of pennsylvania, ed rendell.hat i like about you, governor, is you're resilient. you never lad to be in an airplane taken over by terrorists, but this idea that pennsylvania gets to do this honoring is so great for you. >> sure. chris, i've had the pleasure of being out here every year. i came in 2002 as a candidate and eight years as governor and i speak as governor, i speak at the dedication. i always say that when the plane entered pennsylvania air, there were 40 citizens, none of whom were pennsylvanians. when the plane crashed here, they became pennsylvanians like the people who died in valley forge. they're patriots and heroes. so there's nothing we can't do for them. >> we're here with -- many presidents are coming today. vice president biden is coming here to pay honor to these courageous people aboard flight 93. we also have former president bill clinton who will introduce former president george bush. so there will be quite a program here this afternoon. i want to bring in neil mulholland. tell us about

i want to bring in governor rendell. have you ever seen a number like this? here he is riding high at 38%, the highest number yet for the republican nomination. and 21% like him. that's pretty good politics when people -- >> i think governor perry filled a void. he looks good. he sounds okay. he appeals to the core and the base. they're for him because they're not for any of the other guys. i think you would have found a similar phenomena if someone else had jumped in the race. a new face. not a sarah palin, a new face. let's not get too excited about polls. governor perry has his first test tonight. his three tests in the upcoming debates. he could plummet like a stone. don't be so upset. if i were the romney people i wouldn't be panicking. this is a marathon not a sprint. we'll see what happens. >> david it looks like the republican voters want him to be successful though. it seems like they're rooting for a guy. when you say you want him to be the nominee before you know him, that's a strong prejudice based on his record as governor of texas. it seems like

citizens of somerset county and to those who led that effort, including governor ridge and governor rendellof this place and somerset county, who gave of their property to this nation so we might honor those who gave their lives here, we thank you. and to the architect, paul murdoch, who kept true to the landscape and to this event, your design has moved us, our hearts from the beginning. to the families of flight 93, whom i have come to know well over the years, and to the flight the national park foundation and the relentless and undying efforts of neil mulholland, its president and all pennsylvania's elected officials, thank you for your leadership and your vision. to the tens of thousands of citizens who have donated to this cause, more than 75,000 so far, you honor us all. and to the families themselves who have suffered the unspeakable tragedy, but who dedicated themselves so deeply to protecting this final resting place, their partnership in this process in this place will ensure that the legacy of your loved ones is never forgotten. i am honored and i am humbled to have worked with

citizens of somerset county and to those who led that effort, including governor ridge and governor rendell in somerset county who gave of their property to this nation so that we might honor those who gave their lives here, we thank you. and to the architect, paul murdoch, who kept true to the landscape, and to this event, your design, has moved us, our hearts from the beginning. to the families of flight 93, whom i have come to know well over the years, and to the flight 93 advisory commission, the flight 93 memorial task force, the national park foundation and the relentless and undying efforts of neil mulholland, and elected officials, new for your leadership and for your vision. to the tens of thousands of citizens who have donated to this cause, more than 75,000 so far, you honor us all. and to the families themselves who have suffered the unspeakable tragedy, but who rededicated themselves so deeply to protecting this final resting place, their partnership in this process, in this place, will ensure that the legacy of your loved ones is never forgotten. i am honored and i am humbled

governor rendell has been in the arena.uist has defined a portion of the political arena. ed rendell knows what is like to lose an election. he has dealt with tax issues. grover is incredibly well known, not only here in washington, but nationally on the tax issue. i will put a broad question to the two of you. i will ask the question differently to both. governor, isn't big enough? does it do enough on infrastructure -- is its big enough? -- is it big enough? does it do enough on infrastructure? grover, the president called you out. some of you -- he said, some of you have signed a pledge not to raise taxes. that does not directly relate to you. >> let me begin by thanking the national journal for being here. i am honored as a private citizen to be here with someone i described as the most powerful person in washington, d.c. 2176 people -- 236 people have signed the taxpayer protection pledge. 41 senators have signed it. grover has a majority in the house and can block any legislation in the senate. one of the most embarra

joining us now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, former chair of the democratic party and now a msnbc political analyst. governor, thank you for being here. it's nice to see you. >> nice to be here. >> let me just ask you what your position is on this new plan in your state, this republican plan to divide up the state's electoral votes. >> really, rachel, it's shameful. it's absolutely shameful. first of all, it violates the spirit if not the letter of one person, one vote. think about it. in philadelphia, which is a city that's about 83% democratic registration, let's say the vote follows registration. well, philadelphia, barack obama would carry 83-17. that secondly, it is bad for pennsylvania. right now as you know, rachel, pennsylvania's one of the big three. florida, pennsylvania, and ohio where elections are decided. we get the most money spent during the election campaign, the most attention from the candidates and the campaigns. and year in and year out, month in and month out, we have a lot of clout down in washington. people don't want to truck with pennsylvania but

joining us now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, former chair of the democratic party and now a msnbc political analyst. governor, thank you for being here. it's nice to see you. >> nice to be here. >> let me just ask you what your position is on this new plan in your state, this republican plan to divide up the state's electoral votes. >> really, rachel, it's shameful. it's absolutely shameful. first of all, it violates the spirit if not the letter of one person, one vote. think about it. in philadelphia, which is a city that's about 83% democratic registration, let's say the vote follows registration. well, philadelphia, barack obama would carry 83-17. that would get him three electorate votes. there are three congressional districts. but in the three suburban districts, let's say the republicans carry each district narrowly 51-49. they would get three electoral votes. so your vote in a suburban area counts a whole lot more than a citizens vote in an urban area where there's a concentration of minority voters. and i think that opens up a possible legal challenge to this mane

governor rendell said i wonder if pennsylvania would love to have that $12 billion back? i'm sure they would. where would it go? chicago? the chicago skyway. where did that money go? back into the road? no, went into the general fund. indiana, toll road. great success? i don't know. ask the people in indiana who use the money now. where did that money go? into the toll road? no. went into other transportation projects in the state. in indiana, tolls are going through the roof. you ask the users out there and it is a different story. maybe it goes back to the issue that if the money is dedicated into the infrastructure, that works. if it is bled off for other purposes, good government purposes, that is another story. user financed, user paid system. >> i wrote about this earlier this year for "national journal." one of the things i believe is from your staff that we were talking about that the real problem in public/private partnerships can be that you have big investors dealing in with local governments and they are very sophisticated. what mr. mica is trying to do on his

[applause] to the state officials involved, particularly governor rendell, who sat here about five years ago with me. he had just found it a project in philadelphia or somewhere. he looked at me and said we should be spending that money here. he went back and started on the mission to make sure that the state would do their part to make sure the memorial was dedicated and built. [applause] to gov. ridge and others heading up the drive to raise the funds come to the thousands who have contributed, thank you for your efforts in doing gotha. [applause] into the men and women of the parks services. [applause] we appreciate all that you are doing. we know that he will continue to make sure that this site has a ceremony every year like this to honor the heroes of flight 93. and of course, to the families. you inspire me every day. i have worked with many of you. we have faced hurdles. we have overcome them to see the memorial here. you truly are an inspiration to me in everything i do, whether it is projecting this nation, try to build a better america, bringing people together. you are the in

the rendells believe it was an atrocity and that their comrades were murdered in a variety of ways for sport. this man is now ale volunteer medic and he's convinced something monstrous happened here. >> maybe they cut the hands, maybe they cut throats. different kind of executions. but they're making like game the people here and gadhafi about atal gones making execution like the fun. >> reporter: the rebels suspect that not all the dead were competent. two doctors from a nearby village have gone hmissing. of course discoveries like this do not bode well for post dr wash libya. the conflict we hope is entering its final phase. john irvine, libya. >>> a tornado carved a path of destruction through upstate new york, leaving decimated homes, and damaged landscape in its wake. national weather service officials confirmed the touchdown but have not yet determined its classification. ground crews are expected to conduct surveys, which will help estimate the strength of the tornado. >>> two people died in a plane crash that ignited a fast-moving brushfire in the hills of eastern california. a

many of you are familiar with his tenure as chief of staff to then philadelphia mayor ed rendell he is one of the three, alongside mayor bloomberg and governor schwarzenegger of buildingmerica. david, great to have you and next to david is john donovan, chief technology officer for at&t. thank you for coming, john. and his role, he oversees the global technology and product development, network and engineering operations, at&t labs and the security and intellectual property of the organization. so thank you both for coming. david, i'm going to open up with you. i guess from a macro perspective, talk to usbout the role of broadband and economic development in terms of investment in broadband infrastructure and what is your experience will be the most effective in terms of stimulating economic growth? >> thanks, bob and great to be here and carrying through on the football theme, one of my other part-time jobss i'm chair of the trustees of the university of pennsylvania and i wanted dr. walton to know we are also going to be focused on academics. [laughter] >> i have to finish, as a guy

ed rendell, former gov., and the late congressman murtha -- you have honored our government's commitment to be an active partner in the development of this project. with such upheaval in our world to get up today you continue to fight the good fight in order to ensure this project has stayed on schedule and is continue to be appropriately funded. to the families, this sacred ground holds a deep and special significance. this is the final resting place of the crew and passengers of flight 93 and we worked hard to ensure it is treated with the proper care and respect. we are grateful for secretary salazar and the national park service for their leadership in this memorial project, as well as for their current and future stewardship of this land. superintendent, project manager rhinegold former superintendent hanley, and the entire team of rangers, ambassadors, and volunteers, we trust that you will continue to be the fierce advocates for our loved ones moving forward that you have demonstrated to be thus far.

and so what we argue in the book is the obsession with china and governor ed rendel criticizing the nfl for cancelling the eagles viking football game in december and saide're wusses if we were china they'd walk in the snow and do mathmatical calculations along the way. it's what we once had. the ability to act collectively and the things we talked band the things we need do what we alhave i common is they all require collective will and action. we can't do this with one tied behind our back. >> charlie: but what's happening and the comparison with escalators in bethesda, maryland is you saw somebody to say this is the way it is. have you to worry about a sense of saying well, that's the way things are and you thefore have to accept a new norm which is -- >> charlie -- we do not think we have to or should accept a new norm. we don't have to define america do. it's going get us and take us some time to dig out of this holeut we can do it and we say it in the book we're optimist though frustrated optimist and people say how can you be of the mysticnd one is our past and challenges. we've

. >> this is what ed rendell former democrat national chairman had to say about it. >> this is not justeme that's being pushed by some legislator. he's on record saying he's for it that the philadelphia region has too much influence and our votes are disenfranchising people in other parts of the state. this is reprehensible and disgraceful. >> nobody can stop it except for republicans. republicans control the state. the republicans in house of representatives are unhappy because you will fight district by district. >> go into a congressional district and change it there. >> instead of driving turnout in philadelphia assume you'll win philadelphia and go to the senator of the state and western part of the state and try to win those district by district and they will then vote against the congressman. they are worried. >> there are unintended consequences of this. the biggest is that we discovered a new way to mess with the others. they changed hands. maybe not in two years or four years. they go back and fort and it looks like at some point red state legislature will be in democratic han

the contest opened to some 3,500 rendell gates from a state that will most likely vote early in the primarycaucus calendar. later today, both perry and romney speak in person at a gop conference in michigan, another state that's moving up its primary position in the race for the white house. results of a straw poll there, they come out tomorrow morning. t.j. >> tonight, it's an important night for president obama. he'll be speaking to the congressional black caucus. some members have been critical of the way he's been handling the jobs problem. unemployment among african-americans was nearly 17% last month. >>> turn to the middle east now with the palestinian authorities foreign minister says he is hoping for quick action on the palestinian push for full ewe nooitd night dollars nations membership. president mahmoud abbas put forward the request in a speech at the u.n. . the u.n. security council will discuss the request on monday. he's hoping a vote will come soon. the u.s. threatening to veto a resolution on statehood if it makes it to the security council. the american position, israel m

former democratic party leader, ed rendell, also an msnbc news political analyst and former governor. and former republican party leader, michael steele, also an msnbc analyst and both, quite candidly, are gentleman whose company i enjoy and i'm happy to have both of you guys here. i'll begin with you, michael. is it a -- is this a human psychological problem? it feels like we need a shrink. >> well, it is. it's the love/hate thing. and it's one of those things where i push you away and i pull you back, i push you away and i pull you back. and i think the unknown is what keeps more people anchored to both parties than anything else. because they don't know what a third party looks like, what it will feel like. >> could be even crazy perp. >> could be even crazier than the two we've got. so better the devil you know than the devil you're wishing for. and i think that's what the american people are. however, having said that, i still believe fundamentally that beyond the 2012 election, the nation is going to begin to get its act together with respect to the political process, and you wi

joining us to talk about the cash and the candidates, ed rendell, former governor of pennsylvania andbc news political analyst. matt lewis, senior reporter of the daily call. >> thank you. >> this isn't just about money. these are also bragging rights, essentialpy. governor, matt, these candidates are required to report these numbers. i'm going to put the same way to the both of you. who's going to have the most to brag about this weekend? i'll start with you, governor. >> well, i would have thought under normal circumstances rick perry. because in a short period of time he's going to report a fairly good hunk of cash that he's raised. but his debate performances have taken the bloom off that, and the key for the perry camp is in the next quarter, with his somethinging fortunes in the polls, and with those lousy debate performances will he be able to sustain this level of fund-raising? i think he normally would have been rick perry, but i think the debate performance has put a downer on it. >> matt, who wins this round of fund-raising? >> well, we'll see. look, rick perry is right. th

many of you are familiar with his tenure as chief of staff to then philadelphia mayor ed rendell he is one of the three, alongside mayor bloomberg and governor schwarzenegger of building america. david, great to have you. and next to david is john donovan, chief technology officer for at&t. thank you for coming, john. and his role, he oversees the global technology and product development, network and engineering operations, at&t labs and the security and intellectual property of the organization. so thank you both for coming. david, i'm going to open up with you. i guess from a macro perspective, talk to us about the role of broadband and economic development in terms of investment in broadband infrastructure and what is your experience will be the most effective in terms of stimulating economic growth? >> thanks, bob and great to be here and carrying through on the football theme, one of my other part-time jobs is i'm chair of the trustees of the university of pennsylvania and i wanted dr. walton to know we are also going to be focused on academics. [laughter] >> i have to finish, as

ed rendell will debate how to address these issues with grover norquist and it will be live this morning. calvin on our democrats' line. what would you do to overhaul the tax system? caller: you cutting the post office down, but why not look into the internet? all your money is going into the internet. if all of us e-mailed -- don't you know the postal service don't have no work? host: speaker boehner from yesterday. >> a plan that would create thousands of new full-time jobs for american workers only to be assumed by a federal agency that wants to shut this down. let me make sure i have this right. american companies are free to create jobs in china, but they are not free to create jobs in south carolina? host: freddie, you are a republican in south carolina. caller: before we start talking about taxes we have to start with the problem, and that is limiting our federal government. our government to should conform to our constitution and do its fiducial duties and limit itself to that. cut the spending. cut how much the federal government spends. then stauk start talking about tax reform

. >> the rendell gapublican deleg were talking about.akdown. it's not winner take all anymore. i think you could see a scenario where this primary campaign goes on quite a ways. i think that rick perry has advantages as you move south. as you move out of the south, as the primary campaign extends out across the country, the supertuesday states, you can see a very, very narrow race. >> but perry still has a chance. is it down to two now or down to one? >> i think rick perry entered the race as a soft front-runner. i thought if he had an exemplary performance he would have been a strong front-runner. he is the front-runner for the republican nomination. he is ahead in the polls. he did not blow himself up last night. he did make a number of statements that are problematic. when asked an education question, he responds the state of texas schools are, you know, because of the proximity of new mexico problematic like new mexico, arizona and colorado with rise in the latino population. >> are there statements he nailed? >> look, i think that t

many of you are familiar with his tenure as chief of staff to then philadelphia mayor ed rendell he is one of the three, alongside mayor bloomberg and governor schwarzenegger of building america. david, great to have you. and next to david is john donovan, chief technoly officer for at&t. thank you for coming, john. and his role, he oversees the global technology and product development, network and engineering operations, at&t labs and the security and intellectual property of the organization. so thank you both for coming. vid, i'm going to open up with you. i guess from a macro perspective, talk to us about the role of broadband and economic development in terms of investment in broadband infrastructure and what is your experience will be the most effective in terms of stimulating economic growth? >> thanks, bob and great to be here and carrying through on the football theme, one of my other part-time jobs is i'm chair of the trustees of the university of pennsylvania and i wanted dr. walton to know we are also going to be focused on academics. [laughter] >> i have to finis as a guy

i have been reading rendell who is my favorite [crying] writers.i love good mysteries and particularly the mysteries of those who really know how to make that aspect work. these are great novelists, and i reading trollope, who i love, and i just bought a number of new books that i intend to in oregon. i always have three to four different books going at once. i learned that from dr. gorgeous when i was writing about the panama canal. he always had four different books on his reading table and they will all be books about different interests, different categories, a medical book, novel, book of poetry, book of history and he would read each one every night for 20 minutes and then switched to the next one and that way he was getting a liberal arts education as life continued through his experiences. a gorgeous as you know helped eliminate yellow fever in the panel which made it possible for us to proceed with building the panama canal. next question comes from the audience at the national book festival. >> i want to express my gratitude for your posi

many of you are familiar with his tenure as chief of staff to then philadelphia mayor ed rendell he is one of the three, alongside mayor bloomberg and governor schwarzenegger of building america. david, great to have you. and next to david is john donovan, chief technology officer for at&t. thank you for coming, john. and his role, he oversees the global technology and product development, network and engineeringperations, at&t labs and the securitand intellectual property of the organization. so thank you both for coming. david, i'm going to on up with you. i guess from a macro perspective, talk to us about the role of broadband and economic development in terms of investment in broadband infrastructure and what is your experience will be the most effective in terms of stimulating economic growth? >> thanks, bob great to be here and carrying through on the football theme, one of my other part-time jobs is i'm chair of the trustees of the university of pennsylvania and i wanted dr. walton to know we are also going to be focused on academics. [laughter] >> i have to finish, as a guy who